Hi! I'm finally updating! It's a miracle, I know. I was suffering from a serious case of writers block! I'm sorry…nothing much happens in this chapter but I promise something will happen next! I wont take as long to update.
Scottie's P.O.V:
I followed Kitty and Taro inside the sweeper, and made sure to avoid Maddie. It looked a lot newer than the one we had back home in our garage. Well, gee I wonder why. I couldn't wait to see the inside.
"Cool!" Dylan exclaimed.
"Very cool," agreed Daniel.
"Soooo…" Jake trailed off looking around. 'We more or less know what happened from when Vert saw the Accelerons. But our parents never told us what happens after that. Could you maybe fill us in?"
Kurt nodded and briefly told us how after Vert saw the Accelerons, he and Sparky had come back to help them get out of the acceledome. The racers, Lani and Doctor Tezla had gotten out before Gig had blown up the whole thing. Man, I wish I could've seen Gig. He sounded really awesome. Just imagine all that intelligence and technology piled into one machine! How cool would that be? I made up my mind, that as soon as we got back I'd ask Doc if he'd help me rebuild something like him. If we got back. My heart sank. It's my fault we're here in the first place. If we never got back it would be my fault. I risked a glance at Maddy. She was enthusiastically chatting with Tork and Pork Chop. Maybe she's right. All I do is mess things up for people. Especially for her. No. I would not indulge in self-pity. She couldn't blame me for what happened to Luke. She was damn selfish if she did. I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Kylie.
"You okay, Scottie?" she asked in a concerned voice.
I nodded and forced a smile. "I'm fine, Kylie." I looked over at Maddy. She was looking at Hollowback now. I sighed.
"Just to get this out of the way," said Jake walking over to Chicane. "What do we call you?"
The racers looked uneasily at each other. Finally Karma answered, "What you normally would."
"Okay who do we ride with?" Dylan asked. The sweeper didn't have any built in seats at the back, only space for cars.
"I'd say we ride with our parents," Kitty interrupted. "If that's okay with you," she nodded at the racers.
They murmured their consent. Kitty rode with Karma, Jake rode with Taro, Talia rode with Nolo, Dan rode with Kurt and Tommy rode with Wylde. Well actually they all stood outside Kurt's car since it was a one seater. Wylde didn't bring his car. When evil robots are experimenting on you, you don't tend to need one.
I was riding up front with Dad, since he's the only one who knew how to work the sweeper. Maddy, Kylie and Cammy were up front with me.
"Uh, heh heh, so, uh, this is awkward…" Monkey laughed nervously.
"No kidding," Maddy grinned. "We know you but you don't know us!"
"It's very weird," Kylie agreed, shyly.
"Totally!" I laughed.
"Monkey!" Cammy called up to him with her arms wide open.
"You want me to pick you up?" laughed Dad. "Okay sure!"
Dad drove with Cammy sitting on his lap. She kept asking questions, like what this button did and what would happen if she flicked this switch. Dad answered all the questions. Quite enthusiastically, I should add.
"So, uh, you're my son huh?" Dad asked in a falsely casual voice.
"Yup," I answered. "Everything's great back in the future. We're all a happy family. Who would've thought huh? The Metal Maniacs and the Teku living together in perfect harmony. Except Mom grounds me a lot. And Maddy's got something against me. She has a lot of negative energy surrounding her, ya know?"
"You know I'm right here don't you?" Maddy asked irritably.
Dad grinned.
Kylie smiled. "Can you feel the love?"
"So where are we going anyway?" Maddy asked Dad.
"Well, it was Lani's idea that we get back to the city. From there we'll decide what to do next," Dad answered.
"What?!" Maddy and I asked at the same time.
"But anything could happen to Vert by then!" Kylie cried.
"We know," Dad sighed. "But we don't know where Vert is. We need a plan. And some of us are low on gas. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but given the circumstances…"
Maddy gave a heavy sigh. "This sucks." I took this as my cue.
"What?" I asked walking to her with my arms outstretched. "Someone could almost believe you didn't like being here with me!" Maddie made a face and pushed me away.
"Is this how they always are?" Dad asked, chuckling.
"More or less," Kylie smiled. She does that a lot.
The rest of the ride continued on like that. Nothing all that interesting. Three hours later we finally reached the city. Will miracles never cease? Cammy and Tommy were asleep by then. There must be a god.
We pulled into what seemed to be an abandoned warehouse of some sort, and all got out of the sweeper. Kurt picked up a sleeping Tommy and Dad held a similarly occupied Cammy. I glanced at Dan. He looked back, a spark in his eye. I knew he was thinking the same thing. A creepy, dusty abandoned warehouse. The kind with drug dealers, rapists, murderers…Kylie and Maddie would be scared. They may need comforting. I walked over to Maddie and put my arm around her shoulders.
"Get off of me!" she snarled, pushing me away. So much for needing comfort.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kylie and Daniel snuggled up to each other. Some people get all the luck. He snickered when he saw Maddie. I stuck my tongue out. He pretended not to notice and went back to 'comforting' Kylie.
"Scottie!" Dylan, Talia and Jake jogged up to me.
"Look over there," I nudged them, and jerked my head in the direction of Kylie and Dan. She had her face buried in his jacket. It was common knowledge amongst us, that Dan liked Kylie. Dylan stuffed his fist in his mouth to stop himself laughing and Jake seemed to be holding his breath. Talia, on the other hand, burst out laughing. The girl has no self control, whatsoever.
Instantly Kylie looked up with tear-filled eyes. What the-? Tear-filled eyes?
From the look on his face Dan was shocked too. "Kylie?"
She shook her head and blinked a couple of times and suddenly she was back to normal. "I'm fine, Dan," she smiled and kissed him on the cheek. The look on his face was what you'd call a Kodak moment.
Talia wolf whistled. I wanted to shake some sense into her then. But Kylie laughed. Talia looked satisfied. I think Talia being herself made Kylie feel better in some retarded way. Then again I'm no psychologist.
"Maniacs get your cars to the nearest gas station," Tork barked.
"Yeah, you too Teku," Nolo added.
One by one, everyone with a car drove out of the warehouse leaving us with Wylde, Doc and Dad. There was an awkward silence.
"This is awkward," Talia voiced my thoughts.
"Too right," sighed Kitty.
"I'd be interested to know how you all got here," Doc asked politely.
"I think it's best if we wait for the others so we don't have to explain all over again," Kitty stated blankly.
Doc nodded but you could tell he was desperate to know. Luke used to say I was like Doc in ways. That I had a natural mind for machinery, same as Doc. He said I had great potential and one day I would end up making some life changing contraption. Maddy had asked if Luke was delirious. I smiled. Maddie was so much…happier when Luke was alive. She was calmer and didn't get as angry easily. Well they were going out…I decided I didn't want to think about it any longer.
More silence.
"This is boring," I whined.
Maddy rolled her eyes. "We're eighteen years in the past and all you can say is this is boring?"
"Sooooo, Wylde…how are you?" I asked ignoring Maddy.
He looked at me. I smiled back. He snorted and went back to leaning against a stack of boxes. The man has got to practice his social skills.
"Don't mind him!" Dad beamed. "He's no fun at times."
"We live with him!" Talia laughed. "We know!"
Wylde scowled. We laughed. All of us except Kylie, who looked terrified. Maybe she was scared of dust bunnies. I saw Maddie walk over to her and envelope her in a bear hug. Kitty joined them and even Talia placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, looking uncharacteristically sympathetic.
Dan and I exchanged a glance. What was that about? Jake and Dylan seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"What's up with that?" asked Dylan.
Monkey shrugged.
Jake turned to Dan. "She's your girlfriend."
"No she's not," muttered Dan bitterly.
"Yeah, sure," Jake rolled his eyes at me and Dyl.
Usually I would have laughed but I knew this wasn't the time. I do joke a lot, but I know when to stop, unlike some people I could mention. Not pointing any fingers, Talia.
Monkey and Wylde looked very nervous and awkward. Doc on the other hand did his crazy robot walk over to Kylie. Maddie, Talia and Kitty sort of cleared away a little. Doc hesitated, then put his arms around her frail body. She looked surprised, but hugged him all the same. It was really very sweet. I heard a sniffing sound near me and was surprised to see Maddie. Crying, no less.
"You okay?" I finally brought up the courage to ask.
She looked shocked to see me, and furiously wiped away her tears. "I'm fine. Idiot." I guess she really was if she was able to call me that. I wish she didn't. Call me names, I mean.
We waited about fifteen minutes until we heard the familiar growl of the MM and Teku cars. It relaxed me.
Something was tapping my shoulder. That something was Talia. "You got your wallet?"
"Why?" I asked nodding.
"I want to show Dad that thing you found in the garage," she replied.
I looked at her. "I'm not supposed to have that, remember?"
A few months ago Talia had found an interesting looking object in Doc's office. She brought it to me because she thought I'd want to study it. She was right. But I still reprimanded her on it. She didn't exactly look heart broken.
But I knew I could trust Nolo and Talia, so I took out my wallet and handed the odd looking chip to her. I hesitated. I don't know why I was reluctant to let it go. It was small, just barely the size of my palm. It had a metallic square with two green squiggly lines on it, surrounded by a metal frame. Sometimes, I can almost swear I see it glow sometimes. That's probably just me though. I handed it to Talia who thanked me and sped off to Nolo's car. I vaguely wondered why she wanted it. There was a huge, dusty looking roll of carpet a few feet away from where Wylde was. Might as well get comfortable. Not that a giant roll of carpet was particularly comfortable looking. I took a seat next to Dan on the carpet roll. He was sitting with his elbows on his knees looking glumly at the floor. I knew why.
"A girl is like a praying mantis," I told him wisely.
He looked blank.
"You know. They often eat their mates after doing it with them," I nodded.
He just stared.
"Hey, I'm trying to cheer you up!" I grinned.
"Well don't."
"But-"
"Just don't."
"Fine. Sit there and mope in self pity. Or you could go talk to her." Yeah. I know because I'm such an expert on the opposite gender. Not.
"And say what?" sighed Dan. "I don't even know why she's upset. It's probably best if I leave her alone for now."
As if he knows what he's talking about. He's had, what, two girlfriends? Okay it was three. But still! Not like I'm an expert though.
"Hey! Doctor Tezla!" Nolo's yell interrupted our conversation.
We turned to see Nolo running towards us, with Talia close behind him, both of them looking thoroughly excited.
"What's with them?" asked Dan.
I shrugged. "Beats me."
"Doctor Tezla! You'll never believe it! Doctor Tezla they brought back an Accelecharger!"