The Team Chaos Chronicles-- Episode V
Chronological Chaos
**Author's note: This will be the last story to introduce new
characters... I promise!!!**
"Nuts."
"What?" Lisa inquired. She, Jason, and I were hanging out in my
room playing an adaptation of an arcade game I was working on with
my PC.
"I can't get these CD tracks to work properly," I replied. The game
was a PC adaptation of Guitar Freaks, a game in which you had to
play along with music on a guitar-like controller. I was using a
homebuilt controller at the moment. The program was supposed to
pull guitar tracks off of any CD I picked, but that function was
currently not working with my Third Day CD.
Just then my homebuilt pager went off. Someone was making a
connection to the Dimensionalizer gateway using a call return
button. I checked the coordinates on the pager display.
"That's funny."
"What?"
"The time-space coordinates are from nearby, but... several hundred
years in the future. We haven't gone to the future!"
We ran to Team Chaos HQ (also known as my bedroom in the basement)
and arrived to find a newcomer in a suit that remotely resembled
our armor. Only thing was, he looked more like a lizard than a
high-tech knight. The figure removed the head, which turned out
to be a helmet. Well, the guy looked like a normal human under
the suit, but how did he manage to connect to the gate?
The newcomer spoke. "My name is Gage Blackwood, Agent 5 of the
Temporal Security Agency. I've been authorized to interact with
you as there's an emergency that requires the assistance of two
people from the past you have connections to."
Boy, this guy got right down to business, didn't he? "Who
are you looking for?"
"Two members of a group known as the Time Rippers; their names
are Jay and Robin."
"Must be a couple of talking birds, if you ask me."
I looked around for the person who had spoken that last bit,
then did a double take when Agent 5 said, "Must you always have
a comment for everything, Arthur?"
"Just doing my job, Gage."
"Uh, I don't mean to intrude... but _who_ the _heck_ are you
talking to?!?"
"That would be Arthur, my longtime companion, who happens to
be a 'non-sentient organic being'."
"I'm sorry, I don't speak politically-correct English; come
again?"
"He's an artificial intelligence module."
"COOL!"
"There's a term I never understood," Arthur noted. "What the
heck does that mean, anyway?"
"Cool, you know, sweet, rad, groovy."
"Oh, okay."
Agent 5 cut in. "Arthur is a big fan of 20th century culture.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand..."
"Oh, right! Just a sec while I program the Dimensionalizer..."
"This might seem like a stupid question, but... aren't these
'Time Rippers'... FICTIONAL?"
"You haven't seen the half of it. Wait till you see Mobius."
"Mobius?" Arthur apparently was accessing his files, as he was
silent for a moment. "No way," he said at last.
"Come see for yourselves," I invited as I stepped through the gate.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------
"Agent 5?" Wes asked.
"Call me Gage."
"Gage, what's it like living with Arthur on a daily basis? I
mean, doesn't it feel strange talking to someone who technically
isn't there?"
"It does seem strange hearing a disembodied voice, but I've
gotten used to it. I don't think poor Michelle ever did."
"Michelle?"
"A co-worker. I'll explain on the way."
The others followed Ryan through the gate.
----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------
Turned out Gage had an interesting history. He first became famous
when he prevented Dr. Elliot Sinclair from altering history.
Sinclair had invented the time machine known as Pegasus. The
government shut down the program and moved the Pegasus to a
secret location. When the Cyrollans, an alien race, invited Earth
into the Symbiotry of Peaceful Beings, Sinclair tried to alter
history to prevent them from coming. Gage stopped the robots
Sinclair had sent, then apprehended Sinclair just before he fired
on the alien delegate. (Personally, I hate political thrillers, but
this was cool enough to catch my interest.) Gage's exploits became
a movie, which was well syndicated. (Gage collected action figures
from the movie. Ironic, I thought.)
A month after that incident, Gage was visited by his future self,
claiming he--they-- had been framed. Gage had collected evidence
to point toward Michelle Visard, a fellow member of the TSA, who
had framed him. It was during this episode that he had met Arthur,
who had sent Michelle into the unknown regions of the past by
transferring to her suit and overriding the jump circuits.
Gage had soon afterward cleared the name of his future self.
Unfortunately, Gage's retelling of his recovery of the Legacy of
Time Travel was interrupted by our arrival in Mobius. I had
been facing backwards the entire time, so when I exited I flew
backwards, tripped on a rock, and slammed into a tree.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------
The headache lingered despite the unconsciousness. When I awoke,
it flamed up in full force. Slasher stood over me. "You flew
backwards into a tree. Maybe you should start watching where
you're going."
I sat up: a mistake, since about a million jackhammers started
going in my brain. "Guess I'll remember that next time."
"Who's the new guy?" the raptor inquired.
"His name's Gage Blackwood. He's Agent 5 of the Temporal Security
Agency. Apparently time travel exists in our future."
"It exists in our past, to hear Sonic tell it."
"Yeah, Gage said he was looking for Jay and Robin." At that moment
Sonic walked in. "Jay and Robin?" he asked as I sat up.
"That's what the man said."
"How are they going to know to show up? I mean, they live in the
year 800, for crying out loud!"
"Well, Gage said he can't time-jump here 'cause the time-space
coordinates will be all messed up."
"Heyyyy, I know! Come on."
"Where are we going?"
"To see an old friend."
---------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------
Knux took us to the old pyramid in Sandopolis, on the Floating
Island. Since he had the layout of the entire place memorized, it
wasn't long before we reached the statues of Jay and Robin, the
Time Rippers.
Knux explained as he struggled with the base of one of the
statues. "I found this by accident one day. Behind a panel here
there was a note explaining that if anything is placed in this
compartment, it is automatically transferred to a time-displacement
unit in their present. Sort of a temporal mailbox, if you will."
"Cool."
Once Knux had gotten the panel open, Sonic placed a handwritten
note explaining the situation into the compartment. The note
glowed blue, then vanished altogether.
"Whoa."
Suddenly a thin blue line appeared in the side of the statue. The
line widened to a crack, then a gap, then a gaping hole. Through
this hole came two figures looking somewhat like Knuckles, but
with all kinds of gear. One of them fired some sort of gun at
the hole, which closed.
I opened my mouth to say something, but Sonic elbowed me. "Never
interrupt a Time Ripper when he's confirming his coordinates."
When the two had finished determining their whereabouts, they
turned to us. "Hey, Sonic," the younger of the two began.
"Who's the tall guy?"
Sonic introduced me. We shook hands, but I noticed Knuckles had
gone into a sort of paralyzed trance. He just stared at the two
echidnas. Robin noticed. "What's with him?"
"Uh, he just happens to be your descendant," Sonic explained.
"You're kidding."
"Nope. He's the current Guardian of the Floating Island."
"Whoa."
Suddenly Knux broke into a crazed run. "Uh, oh," I thought as I
raced after him. I couldn't keep up, so I was forced to activate
my speed skates (done by touching my emerald ring to my sneakers)
to catch up to him. I brought him to the floor in a flying
tackle. "What's wrong with you?"
"I don't know! I just felt like I couldn't move, then I panicked.
I wish I knew what happened to me!"
"You think it might be the shock of seeing your ancestors?"
"I have no idea! I've been studying them for a long time; I can't
figure it out!"
"Hmmm, must be some natural occurence related to time travel. I'll
ask Jay and Robin. Meanwhile, you head back to your place. I can
get us out of here."
"How? There are so many twists and turns in this pyramid..."
"I've got this place mapped out in my armor. Now get out of here
so you don't go injuring yourself."
----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------
When we reached daylight, I asked Jay and Robin about Knux's
condition. They said they'd never heard of anyone experiencing
psychosis from meeting their ancestors before. Strange...
When we got back to New Knothole I saw Sally talking with Gage. Or
so I thought. Turns out it was Nicole talking with Arthur. When
the conversation was over, I told Arthur not to get any bright
ideas. "Ah, she wasn't my type," came the reply.
Once the introductions had gone all around, Gage got down to business.
"There's a problem in my past that only you can fix," he began,
addressing Jay and Robin. "Six months prior to the time I left,
a large asteroid hit part of the earth, devastating everything
within a 2500-mile radius. Fortunately, much of civilization by
that time lived in airborne cities, such as Caldoria, where I
live. Later, parts of the asteroid were recovered and it turns
out that it wasn't just an asteroid... it was a civilized planet,
yet one so small that you could walk the entire length of its
equator in a day. Then a sign was recovered from part of the
asteroid. It read, 'Welcome to Little Planet.'
"Needless to say, I was heartbroken to see an entire civilization
wiped out in such a tragic accident. Then the report came in from
the TSA. The collision was never supposed to happen. I reported
in and scoured every source I could find for any mention of Little
Planet, but found nothing. Then I came across a set of electronic
documents from the late 20th-century chronicling _my_ involvement
in the resolution of the matter. I immediately forwarded the
documents to the chief of operations at the TSA, who gave me the
go-ahead to follow through with the mission. So for me, I'm pretty
much writing the script for what I'm doing as I speak. The actions
I take now will prompt my coming here in the first place."
"Deep," I reflected. Then it hit me. I've been writing down my
adventures all this time. That meant that... Whoa. I started to
get a headache from the implications.
A question from Wes pulled me out of my musings. "So, how do we
get to Little Planet in the first place? I mean, it's out of
time-phase with the rest of us, isn't it?"
Robin answered that one. "Well, think about it. The only way to
throw a satellite out of orbit..."
"Is to remove that which provides the gravitational pull that
keeps it in orbit," I finished. There was a stunned silence. Mobius
would soon be destroyed if we didn't do something.
And fast.
End Part 1
Chronological Chaos
**Author's note: This will be the last story to introduce new
characters... I promise!!!**
"Nuts."
"What?" Lisa inquired. She, Jason, and I were hanging out in my
room playing an adaptation of an arcade game I was working on with
my PC.
"I can't get these CD tracks to work properly," I replied. The game
was a PC adaptation of Guitar Freaks, a game in which you had to
play along with music on a guitar-like controller. I was using a
homebuilt controller at the moment. The program was supposed to
pull guitar tracks off of any CD I picked, but that function was
currently not working with my Third Day CD.
Just then my homebuilt pager went off. Someone was making a
connection to the Dimensionalizer gateway using a call return
button. I checked the coordinates on the pager display.
"That's funny."
"What?"
"The time-space coordinates are from nearby, but... several hundred
years in the future. We haven't gone to the future!"
We ran to Team Chaos HQ (also known as my bedroom in the basement)
and arrived to find a newcomer in a suit that remotely resembled
our armor. Only thing was, he looked more like a lizard than a
high-tech knight. The figure removed the head, which turned out
to be a helmet. Well, the guy looked like a normal human under
the suit, but how did he manage to connect to the gate?
The newcomer spoke. "My name is Gage Blackwood, Agent 5 of the
Temporal Security Agency. I've been authorized to interact with
you as there's an emergency that requires the assistance of two
people from the past you have connections to."
Boy, this guy got right down to business, didn't he? "Who
are you looking for?"
"Two members of a group known as the Time Rippers; their names
are Jay and Robin."
"Must be a couple of talking birds, if you ask me."
I looked around for the person who had spoken that last bit,
then did a double take when Agent 5 said, "Must you always have
a comment for everything, Arthur?"
"Just doing my job, Gage."
"Uh, I don't mean to intrude... but _who_ the _heck_ are you
talking to?!?"
"That would be Arthur, my longtime companion, who happens to
be a 'non-sentient organic being'."
"I'm sorry, I don't speak politically-correct English; come
again?"
"He's an artificial intelligence module."
"COOL!"
"There's a term I never understood," Arthur noted. "What the
heck does that mean, anyway?"
"Cool, you know, sweet, rad, groovy."
"Oh, okay."
Agent 5 cut in. "Arthur is a big fan of 20th century culture.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand..."
"Oh, right! Just a sec while I program the Dimensionalizer..."
"This might seem like a stupid question, but... aren't these
'Time Rippers'... FICTIONAL?"
"You haven't seen the half of it. Wait till you see Mobius."
"Mobius?" Arthur apparently was accessing his files, as he was
silent for a moment. "No way," he said at last.
"Come see for yourselves," I invited as I stepped through the gate.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------
"Agent 5?" Wes asked.
"Call me Gage."
"Gage, what's it like living with Arthur on a daily basis? I
mean, doesn't it feel strange talking to someone who technically
isn't there?"
"It does seem strange hearing a disembodied voice, but I've
gotten used to it. I don't think poor Michelle ever did."
"Michelle?"
"A co-worker. I'll explain on the way."
The others followed Ryan through the gate.
----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------
Turned out Gage had an interesting history. He first became famous
when he prevented Dr. Elliot Sinclair from altering history.
Sinclair had invented the time machine known as Pegasus. The
government shut down the program and moved the Pegasus to a
secret location. When the Cyrollans, an alien race, invited Earth
into the Symbiotry of Peaceful Beings, Sinclair tried to alter
history to prevent them from coming. Gage stopped the robots
Sinclair had sent, then apprehended Sinclair just before he fired
on the alien delegate. (Personally, I hate political thrillers, but
this was cool enough to catch my interest.) Gage's exploits became
a movie, which was well syndicated. (Gage collected action figures
from the movie. Ironic, I thought.)
A month after that incident, Gage was visited by his future self,
claiming he--they-- had been framed. Gage had collected evidence
to point toward Michelle Visard, a fellow member of the TSA, who
had framed him. It was during this episode that he had met Arthur,
who had sent Michelle into the unknown regions of the past by
transferring to her suit and overriding the jump circuits.
Gage had soon afterward cleared the name of his future self.
Unfortunately, Gage's retelling of his recovery of the Legacy of
Time Travel was interrupted by our arrival in Mobius. I had
been facing backwards the entire time, so when I exited I flew
backwards, tripped on a rock, and slammed into a tree.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------
The headache lingered despite the unconsciousness. When I awoke,
it flamed up in full force. Slasher stood over me. "You flew
backwards into a tree. Maybe you should start watching where
you're going."
I sat up: a mistake, since about a million jackhammers started
going in my brain. "Guess I'll remember that next time."
"Who's the new guy?" the raptor inquired.
"His name's Gage Blackwood. He's Agent 5 of the Temporal Security
Agency. Apparently time travel exists in our future."
"It exists in our past, to hear Sonic tell it."
"Yeah, Gage said he was looking for Jay and Robin." At that moment
Sonic walked in. "Jay and Robin?" he asked as I sat up.
"That's what the man said."
"How are they going to know to show up? I mean, they live in the
year 800, for crying out loud!"
"Well, Gage said he can't time-jump here 'cause the time-space
coordinates will be all messed up."
"Heyyyy, I know! Come on."
"Where are we going?"
"To see an old friend."
---------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------
Knux took us to the old pyramid in Sandopolis, on the Floating
Island. Since he had the layout of the entire place memorized, it
wasn't long before we reached the statues of Jay and Robin, the
Time Rippers.
Knux explained as he struggled with the base of one of the
statues. "I found this by accident one day. Behind a panel here
there was a note explaining that if anything is placed in this
compartment, it is automatically transferred to a time-displacement
unit in their present. Sort of a temporal mailbox, if you will."
"Cool."
Once Knux had gotten the panel open, Sonic placed a handwritten
note explaining the situation into the compartment. The note
glowed blue, then vanished altogether.
"Whoa."
Suddenly a thin blue line appeared in the side of the statue. The
line widened to a crack, then a gap, then a gaping hole. Through
this hole came two figures looking somewhat like Knuckles, but
with all kinds of gear. One of them fired some sort of gun at
the hole, which closed.
I opened my mouth to say something, but Sonic elbowed me. "Never
interrupt a Time Ripper when he's confirming his coordinates."
When the two had finished determining their whereabouts, they
turned to us. "Hey, Sonic," the younger of the two began.
"Who's the tall guy?"
Sonic introduced me. We shook hands, but I noticed Knuckles had
gone into a sort of paralyzed trance. He just stared at the two
echidnas. Robin noticed. "What's with him?"
"Uh, he just happens to be your descendant," Sonic explained.
"You're kidding."
"Nope. He's the current Guardian of the Floating Island."
"Whoa."
Suddenly Knux broke into a crazed run. "Uh, oh," I thought as I
raced after him. I couldn't keep up, so I was forced to activate
my speed skates (done by touching my emerald ring to my sneakers)
to catch up to him. I brought him to the floor in a flying
tackle. "What's wrong with you?"
"I don't know! I just felt like I couldn't move, then I panicked.
I wish I knew what happened to me!"
"You think it might be the shock of seeing your ancestors?"
"I have no idea! I've been studying them for a long time; I can't
figure it out!"
"Hmmm, must be some natural occurence related to time travel. I'll
ask Jay and Robin. Meanwhile, you head back to your place. I can
get us out of here."
"How? There are so many twists and turns in this pyramid..."
"I've got this place mapped out in my armor. Now get out of here
so you don't go injuring yourself."
----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------
When we reached daylight, I asked Jay and Robin about Knux's
condition. They said they'd never heard of anyone experiencing
psychosis from meeting their ancestors before. Strange...
When we got back to New Knothole I saw Sally talking with Gage. Or
so I thought. Turns out it was Nicole talking with Arthur. When
the conversation was over, I told Arthur not to get any bright
ideas. "Ah, she wasn't my type," came the reply.
Once the introductions had gone all around, Gage got down to business.
"There's a problem in my past that only you can fix," he began,
addressing Jay and Robin. "Six months prior to the time I left,
a large asteroid hit part of the earth, devastating everything
within a 2500-mile radius. Fortunately, much of civilization by
that time lived in airborne cities, such as Caldoria, where I
live. Later, parts of the asteroid were recovered and it turns
out that it wasn't just an asteroid... it was a civilized planet,
yet one so small that you could walk the entire length of its
equator in a day. Then a sign was recovered from part of the
asteroid. It read, 'Welcome to Little Planet.'
"Needless to say, I was heartbroken to see an entire civilization
wiped out in such a tragic accident. Then the report came in from
the TSA. The collision was never supposed to happen. I reported
in and scoured every source I could find for any mention of Little
Planet, but found nothing. Then I came across a set of electronic
documents from the late 20th-century chronicling _my_ involvement
in the resolution of the matter. I immediately forwarded the
documents to the chief of operations at the TSA, who gave me the
go-ahead to follow through with the mission. So for me, I'm pretty
much writing the script for what I'm doing as I speak. The actions
I take now will prompt my coming here in the first place."
"Deep," I reflected. Then it hit me. I've been writing down my
adventures all this time. That meant that... Whoa. I started to
get a headache from the implications.
A question from Wes pulled me out of my musings. "So, how do we
get to Little Planet in the first place? I mean, it's out of
time-phase with the rest of us, isn't it?"
Robin answered that one. "Well, think about it. The only way to
throw a satellite out of orbit..."
"Is to remove that which provides the gravitational pull that
keeps it in orbit," I finished. There was a stunned silence. Mobius
would soon be destroyed if we didn't do something.
And fast.
End Part 1