We Are Born, and Born Again

Argon:
 
It was the New Year. The Furries were wearing silly hats and blowing 
noisemakers.  The band was playing and there was dancing and singing, and 
general Furry silliness.  
 
Asperion looked at the clock, "Only 10 minutes everyone!"  he began handing 
out soda pop from the refrigerator to everyone for a New Years toast!  The 
band continued to play, the lights and amplifiers all turned up to 11.  They 
watched the digital clock ticking down the seconds.
 
The crowd watched the clock and the big screen TV where the ball was getting 
ready to drop in Furry Square, "Here it goes," Shouted the bandleader, Ringo 
Squirrel!
 
Everyone's eyes were on the clock, when it reached 11:59:49, They started 
counting, "!0..9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1  Happy New Year!"
 
It was the first seconds of the year 2000.  The Furries all were kissing and 
snugging and hugging and patpatting. 
 
At that moment, at 1 second past 12:00,  all the lights went out, the band's 
amps went off, the refrigerator went quiet and the digital clock went blank.  
The Millenium had begun
 
Sandokan:
 
Everyone screamed in the sudden darkness! There was quite a bit of pandamonium
as most furs scrambled to grab something or someone.... many tails were stepped
on that night. Many were just adding to it all with their noisemakers. But
eventually Asperion's voice was heard above all the noise: "Quiet, everyone."
 
Can we please calm down!" Eventually the furs settled down a bit, but not 
without the occasional giggle. "Everyone please stay where you are while we 
look for the flashlights... " Asperion was heard saying. Suddenly a large 
boom, followed by a 'zzzzzzzZZZZZZzzzrt' was heard from outside - and 
everyone froze for a second.
 
WalksFar:
 
 Asperion made his way slowly to the window and pulled back the curtains.  No 
street lights shown.  No light anywhere except for a faint flicker of yellow
at the far edge of the city barely visible against a rich starry night.  He
cautiously opened a window and listened.  Only the sound of the wind hushed as
 
it passed between the high rises in the city center reached awaiting, 
terrified ears.  No traffic sounds, no pedestrians . . . no anything. . . .
 
 Asperion pulled back from the window slowly.  In the glow of a handful of
flashlights and now candles, he faced blanke, large eyed faces, bewilderment
and horror filled expressions fixed upon them.  "I . . . I'm sure it . . . it
it's just a power outage. . . ."
 
 Silent figures floated toward the window and faces pressed against it.
 
 "Y2K. . . ." a voice was heard to murmur.  Whimpers and cries of anguish
set in as realization caught hold.
 
 "What do we do now?"  Lost faces turned toward Aperion in desperation and
he had nothing of comfort he could say . . . what was there at all. . . .
 
Tarka:
 
Asperion opened his mouth, getting ready to say something, when another
ZzzzzzZZzZZZZZzzzz sounded through the house.  He looked up again.
 
"What was that?" asked a half dressed rabbit from the back of the house.
 
"How should I know!"  Asperion looked out the window again.  The yellow
glow at the other side of the city had brightened.  He set his paw on the 
window edge.  Then jurked it back as if it was biten.  The house was 
vibrating.
 
Then it happened, the room vibrated with power and a voice came out of
no where.  "PEOPLE OF EARTH.  WE ARE PIKACHU OF THE WORLD VONK.  YOU ARE 
NOW ALL OUR SLAVES.  SERVE US OR DIE."
 
Asperion looked around the room... "Ok... whos hte wise guy?"
 
Terry:
 
No one raised a paw. Asperion snapped, "Come on! This isn't funny!" But 
still, nothing, except for a whimper from a young lemur huddled in the 
corner, under an end-table.
   
Asperion slowly became aware of a yellow glow from the window behind him, as 
it cast his shadow faintly across the floor. After a few more seconds, it was 
no longer faint.
 
With a chorus of screaming and cursing, the entire party rushed for the back 
door, trampling each other and spilling bowls full of spiked punch and eggnog 
all over the new carpeting. Asperion stood there, too terrified to move... 
and soon only a few of them remained in the room.
 
Terrible screams and zapping noises came from the backyard, and the yellow 
glow shone brightly through the windows on all sides.
 
Argon:
 
Asperion made a bee linr towards the rear entrance, trying to plow through 
the frightened furs.
 
He opened the door, and looked into the back yard of the hall.  The yellow 
glow was so bight here it hurt his eyes, he squinted  and could hardly 
believe waht he was seeing.
 
As other furs came out the door behind him, they all saw other furs, some 
looking into the sky, others quaking in fear, as a huge object floated in the 
sky above them.
 
The object glowed a harsh sickly yellow, it buzzed as it hovered in the 
cloudless sky.  It's size was huge.
 
As they watched, out of the door, came a round sphere.  it had a stripe 
around it, and a raised round object on it's side.
 
It came down towards the ground, and opened, seeming to gulp up a quaking 
fur.  it then closed and returned to the floating object,where it entered 
with an electrical BBZZZZTTT!
"y Heavens," Aperion said, "It's a bug zapper!"  But it's zapping furs!
 
Sandokan:
 
One of the furs grabbed a fire extinguisher and valiantly fired it at the 
large sphere as it came back down, but it was no use... it hovered over the
furs a while and then came down, picking up another one. The desperate
fur threw the spent fire extinguisher at the object, but it just bounced off
with a crackle and some sparks. "Everyone, get inside!" Asperion yelled,
opening a hatch in his livingroom floor, and leading the scrambling furs
inside. Some of the less fortunate furries were still trapped outside, and
were heard screaming terribly. Some wanted to rush back out and help them, 
but were pushed back by the deperate crowd. 
 
WalksFar:
 
 After a while the only cries to be heard were from the space below the floor
where everyone now hid.  Asperion waited quietly until no one spoke.  All
listened for whatever sounds might come from above.  In the darkness, everyone
huddled around him, frightened children afraid of the boogey above.
 
 "We just can't wait for them to find us!" ventured a quavering voice.  "Gosh 
knows what they're doing to them!  We gotta get outa here!"
 
 "Where would you go?" demanded Asperion in a terse whisper.
 "Whatever it is, it ain't there anymore!  I see we get outa here!"
Aperion gurred in a gutteral voice.  "No one opens that hatch!  We're safe 
for now!"
 
 "This's a death trap!  We want out!"
 
 "If you go, you'll be caught!" Asperion growled.  "It's still up there!"
 
 As if on cue, yellow glow slipped through the cracks inbetween the
floorboards and a strange noise began.
 
 Asperion gulped.  He had heard that sound before.  "Chain saw. . . ."
 
Keith:
 
"First things first...will someone get their elbows OUT of my pancreas!" 
demanded a strong, contralto-like voice. The loud harmonics of the female 
voice made  a few of the furs jump as the sound broke their frightened 
silence as a small group shoved aside. "Thank you" a tall, imposing female 
feline walked towards  Aperion. The yellowish light reflected on her glossy 
dark fur and partially lit her stressed features. 
 
The eyes of some furs were already wide with terror. Confusion held court 
over the minds of everyone. 
 
Aperion hissed at the female "will you be quiet?" he whispered as loud as he 
could bring himself to.  Already the sound was growing nearer to where the 
door was, and some strange echoes of it were bouncing around....distorted, 
augmented.
 
"Do you want us to be silent prey now?" she snapped back, her voice was even 
louder "don't you see they are playing with us?"
 
"Kassandra, one final time, shut UP!" one of the furs stepped next to her and 
yanked at her arm, tryign to bring her back into the crowd, but she just 
shoved the poor creature aside
 
"What are you going to do, Ape?" she shot at him, relentless "are you going 
to babysit us here,  what next, give us your blessing before croaking?!"
 
The door started to shake, the sound of splintering wood caused everybody to 
feel sick... the intricate play of lights danced across Kassandra and 
Aperion's faces, each one not betraying their fears for their own reasons. 
Kassandra advanced "Open the door now!"
 
But there was no time for Aperion to react. the whine of the door increased 
as wood gave way to steel teeth. the female rushed towards Aperion, at the 
same time that the rest of the creatures went against the wall, their eyes 
wide and breaths cut. 
 
Tarka:
 
Kassandra picked up Asperion and pitched him out of the newly open hole in 
the roof like a rag doll.  "Get out there and fight Asperion.  Its your
home!"  She was right after him with long leaps.  When she burst through 
the hole a glowing blob made a bee line for her.
 
Asperion yelled as he went flying out into the livingroom.  Then landed right 
on top of one of the glowing blub.  He hugged it for dear life.  Not
wanting to be sucked inside of it.  It was only a moment before that 
Kassandra came through the hole.  His own blob was turning round and round
trying to get him.  Just enough time to read the lable on the back.
"Made in Hong Kong?  What the fing is this?" 
 
Terry:
 
With a snarl Kassadra slashed at the blob heading for her, but it stopped on 
a dime, avoiding her strike. In the split second before it darted off in 
another direction, the two furs saw a spindly mechanical mouse, painted in 
garish yellow and red stripes.
 
"Pikachu! Pikachu!" came a voice from the next room, and Asperion was flipped 
to the floor effortlessly as the two robots darted off.
 
"Did we... did we beat them?" Asperion asked, struggling to get to his feet.
 
"I don't think so..." Kassandra growled, crouched, ready to pounce at the 
first sign of yellow.
 
The light from the next room flashed white and red and yellow in rapid 
pulses, and high-piched giggling cries of 'pikachu' were slowly drowned out 
by a growing hum.
 
A sinister echoing voice, loud enough to rattle the paintings on the walls, 
called out, "BEWARE, I LIVE!"
 
Sandokan:
 
Asperion and Kassandra next heard footsteps outside the front door, and got 
ready to pounce. The door opened and two strange creatures, black with bright 
stripes, stood in the doorway. One of them bellowed: "You folks alright in 
here?"
 
The stressed-out furs looked at their foes, then at each other, then back 
again, rubbing their eyes. Looking once again, they realized they were 
standing face to face with... two firemen!
 
One of the firemen spoke again: "I said, are you furs alright? We were 
alerted by neighbors to a commotion in here, screams and such... is this some 
sort of party?" He stared around the room, perhaps looking for fires.
 
Asperion blurted, "We were attacked by big yellow electric aliens!!" 
Kassandra just stayed battle-ready, eyeing the new intruders cautiously. The 
fireman nodded, seeming to understand. "Suuuure you did." Suddenly the other 
one, who had been taking a closer look around the room, said "Hey Joe, look 
what they've got here."
 
Joe stepped up to his co-worker to see what was there. "Oh great... you 
people have been using Lucinogen crystals in your punch, haven't you!" he 
said. Asperion went to join them and sure enough, one was pointing at a small 
plastic bag of white crystals behind the punch bowl.
 
Terry:
 
Asperion started to deny it, but stopped at the sound of Kassandra's 
snickering. "Is it over?" asked a rabbit, poking his head out of the 
chainsawed hole in the floor. "Wow, that was some trip..."
 
A trio of foxes walked in from the kitchen. "Alright! Who gave it away before 
the... er, hi, officers."
 
"We're just firemen. What the hell did you do to this guy's house?"
 
Kassandra giggled, "Well, we needed it to be realistic..." She turned to the 
rabbit. "Go turn the power back on, will you?"
 
"Um, I did, Kassie, but I think a fuse is blown."
 
"Yeah, I'm afraid the whole power grid is down," said one of the firemen, 
"But I'm sure someone's working on it."
 
"At least there's no aliens, though," Asperion said, feeling a little dizzy. 
"And everyone's alright?"
 
"No, no aliens," the fireman said, "Come with us, sir."
 
 "Everything's okay, then..." Asperion said, quietly. He followed the furs in 
uniform out through the splintered ruins of the door. The sound of sirens and 
screams came from the distance, and the distant skyline of the city was lined 
in flames.
 
Behind him, the other partygoers filtered outside, staring around as the 
lucinogen crystals wore off.

"Yeah, nobody here but us furs."