Disclaimer: I don't own Sky High, because if I did you'd be watching this instead of reading it, and this episode would feature the songs "Twilight Zone" by Golden Earring, "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd, and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me" by Elton John.
Sky High: The Series
Episode 7
No Place Like Home
"And finally," said Mr. Medulla as he FINALLY wrapped up his speech, "I would like to thank Mr. Stronghold for volunteering to be the first LIVING subject of this new transporter unit we are looking to install here at Sky High…providing he survives, of course."
Laughter came from the class, except for Will, who was again wondering how he had let himself get talked into this. It seemed like an easy enough demonstration for Mad Science class, but once Medulla had launched into his full speech, it seemed less and less like volunteering was a good idea after all.
"Mr. Medulla," said Ethan as he raised his hand, "isn't there a chance the device won't work due to Will's denser molecular structure which results in his super strength and near-invulnerability?"
"An excellent question," replied Mr. Medulla, "but not a concern. I've made sure it's been especially calibrated to compensate for Mr. Stronghold being so dense…in more ways than one."
Another ripple of laughter, but Will was still nervous. He had never thought about what teleporting really entailed; being completely disassembled at the molecular level then reassembled in a different place. Thoughts of the old horror movie where a scientist got a fly's molecules mixed with his own and turned him into a hideous monster kept flashing in Will's head, and Ethan's question brought up something Will hadn't thought of…suppose he was disassembled but they couldn't reassemble him? Would it hurt? Would he still be able to think and feel or would he just be…dead?
Will was just about to speak up and voice his concerns when Mr. Medulla threw the device into operation and a bright light heralded Will fading from view before everyone…just before all sorts of warning devices began going off. Mr. Medulla swiftly shut everything down, puzzled as to what had just happened.
"Everyone, please remain calm," he said to the class, "I'm sure it's nothing too severe, perhaps an overloaded fuse…hopefully I didn't put a circuit in backwards…never mind, I DIDN'T say that…"
"Mr. Medulla," said Ethan as he joined the teacher on the podium in his position of lab assistant, "where's Will?"
"Oh, Mr. Stronghold," said Medulla as if he had totally forgotten about the boy, "why, he should be right over…" he pointed to the receiver plate where Will was supposed to be, but the area was empty. "Uh…perhaps he's still…" the sending plate was also empty. Medulla desperately looked around, finally realizing there was not so much as a hair left of Will.
"Oh dear," he whispered to himself, "his father is definitely going to freak."
Will woke up slowly with the worst headache he had had since…well, EVER. He also felt like he had been run over by a truck…at least if he had been BEFORE he had powered up. Every muscle was stiff and sore, which was shocking, as he hadn't felt that way in months.
"Are you alright?"
Will recognized the voice, and focused his eyes to see Nurse Spex standing next to him.
"That was quite a fall you took," she said as she slapped a cold compress on Will's throbbing forehead, easing the pain. "It's good to see you recovered so quickly."
Fall? What fall? Will had been standing still when the transporter had been activated, so what was she talking about?
"Ah," a deep voice came from the doorway, "I see our patient is trying to get up and around."
"I've looked him over," said Nurse Spex, indicating her x-ray vision, "and nothing's broken. Looks like he just got the wind knocked out of him."
"That's good to know," said the voice that Will found familiar but could not put his finger on, "Lash and Speed were concerned when they found him laying in the gymnasium, and they haven't relaxed yet."
Lash and Speed? What were THEY doing here in school…both had been expelled for working for Royal Pain.
Will finally focused his eyes on the large figure filling the doorway, and a chill shot up his spine as he recognized who it was.
The large man was dressed in an impeccable dark blue suit with an orange tie and pocket kerchief matching the school colors. His dark hair was cut short, and he wore a well-trimmed goatee. Despite the fact he did not have a thin jagged scar on the left side of his face, this was the man Will had last seen in a dark warehouse, about to blast him to kingdom come.
It was Warren's father…Barron Battle.
"Well Principal Battle," said Nurse Spex, "you know what a pair of literal boy scouts those two are. I'm surprised you didn't trip over them standing outside the door when you came in."
PRINCIPAL Battle? What was going on here? Had Will been unconscious and a group of villains taken over the school while he was out? That didn't make any sense at all…why would Barron Battle take part in such a charade, and where was his scar?
"Actually," said Barron, "they ARE right outside. Come on in boys."
With that Lash and Speed came in, and Will had another in a long line of surprises. Both of the punks were impeccably dressed, wearing what looked like school uniforms and were perfectly groomed with short cut hair. They both came to attention and stood still until Barron, rolling his eyes and sighing, told them "at ease".
Both boys did as told, with Speed speaking first.
"Sir, we've come to inquire as to the state of Freshman Stronghold as we are concerned about his well-being."
"You'll both be glad to know that he's alright, just a little shaken up is all."
"With permission sir," said Lash, "may we speak with him?"
"Permission granted," said Barron, trying to keep from laughing as the two came up to Will, who involuntarily flinched as he remembered what the two bullies were capable of.
"Geez Will," said Lash, sounding more like himself but with a friendly smile on his face, "you scared the heck out of us. What were you doing in the gym anyway?"
"Yeah," continued Speed, "if you hadn't been laying unconscious we'd have had to turn you in for ditching class. Though we're buds we're still the hall monitors, you know."
Will was now positive he had a concussion of some kind and was hallucinating. These two were the hall monitors? What kind of madhouse had he landed in?
"Hey little bro," came another familiar voice, and though he was braced for it, Will was still surprised when he saw who came through the door and Lash and Speed both gave him a high five.
It was Warren, but instead of wearing leather and denim, he looked like a beach bum with a bright red muscle shirt, baggy Bermuda shorts, and ratty looking tennis shoes. The two biggest surprises were that Warren's still long hair was blonde, and he was grinning from ear to ear.
Before Will could react, Warren grabbed him in a big bear hug, lifting him completely off the floor. Will was naturally a little disoriented when he was put back on the floor to again face Warren's blinding grin.
"I was so totally worried about you," said Warren sounding like Keanu Reeves in "Bill and Ted", "I heard you were here and I was like, whoa, not good. We'd have got here sooner but we couldn't get out of history class early."
We? Just what Will needed, more topsy-turvy versions of the people he knew.
It was Layla, but definitely NOT the Layla she knew. Her red hair was short and spikey, and she wore dark green eyeliner around her eyes, looking like a raccoon. Her pierced ears were filled with earrings, and she wore a studded collar with matching bracers. She wore a dark green sleeveless top that revealed tanned, rather well developed arms, along with camouflage pants, studded boots, and chains rattled everywhere.
"Hey skinny," said Layla as she playfully punched him in the shoulder, "caught takin' a nap between classes, eh? Be more careful next time you wanna ditch."
Will felt like he was going crazy. What was this place? The surroundings looked the same, but these were NOT the people he knew…at least not the way he knew them to be. This had to be a trick of some kind…but who would go out their way for such a prank? Warren couldn't act that well, and there was no way he'd let anyone pretend to be his dad.
"Excuse me everyone," came another voice from the doorway, "but I have to ask you all to step AWAY from Mr. Stronghold."
"Why's that?"
"Because he's NOT Mr. Stronghold…at least not OUR Mr. Stronghold."
Everyone did as they were told, and Will finally got a look at who was speaking.
She was a tall woman of middle years, with her hair pulled back in a severe bun. She had thick bottle-bottom glasses and what looked like a perpetual frown on her face as she wore a lab coat covering her dark dress and sensible shoes. Will had never seen her before, but there was a nagging feeling he knew her from somewhere before.
"What exactly do you mean, Dr. Tenny?"
Dr. Tenny? SUE TENNY? Will nearly screamed as he realized he was looking at Sue Tenny, aka Gwen Grayson, aka his ex-girlfriend Royal Pain! But she looked like she would have if the Pacifier had never turned her into a baby in her final battle with Will's parents. Will thought back to her old high school picture, the one that enabled him to figure out who Gwen was (well, NEARLY, he thought Gwen had been Sue's daughter, not Sue herself), and realized that though older, she definitely had not caught onto the latest beauty and grooming aids.
"I ran a test of the strange energy surge I had detected earlier today, and followed a trail of the residual energy to here…to Mr. Stronghold. I have determined that a switching in space-time between two beings of exact type, yet slightly different frequencies caused the energy."
"And what that means in HUMAN speak is…" said Warren.
"This is a Will Stronghold from another dimension…an alternate earth if you will."
"A DIFFERENT Will?" said Warren, "but if he's not my little bro…where is HE?"
Will woke up slowly with the worst headache he had had since…well, EVER. He also felt like he had been run over by a truck…at least if he had been BEFORE he had powered up. Every muscle was stiff and sore, which was shocking as he hadn't felt that way in months.
"Are you alright?"
Will recognized the voice, and focused his eyes to see Nurse Spex standing next to him.
"We found you on the other side of the auditorium out cold from Medulla's stupid transporter," she said as she slapped a cold compress on Will's throbbing forehead, easing the pain. "It's good to see you recovered so quickly."
Auditorium? Transporter? Will had been taking a shortcut through the gym to get to his home economics class, so what was she talking about?
"Well," came a woman's voice from the doorway, "it looks like he's finally come around."
Will had to squint to focus his eyes, and then he saw the form of a tall woman with black hair dressed in a dazzling white woman's suit. When his eyes focused, however, a chill shot down his spine as he recognized her.
It was her…it was Queen Comet!
Will acted on his first instinct and hurled himself from the cot he had been laying on. He knew he had no chance fighting off one of the most powerful villainesses around, so his only recourse was to run and try to find help. He took to the air, smashing up and through the ceiling of the infirmary and had gone up to the next floor before he realized he had left Nurse Spex behind. Stupid, stupid, STUPID! There was no telling what the Queen would do to the school nurse…then Will realized he was still at Sky High…that must mean the Queen had invaded the school! Now it was more desperate than ever that he find the others and hope they could hold off the Queen until Dad arrived.
"Yo Will," a voice called behind him, "what's with the hole in the floor dude?"
Thinking he recognized the voice, Will turned and found himself looking at a tall, skinny kid dressed in white and yellow, and with him was a small black boy in a bright orange sweater and glasses.
"Radiator and the Ooze!" Will screamed at the two, "YOU'RE here too? What, is there an army of you guys? We'll stop you, though! We stopped you and that crazy Dr. Dome from ruining homecoming and turning us all into babies, and we'll do it again!"
Will then flew off down the hallway, leaving Zach and Ethan standing there with their mouths hanging open.
"Dude?" asked Zach.
"Yeah?" replied Ethan.
"Those names are SO COOL! Why didn't we think of them?"
Will continued flying down the hall, so desperate to find help he wasn't watching where he was going and slammed into a tall figure that just turned the corner. Both continued on to smash into and through a concrete wall, landing in a heap on the other side. Luckily they were in an empty classroom, so no one else had gotten hurt.
"You know Stronghold," said Warren as he got to his feet and dusted the concrete particles off him, "I'd ask, "where's the fire", but…well, you know."
"Warren?" asked Will as he stood up, "Oh Warren, thank God I found you!"
Will grabbed Warren and hugged him fit to knock the air out of the bigger boy. Warren had the most puzzled look on his face and considered lighting up to get Will to let him go when his friend released the bear hug but stayed uncomfortably close to him.
"We've got to warn Dad…the school's crawling with super villains and…"
"Whoa," said Warren, "what do you mean warn your dad? Don't you mean…"
"I mean OUR dad," said Will looking around like a panicking animal, "I've already seen Queen Comet and…"
"Whoa, "repeated Warren, his eyes flashing anger at what he heard "OUR dad? Is this your sick idea of a joke?"
"It's alright Warren," came a voice through the hole that both boys recognized as Coach Boomer's, "I think we can get this mess sorted out…can't we Myron?"
"Well, yes…I'm sure we can if we just…"
"TALK FAST!" the room echoed with the blast of Coach Boomer's voice.
"Mr. Stronghold…Will," said Mr. Medulla, "please calm down, and we'll…I'll explain everything. I'm afraid you're…not exactly in your home universe."
Will stopped to hear what was going to be said, even though he recognized the whiney, nasal voice of Dr. Dome. He still trusted Coach Boomer, and besides he had his brother beside him. It was then he noticed how Warren was dressed, and turned to him.
"I thought Dad said we weren't doing "West Side Story" for the school musical this year," he said to Warren.
"A parallel universe?" said Will as he sat on the cot. "Sure I know what those are…but those are only in comic books and old sci-fi tv shows…right?"
"So are people who can fly, or have super strength and hurl fireballs," said Dr. Tenny, who Will had found was actually very nice behind her stern demeanor and out of date fashion sense. If she had been like this in HIS world, combined with her youth and beauty she would have been a great heroine…and she and Will would still be going together.
Will shook his head to clear it and focus on what was going on.
"It seems you and "our" Will somehow got synchronized in such a way that you were able to switch places between our relative dimensions. It's always been a theory, but it's never actually occurred until now."
"Where is he?" cried another voice Will almost found familiar.
The small crowd parted and allowed the appearance of a beautiful oriental girl wearing a purple dress and her purple-streaked black hair was done in a long ponytail. She looked at Will from behind a pair of glasses, and her purple eyes were tearing up.
"Oh Will," she whispered, "are you okay?"
Before Will could answer Magenta was on top of him, peppering his face with little kisses. While it was rather confusing, he found it really wasn't bad at all.
"Miss Violetta," said Principal Battle, "please restrain yourself from your usual…shows of physical affection…and listen to what we are trying to say."
Magenta did as told, but she stayed snuggled up to Will like a frightened puppy. Will found the closeness from this version of his sarcastic goth friend was…actually kind of nice.
"So," his voice cracked as he spoke, then Will cleared his throat before he spoke again, "how soon can you get me back home?"
"That's just it," Dr. Tenny said sadly, "I don't know if you CAN return to your home dimension."
It had taken a lot of talking, but they were able to convince Will he was not in his own dimension, but one of countless alternate earths that he had been brought to by the malfunctioning transporter.
Everyone noticed how skittish and nervous this Will was, and not just because he was in a different world. He seemed like he was always expecting something bad to happen, and he stayed close to Warren almost like a security blanket.
"What…what's it like in this world?"
"Well, let's see," said Mr. Medulla, "aside from possible social and geo-political differences that would…"
"Cram it," said Coach Boomer, "I think the kid means how WE are different from the ones he knows. Maybe you should tell us about yours first."
"Well," said Will, "on my world this "Principal Powers" of yours is a powerful villainess named Queen Comet, and you…" he pointed to Medulla, "are an evil mad scientist named Dr. Dome. You nearly took over the school at homecoming with a bunch of ex-students, but you were stopped by Warren, Layla, Lash, Speed, Penny and me and my girlfriend Magenta…"
"Whoa," said Warren, "Magenta is your girlfriend? What about…Layla?"
"She's your girlfriend," Will replied like it was common knowledge, "you two got together after we defeated Dr. Dome and the others. You started dancing and have always been together since. Luckily Mom and Dad approved."
"Yeah," said Warren, "about that…you said OUR dad. You mean you and I have the same dad?"
"Well," said Will, "I was raised by Mom and Dad…I mean Barron and Josie Battle with you after…what happened with my real dad."
"My parents are WHO?"
"Your parents," said Barron with a sigh, "are the super heroine Jetstream and…my former friend Steve Stronghold, now known and reviled as the super villain called Tyrant. For years he masqueraded as a hero, even marrying your mother and having you…but when you turned six things changed. He finally went totally berserk and revealed his true nature to the world. It was quite a…battle, but he was defeated and is now incarcerated in the Maxville Prison for Super Villains. Your poor mother was beside herself…and my own wife Hellene had died in childbirth with Warren. We decided that it would be best if we…I don't know how to say this."
"Your mom divorced your dad," said Warren, putting a comforting arm around Will. Between that and Magenta's snuggling Will had the feeling he was loved very much in this world, despite what had happened with his dad. "And she married my dad. We're stepbrothers…which is, like, so totally cool. Then there's Hope…"
"Who?"
"Our little sister…Hope. She just turned eight a month ago."
Will didn't know what to think. His dad a dangerous villain in prison…his mom divorced from him and married to Warren's dad…and they had a daughter. He had a little sister. This world was getting crazier and crazier by the minute.
"I can't believe it," said Coach Boomer, "Steve Stronghold a villain. Sure he's a little stuck on himself, but still…"
"What…what's he like here?"
"Are you kidding? He's one of the greatest heroes in the world here. He and your mom have been protecting Maxville for years.
"Really? You mean…they're still married? Dad's a hero…for real?"
"Yeah," said Coach Boomer, "he and your mom are upstanding members of the community…run Stronghold Superior Real Estate and everything."
Before anyone could move, Will took off, flying down the halls until he found an exit and was gone in a flash, flying down to the city of Maxville below. He had to see his dad, see him as a true hero, even if it was just once. He had no idea where to start looking until he saw a billboard for the real estate company with the address on it. It was actually in a part of town Will knew if locations corresponded to his world.
The outer walls of the Maxville Prison for Super Villains trembled again and again as powerful blows were struck against them. The inner walls had already succumbed to the rain of demolishing impacts, and now small cracks were appearing in one spot. With one final blow the wall shattered with a tremendous explosion. The sounds of the blows had been muffled by the deafening wail of warning sirens announcing a breakout, and all the guards that had tried to stop it had fallen.
The noise finally stopped, and all was quiet for several moments until two figures emerged from the rubble. The first was short and skinny, with an abnormally large head, while the second was far bigger and powerfully built. His long hair was disheveled, and he looked like he hadn't shaved in days, but the most striking thing about him was the fact he had only one eye; the other was covered with a black patch. Both were wearing the standard orange jumpsuits given to prisoners.
"I told you all it took was the application of enough force in the exact spot to…gullk!"
The little man, known in this world as Dr. Dome, had been cut off by the application of a large hand around his throat, applying just enough force to shut him up even though it could have crushed him completely without straining.
"Quiet," growled Steven Stronghold, infamously known as the Tyrant, "you upheld your end of the deal, but shut up or I'll pop your melon head like a zit. My worthless little sidekick should be here any second with our escape vehicle. So help me, if he fouls this up…"
Down from the sky dropped a small airship right on schedule. The cockpit opened as the pilot motioned for the two to hurry.
"Hurry it up," yelled Tyrant's sidekick, the little man known as the Familiar, who had waited years for this moment.
Without a word the two villains climbed into the ship, and it rose into the air to vanish into the sun.
"Now that you've shut up," growled Tyrant, finally letting Dr. Dome go, "let's get out of here and get back to town. It's been too long since I've seen my family, and I want to make sure my son is especially surprised."
To be continued