Everyone ready to attack? ;)

Mike: You'd better believe it.

Micky: Ready.

("Midnight" begins as everyone takes their consoles. Mike grabs a controller and watches as what looks like your basic blocky spaceship crawls across the screen. Half-way across, it suddenly starts changing shape! Slowly, it twists and turns until it resembles an oversized robot cat!)

(Mike blasts catnip into orbit. The cat follows the floating catnip into deep space, disappearing behind a planet. We eventually see it rolling around the planet, playing with it.)

(Emma attacks the cheese ship. She blasts what looks like an oversized robot mouse, which chases the cheese ship.)

(Mike grins and attacks a ship that transforms into a penguin. He blasts robotic fish into the air; the penguin waddles after it.)

*Micky pulls a lever. A huge boxing glove pops out, punching a ship passing by.*

(Emma watches a ship shaped something like a pear guard a small asteroid. It's being attacked by ships that look like bears, monkeys, and pigs! Emma shoots all of the ships that attack the pear ship and the asteroid. When she finishes, a lion in a space suit pops out of the hatch of the pear-shaped ship and salutes her.)

(Mike pokes the "eyes" of a robot that looks like Moe of the Three Stooges.)

(Emma shoots a jar of honey at a ship that looks like a huge bear. The bear sits with the honey, dips his paw in, and eats with a smile on his face.)

*Micky mutters "Oh bother," chuckling.*

*Emilio turns on the monitor in his ship, viewing the inside of Sinestral's ship. Suddenly, a package drops on the floor of that ship. The top pops off, and a purplish gas spills from the box. Emilio smirks as Sinestral and his crew all start coughing.*

Sinestral: (Coughs over the intercom as the music ends) What...is...this...

Emilio: *Smirks* That is what is known on Earth as LA smog.

*Micky cackles.*

Master Sinestral: I'll...get...you...for...this...

Mike: Where in the hell did you get concentrated LA smog?

Emilio: I have...ways.

Emma: Maybe we'd better get to Zlotnick, before Sinestral and his boys manage to get over their coughing fits.

Emilio: We're still on course and should be there very shortly.

Mike: We gonna stop at your place, or go straight to the Grand Imperial Leader's domain?

Emma: Maybe we'd better go right to the Grand Imperial Leader. If things are this bad...

Emilio: *Nods* We're headed there.

(Cut to the plane flying past Sinestral's vehicle and into the green skies of Zlotnick. It looks pretty much the same as the last time we were in Zlotnick...though the skies seem a bit, well, quieter.)

Mike: (Frowns) It's awfully quiet for a tourist center.

Emilio: A lot of tourists are too scared to come through now.

Emma: If things are really as bad as you say, I'm not surprised.

Mike: (As they land in front of the Grand Imperial Building) Wow. Place hasn't changed. It's still awesome, like somethin' out of an old sci-fi movie.

Emilio: We like it.

Emma: Will we have any problems getting inside?

Mike: Yeah, we almost got killed goin' after Pete the last time we were here.

Emilio: Nope, I've got free access.

Emma: Good. We've been attacked enough for one day.

Mike: How was the Grand Imperial Leader doin' before all this happened?

Emilio: Getting better every day. And then...nothing.

Mike: (As they walk down the hall) When was the last time you saw the guy?

Emilio: Almost a week ago.

Emma: Did he seem upset or distraught? Did he say there was anything going on?

Emilio: No, he was fine. Then Sinestral showed up, and the Leader was no where to be found.

Mike: (As Emilio fiddles with a card, pulling it through the odd lock on the door to the Grand Imperial Leader's room) Does he still design those groovy video games of his?

Emilio: Oh yeah! He's got so many out, I can't keep up.

Mike: (As they go in) I hope the guy will let us play a few while we're here.

Emilio: He always does! We just have to FIND him...

(The room is even more overstuffed than it was when we first saw it in "Planet of the Monkees." There's tons and tons of action figures, electronic equipment, posters for galactic sci-fi conventions, stacks of sci-fi novels and popular plasti-zines about electronics and sci-fi, and piles and piles of plastic squares surrounding a blocky console.)

Emma: Is there something this guy doesn't have in here?

Mike: Organization ain't Ming's strong suit. You haven't gotten him to clean up in here?

Emilio: *Shrugs* Organization isn't my strong suit, either.

Emma: He could be anywhere in this mess!

Mingdar: (Very small voice, seemingly from the middle of nowhere) Hello? Is someone there? I'm stuck!

Emilio: Ming!?

Mike: Ming! Man, where are you? (He starts pushing piles of electronics aside)

Mingdar: Stuck behind the television console!

Emilio: Behind the...what?! *Pulls the console away and pauses* What the...

(A small pile of what looks like bluish goo with eyeballs and a mouth crawls out from behind the space. It seems to look up at them and grin.)

Mingdar: Thanks, Emilio! I thought I'd never get out of there!

Emilio: What happened to you, Ming!?

Mingdar: (The goo frowns) Sinestral and his goons attacked me. Sinestral wanted me to hire more workers for the mines in Colotah, to the west of here. I told him there wasn't anything left in them thar mines, and that what he had in mind for "workers" was more like slaves. There hasn't been slavery on this planet in over five hundred thousand years!

Emma: But how...

Mingdar: I tried to stop him, but his men had some kind of strange gun. I'd never seen it before...and believe me, I've seen some gagets! They shot this bright light, and when it subsided, I was a puddle on the floor! It was like I...melted!

Emma: No offense, but...ewww.

Mingdar: I think Sinestral and his minions are going to try to take over the planet and make everyone slaves for his mines!

Mike: Yeah, we already got some idea of that out in orbit.

Mingdar: Emilio, you're the head of our Squadrons. Do you think you could round up enough armies to defeat Sinestral, or at least tell him we're out of Acjax, go the hell home?

Mike: How many armies do you have on a planet that's peaceful, anyway?

Emilio: Not that many. That's the problem. Some of the cabbies might be game...

Mingdar: I miss those guys!

Mike: They still in operation?

Emilio: Of course!

Emma: Are these the crazy alien guys who drive the really, really fast cabs?

Mingdar: I LOVE their cabs! I've stopped taking the Offical Grand Imperial Car just so I can take their cabs everywhere!

Mike: Yeah, that's them.

Mingdar: Please find a way to reverse whatever he did to me! He might do it to other residents, too...or event tourists! Think what that could do to our tourist trade...and our economy!

Mike: (Looks at Emilio) Maybe it's time we called a cab.

Mingdar: Be careful!

Mike: Don't worry, Ming. We'll do what we can. (They all head back out. Cut to the area just outside the main entrance.)

Emma: Ok, how do we find these cabbies?

*Emilio lets rip with a VERY loud whistle.*

(We see a blur, and a very familiar cab stops on a dime - a literal dime, as the camera quick-cuts to one on the sidewalk. An equally familiar fat, round blue face in a newsboy's cap pokes his head out the window.)

Rocco: Anyone call a cab?

Mike: Rocco! Great to see you!

Emilio: Rocco, man!

Rocco: I'll be a son of a drapoel, I know you! You're two of them blokes what helped us a few years back! (Grins) Where you off to, Emilio? Takin' Miss Beth somewhere special?

Emilio: Well, Rocco... that's a bit of a long story.

Rocco: (Frowns) Bit of trouble, eh? (Pushes a button; all three unoccupied doors open at once) Hop in, mates. We'll talk about it in the cab.

(Rocco pushes the button again after everyone climbs in. The doors close...and the last we see of the cab is a blur as it speeds off into the waning daylight.)