Chapter 26- Back to the Future

On the night of July 21st, 1990, in the midst of Los Angeles, there was not a soul in sight. The reason being was that a pretty deadly storm was on its way. Everyone was staying home inside, to avoid the harsh rain, wind, and most of all lightening. No one in their right mind would be outside at the moment. Yet three chipmunks were, and two of them were currently outside a highschool building, tying an electric wire between two lamp posts. "Are you almost done?" Jeanette called up to Simon as he was on a ladder, tying the wire.

"And…. Done!" the blue chipmunk announced as he climbed down. The two of them marveled at their handywork. For the past couple of hours, the two of them have been setting up a rather big experiment to send their nephew DJ home. They got a really long electric wire tied between two lamp posts and to a lightning rod they put on top of the clocktower of their school. If everything goes according to plan, lightning will strike the rod at 10:04pm and send the current down the wire, which will then be caught by a rod attached to the Tesla. And as DJ drives it at 88 miles per hour and makes it in time, he should be sent back to his own time. "Another excellent display of handywork, Jeanette" Simon complimented as he shook the tall chipette hand.

"Thank you, Simon,'' Jeanette blushed, "But you deserve the most credit, this was your plan after all."

"True, I did concocted it" Simon nodded, "But you certainly made the job a lot easier. Thanks to you, we managed to finish 30 minutes early." He then looked up to the clock tower, and it was currently 9:32.

"Um Simon?" Jeanette peeped. The blue teen turned to his friend, who currently looked quite happy. "It's nice to work with you again" she stammered, "It's been too long since we last did something like this."

"I'm happy to be working with you again as well, Jeanette" Simon smiled, "Sorry again for avoiding you all week. I promise after today, we'll go back to how things were before DJ appeared."

Hearing this made Jeanette quite happy. "I'm really lucky to have a friend like you, Simon" she blushed. But then her smile slowly turned into a frown. "But a friend is all you'll ever be…" she muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Simon asked.

Jeanette then flinched, she didn't mean to have that slip out. "Oh nothing" Jeanette stammered, fiddling with her fingers. This was when DJ finally arrived. He ran all the way over there, and he was quite out of breath. So when he spotted his uncle and aunt in the distance, he slowed down to a walk. "Simon" he heard Jeanette begin to say, "You can be honest with me… Are things still awkward between us because I confessed to you on Thursday?" DJ then paused. He decided to not go any further, instead he hid behind a nearby trash can.

"What?!" Simon yelped, caught off guard by the question, "Oh um….. Of course not Jeanette!"

"Really" Jeanette stared at the ground, "Even though… even though you know now that I see you in a particular way that might…. Make you feel uncomfortable"

"Jeanette it doesn't make me feel uncomfortable at all" Simon exclaimed, "In fact I'm uh…."

Jeanette shook her head somberly, "Don't worry Simon, I'll try to get over you. I accept that you don't feel the same way" She then began to fiddle with the amethyst Simon gave her. DJ frowned, he knew for a fact that Simon felt the same way, the only problem was that his uncle learned that he and Jeanette don't get together in the future. Not only that, but he might die pretty young. DJ thought this wasn't right, his uncle and aunt deserve to be happy, even if time didn't initially plan for it. Also there was no way he was going to let his uncle die from the hands of the Russian mafia. Just then, the strong wind of the storm caused a nearby mailbox to swing open, and all of the letters went flying out. Some of them flew near the maroon chipmunk, who noticed that there was a blank paper and an empty envelope. Suddenly an idea sprang into his mind as he quickly grabbed them. Once he was able to keep the paper completely flat on the ground with one hand, he pulled out a pen in the other and began to write on it.

Dear Uncle Simon,

I wrote this letter to inform you that your life is in grave danger. On the night I go back in time, you'll be shot down by the Russian mafia for tricking them to hand you some plutonium. Two mobsters will show up in a van at the parking lot of the Bagdasarian mall roughly around 1:35 am, on June 13th, 2020. So please take any measure to avoid this tragedy. And please Simon, if not for me but for her, don't let your relationship with Auntie Jeanette fall apart. If you do let this happen, I know you're going to regret it for the rest of your life. You two love each other, you can't deny that. So when I come back, I'm going to make you go on a date with Jeanette. See you later

Your Nephew, DJ Seville

After he wrote all of that, he put the letter into the envelope. Then he wrote "Don't open until 2020" on it, making sure to write 2020 big and underlined. He put the letter in his pocket for now and was ready to see his uncle and aunt. "Here I am, guys!" He announced as he came running in.

"DJ!" his uncle and aunt cheered.

"We saw the whole thing on TV!" Simon exclaimed, "Great job getting your parents together!"

Jeanette then gave DJ a hug. "We're so proud of you, DJ!", she sang, "We even saw you dancing!"

"Thanks, you two" DJ smiled back, "Is the experiment ready?"

"Set up and read to go!" Simon answered, "You remember what to do?"

"Yep" the headphone wearing chipmunk nodded, "I drive the Tesla into this wire while going at 88 miles per hour just when the lightning strikes."

"Good" Simon nodded, "But there's some new aspects of the plan we should explain to you." He then walked over to the Tesla, which was parked right by the lamp posts and had a lightning rod sticking out of it, and getured the other two teens to come over. "You see the time circuits" Simon pointed to the touch screen, "I've set it up to send you to June 13th, 2020, at 1:35am; the exact moment you went back in time. It'll be like you never left."

Jeanette then interjected, "I also put a wind up clock right here on the dashboard. We've painted a white line on the road back there to show where to position the time machine. Once the wind up clock starts ringing, floor it, and make sure to drive completely straight forward."

"If everything goes according to plan" Simon stated, "You'll make it right on time for when lightning strikes the clock tower at 10:04, and you'll be sent Back to the Future!"

Just then DJ's heart started to beat pretty fast. This is it, he's almost home, he just needs to catch the lightning in time. He was both excited and terrified. This is his only chance, and there was no room for error. "Thank you for everything Uncle Simon and Auntie Jeanette" DJ smiled.

"I'm going to miss you, DJ" Jeanette mentioned, "Thanks to you, there's more hope in the future."

"I'm going to miss you too" Simon said, "It's been so nice to meet our future nephew, and we honestly can't wait to see you again."

DJ then chuckled, "I guess the next time you'll see me is when I'm born. Make sure to keep my parents out of trouble, I want to return with my life intact."

"Don't worry DJ" Simon chuckled, "It's already our job to keep them out of trouble, we can keep doing it for another couple of decades."

"Though I fear that Brittany and Alvin will be more of a handful now that they're more cooperative than ever" Jeanette joked. Suddenly a strong wind blew by, and it caused the wire to swing in a pretty unstable fashion.

"I should make sure that wire is extra tight" Simon noted, "I'll be back in a minute" Then the blue chipmunk ran into the school to make his way up to the roof.

"Simon, be careful!" Jeanette yelled to him, she then turned to DJ, "Maybe I should go after him. The last thing I want to happen is for Simon to get hurt."

DJ swallowed a lump in his throat, his aunt looked rather concerned, wondering how she would react if she knew what would happen to Simon. "Jeanette" DJ spoke softly, "Can you promise to keep a secret?"

Jeanette was caught off guard. "You mean keeping a secret from Simon" she stammered, "I don't know, DJ. Simon promised me to stop keeping secrets from me, it would be unfair if I didn't as well."

"But Jeanette!" DJ exclaimed, "this is a matter of life or death. You're going to have to keep secrets if you want to keep Simon safe!"

Jeanette then felt tense, "Really?"

"I'm being completely serious" DJ proclaimed, "Please, I'm begging you!"

Jeanette then gulped, "O-okay…"

DJ then sighed, glad to see his aunt complied. "Alright, listen closely" he began to say in a serious tone as he took out the letter, "I need you to keep this letter with you until 2020. Then I need you to make sure this letter gets to Simon. This means you'll have to keep this letter safe for 30 years and make sure no one finds out about it, especially Simon. Do I make myself clear?" He then carefully handed the letter to the purple chipette, who timidly took it.

"Oh jeez" Jeanette shook nervously, "that's quite the mission. I don't know if I can do it."

DJ then placed his hands on her shoulders. "Jeanette, I'm asking you to do this because I know you care about Simon more than anyone. Keep the letter safe, it's vital to Simon to get the letter at the right time!"

Jeanette was still a bit conflicted but she gave in, "For Simon." She then paused for a moment as she put the letter in her pocket before she continued, "DJ… I know I'm not supposed to know what happens in the future but…. What's going to happen to Simon?"

DJ winced, wondering if he should tell her or not, "Listen, I'm not sure if I should…"

Suddenly, lightning struck a nearby tree, causing branch to fall on top of the wire, unplugging it from the lightning rod on top of the clock tower. The plug then got caught between the hour and minute hand of the clock. Jeanette gasped, "Simon!"

Simon then poked his head out from the roof. "Great scott! Don't worry, I'll plug it back in" Simon yelled as he entered the clock tower, trying to get to the plug.

Jeanette then gasped even harder, "DJ, we must help him before he falls! Come on!" DJ nodded as the two of them ran to the roof while the lightning struck throughout the city. Once they reached the roof, they ran over to inside the clock tower. They then saw Simon beginning to exit out of the clock side.

"Simon, wait!" DJ cried.

Simon nearly fell off from shock, but he managed to balance himself. "What are you guys doing here?!" he asked.

"Simon, it's dangerous to go out there alone!" Jeanette exclaimed, "That's why we're here to help you!"

"Fine!" Simon answered back, "But we better do this quick, DJ needs to get ready soon!" The two of them nodded as they ran over to the blue teen.

"Here!" DJ said as he picked some rope off the ground, "Wrap this around you!"

"Okay!" Simon complied, as he tied the rope around his waist. But then suddenly, lightning struck nearby again, causing Jeanette to trip. This caused the letter to slide out of her pocket, exposing it to Simon. "What's this?!" he asked as he picked it up. He then read what was written on it and his eyes widened.

"It's a letter about the future!" DJ called out, "It has really important information inside."

"Information I shouldn't know about!" Simon exclaimed. And in a fit of fear, he ripped it up and put the pieces in his pocket.

"Simon no!" Jeanette cried, "DJ said it's a matter of life or death."

"Exactly!" Simon exclaimed, "I can't know anything about my own future, we have to keep the timeline as preserved as possible!"

"Screw the timeline!" DJ shouted, having enough of his uncle's cautiousness, "I've just sent Ian Hawke to prison before he could continue to terrorize my parents! So stop it with this timeline BS! You're actually hurting yourself more than you are saving!"

"DJ, you had to go hell and back to keep yourself from disappearing!" Simon argued, "I'm not putting myself in the same situation!"

"That's it, screw it!" DJ snapped, "I'll just tell you and Jeanette myself! On the night I go back, you…" He was then interrupted by another lightning strike.

This caused Jeanette to look up at the clock, and she saw it was already 9:50! "DJ, you need to go now!" she exclaimed.

"But…" DJ tried to get a word out.

"NOW!" she screamed. DJ saw the seriousness in her face and stopped arguing.

"Okay, I'm going!" the maroon chipmunk yelled, "Simon, whatever you do, don't waste your future!" He then ran off.

Simon and Jeanette watched as their nephew ran off. All the while, DJ's last lines struck a chord inside the tall chipmunk. He dwindled for a moment on what DJ meant, but then he realized that there was no time to waste. "Jeanette, hold on!" he cried, "I'm going to get the plug!" When the blue chipmunk stepped outside, he immediately felt vertigo. He was so high up, and he knew one miss step would fall splat on the ground and possibly bring Jeanette with him. As he nervously sidled across the clock, he watched DJ run over to the Tesla and drive back down the road. He let out a sigh, glad his nephew made it down there quickly before continuing.

While he felt relatively calm, Jeanette was not. "Simon!" she yelled out as she poked her head out the opening to look at him, "How could you rip up the letter?!"

"Jeanette" Simon stammered, "Now's not the time!"

"No!" Jeanette spat, "DJ trying to warn you about something, and all you did was cover your ears in fear! Now we'll never know what he was trying to say!"

"Whatever dangers DJ tried to warn me about isn't as treacherous messing with the wrath of time!" Simon snapped, "I mean he nearly erased himself from existence, Jeanette!"

"Yeah but he ran into his parents before he was born!" Jeanette argued, "What about knowing about the future could harm you?!"

"Oh trust me Jeanette, the last thing you need to know is about the future!" Simon yelled.

"Wait!" Jeanette gasped, "Is there something you already know?!"

"Uhhh" Simon gulped, "No!"

"Simon, you said you were going to stop keeping secrets from me" Jeanette yelled back.

"Oh fine!" Simon snapped, "You want to know what happens in the future?! You become the librarian in this school, and I become a scientist that does nothing but spends his time alone conducting experiments everyday!"

Jeanette eyes widen, "Wait, what?"

"Yeah!" Simon answered, "And worse of all is that we never get together! You and I stay single and alone!"

"Oh" Jeanette muttered in a disappointed tone, "What do you mean by 'get together'?!"

"I mean we never date, or even marry!" Simon answered in a sad tone as he finally grabbed the plug, "That's why I rejected you, not because I don't love you, but because!..." But at the moment, the clock struck 10, and seeing how Simon and Jeanette were right by it, the ringing deafening. Simon was so disoriented that he fell off. Jeanette saw this and quickly pulled up. Simon didn't hit the ground, but now he was dangling half way down the school, with the plug in hand.

DJ was racing down the street, he saw the white line Jeanette mentioned and quickly did a 180, positioning himself perfectly on the line. "God dammit Uncle Simon, why did you have to rip that letter?" DJ said to himself. His entire plan to tell his uncle by letter was ruined. And now it seemed he was going to have to return to the future with an uncle full of bullets. "I just wished I had time" he sighed, "Wait a minute, I have all the time I need, I got a time machine." He then started to re-enter his destination time into the touch screen, but this time entering 1:24am instead of 1:35am. "There, 10 minutes should give me enough time to warn him" DJ concluded. Now the moment had come, he was going to have to time travel successfully. He began to make sure he was absolutely ready to go. "Let's see" he began to list off, "Time circuits on, flux capacitor…. Fluxing, engine running, we're good to go!" But it didn't seem his bad luck streak had ended just yet, as the car stopped running again. "Oh come on!" DJ whined as he tried to engine running again.

"Simon hold on!" Jeanette cried as she tried to pull the boy back up.

"Be careful, Jeanette!" Simon yelled back. As Jeanette pulled Simon back, she was struggling under the weight. She kept backing away, pulling the rope with all her might. Then at some point, Simon could nearly grab the ledge. "Just a bit more!" he yelled out. Jeanette heard this and tried to pull even harder. But then the weight was getting too strong, and she could feel the rope slipping her fingers. She used all of her strength desperately to pull the rope up, and then suddenly she slipped backward on a loose screw, which was enough sudden force to pull Simon all the way up. "I'm back up!" Simon announced. Jeanette quickly got herself off the floor and ran over to look out the opening, and indeed Simon was back on the ledge. Now that Simon was back up and holding the plug, he tried to plug it back into the rod, but he noticed that the wire was caught on something.

Jeanette looked down at the wire and her eyes widened. "Simon, the wire is still stuck on the fallen tree branch!" she exclaimed.

"Don't worry, I think I can plug...it..back..in! Got it!" Simon grunted as he plugged the wire back in. But it seemed he pulled on the wire too hard, and ended up unplugging it from the lamp post end. This caused Simon to funny scream.

Back with our hero, he was still struggling to get the engine running again. "What kind of stupid car stops running out of nowhere?!" he cursed, "Come on, damn it, come on!" But then he remembered what his uncle said. "Sometimes you gotta hit!" he chanted. He slammed his fist on the dashboard, and just like that, it started to run again. And it was at this moment that the wind up clock started ringing. DJ slammed his foot on the gas, and he went speeding off.

Meanwhile, Simon and Jeanette ran back down to the front of the school and tried to get the tree branch off. It was quite heavy but they got the job done, but ended up ripping the wire in half. "Oh no the wire!" Jeanette cried, "And it's almost time!"

"Damn it" Simon cursed, "How are we supposed to channel the lightning now? The only possible way we could get it to the lamp posts now is if we wrapped around some conductive specimen. But where in the world could we get something like that in a short amount of time?!"

"I don't know!" Jeanette whined as she looked down. Suddenly she saw her necklace waving in the wind and she got an epiphany. "Wait Simon, the amethyst!" she exclaimed as she grabbed hold of it, "It's a quartz! That means it can conduct electricity!"

"Of course!" Simon cheered as he went over to plug the piece of the wire back on the lamp post, "We can tie the each end of the wire together with the necklace and the amethyst will channel the electricity into the other end! Quick Jeanette, hand me the amethyst!" Simon held his hand out as he grabbed both ends of the ripped wire. But then he noticed that Jeanette had yet to hand the gem over, "Jeanette?" He looked over and he saw the chipette had a sad look on her face.

"But Simon" Jeanette muttered softly, "You found this, and you were generous enough to give it to me. What if it gets damaged? Then your gift won't be beautiful anymore…" But then she felt Simon put a hand on her shoulder.

"Jeanette, remember what I said about the amethyst?" he asked. Jeanette shook her head confusingly. "I said it was beautiful… but not as beautiful as you. I don't care what happens to the gem, I care about what happens to you."

Jeanette then blushed madly, "I mean, I just thought you said that to be nice…"

"No Jeanette, I mean it" Simon proclaimed, "I know this sounds cheesy, but I think you're the most beautiful thing in the world! Since the very first time I laid my eyes on you I thought that."

"Wait Simon" Jeanette stammered, her heart beginning to race faster, "Are you…"

"Yes Jeanette" Simon cried, "I love you!"

Jeanette gasped, she thought that after Simon rejected her, that he didn't hold the same feelings. She couldn't believe what she heard, she wondered if she was dreaming. "You… love me?" she stuttered, starting to tear up.

"I love you more than anything in this world!" Simon began to tear up himself, "When you confessed to me, I was so happy! I was overjoyed! But…. I found out what happens between us in the future and… I was scared that I would end up hurting you. I'm sorry Jeanette, I wish we could be together but time doesn't allow it." For a small yet painful moment, the two bespectacled chipmunks stood there in silence. They have both confessed to each other but, according to the timeline nothing is supposed to blossom between them.

"Wow" Jeanette muttered sadly, "That is… that is just unfair."

"Unfair?" Simon wept, "It's outrageous! Why…. why can't I be with you?"

Jeanette teared up some more, trying to wipe the tears away. "It's because originally, without DJ, we probably were too scared to admit it to each other."

"Oh god you're right" Simon frowned, "And we were so scared, that we would've continued to keep our true feelings for each other for another 30 years."

"Some brave people we are" Jeanette uttered sarcastically, "But at least now we confessed to each other. We won't have to wait until the next millennium."

"That's true" Simon sighed, but then he started to smile, "Wait, that is true! Jeanette, I love you!"

"I love you too, Simon!" Jeanette wept tears of joy, "And I'll love till the end of time!"

"You know what?" Simon began to say, "Why am I letting time control me? I invented freaking time travel! I control time!"

"Simon?" Jeanette questioned, "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying yes, Jeanette! I will go out with you!" Simon then pulled the girl he loved into a passionate kiss. Jeanette was surprised, but filled with joy. She embraced the boy she loved back, and the two of them joined their hearts. In midst of their love, they were holding the ends of the wires with the Amethyst in each hand.

DJ came speeding in, the Tesla was nearly at the lamp posts. He looked over at the speedometer and saw that he had reached 88 miles per hour. He wasn't sure if his aunt and uncle were successful plugging the wire back in but he knew there was no going back now. He shut his eyes, as he couldn't dare to see what would next. The clock then struck 10:04.

Crack Crack Boom!

Lightning struck the clocktower with an amazing bolt, and the lightning rod caught it. The electricity then went zapping down, electrifying Simon and Jeanette mid-kiss. They both went bug eyed as their hair stood up. The electricity successfully traveled through the amethyst then channeled into the wire between the lamp post. A millionth of a millisecond after, the Tesla zoomed right under the wire, and then there was a blinding flash and a loud BOOM!

The Tesla disappeared in a electrifying smoke cloud, and a fire trail lit across the road, swerving a bit as if the car was still there, and stopped right at the walls of a Blockbusters at the end of the street.

Simon and Jeanette processed what happened as they fell to the ground, still both mentally and physically shocked. After a brief moment, Simon stood up and helped Jeanette back on her feet. They walked over to tire marks on the road and saw that they had become a trial fire once it went under the wire. This could mean only one thing. "We've sent DJ Back to the Future!" Simon cheered.

"Woo hoo!" Jeanette started to cheer excitedly as well. The two of them jumped up and down in victory. They high fived each other and even chest bumped. But then they looked into each other's eyes and began to kiss again. Afterwards, two of them simply hugged. "Simon, I don't care what the future holds" she muttered, "Just as long as I get to be with you."

"I don't either, Jeanette" Simon smiled as he stroked the brunette's hair. He then looked up to the clock and noticed something funny. "Hey Jeanette" the blue chipmunk chuckled, "It looks like DJ wasn't the only thing we saved."

Jeanette was confused for a moment before she saw what Simon meant. "The clock tower still works!" the purple chipette cheered. And indeed it did, as the clock tower now read 10:05.

He then grabbed Jeanette's hand and continued to watch the clock ticking. If their newfound love wasn't proof you can change history, then the clock tower was a perfect reminder. Jeanette laid her head on Simon's shoulder as they admired the tower's beauty. Simon then said, "See you in 30 years, DJ."

To Be Concluded...