Fraggle Rock: Elder Clan Adventures

[RedPiggy]

Chapter 23

“Stop it!”

“No, you stop it!”

A gaggle of hairy Fraggles stomped up to Fishface’s large chair and started to yell. “We’re sick and tired of being teased for having hair!”

“Maybe hairy Fraggles leave,” replied Fishface, resting his chin on his clasped hands.

A few bald Fraggles snickered.

“Take them away!” Fishface barked, shocking the snickering Fraggles. He glared at everyone. “Fraggle laugh – Fraggle imprisoned or banished.” He pounded his chest. “Fishface keep Fraggles safe from genie. No laughing!”

“We’re going to tell the Princess about this outrage!” declared the hairy Fraggles. As they turned, Fishface tripped them with his tail, making laughter ring.

Fishface declared all who laughed would be banished forever. “No control – no safety!” he announced. “Fraggles chant to drive away bad luck.” He looked around as everyone stared at him. “NOW!”

They started to chant and do random tasks that Fishface bade them just to prove who was boss.

“It’s Blundig!” shouted one Fraggle, making everyone stop in their tracks. Indeed, Blundig was back, sporting a triple-sun medallion topped with a bright emerald. She was joined by Roughchin and No-Neck.

Fishface glared at her. She had not left the Great Hole in such a cheerful mood. Could she have truly come back to make amends? He tried to goad her into saying something … anything … about why she left, but to no avail. She seemed to have utterly forgotten everything they had talked about. He tried to give her a simple enough task, but she seemed at a loss.

Though she consulted the Legendary Rum-poop. At least that hadn’t changed.

However, after a few hours, his patience had run out. He ordered all three to be imprisoned. He was surprised to see that they freed themselves, though he was also glad. He had started to regret it just as soon as he had ordered it, for he didn’t want to let Blundig know about Roughchin’s job, and he was likely to tell her if he had suffered imprisonment for long.

Even more shocking, Blundig suggested that leaders become obsolete and revealed she had hair. That was not exactly what Fishface had wanted to hear, but in a way, he was glad: she was apparently declaring that the most important thing was to enjoy life together. It’s what he wanted, even more than being Leader, even more than shaming the Princess. She and No-Neck and Roughchin soon walked away, and Fishface stayed right where he was, waiting for her to return from unpacking in her room.

Still, the fact that she had kept her hair from him disturbed him greatly. He had never seen her without her cap on, to his dismay, but the thought that she had blue-green shoulder-length hair that appeared silver in a certain light made him shudder. What was even worse, was that it explained her liking of that foolish Princess.

Fishface waited for an hour, finally deciding to track her down. He ended up in a small cave with a drawing of a hairy Fraggle with upturned hands that seemed to mock him.

He stared at it for several hours in complete silence. The figure seemed to laugh at him. It seemed so unlike the Blundig he knew – but she had acted strangely. Could that frustrating Minstrel have done something to her? Fishface wasn’t stupid – he knew Crooner could be very manipulating. He realized that Crooner only wanted the Princess to leave her post so that they could be together in their laziness. If it weren’t for the fact that Fishface wanted her gone too, he’d never have agreed to collaborate with him.

As he sat there, a wailing moan started to appear. He shuddered again, realizing that it was getting colder.

The walls started to frost over, the wind chilled him, and ice started forming on his nose.

The angrier he got, mulling over his misfortunes, the harsher winter returned.

If he cannot have Blundig …

… he will lead.

 

[RedPiggy]

Chapter 24

The two toddlers ran to keep up with their parents, who had been banished for laughing. At least running kept them warm. The Fraggles who had been banished were at least glad that they were away from Fishface: his expression as the cold returned shook them far worse than bad weather.

The golden-skinned girl glanced at her dark gray-skinned brother. “I thought those things were toys.”

The dark-skinned brother kept going. “They must be grown-up toys.”

“Grown-up toys scare me,” she whispered.

The brother scoffed. “You just don’t like what’s fun.”

Fishface, meanwhile, watched intently as Fraggles positioned swords, cannons, and shields along the entrances of the Great Hole.

An elderly Fraggle female with beads draped around her neck. “Fishface,” she began, “the Princess comes with ‘weapons’.” He glanced at her in silence. Unperturbed, she continued, “She’s not coming to help, is she?”

He shook his head.

He wanted her to come. He didn’t care if she had weapons too. He didn’t care how she obtained them. She brought weapons to the Rock first. From the very first time they met, he saw the swords in her room. If they were just for amusement – why did she have two?

 

[RedPiggy]

Now, see -- this wasn't so bad, was it?

Author’s Note: Due to how this chapter works out, there is no arc 6 as mentioned earlier. I just don’t think I can push this to 37 chapters, as the “Great Freeze” arc works much better here. Oh well.
Chapter 25

Fraggles surrounded the bound Princess, all wearing thick robes, as they entered the Great Hole. Fishface sat in his large chair, glaring at her with a creepy calm expression. Princess Gwenalot stood defiantly before him. “What kind of Fraggle are you?” she asked softly.

Fishface sat motionless. “A Fraggle that knows Princess had weapons first,” he replied coldly.

“They were for cutting vines and stuff!” she shouted angrily.

“And yet you come with more?”

“Fishface, for Rock’s sake!” she pleaded. “You’re smarter than this!” She maintained her glare, though tears were starting to well up in her eyes. “Yes, I get it: bald Fraggles suffer more in the cold. Take the Great Cave. We hairy Fraggles can withstand the cold coming from the Great Hole.”

“Did Blundig tell you this, or Minstrel?”

She shook her head and growled. “I’m not an idiot, Fishface! I don’t require someone else to tell me how to solve a problem. Yes, sometimes I need help – but that doesn’t mean I’m not without my strengths, too.”

A nearly debilitating wind threatened to freeze them all to their places as they stood in the Great Hole.

She kneeled, her lips trembling both from the cold and from crying. “Fishface, I’m … I’m truly sorry. I should have let the Festival of the Bells continue at their appointed time. It threw off the entire rhythm of the Rock. Let’s use our bells and honor that sacred Weeba beast and calm its spirit.”

Fishface stood and towered over her. “Weeba beast cannot be calmed. In ancient days, Weeba run Rock. Weeba destroyed because they run Rock. Now all who dishonor them suffer. The bells are metal. Metal now in weapons.”

“You did what?” Princess Gwenalot exclaimed. “How could you do such an incredibly ignorant thing like that? Swords don’t waken the Rock, you moron!”

“Fishface not one who put Rock to sleep, Princess!”

All the Fraggles began to argue, picking up weapons (and griping about how cold the metal was against their skin). A horde of hairy Fraggles appeared with their own weapons and concentrated all the bald Fraggles right underneath the Great Hole, the cold sapping the bald Fraggles’ strength.

“I will not give up,” Fishface explained.

Princess Gwenalot sobbed, though she told him defiantly. “And I won’t give up on the spirit of the Rock.”

A click. Someone had pulled a trigger.

Another click.

Grunting followed as Fraggles tried to throw metallic objects that were now stuck to their hands.

Everyone glanced around in shock as they nearly froze in place.

The weapons would not work.

The Rock grew still.

Princess Gwenalot felt a light within her. “La la la la, la la la la la la, la la la la la la la la la,” she sang timidly.

Other Fraggles started to sing with her, “Ding ding dong ding, ding dong ding ding dong ding, ding dong ding ding dong ding ding dong ding.”

Still other Fraggles started to clang the swords and other metal weapons against the cannons and against the boulders and the ice, creating a medley of ringing that sounded a little strange, but it was almost as if one could hear the spirits of the bells whispering from the cold metal.

As the Fraggles continued to sing, the ice started to drip and glow from beneath. The whole of Fraggle Rock sparkled as the melodies traveled far and wide.

Deep inside the Crystal Cavern, the crystals had begun to crack, but those cracks soon healed, leaving a dazzling light show to fill the room.

Far from any Fraggle, in the misty darkness of the Terrible Tunnel that consumed Sir Blunderbrain, the relaxed knight hummed the melody he could sense through the rocks.

The ropes binding Princess Gwenalot snapped. She stood and faced Fishface. “I never want to see these ugly things again,” she told him. “All the little stuff can be remade back into bells, to protect our future.”

Fishface let a single tear fall. “Big weapons hide, never to be seen again.”

“Agreed,” the Princess told him, hugging him. A small smile cracked from his lips.

 

[RedPiggy]

Chapter 26

“Watch it!”

“Move it over there!”

“No, the other left!”

As scores of hairy Fraggles moved into their new homes, Princess Gwenalot threw flower garlands over the large arch near the Fraggle Pond.

“Excuse me,” a small baritone voice said from behind the Princess. She looked down to find Roughchin, who seemed a bit confused. “What ha-happened t-to Fi-Fishface?” he stuttered, terrified that Fishface’s insistence of war led to something dreadfully awful – and it would be all his fault.

“Hooba, Roughchin,” greeted the Princess calmly. “He and your fellow Fraggles decided to move to the Great Cave where it’s warmer and they don’t have to worry about getting so cold.”

He sighed, sitting down from the sudden lack of stress. “Thank goodness,” he said. “I was afraid something bad had happened. He wasn’t in a good mood before.” He didn’t want her to know about his role in the weapons stash – but did she already know? “I decided to come back from my meditation when everything turned cold and then warm again.”

She smiled and nodded. “The rhythm of the Rock is working just fine again,” she told him. She put a hand on his shoulder. “Do you mind doing something for me?”

He nodded, then shook his head. “Uh, which one means I’m willing to do what you ask?”

She giggled. “Never mind. I need you to help us make all sorts of weapons back into bells.”

He looked up at her. “You … you do?”

She nodded. “Fishface and I decided that bells sound better than banging and clanging swords. You wouldn’t mind, would you?”

“I would of course do anything my Princess commanded,” he told her, bowing low to the ground. His cap fell off and a dark red fuzz showed on his scalp.

Princess Gwenalot squeaked and jumped back. “I – I thought you were bald!”

Roughchin hurriedly replaced his cap and smirked sheepishly. “Fishface was terrified of hair spiders,” he told her with a chuckle. “Bald Fraggles aren’t really bald at all. We just shaved every day.” He sighed. “Princess? After I fix the bells, can we never mention weapons again?”

“Of course,” she replied.

“Oh, here,” he continued, pulling a small rectangular blue piece of cloth from underneath his robe. “I forgot. I found this on my meditation retreat.” He handed it to her.

She stared at it in shock. “This – this is my invisibility cloak!” she gasped, eyes wide. She looked up and locked her arms around him. “It’s my good luck charm!”

He patted her on the back, straining to breathe from over-zealous hugging. “Uh, yes … may we all have good luck from … now … on.”

 

[The Count]

Aw... Come on... You're only elewen chapters away! You could always finally have Princess Gwen crack the threat of the Blue Rock. Though now that the rhythm of the Rock is at peace again, not sure if such a test is still necessary. Another thing is you could shift this to introduce who Gobo's counterpart would be... Give Gwen a beau Fraggle. Or then again, you could always just launch into the real Mokey's Then and Now appearance. Or explain how the Doozers and Fraggles shifted from mushroom blocks to radish dust sticks. At any rate, I'm sure you'll come up with something. Hope this helps somewhat.

 

[RedPiggy]

Aw... Come on... You're only elewen chapters away!

I just can't do it. But, the epilogue will take a jab at me for not finishing with exactly 37 chapters.

You could always finally have Princess Gwen crack the threat of the Blue Rock. Though now that the rhythm of the Rock is at peace again, not sure if such a test is still necessary.

That's what I'm writing now. Yes, it's no longer necessary, but she still feels she has something to prove. She postponed the Festival of the Bells, and look where that got her. She's depressed because she thinks that everything she avoided is why her friends are disappearing.

Another thing is you could shift this to introduce who Gobo's counterpart would be... Give Gwen a beau Fraggle.

Even though Crooner isn't very Gobo-esque, he's meant to fill that role, one of the clumsy-in-love male who's perhaps a little too much like his girlfriend to ensure a quick wooing.

Or then again, you could always just launch into the real Mokey's Then and Now appearance.

I did mention it. It's the straw that breaks the camel's back with Fishface. Even though at the end of the episode, Fishface is all about dancing his cares away, my "what happened afterwards" shows that didn't last. Poor Fishface. He thought Blundig was Blundig, but it was really Mokey & co. Hence, he didn't get the closure he needed from her. Edit: I had been writing this assuming that the Great Freeze would still be in effect by the time of the war, but when Mokey shows up, it's warm and tropical-looking. So, I had to try to fiddle with the weather so I could squeeze her in.

Or explain how the Doozers and Fraggles shifted from mushroom blocks to radish dust sticks. At any rate, I'm sure you'll come up with something. Hope this helps somewhat.

According to the Fraggle History article on Muppetwiki, Doozers apparently don't start mining radishes until after Mokey Then and Now's time period.

I still have some story tricks up my sleeve, particularly as a reward for attentive watchers of the show and readers of my fics.

 

[RedPiggy]

Chapter 27

Princess Gwenalot awoke with a start as Fraggles started jumping into the pond, showering her with water. It was the first day of the fourth month of the new year, and she found she enjoyed just going to sleep under the moonlight each night. Unlike everything that had happened before, the tranquility of the moon was a welcome sight.

Today was the day she would go to the Blue Rock. It didn’t seem that important to her anymore, since no one really felt the need to treat her like royalty lately. To be perfectly honest, she just wanted to be a regular Fraggle for awhile, to disappear in the throngs of Fraggles. Leading had not been all her parents had made it out to be. A Fraggle here and there would still ask for her advice, but everyone could sense she didn’t want to be leader at the moment. After the war, no one really wanted one, either.

Still, Gwen had decided that since she postponed the Festival of the Bells and that ended up badly, maybe she shouldn’t have postponed going to the Blue Rock either. Maybe she wouldn’t … maybe she wouldn’t have lost all of her friends lately had she just faced the music.

As she walked with her cape and her helmet in her arms, her blonde hair tied up in a bun, streaked with red, she thought about Mallory, about Sir Blunderbrain, about Blundig … she wanted to believe they were all still alive, just … changed. After all, they’d be friends still, no matter what.

She spotted some Doozers coming in and out of freshly dug tunnels, carting around piles of white powder. Gwen thought that was strange, though she had noticed that mushrooms had become more plentiful this spring. Perhaps the Doozers had discovered a new material, though she didn’t know what could be built with just a handful of powder.

Bring back the season.
Bring back the time.
Bring back the wonder that used to be mine.
Laughing and splashing, we lived in a glow.
Bring back the wonder we knew long ago.
Bring back the wonder we knew long ago.

Wind on our faces, and race on the lawn,
Life was so new it would last on and on.
I was in love with the soft river flow.
Bring back the wonder we knew long ago.
Bring back the wonder we knew long ago.

As Gwen kept walking, she realized she should have been there by now, so she took a nap. She got up later and kept walking. Now she realized that, somehow, she had gotten lost. She couldn’t remember which tunnels she had been travelling before.

After a week of this, she finally found herself in a large cave filled with beautiful large red flowers. It was very humid in this cave. One particularly gigantic blossom opened right in front of her, showering her with a pale yellow mist. Coughing and gagging, she ran backwards, stumbling occasionally, slamming her back against the wall of another tunnel.

 

[The Count]

See... Now the countdown's on with ten chapters left. Not sure where this new arc's going but I'm glad for the ride. Keep posting more please.

 

[RedPiggy]

Chapter 28

The frightened young female Fraggle ran as fast as she could, dodging rock formations and skittering past various mammalian and insectoid creatures. Everything seemed so disorienting to her. It was just tunnel after tunnel and cave after cave. The further she ran, the worse she felt. She was certain she was going the wrong way. “Home” was the other way, but she couldn’t picture it in her mind.

At long last she fell down a shaft and landed with a hard thud on a hard rock floor. She looked around cautiously, groaning.

“More tunnels,” she remarked in desperation. Indeed, it seemed like an infinite amount of tunnels lay all around her. She started to pant from exhaustion, leaning against the arch of a craggly tunnel.

The resulting vacuum took her breath away. She saw a yellow glow and flew backwards, tumbling through the air, until she landed with a thud next to a large desk. All over the strange room were paintings and engravings, all in various stages of completion.

“Wer sind Sie?” asked a rough voice.

The Fraggle looked up, dazed, and saw a pale-skinned bipedal creature, easily perhaps three times her height, wearing a fur-lined brown robe over a white tunic. It had shoulder-length curly brown hair and facial hair around its mouth. Its eyes had brown irises.

Was she going crazy? Not only could she not remember her own name, but this creature spoke some silly gibberish.

“What are you?” she asked timidly.

Its eyes grew wider in shock and it jumped backwards. “Sind Sie eine sprechenratte?” it exclaimed.

“Are … are you calling me a ‘rat’?” asked the young Fraggle, an instinctive frown curling her snout downward. “I am not a ‘rat’.” She sighed. “I just wish I knew what I was.” She started to sob.

“Sprechenratte,” it said again. She determined it must be a male creature by the tone of his voice. He pointed a long pale finger at himself. “Albrecht.”

She repeated what she assumed was his name. He nodded. She pointed at herself and shrugged, patting her head gently.

He smiled as though he understood. He picked her up and set her down on a small table, which was warmed by a strong light coming from a window nearby. She curled up and went to sleep underneath the blue cloth in her hands.

For several days the young Fraggle ate the small vegetable and cereal meals the male creature prepared for her, as meat did not seem to suit her very well. With time, she found that each morning she could understand him almost as well as she understood her own speech. He had two names, apparently, “Albrecht” and “Dürer”. He seemed very busy each day, painting and carving on paper and wooden blocks.

(How are you feeling today, talking rat)? he asked her as she awoke late one morning.

She smiled in reply. Her head wasn’t aching like it was. Perhaps she should have worn that shiny metal helmet when she flew through the tunnel.

(You look better).

She hopped over to his workbench as he etched a design on it, well, started to, anyway. (Why do you cut your pictures)?

(Because), Albrecht noted, (with a painting only the one who has it will enjoy it). He stopped to compare his work with a drawing lying nearby. (With a woodcut, many copies of the drawing can be made, and many can enjoy my work at the same time).

The young Fraggle opened a nearby book and saw a picture like the kind he was making. A cylindrical tent decorated with funny hats opened to reveal a central creature with a crown surrounded by many similar creatures, the two foreground ones holding a long chain in front of the central creature, which Albrecht had said was “woman”.

He saw which picture had caught her interest and smiled. (“Folly and her fools”) he told her. (“Folly has lavish retinue/the whole world joins it, even you/if you have power and money too”). He nodded. (No matter how bright is the leader, a throng of fools soon appears. This is the meaning of that picture).

For reasons she did not understand, she felt her heart drop at the explanation. Why should she feel sad? Did she experience this herself? Perhaps she was once a leader as well.

She couldn’t stand it any longer. (I have to go), she said with certainty. (I have to see if I have friends or family).

He nodded. (You should take some food with you. I wish you well, talking rat).

She jumped down on the floor, grasping her helmet and cloth tightly, and entered a small hole that had appeared when she flew out of the wall. The tunnel walls glittered and seemed to sing to her, guiding her back to where she belonged.

 

[RedPiggy]

Chapter 29

After several hours of walking, listening to the song of the glittery lights and passing thin clear-white sticks forming a bridge across some ledges along the walls, she ended up in a dark tunnel with a large sapphire-looking stone set at the very end. She leaned against the tunnel walls (after testing it with the end of her tail to make sure she didn’t fly away again) and sighed, stretching her feet, intending to take a nap.

“Hey!” a male voice shouted. She jumped up two feet in the air out of sheer surprise and glanced around until the speaker became clear. He was a creature like her, with green skin instead of gold and slightly ruffled slick-backed black hair. He had a stringed instrument slung around his shoulder. “I’ve been searching the entire Rock for you!”

“Why?” she asked innocently.

He stepped back. What kind of a reply was that? “Because … because I’m in love with you,” he told her finally.

She laughed and rubbed her sore bottom. “Why should I be in love with you? I don’t even know you!”

He hung his head. “I deserve that.” He sighed. “I asked Fishface to fight you. You said you liked that sort of thing and he seemed willing enough,” he explained with tense pain in his voice. “I also wished that you would lose your best friend. I didn’t realize it would actually happen, but it did and I can never forgive myself for it.” He looked up at her, tears in his eyes. “I’ve looked into that Blue Rock and I’ve seen that my wish also made me alone too. I’ve wanted to love you for so long … but I guess when I made that wish, it meant I wouldn’t be your best friend, either.” He kneeled. “I can never truly apologize enough,” he sobbed.

She stared at him with jaw agape. “I … don’t know what to say,” she said at last.

“Please forgive me,” he begged with clasped hands.

“I would, if I knew who you were,” she told him.

“For Rock’s sake, I said I was sorry!” he shouted angrily.

She shook her head. “I don’t think you’re grasping the situation here. I … do … not … know … who … I … am … much … less … who … you … are.”

“You’re telling me you don’t even know your name?” he asked in disbelief.

She moaned in frustration. “Albrecht was right: folly is surrounded by fools.” She cupped her hands around her snout. “I don’t remember who I am! How clear do I have to be?”

The male Fraggle stood up and placed a small emerald amulet in her hands.

She stared at it for several moments, seeing her reflection in the large stone that was almost the size of her palm. She could see the male Fraggle as well, who looked as though a boulder had just fallen on his tail.

“C-C-Crooner,” she whispered. She paused. “I’m – I’m Gwen and you’re … Crooner.” She gazed at him. “I’m a Princess and you’re a Minstrel.”

He nodded happily.

She glanced over at the Blue Rock. She walked right up to it.

She saw nothing. Supposedly, it showed you what you were most afraid of on the surface, at least, she remembered distantly that Crooner had told her that long ago. There wasn’t even a reflection of herself or Crooner. She could see the reflection of the tunnel behind them, but it was like there were no Fraggles staring at the Rock at all.

In a rage, she flung her helmet at it … and found herself behind it. There was nothing there but a small cave barely big enough for a couple of Fraggles. She looked around, but Crooner wasn’t with her. Nobody was with her. She turned to see if he were still outside, but he seemed to be gone.

Just like everyone else.

What had she accomplished? She truly was nothing! There had been nothing but pain and resentment in all of Fraggledom, all because she was a Princess. She hadn’t protected Fraggles from disappearing. She hadn’t stopped true villainy from running rampant throughout the Rock. She had let her best friends down. She had taken the bait of an ambitious Fraggle and let his desire to be the leader nearly destroy the entire population of Fraggles. She did nothing as the rhythm of the Rock changed for the worse.

She was nothing.

Being alone was all her fault.

All of a sudden the sapphire began to glow eerily. She was certain it was going to punish her for being nothing.

And yet …

… she didn’t want to be alone.

She took a step toward the Rock as it glowed increasingly brighter.

Above the Great Hall, past the large hole in the ceiling, a loud bawling and screaming could be heard.

Just as suddenly, a female voice could be heard humming a soothing song, like a lullaby.

Down a dark path through the willow woods,
There is a pond where,
Dream boats are docked in the cattail reeds,
I know, I've been there.

At the end of the trail,
When the last light has failed,
You can turn in your day cares,
And hoist up your sails.
Catch a ride out on a dream,
No fears, no cares.
I know, I've been there.

Wind on the pond strums the lily leaves.
Stars come, twinkling,
Moon on my cheek like a silky sleeve,
Starts me to thinking,

That the wind wafts and blows,
And the pond ebbs and flows,
And the moon comes and goes as it pleases to.
The wind, and the pond, and the moon and me,
Dreaming, our dreams.

“Look up at the moon, Junior,” it said wearily. “It welcomes you into the universe.”