Ross, Mike and Bien had no choice. They reluctantly followed the guards, with Maverick leading the way. Beth was just staring and watching while her friends got carried out. There's no way she would have enough time to get out all the coal from the machine by herself before Maverick noticed.
Maverick led the three into the room where there was the machine that wiped people's memories. Ross and Mike were terrified to see the machine again. Bien knew this wasn't the first time he had seen it, but he had no memory of the machine at all.
"Guards, leave us," Maverick casually ordered.
All the guards obeyed. They began draining from the room until it was just Ross, Mike, Bien and Maverick. Maverick looked at all of them with a wicked sneer.
"So, who wants to be put on the machine first?" Maverick asked.
Ross somehow tried to get all his bravery and courage out, hoping that it would stun Maverick. "Why don't you put yourself on it instead!"
Maverick looked at Ross and chuckled. "I think I'll go with the irritable one first."
Maverick grabbed Ross by the shirt and pushed him onto the machine. He promptly strapped Ross down to it and placed the strange helmet on his head. He then promptly went over to Mike and Bien and pulled a rope out of his robe. Using the rope, he tied both of them up. "Your turns will come soon enough," he threatened.
With Mike and Bien completely helpless, Maverick turned his attention back to Ross. Not taking his eyes off his prisoner, Maverick went over to the control chair that Beth was sitting at and started hitting a few buttons. He seemed most surprised when he saw something on the screen.
"Hmmm…it seems your memories have not had anything done to them. I wonder why that is?..." Maverick said.
"Maybe it's because your precious machine can't work right?" Ross said, trying to find the border from acting tough to acting stupid.
"Oh, it can work. Don't you worry about that," Maverick said. "Using your memories, I can actually distort time."
"What are you talking about?" Ross asked.
"This temple is for a being that can distort time-the Finis Tempi," Maverick explained. "When its power fuses with the memories that can be altered with this machine, it can completely change your life."
"English, please!" Ross said.
Maverick just smirked to himself and started hitting a few dials and buttons on the machine.
"Perhaps an example? Your memories tell me that you were born in 1960," Maverick said.
"And if I was?" Ross asked.
"Heh. 200 years from now," Maverick said. "But with just some power from the Finis Tempi, this machine can make you come from a distant time."
"What?" Ross asked.
Maverick hit a few buttons, and instantly, Ross felt a painful electric shock jetting into his brain from the helmet. He was flopping around, but the straps made it difficult for him to move at all. When the shocking finally stopped several seconds later, he felt like the inside of his head was smoldering.
Ross moaned in pain as Maverick continued smiling menacingly at him.
"So, perhaps I should ask you now?" Maverick asked. "What year were you born in?"
Ross tried scrambling his brain for the answer. After a lot of thinking, he came up with an answer. "1990."
Because Maverick had interfered with Ross's memories, and also after being able to use some of the mysterious power of the Finis Tempi that came from within the temple, Ross was no longer born in 1960. Instead, he was now born thirty years later, in 1990.
Ross finally realized what Maverick did, but he was completely powerless to do anything about it. He looked back at Maverick, now looking very scared.
Laughing, Maverick started talking to Ross some more. "Since you're no longer from 1960, it means your mother didn't marry the man she did a few years before you were born. Now, she married a completely different person in 1988. In 1959, your mother married someone with the last name 'Hamilton'. In 1988, I'm having her marry a man named McKane instead."
"W…what?" Ross asked.
"Oh, and would you look at that," Maverick said. "Your parents got divorced when you were two years old. You haven't had a fatherly figure to look at until your last adventure in your freshman year of high school."
Ross suddenly started remembering it all. He was no longer from 1960, and he no longer had any memories of his father between the time he was three to when he was fourteen.
"Okay, Maverick, I get it," Ross said. "Please, don't screw up my life any more than you already have."
"This is too much fun, though," Maverick said hatefully. "Seeing you flail around completely helpless as I started altering every single aspect of your life."
Ross was breathing heavily. He barely understood what was going on. All he knew was that Maverick was changing the way his life had been going.
Then, all the adventures he had of what happened after he was born in 1990 came back to him. Ross saw himself beating the school bully, Big Bad Bob, he three physically demanding tasks and freeing the school from his reign. He remembered traveling to Egypt with Mike when they accidentally wound up back there when their class was taking a field trip to a museum.
Ross remembered the battle he and Mike had when they tried to stop an alien named Zozu from annihilating Earth when they were accidentally launched into outer space when they both went to the Kennedy Space Station in Florida together.
Then came the memories of when Ross went inside Mike's body to destroy Pox, a very dangerous virus. Then he saw himself spray painting his principal's house and getting caught doing it, thusly getting suspended.
Then he saw the battle with Baron in the theme park where Ross accidentally got the power to fire a golden light from his gums from Baron, ultimately giving Ross the power to turn anything to gold. Ross never had to use that power, so he forgot all about it. After that came the images of Ross and Mike trying to blow up EVILLE while hoping to save their new friend, Mory. Ross saw the failed attempt as the EVILLE theme park detonated with Mory inside.
The memories were coming back to Ross now. He then remembered seeing that Mory made it out alive and was holding a grudge for thinking his friend didn't try to save him from he exploding theme park. The battle on the satellite with Mory and the battle in the prehistoric times…they were all becoming so clear to Ross now.
Ross saw the underground civilization of the mole people, and how they were going to execute Ross and Mike for intruding in their lair. Ross saw his pet frog, Frog, as Frog used some unknown ability to cause an explosive reaction with his saliva and mole people substance, therefore allowing Ross and Mike to escape the lair with their lives.
But the memories didn't stop there. He saw himself turning Madame Vik, a psychic who brought him great misfortune, into gold when he was confronting her in her mansion in the middle of the woods. And he was with…Frog. He was with his pet frog, Frog.
The memories continued to flow. Ross saw him battling outer space with Zozu, still attempting to destroy Earth. This time, he had his wife, Zodie. Ross saw Zodie getting blown up on the missile that was supposed to destroy earth, and he saw Zozu's helmet getting smashed when he wasn't in the space station, therefore having his entire head freeze solid.
Then Ross saw more. He saw the time when he was in the Medieval period, trying to save a kingdom from a ruler who had stolen a powerful orb and was threatening to use it to destroy everything in his past. Ross saw that the enemy's most faithful apprentice, a robotic shark, had turned against him and had beaten him.
Ross wanted the memories to stop. But they just kept coming. More and more of them.
Ross saw himself when he was struggling to stop Mr. Dawnson from detonating the nuclear warhead using the knowledge Ross had when he got an above average score on the intelligence test. Then he saw himself as he tried to stop the scientist who had brought several children's toys to life from going on a rampage and destroying everything in sight.
Then came the most awful of them all. He saw Mr. Dozzom, his school principal, as Mr. Dozzom drowned himself in the river at Camp Glaregon to save Ross, Mike, and everyone around so that the monster in the woods would have no source of life left, therefore, dying.
Then Ross saw the battle he had with Ubels and Verrat. He saw he and his father from the 1990's as they both ran for their lives through the dark streets of the town that night, struggling to stay alive. It was all becoming so clear.
Ross had just seen all the flashbacks of the adventures he didn't remember having before. At least, he only remembered the ones before his battle to stop Pox from infecting Mike. Why was that? Now, he had a recollection of every single adventure he had been on.
Wait…that would mean Mike was Ross's age in at the turn of the century, meaning Mike was no longer from the 1960s, either…
Almost like Maverick was reading Mike's thoughts, he started laughing. "I have interfered with your memories now," he explained. "When you went on that trip to the moon to battle Zozu from destroying earth, it was in 1971 when you had your father who had the last name 'Hamilton". Now I have altered that a little. Anything after that journey took place after the year 2000.
So everything that happened before the battle to stop Zozu from destroying earth took place in 1971. Everything that took place after that happened in 2001 up to the present day. Ross was gradually beginning to understand it. That must mean Maverick did a similar thing with Mike.
Ross knew that when, and if, he ever got out of this situation, he would not be returning to 1976; he would be returning 30 years to the future, in 2006.
Then everything in Bien's memory made sense. Bien was also from 2006. Ross suddenly knew what an iPod was, and he knew what an XBOX was. But Mike had the iPod in his pocket before they had returned to the 1700s to stop Maverick from sending any more men. That would mean that when they got back to their present time, they were already in 2006, but when they came back in time to the 18th century to stop Maverick, they only remembered things up to 1976.
Now Ross and Mike had fully regained their memories of all their adventures after Maverick had interfered and tampered with them. It was all making sense now. It was messed up, but yet it made sense somehow.
Maverick continued chuckling when Ross was realizing in horror what was going on. But then he suddenly remembered that since he was now in the new millennium, he had the power of his golden gums.
But just as Ross was about to use them to turn Maverick into a gold statue, Maverick seemed to be able to tell what Ross was about to do. Promptly, he hit a button and more electric shocks were sent into Ross's skull by the helmet. When the shocks were gone, Ross forgot what he was trying to do.
"Heh," Maverick said. "I have just erased your memory of the golden gums, and of Frog."
"My golden gums? Frog? What are you talking about?" Ross asked.
Maverick smiled. "Precisely. Now, maybe I'll interfere with your memories one more time…"
But just as Maverick was about to disrupt Ross and Mike's lives more than he already had, he got tackled from behind. It was Beth.
"Beth!" Ross yelled when he saw her. She had his trust completely now.
After knocking Maverick to the ground, Beth got up and started unstrapping Ross from the machine. She only got one of his hands free by the time Maverick was up again.
"Beth! You traitor!" Maverick scolded coldly.
Beth turned around and started running out the room, fearing for her life. Maverick was about to chase her out until Ross used his free hand to get himself completely free from the machine. He got up and started going after Maverick.
But Maverick didn't seem to have time to deal with Ross. He turned around and said, "So, care to get destroyed by your new memories?"
Maverick opened up his hand and fired a bizarre ray from it. The ray was a light shade of cerulean, and when it struck Ross, Ross saw that he was staring into a giant, white area. He looked around, but the white abyss never ended. It finally cleared, and Ross found himself in a room that seemed to have several controls.
Looking up, he saw a giant space creature there. The alien had six bright yellow eyes and two rows of razor sharp teeth. It looked very similar to a human, except for the taller appearance, several claws on each hand and foot, and the green scaly body.
"Zozu!" Ross yelled, realizing where he saw. He was in the space shuttle that he and Mike were in when Zozu kidnapped them both and took them to his planet.
Zozu started trying to claw at Ross's face, but Ross fought back. He started throwing several punches at Zozu.
Zozu made his biggest mistake when he tried slashing at Ross. Ross ducked out of the way, and instead Zozu's claws struck an electric cord. Instantly, Zozu started feeling several currents of electricity pulse through his alien veins.
The area Ross was in started turning white like before, and when Ross could see what was in front of him this time, he was in a completely different setting. He was once again in a control room, but he was piloting something. Around him was a place that looked very red with very fragile walls. In front of the vehicle he was flying was a giant bug. The bug had a purple body and it had giant green eyes. Ross knew where he was: he was piloting his robot inside Mike's body and was battling Pox, the virus that was making Mike sick.
Ross immediately started flying his robot around the best he could, but he didn't remember how to fly it too well. Pox, on the other hand, was fighting very hard and was moving about very quickly.
Ross tried hitting a button on the robot, and a launch of some orange substance fired out from one of the cannons on the outside of the robot. It hit Pox dead-on, and Pox started screaming in agony. He slowly started dissolving, and in a matter of seconds, he was gone.
"Oh yeah," Ross thought to himself. "I defeated Pox by spraying him with orange juice."
The scene switched with the pure white transition again. Ross saw he was now in a deserted amusement park, and right in front of him was a monster that resembled the Incredible Hulk, except he looked much smaller. It was Baron.
Ross started running for his life from the giant beast, and just as the monster was about to grab him and crush him, Ross grit his teeth and a yellow light shot out from his gums. It hit Baron in the chest, and it immediately turned him to a gold statue.
That's when Ross realized what was going on. "Maverick is sending me back to every single adventure I've been on! He's making me fight all the enemies I encountered on those adventures again…
Ross's suspicions proved correct. The next thing he knew, he was watching Mike hold a plastic gun to a guy's head. It was Jim, the scientist who had created Baron and was desperate for revenge on Ross for killing him.
Ross saw that Mike had pulled the trigger on the gun. It looked like a squirt gun, but it really shot out a small charge that could shut down an entire person's body on contact. With Jim out of the way, Ross and Mike ran out of the exploding building they were in. But both of them were devastated when the building exploded and Mory, their new friend, didn't make it out.
There was another white flash, and Ross was alone on top of a giant satellite that was very high above the ground. And standing only a few yards away from him on the satellite was Mory.
Mory's face was scarred and his bleached white hair was blowing in the wind as he started trying to knock Ross of the satellite and to the ground hundreds of feet below.
Just as Mory was about to hit him, Ross put out his hands and stopped Mory from ramming him. All he had to do was spin Mory around once and then shove him. Mory lost his balance and fell to the ground below.
Once again, the white abyss appeared after Mory was defeated. Ross then saw he was in the middle of an execution with several hundreds of people who looked part-human and part-mole were screaming at him.
Ross saw that the king of the mole people had just had his head cut off in a guillotine, and the queen of the mole people was chasing him out of their lair. Ross started running from the furious queen, and when he turned to his side, he saw a very strange looking frog spit at the queen.
The spit collided with something in mid air and caused a giant explosion. Ross started running from the explosion while the mole people queen got engulfed in the fires of it.
After the next white flash, Ross was in a dark and brooding mansion. He was in a room with a woman who was looking very scared of him. Ross recognized her.
"Madame Vik," Ross mumbled under his breath.