Alright, this is Chapter 1. I just watched the movie finally and went back to watch some of the classic shorts and got inspired. I haven't written a piece of FanFiction since 2008! Anyway, I think this will be a good one. Enjoy!
The amphibious vessels ground to a nerve-shattering halt into the sands of Omaha beach along the shores of Normandy. Soldiers, from the steely-eyed veterans to the quaking greenies, stared at the ramp that would momentarily descend, plunging them into a world of grinding metal, explosive thunder, and agonized screams. D-day had come and the Axis powers were more than ready for them.
As boot first touched once clean sand, now red with the blood of soldiers that came before them, two 17 year old children watched grimly from their invisible perch, 20 yards above the scene. Sherman Peabody and Penny Peterson watched as young men steadily gave their life for their country and the world. Standing inside the WABAC, the Wavelength Acceleration Bidirectional Asynchronous Controller, Penny and Sherman were shielded not just from the sight of those below but from the sounds of the gruesome scene. The sight of the battle was ample evidence of the sacrifices of the soldiers and seeing they were learning the history lesson well, Mr. Peabody nodded in approval from his seat at the nearby helm.
"The battle today rages along 5 separate beaches along the coast of Normandy. By the time it ends, German casualties will number 1,000. Allied casualties at least 12,000."
"We lost! You brought us to a battle that we lose?" Sherman exclaimed, disbelievingly.
"On the contrary, Sherman. The foothold we make along this shore today gives a strong starting point to march against German controlled Eastern Europe and the freeing of France. The blood shed on the beach below you is paid in the pursuit of freedom for all people and an end to tyranny."
Sherman and Penny nodded slowly in understanding. Since Penny had started traveling with them those many years ago, Mr. Peabody had used the WABAC to take them to increasingly exotic and far-away places, eras where the gods were the answer to life's ailments or witchcraft was the world's version of practicing medicine. As they had matured in their age and understanding, he had also begun to invite them to some of history's more distasteful periods. The Black Death. The Dark Ages. The fall of Camelot. Never before though had Penny and Sherman seen so much death and so quickly. As men fell beneath them, their hands quietly found each other.
"Mr. Peabody, I think we've probably seen enough for today," Penny said, a slight tremble to her voice. She had come to relish these field trips with Sherman and his dad. She had seen sights no modern human dared to hope to see. She had run with a herd of Dromiceiomimus dinosaurs. Sherman and she had stood atop the Eifel tower hours after it had been built! Forget playing "Ring around the Rosy" in the school yard, she had played it with kids in the Middle Ages when the nursery rhyme had been invented, a way to find humor in the death that surrounded them. But sometimes, like today, she needed a break from history.
"Quite right, Penny," Mr. Peabody responded quietly. "Quite right."
As the genius canine began to set the proper coordinates, Sherman pulled Penny a little closer, understanding that they both needed comfort at a time such as this. Time. The concept had a different meaning for Sherman who was in some ways a child of the time stream himself. There were whole blocks of his life span spent more in the past than the present. Mr. Peabody would have to occasionally bring them back a month or two after they left and then make up excuses for where they were all because Sherman couldn't look older than he was supposed to be. Sherman was lucky enough to study at the hands of some of history's greatest thinkers and perhaps its very greatest, his adoptive parent himself.
Still, Sherman was worried of late. Mr. Peabody was not as young and spry as he once was. Dogs normally just don't live as long as Mr. Peabody already had. At the age of 20 he was positively ancient by canine standards. Sherman knew in his younger days, Peabody had taken scientific measures to extend his life but it was evident that those measures could only last so long. The loving father used a cane now to get along. He had picked up a breathing problem for which he carried a portable oxygen pump to use during bouts of breathlessness. He no longer left the WABAC on these trips, excusing himself from Penny and Sherman's adventures under the excuse that "none of these eras are very handicap accessible." Sherman loved his father, but he was afraid he would lose him far sooner than he could ever be prepared for.
As Mr. Peabody's hand descended to the button to transport them home, far below a bullet exploded from the muzzle of an Allied soldier's gun. It ripped through the smoke-filled air, leaving delicate tendrils in its wake. It glanced off the sturdy metal hull of a gunner's nest along the rocky cliff overhead and continued at a deflected angle, now steadily more skyward. Soaring, it shot millimeters from a startled peregrine falcon and continued its ascent. Just when it seemed it could not possible soar further, it made contact with…nothing. Or it would have seemed like nothing. Invisible to all but some avian species, the bullet made a nick in a piece of invisible tubing marked in capital letters, "FUEL LINE."