Prologue: Time Crisis

He watched as the scenery passed him by; the same dusty roads, the dried vegetation, and by the looks of it, it was going to be stupid hot outside. Just the way he remembered.

He sat back in the booth, arms crossed and staring out the window of the RV. None of this made any sense. One moment he's laying down in his bed, dreading the next day, when his life would end and he'd have to go back to that accursed building of standardized assessment and home assignments: school. The next thing he knows he's waking up in the back of the Rustbucket at the start of his summer! To make matters even more confusing the watch is missing from his wrist, which nearly earned him a make-out session with a steel pipe. Definitely going to have to thank Grandpa for the save there.

A dull thump on the side of his head tore him from his thoughts, he turned to see his cousin Gwen; hand on her hip, eyeing him whilst holding a pillow.

"You still moping, pizza face?"

He eyed her back, brow furrowed, his gaze resting on the watch.

A long sigh rolled out of his body, as he went completely limp, slithering out of the chair and under the table. A massive feeling of defeat washed over him.

"This is so stupid."

Crouching down to peer at him Gwen smirked, "Yeah, you're telling me. You're supposed to sit at the table, not under it."

He felt the urge to mock and mimic what she said but swallowed it. "I'm not even supposed to be here. I should be in class or something." The thought sickened him.

Shaking her head Gwen stood up. "Grandpa, are you sure we don't need to get him to a hospital? He's actually asking to go back to school!"

Ben laid on his back and slid his head out from under the table. "I'm not asking to go back, I'm saying that's where I should be, that's where YOU should be. School should have started back days ago!" He said staring up at her.

A voice spoke up from the front of the RV, "Ben, I'm not sure what to tell you. I know you have an active imagination but…"

"Active imagination? Grandpa, how could I make any of this up? I know you, of all people, have to be a little suspicious." Ben said, which won him the response of his grandpa shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose.

Gwen crouched down next to her cousin, "Maybe he hit his head in all the commotion the other day?" She said holding up the watch on her wrist.

"You're not even supposed to have that," Ben said, closing his eyes with a grimace.

"If it were up to me we'd take that thing off of her and find somewhere to store it," Max cut in with a sigh, "but it's stuck, so we'll have to make do. Ben, sit back in your seat."

Shaking his head, Ben did as he was told, still unable to make heads or tales of his situation. He watched as his cousin slid into the seat across from him.

She sat there for a while,tapping her fingers across the table; something she did when she wanted to say something but didn't know how.

"Say it already, Dweeb."

She looked at him for a while,slightly taken aback. Then, biting her lip, before taking a breath she spoke.

"So, you're from the future." She started, shifting her eyes to the watch on her wrist. "Let's say I believe you, and in your timeline, you had this thing." She held up the watch. "How often did you actually have to use it?"

"I mean I think I did pretty good for my first run but…"

Something told him that there was more to her question than what she was letting on. A lot of things told him this, her tone of voice, the way she shifted in her seat, the look in her eye - or lack thereof as she refused to look at him.

"If I'm being honest. A lot, more times than you can even imagine." He stared at her for a moment, considering his next choice of words, "You did good Gwen, a lot better than I did at least."

Gwen nodded, still staring at the device on her wrist. She gave him a scrutinizing look before she spoke.

"Thanks.."

Before long she was back to staring at her wrist.

He allowed her to trail off into her thoughts, turning once more to the window. He also needed to get his thoughts in order. If he couldn't make sense of things, he would come to terms with them, adapt to the situation as he'd done many times before.

His right hand gripped his left wrist and tightened.

"This is going to be another long summer."

Hey! Making my debut as a fanfictioneer! That's what you guys call yourselves right? Whatever, I'll figure it out. Anyway, if anyone happens upon this little thing I scraped together, please leave a review and tell me what you think!

Thankies!