This anonymous prompt might be considered a bit sadistic to the folks in the Northern Hemisphere.... freeze So grab a mug of hot chocolate and give us a response that will send chills down our spines!

"Okay, you get twenty questions." Jinpei explained. "Only yes or no answers. After that, you have to guess what it is I'm thinking of. Bonus points if you don't use all of the questions." "Okay." Ryu nodded. "I think I've got it." "Then start." "All right, is it a person?" "Yes. That's one." "Is it a real person?" "No. That's two." "Okay, so it's someone fictional." Ryu mused. "Hmmmm.... is it a character from TV? The Movies?" "No and no. That's four." "From a video game?" "No. Five." "Oh, I know, they're from a comic book!" "Yes. Six." Jinpei grinned. "Wonder Woman!" Ryu guessed. "Nope. Seven." "Ms. Marvel?" "Nope. Eight." "Storm from X-Men? Aquagirl? Jean Grey?" "No, no, no. Eleven." "Wait a minute!" Ryu realized his mistake. "Is it even a girl?" "Nope." Jinpei's smile stretched across his face. "Twelve." "Is it a character from X-Men?" Ryu guessed, getting the hang of it. "No. Thirteen." "Superman?" "No. Fourteen." "The Archies?" "Are you kidding me? Of course not! Fifteen!" "Spiderman? Batman?" "No and yes. Seventeen. Getting close...." "Okay, someone from Batman. Is it...?" Ryu paused a moment, realizing he only had a few questions remaining to him. "Is it a good guy?" "No. Eighteen." "A villain! I can do this! I know who it is!" Ryu felt confident of his victory. "It's the Joker!" "No. Nineteen." "Then it's the Penguin." "Nope. Twenty." Jinpei bounced excitedly. "I'll give you one last guess though." "The Riddler!" Ryu declared. "No." Jinpei laughed. "You lose, Ryu!" "Wait a minute, I have to be right!" Ryu huffed. "What other Batman villains are there?" "My favorite villain." "Who's that?" "Mr. Freeze." "What?" Ryu's jaw dropped. "Oh yeah, I forgot about him. All right, you win. Is it my turn now to think of something?" "Okay, give it a shot." "All right, Jinpei, I have it. Start guessing." "Is it a hula girl?" "I hate this game!" "Okay, it's all right, I'll give you another turn. Try again." "Okay." Ryu replied, somewhat mollified. "Guess." "Is it food?" "Yes. One question down." "Is it cheese?" "You suck, Jinpei, do you know that?"

LOL

hee hee hee, Jinpei knows Ryu so well, eh? Great one TJ.

The sad thing is, when I saw the prompt, I immediately thought of Mr. Freeze, but this was the only way I could think of to incorporate him into a ficlet.... But yeah, I think Ryu's wants are pretty uncomplicated.

OMG! TJ...I just love this! It's so typical...and I could really hear them playing this. Poor Ryu...I agree...he's pretty predictable! My first thought was different characters getting miffed at me and saying, "You picked a pretty poor time for a freeze frame!" when I made unattractive screen shots like these:

LOL, yeah those aren't some of their better moments

I'll bet Ken is wishing it was Jun in Katse's place in that last pic.

I want to know what the animators were thinking when they drew that last one!

LOL! I'm wondering, too, TJ!! I was just thinking...it would be funny to have a whole bunch of these screenshots and make a video...setting it to music..."Freeze Frame"...LOL! J.Geil's Band Freeze Frame

When Kritter first joined the ranks of Gatchamania.net, she never dreamed she'd become a living model of an atom. Nobody ever dreamed that one act of kindness -- babysitting Fennec kits while a considerable portion of the adult population recovered from a stolen bourbon-induced hangover -- would turn her into the planet which the baby foxes orbited. Kritter was the nucleus, and the kits were the electron cloud. Kritter had taken a few steps into the main courtyard before the Critters appeared. Some simply ran circles around her. Others had incorporated their game of tag into their orbit around Kritter. A few tried to playfully attack her feet while she walked while others played a form of chicken, looping around and between her legs with ever-shrinking circles. And the air was filled with little Critter voices yipping, yapping, squeaking and shrieking with delight. "Hey, Kritter!" she heard Chris White's voice call. Kritter froze and looked around until she saw the voice's owner a short distance in front of her. One thing was different about Chris: she wore a doll-sized baby sling with Kat the kit peeking over the edge. "Can you go to one of the lounges on your right?" Kritter extended her arm and pointed to the door to her immediate right. Several kits started leaping into the air, trying to touch Kritter's arm and hand. "That'll work!" Chris replied before Kritter could ask. Kritter had settled down into the overstuffed couch a split second before the electron cloud of kits changed their orbit. They were much more quiet now as they crawled under the couch, ran across the couch, circled the couch, did backflips off the couch's arms, launched themselves into the air from the back of the couch as well as Kritter's shoulders. A couple even bounced off the top of her head. "Gang," she warned, "if you don't slow down, you're going to get hurt." Then it happened. She didn't see it, but she heard it: two kits collided in mid-air. Without looking, she caught them both and pulled them in toward her. They blinked at each other a few times before they realized what had happened. They both looked at her and began whimpering. "Now, Fred, Ginger, this is what I was trying to tell you." She pulled them closer until their heads were under her chin so they could nuzzle while she made some small, soothing sounds. The rest of Kritter's Critters noticed something was different. They stopped what they were doing and gathered around her feet. They exchanged looks as they all discovered Fred and Ginger were receiving extra attention. They climbed up onto the couch and started whimpering -- a few even held out a tiny paw to show Kritter where a mysterious boo-boo had appeared. Once she was sure Fred and Ginger were all right, Kritter set them down and began giving the rest a scratch behind the ears. When Chris entered, the kits had returned to their previous level of activity, though they substituted becoming airborne with zipping all around the room. Chris quickly pulled the door closed behind her to prevent any tiny hyperactive body of cuteness from bolting out into the main courtyard. "It's a shame you can't siphon off some of that energy." Chris said. "Tell me about it." "Well, it's time for them to E-A-T." "Uh oh." Kritter tried to keep an even, calm tone. "I'm afraid I might step on one or two if I try to walk them back to their room." "Don't worry. Victoria and I have been working with the little cuties." Chris took Kat out of the sling and set her on the floor. After that kit made a couple of laps around the room, Chris took a deep breath and, "FREEZE!" All the kits stopped moving. It was as if someone had hit a pause button. Kritter's jaw dropped as she witnessed what she knew was impossible. "Sit." Chris commanded. Every kit obeyed instantly. Kritter couldn't believe what she was seeing -- not only were the kits behaving, but Chris had trained them, which Kritter never pictured happening, going by the way Kat was treated. Victoria and three newbies came in, each carrying a tray covered with small pet bowls filled with several kinds of meat cut into cubes and blended with sugar snap peas and baby carrots. The Critters rocked from side to side and let out tiny cries of anticipation while they watched the bowels being quickly set down on the floor. The servers quickly went to the nearest wall and stood against it. "Okay, cute widdle babies," Chris said in a very syrupy tone, "time for num-nums!" The kits could have broken the sound barrier. The humans grinned and quietly laughed at the spectacle before them. Some kits started gobbling meat while others crunched a carrot or a pea pod. At first the only sound that came from the young Fennecs was lip smacking. Then came the nom nom nom sounds. Then came cries of delight. Each kit acted as if each bite was twice as delicious as the bite before. "So what's the meat?" Kritter asked. "I sautéed chicken, lamb, and salmon." Victoria answered. "They're going to be so spoiled!" a newbie named Mandy said. "I don't know about that." Victoria replied. "Are you kidding?" another newbie, Julie, cried, "They're only gonna want gourmet cooking!" "And your skills are legendary!" the third newbie, Shana, added, "Gary was telling me about the time you made breakfast for the Gatchageeks. He said that you're so incredible that all you had to do was open a window and Eggs Benedict wafted in!" Victoria let out a little laugh; she wasn't sure what to make of that comment. Suddenly Chris, Victoria, and the newbies realized the room had grown quiet. All of the kits, including Kat, had piled onto Kritter's lap and had fallen asleep. It was a marvel to see -- how could the ones on the very bottom of the pile stand the weight of all the layers on top of them? "I'm afraid to breathe," Kritter's voice came from behind the pile, "I might cause an avalanche!"

LOL, so much cuteness. You give me far too much credit as a trainer. Somehow I doubt I'd manage that. Glad we all stepped in to help Kritter's sanity, though!

Awwww...very cute...the pile of kits sounds so cuddly!

TJ -- I admit I haven't heard of Mr. Freeze (sorry!) but I ve certainly heard of cheese -- I m with Tiny on this one! Though I have to say, when I started reading it, I thought you were aiming at a reference to "Frozen" Springie -- gulp! That last freeze frame had me gaping. Good thing we didn't have the possibility to get freeze frames as kids, no? EW -- awwwww how cute! Glad to see the fennecs making friends with the Gatchamaniacs!

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Hmm, no new guesses on who he or they are ... intrigued, though!

KT, that's quite a start. I wouldn't have stayed that long with someone without more info.

Certainly an intriguing premise!