My apologies for the long wait for anyone checking for uploads. Like I said, updates are rather sporadic for me. Anyways, I told retro mania that I would have something out by this weekend, and this is what I have. If any of you have noticed the chapter title, don't worry. I'll have part two out soon (I will go insane if I don't.) This chapter will be updated in full once I do, because the idea of splitting it into two different "chapters" just makes me cringe thinking about it. (EDIT: This is now one full chapter. The content I wanted to add seemed to flow better as its own chapter.)
Special thanks to Stars r fallin for reviewing, and retro mania for favoriting and following. :)
"Can't I at least look?" Penny did promise Uncle Gadget that she would be good to Dr. Jindal. It wouldn't be fair if she didn't at least give him a chance to at least be nice. The apprentice glared at first at the young girl, but eventually gave off a weary sigh, and a muffled "yes". Penny squeed with glee, and began running to the nearest invention. Before she could even get a chance to even glance at it, Dr. Jindal snatched her arm and pulled her away rather harshly.
"I said you could look. I said nothing about running." Once he released his grip, Penny rubbed her arm and walked to the invention. Brain quickly caught up with her, making sure that he wasn't technically running. The invention itself wasn't as impressive as the professor's other creations, but it was impressive nevertheless. It was a metal sphere about half her size, with tubes filled with strange illuminous fluid connected to it, and a hatch on the front. Penny raised an eyebrow, while Brain cocked his head to the side.
"What does this do?" It was a fairly innocent question, but the apprentice's reaction to it almost looked as if she insulted the entire field of science itself.
"You are too dumb to understand even the basics of this device! Why bother explaining it to you?" Penny crossed her arms.
"I bet I'm smart enough to understand!"
"Trust me, little girl. You're not."
"Am too! Uncle Gadget says so!" Dr. Jindal gave off a mocking laugh.
"The inspector told you that? Ha! He can't even tell up from down!" Penny's eyes widen with anger. How dare he insult her uncle like that! Uncle Gadget was the smartest man in the world besides the professor! She began to calculate a way to prove the apprentice her intelligence, when an idea struck. A clever grin grew on her face.
"Do you know what pi is?" Dr. Jindal looked at her as if she was crazy.
"Of course I do! It's three point one four!"
"Actually, its' three point one four, one five, nine two, six five, three five, eight nine, seven nine, three two, three eight, four six, two six, four three, three eight, three two, seven nine, five zero, two eight, eight four, one nine, seven one, six nine, three nine, nine three, seven five, one zero, five eight, two zero, nine seven, four nine, four four, five nine, two three, zero seven, eight one, six four, zero six, two eight, six two, zero eight, nine nine, eight six, two eight, zero three, four eight, two five, three four, two one, one seven, zero six, seven nine, eight two, one four,…" She stopped to make sure Dr. Jindal was still paying attention. The only expression he gave off was one of shock and surprise. "There are approximately one million more digits if you want me to say all of them."
"Well I don't!" he snapped back rather quickly. "I have more important things to do at the moment, so go do… geometry problems or something! I don't care! Just stay out of my hair!" And with that, the apprentice marched away, muttering something about the American school system. At last! They were free to explore the lab!
"Come on, Brain!" Penny whispered to Brain, and the two of them ran to the next invention, and the next. Each device was more intriguing than the last, filling the young girl's mind with ideas, and the timid puppy with curiosity. Eventually, they came across one machine that Penny could not turn away from. There was nothing spectacular about it, really. In fact, Penny was beginning to question if it was an invention at all! Sure, it had wires connected to it, but it was nothing more than a metal box with an old shower curtain. Penny used all of her willpower to not go inside, but it wasn't strong enough. She just had to know! Making sure Dr. Jindal wasn't around, Penny quickly stepped inside. The interior was more pleasing to the scientific mind than the exterior. Green little lights faintly lit up the box, while a strange purple screen glowed on the wall just out of arms' reach.
Numerous different ideas and theories were forming in her head as to what this machine was capable of. What it some kind of special shower? Did it create robots? Maybe it was a time traveling machine! She could go into the future, and drive in a flying car with Brain and Uncle Gadget! Oh that would be a lot of fun! Filled with excitement, Penny poked her head out of the curtain to an uncertain Brain.
"Brain!" she whispered loudly. "Get inside! We're going to the future!" His response to this was not what Penny expected. Instead of joining her, he shook his head and scooched an inch or two away. "Oh, alright. You don't have to come along. I'll make sure to get you a chew toy or something. Ah! I almost forgot! Don't forget to tell Uncle Gadget where I went, okay?" Brain gave a whispered yip, and saluted the young girl.
Now all that was left to do was figure out how to turn it on. Problem was, there wasn't anything indicating that it was an on/off switch. Nothing, that is, except for the screen. Perhaps it was touch activated? Deciding to at least give it a try, Penny gave a small hop, and smacked the screen as if she was giving a high five.
Everything went horribly wrong. All the lights inside turned into a harsh red. An eerie siren moaned loudly. Steam rose from the floor. In panic, Penny ran out of the box.
"RUN, BRAIN!" The puppy didn't need to be told twice. The two ran as fast as their little legs would allow. Not long after they saw a very unhappy Dr. Jindal, they felt a hot flash of heat from behind. Both were too afraid to look, but they had an idea of what caused it.
Uncle Gadget wasn't going to like this.
As if on cue, Prof. Von Slickstien and Uncle Gadget burst into the room, seeing what all of the commotion was about. Uncle Gadget immediately went to work taking care of whatever remained of the explosion, while the professor and his assistant began yelling at each other in a language Penny couldn't understand. It was all very overwhelming. Both girl and puppy held onto each other.
"Um, Prof. Von Slickstien? I hate to interrupt, but I think you should see this." The two scientists stopped their bickering, and went to see what Uncle Gadget had found. Penny turned around to see what it was, but the three men blocked her view from where she stood. A second or so went by before the professor screamed.
"Is it dead?" asked Dr. Jindal.
"Who cares?!" Penny had never heard Prof. Von Slickstien sound so frantic before. "You let Miss Penny in the cloning booth! I thought I told you that the prototype is extremely dangerous!"
"Let me get this straight! You allowed my niece of all people to go near a HIGHLY DANGEROUS PIECE OF SCIENTIFIC EQUIPMENT?!"
"No! I didn't even know she found the prototype!" Dr. Jindal's face immediately went pale the moment those words came out of his mouth. If Uncle Gadget and the professor weren't angry before, they certainly were now. As Prof. Von Slickstien yelled at his assistant for not looking after Penny, Uncle Gadget turned to face his niece, eyes enraged. He didn't say anything to her, but he did motion her with his finger to come over. Penny gave a tiny gulp, and slowly walked over to her uncle. Once she approached him, he went down on one knee, their heights close in range.
"I thought I told you to be good to Dr. Jindal while I was with Prof. Von Slickstien," Uncle Gadget spoke, his voice quiet and calm.
"I was," Penny replied.
"Then how come Dr. Jindal didn't know where you were?"
"He let me and Brain explore the lab without him." Uncle Gadget's only response to this was a frustrated sigh, followed by eye duct-rubbing.
"Do you have any idea what you have done?"
"No…?"
"YOU ALMOST KILLED YOURSELF!" She flinched, not familiar with this kind of behavior from her uncle. "THIS ISN'T A PLAYGROUND FOR YOU TO PLAY AROUND IN, PENNY! THIS IS A SCIENTIFIC LABORATORY FILLED WITH – " He stopped yelling, and exhaled in a frustrated manner.
"I'm sorry, Uncle Gadget." No reply.
A moan broke out, breaking the tension in the room. Everyone turned to see who, or what caused it. Among the rubble, their laid a young girl, possibly no older than five. She was covered head to toe with soot and dust, but one could see her white shirt, yellow overalls and –
Wait.
"She's alive?!" Prof. Von Slickstien ran toward the girl, lifting her from the rubble, and parting her shoulder-length blonde hair from her face. Penny could only gasp in response.
It was her.
The clone moaned again before opening her blue eyes. She scanned the room in confusion, as if she was struggling to remember something.
"What happened? Where am I?" She sounded exactly like Penny too.
"You're in my laboratory," Prof. Von Slickstien explained. "As for you my dear, you're a clone."
"A clone?"
"Yes. Hers, to be exact." The professor pointed to Penny, who quickly hid behind her uncle. "Now, my dear, are you hurt?"
"No, I think my bodily functions are fine." The clone stood up on her feet, and walked toward Penny and Uncle Gadget. "And who are you, strange man?"
"I'm Inspector Gadget, Penny's uncle."
"'Penny'?" the clone looked around Uncle Gadget to catch a better glimpse at her original. "What a lovely name!"
Penny didn't like the way she said "lovely".