Tolly: aack! nooo! not another inspiration! They're popping up like dandelions! ...(cricket chirping) ...or something…er…where was I?...oh yes... a thousand apologies for the holdup on chapter 7, but, as you see from my train of thought, I've been interrupted a lot.

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"That was great!"

"Did you see the look on that guy's face?"

Skinner and Veronica were headed to the school in the Nemomobile, laughing about their most recent escapade. Seeing as there weren't a lot of cars around in Skinner's day, Veronica was driving (though she herself had barely passed her driving test).

"This is a pretty awesome car." said Veronica. "Did Nemo design it himself?"

"And built it. Well, that's after the original one blew up."

"Blew up?"

"In Venice. It was used as a target for the bomb that stopped the collapse of all the buildings."

"Right," said Veronica, amazed anew at the sort of things that the League had done. For instance, there were plenty of explosions. Well, there was another thing they had in common.

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"Why didn't I see this coming?" sighed Mary.

"That's Skinner for you." said Sawyer, with a grin.

"And Veronica." added Allan. "The only difference between them is that Skinner has a--"

"Allan Thomas Sawyer!" cried Mary.

"What? He was going to say that Skinner has a Y-chromosome." said Edgar, smirking. "Right, Allan?"

Allan nodded innocently. "Of course. Jeez, Mary, lighten up."

Mary felt a headache coming on. "Is there anyway we could track them, or something?"

Nemo nodded. "We can track and retrieve them in the car."

"Or, you know, just track, aim and fire." said Sawyer, exchanging a look with the other members of the League.

"I think Mary would much rather kill them herself." said James. "Let's get the car back."

Once the car had been set by remote to autopilot, all they had to do was wait. Before long, a crewmember came in and informed them that the car had arrived. Mary was the first one up, storming down the corridor, and starting her tirade as soon as she entered the room where the car was stored.

She flung open the door of the car and reached inside, expecting to grab an invisible body part. Finding nothing, she searched farther. Slowly, she stepped away from the car. "They're not in there."

"You are sure that none of the doors were opened before we arrived?" asked Nemo, addressing a crewman standing by.

"No, sir."

"Well, they can't have gotten far, so they're probably going to have to walk back." said Edgar. He appeared to be listening for a second, before rolling his eyes and saying aloud, "Oh, shut up, Gary."

"Edgar's right. We should probably just wait for them to get back." said Zachary. "Then, Mary, you can scream all you want."

The four teen boys could hardly suppress their glee as thunder rolled and rain started falling outside.

"Oh, this'll be good."

"I love it when Veronica gets caught in the rain."

"Forget getting caught in the rain. I want to see them getting caught by Mary."

The adults left the room, leaving Allan, Edgar, James and Timmy to discuss their sister's fate. Before long, however, Timmy pointed out into the downpour and one of the crewmen left to inform the captain of the Skinners' arrival.

It was an odd sight. You see, to be invisible means to be as transparent as air. However, because water does not have the same transparency as air, the bodies of Skinner and Veronica could be seen, outlined in rain.

As Veronica neared the ship, her brothers grinned at her, highly amused.

"Don't say it," she said, miserable.

"You're screwed," chorused the boys.

"I knew it." she moaned.

"What happened to the car?" asked James, his dark eyes twinkling.

"Oh, sod off." said Skinner irritably. He pushed past the boys and headed into the corridor, only to run into Mary. All five teenagers winced as Mary started shouting at him.

"Poor Skinner." sighed Timmy, shaking his head.

"Yeah," said Veronica, obviously more worried about her own punishment. "James, is there a back way to the cabins I could use?"

"Only if you don't mind half the crew seeing you like that." said James.

Veronica looked down at herself. Her whole body was traced in water, and every curve was visible. She made a face. "I'd sooner have that than face Mary right now."

"Smart choice." said Allan.

As they walked through the ship, Veronica actually got a few whistles. That is, until the men saw James, who looked so much like their captain that they automatically behaved themselves.

"You know," said Edgar conversationally as the five made their way to the cabins. "Does anyone realize how weird our situation is?"

"What part?" said Veronica, brushing off some water and becoming more invisible as she dried. "You've got to be specific, Edgar."

"The part about how we're clones and we just met our parents, who came forward in time from 1904."

"Oh, yeah, that part." said Allan. "I haven't thought about it all that much. I'm still getting used to the fact that we have family. I mean, they're pretty much our parents."

"Wow," said Timmy thoughtfully.

"Wow what?" asked James.

"The last time they saw us, we were just babies. This whole thing must be doubly weird for them. For them, yesterday it was 1904."

"See, that's why I'm not thinking about the whole cloning and time travel thing," said Allan after a pause. "Way too complex."

"Well, there's another thing to add to our strangeness," said Edgar sardonically. "We are 100 years old, we're clones and we're freaks."

"Cheers to being extraordinary!" said Veronica with a barely visible grin.

"Hear, hear!" said James as they reached the cabins.

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Tolly: This chapter ended up being semi-pointless all on its own. I had absolutely nothing to do with it. Well, maybe a little. The next chapter will include an advancement, I swear.