History Error
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ape Escape, any characters within it, or anything connected to it; all such things belong to Ubi Soft.
It was cold, and it hadn't gotten warmer all month as modern humans measure time. He had stalked the monkey through several snow dunes, using his custom boots – the ones that didn't leave footprints, even in three feet of dust. His target was just beyond the frozen lake.
Switching to his special nail-bottom boots, the tracker strode easily across the ice. The man wasn't even breathing all that hard, and he had chased the monkey for over twenty hours. He didn't feel very cold, due to a special technique he had learned in a monastery somewhere in the Himalayas. The mountains were always colder than these long plains. Maybe he would go back to the monastery later, after his mission; he would need some time to clear his skull, and –
SQUELCH.
The tracker's boots met up with a banana peel, and he went down, his back kissing the icy top of the lake. Using another trick from the monks, he dulled the pain in seconds, and then rose to his feet. Now he knew his prey was in range.
As if the cold wasn't enough, the first flakes of snow began to reach the ground. Ignoring it, the tracker reached soil again, followed by a quick change of boots. Once in his stalking boots, he set out after the monkey.
His target had spent its time chasing small snow-rats through the plain. It was one of the reasons they didn't survive the Ice Age; the furry little creatures all had heart attacks. The monkey only slowed down in order to eat a banana; this one had a near-bottomless supply in its pockets.
There it was. Dropping into a crawl, the tracker readied his net-cannon. With one shot, that stupid primate would be back in the zoo. He silently slid over the snow, making his way to the monkey. Within seconds, he was there.
The idiotic creature didn't even realize the tracker was in range until it received a rap over the helmet with a stun baton. Having landed the hit, the tracker flipped to his net-cannon and aimed.
Before he could fire, some kid jumped out of a temporal portal, gave the monkey a redundant hit with his stun baton, and slammed a net over it. The monkey shrieked and vanished.
With a cry of frustration, the tracker switched off the "time" function on his net-cannon and fired at the kid. It caught the brat in its mesh and stuck him to a nearby boulder.
Stomping over, the tracker yelled, "What business do you have catching MY bounty?"
The kid shook his head and replied, "Bounty? I'm catching those monkeys to save history!"
In a rage, the tracker knocked a snow-rat aside with his stun baton. "You just cost me ten thousand dollars. TEN GRAND! And that was without expenses! What sort of idiot are you, and quite frankly, what the hell are you doing catching other people's targets?" Something else rose in his mind. "And how in the name of Mammon did you GET here?"
The kid pulled at the net. In response, the tracker shut off the net and pointed his stun baton at the younger fellow. "I'm here under the Professor's orders. My name's Spike, and I'm trying to stop Specter from rewriting history."
The tracker recognized the kid's name, but what reached him was the mention of Specter. He lowered his stun baton and helped Spike up. "My name's Blackwell. I'm a bounty hunter, and that monkey you caught was my assignment. What year are you from?" If it matched…
Spike dusted off the back of his T-shirt. Despite the mind-killing cold, he seemed perfectly warm. "I'm from 1998."
So it was the Spike Blackwell was thinking of. "I'm from 2179. People like me make a good living capturing the apes you missed, but somebody keeps snapping up my targets before I can net them. It's gotten beyond the point of annoying, and I thought you were the guy who keeps stealing my monkeys. Oh, well… so, what brings you here?"
Spike used his stun baton to knock off part of the boulder, rolled a flat side to the top, and sat down. "I beat up Specter, but he escaped. I've started capturing what remains of his servants, but it hasn't gone too well." He then began to reel off his last few captures.
As he listened, Blackwell suddenly realized why his capture ratio was so low. Almost every one of the captures Spike listed were the same as the targets Blackwell had missed. This little punk was snagging Blackwell's bounties! If that didn't deserve a good thrashing, what did?
Blackwell quietly readied his net-cannon. In 2179, Specter ruled the world. He liked to hire bounty hunters to capture rebellious monkeys – the ones that threatened his rule. Blackwell had enjoyed the honor of being one of Specter's favorite trackers – until Spike started intercepting his targets. The target he had tracked through the Ice Age was his last chance; if he blew it, the end of his career, freedom, and life loomed. Now the kid who was ruining his life sat not two feet away from him. If he could nab his boss' worst enemy…
On the side of the net-cannon, there were several dials. One was the "time" function on/off switch. Another controlled the destination. It was currently set to "City – Zoo/Dungeon". With an unseen movement, Blackwell turned the dial to "Peak Point Matrix".
Spike had just finished reciting his captures. He turned to Blackwell and asked, "So, what's your most recent capture?"
Blackwell replied, "My last capture was Spike from 1998."
With that, he raised the net-cannon and fired at point-blank range.
The net struck Spike and carried him for about fifty yards before it teleported through time.
History records that the monkeys took over the planet in 1999, after the only man fighting against them suddenly vanished. Afterward, the world was ruled by Specter, who was given the secrets of immortality by a man named Dr. Faust on the ruler's 15th birthday.
What history doesn't record is that all this occurred because an error in history – the accidental meeting of Blackwell and Spike, the sheer coincidence of Spike having captured Blackwell's prey, Blackwell working for Specter – came about. Sometimes, when someone forgets to edit history, things like this happen.
But is history set? Is it impossible to change? Was this error actually an error?
If the answers to the first two questions are "Yes", and the answer to the last question is "No", I'll have to change the title.