Chapter I - The Experiment

It had started off as just a normal day. Dexter sat at the usual green picnic table under the old oak tree in the school courtyard. It was lunchtime, but he didn't feel like eating. He looked up at the blue, cloud-splattered sky and inhaled deeply. A certain uneasy feeling tugged at the pit of his stomach, but he couldn't quite place it, which bothered him greatly. His friend Douglas trotted up, tossing his backpack on the table and sitting down. "Blasted Kanker tripped me in the hallway. It took me a while to um...re-gather all my belongings."

Dexter smiled wryly, pulling out a small hand-held device which he pressed up to his face and began to push buttons furiously. "Don't worry about it."

"Whatcha got there?"

"Hmm?" Dexter didn't look away from the flickering screen. "Oh, just a neutron stabilizer for a test I'm running back at the lab. The electric currents running through the test chamber are highly unstable and must constantly be redirected-"

"That's alright, I get it."

The orange haired boy sat the hand-held down, pushing his thick glasses farther up his nose. "Right, of course", he said. "So what's up with you?"

"Oh, not much. Ran into some trouble with Marie Kanker this morning. I missed the first five minutes of World History, so I was given Detention for tomorrow after school. Those girls must really hate me."

"Tomorrow? Oh man, I was going to test the new suit out on you. I guess we can do that today instead."

Douglas lit up like a light bulb and beamed at him. "You finished it? Oh that's great!" Dexter had been working on this high tech suit for virtual battles, and promised the young boy he could be the first to try it out. Douglas was his best friend anyways.

Dexter rubbed his chin. "Well, not quite. It's almost done, there's just one more piece I need to fix on the chest plate, but I can probably do that in a couple of minutes. Anyways, are you up for the test run this evening?"

"Am I ever!" The freckled boy smacked his hand down on the table. "When do you want me over?"

"Is six good?"

"Sure. My parents won't be home until nine tonight, so that gives us three hours."

"Perfect." Dexter cracked his knuckles and picked his device back up. "And to make it even better, Deedee is staying over at a friend's house tonight, so we won't be disturbed."

Douglas raised his eyebrow, taking a sip from the orange juice-box. "Is that so? Which friend?"

Dexter's face flushed red and he moved the fiery-orange hair out of his eyes. "Um, just, you know, those Powerpuff girls. Buttercup, Bubbles..."

"You're forgetting Blossom", Douglas cooed. "You totally like her, don't you?"

Now Dexter's cheeks were as bright as his hair.

"I-I do not! She's just cool and smart, that's all. But lots of other girls are too!"

"That all, huh?" His friend sighed. "Why don't you ask her out or something? I'll bet she likes you back! Oh! I know! I'll just go ask her myself. It will be like this: 'hey Blossom! Great job taking down that ferocious alien trying to destroy the city today! By the way, that little geek Dexter that always wears his lab coat has this adorable crush on you, and he sent me over here to ask you if you happened to be interested in him as well!'" At this point Douglas started laughing. Dexter sat down abruptly and buried most of his flushed face in his purple gloves. His blue eyes stared at Douglas angrily.

"Hey, chill! No one else heard me. I was just messing with you."

"Whatever..."

"Well, while we're in need of a subject change, have you seen that creep Man'dork' at school this week? I haven't, and if he was here I'm sure he'd be trying to start a geek fight with you during lunch."

"No. Maybe he's skipping to run some experiments in his lab. I've done that. Why do you even care? You should just ignore that jerk."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

Douglas threw the empty juice-box into a nearby trashcan. Dexter's clunky cellphone began to ring, and he fumbled to pull it out of his bag. He flipped it open and pressed it to his ear. "Hello? Oh, Professor!"

Douglas cocked his head to the side and listened.

"Yes, I did. Really. Are you serious?" Dexter jumped to his feet again. Douglas leaned in closer, trying to hear. "I would love to! Tonight? Well..." Dexter looked at him nervously.

"What?"

Covering the speaker, Dexter leaned down and whispered softly, "It's Professor Utonium. He wants me to go over to his place tonight for a really important experiment."

"But...but you invited me to come try on the suit!" Douglas stuck his bottom lip out and glared at Dexter.

"I know I know, but this is reallllly super special. Pllllease, we can do the suit run later. Plus, it will give me time to finish that last little details."

He sighed and rested his head on the table. "Argh, fine." Then, whispering, added, "go run off to your girlfriends house and leave me alone for the whole night."

"Thank you!" Dexter put the phone back to his ear, grinning wildly. "Yeah, I'll be there! Thank you so much, Professor. Goodbye."

"Ok, so why did you totally just blow me off?"

Our Science Club is having a gathering at Utonium's lab tonight. We've been working on that time machine, and there's been a miraculous breakthrough. This could be the day we finally finish it! Just imagine it Douglas, a world where time travel exists! And to think I helped invent it! Oh I can hardly believe it..."

"Yeah yeah blah blah blah. Tell your GIRLFRIEND I said hi."

Again, Dexter's face turned an unnatural color. "What?"

Douglas snorted and slapped the table. "Blossom? She is the Professor's daughter, remember? And you're going to his house, so-"

"Oh microscopic dust mites! I forgot that!" He groaned and hid his face in his palm.

"Eh, stop thinking about it red-head. You'll be in the lab the whole time, she'll be hosting a slumber party, you'll probably never see her."

"I guess your right..."

"Have you ever even talked to her?"

"Um...no."

"Well...does she know you exist?"

"Yes! I mean, I think so. I don't know. Maybe her father has mentioned me?"

Douglas rubbed the corners of his eyes and sighed. "You are such a hopeless romantic. And a really odd friend. Anyways, good luck tonight with your 'smarty-pants machine'."

The bell rung at this time, echoing loudly all over the school. The boys grabbed their stuff and made their way back to the building's entrance. "I'll make it up to you, don't worry. You want to come over on Friday for the suit run?"

"Sure. But I'll punch your face in if you disappoint me again. And when you get that time travel thing working, you're taking me somewhere bloody awesome. Like the Ice Age. Maybe even the Cretaceous Period."

Dexter pushed the tented glasses back up his nose and hit Douglas's shoulder lightly. "Thanks. You got it." Dexter jogged right down the hallway to his next class.

"And don't you forget it!" Douglas called after him, before heading off to Math.