A small, young boy with blond hair sat on the floor against a wall, flipping the pages of a rather well-kept scrapbook. The scent of coffee wafted through the air around him, and some light music was playing, though he was a bit too young to recognize the artist.
"Chase, what do you have?"
He held the open book up, such that he might share his current interest with the smiling man who had just knelt beside him. This man was in some of the photographs from the scrapbook, he noticed. That was neat. Maybe he would know who the others were.
"Pictures. Who are the people?"
The man took the book gently from the child, his smile slowly subsiding. "Oh... just some... old friends." He closed the album slowly. "That's all."
---
In later years, the boy's interest in the events from the scrapbook continued to grow. He found himself researching the happenings of the event that was all too familiar to the many heroes who fought those many years ago. There were lots of books about it, he found. Volumes such as [u]You May or May Not Wish You Had My Life, But That's Fine All The Same Because I Am Content With My Own[/u] were available to him, and he was almost surprised that his household contained this much stuff about the same event. Not just books, either, but also newspaper articles and news reports on tape. These he particularly liked.
As interesting as these were, though, he began to wonder about the current situation of the world. None of these references told him anything about the more recent happenings, and he was really rather adamant at this point to find out what the Hell was wrong with the world. There was only one way to find out.
"Hey Dad," Chase called, and made his way into his father's study. His father seemed to be simply sitting there, not doing much of anything.
"Yeah? What's up?"
"I want you to tell me what happened."
Chase's father gave him an incredulous look. "What do you mean?"
"In the reports and journals I always read, the world just seems so much different. Somehow I don't think it's natural for zombies and ghosts to be wandering all over the place all the time, if you know what I mean."
"You're a bright kid. Yeah, I'll tell you what happened. When I was about twenty-three years old, something absolutely terrible happened. I didn't think anything could be more terrible than what happened in Fourside when I was a teenager, but it did. I wish I could have stopped it. There were maybe a dozen of us who tried, but we failed miserably. Basically a couple of escapees from Hell were trying to really mess stuff up in this world. It wasn't pretty."
"It's terrible! People have to live with this!"
"There's nothing we can do about it now."
"...I need to take a break. Mind if I take off for a while?"
A frown. "Just be careful. I don't know what you're up to, and I won't ask. But go for it."
"Right. I'm out."
"Wait. Take this stuff with you..."
---
"Can you make it happen, Doc?"
Dr. Andonuts frowned, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "Normally I absolutely wouldn't allow it, but... it seems you have a good cause."
"So I can take it?"
"...Yes. I'll get the Phase Distorter IV ready for you."
"Thank you so very much."
"But just be careful. Time travel isn't fun and games, you know. You have to realize that if your goal is to change history then any and all actions you make while in the past can have drastic effects on the future."
"I'll be careful. And I'll do my best. Thank you, Dr. Andonuts."
---
"You alright, Chase? You haven't said much," Dan frowned slightly.
"Uh, yeah. Just thinking."
----
Amber and King stood patiently outside. The duo could vaguely hear the conversation that was happening from within, though the words were too muffled to make out. From what they gathered, all seemed to be going well. But it would still be quite the wait.
An electronics store stood adjacent to the lab. A big glass panel served as the front wall, displaying all the gadgets the place had to offer. Computers, cell phones, scanners...The most notable item was a wide-screen TV. It had been left on channel 37, Eagleland's 24-hour news channel. No one would have paid any heed to it if the screen had not started flashing with the words "Pressing News Bulletin."
Amber, intrigued, edged closer, with King in tow.
"This just in." buzzed the voice of the news announcer. "Breaking news on the Onett Arson murder."
The two sets of eye glued themselves to the screen.
The announcer continued. "A neighbor claims to know who the perpetrators are in this most tragic crime, an incident that has baffled the police and claimed the life of local hero Ness Lee's sister, Tracy. We go now to Steven Colbert, who is live in Onett suburbs. Steven?"
The image switched to a man clad in a brown business suit with a small pair of spectacles perched on his nose. He was standing on the wreckage of the house. Next to him was a teenage boy, who looked about Tracy's age, with a head of tussled blond hair.
"I'm here with Picky Minch, next door neighbor and eye-witness to this event. He claims to have seen what happened here and has already given a description of the arsonists to the police. Tell us what you saw, son."
Picky blushed under the stare of the camera lens. "Well...um." his words came out as a stutter. "I was just sitting in my room when I heard a really loud sound. Then the ground shook! It was really deafening, even louder then when the meteor crashed. I was pretty scared so I hid in my room a while, just to be safe. Could be an earthquake or something. When I was sure everything was alright again, I peaked my head out the window. There they were. The arsonists. There was about a dozen of them, and their dog, admiring their work."
Amber gasped and shook her head in astonishment. King just howled.
Steve turned the mike back to himself. "There you have it. An apparent crime syndicate in the peaceful city, striking it where it hurts." He was really laying the dramatics on thick. "In all my years of reporting, I must say, this is truly one of the saddest things I have ever seen." Shaking his head, he wiped away an imaginary tear. "Anyways, here is an artist's rendition of the suspects."
Sure enough, the pictures matched. Looking at the screen was like looking in a mirror.
Amber was shaking her head. "I can't believe the police would jump to a conclusion like that with only one witness." In reality, she could. She had heard the stories of Onett's bumbling police department.
"...if you see any of these suspects call 999-CRIME. That number again is..."
"We should tell the others right away." Amber reasoned.
<Right you are.> agreed King. He scratched his paw on the door of the lab and waited for a response. <We should be pretty safe from authority for while if we stick in this little village, but we need some long term plans...>
As Amber continued to watch the news report, becoming increasingly aggravated with the police force by the second, a man in a white lab coat sidled up to her.
"Er, hi."
Amber turned and looked at him. She also noticed similarly-dressed men who must have been his compatriots standing some distance away.
"Um, my compatriots are completely absorbed in the way of the Dianetics, and thus they're a little shy of the opposite sex, but we were wondering if maybe we could study your dog..."
"Study my dog?" Amber looked disgusted. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, it's no trouble," the man explained airily. "It really is quite painless, we're sure about that."
"Painless?" Amber was shocked beyond belief.
The man sighed. "Actually, I'm kinda relieved.. I don't really like the whole 'studying everything' bit. I'm just in it for the cult mentality."
Amber's curiosity got the better of her annoyance. "Why scientology then?"
The man shrugged. "It's better than Krishna. Y'know, I think maybe we got off on the wrong foot. Are you staying long? Would you like to come to my place for dinner?"
<No, she wouldn't,> King growled on Amber's behalf, but the Scientologist couldn’t understand him.
"...Alright then. 'Bye." The man wandered back to his compatriots, but none of them seemed to be in any hurry to go away.
King pulled Amber away from them. <Listen to me. Those guys are nothing but trouble. You say too much to them and they'll be going after you with scalpels and stuff. Okay?>
Amber nodded. "Okay."
The Scientologists watched them with their dark eyes.
----
The group of eight walked through the corridors of the lab, searching for a place to examine the blood sample. They came upon a "fork" in the hallway.
"Let's split up," Lucky said. "We'll be able to cover more ground."
"Good idea," Chase said. "If we find anything, I'll whistle loud or something."
"We'll do the same," Skulryk said. With that, the group split into two. Dan, Chase, Riley, and PikaChan went down one corridor; Skulryk, Lucky, Paithan, and Eric down the other.
***
"This place is weird," PikaChan commented, taking a look at a poster on the wall, which stated Move over, Einstein! The Happy Happy Lab is coming through!
"No kidding," Dan said. He peered inside the windowed doors leading to various testing rooms.
Curiously, Chase took a hold of a doorknob, and received a jolt of electricity. "Ouch! What the..."
"Hmm..." Riley said. "It looks like the people who run this place are pretty cautious about people using their facilities."
"Well, this is just great," PikaChan said, crossing her arms. "If all of the locks are like this, then how are we going to get inside to test the blood?"
Chase looked PikaChan over. "Well..." He rubbed his chin.
"... What?" PikaChan questioned.
Riley caught on to what Chase was thinking. "PikaChan, can you use any kind of lightning spells, or anything similar?" he asked.
PikaChan blinked. The thought of using her PSI in front of a group of near-strangers wasn't pleasant. "Uh..."
"Look," Dan said. "We need to find a way to get inside here to test the blood..."
PikaChan began to get a little nervous. "Erm... why would I have any kind of powers like that...? Eheh..."
The voice in Riley's head spoke up. *She has the ability to use PSI. See if you can convince her to use it.* Riley hesitantly took PikaChan by the elbow and pulled her aside.
"What's wrong? You got nervous all of a sudden," he asked her.
"Nothing's wrong!" PikaChan snapped. "I... I'm just a little... I dunno, scared of using my powers in front of everyone," PikaChan said, her face turning a little red.
"We've all seen weirder things than PSI. Like the house exploding, and the blood, for starters... so it really shouldn't be too weird to them if you used your PSI," Riley explained.
PikaChan looked at him skeptically. She began to wonder how he knew that she could use PSI, but then remembered about the voice in his head. "Well... alright... but what good will an electric PSI spell do? The doorknob's already electrified."
"I wonder what those two are talking about..." Chase said quietly.
"I don't know, but I hope they're trying to think of a way to unlock the door," Dan said.
Just then, Riley and PikaChan returned to the group. "Okay, clear out," PikaChan said, backing the others away from the door. "This could get messy."
Dan looked at Riley. "What kind of idea did you put into her head?" he asked.
"Nothing, I only told her that if she used an electric PSI spell on the doorknob, it would short-circuit itself and unlocked," Riley explained. "The only problem it is, it could backfire on her... but she said she was willing to take the risk, and I'm not going to try and change her mind."
"Okay, here goes!" PikaChan said, cracking her knuckles. She held her hand out to the doorknob so it wasn't touching it, but it was still fairly close to it. "PSI Thunder," she said. As soon as the last word left her mouth, jolts of lightning began shooting out from her hand and to the doorknob.
The overhead lights began to flash. "Woah!" Chase said. "I think it's working!"
"Yeah, this electricity must be running through the entire building!" Dan said.
A sweat began to break out on PikaChan's forehead. The electricity was also running through her body, and it was beginning to hurt. She clenched her teeth against the pain. Before long, the lights went out completely, and PikaChan was thrown back from the door with a few sparks. She hit the opposing wall. "Yeeowch!"
Chase put his hand to the doorknob, and felt nothing. "It worked!" he said, twisting the doorknob and opening the door. He then put his fingers to his lips and let out a loud whistle, to notify the other group that they had located a spot to examine the blood. Chase and Dan went inside the room.
Riley walked over to PikaChan and helped her up. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"Psh, I've felt bigger jolts than that," PikaChan said. "About the only thing that's hurt is my ego."
"Well, at least the door's open now. Come on, let's hurry up and take a look at that blood sample."
"'Kay," PikaChan said. The two of them followed the others into the room.
***
"This stuff is weird..." Skulyrk said, his camcorder switched to 'on'. He was recording footage of the interior of the lab.
"I don't think we're going to find anything," Lucky said. "Maybe we went the wrong way."
Paithan started to say something, when the overhead lights began flashing. "What the heck?"
"I'm getting a bad feeling about this..." Eric said.
Then, the lights went completely out.
"Hey, whoah! I can't see anything!" Skulryk said. He continued to walk forward, bumping into Lucky. "Aaaack!"
"Watch it!" Lucky said, falling over.
"Maybe we'll just have to feel around for things now..." Eric said.
Just then, the group heard a loud whistle.
"Hey, they found a place to examine the blood," Paithan said. He started to turn around, but he lost his footing and fell down.
All of a sudden, a siren began sounding and the overhead lights began flashing with a red glow.
"Uh oh..."
The group remained motionless, almost as if hoping the alarm would go away. It didn't.
"Uh, maybe we should get out of here?" suggested Lucky.
"I don't know if we're welcome, that would be good," agreed Riley.
The group then started to make their way out of the building with some haste. Unfortunately, a heavy metal door slammed down as the group was going between two rooms. Riley, Chase, Dan, and PikaChan were caught on the inside while Paithan, Eric, Lucky, and Skulryk were closer to their goal.
"Not all of us made it through!" exclaimed Skulryk, looking back to see what made the loud noise.
"We're not getting through that door again while this alarms going off! Let's just get out ourselves!"
"But I can get through that!" shouted Eric indignantly as Paithan pulled him away from the door.
"I bet Ness would have trouble with that door. There's no way you could get through it," pointed out Skulryk.
"And we may not have time to try!" added Paithan as they continued out.
--------------------
Riley was just about to walk through the doorway as the security door slammed down in front of him. Not having any time to react, he ran into it instead of stopping of his own accord.
"What the?" he hissed under his breath. He moved as if to pull something out, but thought better of it.
You still don't have your things, remember?
"I don't need you being Captain Obvious at a time like this!" shouted Riley at no one.
"We need a new exit!" called Chase as he headed further into the lab. Dan and the others quickly followed.
Before long, they hit another electrified door.
"Are these still on?" asked Dan as he quickly pulled his hand away.
PikaChan disabled the door with only a bit of difficulty, and they advanced.
Going down a level they ran into a third door. This time PikaChan got it open, but it was obvious she was being really strained.
"We must be close to a door, now!" exclaimed Riley as he took a turn finding an electrified security door the hard way.
"I'm not sure I can do this much more..." said PikaChan hesitantly.
She set to work, but it quickly became apparent she wasn't going to be able to beat this one.
It's just too much ... I'll black out like this! she thought to herself.
Do you want some help? asked the voice as it entered her mind again.
It disrupted her concentration for just a second before she answered. I can't open another one on my own, but how can you help?
Like this... As the voice spoke, the pain vanished from PikaChan's body. She didn't bother to ask why as she tried to open the door as quickly as possible.
Just at that moment, Riley jumped slightly, and then started twitching. Dan and Chase were watching PikaChan, so they didn't notice.
GAH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? screamed Riley in pain, mentally.
Using you as a conduit to help PikaChan, came the nonchalant reply.
That's all well and good for you, but that REALLY hurts! Not being naturally electric, the sensation caused by the interaction of PikaChan's PSI and the door's current affected Riley much more drastically than it affected her.
So be a strong, 'manly man' and impress her, joked the voice. Riley gritted his teeth.
A moment later, the door was open and the group was through it.
How did you stop the pain like that? PikaChan asked the voice.
I didn't stop it, I merely transferred the feeling of it to Riley.
You mean he was feeling what I had?
Yes. Well, sort of. He's not used to feeling electricity coursing through his body like you are.
PikaChan went silent as she considered this, and the voice withdrew as they pushed on.
"Well, about time you guys got out," said Amber. "I've been knocking for a while now. Er... where are the rest?"
"Well-" began Paithan.
"We ran into trouble and the others are trapped inside," said Skulryk.
"You make it sound so simple," said Paithan. "I thought you were a reporter. I would have said-"
"And you can't get back in?" asked Amber.
"Like I was say-" Paithan began.
"We can't," said Eric. "We had enough trouble getting out, since security doors were closing left and right. They wouldn't let me try to blast them down..."
"And I should think-" Paithan tried to interject.
"Well," said Skulryk, "at least Dan's still in there. He's the one with the blood we needed to test. Right?"
"Hey," said Lucky, "I think Paithan's trying to say something."
Eric, Amber, and Skul looked at Lucky, then at Paithan.
"Well, it's about time!" he said. "All I wanted to say was... er..." Paithan thought hard. What was it he wanted to say? Well, obviously it wasn't important if he couldn't remember. He looked up. "Ooo, TV!" He ran next to Amber and King, who were watching the TV.
"Hey, that's me!" said Eric, as his eyes went to the TV as well. "And there's Riley, and Chase, and... what's this all about?"
"That's what I was about to say... I think. I think I forgot why I was knocking after a few minutes." Amber began telling Eric, Skulryk, and Lucky about the news.
Paithan got bored really quickly once he realized that this was the news channel. He decided to walk around for a while. No one objected.
Eric, worried about the news, and how his mom watched it almost non-stop, started pacing at the door, mumbling to himself. Then, he looked up and noticed some Scientologists standing a few feet away staring at King. Completely PO'ed at being stopped inside and falsely accused of arson on the news, he walked over to them.
"Why you staring at the dog?" There was a scary dark tone in his voice and anger gave it an even more frightening edge.
"W-we want t-to study it?" One of the white coated men nervously responded.
"It's with me. So, how 'bout you morons study your reactions to pain instead?" He drew his dagger, still there luckily, and held it to the closest man's throat. They ran for cover, leaving the group outside alone. Eric smiled, his anger lessened greatly. He walked back to the group. King barked a few words to Amber, who translated: "He said thanks. Those guys made him nervous."
Eric bowed to the dog and said, "No problem." King was slightly wagging his tail.
Meanwhile, Skulryk was pondering situation at hand.
"What are we going to do? We can't seriously head toward any of the big towns. The news says were criminals."
Eric, again pacing, stopped and looked around. "Hey, where'd Paithan go?" The others looked at each other, and Amber checked inside the electronics store. A few minutes later, they came to the realization that none of them knew.
----
"What in the world…" Paithan murmured, squinting at the distance. He had since taken a stroll apart from the group, but now something was definitely wrong. There was something blue coming towards him...
Paithan gasped. "An Army of Cultists?" Paithan mused. "Sounds like a bad Bruce Campbell movie…" He laughed at his own joke. Then, he quickly got serious. "Hmmm…those cultists are back, and they probably think they're taking back the holy land or something dumb like that! This can’t be good…but what the heck." Paithan began running towards the cultists at breakneck speed.