starlightcafe | D-D-D-Danger, watch behind you...

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D-D-D-Danger, watch behind you...

It was a nice night for flying. After spending most of her life told that being a Demon was something she should be ashamed of, Rapunzel still felt insecure about taking any form other than her human one - but with help from all the friends she'd been making, she was getting steadily more comfortable with who she was.

And flight was amazing, especially out here. Birchpointe was a little too smoggy and bright, especially for nighttime flying, but now? The air was clear and crisp, and the forested outskirts of Duckburg were quiet below Rapunzel. She weaved through the trees, feeling free as a- Well.

And then an odd sound, accompanied by a flash of light, caught her attention. It came from beyond the forest's edge, and Rapunzel - no longer the frightened young woman she'd once been - hurried over to check it out. It was a good thing she did, though what she saw left her feeling sickened. Unconscious bodies of unfamiliar creatures littered the ground, as men scooped them up, laughing cruelly all the while.

She managed to go unnoticed by those men as she landed by one of the creatures. A deep breath, and she focused her energy on shifting to a different form so she could make a stand - and start healing the little guys. The only problem? She didn't change. It wasn't the first time Rapunzel had been stuck, but it was certainly the worst moment for it. The next things she knew, she'd been picked up along with the creature she stood beside, apparently unnoticed in her very small current state.

And then she was thrown in a cage.

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The cage was attached to a large, strange machine with a digging spike and a sloshing tank, and as the assorted men climbed back up on it, it rumbled with the motor coming on. Soon it began down its track, facing away from the city.

As for the creatures in the cage with her, they were damp- from the water in the tank -and unconscious, one of the men having attacked them. As the vehicle went along though, they started slowly waking up one by one, in different states of panic within themselves and with each other. One of them, noticing someone hadn't woken up yet, went over to him and gently shook his shoulder.

"Gobo? Hey... Gobo, wake up..."

Thankfully this brought him around, and he sat up with a low moan, putting a hand to his head.

"Ohh, what happened-?"

For a good long while, Rapunzel was simply frozen in her own panic, standing in a corner of the cage. It wasn't until one of the creatures - Gobo, apparently - asked what had happened that she found her voice again.

Not that she really had a concrete answer.

"I'm not sure. I think you were all being hunted, or something. I- I tried to help, but I couldn't."

All their heads turned at the voice, but it was Gobo who leaned forward, holding a hand down for her to hop up into.

"Gosh, you're not a Fraggle... Who are you?"

Rapunzel did hop into his hand, looking a bit sheepish. "My name is Rapunzel. Fraggle? Is that what you all are? I've never heard of that..."

Then again, there was a lot she was unfamiliar with, still.

"Yeah, we're all Fraggles." He turned a bit, gesturing with his other hand. "This is Sadie, Douglas, Juju, and Flop. My name's Gobo."

He looked up and around them, expression darkening some. "A cage. I was afraid this would happen..."

Rapunzel waved a wing, before her expression became serious. "You were? But why is it happening? I don't understand..."

Gobo paused, glancing around at the group, then sighed.

"Let's just say it'll be very bad news if we don't get out of here."

He transferred Rapunzel to a shoulder and stood up, to look through the bars. The vehicle rumbled along to a lonely road, were a large covered truck was waiting. Once parked, the men hopped off and picked up the cage, to roughly throw it into the back, where it landed hard and butted up against a wooden crate.

"Oh," Rapunzel breathed. She settled in a bit on Gobo's shoulder, though it was hard to be comfortable at all when she was so scared. Not that it mattered much, because she fell down to the cage floor when it was tossed.

When she got back to her little talons, she wore an expression that was a mix of apprehension and determination. "In that case, we'd better get to work on finding a way out."

"I think we'd better." He paced the floor of the cage, as much as he could at least, hand to chin to think. The other Fraggles also bent together to try and plan, though each idea was as outlandish as the last and none seemed they'd work. A momentary distraction was found in the truck starting off, but then they went back to it.

Sighing, Gobo knelt down and offered a finger for Rapunzel to hop up on to. "Were you hurt? Can you fly any?"

She hopped up on Gobo's finger and gave a few experimental flaps of her wings.

"Actually, I think I'm alright to fly."

He brightened then, going over to the edge of the cage. "Great! Now where to... Oh!"

Gobo carefully moved his hand through the bars, toward the flapping back of the truck's cover.

"When you get out there, look for this big, BIG building with a funny looking 'S' on the front and a round, red roof. In there you can ask for Scrooge McDuck. He's a friend of mine, and he'll know just what to do."

"And hurry!" one of the other Fraggles added, and the others nodded.

"The Money Bin, okay," Rapunzel said without giving it a second thought. "I'll be fast, I promise."

Gobo was right, Uncle Scrooge would certainly know what to do. She was used to flying for leisure, but with the stakes so high, she made it to the Bin quickly, indeed; flew up to knock a her talons against the office's window.

Scrooge was just winding up a little late minute work, having helped Huey on a project during the day. Now, it was nearly time for him to go home-

At least, until he heard the gentle tapping on the window. Looking up, he went over and opened it, holding out a hand.

"Rapunzel, lass! Goodness me what're you doin' out at this time of night?"

Rapunzel landed in his hand, briefly flashing a grateful smile while she caught her breath. It took nearly a solid minute, but as soon as she was able to speak again, the whole story came spilling out.

"...It was Gobo's idea to come get you," Rapunzel said, and for a moment, it seemed that her sadness had doubled, but she pushed through. "We don't have much time."

Scrooge listened to her story with a mixture of anger and fear, and by the end of it he was staring out the door with a rather steely glare.

"Good on you, Rapunzel. You and Gobo. This is a dangerous situation but you've got me now." He lifted her up some. "What land were you flying over?"

You've got me now.

She relaxed considerably at that, and let her wings slump down as she breathed a sigh of relief. "I was out at the edge of the forest outside of town - the one near the mountain range."

"Good. That gives us a place to start. If you think you can fly back out there, then go! Tell Gobo that I'm on the job, and I won't stop until he and his friends are all safe."

He snorted, his other hand pushing his hat forward. "There'll be none of this, not in Scrooge McDuck's backyard!"

Rapunzel nodded, her usual smile returning with some extra spunk and determination. "You've got it, Uncle Scrooge! I'll see you there!"

She took to the sky once more, making a beeline for where she had left the truck - and finding it not too far off from there. She dove back in, towards the cage where the Fraggles were.

"He's... Coming..." she panted, still grinning.

Rapunzel will find the Fraggles sititng on a circle in the bottom of the cage, still talking amongst themselves about the situation and ways to get out. She'll be coming in on Juju suggesting what sounded like some kind of rope boomerang- no idea on where they'd get either, mind -and it was Gobo who turned to catch her as she returned.

"Great news!" He smiled, giving her head a careful little skritch. "Thanks a bunch, Rapunzel. You probably saved our lives with that."

Her smile faded a bit, though she still nodded. "It was your idea to get him, Gobo. And it was a great idea. How are you all doing?"

"Yeah, but you were the one who did it." A chorus of agreement answered him, as he moved to sit down again, setting Rapunzel on his knee.

"We're about as well as we can expect, I guess," Douglas answered. "As stuck as we ever were, and about all outta ideas."

Rapunzel just nodded, settling down comfortably on Gobo's knee.

"Well, Juju has ideas. But they're not very helpful," Flop pointed out. Sadie lightly shoved him, hissing that he was being rude, and Rapunzel had to smile.

"Well, what I heard would have been a fine idea if we had the materials, I'm sure."

"Except we don't," Douglas quipped. That earned a look from Gobo this time, who glanced up.

"Here." He pulled something from a pocket of his vest, a small water canteen. A little was poured out in the lid that he then set down for Rapunzel. "It's not much, but you earned it after that trip."

Rapunzel smiled before sipping up the water. "Thank you, Gobo. I really needed that. I'm sure Uncle Scrooge will be here soon... How do you know him?"

"Oh, he lets me take vegetables from his garden. We were there earlier today, actually." He smiled a little at the memory, while passing the canteen around to the others. "I'm glad you knew him too, that made the whole thing a bit easier."

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