Prologue (a more sentimental recap of Cyd and Shelby Strike Back with minor changes to make it more dramatic and romantic)
"Cyd, it's working!" Shelby cried excitedly. Glowing yellow light began to spread over the two best friends' interlocked hands.
"What? What are you girls doing back there?" growled a younger, 1991 version of Janet Smythe, CEO of GloboDigiDyne.
As alarms continued to blare and red lights flashed, Cyd and Shelby disappeared in a flash of light.
Gradually at first, time ripples began to spread out from where (or when) they had disappeared. They slowly smoothed over Janet's workshop, tucking themselves over the GloboDigiDyne company building until there was nothing left but a barren island, and finally reached Shelby Marcus's backyard.
Barry's heart felt light (and for once unfocused on science) as he gazed at Marci. He had finally realized that he was capable of human emotion, and that Marci was the girl for him, with her delightfully quirky tone, sparkling berets, and curious stories. Barry had finally admitted that he liked her, and it was the greatest relief in the world for him to hear that she enjoyed his company as well.
Everything about that moment was perfect. Despite all of the things that had seemed to go wrong, and the fact that he and Marci were standing outside his RV trailer/science lab where he lived in Shelby's backyard, Barry knew that he would never forget this moment. As they both leaned forwards together, their eyelids fluttered closed, their warm breath mingling as their lips drew nearer...
And the time ripples extending from the new timeline that Shelby and Cyd had created wiped over the world, cleanly erasing the two young lovers and setting them firmly in different spots.
Barry and his best friend, Naldo, laughed and argued over popcorn and drinks as they stumbled home from a movie. "I'm telling you, Renaldo, no crab in the wilderness would actually act like that!" Barry protested.
"Um, Barry, like the captain said, they clearly weren't actin' right!" Naldo shot back.
The two boys turned to enter the trailer while Marci rushed up to them, holding a stack of magazines. "Hiya, fellows," she greeted in her usual eager yet dreamy way. "Can I interest either of you in a subscription to the Lemon-Lime Magazine?"
Barry shifted uncomfortably under her penetrating gaze while she and Naldo prattled on about the magazine. He had the distinctly uncomfortable feeling of forgetting something really important - something he cared about possibly (gasp!) even more than his science lab.
But what was it? Before he knew it, Marci was marching away, stepping across the grass. The moonlight caught in her silky black hair, and Barry frowned in inner confusion and consternation before following Naldo into the trailer.
The next day, Barry and Naldo were walking to lunch when Naldo made the most startling announcement Barry had ever heard in his life: "In fact, the more I think of it, Marci might be your type."
Barry immediately scoffed. "I don't have a type, Renaldo. That's ridiculous. Even if I did, it wouldn't be her. She's a little out of it, you know?"
Naldo did not look convinced, so Barry continued. "I mean, I would be interested in someone who liked science too. Like, for example, that girl in the lab coat over there."
As if the girl in the sparkly pink beret and snow-white lab coat had heard him, she turned around, her dark black hair flying and cascading down her shoulders. Time seemed to slow down for Barry. "Marci?" he gasped, amazed.
Her eyes looked prettily surprised behind her glasses, which promptly flew off as guided by the momentum of her sudden turn. Gasping in horror, she flung herself down to look for them at the same time that Barry made a spectacular dive to the ground. Their eyes met in a cliché moment when Barry offered the glasses to her, stuttering, "These are... I... you... glasses!"
"Thanks, Barry!" she exclaimed, and sauntered off obliviously.
As soon as she was gone, Barry frantically turned around to Naldo and began shaking him. "Naldo!" he almost shrieked. "Is it possible that Marci could be my type?"
Having decided to connect with Marci over a common interest of science, this alternate timeline Barry brought her to the 'super cool' science lab of Janet Smythe, a seemingly kind-hearted old woman who was his scientific mentor. The two of them walked into her attic together, chatting excitedly about agriculture, when Barry caught sight of two unfamiliar girls strapped to tables. Strangely, he experienced a flash of déjà vu seeing first the long brown hair and brown eyes then the curly blonde hair and blue eyes.
"Uh... is this a bad time?" he asked his mentor nervously, noting how evil she looked wielding a crackling electrical weapon.
The next thing he knew, he was waking up from a weird nightmare in which Janet had attempted to tie him up while he had been on a date with Marci, and had eventually resorted to hitting him on the head with a snowglobe after he refused to be tied up and after Marci had tried to bite her.
"Oh, hiya, Barry, you're not unconscious anymore," came a cheerful voice from right by his head.
"Gah! Oh, shuds!" he screamed. He screamed even more when he realized that his nightmare was real, he was strapped down to a bench next to Marci, and the blonde girl was kneeling next to her friend, crying "Cyd!" over and over again. What on earth? Was the other girl dead? Barry was astonished.
"So, Barry, did you know that your scientist mentor was evil?"
"No, or I would never have brought you here."
"Thanks, I really appreciate that," Marci smiled.
Barry realized that he might not survive. It seemed like Janet Smythe was evil and crazy. He had to tell Marci how he felt. "I really like you," he began. "I like the way that the fluorescent lights in the commons reflect off of your glasses. And, a-and the way that the sequins in your beret sparkle in the post-lunch sun. I love how you always have something interesting and random to say."
Marci was amazed. "But, why haven't you told me any of this before?"
"Well," Barry admitted ruefully, "Sometimes it takes an evil woman to strap a boy to a bench and take people prisoner in order for him to confess his feelings to a girl he likes."
While the two smiled at each other, they hadn't noticed that the other girls had fought Janet and won. They were both so ecstatic that it didn't matter much to them anyway. "Oh, by the way, Shelby and I are time travelers," the brown-haired girl (Cyd?) remarked. "When we go, this whole timeline will reset. Bye!"
They disappeared in a flash of golden light.
For once, Marci was solemn and serious. "Does this mean that we're just going to forget each other once this timeline ceases to have ever existed?" she asked sadly.
Barry looked melancholy and thoughtful at first, but his expression soon hardened into grim determination. "No!" he shouted. "No, I won't let that happen! I will remember you, Marci. We will find each other."
He leaned in to kiss her just as ripples of time flowed across their world, and (again) his lips never reached hers.
Barry was cleaning up his lab, readying it to make a solvent to unglue Naldo from the table when Marci hopped up the steps to the RV, joyfully inquiring, "Hiya, Barry, are you doing science experiments in your lab today?"
"Well," he replied heavily, "I can't do it in the water park anymore since my experimental algae dissolver also dissolves bathing suits."
He explained to her that he was making a solvent to combat adhesive, all the while fighting a strange feeling that this situation had happened before and that he was supposed to remember something important.
"Why?" asked Marci. Barry smiled. She was definitely a scientific girl, wasn't she? She asked why about everything, just like he did! Barry was completely impressed.
Naldo explained that he had glued himself to a table.
"Why?" Marci asked again.
"To see if I could glue myself to a table!"
"Okay." She turned back to Barry. "Have you thought of using non-polar alkanes?"
At that moment, Cyd and Shelby ran up the steps to the RV, barging in like wild animals. "Barry, you like Marci!" Shelby cried.
"Marci, you like Barry!" Cyd added.
Cheering, the girls ran out again.
"Uh..." they said at the same time, then awkwardly looked away again. They both turned around to speak, noticed each other, and turned away again. Barry and Marci reached for a beaker of solvent at the same time, and recoiled, embarrassed, while Naldo remarked: "You two like each other? I ship it!"