The Insane Crossover Story Chapter Eleven
with technical assistance from Spike, Friendly, and Clever Clover


“Confound it,” Tabby muttered under her breath, catching sight of an approaching object on the horizon. “I thought we’d lost him.”

“Who?” asked Tarquin.

“The flying t-shirt,” the pink unicorn intoned grimly.

“We never had a flying t-shirt,” Prince Adam said, puzzled.

“Yes, we did,” Tabby corrected. “He’s your buddy. You forgot him already?”

“Hey, it’s Orko!” Adam exclaimed, noticing the approaching figure.

“Duh,” Tabby rolled her eyes. “That’s what I was just telling you.”

“No, Tabby, I’m afraid you’re wrong. You were just telling me we had a flying t-shirt on the team,” Adam argued. “You shouldn’t make up lies to make yourself look better.”

“Stop uttering nonsense, Adam,” Tabby snapped. “I wasn’t lying. Orko is a flying t-shirt.”

“No, he’s not.”

“Yes, he is!”

“Hey, guys! What’s up?” a cheery voice interjected.

“AHHHHH!!!!” Tabby shrieked, jumping back abruptly at the sight of the red object floating between her and Adam. “IT FOUND US!!! RUN!!!” Promptly, she took off into the forest.

“Orko! Good to see you again,” Adam said warmly. “Sorry about leaving you behind in California.”

“Yeah, we kinda thought we’d never see you again,” Tarquin added obliquely.

“Ah, I would have been happy to stay with Kimber there at Starlight Mansion,” Orko said wistfully. “But then some other guy she knew showed up– Jeff, I think it was– and we had a big fight, and finally he tossed me out on the street and told me to leave Kimber alone,” he finished ruefully.

“Oh, that’s too bad,” Adam said. “I thought you were looking beat-up. Then there’s that Rio! I don’t know what his problem was. Well, at least we still have all of their albums. Say, I picked up their latest in the last town we passed through. Wait until you see the cover picture of Jem. I mean...”

Tarquin left the two to chatter about Jem and the Holograms while he went off to hunt up Tabby.

* * *

Later that night, Tabby had reconciled herself enough with Orko to join the group around the blazing campfire. She sat gazing idly into the flames, pondering the condition of her life. “What a twisted journey this has turned into!” she stated aloud. “What ever made me run off like this, anyway?”

“To defend innocents from King Hiss, of course,” Adam said promptly.

“As if! No, I think we set off to seek revenge on somebody, didn’t we, Tarkie?”

“Could be,” Tarquin said absently. “I really can’t remember.”

“Well, anyway, I have no clue what we’re doing any more,” Tabby rambled on. “I mean, what started out as a simple quest to seek revenge turned into this... well, whatever this is! For some demented reason complete strangers we ran into felt obliged to accompany us– well, a majority of them got sick of it already, as you can see by our failing numbers; even Sam and Max have apparently left our ranks!– and we completely lost sight of our goal! What are we aiming for?” Tabby ended her speech only to realize that no one was listening to her any longer.

“Did you say something, Tabby?” Adam said idly.

“And of course you and Orko would be the two to linger on,” Tabby retorted. “I wish I could just go home!”

“Don’t worry, Tabby, we’ll get you back!” Orko offered.

“That’s right; I, He-Man, and Orko will be glad to defend you from any dangers that may arise on your journey home,” Adam added.

“That is such an honor,” Tabby said sarcastically. “And where is Ponyland by now, anyway? Is it even possible to find our way back?”

“Well, we got completely lost quite a few chapters back,” Tarquin considered. “So, maybe not.”

“So we’re doomed to spend the rest of our days wandering aimlessly through strange, deluded lands!” Tabby lamented. “That is so unfair.”

“We’ll have to make the best of it, in any case,” Tarquin concluded. “Actually, I’ve kinda been enjoying myself.”

“Hmm... I guess that could be true,” Tabby considered. “Besides the occasional idiots we’ve run into–” she shot a pointed glance across the fire at Adam and Orko– “it’s been quite an adventure. Life in Dream Valley was pretty boring, anyway. Hey, we’ve been moping around for nothing– or I have, at least! Let’s explore strange, deluded lands together for the rest of our lives, gang!” she suddenly exclaimed energetically, unthinkingly including He-Man and Orko in the invitation.

“YEAH!” everybody chimed in.

Glancing at the two opposite her, Tabby began to wonder the wiseness of her proposition; but it was too late to back out now, and, hey, it would be pretty fun, even with those two losers tagging along. It was good to have a purpose again, she decided as she dropped off to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Tabby woke up early and made her way to a nearby creek, and proceeded to gulp in several gallons of water. Before she was quite finished, though, she was interrupted by a timid voice. “Excuse me, miss, if it isn’t a bother, I was just wondering– I don’t suppose you’ve happened to see any of my friends around, have you?”

Startled, Tabby lifted her head up and, with water dripping down her chin, she observed a soft-looking lavender cat in a quaint dress matching her fur color. “How cute!” she exclaimed.

“Oh, well, that’s very kind of you,” the little cat blushed. “I wouldn’t have intruded on you, you see, but I am becoming quite desperate to find my friends! It’s really a dreadful situation.”

Tabby pondered this for a moment. “Yes, yes, of course. Well, what do your friends look like? The only other persons in the area besides my pet are a wimpy prince dude and a flying red t-shirt; I don’t suppose that would be them?”

The kitty shook her head sadly. “No, I’m afraid that’s not them. You’re sure you haven’t seen anyone else?”

“No, but I can help you look, if you can give me some descriptions to go by. By the way, what’s your name? I’m Tabby.”

“I am Puffalump Kitty,” she announced grandly. “Well, Lavender Puffalump Kitty, technically. My cousin is Yellow Puffalump Kitty, you see, but since we live in different groups we usually shorten our names. Oh, yes! The others– well, they’re about my size, but different colors, and– well, different kinds of animals. There’s Puffalump Bear, and Puffalump Puppy, and Puffalump Cow, and Puffalump Bunny, and Puffalump Lamb...”

“I get the picture,” Tabby held up her hoof to silence her. “Now, they’re all lost? What were the circumstances surrounding their disappearances? Was it a group abduction, or did you go one by one?”

Puffalump Kitty shuddered. “Oh, I do hope it’s nothing like an abduction, but I am getting worried! No, it happened gradually. Puffalump Lamb was the first; she had been out walking with Puffalump Cow and as they were crossing a bridge, she slipped and fell into the river and was swept away into the rapids. Puffalump Cow looked for her and got the rest of us for help, but we couldn’t find a trace of her.”

“How horrific!” Tabby said sympathetically.

“And that was only the beginning,” Puffalump Kitty said sadly. She continued to list the sad fates of the rest of her gang: separations that occurred on long trips, wandering off alone, never returning from shopping trips. Each incident ended the same way; no trace was to be found.

“And now I’m the only one left,” Puffalump Kitty said tearfully. “If there truly is someone behind all this–”

Puffalump Kitty was unable to finish her statement, so it was just as well that Tabby’s companions burst in on the scene at this moment. “ ‘Morning, Tabby,” Tarquin yawned. “We thought we heard you over here– say, who’s she?”

“This is Lavender Puffalump Kitty,” Tabby introduced them. “And Kitty– these are my, er, friends– Tarquin, Prince Adam, Orko, Sam, and Max-- Sam and Max?? Hey, wait a second! Where did you two come from?”

“We heard you were about to serve breakfast,” Sam explained.

“Puffalump Bunny!” Puffalump Kitty gasped, catching sight of Max. “Oh, wait, you’re not...”

“EEP!” Max exclaimed, ducking behind Sam. “This is going to be another of those Tea Bunny fiascos, isn’t it?”

“I sure hope not, little buddy,” Sam said. “I’m still trying to recover from the last time.”

“We’re pleased to make your acquaintance, Lavender Puffalump Kitty,” Prince Adam said solemnly, turning to the Puffalump.

“Ooh!” Orko said excitedly. “I just thought of something. Would you like to join us for breakfast, Lavender Puffalump Kitty? Made by myself!”

“Oh, please, you may all call me Puffalump Kitty,” the Puffalump said demurely. “And I should love to join you for breakfast, if I wouldn’t be intruding.”

“Of course not. Puffalump Kittys taste good!” Max said brightly.

“Max, you don’t like cats! Or something like that... you know what I’m saying!” Sam chastised him.

“That will be perfect!” Tabby said brightly, even if she was not overly fond of Orko’s cooking. “Then you can acquaint all of the others with your plight, and then we can organize a plan of action.”

Puffalump Kitty expressed her heartfelt thanks and followed them back to their camp. Over plates of unidentifiable burnt food items, they discussed the problem; and as Kitty finished her story, Prince Adam hurriedly excused himself and ran off into the forest; shortly thereafter, following a tremendous flash of lightning which seemed very out of place on the clear day, He-Man appeared on the scene.

“Prince Adam told me of your plight,” the handsome barbarian said gravely. “I will be happy to aid you in any way I can.”

“Very kind of you, sir!” Puffalump Kitty said gratefully. “We had just decided on taking ourselves up in my hot air balloon to do some aerial scouting, if you’d like to join us.”

“I’d be honored,” He-Man replied.

With that, the troupe made their way to the Puffalumps’ village and loaded themselves into the yellow woven basket of the balloon Kitty had spoken of. Puffalump Kitty, adept at using this piece of transportation, soon had them lifted high into the air; and with binoculars, they all scouted the landscape for signs of Kitty’s missing friends.

“No sign of the twerps anywhere,” Tabby, her mind wandering, said in disappointment, peering through her pair of binoculars with Tarquin doing the same perched on the rim beside her.

Max jumped up besides Tarquin. “That’s right, we need to catch that Pikachu for the boss!”

“Hold up, little buddy! Wrong cartoon!” Sam reminded.

“Aw, come on, can’t I have a Pikachu?” Max pleaded.

“No. Remember what you did with the last one?”

“Oh, come on! He got better.”

Anyway, they looked on for quite some time but couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary in their aerial perspective of the rolling hills and gently flowing rivers. Finally, He-Man suggested they go back to the Puffalump village and search the premises carefully.

On the ground again, the group swarmed throughout the small village looking for signs of the departed residents. Tabby had been searching through Puffalump Bunny’s bedroom until she spotted the computer system set up in the corner. “Ooh!” she squealed, dashing over to it. “I wonder if it has internet access?” Soon she was happily surfing eBay, and that was where the others found her when they regrouped sometime later.

“Tabby,” Tarquin said accusingly, “you were supposed to be helping us in the search, not wasting time online.”

“Shh!” Tabby held up her hoof. “I was searching. In fact, I turned up something really interesting. There’s this one eBay seller that has all of Puffalump Kitty’s friends up for bid!”

“On eBay?” Puffalump Kitty gasped, pushing through to the front of the gathered congregation. “Let me see!” Tabby brought up the five auctions one-by-one, and Puffalump Kitty confirmed that they were, indeed, her missing friends. “This is horrible! Oh, it’s cruel! We must save them!”

“What evil power can have trapped them in this magic box?” He-Man asked, coming forward as well; he was about to swing at the monitor with his sword.

“No, He-Man!” Tabby held him off just in time. “We need it to bid on them. They end in only a few hours, and this same guy has already bid on all of them!” She pointed to the five consecutive “High Bidder” spaces that all listed the same User ID: gokumustdie@northcity.com.

“Time is short,” said He-Man. “You’d best get to work.”

Tabby cheerfully began bidding and was happy to see that she was able to get the high bid on all five of them. “Cool! Now we just have to wait for them to end,” she said. “One hour, five minutes, and eight seconds until the first one ends.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to win them?” Puffalump Kitty said anxiously.

“It’s so nerve-wracking waiting,” Tabby agreed. “But hopefully it’ll work. Ooh, let’s see what other stuff the seller has up for sale. Maybe we can save on shipping. What should we search for?”

“Ooh, I’ve been looking for a new saddle for Battlecat,” He-Man spoke-up. Then everyone started shouting out at once what they wanted to look for.

“For Pete’s sake!!” Tabby shouted, her nerves on edge. “One at a time, people!!”

The next hour was spent searching for everything imaginable on eBay; everyone there have different ideas for what to search for. Finally, Tabby remembered that the Puffalumps were ending soon; she hurried back to that screen.

“Oh, no!” she gasped. “This ‘gokumustdie’ dude is back, and he’s outbid us on all of them!”

“Bid higher!” Sam urged.

“Don’t let him win!” Max agreed.

“Keep bidding!” The two went back and forth at this for awhile, until Sam said, “Here, use his credit card,” and handed He-Man’s credit card over to Tabby.

Tabby proceeded to do just that, but was alarmed to see that whatever she bid her rival was willing to top. Everyone waited in breathless anticipation. Finally there were only a few seconds left. Tabby placed a final bid on Puffalump Cow, and “gokumustdie@northcity.com” didn’t have time to bid again; so even though he won four of the five, Tabby had gotten Puffalump Cow.

“Oh, but whatever will we do about the others?” Puffalump Kitty pleaded.

“We’ll track them down,” Tabby promised. “Look, the seller’s enabled Instant Checkout. We can get his address right away and pay a visit to him personally! Then we’ll be able to find out what he’s up to!”

“What if we don’t get there in time, and the other Puffalumps have already been shipped?” Tarquin wondered.

“Hmm... well, we’ll have to move fast. And it depends on how this other guy pays for his Puffalumps. If he uses PayPal, you know, the sellers says he’ll ship instantly, so... anyway, here’s the address. Anyone know where this place is?”

Sam looked at the address. “Sure, we can get you there. Everyone in the DeSoto!”

Everyone started to move out, but Max ran in front of them, waving his arms in the air and shouting, “I want shotgun!”

When everyone was successfully piled in the strange police car, Sam cautioned, “Hang on!” and they were off.

* * *

Upon arriving at the place of residence of the Puffalump seller, He-Man set to work trying to bodily force the door in while Orko attempted several spells on it. Tarquin convinced them to stand back while he tried something, and he proceeded to ring the doorbell.

It was opened by a middle-aged woman who eyed the congregation suspiciously. “What are you people, salesmen? We don’t want anything!”

“We’re not salesmen,” Tabby said impatiently. “We’re here to pick something up we won on eBay.”

“Oh!” Understanding dawned on the woman’s face. “You must be friends of Billy’s! He’s in the basement. Just go around the side of the house and; you’ll see the entrance. And,” she added as they moved off, “while you’re down there, tell him to clean up his room!”

Tabby fearlessly descended into the collector’s lair, and they were met by a shaggy, overweight, long-haired individual with little personal hygiene. Tabby judged him to be in his twenties. “I’m here to pick up Puffalump Cow,” she said abruptly, thrusting a print-off of the eBay checkout page in his face. “And to get some information from you.”

“Um, okay,” the seller said after glancing over the paper. “Just a minute.” He turned to go deeper into his room and, without waiting for an invitation, Tabby and gang followed him. Puffalump Kitty gasped as she caught sight of something stuffed in a large zip-lock bag sitting in a priority mail box surrounded by packing peanuts.

“Puffalump Cow!” Puffalump Kitty gasped as she caught sight of her friend. “She’s trapped! Where are the others??”

“Oh, I already sent them off this morning. Someone else was high bidder, you know.” The collector picked up the bag with Puffalump Cow and held it out to Tabby. “You have payment on you, right?”

“Ooh,” said Tabby thoughtfully. “I guess I forgot all about that! Hey, do any of you guys have any cash I could borrow?”

“Of course! We have Prince Adam’s credit card right here!” Max said brightly, tossing the card ovet to her.

“Give that back!” He-Man objected. “I mean-- Prince Adam needs that back!”

“Forget it! The Puffalump!” Tabby said urgently.

“Oh... right!” He-Man strode forward, sword in hand. “Relinquish the Puffalump immediately, you villainous kidnapper!” he thundered.

The sight of the sword caused the collector to drop the bag in shock, and Puffalump Kitty ran forward to extract her friend from her confinement. The two Puffalumps hugged and reassured themselves that they were both okay before running off to the other end of the room.

“What have you done with the others?” He-Man demanded, backing his opponent up against the wall.

“I said I already shipped them off this morning after the bidder payed with PayPal!”

“What were you doing with them in the first place?” Tabby continued the interrogation menacingly.

“Yes!” Puffalump Kitty said indignantly. “How could you do this to my friends?”

“Hey, calm down! I sell a lot of stuff on eBay, and this one user e-mailed me asking if I had any Puffalumps. I said I’d see what I could do, and... found... a few to post for auction. I only sell on eBay, to get more feedback,” he added as an afterthought.

“FOOL!” Sam thundered. “By selling four items to the same bidder, you’re still only getting one feedback!”

“You kidnapped us all, that’s what you did!” Puffalump Cow spoke up. “ ‘Found’, indeed!”

“This guy who originally asked you about Puffalumps, is he the one that won the other four?” Tarquin queried.

“Yeah, yeah, it was the same guy. But I told you, he already paid and everything. They’re his.”

“Then where can we find him?” He-Man held his sword closer to the collector.

Totally freaked out by this point, the collector was willing to divulge some information concerning the other bidder. Tabby snapped the address from his hand and stalked off towards the door. “Thank you, and next time I’d suggest not capturing poor defenseless creatures for your own profit,” she said haughtily, adding a final disapproving sniff before trotting back up the stairs and out of the house.

“You should be ashamed of yourself,” He-Man agreed as the others began to follow Tabby. Halfway up the stairs himself, he paused and added, “Oh, and your mom says to clean your room.”

The collector immediately broke out into tears. “Aw, come on, Mom!”

They left him like that and conducted a quick meeting in the street to determine the best route to take to this Dr. Gero’s house, and then they were off again.

* * *

The DeSoto bumped along the forest road. Tabby kept a keen watch for any house numbers, or even any houses, in the wooded area. So far all they had passed were several domed structures that were unoccupied. The forest setting was completely empty except for the large group of people the crew finally spotted up ahead.

Tabby observed these characters with interest as they drove closer, and felt that she and her crew were nearing their destination. The newcomers were dressed in strange clothes, and some had even weirder skin colors. Their expressions conveyed that they were concerned about something, and they appeared to be surprised when the DeSoto drove up next to them.

“Hey, guys!” Tabby called out the rolled-down window. “Is this the Gero party?”

At the mention of this name, everyone in the assembled crowd gasped as they turned around to face Tabby with bulging eyes. “Gero! Are you friends of his?” a character with green skin confronted them, one eye bulging larger than the other, baring his fangs, with antennas twitching.

“Hey, calm down!” Tabby said cheerfully. “We’re just here to reclaim some Puffalumps we have reason to believe he has in his possession.”

“Ooh, are you here to help us fight him?” one of the others said eagerly.

The others in Tabby’s crew had begun piling out of the car. “We have no intention of fighting him,” He-Man declared, “but if he refuses to turn the Puffalumps over to us, we will be forced to meet violence with violence!”

“Whatever that means, it sounds cool,” Tabby agreed.

“So what are you guys doing here, anyway?” Tarquin queried.

“And how did they get such bizarre hair?” Tabby wanted to know.

Tarquin leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Maybe someone should tell them they’re not supposed to use the hair dryer when they’re in the shower.”

“The hair just comes with the job,” said the short, bald human, rubbing the back of his head while laughing a stupid, spasmatic laugh.

“What’re you talking about? You don’t have any hair!” Max exclaimed.

“Or a job, I’ll bet,” Sam added.

“And what’s with those six nostrils on your forehead?” Tabby said, standing in front of him and peering scrutinizingly down at him.

“They’re tattoos!” the stranger yelled.

“Yeah, whatever,” Sam said derogatorily. “Why don’t you just go fall in love with an android or something?”

After that intense verbal lashing, the human went off to sulk. “I like these guys,” said a short angry-looking fellow with black hair standing on end.

“Woah, now!” He-Man finally stepped in to chastise Sam, Max, and Tabby for their treatment of the stranger. “Let us not fight! Obviously we are all allies here, because we have not started fighting yet.”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” a small kid with hair just as bad as all the others stated. “You’ve only been here for ten minutes.”

“Hey! Maybe we should, like, introduce ourselves or something,” Tabby remembered. “Let’s not fight until we at least know everybody’s names, right?”

A tall human with black spiky hair jumped forward with a dumb smiley expression. He was dressed in orange pajamas and black boots, and he proceeded to introduce everyone of his party. “I’m Goku; the bald guy is Krillin,” he said, motioning towards the guy in the corner who they now noticed was dressed very similarly to this Goku character. Mussing up the kid’s hair, he continued, “This little guy here is my son Gohan.”

Gohan proceeded to wave and say “Hi.” He was wearing black baggy pants and a tanktop with a very thick poofy collar.

“And Yamcha,” Goku went on. The identified character, dressed similarly to Goku and Krillin, gave a thumbs up and a short greeting.

“And Chowsu.” This specimen was a short creature resembling a mime in heavy white makeup and white tanktop.

“Ew! A mime!” Max exclaimed. “Can we shoot it?”

“That wouldn’t be very nice,” Tarquin pointed out.

“Get it away!” Tabby shrieked, agreeing with Max.

“But come on, no one would miss it,” Max argued.

The mime proceeded to jump and hide behind the big bald guy who had an extra eye in the middle of his forehead. “If you wanna mess with my friend, you’ll have to go through me first.” he said.

“And that’s Tien,” Goku continued, “the angry-looking guy is Vegeta,” he said, pointing at the guy from before with the hair standing on end in the blue jumpsuit. “And the other angry-looking guy, is, of course--”

“Shelby!” Max interrupted.

“No, my name’s Piccolo,” the green-skinned person said gruffly, antennae twitching. He was wearing an outfit like Gohan’, except in a larger size and with an added cape and turban.

“Look, tennies moved!” Max shouted.

“Cool!” said Tabby. “Okay, like, I’m Tabby; those’re Sam and Max; Tarquin of course; Orko’s the flying t-shirt thing; and Puffalump Kitty and Puffalump Cow, who we’re helping out here. Oh yeah, and--”

“And I’m He-Man,” the handsome barbarian introduced himself, striding forward, “the most powerful man in the universe.”

“Oh, really?” the one introduced as Vegeta stepped forward, squinting.

“Yes! I am Ad-- I mean, I am the defender of the secrets of Castle Grayskull. Fabulous secret powers were revealed to me--”

“Let’s see how fabulous those secret powers are,” Vegeta interrupted. He started grunting and straining as he began gathering energy. “I am prince of all Saiyans, and the most powerful being in the universe!”

“So, it is to be a friendly contest of strength?” He-Man said good-naturedly.

At that point, Max hopped by with an interesting device held before one eye. “His power level’s over five thousand!” he exclaimed.

“Five thousand? But that’s impossible!” Orko said in disbelief.

“What is that thing, and where did he get it?” Puffalump Cow wondered.

“You don’t want to know,” Tabby said. “Hey, Max! Lemme try it! Please?” She ran after him to try to obtain the power scouter for herself.

“Look, we don’t have time for this,” Tarquin spoke-up. “Shouldn’t we just go in and see about getting the Puffalumps back?” The two Puffalumps agreed, and they eventually got Tabby, Orko, Max, and Sam’s attention away from the impending fight. He-Man looked up and saw that his companions were ready to continue onwards; his mission remembered, he turned away to go with them.

“Wait!” Vegeta shouted as He-Man strode away. “I haven’t gained my full potential yet! Are you mocking me?!”

He-Man led the way up the rocky butte to which the address had led them; a cave entrance towered above them, blocked with a steel door. Finally, they stood assembled before it and determined what course of action to take next. The Z fighters had followed them (minus Vegeta) and stood at the cave entrance, their eyebrows twitching.

“Ooh, it’s so sparkly!” Tabby exclaimed, peering down at the forest below them toward Vegeta in the clearing. Energy was swirling around him, and the earth in his immediate vicinity was collapsing into a crater with him at the epicenter. Nearby trees were beginning to tumble, clouds gathered over head, and strange atmospheric disturbances rippled through the air. “How impressive!” Tabby was also in a good mood because she had managed to score the power scouter away from Max, which she now flaunted without knowing really what it did.

“So you’re sure this is Gero’s lab?” He-Man questioned of the Z fighters. He would not break into one’s house unless he was absolutely certain that that one was the guilty party.

Goku nodded his head. He-Man proceeded to throw himself and his sword against the heavy metal door in an attempt to break it in.

“Wait! He hasn’t done anything evil yet!” Goku shouted.

“He outbid me on eBay! You don’t call that evil?!” Tabby seethed, turning away from Vegeta’s showcase.

To the horror of the Z fighters, He-Man successfully broke down the door and ran inside. Stunned, they could do nothing but stare at the scene before them as their eyebrows twitched violently and they groaned with disdain. However, not one of them moved even an inch to stop He-Man or the rest of his crew from filing into the lab.

The eight quickly took in their surroundings. They were in a lab of sorts, surrounded by big machinery. What particularly caught their eye, though, were the four large test tubes situated in the middle of the room. Floating inside each was one of the missing Puffalumps: Puffalump Bear, Puffalump Bunny, Puffalump Puppy, and Puffalump Lamb.

“Oh!” cried Puffalump Kitty and Puffalump Cow, rushing forward.

At that point, another strange character stepped out from behind a large computer monitor. He wore big yellowish baggy pants, in addition to having big baggy sleeves and a hat shaped like stovepipe. His face was adorned with a weird mustache and beard.

“Who are you?” Tabby gasped.

“I am Gero,” he ominously revealed himself.

“What are you doing with my friends?” Puffalump Kitty cried in distress.

“I’m creating an army of cute little androids which will be evil, destructive, and unstoppable. But the greatest thing of all is that they will be cute, and no one will be able to bring themselves to destroy them, or even fight them. Behold!” And with the flick of a lever, his machines started spitting out cute little fuzzy Puffalump androids.

Meanwhile, the Z fighters had stepped into the doorway to get a better look. They all just stood there, convulsing uncontrolably, as if they’d never seen true evil before. “It’s-- it’s--- horrible!” Piccolo responded.

“Aww,” Tabby cooed upon seeing the cute little androids. “Aren’t they adorable?”

“They’re-- they’re just too cute!” He-Man said remorsefully, sheathing his sword. “I can’t bring myself to harm them.”

“That’s okay, we can,” Sam said, he and Max jumping in on the scene. Pulling out guns, the two started sending cute fuzzy little Puffalump androids to the next dimension.

In no time at all the carnage was over. The others were left in shock as the dust cleared, revealing the cute critters laying in pieces on the ground.

“How horrific!” Puffalump Kitty gasped.

“How gruesome!” Puffalump Cow agreed.

“How fun!” Max added.

However, He-Man was already at work setting free the original four Puffalumps from their test tubes. Thankfully, they were no worse for wear and the six friends had a joyful reunion. “I’m so glad to see all of you again!” Puffalump Kitty said tearfully as they all joined for a group hug.

“Ooh! Look at all the pretty numbers!” Tabby exclaimed, still wandering around with the scouter.

Gero was now kneeling on the ground, crying. “Another plot failed!! And this time I would have succeeded if not for you meddling kids!”

“The writers must be having a difficult time with the dialogue for this episode,” Sam commented.

“Come on, Sam, give ‘em a break! They’ve been doing this for twelve chapters already!” Max replied.

“How could you have defeated the androids so quickly?” Piccolo exclaimed.

“Well, maybe if you would have done something instead of stand there staring!” Tarquin said in exhasperation.

The Puffalumps, eager to return to their peaceful lifestyle back home, hurridly expressed their thanks to Tabby and crew and were off to get back to their village. Meanwhile, the two groups that were left stood chatting about the battle while Gero managed to slink into the shadows and dissapear.

Everyone gradually began gravitating back to the mouth of the cave, making plans for departure. However, they had all forgotten about Vegeta until suddenly, from out of nowhere, the fully-powered being flew straight towards He-Man with deadly intent in his eyes!

“Now we’ll find out who’s really the most powerful being in the universe!” he cried.

He-Man drew his sword and prepared to defend himself. Tabby began jumping up and down excitedly on the sidelines. “Wheeeee!” she cheered. “C’mon, fight!”

To be continued...


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