Ok, then, everyone ready to finish this story?

Mike: PLEASE! :o

Peter: Ditto! :o

Micky: Ready!

Davy: Me too.

(We begin in the lobby of another hotel, this one far less ornate than the Hotel California. It looks like a typical 70s hotel room, with lots of earth tones and dark furniture. Emma and Mike huddle together on one end of the couch, Lauren and Micky in the other. Davy sits in another chair, holding an ice pack to his head. Peter walks in, smiling.)

Peter: Hi, guys! Valerie just called Matilda to tell her we'll be around to pick up Katie and Jordan soon. (Nods at Davy) Daphne's calling her folks to let them know when they'll be picking up Lizzie.

Mike: (Turns to Micky) I guess you already called your ma and told her when you'd pick up the twins and Leah.

Micky: Yeah, I did.

Bert: This was one heck of a story, ladies! Alternate dimensions, giant lizards, demons, people-eating mist...where did you come up with all this?

Emma: (Grins and nods at Lauren) Most of this was one of the most brilliant ideas she ever came up with.

Lauren: Yeah, it was all my fault. ;)

Emma: Except for the people-eating mist. That was my idea. I just thought of it when we wrote about the mist in the room whent they first put Mike in there.

Mike: What is it with you two and all this nasty shit? Man, I nearly got...misted to death!

Emma: Maybe this sounds nasty, but despite some scheduling problems, this was some of the most fun I've had doing the role-play in a LONG time.

Bob: When did this one pop up?

Emma: (Looks at Lauren) Sometime this winter or early spring, I think...

Lauren: It was a while ago.

Bob: Mike, Micky, I have to know. What did you do to the generator to make it blow up all those dimensions?

Mike: Just a few tweaks here and there.

Micky: Yeah, nothing much. ;)

Mike: We just gave the generator a bit of our power...and whatever was makin' the generator go wasn't crazy about our power.

Bert: Davy, Emma, Micky, Lauren, and Mike, how are all of you doing? You guys got the worst of it in this story.

Peter: Yeah! All Valerie and I did was wander around and play Mickey Mouse and Felix the Cat!

*Micky Lauren exchange looks, make faces, and stick their tongues out.* :P

Mike: I never want to be in fog again. I'll have nightmares about bein' trapped in that mist for the rest of my life, and I think I caught a cold. (He sneezes noisily for emphasis.)

Micky: The next time I see Alex... *makes a motion like he's strangling him*

Emma: Get used to seeing that mist, because it'll reappear later in the fall. (Sighs) As for me, I have no memories of anything that happened between Mike's disappearance and Daph finding me...and a lot of things are hazy until Mike fell into my arms.

Mike: That mist ain't gone?

Emma: This is actually the first part of what will eventually turn into something of a two-part story. (Nods at Peter) All I'm going to say is there's a reason the hotel looked familiar.

Mike: Now that you mention it, the place did give me a feelin' of deja-vu. I know I've seen a lobby like that before...

Peter: (Looks at Micky) Mick, you know about architecture. Have you ever seen an exterior like the Hotel California's before?

Micky: You know, it looked so familiar, but I just can't place it. It's driving me crazy.

Peter: Val and I, too. Valerie said she'll do some research on the Hotel California when we get back and find out who built it and when.

Mike: We did find out who owned it, though. Apparently, it was abandoned for years before our old friends Past, Present, and Future Inc. bought it in March.

Emma: That makes sense. March was the last time we saw them. They must have come up with this idea right after the incident with Honeywell and Madame and decided they needed more time to prepare.

Mike: Actually, I heard Sheila mention this to Alex when they were in there together. Us showin' up when we did was just pure coincidence...but a lucky one for them. They weren't plannin' on ever givin' our fans what they came for, 'sides each other's hormones.

Bob: Hey Davy, how about you? (Chuckles) That was quite a left hook Daphne gave you back there.

Davy: *touches the sensitive spot* No kidding mate, but I deserved it. I really got taken...again! :P

Mike: Davy, I hope this finally teaches you a lesson about followin' every cute chick you see. Just 'cause a girl looks hot and carries a candle and pink champagne doesn't mean she ain't bad news.

Davy: No more "other" women for me! I swear it this time!

Mike: Good. I understand you like a nice pair of legs, Dave, but not only does it still get us into trouble, you ARE married now, with a kid.

Davy: I know. :P

Bob: What about all those "alternate dimensions," Droopy Dog and the giant lizard and man-eating plants and Felix the Cat and Clark Gable?

Emma: I thought they would give us something to do besides pick on the boys. (Mutters) And Val said if we picked on Peter again after "Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Dolenz," she'd kill me.

Peter: Droopy Dog?

Mike: Giant lizards? Did you guys walk into "Godzilla?"

Peter: It's kind of a long story, Mike. Every time we walked into a door, we never knew where we'd end up! We might get a hotel room, or we might end up in another place or time, or a movie, or a TV show, or stock footage!

Mike: I'd like to know how a hotel could be filled with alternate universes!

Peter: We think the devils had to do with some of them...

Emma: ...But most of them, including the mist, came with the hotel.

Peter: That's why the devils left so quick. They couldn't control the mist, either, and it scared them as much as it scared us!

Micky: Something had control over that hotel, and it wasn't pretty.

Bert: So...where are you guys now?

Mike: In a hotel in a small town about an hour from LA. We checked into the first hotel we could find after we left and slept for most of the day, seein' how we didn't get much sleep last night.

Emma: (Leans against Mike) Not that we still got a lot of sleep, but... ;)

Mike: (Sighs, but smiles) We're gonna be checkin' out and headin' home as soon as we finish here.

Emma: Oh, speaking of checking out, I have a lot of credits for this one. We'd like to thank Paramount for the use of Felix the Cat, MGM/Sony and Warner Bros for the use of Droopy Dog, and Columbia Pictures for the stock footage and the scene from "It Happened One Night."

Mike: And special thanks to our editors and special effects people for their great work on the demons, giant lizard and tiger, and man-eating plants and mist.

Bob: Micky, are your hands better?

Micky: Yes, thankfully. They returned to normal when Lauren and I got together.

Bert: Couldn't have been easy to fight a huge tiger with no hands!

Peter: From what you guys say, I'm really glad the worst that happened to Val and me is running into crazy walking hammers and outrunning trains! We had it easy!

Emma: (Turns to Mike) Honey...what WAS it like in that mist?

Mike: (Closes his eyes) It was like I was bein' eaten by fog. It was so THICK, and it kept closin' around me and' closin' around me and pullin' at me. I felt like I was bein' turned to Jello or somethin'.

Peter: Ewwww... :p

Mike: Pete, you were right when you said the mist was alive. (Opens his eyes) I think it WAS alive.

Micky: It might've been. :P

Mike: It was like it had a mind all it's own, and it was hungry...

Bert: My god. (Pause) What about the man-eating plants?

Peter: (Shrugs) They were easy to avoid, once you knew what to get around, but they DID scare Val and me when we were first out there!

Mike: There were man-eatin' PLANTS, too?

Peter: Yeah! Half the garden tried to have Val and I for a snack!

Lauren: Yuck! :P

Mike: Man, I've heard of livin' off the land, but not the land livin' off US.

Bert: Hey, what happened to Charlotte and all those slaves?

Mike: Sheila and Alex said they'd let the slaves go. I don't know if they did or they didn't, but if the slaves wanna leave now that the dimensions are gone, that's up to them.

Emma: As for Charlotte, she called her father when we arrived here.

Mike: (Mutters) After we practically forced that brat to. She didn't wanna to back to the sanitarium, the little idiot..

Micky: Awful. :P

Emma: Guys, that's not a nice way to talk about your fans. (To the producers) Charlotte's upstairs, sleeping off whatever Sheila and Alex did to her. Her father's driver will pick her up later this afternoon. I don't know if she's going to end up back at the sanitarium, or will just dry out at her father's house. She wasn't too coherent when we arrived, being in the same car as all four of her idols.

Peter: We promised her an autographed copy of our soundtrack album when she goes home and dries out.

Bert: Here's a question. Why were Sheila and Alex rounding up all of your fans?

Emma: Well, because we wanted to show that the guys do have fans, ones who would be desperate enough to listen to two devils to get to them.

Mike: Why were half of them men?

Emma: I know guys who listen to you too, honey. ;)

Peter: Val thinks Sheila and Alex planned on luring us to the hotel eventually, but not quite this soon.

Bert: So, what's on tap for next month?

Mike: At this point, Bert, your guess is as good as mine. We were gonna do a mystery spoof, but the girls said somethin' about a new idea of Lauren's...

Micky: *groans* Oh no. :P

Lauren: Hey!? *elbows Micky*

Emma: (Grins) Yes, we're going to have another very interesting Lauren story. We're still working out plot details at this point.

Mike: What kind of details?

Emma: Oh don't worry, dear, I'm going to go easy on you for the next few months. (Gives him a kiss on the nose)

Mike: (He doesn't look convinced, but still says) Good.

Micky: *glares at Lauren* Alex ain't gonna be...touching...you again, is he?

Lauren: No, not in this one.

Mike: If he touches any of us again, I'll help you wring his neck, Mick.

Peter: Lauren, what was with all those chalk marks in the cabin where we found you?

Lauren: Seriously, don't ask. Just a devil who can't count.

Emma: (Sees the curious look Micky gives Lauren) Um, maybe we'd better cut to the video, before Micky finds out more than he needs to.

Mike: Right. Pete, you were really the hero here. You finish this one off.

Peter: Ok! (Turns to the camera) All of us at Dream World hope our readers enjoy their own vacations...and be careful where you make reservations.

Emma: Lauren and I will be on our own vacations later this month, so the next story will be out a bit later than the recent ones have been.

Peter: See you next month!

(Cut to a video for "Penny Music," as we see the group's vacation to Los Vegas before they arrived at the Hotel California.)

(Mike and Emma go for a walk on the main Strip. Emma stops at a food vendor and buys peanuts. :) )

(Peter and Valerie clap for the elephants doing tricks at Circus Circus!)

*Lauren and Micky check out a nightclub act, snuggled in an out-of-the-way booth.*

(Mike and Emma peer down...and down...and down into Hoover Dam as Emma munches on a box of Cracker Jacks.)

(Peter and Valerie sip cocktails as they listen to a jazz pianist in a lounge.)

*Davy and Daphne...enjoy their hotel room.*

(Mike and Emma saunter across the casino floor, Emma in a long cream-colored gown that hides her pregnancy fairly well, Mike in a matching cream-and-black tux. They occasionally stop to play the tables or munch on bowls of nuts.)

(Peter and Valerie enjoy a Wayne Newton concert.)

*Micky and Lauren enjoy their room at the hotel.*

(Mike and Emma are walking on the grounds of their hotel and Peter and Valerie are sitting by the pool when fireworks light up the skies over Las Vegas. Emma leans dreamily against Mike, who puts his arm around her and draws her as close to him as he can. Peter and Valerie share a long, lingering kiss.)

*Lauren and Micky watch the fireworks from the veranda of their room. Davy and Daphne make their own fireworks in their room.*

(We fade out on Davy and Daphne in bed together as the noise of the fireworks continues over the first notes of "Your Auntie Grizelda" over stills from the "production." We end with the "A Raybert Production" graphic over the shot of all eight of the Monkees and their wives in the lobby of the Hotel California.)