Another Day in the Making
Chapter 3: Another Person on the Other Side
Disclaimer: I do not own any Fusionfall characters in this chapter or the characters from Dexter's Laboratory.
Yay 3rd chapter! I didn't think I would be able to get this far this quickly. But here I am! I hope you guys like this chapter. In this chapter, Katherine had forgotten (not surprisingly) to visit Dexter yesterday to repair her Hov-scooter so she comes the next day in hopes of getting it fixed. Katherine meets Mandark, who seems envious of Dexter and his newfound partner. That's all I'm gonna tell you.
Oh, there's one other thing. The situation of Dexter's finances and relations and such are based a little bit on Lightning Bird's Invisible Sun so LB, if you're reading this, please look over anything that might include bits of Invisible Sun relevance for errors and please advise me on such. Also, just to be safe, the specific timing of this story right now is somewhat between fall and winter. That I guess will have to fit the story, if not, please tell me.
Now read it!
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I can't believe myself. How in the world did I manage to forget to get the stupid thing fixed? Oh well, it's not like it's a life-death situation or something. But it was my priority to get it functional no matter what. It was that or I'd have to deal with running as fast as I could just to get to class on time for the rest of the school year. I hated running.
I walk over to the front entrance of the house and knocked. The door opened showing a light silhouette of a boy in the doorway. It was Dexter.
"Katherine," Said the calm boy. "I was wondering when you would get here."
"I'm sorry, it's just that…well, I have a tendency to forget things. Normally it's just the small things that I forget. This is the first time I've ever forgotten something like this." I admitted.
I ponder over this myself, realizing that this was a first. Usually I write something like that down, but apparently I didn't have time to. What could've made me forget something like this? I then saw Dexter close to my face, apparently trying to snap me out of it. I suddenly shrieked in surprise, falling backwards onto the hard concrete. I felt myself blushing hard so I turned my head away and got back up.
"Oh, sorry, I was just…" He murmured, hiding his face as well.
"It's okay, it's my fault. I was phasing out on you." I apologized, brushing off my sleeves for absolutely no reason at all. "Um, should we get to your lab right now? That is why I'm here, after all."
"Of course…to fix your scooter, right?" He said with a slight pause for me to reply, which I gave a positive answer within a silent nod of my head.
Dexter closed the door from the outside and gestured to walk around to the back. He followed behind me quietly. As I made my way around the corner of the house, I heard two voices, so I stopped. One of the voices, which belonged to a middle-aged man, discussed with the other, which was a woman's. It seemed the two were talking about nothing important really. Just about 'how nice the day was' and something strange. All I really heard was 'powerpuff' and 'Townsville'. Townsville…isn't that where Toni is having that concert?
"What is it?" Dexter asked me, making me jump out of my skin again.
"Oh! Um…" I murmured, snapping out of yet another trance of mine. "Are those, relatives?"
He looks over my shoulder to the backyard. He sighed slightly, then letting it slip away. He turned around and walked back.
"Wait! Dexter! Where are you going?"
"Follow me; I have another entrance to the laboratory." He explained without another word.
I look about the small hall-like grass area we had just entered to get to backyard, suddenly getting the feeling that there was someone, well, watching me.
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"Is it done yet?"
"Almost."
"………How about now?"
"Not quite finished."
"As the amazing Katherine, I demand that you tell me if you are done yet!" I spat quite dramatically.
Dexter, surprisingly enough, burst out laughing. I thought it was funny, but he actually didn't seem to be that kind of person to laugh, especially that much. It almost looked like he would fall to the floor. In truth, I've never heard anybody except for Toni laugh at any of my jokes. That was usually his talent. After waiting for Dexter to finish his enjoyment of my now seemingly hilarious act, he finally calmed down and double-checked the now fixed scooter.
"Well, it's repaired to full functional abilities. Go ahead and try it out." He grinned in a sense of pride, settling it down on the tiled flooring.
I stared in amazement at the scooter, installing a newly charged battery into the slot. I look at Dexter, slightly raising a brow. "Are you sure you don't want some kind of tip or reward or something?"
"It would be nice, but your funding is more than enough for that." He gratified, sitting down into a small chair at the table.
I sighed as I adjusted the scooter's anti-gravity motor which sat upon the base of the handles, strapped tightly within the welded piece of metal I had applied to it. I launch the scooter which then hovered into the air as wonderfully as ever.
"There has to be something you want, say, like a Parts finder? A little bird told me you've needed one since you started the Mark 3 of the Null-void project, to help you find parts and such for it." I addressed to him.
Apparently it was true, because as soon as I spoke of said niche, his bright blue eyes had shown a desperate need for help. "Can you really? But what could I pay you back with? To tell you the truth, I really don't have any money of my own and-"
I stop him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You don't need to pay me anything. Since finding parts for technology such as your Null-void projector will be mostly foreign tech, I will have to travel and meet with other beings aside from people here, so if I need to go somewhere as far as that, I'll be happy to. Traveling is like a career to me as well as exploring, so the fun of it is compensation enough. What do you say?"
I grin, lifting my hand from his shoulder. He looked at me obliviously, probably thinking that I had to be kidding. But I wasn't, I was actually quite serious. If it meant furthering the standards on technology, I'll do what I can to help.
"Are you sure you wouldn't want anything in return?" He asked, still wondering if I really meant what I said.
I shook my head. "All you would have to do is tell me what you need and I'll get it for you, no questions asked. I'll pay all the traveling expenses too." I explained to him, making myself quite clear.
Dexter seemed to be unsure of this as much as he was astonished at my sincerity. But I thought it as an unsurprising that he seemed that way. At first he looked as if he was about to say something, but he stopped himself.
"How about this: We have tomorrow off of school, don't we?" I questioned. He nods slightly. "I'll come back in the afternoon to see if you have an answer for me then, okay?"
I lift up the scooter and snap it back into a more portable position, then putting in the crook of my arm. I walk over to the backyard entrance. Just before I stepped out into the night, I turned to him, making a sweep of my hair.
"Until then, think about it. In truth, I think that it's most likely that you won't get many opportunities like this where you are now. And remember this. Be thorough with your choices, otherwise you won't get anywhere."
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She then exited the laboratory, the entrance shutting silently with the exception of a gust of wind pushing itself in through the crack. I turned the chair around from the table and stood up. She is very interesting person indeed. This was a much unexpected deal as well. I was well aware that I would need such a helper, but I never really expected for that help to come. Perhaps I should tell the Professor about this. He should know what to do. At least, I hope so. I stride over to the monitors, then noticing that Katherine had forgotten to take her bag with her. It sat in the small corner of the room, untouched. Then I remember her admittance to her tendencies to overlook things. It surprised me. I only thought as such since she didn't seem like that kind of person, to forget things.
I picked up the bag, clarifying it as Katherine's. It was a crimson shoulder bag which had small keychains with three small, laminated pictures attached to them. One of pictures was her and Toni at the amusement park, another one showing her posing happily in front of a small house at a younger age. But it was the third picture caught my attention the most. It was another picture of the house, but instead of just Katherine standing there, there two, optimistic-like couple holding her hands. I had assumed that these were her parents, since they looked so much like her.
The woman, who I suppose was her mother, looked youthful and almost seemed like a doll. She was wearing a sinuous blue dress, her hair long flowing down in elegant white curls. She had brimming blue eyes, showing like marbles in the sand. Her father, which stood to the left of his daughter, had dirty blond hair which looked as if it had the faintest brown tinge to it. He had a dark green vest and a black, long-sleeve shirt on, matching along with his black jeans, his hazel eyes burning with pride.
That's when I noticed that he looked as if he was holding yet another hand. Looking closely at the edge of the picture, I saw that it had been torn at that point. How unusual. I wonder what had happened there.
"Dexter, you have a message from Mandark." Said the computer, breaking the never-ending silence that had developed in the laboratory.
I looked up, startled out of concentration. It was irritating how he could call me this late at night. "Tell him I'm busy, I have no time for the likes of him this late in the day."
"But he said that—"
I cut it off, turning away from the screen. "What? That he wants to borrow some of my schematics again? I think not."
"Hey Dorkster." retorted a new voice.
There was only one person I knew that could call me that with such a confident tone, and that was Mandark.
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"Let me out of here, you megalomaniacal geek!" I screamed in rage, stomping my feet in the pitch black darkness of wherever I was. All I could see was the dim lighting produced by the electric prison around me.
"I know you can hear me, you twit!" I yell again. No use. I might as well scream at a wall, if I could see one, that is.
After tiring myself out from all the ranting and yelling at the darkness, I let myself slump to the ground, furious at the hole I buried myself in. How did I get myself into this mess anyway? I try to look through the current situation at hand, just I trained myself to do since they had left me, alone in dark as much as I was now as it is. Kathy, you need to focus on the problem, not them. Especially not them. I looked about the small cubicle I had been confined in by him. I could only recall that when I exited Dexter's lab, I walked a little bit, then something hit me. Literally too, and to be specific, it hit me in the back of my head, not to mention it stung like as if something had cracked my skull open. That was all I could remember. What happened soon after I woke up gave me a look at the worst thing about me. I always shoot before thinking.
That boy called Susan I had met in grade school all those years ago, which was the one who had knocked me out earlier, wanted me to sponsor him instead of Dexter. But I refused to. There was no way I was going to join him. Not in this lifetime. So I ended up here, in a dark, quiet space. I knew I could have convinced him to let me go the easy way, but I spoke too soon, literally.
I knew him though. We only met in those days until he moved. All I remember from those times was that he was really smart and he was nice to all the girls in the class. He looked like one too. We would usually play with each other, him and me.
But this was extremely ironic on my opinion. I never expected to see him at all, especially in the same neighborhood. Now he just knocks me out like an insect with a boulder, and expects me to cooperate with him. It was crazy enough just to see him as he was. He turned from the nice little boy I knew as a friend into a mad scientist. You don't really see that in everyday life very often, now do you? It seemed that he had cut his hair short to one of those bowl haircuts. He wore a dark cape which hung behind him, lightly touching the ground. Then instead of the pink dress-shorts he wore back then was replaced with a pair of overall shorts and a white collared shirt along with a large red tie. In opinion, I found that kind of outfit pretty tacky.
I then suddenly realized that the walls around me weren't electric at all. That was a lie. When I was thinking through all of this, I felt this weird feeling of walking through some kind of field. I step back into the center of the prison then tried to touch one of the walls. My hand pushed onto the wall then slid through it like a diver through water.
I could feel a whole new presence taking over, body and soul.
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"I prefer that you do not call me by that wretched name, Susan." I retorted as I turned to my enemy.
"It's Mandark. Mandark! And if I feel the need to call you Dorkster, then that's how it will go, Dorkster." Spat the other boy genius.
"Whatever," I groaned. "So, what is this important thing that you have to call me so late for?"
"Well maybe I just wanted to call you at random." He said, smirking slightly.
"We both know that you hate that kind of stupidity and would prefer not to call for someone that you hate even more than that." I cleared to him quickly enough to make someone fall back and retreat. "Now what do you really want from me?"
He frowned, dissatisfied in his attempt to annoy me. "Hmph. Well why don't you look for yourself."
He typed something from his keyboard which brought up a small corner cam which was then widened to fill the rest of the screen. The cam recorded what seemed to be a small one-person cubicle, the walls made of maintained electricity. But there was nothing in it, except for a large jacket on the floor. It looked like Katherine's.
"What is it that I'm supposed to be looking at? A jacket?" I asked him, thinking of this as strange.
"A jacket? What do you mean?" He questioned himself, looking confused. Then his eyes widened. Apparently he knew something I did not. "Oh no. But how did she—"
He was going finish his sentence, but something exploded, followed by another explosion, and another, which caused a field of dust and dust rise from the debris. Seconds later, a single fist came out of the mist and hit Mandark in the face. That really had to hurt. Another moment later, the fist had appeared to belong to a calm, but furious Katherine. She bent down, dragging a frightened and shocked Mandark up by the collar of his shirt, dropping him into a nearby chair. She was glaring at him fiercely with—blue eyes? I was pretty sure she had hazel eyes last time I checked. I set the camera to 'record' mode, still staring at her eyes. The first time I set my sights on Katherine, her eyes would blaze with pride and the utmost confidence, never showing weakness.
But these eyes were different.
Unsettlingly different, as if they weren't of this world. These otherworldly eyes showed no emotion, no life lying within. It was as if they could literally kill someone with a single glance.
"Katherine?" I muttered into the microphone, trying to bring her out of herself.
But she didn't look to see who the voice came from. She just stared, her seething gaze never leaving its place. She lowered to Mandark's ear, whispering words the mike on the other side did not pick up. When she was done speaking, Mandark gaped in fear, terrified of her words. She shuffled through one of her pockets, pulling out a small trigger. It was a detonator! But a detonator to what? Think Dexter, it's obviously a bomb. But where could it be?
That's when Katherine finally spoke. "Tell me, where are they?" She asked Mandark, not a sliver of emotion leaving her lips.
"W-what are you talking about? Who are 'they'?" He slurred. I found that to be a good question.
"Where are they?" She asked again. "Where are Somona and Derek Shiloh? Tell me now or this whole building implodes!" She yelled at Mandark angrily, her thumb ready upon the trigger.
"Somona and Derek Shiloh? I don't even know who you're talking about!" He yelled back, now gaining the momentum of the argument.
"Then this lab will be destroyed whether you are in it or not." She said mercilessly cold, her eyes glinting like stars.
She took one last look at the screen, and in that instant, her eyes flashed hazel, worried and captivated. Then changed back to blue again. She pressed the button, setting off a series of bombs within Mandark's laboratory, one after another, until the camera finally cut off, leaving me shocked and full of questions. I stop the recording feature and dash out of the lab towards the other side of the street.
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Explosions popped here and there as I ran away from Susan's laboratory. Susan, who had fainted from all the excitement, was atop my shoulders. After I was far enough away from the place, I stopped and closed my eyes.
It was dark again. I had watched the whole scene of events fall in front of me like a drama on a stage. But I had no control of my body at the time. I couldn't speak; I couldn't take command of any of the actions that I had made earlier. I was a doll of a puppeteer. 'But who,' I wondered, 'was the puppeteer?'
"I was the puppeteer, and you were puppet. That is as simple as it will get." Said a voice from within the darkness.
"Who are you? What are you?" I cried out, trying to figure out whose or where the voice was.
"I am you, I think." It said again.
'How though? I don't have a split personality…' I thought wistfully.
"Who said you did?" The voice replied again to my thoughts. I found this to be very disturbing.
"Then tell me, what are you?"
"I am afraid it is unknown even to me. You will have to figure that out."
"Well that's very helpful of you, whoever you are."
"Your welcome." Replied the voice complacently. "You are safe for now. Until then, I will let you know that I am always here to help, not to fight."
"Can you please tell me something?"
"What is it?"
"Earlier, when you bombed Susan's laboratory, you asked him, and I quote. 'Where are Somona and Derek Shiloh?' Who are Somona and Derek? I don't believe I know anyone by those names."
The voice did not reply. But this was only because I had been woken up from what seemed to be a nap, by a frightened-half-to-death Dexter. I noticed that I was also lying in a small room on a bed. Susan had, and quite reluctantly, sat in a small chair beside a closed door. I don't know why though.
"Mmmm, Dexter? Where are we and why do I feel so queasy?" I groaned, running my hand through my hair, then realizing that my hair was out of its usual ponytail.
"Where're in my bedroom, the queasy part I'm not so sure of." He replied, glaring back at Susan. He glared back.
The moment he said that this was his bedroom, something in my head screamed "awesome!" and "This is so embarrassingly nerve-racking…" in one incredibly fast combo of "This is so-awe-embara-som-ingly nerve-racking" that it made me shout just that in general. And ironically enough, all eyes were on me.
"Excuse me, I sneezed." I slipped out, convincing them as easily as it is talking to any other boy.
"Bless you." Said the two simultaneously. They both went back to staring at each other again; leaving me a moment to find out what went on in the past day.
It went like this:
1) Went to Dexter's house to get the Hov-scooter fixed
2) Got it fixed
3) Offered help with Mark 3 Null-void project
4) Went for home and bed
5) Got knocked out and imprisoned by Susan
6) Imploded his lab
7) Met this "other me"
And number eight was now. Simple enough, I suppose.
"Dexter?" I called to him, getting his attention.
"Yes?"
"May I ask what happened?"
"I'm not so sure myself, but," He answered shooting daggers at Susan. "I'm definitely sure that Mandark knows. Am I right?"
"Mandark? Who's Mandark?" I asked, having no clue what went on while I was with the other me. I followed Dexter's gaze to Susan, wondering if perhaps he had changed his name.
"Mandark is that guy over there." He responded with a finger pointing at Susan. He nodded.
"I see. But that still doesn't answer my question Dexter."
"Apparently," He began, "Mandark heard of this funding between us and wanted it for himself. So he kidnapped you in hopes of making me give your sponsorship up for your freedom. But because of your escape that can no longer be of use now can it Mandark?" He retorted mostly towards Mandark, who was steaming his stress into a hard, solid stare at Dexter.
"I apologize then. I am sorry to be such a bother at the time Dexter." I said quietly, even though I didn't feel any sort of remorse at the time.
"What do you mean apologize? This wasn't at all your fault." He said, considering my words as sincere.
"Then who is it that you suggest, is the one who should apologize?"
"I think that would be me, but I'm not going to say it." Interrupted Mandark quite stubbornly.
"Well then don't. It won't hurt anyone either way if you don't say anything." I hit hard and clear for Mandark, shutting him up faster than Dexter could start an argument.
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After leaving for the night, I got to the house at what seemed to be dawn. I felt tired from all the things that had happened last night, or tonight, whichever one it was it didn't matter to me. I needed to get some sleep. Moeka had been awake the whole night as well, wanting to wait for me to come back. I told her that she needn't ask about what had happened. She could tell I was tired and I desperately required a bed. I soon fell into a warm, heavy quilt and against a soft pillow, quickly going to sleep.
I woke up late the next day, but I didn't care. My new objective for the day was to research.
I still needed to figure out who Somona and Derek was, and the last name. Shiloh. It seemed so close yet so far away you couldn't grasp it. Why did it feel so near to me then? I needed an answer. Research, that's what I need. Somona and Derek Shiloh………What did it mean?
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Oh gawd. I've written this on Microsoft Word and it is seriously eight pages long. I had a great time writing it all, but wow, it's almost nine pages now. I feel so tired from all of this; thank the heavens it's done. So, this is the third chapter. Sorry if Dexter was a little bit out of character in the part where they finally fixed the scooter though. I couldn't think of what to write at the time.
So who are these Somona and Derek? And will Katherine ever find out who protected her from the explosion? Stay updated, for the next chapter is soon to come! (I hope.)
Either way, please review the story for now. I can think on your criticism to help me think through the story. Thank you all,
Hikaru