Given my tendency toward drama and angst, readers shouldn’t be surprised by the following warning:
This is an epic-length (25 chapters plus prologue and epilogue) retelling of the first quarter of the first season – the time frame is longer in this monster – with some interesting changes thrown in. A major character in the story dies. The toys start out kind of okay, get bent and scratched pretty quickly, but they’re buffed and repainted by the end of the tale and all go back in the toy box pretty much as they should except for that one. For those who like action stories, this one has a lot of that. And for all you shippers, there’s romance just dripping out of my copy of MS Word.
There are some flashbacks and some dreams, but none of them, except for one, are very violent. Nor do any of them, save for one other, push the PG-13 limit on relationship details. They are all, however, used to establish everyone’s altered backstory, so don’t skip them, please. Also, the causes of and treatments available to deal with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are explored briefly near the middle of the story. A web address will be included in the feedback folder should anyone wish to learn more, or to assist those who currently suffer from it in real life.
I’ve moved “Green, Green Glow of Home” earlier in the timeline. You’ll see why when we get there. And a reminder – the calendar moves at a different speed in this tale than in canon; as the total period of time covered is quite a bit longer, slightly more than a full year (except for the epilogue), again for a definite reason. I’ve opted not to cover “I’m Looking Through You” or “Smart Kids” because I couldn’t figure out how to push my tale through these episodes and add depth to the narrative (not to mention the extra chapters they would have created – this is already an epic). For the same reasons, “I’ve Got a Crush on You” is not covered, only referenced indirectly in the last third of the tale. It would have been fun to put both Lois and Cat onstage in feathers, but I didn’t see a good way to use it to move either the action or romance plots along.
I hope everyone enjoys this tale. It came to me out of the blue and all but demanded to be told. Feel free to blame my muses – especially Harley – if this story fails to please you. My other two muses (Polyskitsodia and Psychotropia) and I hope that doesn’t happen, of course. I don’t think Harley cares one way or the other. She just wanted to see her name in print.
