(Chapter Thirty-Two: Time to get ready!)
Melody huffed to herself as she ran through some scanners, as well a Bonnie who went over the physical prints just to get a full idea where exactly this place was located. The past few days they've been trying to figure out the weak signals of the remaining timepiece, and figure out how to get to them.
"They just have to be underground..." Melody said, still going with that idea "maybe the timepiece fell through some gaps?"
"Or maybe something or someone took them under..." Bonnie said, giving her captain her thoughts. "With the stories you've told, I wouldn't doubt it."
Which would bring up a good question along with the few others that have been plaguing her mind; Just how long have they been down there? Was it just recent or has someone used them?
"And I still have at least three or so more of Snatcher's contracts to do..." Melody sighed, plopping her head down on the console.
The child had promised to return right away once all the remaining timepiece had been found, It would feel incomplete if she were to just drop her supernatural BFF's insane contracts. As hard as they were, she wanted to prove to him that she was as tough as always.
"Then... let me go! I deal with the retrieval!" Bonnie said a little too excited to go on her own mission.
"What? No!" Melody shot up and turned to give her friend a look "That's unknown territory, even I don't know what's there. It could be dangerous!"
Bonnie approach Melody in a hurry and hushed her with a glare "girl, we sunk a cruise ship together; are you saying that wasn't dangerous?"
The purple hatted girl shrinks her head into her shoulders at that memory "no, it was dangerous, but that was also an accident." She pointed out.
"We can handle ourselves, Melody..." Bonnie huffed out "and besides, I can always ask Julia to come along."
"Gabriele said she needs to take it easy, and honestly, I kind of agree with him." She knew Gabriele was also holding back information like Julia was, but it was still true. Her sister needs rest now; she deserves it. "Besides, she'll say yes anyway. She never says no." But then again, even she'll know this will be the last mission. Julia would probably want to be apart of it. Melody softly smiled to herself, remember how encouraging her older sister was during the final fight with Lynn.
"It'll be a simple in and out mission once we find the entrance! Don't worry, Captain!" Bonnie put a hand on her friend's shoulder in reassurance and snapped her out of the memory "and that way, you can finish your contracts."
"I still can't believe you gave up." Melody pointed out.
"Hey, look- not everyone is fueled by cosmetics. I like the way I look." Bonnie shrugged at her.
Gabriele sat in a bundle of books inside the house, he hadn't forgotten about trying to help his girlfriend with her serious condition, he wouldn't let himself to forget. Though, he does take breaks now and again so that Julia wouldn't get to worked up over him.
It's not like he needed sleep. But... the breaks are good for a mental breather.
Meanwhile outside, Julia had another situation at hand. The Rough Patches, the three from before, had made a reappearance. Only this time, the small one, who the woman had decided to name Blueberry, wouldn't leave.
The pink warrior, who Kero named Sakura Sam, was starting to lose his mind about how his charge was refusing to listen to him.
And the last one, the super-fast Rough Patch who was given the name Zoomie, was doing what he always does. Run around in circles until the commotion dies down.
"Whoah, hey- look..." Julia tried to calm down Sam, but the cat bush looked up to her and started yowling in distress and anger "okay, okay! I know! You want her to go home-"
He continued to yowl and then growled, talking to her in his own way while the Kero and Button watched with interest.
"But think of it this way! She'll still be safe here with us!" Julia points out, still not believing she was holding some sort a conversation "we'll take good care of her and you won't have to worry about losing her!"
Sam stopped and actually thought about that, the only reason why his job was hard was that Blueberry kept wandering off without a thought in her head. She also seemed really attached to this bipedal as well.
His people weren't ready to leave the cove just yet either... every moment he spent out here, something dangerous might happen back home. Sam has some respect for this bipedal and proved that she could be a worthy protector...
"Juli-! Uh..." Bonnie had arrived from the ship and hurried to the new residence to explain their findings, only to stop and see Julia talking to a plant...?
The pink bush turned around and glared at the child, not liking the new and unknown bipedal.
The bow child gasped "Kitty!" But Julia quickly stepped in between her and the Rough Patch before the child could make a move.
"Not a good idea to grab them," she whispered to Bonnie "trust me."
With a sigh, the girl got back to what she was originally here for "we found the place; the location where the last timepieces are." Bonnie adjusted herself, with a smile "Wanna have a bonding mission? Melody is a little busy."
"Oh! Oh! Can I come too!" Kero jumped up and down with a hand in the air, waving it around "please?! I wanna test out my ability, I've been getting better!" Kero ran off somewhere and came back with a small cylindrical container filled with swamp water.
Julia and Bonnie both looked at each other for a moment, in between the commotion the two Rough Patches ran off somewhere, then the woman and child looked back at Kero who started to demonstrate what he could do once he returned. One handheld the open container while the other one was manipulating the liquid inside.
A hand-formed and the boy made it wave at them, then placed it back in the cylinder. "See!?" He looked excited and happy with himself.
"Wait- your son is a water bender? Like the cartoon!?" Bonnie looked amazed.
"It's... hydrokinesis." Julia pointed, surprised that a few cartoons that she has seen were here in this reality. "And he can only control the swamp water-"
"For now!" Kero proudly smiled, "Snatcher said I'll be able to control water and plants separately when I get stronger!"
Julia stopped, thought for a moment, and then looked at her son "plants...?" She questioned.
"Well, yeah! Algae that grow in the swamp helps me control the water!" Kero tilted his head at Julia, still smiling.
"Algae?!" She held her hands up in a questioning manner and then looked out at the swamp. All she saw was bubbling thick purple liquid. Where were the algae?
Clearly, she should have spent more time learning more about Kero's ability.
"Uh... I mean, I guess you can come as long as Julia allows it-" Bonnie looked over at the perplexed woman who was still lost in thought. "Oh- and Juli," Julia snapped out of her little world and looked at the bow child. "Before I forget, the... the CEO of Time wants to talks with you as well."
Julia straightened up, but her face still had the same confused look. She remembered hearing about him, such an important person to Melody and Bonnie... why would he want to talk to her?
Putting her hand through her hair, Julia calmed down a little to get her thoughts back in order. "Alright, uh... just give me a moment before we head out-" the woman said, pointing back at the house "I got to go tell Gabriele and deliver something to Snatcher... which I'm assuming he's still on the ship?"
"Oh yeah." Bonnie nodded, crossing her arms with an unamused look.
"But can I come along!?" Kero asked once more.
Julia just sighed, then nodded, "fine, you can come along, bud." She then looked over at Button who had been watching the group's conversation "come on kiddo, you'll be in charge of Gabriele and making sure he doesn't overdo things."
The navy hooded clad child with purple and orange striped scarf limbs jumped with glee, she was going to be in charge. At least that's how she heard it. Running into Julia's arms the woman picked her up and climbed the rope ladder. Once inside, she dropped off Button and had a brief talk with Gabriele.
"Are you done arguing with the plant cat?" Gabriele chuckled at her as button came and plopped down in his lap
"God, you heard that? That thing can make noise, I'll tell you what." She smiled, then cleared her throat "I'm heading out on one last mission for the girls, then no more after that..."
Gabriele looked up about to protest but realized it probably won't stop her from heading out. He sighed, "as long as it's the last one, I guess I shouldn't complain..."
"That's right, and after that, I'm all yours!" She quickly pecked a kiss on his beak, making his stutter.
"J-Julia! Not when Button is here!" He called out watching her leave.
"It's just a kiss, boo!" She taunted, waving.
As Julia walked off, she could already hear Button hitting him with odd questions. She smiled to herself, even if she was dying, she was pretty lucky to meet these wonderful people.
She was lucky to meet MoonJumper, even if her problem was caused by him, to begin with; not on purpose, she would think. Even so, she could, and would never hate him.
After all. He was her father.
In the bedroom, she looked around; Julia was trying to remember just where she left her journal. She had recently finished a message within the book along with some memories- or to put it basically... her story. It was all apart of her plan.
Julia picked up the tan book, that she had named 'the contingency plan' all wrapped up in a green ribbon to prevent anyone else from opening it, only the person it was made for can see it's true contents. She had an extra page inside that would slide out; that was specifically for Snatcher. They were instructions in away.
"Hey, Zephyr- you still up there?" Julia called up to the attic, wondering if he was still... secluding himself.
There was no answer and the girl sighed, the jester just wasn't a sociable guy in reality, which was surprising. If he were, Zephyr probably would and could have killed many more- the thought made her shiver.
Just as she was about to turn away from the loft, the mad man poked his head out, looking at her from upside down.
"Hey there, buddy!" Julia chuckled at him "I'm... heading out for while. Not sure when I'll be back, but I wanted to let you know."
"The... the diamond child is leaving...?" Zephyr almost sounded sad to her. "Not knowing when you'll return is dangerous. Perhaps... Zephyr can come along?" There was that small tone of hope in his voice, Julia nearly missed it.
"Uhh..." Julia looked away nervously, thinking if letting him come along was a good idea or not. "I don't-"
"Zephyr is coming along with you." He announced, already standing next to her.
"...Okay." She slowly looked down, inwardly sighing.
"Do you have everything? Make sure you get food too!" Gabriele was fretting over Julia again, grabbing her and held her in a hug "I know this will be your last mission, but I still can't help but always worry about you."
Julia smiled at him as they both stood out in front of their house, Bonnie and Kero had already set off to the front of Snatcher's place while they gave the grownups some time to say goodbye. "I'd be surprised if you didn't; As much as I hate to see you worry, I always appreciate it." She said to him "and besides, Zephyr will be with me."
"That's what I'm worried about the most..." he whispered.
The two then pressed heads with one another but stopped short when Julia picked up a massive energy spike in the air. Gabriele tilted his head, as well as Zephyr who turned in a direction away from the two.
It felt familiar, almost like when reality started shifting again. There was a slight hope in her eyes as Julia ran off for the moment.
"Julia where are you going?" Gabriele called out.
"Just give me a moment!" Was all he heard in the distance.
Taking this time to speak with the jester, the doctor looked at him "I trust you won't cause Julia any trouble while you're both off, right?"
"As much as Zephyr hates to listen to rules, he'll be on his best behavior!" He mocks saluted at Gabriele, and if the plague doctor could lift a brow, he would. "Zephyr is just... interested in the outside world."
Gabriele just hummed at him, waiting for Julia to return.
Meanwhile, as she ran off, the suit-clad girl almost ran into someone, not realizing they were there. Well, she could feel them, but their energy hid them like a shadow. Kind of like... a cloaking devise?
It was a man the stood before her, a dark grey hoodie, grey sweatpants, and shoes, brown eyes looked at seemed rather confused.
"Whoah!" She skidded to a halt.
That... definitely was Tie.
"Uh... Hi?" Julia waved awkwardly, hiding her mixed emotions with a smile. "You- uh, you just appeared out of nowhere, I almost slammed into you!"
The man chuckled, "I saw." He said as he rubbed the back of his neck "I'm guessing this isn't my universe."
Julia raised a brow at him, another dimensional traveler? She smirked, "Heh, well... it seems like everyone can, nowadays." This is the second person to find her, but now she had seen what? Three different people? Can the boy with the cowboy hat travel as well?
Honestly, she won't be surprised.
"Julia? Are you talking with someone?" Gabriele called out, making Julia turn around.
"Yeah, just give me a few minutes!" She called back, she looked back at the man before who was looking at her in curiosity. "Sorry, I know a few others who can travel dimensions..." The badge seller, Her father, Tie, Julia wasn't entirely sure if Zephyr could... that always confused her.
"I've never seen you before, though" Julia stated, giving him a good look to make sure "yet something seems... familiar about you."
The man seemed to consider this as well, feeling the same way "I sense it, too..." he muttered.
He looked up sharply, almost alarmed at what he might have thought up. He studied her for a moment and then proceeded to say "wait, you're not from earth, are you?"
There are many realities out there, but just maybe, there is a chance they came from the same place.
"You know earth?!" Perhaps Julia was a little too excited to see someone from her era of time. "Are you from there, too!?" The man nodded at her.
She smiled and crossed her arms, "what country?"
He replied, "Canada; you?"
"Oh, I'm from the U.S." putting her hand on her hip and pointed out, "It's pretty cool to see some else from home." Besides Gabriele who's definitely a man out of his time.
"No kidding," he agreed with her "what makes it even funnier is if we both had amnesia when we first left."
Julia was amazed, "you can't be serious..." she was instantly reminded that she had was bashed in by floating debris when she and MoonJumper were travailing through the rift for the first time "you lost your memories, too?"
Julia wondered if he had taken a beating as much as she has during their adventure.
"Uh... yeah," he crossed his arms "seems like we have a similar story."
Julia nodded at him, relieved to know she wasn't the only one on an amnesiac journey like her own. Then, once again, Gabriele yelled out "Julia we shouldn't keep the children waiting!"
"Alright! I'll be right there!" Julia shouted back, she was so caught up talking with this man, the woman almost forgot.
Sighing, she turned back and shrugged "I wish I could stay and talk, but I'm really busy right now." Julia explained, "maybe we can talk again later?"
"Understandable, and maybe." He pointed out "but yeah, I should get back to my own world anyway." He was about to dismiss himself but stopped, looking at her "but before you go, though, I have one thing to warn you about."
The woman looked at him, curious about what he had to say. "What's the issue?" She asked.
"So, you're able to travel dimensions like me, yeah?" He asked.
Julia looked nervous, "yes..?" She lied, she hadn't quite 'learned' how to open portals, she just knows how to navigate with her motorbike across them. However, being a magnet for portals to open up around here is another thing. Or does her astral projection count as reality hopping?
"Long story... but you know that the universes are bound to collide soon, right?" The man inquired
Julia had a theory that something bad was happening, and she was there when the worlds started colliding first hand when she was making her way back to this place.
"Mhm." Julia nodded at him with a noise of confirmation.
"Well, this collision... this cross collapse or whatever you folks call it... needs to be stopped." He looked at her, eyes filled with a sense of duty to try and put end to this crazy behavior "if it isn't, it will be the end of the multiverse." He explained.
The doesn't sound good. Not good at all. Julia's eyes had been opened after hearing this, "what!?" The woman gasped.
Grimly, the man nodded.
"How do you even know all of this?" Julia asked, astounded. The only person she knew who would have this much information would be the badge seller... and she hadn't seen him in a long, long time.
Where was that twitchy pain in the side anyway?
"I have a very special friend. He knows the multiverse like no one else," He explained, "and he has a plan. We need to gather people with abilities like ours to help stop it."
Julia took a moment to look at her hands, her abilities... she could be a great asset for defense.
"So if you know any other people who can travel between dimensions at will, let them know when you see them." He ended his explanation.
Julia nodded at him, the woman has at least two people she can count on. The badge seller not being one of them.
"Alright, I definitely will." Julia stated, quickly casting a glance to the tree next to her, then back looked down at her feet "I Guess I should tell everyone..." Julia runs a hand under her hat to scratch her head.
"That's up to you." He responded, "now... we both have places to be."
I nodded at him, as much as I wanted to keep talking, people from alternate realities tend to not stick around for long. But they're from the same alternate reality, in a different reality that is completely separated from each other-
Julia now realized that this situation is incredibly crazy, and should not be thought upon it any further.
"It was nice talking with you..." Julia hummed, unsure how to continue "what's your name?" She eventually asked. She had been talking for while a realized she never did get a name from the man.
"Oh, I'm Markus," he answered, a small nod in greetings towards her "it's nice to meet you, Julia."
Julia smiled back, nodding as well "You too, Markus." She said as she was about to step away, she remembered that she should warn him about the uh... Doppler. Julia turned around and called out "One last thing... I accidentally let an evil shapeshifter lose in the multiverse, so... look out for them."
Markus chuckled, "Duly noted," he waved "see you later."
After that, Julia finally ran off, wondering why the man chuckled at her warning. Doppler was no joke- but then again it wouldn't matter since there's a high chance he'll never meet them.
Or escape from that little decorative vase.
"Zephyr you can come out from behind the trees now, he's gone." Julia stopped to called out, the continued to walk.
"You have some interesting people around you..." Zephyr said, floating beside her "how many travelers have the diamond child spoken with?"
"A few..." Julia smiled.
"Alright! We have our crew!" Bow cheered out once they were back on the ship. She looked around at the odd group and smiled. Julia, Zephyr, and Kero were her companions for this mission and it was rather surprising that she was able to get more than just Julia.
Probably because the woman always comes in a bundle package.
Bonnie giggled to herself at the fact that Julia is always being followed by someone. Whether it be her, Melody, or any of the others.
"Okay, while I'm off to make food for two since I'm pretty sure you guys-" she pointed at Kero and the jester "can't eat anymore; I'll be in the kitchen. Take this time to wonder about and give Julia some time to speak with the CEO..." Bonnie waved off, directing the woman to the big tv screen she was accustomed to seeing.
"Yaaay, more talking..." Julia mumbled, though, in all seriousness, she needed to know what the CEO wanted to talk, specifically, to her about.
"And he'll probably want to talk to her... alone." Bonnie also explained, turning to the two dolls. "So uh... go wait in the laundry room, I guess?"
"Laundry room...?" Zephyr asked, but Kero grabbed his hand and led him to the other room.
"I... got this..." he said, Kero did live on the ship for a while, so he knew some of the rooms.
Julia smiled, it was rather adorable watching Kero lead Zephyr. The height difference was what really hit her.
"Right then..." Julia muttered to herself, turning to the screen. "How do I call...?"
Julia nearly jumped out of her skin when the call started happening, knowing a man with the name 'CEO of Time', he'd always be on top of his namesake.
The woman was quite curious about what this person looked like, and when the call finally connected she was greeted by an old man with white hair and a beard the connects to it. Teal eyes, Julia was caught off guard by the fact she saw he had three. The third eye was located directly in the middle of his forehead.
He had a personality of a laid back kind of guy, even though the woman was sure he was some sort of important figure to Melody and Bonnie, he sure liked to drees... relaxed.
His suit was unbuttoned and you could see the white undershirt. Since he was sitting down at a desk, Julia couldn't see the rest of him, however, in the background, there were so many different types of hourglasses. Some were like the ones she had been collecting with her sister and some were a lot different in shapes. Not only that, but a few had names on them as well.
One that was right in front of the CEO was an hourglass with her name on it. Green, diamonds carved on a few support beams, and a golden like sand laid settled. This worried her since all the others behind the man were still moving.
"So, you're the impossible girl." The man spoke, he didn't have a gruff voice, but it did sound friendly. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Julia. Sorry I couldn't get in touch with you either-" he chuckled to himself and turned at a stack of papers "work has been rather... untamed as of late."
"That's alright, it's nice to finally meet the CEO Melody and Bonnie have been speaking of..." Julia smiled and loosely folded her arms.
"Please, call me Tim." The man waved off "but, you're probably wondering why I wanted to speak to you..."
Julia nodded at him, then took another glance at the hourglass with her name.
Tim noticed that she was perspective, even though he made sure it was obvious "Hmm... yes, you're looking at the reason." He scratched his beard humming, Tim picked up the green-colored wood hourglass with golden sand studying while he talked to Julia "you see, this hourglass appeared out of nowhere one day, started ticking down sand, It didn't have a lot, to begin with; then mysteriously vanished for a while."
He eyed the woman down, finally understanding why "Little Mel returns home to our backup planet, telling stories of a woman in a black suit who had aided her." He placed the hourglass down "said her name was Julia, and that so happened to be the name the anomaly hourglass had before it vanished."
"Huh, Anomaly... haven't been called that before," Julia mumbled.
"Probably not, but to here, you are the strangest anomaly I've ever seen." Tim motioned to the hourglass once again "because the hourglass appears once again, sand frozen, and word from my grandson says you've returned."
Julia paused for a moment, "wait, what do you mean the sand is frozen?"
"I mean, what I mean; frozen." The man flips the hourglass on the table with a thud and the sand was stuck to the roof. "When an hourglass reaches its end... it normally means the person has passed on. There will be a crack at the end shattering it so that it will never work again."
He leaned the hourglass further towards her "your hourglass just... stops working. Defying the flow of time, which I must say... rather impressive; it is still in perfect condition despite little nicks and burns marked into the wood."
The man smiled at her, thoroughly impressed by the stranger.
Julia however was completely confused. Burn marks, nicks, and scratches... it sounds like it's definitely tied to her. Though wasn't she dying? How could her hourglass just... not work? What could this mean?
"You seem rather confused, I don't blame you." Tim chuckled, looking at her with half-closed eyes "...I have a lot of work on my hands right now with more time anomalies popping up, but I'll definitely be keeping all eyes on you."
"But wait... why would you tell me all of this? I thought someone who can see time was not allowed to tell anyone of their situation?" Julia spoke up, understanding that this was not a normal situation, but it's still related to time shenanigans.
"Well..." Tim rubbed his head "simply because... you don't belong to this reality." He kept smiling at her "you don't abide by our laws of time. You are an anomaly after all." The man leaned in looking directly into her eyes "Julia, kiddo, you're probably feeling a little messed up."
Julia held the center of her chest and tensed up.
"Interactions with powerful outside forces can do that to a person," Tim noted. "Getting hit with one of our Time Pieces can cement it."
Was he aware of MoonJumper and her problems?
Tim coughed into his hand to grab Julia's attention "now, I don't want you to think too much of it; whatever is happening is definitely apart of your destiny." He announced, folding his hands and placing his chin on them "I'm still completely unsure what it is, but I can assure you that there's no escaping it."
Julia hummed "what happens, happens." She was already prepared for the worst.
Julia then looked up at him, a kind smile for this knowledge "thank you for letting me know." She said, "I have an idea of what's currently happening with me, but this is another thing to mull over with my friends."
Tim just nodded, "by the way, I wish you luck on your final mission." He said. "Bonnie and Melody will be coming home and put through an initiation for a bigger crew."
That caught Julia's attention "initiation...?"
"I'll let her be the one to tell you about that, then." He chuckled, he might have spilled some beans that weren't meant to be spilled yet. "Right then, I'll be getting back to work now. Time doesn't wait, and neither does this man, sadly." He mumbled sadly, proving that he's not very fond of the job.
Once the tv call cut, it was just Julia now standing alone. It felt rather... foreboding. Like the time she and Melody looked off at the burning world when Lynn took over.
"Maybe Bonnie could use some help..." Julia mumbled, trying to get away from the quiet.
Stealthee125: No, thank you! I'm always going to say this, but I'm happy you enjoy what I do.