A/N: Hi me again. If any of you have been following the story you will realize that instead of a chapter eight I have rewritten chapter seven. Here is my explanation. I was just writting chapter eight and was rereading chapter seven so that the story would flow. That's when I realized that chp. seven was long, tedious, and not much was accomplished or revealed. And then I read the beginning of chapter eight and realized it accomplished the same thing and then some. So there you have it. I would like to thank blondishbrownish for being upfront about the chapter and for actually telling me it stunk. So hopefully this chapter lives up to my story. Oh and just because of the long wait and how bad the other chapter was I have tried to make it longer than usual.

Review: Victor (Phil from the furthur future) arrives in the past to confront Phil. There is a long explanation (which if you'd like to know/remember you'll have to reread the previous chapters) which basically boils down to Victor and Phil having to find a missing piece of the time machine so that Llyod can't fix it. They have arrived at the hotel and rented their rooms. Unbeknowest to them, Pim has secretly followed them and also rented a room. If this doesn't give you enough of a refresher I strongly urge you to skim over the other chapters. And so on to the story.

Phil and Victor first arrived in Victor's room. It didn't look that much better than the downstairs part. There was one bed that was low to the ground and mildly damp from a leak in the ceiling, or at least that's where they hoped it was from. There were a few hanging lights held by unstable looking cords that only shone on the spot directly below them. There was a small crooked table and a bathroom that looked clogged. Worst of all, hanging above the beds, was the framed head of a moose.

"Man, what a dump! I didn't even know there were moose in Pickford," said Phil as his nose wrinkled at the smell.

Victor's eyes traveled all over the room, taking everything in before he said, "I've lived in worse. Come on lets get started looking." Phil and Victor stood around the table. There must have been a vent or a crack near the ceiling because the light directly above the table was swinging back and forth giving the impression of a detective movie. Both men stood on opposite sides of the table and looked thoughtfully at the map Victor had brought and spread on the top. "Alright so we are here." Victor pointed to a red x. "I know for a fact that Mom and Dad didn't leave this side of town, so," Victor drew a red circle around half the town, "It could be anywhere in here."

"That doesn't narrow it down too much."

"I know. I think we should start…" suddenly the door blew open. Phil walked over and closed it, making sure the lock was on this time. "I think we should start at this hotel and work our way out," finished Victor.

"Alright I'll take the bottom half of the building, you take the top."

"Ok…. Mr. Fuzzy Bear," Victor said with a cheeky grin that Phil recognized as his own. It was the first time Victor had truly smiled since he had arrived.

"Huh?" Phil said with a confused look on his face, "What are you talking about?"

But Victor just smiled, "Don't worry you'll find out sooner than you think. Lets go, we're losing daylight."

Phil started to protest but Victor had already left the room. "Man," Phil thought, "I sure can move." Phil then exited the room too. A minute later the door opened slowly. It stood ajar for a couple seconds before closing just as slowly. If anyone had been on the floor at that time they could have heard the faint sound of footsteps fading down the hallway

Phil Diffy was depressed. It had been a week since they had first arrived at the hotel and they had been searching the town from sunrise to sunset. And you want to know what they had found? Nothing! Absolutely NOTHING! In three weeks Dad was going to come to the hotel and somehow find the missing part and then they'd be gone! Phil was starting to think that maybe they should give up. He'd rather be spending his last days with Keely then here with his boring future self. Victor was so serious all the time. He couldn't joke around with him like he could with Keely. Even though the situation was horrible, if he was with Keely he would feel like everything would be all right. That it would have to work out. That everything would have to work out… "No that's just wishful thinking Phil," he told himself, "And where has that ever gotten you?"

Phil had long ago given up on wishful thinking. He had figured out that the only way to get something was to take action and do it yourself. When he was confronted with a problem or a goal he would strategize to try to fix it or achieve it. As much as he hated to admit it he and Pim were a lot alike. They both liked to be in control, admittedly sometimes going too far, and they both had very cunning brains, always trying to find the best strategy. The difference between Phil and Pim was that Phil had an inherently sweeter personality and was better at hiding the cold, calculating side of him. Phil's latest challenge was Keely. From the moment he had first seen her he had fallen head-over-heels in love, just like in the old-fashioned stories his Mom used to play him on the Cine-specs back in the future. Phil had gotten to know her as soon as possible. In the beginning it was just his luck that she liked who he was. He was happy to stay as a friend as he got to know her better. But when he began to feel that she was falling for him too, he started to throw in some well-planned comments to see what kind of reaction he'd get. When he would say something that would lead to an awkward moment he knew exactly what he was doing. Trying for another hug or another kiss or just another awkward moment that made him feel all giddy inside. Phil felt like he was at a barrier, pushing and pushing at it till he hopefully thought it would break and he and Keely would be together. "Oh don't get me wrong," Phil argued to himself, "I'm not a fake. What I say is completely me. It's just I'm manipulating myself to my advantage. There's nothing wrong with that. What I say is sweet and funny and I am sweet and funny. It's just not as innocent as I make it seem. Is there something wrong with that? Does that mean I'm not true to myself?" Phil flopped onto his bed stomach first. He was all jumbled up.

Phil heard Victor in the adjoining room, get up and turn the water on. The walls in the hotel were unbelievably thin. He followed Victor's path with his ears as he made his way from the closet to the sink to the shower. He heard the shower door slide open, Victor step in, and the re-muffled sound of the water as the door slid shut. Phil smiled; Victor was a creature of habit. At the same time each morning, without fail, Victor would wake up. Phil on the other hand couldn't stand doing the same thing too many times. Phil guessed that Victor would be through his first shampooing and would be reaching for the soap, which he dropped every morning. Phil heard a small thump, "Yup right on schedule." Phil glanced at the clock; Victor would probably be another twenty minutes. Phil reached for the map of Pickford to go over yet again where they'd been when suddenly he heard another thump. "That's weird," Phil thought, "That didn't come from Victor's room. It came from the opposite side." He quietly made his way over to the other wall so as not to miss any other noises. He stood with his ear pressed to the wall not moving for a good five minutes. When Phil started to feel his muscles cramping from staying in the awkward position for so long, he returned to his bed. "That's the second time this morning." All week long Phil had heard small sounds like someone else was up here with them. Not anything too noticeable but yet they were still there. Phil had asked the bellboy downstairs if there were any other guests here but he insisted he and Victor were the only ones. He then locked himself in the back room and refused to come out.

Victor thought Phil was crazy. Victor didn't hear these strange incidents of shuffling and thumping that Phil heard left and right. "Well," Phil corrected himself, "He did seem to hear something on the first day." They had been in the room discussing strategy when Victor had suddenly gone motionless and cocked his head as if listening to something. Phil went silent too and tried to hear what he heard but couldn't. After about half a minute Victor zoned back in and laughed it off saying he though he heard something. Then later at night, Phil had heard Victor turn restlessly in his bed over and over again. When Phil asked about it though, he just said something about footsteps pacing back and forth. Ever since that day though Victor hadn't seemed to hear anything. "Maybe he's right," Phil chuckled, "Maybe I am crazy. I just don't know though. I bet if Keely were here she could clear this up for me once and for all. Oh Keely..."

Victor let the water run down his skin. It felt good, like he was washing away his troubles. Three weeks left, that's all they had three weeks. Victor moved his hands through his hair as he mixed the shampoo in. Victor liked the shower because it was a time where he didn't need to think. As the bottle said just lather, rinse, repeat. As a matter of fact it was time for the rinsing part now. He placed his head under the nozzle and cleared his mind of everything.

After his hair was chemical free, Victor reached for the soap. As he brought it to his arm he suddenly had a moment of pure panic and the soap fell from his hand, hitting the floor with a load thump. He couldn't feel anything. He was no longer aware of the water running down him, or of his hand as he desperately rubbed it along his arm. He felt disconnected from the world. He couldn't feel the air going into his nose and mouth although he knew he was still breathing or he'd be unconscious. He groped around the stall desperately trying to find any sense of touch. And as suddenly as it left him, it came back. Victor gratefully felt his hair, his head, his arms. Shaking, he reached down for the chipped soap and started yet again to spread it over his body. Victor forced himself to take deep breaths, in through in nose and out through his mouth. As the week progressed Victor had at times noticed that he wasn't a sharp as he normally was, wasn't as quick to react. Sometimes he had trouble hearing or his vision became blurry. Sometimes, Victor even felt like he was outside his body. As if he were watching him and Phil through the eyes of a third party. Victor couldn't quite explain it but he was beginning to feel like he didn't belong to this world anymore. Like he was an outsider intruding in on a group that wanted nothing to do with him.

Victor sighed and tried to regain control of his mental wanderings. Shower time wasn't for thinking. He let his mind wander over his memories, only the happy ones of course. Him and Keely playing tennis. Him and Keely at the park, swinging on the swings. Him and Keely sharing an ice cream. Him and Keely kissing for the first and only time. Victor sighed; all his happy memories seemed to involve Keely. "She did always know me better than I knew myself." What then had made her think that he wasn't coming back? Other then the long wait. He had promised for Pete's sake, and she should know that he always kept his promises. "Well it was a long time," he thought to himself as he defended Keely like he always did when he thought about this. It was over a hundred years. She can't be expected to wait for me that whole time. "But I hadn't gotten there yet. There was nothing I could do!" Victor thought as he went back to defending himself. Victor could go for hours at a time like this. Blaming himself, blaming his parents, blaming Keely, blaming time for being so annoyingly ironic.

Victor missed Keely so much. The old Keely, the sixteen year old who could point out his faults and yet still love him all the more for them. Who could take a serious situation and make the tension go away, however briefly, by some remark she'd make or action she'd do, almost as if it were written in a script. Victor would bet every last dollar he had, that if Keely were here with him, she would be able to help him find the different angle on this whole situation that he was missing. Some little thing that was right in front of him, but that he was too distracted to notice until Keely would point it out. Victor longed to go and see the Keely Teslow that was sitting in her house, a perfectly sane teen, at this very moment. But that was one thing he had promised to himself on both his and Phil's behalf. He would stay away from Keely. He had lost his chance. But maybe Phil could change the future for the better. Keely would have wanted it that way. Besides, if he went and visited her what would he expect? Keely wasn't in love with Victor, she was in love with Phil Diffy. And Victor had aged too much both physically and emotionally to ever be Phil Diffy again. But oh how he missed her, Keely, his Keely. Oh Keely.

Pim Diffy typed furiously at her laptop. She had been up since five in the morning trying to organize her findings and put the pieces of the puzzle together. All week long she had been following Phil and "Victor". Well not her specifically. After the first day, Pim had realized that it would be more productive to have Replicates follow them instead with small cameras attached to them. That way Pim could easily monitor and record them, especially when they split up. She minimized the document she was typing and brought up a map she had made to track the two men's movements. It seemed like they had made a clean sweep of the entire town. Not a rock left unturned. Pim was positive they were looking for something. She just had to figure out what. "Well Pim, lets do it like Galacta Girl's crime-solving cousin, Galacta Girl's Second Cousin Thrice Removed, would do it. Let's start by reviewing the facts."

1. Phil gets a much older friend who looks like him

2. They leave for a week and stay at a semi-abandoned hotel

3. They wander around every part of the city

4. They…

Pim was out of points. At least until a little screen popped up with a small beep. The window read "Hair analysis complete". Pim had managed to obtain a strand of Victor's hair and had run it through the DNA scanner attachment on her computer. It had finally finished and Pim pulled up the results. She quickly scanned through the results. What she found wasn't what she was expecting but in a world of futuristic gadgets wasn't that surprising. It seemed that Victor was Phil. An older Phil at least. Immediately two theories popped into Pim's head.

Number one.

Victor is a Replicate of Phil that has been aged with the New-Ager.

Number two.

Victor is Phil from the future, who travelled to the past.

There was only one way to find out. Run another test. Not just any test though. A Fluxicate Residual test. For you see the New-Ager the Diffys' owned was the Beta model. It had been found in various studies when the New-Ager Beta model was still being tested, that when a living thing was aged the transformation left residual materials on the DNA of said object. Scientist coined the name Fluxicate for these harmless materials. Or at least harmless according to four-dozen tests. No one was entirely sure whether Fluxicate didn't cause any side effects to the living thing but it was deemed safe enough to be released to the general public, as there were no short-term effects. Since it was first tested there seem to be no harmful long-term effects although it has not yet been possible to remove the Fluxicate.

This scan was a lot quicker than the hair analysis one and within the time it took you to read the last paragraph it was done. The results showed that there were no traces of Fluxicate in Victor's DNA. "So," Pim thought, "that must mean that he's from the future. But why would he come back?" Pim thought and thought and thought and then said, "Ah why bother coming up with theories when I can just look into the future with my Virtu-goggles. Pim grabbed her goggles and started to set the destination. Her fingers approached the controls but then hesitated when she realized that she didn't have a clue what to set it to. For lack of concrete co-ordinates Pim just typed in "the day Victor Diffy traveled back in time" and hoped that it got her where she wanted to go.

Pim placed the goggles on her eyes and then nearly pulled them off again at the unexpected sight before her. There was destruction everywhere. Buildings torn down, no grass in sight, and robots patrolling the street. Pim nearly laughed. "Wow, I must actually grow up to take over the world. This is so cool." Pim glanced around taking everything in. She suddenly noticed a big screen. The screen flashed through a countdown with the words "standby" written underneath. Pim grinned in anticipation. Her future self must be coming on to speak. The countdown reached zero and the screen flashed the words, "All hail our ruler." Pim was so excited, she was living her dream. The screen flashed again and then the words read, "Keely Teslow" and then showed the face of an old lady. Pim reeled and her mind screamed in defiance. How could this be? How could Blondie take her glory?

Pim tore her goggles off and threw them on the floor making a loud thump. How could she! There was no way! She wasn't nearly smart enough! Pim wanted to scream. Slowly she calmed herself down. She didn't want to give away her position. In fact she might have even compromised it with that thump she made. Pim stood still not making a sound although her mind was still screaming in indignation. "That must be why Victor's here." Pim thought, "to stop Blondie's rule. Well that seems like a good idea. If anyone's going to rule the world, it's going to be me. Alright first things first, I've got to figure out what Phil and Victor are looking for. Then I've got to use it to fix the future so it's me in charge NOT Blondie. Then I have to go home and watch five straight hours of television. Oh yeah.

Ollie carefully held the letter as if it would explode at any second. It was the first thing from the outside world he had come in contact with in a week. Ever since the teenage boy staying in the hotel had tried to talk with him. He had tried to get Ollie to tell him whether there was anyone else in the hotel and Ollie was horrible at secrets. He had quickly told him "no" and then ran into the backroom and hadn't been out since. He had woken up from sleeping on the couch and had found this letter pushed under the door. It was addressed to Ollie. Ollie carefully turned the envelope over. The last letter he had gotten was a birthday invitation when he was eight. He never even got junk mail. The only mail he did receive was the paper he on rare occasions got at the front desk from his employer telling him of small details like the beds should be made with green sheets instead of blue sheets but those had never been in an envelope before. The stamp on the back was the same symbol that all Ollie's paychecks were signed with. Ollie opened the envelope and let the contents spill out in front of him. There was one single piece of paper. It was short and to the point. A list of instructions signed with the same symbol that kind of resembled a P and a D. They seemed simple enough. Ollie would get right on it. After he had a small break of course and finished eating his favourite chocolate bar. Oh Henry.
A/N: So if you were paying any attention you will notice alot of things werehinted here and alot of things were set in motion. And as a warning if you're confused now about the whole "future" and "past" thing...it's only going to get weirder although I'll try to do it in the way least likely to give you a headache. I have a great plot cooked up and hope there's still interest in the story. As always review, I really do appreciate and listen to the feedback.