Hello, again! I know it's been a very long time since the last chapter was published, and I apologize for that. I had not originally intended for it to take this long, but better late than never, I suppose. Because now, the story has returned! And next time, it should not take anywhere near as long for the next few chapters as before, so if you're worried about that, there's no need to be worried. I have a lot more that I want to show you.
Anyways, let's jump back into the story!
Mark - January 14, 2019 - 4:06 PM
I look down at my friends, Andrew, Gumball and those other two as I start to head down the stairs. I don't know what to say. I'm just... After everything that's happened, all the crazy things I've done over today, it's all catching up to me and now I'm feeling super tired and sore. I do see, though, that none of my friends are in Kids Next Door gear anymore. Amanda's wearing that same purple hoodie, dark grey pants and white-and-magenta boots. Lucas is wearing a simple black shirt, dark grey pants with a single red line going down the sides, and black shoes. As for Evan... Well, I haven't really known him to have a specific outfit, but at the moment Evan is wearing a yellow T-shirt with brighter yellow cuffs on the edge of the sleeves, simple blue jeans and white sneakers with orange lines. Anyway, my friends are talking to each other near one of the many TVs, while Andrew and Jade are hanging out with Gumball, the bunny and the fairy. I can hear what Andrew is talking about: it's me. He's saying how I just got recommissioned and that I should be here any moment now. They're all sitting on large beanbag chairs, which is understandable, because I'd also prefer to not sit on that wooden floor for a long period of time.
At first, none of them see me, until the fairy notices me looking at them. We look at each other for a second, and I see its eyes have dark red pupils. The more I look at this fairy and its eyes, the more I feel that it's a she. The fairy then turns to Andrew.
"Hey, Andrew, is that Mark?" the fairy asks, her voice confirming that yeah, she is a girl. Andrew turns to the fairy, then to me, who she's pointing at. The moment he sees me, he stands up really quickly.
"Hey, Mark!" Andrew says, followed by my friends, Jade, Gumball and the bunny looking in my direction. Then the entire TV room goes silent. All the operatives in the room are looking at me. They all know who I am, because of Dexter's transmission to all the operatives. Unlike before, in the ice cream shop, while it was a little weird having the eyes of about 5-10 people were looking at me, the fact that I feel the eyes of DOZENS of people fixed on me intently is even worse. And it's not that I have stage fright, because if I did, I wouldn't be part of a group of channels with my friends (which got a lot of attention after we posted that video where Buttercup got blasted into the ocean and Bubbles nearly killed Mojo). What's so nerve-wracking about it is that they expect so much of me. They think I'm their last hope to save the planet from total destruction. At least with the channel group, all that was expected of us was good, funny videos.
I can tell that they're analyzing me on everything, like how capable I am of fighting, how prepared I look, etc. And I know that I don't look good right now; I look like a mess. It's just now that I notice I've stopped moving. I... I can't be here right now. It's way too uncomfortable. All these people having their eyes fixed on me like this is not good for me.
"Hold on..." I say, as I head the opposite direction and leave the TV room. Once I'm out of their view, I run. I do hear Amanda say, "Oh, great job, guys..." in a very sarcastic tone before I can't hear her anymore. I... I just don't want to be near anyone right now. I need to find somewhere where nobody else is. And I know the perfect place. The very, very top of the Treehouse, where the big satellite dish is. It's usually a long trek up there, but I attempt it. As I'm walking higher and higher, across the branches and through the hallways. I think about everything that's gone down. I saw Aidan die in front of me. I learned Chris and John were both dead, as well as how they died. And then to top it all off, my parents turn out to be dead too. That's, like... almost HALF of the important people in my life.
I don't even make it halfway up the Treehouse before I'm hit with a barrage of emotions. I'm starting to leave the huge ship attached to the Treehouse when my eyes can't hold tears back anymore. I hurry off to a platform that extends off the hallway and to the right. I check my surroundings, before I sit down on the bench with a "KND"-shaped backrest rail. I then let my emotions out, and the tears start dropping. I look around again, to make sure nobody's around. Not that I would care, anyway; I have much bigger things to worry about. And even if they did see me, they'd probably understand. This is such a huge change for me.
All I hear right now is the wind, the sound of branches rustling, an occasional dripping noise and the noises I'm making. Other than that, it's almost silent. During this time, I contemplate what's happened, and how much I want to stop it. I want to get out of this nightmare. I'll do anything within reason to get back to the past. I don't care if I have to fight, which I know I'll have to eventually. And if I see a Fusion Spawn, or any Fusion Monster, I know I'm going to do what Lucas did and, while Lucas just punched it until he couldn't anymore due to the pain, I will use my Lightning Gun and blast every one of those little abominations to smithereens! I look at the Lightning Gun in my hands. I haven't let go of it since I got to the Treehouse. And I have a feeling that I won't let go of it for a while. I sit there for a few minutes before I hear Andrew's voice.
"Mark?" I hear Andrew ask loudly. For a split second, I feel like I'm back in my apartment, with me on the floor by the bed and covered in my blanket. He continues to say "MARK?" as loud as possible, and I don't answer for at least four or five more times. I take that long because I try to stop crying, and I'm somewhat successful. I still feel a few of the tears on my face, though, and so I wipe them off my face.
"I'm over here, Andrew," I say. I hear a zooming sound, and within seconds I feel a blast of wind. He sits down next to me on the bench, on my left.
"I'm sorry about causing that and making you feel uncomfortable," Andrew says. "I shouldn't have yelled it out."
"It's OK," I say as Andrew puts his hand on my shoulder, and I feel this odd feeling. I didn't notice it before, but I felt really exhausted, and now I feel some energy coming back into me.
"Don't worry about what they think. I'm feeling the same things you are too. I hate the Fusions as much as you do. I want to destroy them just as much, too."
"But... have you seen what I've seen? I saw someone close to me get gruesomely killed right in front of me, as I was unable to do anything to save him!"
"Yes, actually. I've seen that. When we were being evacuated from Tech Square, around a week ago, that Cyberus had jumped out of the shadows at Dad before we realized it was there. If I had seen it coming, I could have used my powers, but by the time I noticed it was there, it was already tearing its teeth into... I tried to save him, I really did, but... I was too late..."
"It's OK, you don't need to talk about it, Andrew..." I say. "I'll save our parents. I'll save our friends. I'll go back and stop this somehow. I don't really know how I will, but I want to. I need to. I can't let this happen to you or any of our friends again. I'm going to find a way- No. We're going to find a way to fix this. All of us will. Together."
Andrew smiles, which I am so glad to see in this day of darkness. And when he smiles, I smile too. I've probably reached the lowest point in my life, and still Andrew is able to make me feel better and hopeful for the future. Andrew also seems to be radiating some form of energy, because I see a barely visible pulse of energy coming from him. That must be a consequence of his powers, whatever they are. Oh, right! Andrew's powers! I want to know where they came from, and what exactly they are!
"Hey, Andrew, I never got to ask," I say. "What happened that made you get powers?"
Andrew - July 8, 2016 - 8:53 AM
YES! TODAY IS MY 8TH BIRTHDAY! I'm really excited, even if a key part of it will be missing. And it seems that I'm trying to make up for that by overdoing everything else. I've been running all over the apartment since 6:00 AM because I wanted to be super ready. Jade's using her crystal-making powers to decorate the apartment with stuff, and I've already prepared ideas for what we'll do. The party will start at around noon, and Evan and all of his friends are coming, but I can't help thinking that something very special will also happen today. I don't know what it'll be, but I hope so much that someone awesome shows up, like Bubbles. Or Blossom. Maybe Mark may come back. I don't know. I hope so. That would be the gift to end all other gifts.
So far, I have it planned that when Evan, all his friends, and my other friends come over, we're going to do all sorts of stuff. And since it's summer, we can have a slumber party like Mark and his friends did! And then, since the new episode of Realms is happening next morning, we're going to wake up early in the going to watch that.
Anyway, Jade and I are taking a break right now from getting everything set up. Most of it's already ready, and we're more than three hours away from the party actually starting. I guess we'll play now, but I don't want to use up all my energy before the party actually begins. So I just go to the balcony and use Mark's old binoculars and our apartment's height as advantages to see if any day-savings are happening. While I'm doing that, I see the pink and blue streaks of light. The Powerpuff Girls! I immediately move my binoculars to where they may have gone, but I don't see them anymore. A lot of these buildings, especially south of Galaxy Gardens, are blocking the way. Dang it. Well, at least I was able to see something. That's when a bright greenish-blue flash comes through the binoculars, and I back away. I don't know why, but I feel odd. It's as if something about me just changed, but I don't know exactly what. All I know is that I feel like I have way more energy now.
"OK, OK, I'm coming in," I hear Dad say. I hear another voice coming from where he is. "Just, can you tell me why you need me right now? ...Wait, you're serious? You received... What was in it? ...What do you mean? ...What? You're saying... I-I'll be over as soon as I can. But if it takes too long, I might have to head back. I don't want to miss Andrew's party... Oh, I won't be the only one coming if that's the case. I'll be there as soon as possible. Alright, bye."
I put my binoculars down and turn around. Through the window, I see quickly moving toward the front door. I walk over to the entrance back into the house as Dad hangs up the call. I still stay on the balcony, but I look in to see what's happening. What is he talking about? He's calling somebody, and the projection I see from the phone looks familiar. I realize who it is as soon as Dad hangs up the call. It's Dexter!
"Was that Dexter?" I ask, getting a bit excited. I don't know why, but I feel a rush of energy when I do. Dad looks over to me. He's all messy. His jacket isn't on the right way, his briefcase has things sticking out of it, and more. He's in a rush.
"Yeah, that was," he says. "I'm sorry, Andrew, b-but I have to go right now. Dexter needs m-me to come in. I'll- I'll be back in a few hours! I'll make sure not to miss your birthday party!"
"Why?" I ask. Dad's acting a bit odd.
"Yeah, why?" Mom also asks. "I thought that Dexter allowed you to take the day off today. What's going on?"
"Well, Dexter told me that only minutes ago, he received transmissions from that wormhole that had just popped up a week or so ago in his lab. The transmissions contained holographic schematics and instructions for machines that not only how to create these we made without any time machine needed, but also how to hold them open for up to hours at a time. But what they really need me for is that the transmission that was sent from the other side of that wormhole... is meant to bring back Mark."
At this point, I stop focusing on anything else and ask how he knows that. Dad continues, "Dexter said there was something on the holographic projection that said it may bring back Mark. There wasn't really anything else, but we believe that Mark definitely survived the journey, and using the schematics that were sent, we could bring him back."
Wait... what? Did Dad just say that Mark can come back now? Is this what the Guardian was talking about when he said Mark's return was "potentially sooner"? IS MARK GOING TO BE COMING BACK? I feel more excitement that I think I've felt since meeting Dexter more than a month ago, and it's at that exact moment that I feel a ton of energy within me, and I jump up, yelling "YES!" However, I don't just jump. I launch really high up. And by that, I mean really, REALLY high. I'm flying into the sky. I look down and I'm going higher and higher and higher, with a trail of bright green energy behind me. I must have gone hundreds of feet up right now. I keep going up and up, but I do notice I'm starting to slow down. I get slower and slower until I stop. And then I start going down. Oh, no. OH, NO! I'M FALLING! HELP!
I scream out for help, because I know that the Powerpuff Girls have super hearing, and so if I scream loud enough, they should hear me. I look down to the ground. Yeah, I'm really, really high up, and I'm falling faster and faster. I'm scared, and I have no idea how I've gone so high up. What did I do? And what do I do now? I don't know. I scream again, unsure of what else to do, and when I'm still a good distance from the ground, something grabs me and I slow down until I'm no longer falling. Then we move downward again.
"Don't worry, I've got you," a voice says. It's Bubbles! I start smiling like a cartoon character, and I feel energy coming off of me as I instinctively shake with excitement.
"Whoa, what are you doing?" Bubbles asks as we start to wobble a little bit. And as for what she said, I have no idea! I don't know what's happening! How did I launch into the sky?! I have so many more questions, but right now, I can't believe my situation right now! Being saved by a Powerpuff was a dream of mine years ago. I remember that I wanted so badly to be nearer to the Powerpuff Girls that I would try to get closer to or even get involved in a crime scene so that the Powerpuff Girls would find and save me. Thankfully, Mark would stop me each time, and he told me that the Powerpuffs wouldn't want it and would want me to stay safe. After he said that, I've never tried to run into a crime scene again. It would still be awesome to end up in a situation where I'd end up getting saved. Oh, hey, I'm in that situation right now! AND IT'S AWESOME!
Once Bubbles puts me down, I turn around super quickly. I don't know what's happening, but everything I do is super fast. I'm sure that just me turning around created a blast of wind. When I see Bubbles, any other thoughts I had disappear and instead are, "AAAAAH! A POWERPUFF GIRL IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!" I run around Bubbles in a circle, because I'm so excited, but then I realize: I'm running around her extremely fast. I don't know exactly how fast, but it has to be faster than the fastest person I've seen run. What do I do? I try to stop myself, and I launch myself across Tech Square, nearly missing the fountain in the middle. I slide across the grass, and get up dizzy.
"Are you OK?" I hear another voice say. Blossom! It's Blossom! Both Powerpuffs are near me! "Bubbles, what happened?"
"I don't know," Bubbles says. "He was falling from the sky and I saved him. After that, he started running around me and he nearly caused a tornado!"
"Bubbles, people can't cause tornadoes by running. That's biologically impossible unless he's-"
Still excited about being saved by Bubbles, I start to walk toward her and Blossom. But I end up moving way faster than I wanted, and I pass them within moments. Oh, shoot! I'm gonna go into the street! I turn around and start walking the other way, and this time I stop. OK, I'm still in Tech Square, but there's a trail I've burned into the grass. I turn around and everyone is either recording this or running. Wait... what on earth just happened?
"Andrew! Andrew!" I hear Dad say on my right. I turn and he, Jade and Mom running toward me. "Are you OK?"
"Y-yeah," I say. "What the heck is happening?!"
"I don't know, but it seems that you've acquired some sort of superhuman ability," Blossom says. "How and when did you get this?"
"Just now!" I say back. "I have no idea why, either! Even though it kinda rules-"
"Listen, Andrew," Mom says. "We need to get you somewhere where we can get answers."
Mom turns around and faces toward Dexlabs. I look that way too, and I see a ton of Dexbots are coming out of the building. They move either left or right after leaving, and they start to surround Tech Square. I also hear them saying, "We are currently containing the anomaly. Do not proceed past this area. You shall be informed when this situation is resolved."
Even Dexter himself comes out! OK, I might not mind these odd powers if I'm getting to meet all these awesome people in such a short amount of time. Computress quickly follows. Energy comes off of me again as I get excited, zapping out as bolts of electricity around me. What in the world? I look around and Mom, Jade and Dad are backing up. They hide behind one of the hovercars on the street. Oh, no! I'm putting them in danger!
"Whoa! Whoa! Please calm down!" Blossom says as she and Bubbles grab hold of me to stop me from speeding off somewhere. She's right! I need to make this stop! How do I make this stop? Stop, powers! Stop! STOP! OK, good, it looks like that's working, as I'm no longer zapping out bolts randomly. I'm just sparking now. OK, keep calm. Keep calm. I think I understand what's going on. Whenever I become super happy, my powers are unleashed. So what I need to do is to not be happy. But I can't think of anything to make me stop being happy when the Powerpuff Girls and Dexter are so close to me right now.
Mom, Jade and Dad hurry over to Dexter, and ask what to do about this. Dexter says, "This is an interesting occurrence indeed. I will need to run a few tests to determine what's behind it."
"Oh," I moan. Does he mean checkups? I hate checkups. I don't know a kid who doesn't. At that point, I feel the energy go away. A bit of it's still there, but most of it's gone. Seriously, though... Checkups on my birthday, of all the days of the year? Although I guess this will be helpful if they can find out what is going on with me.
"They won't take long, will they?" I ask. "I don't want to miss my birthday party."
"It's your birthday today?" Bubbles asks. I turn to her and nod, and she smiles. "Well, then happy birthday!"
...Bubbles just wished me a happy birthday! SHE JUST WISHED ME A- Oh no, I'm getting excited again, and just like before, energy starts blasting off of me in random directions.
"Bubbles, you made him excited again," Blossom says, a bit annoyed. Dexter takes some sort of device out of his pocket and holds it out. It makes a blue, see-through shield of sorts that protects Dexter, Jade and my parents from my accidental blasts. Blossom and Bubbles continue trying to get me to calm down.
"The tests should not take a long time, Andrew," Dexter says. "You won't miss your party. But I'm going to warn you right now: we might have to do a blood test for one of those."
Wait, WHAT?! They're going to draw blood from me?! No! NO! That's even worse than a normal shot! I remember having to do one a few years ago, and all I remember from it now is pain. Hopefully, they do that thing where you don't feel pain when they do the shot. Of course, I'm now sad again, and I stop sending out blasts.
The Dexbots surround us to take us into Dexlabs. Before I'm brought in, I turn to see Bubbles and Blossom are still there, and Bubbles waves me goodbye. I wave goodbye back, while trying to hold back my excitement, but I think my hair might be standing up. They take me up to this room and do the blood test there. While I do freak out for a moment- OK, more like a half-hour, the numbing stuff they used works amazingly, as I feel pretty much nothing at all. After that, they leave me sitting in a room for a while, and I overhear them talking about stuff a while later. It's a bit hard to hear since they're a good distance away from the closed door between me and them, but some of the more important things I hear are, "Some of his DNA has changed," and "The energy output readings from his cells are off the charts." They're definitely talking about me. When they come back, Dexter says how they've looked at my blood, and that this form of genetic modification is nothing like he's ever seen. Part of me feels a bit honored, while another is a bit concerned. How changed am I? I ask exactly that, and he says, "Drastically."
Dexter then goes on to say how about 99.7% of my DNA is still similar to what it was before, but since I have "billions of nucleotides" in each of my cells, and those nucleotides account for thousands upon thousands of genes, noticeable changes have been made to my genetic code, which have resulted in my powers. Thankfully, he doesn't go completely "science mode" and say things I don't understand, but he does answer if I have a question as to what something means. Dexter also has made an estimation about one of the major changes that happened in my body; Based on what he's seen, he believes that my "dopamine receptors" have been adjusted to produce a type of energy that Dexter has never seen before. The only way he could be sure, though, was if he took a sample from my brain, but he knows that will be hard to do, and that my parents would certainly not agree to it. Yeah, I wouldn't even agree to that. I want to keep all of my brain, thank you very much.
When I ask how the heck I could've gotten these powers, Dexter believes that I may have gotten them on the day Mark went away. From what he said, the energy wave that hit my body when the time machine went through the portal caused my DNA to change. I then ask why my powers only started up now. If the energy from me shows up when I'm happy, then I would've shown signs of that. Maybe I did and I just didn't realize it. But then Dexter informs me how there are some genetic mutations that can remain hidden from DNA tests until they are activated by something. As far as what activates it, I already know the most likely candidate. The Guardian.
Dexter tells my parents to disregard what he said earlier about me not missing my party. He now says I must not, under any circumstances, have my birthday party today, because he's worried that if I get too happy, I could damage the building or hurt people. "At the very least, wait to have it until I've created something that will decrease the magnitude of any future incident," he says. Jade and I are bummed out by this as well, as we had spent a ton of time getting the party ready, but we know that it's better to have a birthday party later than have one today where things could go horribly wrong.
While I go back to our apartment with Mom and Jade, Dad stays at Dexlabs in case anything happens. When Mom, Jade, and I get home, I decide to just sit in the corner of my room for a while, to make sure I can't possibly do anything. I've known myself well enough to know that the slightest interesting thing will grab my attention, and if that were to happen to me right now, I don't know what could happen. So, to avoid the problem, I'm facing the wall of the least interesting corner of my room and just sitting there, while Jade sits somewhere else in the apartment, where I can't hear her. I've turned my computer and all other electronic things that could distract me off as well, and turned on all the soundproofing for my room. But the silence begins to freak me out. The only time I see anyone in my family is when Mom comes in to bring lunch, and then she leaves right after. I can understand that she doesn't want to excite me too much and cause something else to happen.
As I sit there, I wonder what's going to happen as far as the Kids Next Door is concerned. I've only been an operative for a bit more than a month, and how will I explain these things that have happened to me? Hopefully, they'll understand and let me not get involved in anything KND-related until I can get my powers under control. After that, they might assign me to the S.O.O.P.E.R.S. (Squad Of Operatives Possessing Extraordinary Rad Sooperpowers). I don't know for sure, but that won't be for a while. Who knows what'll happen?
A bit after 2:00, my Mom comes to deliver news. I turn around to hear what she has to say. She says that Dexter was able to create the portals, and they sent a lot of Dexbot groups in to survey different parts of the dimension the portals led to, but unfortunately, they couldn't find Mark yet. In fact, they found nothing at all but an old piece of paper. From what Dad told her, it wasn't the kind of paper we use today, though. It was made out of a material that was used to make paper thousands of years ago, by an ancient civilization that lived deep in the Twisted Forest. Wait, so whatever it was in that dimension left a paper as a message to us? Was it the Guardian who gave the message? Whether or not that's the case, this is still really interesting.
"Does the paper have anything to do with Mark?" I ask. I want to know the answer to that more than anything right now.
"Yes," Mom says. Within moments, I go from sad to excited. My happiness level soars through the roof, and sparks fly out of my hands and into the carpet floor. OK, I don't want to cause a fire, so I should calm down a bit more. But I'm having trouble trying to find a way to now that I know Mark is mentioned on the paper. Mom tells me I should go into a room where the floor can't catch fire, like the bathroom. As we get up and hurry to the bathroom, a piece of paper suddenly appears in my hands. It's not like it drifted through the window and into my hands. It was more like it teleported. But what's even weirder is that it doesn't look or feel like normal paper. It looks like the paper that the "texts" you see at some history museums are made out of. This is really old paper. On the paper is writing that says:
"Mark is alive. And you will see him again."
This has to be the Guardian! I get excited again, and I jump up and hit the ceiling. OK, I really need to calm down! Thankfully that wasn't as big as last time. Why was the last outburst so huge? Maybe it was because of all the energy stored up before then. I could have been gaining energy in the month or so that my powers were there, but weren't active. At this point, Jade runs into the room. Mom and Jade try their hardest to get me to calm down, and they're able to, though I end up shocking them by accident several times. I hand Mom the paper, containing my excitement as much as I can. I think I burned the paper a bit, as I've left scorch marks where my fingers used to be. But thankfully I didn't burn any of the words, which is the most important thing. Jade also looks at the paper, and they both look at each other with disbelief. Mom leaves the room while Jade helps me keep calm. I overhear Mom calling someone outside the bathroom, and when the call hangs up, she comes back and looks confused out of her mind right now.
"That was at Dexlabs," Mom says. "It was the paper the Dexbots found in that dimension."
OK, now I'm curious. Did the Guardian teleport it out of Dexlabs to here? Is that what happened? Of course, they take it back to Dexlabs, but then an hour later, it appears on the bed in my room. They take the paper away a second time, and it happens again. After this repeats a couple more times, they just give up and let it stay in our apartment. They tell us to notify Dexlabs immediately if any happenings involving the paper take place, though.
July 9, 2016 - 11:33 AM
The next day, a huge box is brought into our apartment. At first, I don't pay that much attention to it, until Dad says, "Andrew! It's for you!" It turns out that Dexter sent me something that he called a "SC-1 Energy Insulation Suit". He started designing it soon after I had left, and in the letter and manual attached to it, he says that it can absorb most, if not all of the energy I may "radiate" or "expel", store it, and if I need to, I can use it with more control. The manual also says that my suit is very friction-resistant, and so it won't wear or heat up when I move really fast. On top of all this, it can also fit comfortably and even be worn like normal clothing. OK, he's going into science mode again, but I'm still amazed by this. You could say this was a birthday gift from Dexter himself! I don't think any other birthday gift I've ever got could top this. I open that box as fast as I can, and I even accidentally tear the top of the box off, sending it all the way across the apartment and nearly hitting Jade with it.
Once I finally get the suit on, a bit before noon, my whole family and I go to the mirror in the bathroom to see what I look like in it. And I have to say: I look AWESOME. I feel like a superhero wearing his first superhero suit. My parents and Jade all agree on how cool it looks, and that I should thank Dexter the next time I see him. Well, of course I will. Dexter deserves a million thanks! No, a billion thanks! No, INFINITE thanks! Hold on, is there anything bigger? Well, if there is, he deserves that amount of thanks as well!
As we walk out of the bathroom, Jade and I, who are the last to walk out, notice a small bluish glow coming from my the door to my room. I get to the door right before the glow stops, but I know where it came from. The paper. We go to the paper, and most of it's the same, except there's now a number under the words: "919". OK... That's odd. What the heck does that mean? Is it a date? Is it September 19th? Or is something else, like a countdown or something? I don't know, but Mom and Dad need to see this! I call them in and show them, and they're both as confused as Jade and I are.
For most of that day, my parents, Jade and I discuss what the "919" could possibly mean. After a while of thinking, my Dad mentions that it might be counting down the days. So, we use an online date calculator to calculate what 919 days from now would be. The answer turns out to be "January 14, 2019". Wow, that's a long time from now. Actually, 5 days from now, it will actually be two and a half years away. Almost three seasons of Realms will have come out by the time he arrives! OK... if this paper really is counting the days down, it should transition to 918 sometime tomorrow.
The next day, at around 11:45, we get the paper and look at it for a while, because I knew it had happened in the minutes before noon, but I wasn't able to figure out at exactly what time, and I didn't want to miss it. And sure enough, the moment the clock strikes 11:58 AM, the number starts glowing, and the "919" transforms into a "918". OK, somehow this paper is counting down the days, but now that I actually have an idea of when to expect Mark showing up, that makes me all the more excited! So, I tell all my friends, and they're so glad to know when Mark will be showing up, because they couldn't handle the "uncertainty" of what would happen.
When my birthday party finally came around, on the 12th, I decided that I would not say that the suit I got was made by Dexter, as I felt that would make everyone else think their gifts weren't that good. I just pretended that it was something that I got for the party. What happened involving me on my actual birthday had gone viral very quickly, and so all my friends were a bit concerned at first, but when I didn't seem to cause that many issues, they got more comfortable. During that party, I notice how effective this suit really is. Despite getting super excited many times during the party, there was not one major outburst of energy.
When it came close to 11:58, I ran to my room, grabbed the paper and got back to the main room in time to show everybody the number change in action. Evan caught it on camera, and when it got uploaded to the Internet, it went viral immediately. I should note: Evan and his friends' channels got a TON of attention after the Project Future thing happened, so their following grew much larger very fast. Then the magical paper comes around and Evan's video of it skyrocketed their channels even higher.
And as for the portals that Dexter made... He continued to send more and more Dexbot squads through, each turning up with no results. He kept going until Planet Fusion arrived, and then he had to focus more on helping the Earth hold off this threat. Then, he decided to adapt the technology into what are now known as "Warp Gates", which allow allow travel in and out of Infected Zones.
And about the power suit... It turns out I would wear that suit a lot of the time, whether it be just doing normal things at my house, playing with friends, or even while sleeping every now and then. It was really comfortable. Even after I figured out how to control my powers more, I still wore it a good amount of the time. As for controlling my powers, I even managed to figure out how to activate them willingly no matter what emotion I felt, although when I was happy, my powers were strongest. I have noticed it's a bit easier using my powers with the suit than without, and Dexter helped train me on how to use it, which was really, really cool. I tried to show them off at show-and-tell when school started the next day, and even though it kinda went wrong and all my classmates were scared of me for a while, my friends thought it was cool. Despite the fact that having powers is AWESOME, I still don't know why they were given to me. I know the Guardian must have had something to do with this, and I think he was the one to give me those powers. If so, he must have had a reason. From what I've seen, the Guardian doesn't seem like someone who would do something for no particular reason at all. I'm sure it'll all come together at some point.
Mark - January 14, 2019 - 4:27 PM
"Oh, that's right!" Andrew says. "Mark, I'll get you some of your stuff! And I'll show you my cool suit and that paper!"
"Wait, Andrew, you don't need to-" I try to say, but before I can finish the sentence, Andrew is gone. He just ran off faster than I've ever seen him run. That's got to be at least 20 feet from this platform to the hallway I came from, but he cleared that in just a few seconds. For a moment, he even left a trail of energy behind him too. So I guess one of his powers is super speed or something? Well, in that case, Andrew got lucky, because if I could choose a superpower to have, super speed would definitely be in the top 3. The fact Andrew has powers now, though, is still odd for me. In less than a minute, Andrew shows up again, running up to me with a few things. Once Andrew stops, I can actually tell what they are. The biggest one of them is my hoverboard, but he's also got... He's got the necklace.
A few years after I got that really large emerald-like crystal from Bravo Beach, Jade had the idea of making things from bits of it. I got my friends and we talked about it, and we thought it'd be really cool to make pendants out of pieces of the emerald for my friends, Andrew and I. Well, only the main piece hanging from the chain would be made out of the emerald. Jade carved about 8 small, circular, thin pieces off of the emerald using her diamond claws, but the emerald was big enough that there was still a lot left. Jade told me how initially, she thought of carving some sort of pattern on the center of each pendant and then filling it in with her crystals, but she didn't know what to carve. She ended up carving an infinity symbol into the center. Why exactly she did that she herself doesn't even know: she told me that it just came to her. Still, the symbol makes it look really cool, and you could even say that it represents how strong the bond I have with my family and friends is. It's infinitely strong. The pendant even became the emblem for our channel group, too.
It's funny: the one day I forgot to wear the necklace, all this crazy stuff happened. It's not the first time it's happened. I nearly forgot to wear it on the day Buttercup went missing, too. Andrew hands me back the pendant, and it seems to be almost completely untouched. I move my finger along the infinity symbol, and I can feel the difference between the emerald and Jade's crystals. The emerald part gleams oddly every now and then, too.
"Thanks," I say, as I put the necklace on. I look up to Andrew and... Wow. That's a cool-looking suit. It's mostly dark red, but there's a lot more detail than that. It looks like it has experienced a lot of wear and tear, too. On the shirt, there's a thick, turquoise vertical line going up almost all the way up the shirt. There are three thinner, vertical, turquoise lines on each side of the main line that gradually get shorter. Also, there are lines that are going between the larger vertical lines that show some sort of circuit pattern. However, it looks like a huge group of claws had torn through the shirt, but not enough to tear it apart, but leave three clearly distinct tears in it. The right sleeve looks heavily scratched up, and in some places it's torn open completely. As for the left sleeve, it is way more intact, but there are some smaller tears in it as well. Most of the sleeve is orange, especially around the forearm, while the cuffs are white. At some points of the cuffs, there are small metallic circles that look like they have openings. I think that they are designed to expel energy. The pants are mostly dark red as well, except on each of the outer sides, there's a thick, orange... I think it's called a chevron shape, pointed upward. Below that is an open diamond shape of the same color, width and thickness, with the Dexlabs symbol inside. There are numerous scratches, tears and even small claw marks on the pants as well.
"Sorry that it looks a bit damaged," Andrew says. "A lot of stuff has happened to it over these last couple years."
"That's fine, it still looks cool," I say, causing Andrew to smile again. "Although, what did you do to get the suit that messed up?"
"I... uh... I kinda fought a few monsters, and a Fusion."
"Wait, seriously?" I ask. He fought a Fusion? OK, why would he pick a fight with one of them? Well, maybe he didn't have a choice but to fight. Regardless, I'm glad he's OK. "What Fusion did you fight?"
"It was a Fusion of Gumball, actually. I wasn't able to kill him, though. He's still out there, I believe... Oh, right! Mark! You want to see that paper?"
"Yeah, show me," I say. Andrew takes the rolled up piece of paper he was holding and hands it to me. Immediately, I can understand what Andrew meant when he said that the paper looked and felt nothing like normal paper. I think it might be papyrus paper, or something similar. Only three words are written on the paper:
"He has arrived."
This is... very interesting. I still find it odd how the Guardian left a paper that counted down the days. However, I am glad that the Guardian was able to keep Andrew calm in regards to my whereabouts. A few seconds after I read the three large words in the center, I think I see something else on it. It's very hard to see, but I think I see a person in some sort of robe inscribed onto the paper. Right when I see that, though, the paper itself starts glowing a bright white, before just vanishing. It's gone. We're both confused and startled by this, because it happens within just a few moments. What happened to it? Where did it go?
"W-what?" I say. "Where... where did it..."
"I don't know!" Andrew says. "Maybe... maybe now that you've seen the paper, the Guardian decided to take it back."
"I saw something else on the paper, though!"
"Wait, what'd you see?"
"I... I thought I saw a faint drawing of a person."
"Wait, what? What'd the person look like?"
"Well, I didn't really see it for that long. I think it was wearing some sort of robe, though."
"You OK, Mark?" I hear Evan ask from behind me. I turn around and all my friends are peering through the doorway. Jade is there, too, as well as Gumball and those two others. I still haven't actually met them yet.
"Yeah, I'm OK," I say. "I just... I didn't feel like being there at the moment."
"Yeah, we understand," Evan says. "I wouldn't like it if all those people were staring at me either."
"Well, we made sure they would not do that the next time you show up," Amanda says.
"Still, I don't know if I'll be comfortable there yet," I say. "Are there any other places we could hang out?"
I look back to Andrew, and then around the place we're at. Nobody else is here. You know what? Maybe this should be our new hangout spot! I remember that when I was a KND operative with all my friends, we had a hangout spot in the TV room, but the one thing that irked me about that place was that there was a bit too much noise from all the other operatives. Here, there's no sign of anyone on this specific platform, and there are lots and lots of platforms and balconies on this Treehouse. Also, this kinda works really well. There are lots of leaves and branches above us, meaning this specific balcony should have shadows cast on it almost all the time. There's also a nice view that shows us some of Sector V, the distant Fusion Matter ocean and possibly even the sunset. While all my friends are thinking of where they could be, I say, "Actually, we could hang out here!"
"You think so?" Evan says, before looking around the place a bit. "I guess that works."
When another KND operative passes by, Evan asks if anyone hangs out at this area. The operative shrugs, saying that she hasn't seen anyone at this area that she knows of.
"Well, then," Evan says, turning to us. "This is officially our meet-up spot now!"
"Alright, cool," I say, as we start to form our own little circle. Andrew stays next to me on the bench while Jade sits on my right. All my other friends form a semi-circle, the diameter of which is the width of the bench. From left to right, the people there are in this order: The fairy, Gumball, the bunny, Amanda, Evan and Lucas. Hold on a second. I haven't even been formally introduced to the bunny and fairy.
"Hey, um, Gumball?" I ask.
"Yeah?" Gumball replies back.
"Who are those two?" I ask, looking momentarily at the fairy and bunny.
"Oh, yeah!" Gumball says, before turning to the fairy. "Mark, this is my girlfriend, Penny."
"Hello," Penny says. I also say, "Hello," back. Gumball then turns to the bunny and says, "And this is my sister, Anais."
Of course, I'm confused for a moment. I mean, a rabbit and cat being siblings? But since they are from Elmore, where the laws of reality have tended to be a bit more lenient there, I give it a pass. Why are the laws of reality lenient in that specific area? Nobody is sure what caused this to happen, but there have been a couple theories. One theory in particular said how there was a slightly higher concentration of Imaginary Energy (which is what creates Imaginary Friends) in the area than in most parts of the world, and that Imaginary Friends may have had something to do with it. But unless we go back in time and find out what happened then, the full origins of Elmore remain a mystery.
After Anais and I say "Hello" to each other, I notice a few interesting things about her. At one point when her ears are raised, I see a vertical scar in her left ear that goes straight through. Once I see it, I quickly wonder what happened that caused it. Was it another Fusion encounter, or something else? There's a doll that Anais is holding, as well. It looks like a pink donkey with a yellow muzzle that looks like a smiley face. The ends of the doll's arms and legs are yellow, too, and the colors are as bright as the amount of stitches that are on the doll.
Andrew then tells me, "Hey! You want to know something cool about Penny?"
"Yeah, sure," I say, before turning to Penny. "What is it?"
"Well..." Penny pauses for a moment. Wait, is this supposed to be a secret? But I don't want to make her feel uncomfortable! Penny still tells me, "I can shapeshift."
Wait, really? She can shapeshift? She can shapeshift... That was not at all what I was expecting. I thought Penny was going to tell me about some sort of thing that she likes to do. But shapeshifting? That's AWESOME!
"Wait, really? So... so you could shapeshift right now?" I ask, my curiosity level having spiked. Andrew and I have some similar personality traits, but the most clear trait we share is that we both can be really curious about stuff. So when I learn that someone I've recently met can shapeshift, of course I'll want to know more about that.
"Well, it's not exactly voluntary," Penny says. "The shapeshifting is based off of my emotions at the time, but sometimes I have been able to do it willingly. Those are usually few and far between, though."
"Still, though, that's really cool," I say. "What forms can you transform into?"
"Well, it's not exactly easy to experiment, but there are many forms I have transformed into before."
"Yeah, we've seen her transform a few times," Amanda says. "The craziest form we've seen her transform into, though, was when she turned into a dragon."
OK, this is interesting. I hope that at some point, I can see Penny shapeshift, because that would be cool to see. I probably will see that eventually. Maybe... In all honesty, I don't know how long I'll be here. I could be here a few days, a few weeks, maybe months... Hopefully, at best, we'll be able to get the materials and build the time machine so that I can come back within only days. The less time I stay in this future, the better.
"Hey, Andrew, you're wearing that power suit again!" Gumball says.
"Yeah, but the scratch that Cyberus left has kinda made it a lot harder to use well," Andrew says.
"I could try stitching that up," Anais says. "What materials did it use again?"
"I remember Dexter said it used... uh... conductive fibers? At least I think the inner layer of it was. Then there was an insulator layered between the outer materal and the conductive fiber... I think. I'm not sure. Hold on, I'll get the thing describing it."
Andrew zooms off again, leaving another trail of bright energy for a moment. In almost a minute, he comes back again, with a manual for something. That's got to be the manual for the suit. He hands the manual to Anais, saying that this should describe everything she'll need to help repair the suit. After that, I tell my friends, old and new, what happened after I had first shown up, such as me being chased by the Tech Wing, finding the transmitter and everything in between. I also remember to show them the photos I had taken during my trip through Steam Alley, including the graffiti the Guardian had left to guide me to the transmitter. I guess Evan and my other friends told Gumball, Anais and Penny about the Guardian, as they don't react with confusion like my friends did when I first told them about "the glowing person that I see every so often".
"Wait! I just thought of something!" Evan says. "We should all take a group photo, to celebrate Mark being back! What do you guys think?"
"We should totally do that!" Andrew says.
"Yeah, that sounds cool," Gumball says.
"I'm down with that," Lucas adds on.
"So am I," Jade says.
"OK, let's do it!" Evan says, rather excited now. "Whose phone should we use?"
"We can use my phone," I say. "Then when I go back, I can share it with you guys."
"Oh, OK. But we can't do it here, then. We need to find somewhere that doesn't look remotely like a Kids Next Door place."
Yeah, Evan has a point. If we were to take that photo here, it'd be odd for anyone who didn't know about the KND for us to be taking a photo on a wooden balcony with a giant ship next to it. That's a pretty big red flag.
"Well, where should we take it, then?" Penny asks.
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking," Evan says as he starts pacing the platform. We all decide to start thinking as well of where to go to take the photo. Well, it'd be a bit of a pain to have to do the photo in somewhere that wasn't the KND treehouse. I don't know if it's worth all the effort of spending hours finding the perfect place to take a photo.
"You know, we don't have to do it now," I say.
"But we should do it today, though."
"Not if it will take too much effort at this point in time. Besides, we should just hang out and not make a big deal out of wanting to take a group photo. I mean, we've just gotten together as a group again after over two and a half years."
"I guess Mark has a point," Lucas says. "Yeah, the photo should come later."
"Wait, I have an idea," Andrew says. "We can take a photo here, but the one Mark can show us when he goes back can be another one that's taken later."
"That could work, too," Evan says. "But you'll have to be absolutely sure not to give the one of us here away."
"I'll make sure not to," I say. "So, let's take that photo!"
While a bit reluctant, Evan agrees, and we start planning where we're going to be. All my friends agree that since I'm the main focus, I should be in the center. Andrew should definitely be next to me, and Gumball, Anais and Penny will be next to Andrew. Evan then decides that in the photo, he'll be casually lying down on his hoverboard while looking at the camera. Jade will be floating in front of us, between me and Andrew. I'll have my Lightning Gun out, of course. After all, it's a Dexlabs prototype, not a Kids Next Door weapon, so we should be good on that front. I can just say to anyone who asks that I got that from Dexter while I was in the Future. Amanda and Lucas will be behind Evan. Anais will be in front of Gumball, still holding that doll. Once we get all our positions in the photo figured out, Andrew and I set my phone upright on the KND bench in the horizontal position, before I run back to my position in the photo. Andrew tells us that he's going to have the phone take multiple photos, so we can get a bunch and pick the best for us to show. He activates the timer, then a few seconds later, he zooms behind us and to his position in the photo. The place gets a little chilly as we hear the shutter sound I put on my phone to indicate the photo's been taken. Then we hear it again. And again.
We hear the phone make that noise a few more times before it stops. I think it took around eight or so photos. Once the noise stops, we all run to the phone to see what photos we got. I get the phone and go to the photos listed on it. There are indeed eight new photos, all of which are our group photo just now. We scroll through the photos, all of which are really good, but I want to make sure there's none where someone's eyes are closed. Thankfully, we find one, which is one of the earlier photos. Even though Amanda and Lucas look a tiny bit unfocused, we still agree that the photo looks awesome, even though we won't be able to share it with each other.
"Well, there's one person I could share it with," I say, looking to Evan.
"That would still be too risky," Evan says. "You'd be under constant observation by the Kids Next Door due to the M.O.N.I.T.A.H."
M.O.N.I.T.A.H.? Oh, yeah, I remember that. It stands for "Monitoring Operatives Newly Initiated To Avoid Hugeproblems". It was designed to do as the acronym suggests: to observe recently commissioned operatives to make sure they didn't leak anything to the wrong people. A few weeks after I first became a member of the Kids Next Door, I found out they had set up cameras all over my house, to monitor me and make sure I didn't tell anyone about the Kids Next Door that shouldn't know, like my parents. I never told my parents, but Jade had caught on to it a few times. I can recall several different situations in which I had to erase her memory of something she shouldn't have seen. Thankfully, the Kids Next Door later allowed Jade to know about it, as long as she followed the same rules I did. I'm pretty sure she also got decommissioned when I was.
At one point, they removed all the cameras and put them elsewhere to throw me off their tracks. I remember that for each new house I went to, the KND put cameras in certain spots, like peeking through a hole in a corner in my living room's ceiling. Whenever someone found the cameras but wasn't supposed to know about them, they'd flood the place with the memory-erasing gas and relocate all the cameras. I also heard the policy was even more extreme if the new member had a sibling who used to be in the Kids Next Door. Given that I'll hopefully be coming back soon after I left, which should be very soon after Andrew becomes an operative, I probably won't be able to do anything like looking through these group photos. They'd certainly find out, and they might even try to decommission me. I'll have to look at the KND-involved photos as sparingly as possible.
We look over the photo for a while, remarking how cool some things are. For example, Andrew zooming into the photo caused a gust of wind that makes it look like we're all in the middle of a really windy place, as our hair is blowing to the right. This is so cool. It looks almost like an action movie poster. All we need now is the title, a phrase, a date and that usual information at the bottom saying what the main cast and other important people in making the movie are.
"This is so cool," Andrew says. "I wish Aidan could've been in this."
"Yeah..." Evan says. "He probably would've loved it."
We're all silent for a moment, before we begin to reminisce on things Aidan did. One of the best examples is that a couple years ago, we were exploring the streets near Tokyo Townsville during some sort of celebration. We didn't know much of what it was about at first, but from what information we could get, there was a powerful, evil deity that had existed thousands of years ago. He had originated from this dark forest and had enslaved the land for years, before a powerful warrior came and defeated the evil, freeing his people and saving their lives at presumably the cost of his own, as the legend said the warrior was nowhere to be found afterward. Apparently, Aidan brought this HUGE firecracker with him, and when we lit that up, it launched far up into the sky and made it as bright as day for a moment. We had no idea where Aidan got it and what it had inside it, but the explosion in the air made car alarms all around us go off that night. We, of course, got out of that area before more people showed up, but it was awesome. From the "Trash Can Incident of 2012" to the ultimate prank gone wrong, we continue to reminisce about things that happened before Project Future (most of them involving Aidan in some way) until around 5:30. This is when Numbuh Two shows up.
"Hey, guys!" Numbuh Two says from the entrance to the platform. "I brought pizza!"
"What?" Evan asks, looking amazed. "You didn't!"
"I did," Numbuh Two says. I turn around and he's holding five pizza boxes. These pizza boxes are all rather large, meaning they might be extra large pizzas. I've just realized how much energy I've used today. In the last 5 and 1/2 hours, I've ran long distances, fought many different kinds of monsters, and nearly died several times. I used up a lot of energy, and combining that fact with me thinking about pizza now has made me more hungry than I think I have been in a long time. I need to get energy back. I need to eat.
"No way! You got a Deluxe pizza?" Lucas asks. I look to the pizza boxes, and on the side of one, I can see the clear word "Deluxe". "H-how did you know that I-"
"No, no, this one's for me," Numbuh Two says. "The others are for you guys."
"Oh... Alright, that's fine."
"How did you get these?" I ask. I mean, I know the Kids Next Door tends to make certain things, like candy, a higher priority, but have they still made those a priority in a world-ending situation like this? I guess that would make sense. They would probably panic to get as much as the stuff they like as possible. After all, the Kids Next Door isn't like the military due to it being organized by kids. But many of the people I've seen here aren't all young kids. They range from around 10 to at least late teens! They must have recommissioned a lot of people, as well as probably formed a truce with the Teen Ninjas. Still, even teenagers can get their priorities a little mixed up.
"Oh, I just ordered these from the Pokey Oaks mall," Numbuh Two says. Wait, that huge mall in Pokey Oaks is still around? There are still pizza makers around? Wouldn't the resources to make pizzas still be super scarce now? I don't know how things could be farmed in this environment. Who knows? I definitely don't, and given all the crazy things that have happened today, I'm not even sure if I should question anything at this point.
Numbuh Two then passes out the four other pizza boxes to us, as well as some paper plates. I can smell the ultra-deliciousness through the box, and I can't wait to eat it. Before Numbuh Two leaves, though, he can't help but give off another pun. When we thanked him profusely, he said, "You're welcome. Don't worry: I won't give you guys a bunch of pizza puns right now. They'd be cheesy anyway."
Once we know Numbuh Two is not going to come back and make any more pizza puns, we dig in, and this pizza tastes really, really good. I can't tell if it's just that I haven't had that much stuff up to it or this pizza just is that good, but regardless, I'm so glad I'm having it. Some of us, particularly Evan and I, are having a bit more pizza than the rest, due to the energy we used up recently during that battle.
"Hold on, do any of you guys want drinks?" Andrew asks. All of us raise our hands. I'm just as thirsty as I am hungry, so I won't mind something to drink. After all, the only actual drink I had was during the search for the transmitter. When Andrew asks what we want, most of us choose some type of soda, but I don't. I don't really want soda right now. I simply want water right now. Andrew zooms off once more, and not that long after, comes back with a bunch of soda cans and glasses of water or juice. He passes them out to us, and once we're all sitting down again, we start eating again.
Hold on, I have an idea. We all have some sort of drink, right? I check everyone in our group circle, and yeah, we all do. Before anyone can drink theirs, I catch everyone's attention, and say, "Guys, I know what to do. Let's have a toast." Everyone gets their cans or glasses, holds them in front of themselves, and I initiate the toast:
"Here's to Aidan... Although you may be gone today, you're still here with us. We won't forget all the funny and cool things you've done... and here's to making sure that I can go back and make sure you, Chris, John and everyone else we've lost can survive the second time around."
We then all take our drinks, and continue having our pizza. That was such a nice experience. In that moment, I felt a sense of hope, the hope that I can return to the past and fix as much as I can. I want to make sure that the world I'm in right now won't happen, so I'll fight the Fusions as much as possible. After so many bad things I've experienced over these last few hours, things are starting to feel bright again. I've reunited with my surviving friends, made new ones, and ultimately feel like things are going to be OK. And although we're not sure exactly what we're going to do, one thing is clear: we're back together again, and we're going to try as hard as we can to change the course of this war.
G - ∞
Now you are motivated.
