LEP HQ, Downtown Haven
"Done!" said Artemis. He and Foaly were working on building a time machine. The time machine can take you to whatever place and time you like. Foaly and Artemis have been working on this project since Artemis received his report card form his school. It inspired him. Building the machine didn't take very long, since Foaly and Artemis were both geniuses. They just needed someone to test the machine.
Holly Short decided to check on the two geniuses working on the time machine. She walked into Foaly's lab. Yes, he had a lab. He bossed Ark Sool into making him one. Of course, Ark Sool wasn't happy with that, but Foaly threatened to quit the job. Without him, the LEP would be left with officers that can't do anything more than monitor traffic, and with that, even a blind fairy could see how weak the mighty LEP became. And back to the story.
Foaly looked up from his work (aka checking for errors) and saw the young elf enter his laboratory. "Ahh. Holly! You're here! Look at the beauty!" He gestured at the machine. "It's finally done! Here's how it works. First…(some technical jargon)..Then….(blah, blah, blah)……(Holly nodded. Actually, she didn't understand any word of it, but it doesn't really matter anyways.)…Now that we are done.…. (more nods)…all we need is a test subject…(zzzzzz).…and that's where you come in. 'Kay Holly?"
"Huh?" Holly jerked awake. "Repeat the last line again. What did you say about a test subject?"
"You are going to be the test subject."
"What!" Holly exclaimed.
"You….are….go…ing….to….be….the….test….sub….ject….un….der….stand?"
"I heard you the first time." Holly scowled.
"You mean the second," Foaly corrected.
"Whatever." Holly thought about it. The centaur's gadgets usually don't fail to work, but it happened before. She thought back to the Hamburg Incident. She very nearly got suspended because of that centaur. This time, the consequences could be worse. Imagine being stuck in the fourteenth century. Too terrible to think about.
Ark Sool was, at the moment, busy yelling at another one of Foaly's techies. There always seem to be too much of them. He walked away pondering, "Remember to cut Foaly's budget. Speaking (or rather thinking) of Foaly, I'd better go check on him. I need to ask him where all the money I gave him is. I gave him a thousand ($) to start the month with, and not a week later, he says he needs more! Furthermore, he keeps on hinting that he is doing something special."
He walked into the lab and saw three things: First, what looks like a giant telephone booth in the middle of the room with a seat in the middle of it (inside the time machine, not the lab). Second, there was a very familiar Mud Boy in the room, whom he suspects is the one he met a year ago. And lastly, the ex-Captain Miss Short, being dragged by Foaly into the telephone booth.
Holly was saying, "I'm not being your test subject!"
"Yes you are!" chorused Artemis and Foaly. (Artemis found himself joining in on the argument and found it rather hilarious.)
"No I'm not!"
"Yes you are!"
"No!"
"Yes!"(This goes on for several minutes.)
Sool tried to hide his laugher in. Commanders don't laugh.
"Hey look! There's Sool! For real, this time!" Holly exclaimed. (She tried that once, and she almost got away, but Foaly automatically closed the lab doors just in time. This time, Foaly didn't believe her.)
"Foaly!" Sool's voice rose. "I'm going to cut your budget, for real, this time! You've poured all you money into building the LEP a Mud Man telephone booth!"
Everyone realized he was there.
"No, it's not a telephone booth," Artemis calmly explained, "it's a time machine. Holly, you're in luck today. Here is our new test subject."
"Fine! I'll be your test subject. If it doesn't work though, remember your budget!" Ark Sool threatened. Foaly's experiments always work don't they? Besides, what could possibly go wrong?