Authors' Notes

This chapter draws much of its inspiration from Meet The Incredibles: Two Worlds Collide by iKatnissStarkWestoftheFlock, used by permission of the author.

Like that story, this story uses a combined time-line that allows Violet and Wilbur to be contemporaries.

Other than a voice-over in a movie trailer, there's no real internal evidence that Wilbur lives in 2037. In fact, there's substantial evidence that he lives earlier. The tech level for young Lewis seems wrong for 2007. A movie advertised as being in "Dazzling Color"? Clunky CRT desktop computers instead of flat-screens?

The city, Municiberg, has not been completely replaced by a city of the future. Michael Yagoobian was using the abandoned orphanage as his lair. "Todayland" may be exactly what it looks like - a theme park showcasing inventions of Robinson Industries, which may not have been widely adopted yet. The bubble transport is a theme park ride, not a common replacement for cars.

The tech level of Violet's day can be nudged forward a little. There's certainly high-tech around for some supervillains. Other than a couple of superhero death dates, which we will conveniently ignore, there's not much to date "The Incredibles" either.

Violet Meets Wilbur

Violet sat alone in the lunchroom of her new elementary school. Her family had just enrolled her there, in this new charter Montessori school, in the middle of the semester.

They thought she could do well here because she was bright and could learn at her own pace. It was terrible, because all the other kids had already made friends and ten-year-olds weren't nice to the new girl.

She hated being called names. Someone started calling her 'Shrinking Violet' because of how she tried to hide herself and not be noticed, and the name had stuck. She was the shy kid, the loner, the geek. She wanted to do well in school, not try to make the teachers miserable. What was wrong with that?

The other girls played house and the boys played superheroes. Violet smiled. Someday she would go into action as a superhero herself.

Three years ago, when she was seven, she shocked herself by making her face disappear while she was looking in the mirror. She thought she had died and become a ghost. She cried and her mother came running to comfort her. Soon they found that she could not only turn invisible but also project purple force fields. Her six-year old brother, Dash, had super-speed; he could run so fast you could barely see him.

Her parents encouraged her and Dash to practice their powers in secret. But they weren't allowed to show powers in public, unmasked. Superheroes have to maintain a secret identity. It was the only way to have a normal life and not be targeted by old enemies of her father, Mr. Incredible, or her mother, Elastigirl. Even though their real last name was Parr, they had papers in the name of Armstrong. The government helped them keep their secret in return for occasional secret missions.

So Violet Armstrong had to hide everything that made her special, everything that might have won her some friends. She put a homework paper on the table beside her school lunch so she would have something to do while she ate. Learning at her own pace let her work ahead, and today she was trying to learn division.

She was struggling to divide 77 by 6 when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She gave a jump of surprise, bumping into the boy behind her, who nearly dropped his tray, but just managed to keep hold of it.

"Are you usually this jumpy?" the boy asked.

His hair was black, just like hers. It had a cowlick standing nearly straight up from his head. He wore a black shirt with a lightning bolt in a blue circle on the front, blue jeans, and a light brown jacket.

"No, but I don't usually have people sneak up behind me like that," said Violet.

The boy looked like he was about to make an angry retort, but his expression softened. "Sorry about that. I just wanted to ask if I could sit at this table with you. I'm new to the school, too."

Violet brushed back her long hair that usually hid the right side of her face. "Fine with me," she said, trying to keep cool and aloof.

"I'm Wilbur," said the boy. "Wilbur Robinson."

"I'm Violet Armstrong. Are you any relation to Cornelius Robinson, the inventor?"

"He's my dad," said Wilbur. "How about that? It's not everyday you meet a guy related to someone famous."

"If you only knew how famous my Dad is," thought Violet, but she just smiled and said nothing.

Wilbur sat down across the table from her.

As he did, a big blond-haired kid bumped into him as he walked past. Violet recognized him as Buster Harris, a real jerk. Even a Montessori school had bullies, and he was the worst.

"Well, look who's sitting together. Shrinking Violet and Pointy Head. A geek and a freak," Buster sneered. "You better start handing over your lunch money to me, starting tomorrow."

"I don't think you'd better mess with us," said Wilbur. He pulled a doughnut-sized ring from his pocket and tossed it at the bully's feet. It expanded to the size of a hula hoop.

"What's that?" asked Buster.

"It's an experimental portable bubble-transport, like the ride at TodayLand," said Wilbur. "When I give the signal it will blow a bubble around you, lift you to the ceiling, and then pop, dropping you to the floor."

"I don't believe it, geek," said Buster.

Wilbur reached into his pocket and pressed the button of a remote control. The machine began to hum and a purple glowing bubble started to form in the loop.

Buster backed away from the glowing device. "I give," he said. He turned and ran.

"That did better than I expected," said Wilbur to Violet. "I was only expecting a little hum to bluff him with."

Violet smiled. "You did great, Wilbur."

She wasn't going to tell him that she had supplied a bit of glowing force-field to add to the effect.

"We ought to join forces," said Wilbur. "Are you with me?"

"Yeah," said Violet. "If what you mean is, let's be friends."

Wilbur smiled and said, "Sure!"

That's how they first met.

They seemed like total opposites, but they grew to be best friends. Violet was shy, sweet, withdrawn, and very smart. Wilbur was outspoken, wild, and didn't care about school in spite of his scientific father. But they complemented each other and learned from each other. Violet learned to have more confidence and to stand up for herself. Wilbur learned when to tone it down and keep himself out of trouble. Nobody could bring out the scholar in Wilbur but Violet, and nobody could bring out the wild side of Violet like Wilbur.

In a few years the sparks were going to fly.