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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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."

"Oh, that's so nice!" Rapunzel said. "He has quite the nice garden, doesn't-"

Someone slammed a hand down up in the cab of the truck. "Hey, you all pipe down back there!"

His fur frizzed with a light growl in the base of his throat, then he glanced at the rest, dropping his voice.

"Don't worry. We'll get out of here, tonight."

At first, Rapunzel looked uncertain... But Gobo seemed confident, and that gave her hope.

It was late by the time the truck pulled in at a large warehouse. Shortly after the truck stopped running, two of the poachers stepped in. One of them lifted the cage, and paused for a moment on spotting Rapunzel.

"How'd that get in here? Boss, we caught something extra. Little songbird, by the looks of it!"

"People will pay for anything. Just keep it in there."

"Hey! What's taking so long!" The voice barked, and then directed the cage to be brought inside. The warehouse was dark and seemed abandoned, though its sheer size gave it an almost creepy ambiance in the background. Gobo and the others looked out the bars as it was carried over to a stack of crates, where it was roughly set down and shoved back, and a canvas thrown over to obscure it and make it look like everything else.

"Let's go. You, guard the door. And you the other side. I'm going to call the buyer." With those rough directions the sound of heavy footsteps of multiple people receded off, and everything was just the sound of the silent warehouse, humming ominously around them.

Once the poachers had dispersed, Rapunzel glanced up at Gobo in alarm - as did a couple of the other Fraggles. Flop was among them, and he spoke up as he twisted his fingers together - his previous snark quite absent, now.

"Gobo, you've been all over. Don't you have any ideas?"

Rapunzel sighed heavily. "I can't use my magic like this... Although I'm not sure how helpful it would even be in this situation," she admitted. "A buyer... I don't think we have time to wait for Uncle Scrooge."

Gobo sighed, breathing through his nose.

"Just... Gimme a minute to think, guys. I won't let you down."

He went to the far end of the cage and plopped down, folding his arms and dropping his head. If anyone came to look, they'd see his expression tight with intense thought.

"Hey," Rapunzel began, resting a wing on Gobo's knee, "you're not alone in this. We'll all think of something. Together."

"She's right, Gobo," Douglas added. The others nodded. "We'll figure something out."

Unfortunately, 'something' turned out to be a long time coming. The night passed on somewhat uneventfully, save for snippets of conversation from the guards outside. While this did give them news that the buyer wasn't collecting until morning, that also gave them an unfortunately short time limit. Gobo spent the hours alternating between pacing and sitting in a corner, obviously upset at not thinking of something to help.

Sighing deeply, he leaned against the cage, arms dangling outside and head bent up, eyes shut tight. Behind him, Douglas played a soft, drawling tune on a harmonica; conversation had died some time ago, and most of the others were in similar states of subdue.

As it grew late, Rapunzel flitted back and forth within the cage - she could fit out through the bars, but she felt bad leaving her new friends behind.

She landed on Douglas' head, enjoying the sound of the harmonica - as sad a sound as it was, music was music. After a second or two, she started to trill along to the tune.

Douglas glanced up at the additional music, then smiled through his playing and closed his eyes again, adding a little trill of his own to it. Gobo sighed softly, listening to them, tail lightly flipping back and forth on the floor of the cage.

When he realized he was counting the tempo, he blinked and sat back a little. He stared off, eyes moving quickly at the sparks of an idea, then he turned abruptly and stood up.

"Guys!" A wince at the JUMP that caused, but he barrelled on ahead. "I've got an idea. We're gonna break out like Fraggles."

"Like Fraggles? What does that mean?" Rapunzel asked, looking confused. Sadie sat up from where she had been lying on the cage floor with a smile.

"Oh, we'll show you," she said, nudging Flop with her elbow. "Isn't that right?"

Flop positively grinned. "It's about time we did something fun tonight."

Gobo instructed the others to find something "to work with", and so they did. Sadie grabbed a broken but still sizable - and thick - piece of a wooden plank up and pulled it in between the bars. Flop pulled off his knit cap, reached inside it, and produced a pair of finger cymbals.

Gobo watched them with an approving nod, and then turned. "Rapunzel, Juju, keep an eye out for the guards." He walked closer to the middle of the cage, bringing a guitar around from behind him and sliding the strap over his shoulders. "The rest of you, follow my lead, and give those bars some great hits."

He looked back one way, listening carefully just to make sure the initial coast was clear, and then he started to play.

♪ Well they threw us in a cage and there's
No key
We gotta find a way that we can
Get free
There's just one thing that
Might be found
Gotta rock this joint 'til the bars fall down
'Cause everybody here's gotta shout 'til we all break out
We gotta rock our way to freedom
We gotta roll right back and seat 'em
We gotta flip flop skipity hop
Back to Fraggle Rock ♫

As Gobo led the song, even as the others played their instruments they kept the beat on the bars of the cage, adding further percussion.

♪ Sadie took a stick and she
Banged bars
Flop started rockin' 'til he
Seen stars
Douglas blew a harp like a wild thing
Got myself a guitar and began to sing
'Cause everybody here's gotta shout 'til we all break out
We gonna rock our way to freedom
We gonna roll right back and seat 'em
Gonna flip flop skipity hop
Back to Fraggle Rock ♫

As their music and banging increased, something changed in the cage. Wherever a bar was hit, sparks flew out and left a glowing light, as if fire had been applied to the metal. Seeing this, Gobo grinned and glanced back to catch Rapunzel's eye, winking.

♪ Pack our backpacks back to Fraggle Rock
Pack our backpacks back to Fraggle Rock
Pack our backpacks back to Fraggle Rock

Don't need no key, don't
Need bail
Gonna bust right outta this
Old jail
Gonna beat those bars 'til they
Drop their locks
Gonna spring ourselves loose with a Fraggle Rock Rock

'Cause everybody here's gotta shout 'til we all break out
We gonna rock our way to freedom
We gonna roll right back and seat 'em
Gonna flip flop skipity hop
Back to Fraggle Rock ♫

The light increased, and cracks started appearing deep within. Gobo made a gesture, and hands reared back for final strikes.

♪ Gonna flip flop skipity hop
Back to Fraggle Rock ♫

He played a final bit on the guitar, leaning back before jumping down on the final note, timed with the rest of the group giving final bashes to the bars. They gave way like superheated metal, and the top of the cage suddenly jerked down as three of the four walls shattered. Gobo was quick, grabbing it and supporting it up, and using his tail to wave.

"C'mon guys, let's move it! I know they heard that, we gotta ge outta here!"

As Rapunzel caught on to the plan, a smile formed on her beak, and even as she kept watch, she whistled along to the tune Gobo was playing.

As soon as they were free, she flew into the air with a triumphant laugh, then started moving through the warehouse along with the others.

"That was fantastic! Gobo, what a great idea!"

"Just Fraggles doing what they do best!" Gobo flashed her a thumbs up, before putting on the speed to get to the front of the group. Already he could hear voices shouting outside.

"Don't go for the front, they'll spot us! Find some kinda back entrance!"

Rapunzel - having a literal bird's eye view - looked around for a better exit path. "That way!" she called upon spotting something, flying off just as gunshots could be heard through ringing through the air.

The sound caused a couple of them to shriek, but Gobo just charged on ahead, following Rapunzel. The exit door was locked at first, but a five-Fraggle battering ram took care of that, and they spilled out into the pre-dawn. Once they were in cover under one of the parked work vehicles, Gobo edged out to where he could see, breathing deeply.

There was a lot of noise outside, but none of it seemed nearby. It all seemed to be coming from around the other side of the warehouse, near the front. Juju edged up on hands and knees, looking up nervously.

"Think it's our rescue?"

"It could be, but..." Rapunzel trailed off, nervously fidgeting. If it was Uncle Scrooge, he could be in serious trouble. Sure, he could handle himself - logically she knew that - but that didn't stop the fear. What if he'd brought some of the others with him? Daniel, or Bridge, or anyone could also be in horrible danger right now. She felt the fear starting to take hold of her once more, but this time, she fought it.

She flew out from beneath the vehicle, and over the top of the building to get a view of what was going on out front.

What she's going to see up there is plenty of trouble. A few bodies are scattered- unconscious, not dead -and there's currently one other fight going on, though it seems very one-sided.

On Scrooge's side.

The poacher took a swing and then aimed a kick, but they both went over the old duck's head as he dodged them easily enough. Grabbing the man's ankle, he pivoted his body around and, with a sharp cry, flipped the poacher up over his head and CRACK down onto the sidewalk. He released him quickly and waited to see if he'd get back up, but when he didn't Scrooge breathed a sigh of relief.

At the same time were some other muted thumps and sounds of fighting from inside, then a bit of relative silence before Daniel came running out to meet Scrooge as he finished off the last poacher.

"Uncle Scrooge!" He stopped and raised his mask onto the back of his head, waving behind him.

"I found the cage, but it's busted all to hell. Wherever the Fraggles are, they aren't in the warehouse anymore."

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