So, first of all, this story contains headcanon first and last names for some characters.
Second of all, I don't want to see any demands for ships or character actions, especially if they are out of character.
Anyway, enjoy the story!
—
In a colorful tunnel of the time warp was floating one lonely house. Confused by what happened to their surroundings, the six parents ran outside onto the terrace, looking around. For some of them, it was the first time seeing such a place; for the others, it was way too familiar.
Their attention was so focused on the time warp, on the unknown time flowing around them. Just a minute ago, they were in Sanjo, having fun, talking, but they're suddenly trapped; time napped...
Could that be the doing of the people who the Ancients were talking about? The people who attacked the Backland...?
Out of nowhere, huge jaws surfaced from below the terrace, showing the sharp teeth to the parents. In the shock and fear of the dinosaur's sudden appearance, they backed away and ran back into the house. Spike was the one who stayed behind, making sure that everyone else gets inside safely before he rushed behind them.
Their glances fell back on the beast, a Torvosaurus ready to attack. They noticed a strange hexagon mark on the forehead.
But why...? Why was the dinosaur even there? What was the deal with all of this?
The answer to their questions literally flew through the opened glass door, however, it only raised more questions than it answered.
It was a big man with dark orange skin and...wings...? Wings?!
This man was actually flying towards them... What is the meaning of this? Who is this?
Being the only one bold enough, Spike swiped his whip, trying to stop this flying man. The issue was that the whip wrapped around the man's thick wrist, allowing the man to toss Spike straight at the glass door.
The man was unfazed by such a gesture and continued flying; he was actually making his way towards the Ancients. Seeing the man getting closer, Dr. Trias Ancient stepped in front of his wife, who was already in a stand that showed that she's ready to brawl, protectively, despite knowing that he has no chance against whatever was flying towards him. It didn't matter; he'd do his best to keep her safe.
"What do you want?"
"Well, I need some help and I heard that you two are perfect for the job."
"You can forget about that."
"You either help me or you help him and he's very hungry; you don't have much of a choice."
The man was right, there wasn't much of a choice. But then again, if he really needed them so much, he wouldn't be dumb enough to kill them. It felt like they are protected by that need, however, that did not apply to the others. Risking their lives was out of the question.
Trias did not reply; he was only standing there, keeping the flying man away from Cretacia.
"Throw me, honey. Throw me at him!" Cretacia whispered to her husband.
"Cretacia...no..." Trias murmured worriedly as the flying man got even closer.
No one else dared to even move as the Ancients were cornered. Meanwhile, Spike was still disoriented from the impact.
The rest could have done something... Ryunanaka could have used the needle...Aki and Amano could have used a frying pan or the knives, but they could barely move at that moment. ...and the sudden sounds behind them didn't add any courage. A wing-flapping...?
They swiftly turned around and immediately jumped as far away from the window as possible—a female winged figure flew through the window while a slim male figure with the same wings as the other two entered through the glass door.
There were more of them?!
"Well, looks like we got more than we needed. At least the dinos won't starve," the slim man chuckled.
"Stop being an idiot for once," the woman told him, "we can't feed the rest to the dinos."
"Why?" the first man glanced at her confusedly, scratching his head.
"Because we need them alive," the woman growled in annoyance, folding her arms on her chest, closing her eyes, "the two know that we need their help, so we won't hurt them, but the others are useless; we can have them killed, so I wonder..." Her devilishly red eyes snapped open. "Would our two little helpers risk their lives instead of their own?"
"I don't get it..." the big one mumbled, turning to her, "We shouldn't kill the rest because we have permission to kill them...? That doesn't make any sense."
"It makes perfect sense, you boulder head," the woman replied, flying closer to the Ancients. She really needed her wings so she can have a little talk with them from face to face on the same level due to her height.
"Though it looks like Gavro already tried to kill one of them," the stick man commented, looking down at Spike who was still on the floor.
"I didn't kill him! He was just greeting me...I think..." The big one crossed his arms.
The slim one rolled his eyes, slightly nudging Spike's head with his boot, making sure he's alive. Spike was holding his head, aching from the impact, getting a hold of himself.
"They really are different from us, just like him," the blue man pointed out before nudging Spike's head again, this time with way less care.
Hearing Spike's quiet groans, Aki felt something snap inside her. She would usually not even attempt to do what she did, but no matter the fear, she yelled at the blue alien. "Don't touch him!" She didn't even realize any words came out of her mouth until the big sharp eyes with tiny irises glanced at her. Her body shuddered, however, as he approached her, her voice still kept on going, even if it was slowly losing its power.
"D-don't hurt him... Pl...please...stay away from him... Stay away... Please..."
She couldn't even back away, her feet were frozen in one place, unable to find a way to avoid nearing danger.
"I'll give you a little advice. Don't try to act tough when you're nothing close to it," the flying man told her mockingly, "you'll only provoke people that can hurt you badly."
The one he called Gavro frowned at that. "But you always try to act tough while being the weakest one of us."
"Shut up!" snapped the slim man. Since he was distracted, Amano pulled Aki away and they hid behind Ryunanaka who was still trembling in fear, but he held the needle up in case he had to protect the two.
The flying woman was clearly holding herself back from beating two men up. She then smirked, still glaring closely at the Ancients. "Let's take them to the boss." She grabbed Trias' sleeve which immediately alerted Cretacia.
The blonde was about to charge, but the woman grabbed her hair and pulled with all her strength. Cretacia whimpered—she wasn't gonna let her toy with her like that. She reached the woman's other arm and bit her.
The flying men gasped at what just happened. "Oh, sh-!"
The woman screeched and let go of both of them. "That's enough!" She pulled a sharp purple shuriken-like object that she then threw against a wall, leaving a large deep scratch in it, showing them what can happen when they don't do as told. The shuriken then flew back into the woman's hand like a boomerang.
"Now, let's get going or my next target will be your friends."
Trias gritted his teeth angrily but ended up hanging his head down defeatedly. "Alright..."
Cretacia wanted to object, but even she realized that surrendering is the best choice for now.
Gavro picked up the needle Dr. Drake was holding, but he refused to let go, so he was lifted as well by the alien. Then the orange man reached for the two women as well, grabbing one arm of each easily with one hand.
Meanwhile, the stick man nudged Spike again and then took his vest and dragged him by it away, following his coworkers.
The parents were forced through the ship of these alien creatures; everything was so strange, but even stranger were the hexagons all around the place.
Soon, the aliens stopped, they presumably get to the right place where they wanted the parents—to the boss.
"Why do I always have to clean up your mess?" the blue man complained to Gavro.
"I never asked you to take him."
"Could you two stop arguing for one minute?" the woman told them as they all let go of their prisoners.
Spike finally got up, holding his aching head. Aki rushed to him immediately. He only grinned at her before a holographic screen appeared, leaning over all six of them.
On the screen was a huge figure with glowing red eyes covered in shadows, the only thing seen from it was his lap, where a chibi Apatosaurus was laying, and his green hands, which were stroking the dino's back.
"So, we finally found you," the figure spoke in a deep voice, glaring at the Ancients, but then his eyes fell on the rest of the parents, "wait, and who are you four? I asked for just the two of them."
"Well, they were in the house with them, so I thought it be easier to take the whole thing," Gavro explained.
"Anyways, good job and also an even better job with getting them all here, Sheer, wonderful!"
The flying female smirked at the praise.
"How is that harder than stealing the whole house?" Gavro wondered, although, he got no answer.
"And Foolscap," the boss turned to the slim man, who just grinned and rubbed the back of his head. "You...didn't make a mess, which is good. I guess."
The blue man froze at the choice of words, frowning to himself. "HUH?!"
"Alright, what is the meaning of this?" Spike snapped at the boss, "who are you? And what do you want with us?"
"Oh, were you not listening?" Sheer asked, "we are known as the Spectral Space Pirates and we need the smart ones for some personal gain. The rest of you was taken aboard accidentally. We still might have a use for you though, don't worry."
"Yes, taking us hostage and threatening to hurt us if the Ancients don't do what you say," Amano managed to finish as she already understood their situation from what she heard back at the house.
"You can forget about that!" Spike yelled at the screen, "it won't be that easy for you."
The shadowy figure facepalmed himself. "Please, just be quiet already. Someone, make him shut up."
Doing as told, Gavro hit Spike's head, knocking him down again.
"Spike..." Aki whimpered quietly.
"Now, what are we gonna do with them, boss?" Foolscap wondered and turned lazily to the screen.
"Just take the loud one, the one with a brain, and the two quiet ones back; I already have enough of you three, I don't think I can put up with these people as well..." The red eyes glanced at the Ancients. "While you two will start your work. Sheer, take them to the lab."
The black-haired woman salute. "Yes, boss."
Gavro grabbed the same people as before, but this time in a more gentle manner because they didn't even try to struggle. Meanwhile, Foolscap was left dragging Spike all the way back into the house.
A shadowy figure left the room through a different door quietly.
—
Outside of the time warp, in the year 2008, after being already shocked today by the disappearance of the house, Reese, Rod, Laura, Dr. Owen, and Patrick just discovered that they were left behind by the Backland crew. Of course, they mostly left disappointment from being forgotten, but one of them had bigger troubles on her mind.
Reese headed back into the D-lab and logging into the computer. Contacting the Backland was the main priority now—who knows what they can mess up in the past.
She was later joined by confused rambling in the background from Dr. Owen and Patrick while Rod and Laura looked over her shoulders, witnessing her unsuccessful tries to connect with the time machine.
Rod also tried to do so himself, however, the results were the same.
—
Once the four parents were brought back into the house and left alone, Spike started getting back to his senses again. He was sitting on the couch, clenching his head.
Aki went to grab a bag of ice from the freezer for him, her body still trembling—she couldn't even take the bag without dropping it. As she bent down to pick it up, Amano took it for her, rubbing her shoulder reassuringly.
"Just sit down, I'll take care of everything."
"B-but-"
"You need some rest; this is a stressful situation after all."
"Okay..." Aki, still taken back by the whole thing, went to sit next to Spike who stroked her back right away. She only sighed quietly.
Amano brought the bag of ice and examined Spike's head before giving it to him. "...you seem to be bleeding a little," she said.
He simply shook that fact off while Aki got even more worried. She was about to shoot up, but Spike stopped her by taking her hand. She lowered her head.
"It's nothing serious, but I should patch it up," Amano said.
"The first-aid kit should be in the bathroom," Aki told her, still being held down by Spike.
"Okay. Ryu?" Amano turned to her husband who was sitting on the other couch, frowning nervously. "Could you bring the kit?"
He didn't respond.
"Hey, Ryu? Ryunanaka!"
Drake snapped out, looking up at her confusedly.
"Could you bring the first-aid kit from the bathroom?"
"Um...sure!" He headed to the bathroom and brought the kit into the living room. He was just as scatter-brained as Aki at the moment.
Amano took some bandages out and treating Spike's wound. "You really didn't have to play a hero."
"It's a reflex...Ow-! Rushing into dangerous situations defines who I am," he objected, "I even went against a T-Rex with just a butterfly net once."
"You what?!" Aki gasped worriedly, but at the same time threateningly to Spike.
"Um...nothing...?" Spike chuckled nervously, holding her hand gently while pressing the ice bag to his head.
"We should focus on getting out instead of fighting them all straight ahead," Amano said calmly.
"I don't want to doubt you, love," Ryunanaka started, "but how are we supposed to do that?"
"...I wish I had an answer to that," she replied, sitting beside him. Then they all fell into silence for what seemed like hours; guessing time wasn't exactly easy in the time warp.
The first sound in a long while was the opening of the front door as the Ancients were tossed back in.
Cretacia wanted to launch herself at the Space Pirates, but the door shut in her face.
Trias took her hand to calm her down and they headed to the living room.
The other parents looked up to them, surprised to even see them again.
"You're back!"
"What did they want? And what was that loud bang?" Aki asked them.
"Oh! I think I broke my nose against the front door! Not a big deal!" Cretacia chuckled, "luckily, my glasses are specifically made for me and my shenanigans. They are unbreakable!"
Trias glanced away. "They want us to build them a machine. They need just us; it's our fault."
"...well, we've all been at the wrong places at the wrong time before," Ryunanaka said, "you couldn't predict this."
"Yeah! It would be strange if we didn't get into trouble," Spike joined in, grinning, "the kids have to have it from someone."
"Wait a minute." Aki frowned at him. "The kids weren't in similar trouble, were they?"
"Um... N-no?" he stuttered, "...um, kinda...? I-it's a...long story you definitely don't wanna hear."
"Have they mentioned how long they need to keep us here?" Amano asked the Ancients.
"Never the exact time, but I suppose that only as long as we are useful to them," Trias replied calmly, "once the machine is complete, I'm sure that they don't even know what to do with us."
"That means we have to leave as soon as possible," Ryunanaka concluded.
"We can run for it and escape into the time warp," Spike suggested.
Trias shook his head. "That would only result in us getting lost in time; each of us could easily end up in different time eras, never to see each other again."
"That's not good..."
"That's right. It could possibly work if we had our pods; they can be controlled into a specific time or after a signal. That's how we found the Backland," Cretacia explained.
Aki sighed, hanging her head sadly. "So, there's no hope..."
"There's always hope," Ryu said.
Amano nodded. "A solution might present itself later on."
—
It was the middle of the night in Sanjo, contacting the Backland was still unsuccessful.
Owen and Patrick were sitting on the floor sleeping while Reese was doing what she could with the same results. Rod was trying to help, however, Laura was getting bored as she couldn't do much, but she wasn't tired enough to go to sleep.
She looked outside, seeing the stars. Her eyes widened and a smile formed on her face. "Can we go outside for a while?" she wondered.
"Not now..." Rod told her.
"Please!" She took his hand.
"Laura, we need to focus," Reese said.
"You need to take a break. You might get a good idea later on!" Laura grabbed even Reese's hand, dragging the two outside. They could so easily resist, but then again, she is just a child. She might be right.
The three of them looked up at the night sky full of stars.
"Wow..."
"Do you think they can see them too?" Laura wondered.
"Hm?" Both Rod and Reese looked at her.
"The others can be stargazing right now too, right?"
"...maybe..." Rod admitted, "the time flow is different for them."
"Different time flow... That's it!" Reese realized, heading back to the lab with the approaching, hoping her theory would be correct this time.
Being left with just a little bit of hope...
—
That's it for now! I'm looking forward to this story because I really enjoy writing the parents and I can finally properly include the SSP.
I have nothing special to say about this now, but I hope you'll like this.