August 10, 1987
10:30 AM PDT
Teens In Time Universe
Amy Needles was rudely shaken awake, as the thing she was in shook throroughly. Almost immediately feelings came up of throwing up, and, as the shaking finally ceased, of confusion. Where was she? She could feel something restraining her - was she tied up? And why? She wondered why anyone would want to tie her up. Trying to get things clear, she focused on her final memories before going to sleep.
As she did so, she then remembered what happened. There had been two Tannens... a weird double... and all three of them had been very mean and knocked her, Stephanie and Marlene out for no good reason. Amy felt horrible. What could've prompted anyone to do such a thing?
The twenty-three-year-old decided that it was best to quit thinking so much. If those restraints and the fact that she last remembered being knocked out by some bullies were enough evidence, then she could safely assume that she was, in fact, in the company of her kidnappers - and, most likely, Marlene and Stephanie. The only way to find out why these people had kidnapped her, would therefore to confront them. Sighing, Amy hesitated for one brief moment - she really didn't want to face the people that knocked her out - and then took a deep breath, and slowly opened her eyes.
What she saw then would've made anyone stunned and it certainly did that to her. As she looked forwards, she saw that she was in an old train of some sorts, which was moving through the sky. However, that wasn't what stunned her - it was who she was facing. The person in front of her was Marlene - but next to her was another Marlene, and a third one on the other side. As Amy looked around, she recognised a girl who looked a lot like Marlene's mother, Jennifer - but she looked impossibly young, even younger than she herself was - around twenty, twenty-four at most. While rejuvenations could certainly make such a thing possible, Amy highly doubted that her friends hadn't told her that Mrs. McFly had undergone a rejuve. Most people considered that an important event, and very memorable. Besides, why would Mrs. McFly want to look this young?
As she then looked further, she felt even more stunned. Besides her, there were a few girls who looked a lot like Stephanie Stebbs or her twin sister Stacy, but there were an awful lot of them! Maybe even a dozen! Also, there were a lot of girls which she didn't know. All of them, though, shared one thing - they were tied up, just like she herself was. If she hadn't just woken up from a long sleep, then Amy was sure that she would've gone back to unconsciousness.
"What's going on here?" she asked, stunned. "Who are you guys? What am I doing here?"
"You're here because we liked you to be" a very familiar voice - her own - said. As Amy looked up, she gasped to recognise her double. Other Amy stood in front of her and glared into her eyes for a moment, then stepped forwards and gave Amy a slap across the face.
As she was tied up, Amy, even though she could see the slap coming, could do nothing but duck as it hit her - hard. She felt confused, and her cheek was beginning to colour red, and it hurt a lot. "Who are you?" she insisted, on the verge of tears. "And why are you doing this to me? I've done nothing to you!"
Her double rolled her eyes. "Could've expected that you would think that way, too" she said, clearly disgusted. "I'm doing this to punish you. To punish you for being such a wuss. I bet that your Dad must've had a hard time with a daughter like you are. I knew that you're weak, but that you'd actually hang out with the McFly's!" She gave Amy another slap on the same cheek, which now started to hurt even more. "I should've emptied your bank account too. You deserve it." Shaking her head, she walked away.
Amy sighed, and started crying quietly. She still didn't know what was going on - but she was certain that it wasn't going to be good. "Where am I" she muttered.
"You're in Doc Brown's time train."
Amy looked up and stopped crying for a moment, as a girl with brown hair looked at her with sympathy. "I know you're not the version of Amy from our world, but still, I'm sorry that you had to get involved in this mess" she continued. "That we're captured is bad enough, but a girl who doesn't even know about our situation - well, I assume so, at least..."
"Our situation?" Amy repeated, stunned. "What are you talking about? And what do you mean with 'our world'? And a time train? What's a time train?"
The girl looked at her with continuing sympathy. "It's a train that can travel through time" she said. "Dr. Brown - Doc, as we call him - made it when he was trapped in the Old West."
Amy's mouth fell open, and for a moment, she thought about calling an asylum and ask them to come for the girl - granted, she was tied up so she couldn't call anybody, but still. "A time machine?" she finally squeaked. "But that's... that's impossible! Time machine's only exist in works of science fiction! They can't be real!"
"Trust us, they are" one of the Marlene's said. "I'm the Marlene that was along with you, by the way. I, too, have no idea where I am - but I know for a fact that time travel exists."
"Yeah" one of the Stephanie's said. "Trust us, it's real. I know that this is confusing to you - heck, it confused me a lot too when Mr. McFly first told me."
"He told you that you could call him Calvin" Marlene pointed out.
"Yeah, but he's my future father-in-law" Stephanie responded. "That would be a little too weird."
"Um... not to mention that it's entirely not logical?" one of the other Marlene's pointed out. "Considering that his name is not Calvin at all..."
Marlene looked up, confused. "What do you mean?" she asked. "His name is Calvin all right - Calvin Seamus McFly. Dad never liked the name, but it is his. Are you saying that in your world, Calvin McFly isn't named that way?"
"No" the other Marlene said. "His name is Marty McFly. Martin Seamus McFly, so the middle name fits, but he's Marty McFly all right." She smiled, as all the other Marlene's nodded. "No offence, but this is a weird world. Anyway... I guess that Calvin was still named Marty before he went back to 1955? After all, the 'Calvin' name was most likely inspired by the name on his underwear, when he met up with Grandma Lorraine as a teenager."
"All right, wait a minute, you guys" Amy interrupted. "You're all acting... acting like time travel is real!"
"Oh, you haven't figured that out yet?" a familiar voice said. Amy looked to the front, and identified, to her shock, not one, not two, but three Tannen's, all looking almost identical, with the exception of their bionic implants - for one of them, they were simplified and there were a lot less of them - and for the second, there weren't any at all. The third Tannen was the guy that she figured as being Griff - which meant that the bionic-less Tannen had to be Bill.
"Bill, why did you turn on us?" Amy said, confused. "What did we ever do to you?"
Bill started to laugh. "Isn't it funny how they keep mistaking me for my wuss nephew?" he said. "I'd like to keep them in the assumption that I'm Bill for a little longer - even if it's just to see them confused, and feel betrayed." He chuckled. "But, miss Needles, I'm not Bill. My name is Cliff Tannen."
"Cliff Tannen?" Amy said, stunned. The only Cliff that she knew was Griff Tannen's father, whom she didn't know very well, but who had to be in his late forties, if not early fifties. "But... you're way too young!"
'Cliff' laughed again. "I'm from the past, idiot" he said. "Boy, you really must be stupid, to not realise that. I'm from 1987."
"Hey, she never knew about time travel before" Marlene said. "And I doubt that you believe now" she continued, turning towards Amy. "I hate to say it, but apparently, we are in a time machine. Time travel is real, Amy... however I still don't understand what's going on with the 'multiple worlds' stuff, and why the other you is so mean."
"You mean, she really is... me?" Amy said, realising that, even though she wanted to accept that time travel was real on the evidence that she'd already seen, the real reason that she didn't want to accept it was because that would mean that she'd have to accept that the mean girl was the same person as she herself was, and she couldn't imagine herself to ever become that bad.
"I'm afraid so" Marlene said, with a sigh. She turned towards the others. "What's going on here, anyway? And why have those Tannen's kidnapped us?"
"It's a long story" the girl who looked like, and probably was, a young Mrs. McFly said. "It all started in 1987, with me - I'm Jennifer Parker, by the way. I'm quite sure that you know who I am." Marlene nodded. "Right. So, anyway, I wanted to go for a swim, but realised that I had left my swim suit at Dr. Brown's house. So, I went over, and found Cliff Tannen there, in the process of stealing the DeLorean. I wanted to stop him, but he stopped me and forced me to tell him how the time machine worked - as he'd already figured out which it was, by seeing the labels on the displays."
"Of course I figured out" Cliff interrupted. "I'm not stupid, like you think I am. I'm bright - brighter than you thought. By the way, just think - if you hadn't told me what was going on, then none of these girls would be in this train." He smirked.
"Don't let him bother you, Mom" one of the Marlene's said. "Go on with the story."
"Thanks, Marly" Jennifer said, smiling faintly. "So, anyway, I was forced to explain how it worked, and after that, Cliff departed 1987, while keeping me captured. We went to 2017, where Cliff met up with Griff Tannen, and Griff told his father about Dr. Brown's station wagon. They went over to Jules Brown's house, and later, they returned with that machine and an unconscious Harmony and Marlene. Apparently, they had been there, too - and had been captured while trying to escape undetected."
"No one can escape us" Griff said, with a grin. "We're Tannen's. We're brilliant. The whole family is."
"What about the Needles family?" Mean Amy pointed out.
"You're right, Amy" Cliff said, putting an arm around her. "You're a great girl, too." Amy felt disgusted. "What happened next?" she asked, beginning to realise that time travel was, in fact, real... and not really liking it.
"As Cliff and Griff were flying the station wagon through the sky, they started thinking up places of where to go, including 1957, where they wanted to kidnap a young Lorraine Baines" Jennifer said. "I don't know if you know her, but she's the mother of Marty - my Marty, Marty Senior - McFly."
"I believe I've heard of her" Amy nodded. "And then? What happened after that?"
"As they were still talking, another time machine showed up - the time bus that Doc Brown had built, with in it Doc and Marty Sr from 1987, and Doc, Marty Senior, myself and Marty Junior from the year 2017, as well as Melody Brown, Harmony's sister" Jennifer said. "Also included were Bill Tannen and Mike Hartford. They confronted Cliff and Griff, only in the whole thing that followed, Doc from 2017 got mad at them, and tried to hit them. I know, we were inside, but I think he'd really had gotten furious and didn't know what he was doing."
"I see" Amy said, although she was feeling quite horrified. "And what happened after he hit you - or didn't he?"
"He didn't" Jennifer said. "Cliff sped up and got away through time, but Griff accidentally did something, which caused the time circuits to re-set to another dimension, so they travelled into another world."
"Wait a minute" Stephanie said. "Another world?"
"That's right" Jennifer said. "Once arriving, Cliff started to like the hopping, and continued doing that - and, in the third world, he actually managed to steal the time train that the local Doc had built. Two more worlds later, he teamed up with Amy Needles here - who, in that world, was apparently very mean. I guess that I'm going to have really weird feelings when, in our world, 1994 rolls around and Amy is born - as I've been tormented by a bad version of her, while I know that this one is going to be nice. Also, with Griff it's going to be weird that what will be a little baby in 1996 eventually ends up doing... this."
"Oh, you won't have to worry about feeling weird about that" Cliff said, with a smirk. "You see, you won't be around to see 1994 or 1996 - as you'll be with us. We'll settle somewhere nice and comfy, and then, we'll all have a good time."
"You don't really think that the Doc's will let you do that, do you?" one of the Marlene's said.
"You think I care?" Cliff said back. "I'm just going to avoid them. And even if we do run into them again, well, then I'll just have to threaten one of the girls in order for them to back off again. They're such wimps."
"Monster" Stephanie said. Cliff simply shrugged and went back to the front.
"Who are you guys, anyway?" Amy asked. "I mean - where am I going to spend time with? I know Marlene, and I suppose that you girls are either Stephanie or Stacy, but I don't know about the rest."
"Yeah, I suppose that we might as well explain things to you" a girl said. "After all, all of the others got an explanation, too. Anyway, I'm Harmony Brown, and I'm from the first world. Believe it or not, but in my world, I'm the one who's dating Marty McFly Junior."
"You're kidding" Stephanie said, eyes open wide.
"I'm afraid I'm not" Harmony said. "I guess it bothers you, right?"
"That's an underestimatement" Stephanie said, shaking her head. "Nothing against you - but yeah, this is weird. At least I'm only seeing one more of you, so it seems that he does prefer me. No offence to you, of course - or to the Marty of your universe, or of the one of your double."
"None taken" the other Harmony said. "And, yeah, I do believe that you're in the majority - even though that's probably just a slight majority. I'm not the only one besides you who's dating him."
Stephanie's eyes now fell open so wide that Amy thought that it couldn't be possible. "There's someone else too?" she whispered.
"Two someone's" a girl who looked an awful lot like Elisabeth Shue said. "I'm Suzy MacArthur, and in our worlds, I'm dating a Marty McFly Junior, too. Then, there's Susan Brown over there, who's dating a Calvin Klein III - who, essentially, is just another version of Marty Junior."
"I - I guess so" Stephanie muttered. "Just out of curiosity... how many of you, Susan and me are there? That are dating Marty Junior, I mean?"
"Two versions of me are dating MJ" Harmony said. "But I guess that you already knew that."
"There's just one version of me" a girl who was apparently Susan Brown said, sadly. "I guess that it makes me unique, but it's still kind of weird."
"And that's where we get into the higher numbers" another girl who looked like Elisabeth Shue said. "There's a lot of me's - one from world three, one from world five - that's me, by the way - one from world seven, one from world eleven, one from world sixteen and one from world seventeen. If you want to know it, you're from world nineteen, and we're now in world twenty."
Stephanie paid little attention to the last half of the final sentence, mentally counting the Suzy's. "That's... six of you" she finally finished.
"That should be about right" another girl who looked a lot like Jennifer Parker said. "Granted, there's also my mother - but she's not dating a Marty Junior, she's married to one. Still, I guess that you could count her, too. That would make seven."
"You're the daughter of Suzy MacArthur?" Amy asked. Then, realising, she added: "I guess that you're also the daughter of Marty McFly Junior, then?"
"Right" the girl said. "I'm Jennifer McFly, by the way. I'm sure that you've never heard of me, since A - I'm from a PF world, and B - I haven't been born yet."
"PF world?" Marlene repeated.
"We're travelling through two kinds of worlds" Marlene Five explained. "One of them is PF, one of them is EJ. You're from EJ."
"That's not entirely true" Cliff corrected her, with a smirk. "We're currently in a TR world. In this world, we'll most likely capture some completely foreign girls. I don't care, though. As long as they're attractive, I don't care if I don't know them. I mean, of all these, I only knew Jennifer before I went time travelling."
"Jerk" Amy muttered.
"Definitely" Marlene agreed.
"Anyway, I'm a Marlene McFly too" the girl with brown hair said. "I look like my grandma Lorraine - and therefore, I'm the odd one out in here. Also, I'm the only one who has a sister, besides having a brother named Marty Junior."
"I'm that sister" the third Jennifer look-alike said. "I'm Melody McFly, and I end up taking after my mom."
"Which gives me a little bit of hope, as both of my future kids look like Marty" Jennifer said, smiling faintly.
The Marlene's blushed. "Sorry" Marlene Seven said.
"It's not your fault" Jennifer said. "It's no one's fault on here - not even Cliff's. But it is rather weird, I must admit."
"Yeah, definitely" Stephanie agreed.
"Well, as for me, I'm Stacy Stebbs" one of the Stephanie look-alikes said. "And there's a lot more of me here. Most of us are dating a brother or cousin to Marty McFly Junior, but there are two of us who are dating someone else."
"Todd Brown" a Stacy said. "Doc Brown's adopted grandson."
"Ryan Nelson" another Stacy said. "I know, he's probably too old for you in your worlds, but he really is just ten months older than Aaron in mine."
Amy nodded. "Weird" she muttered.
"Tell me about it."
"Anyway, to go on with this introduction-thing, I'm Julia Belle Rundgren" an unfamiliar girl with blond hair said. "I'm the daughter of Vincent Rundgren and Jennifer Parker. I know, it must sound weird, but in my world, Marty McFly Sr ended up marrying my aunt, Julia Rundgren."
Marlene's eyes opened wide. "A world where Dad didn't marry Mom?" she said, astonished.
"It's not the exception" a Stephanie said. "Well, it is, but it's not the sole one. There are three exceptions to the 'Marty McFly marries Jennifer Parker' rule."
"Our world is the second" Susan said. "As you've probably guessed with the name 'Calvin Klein III', ours is a world where Marty McFly was stuck in the 1950s, giving him no choice but to abandon Jennifer and instead marry her aunt, Mary Parker."
"In what way does Calvin III make that clear?" Amy asked.
"When Dad went back to 1955, he ended up getting hit by Great-Grandpa Sam's car" Marlene explained. "He thereby replaced his Dad, Grandpa George, who was supposed to get hit, so Grandma Lorraine would nurse him and fall in love with him. Grandma Lorraine now nursed Dad instead, so she fell in love with him, with 'Calvin Klein', as she read that name on his underwear when she'd taken off his pants. Dad had to spend the whole week getting her to fall out of love with him and in love with Grandpa George, which wasn't an easy task when he was completely disgusted by the thought of his mother in love with him."
"I can understand that" Amy said, thinking about the possibility of her father being in love with her, and feeling disgusted. "Freaky."
"Then you're probably not going to like what I'm going to say" Stephanie Nine said. "In our world, Marty McFly Senior got amnesia when he was hit. Therefore, he didn't know who the girl was that was nursing him, and fell in love with his own mother. He's still happily married to Lorraine at age 79, and has come to love her, even after he ceased having amnesia."
Marlene shook her head. "I can't believe this" she muttered. "This is just so weird."
"Let's save the rest of the introductions for a later time, then" Stephanie said, with a faint smirk. "I don't really want to hear something like that again."
"Agreed" Marlene said.
The time train, which, in the meantime, had simply been flying through the sky, now descended down. Amy stabilized herself as well as she could as the train landed. Cliff and Mean Amy then glanced towards the back.
"Well, we're going" Cliff said. "I guess that we're going to have a lot of fun in this world. You amuse yourself, Griff."
"Oh, I definitely will" Griff said, with a smirk.
As Amy sighed, her other self, Cliff and the third Tannen - whose identity she'd probably find out later - exited the train. She sighed. Today wasn't going to be a very nice day for her. That she was certain of.
oooooooo
Cliff Tannen couldn't help but gasp as he stared at the city of Green Valley. Sure, he'd visited it once before, but this was different. Green Valley seemed to be changed. There were buildings in there that weren't around before, and other banners and things that he didn't recognise. All together, though, it seemed to be a pretty similar town. Him feeling stunned was therefore mostly the result of the confirmation that the time machine could actually travel through space as well and cross many miles in just a second.
"Whoa" he muttered. "This is amazing. To think that we actually travelled here by simply getting up to 88!"
"Yeah" Amy agreed. "It's definitely weird. I knew that Crackpot Brown had to have some sense in him, but that he managed to build a time, space and dimension machine?" She shook her head. "This is just too weird."
"Completely agreed" Xiff muttered. "I thought Brown was supposed to be a nutcase. To belong in the asylum. He's so weird... he's been away for sixty years!"
Cliff frowned. "He has?"
Xiff nodded. "Yeah" he said. "He vanished in late October of 1985, and no one ever saw him again afterwards - however some people claim they did, around the same time in October 2015, and in September 2020. However, he re-appeared with a wife and kids in 2045... also in late October, if I'm not mistaken. It was so weird. Not only the fact that someone married Brown, but also where he had been for so long. He never gave specific locations." He smirked. "I guess that now I finally find out. Time travel must've been involved. Betcha that he was spending time somewhere else and that butthead friend of his, McFly Senior, finally convinced him to go home again. I wish he hadn't."
"Yeah, I guess so" Amy agreed. "So, what are we gonna do? I don't suppose that there will be McFly's or Brown's here."
"Well, maybe there are" Cliff argued. "I was just guessing things when I typed in TR after all. But, yeah, seeing as we're in Green Valley 1987 now, the chance is small."
"And there's no mall here" Xiff noticed. "So we can't just go in there and see if there's any girls in there, like we usually do."
"You're right" Cliff said, pacing through the streets. "I just can't..."
As the twenty-four-year-old then looked sideways into a cafetaria, he got a very big shock. In there was a girl who looked like no one else than Lorraine Baines! He supressed a cry of happiness. "Guys, look!" he whispered.
The others were excited, too. "This is great!" Xiff exclaimed. "I can't wait 'till Dad hears about this!"
"Yeah, and look who's sitting next to her" Amy said. "It looks just like another version of that Suzy MacArthur girl!"
Cliff took a closer look, and had to agree with his comrade. The girl sitting opposite to the Lorraine look-alike was dressed in 1980s clothes, but other than that she bore a very striking resemblance to Suzy. "Guess this must be your favourite world so far, isn't it Xiff?" he quipped.
Xiff laughed. "Yeah, I suppose so" he agreed. "So, what'll we do? Go in right away?" From the looks on his face, one could clearly see that he was in favour of that.
Cliff glanced into the Café. "Yeah, we could probably do that" he said. "It isn't too busy here after all. We should be able to get in and out without too many people detecting us."
"But what if they are going to come out soon anyway?" Amy argued.
"They won't" Cliff said, firmly. "Look inside. Their plates are almost full. And with this speed, they won't get it finished very soon anyway. And I'm not waiting a quarter or more. Ten minutes is maximal, and I don't think that the girls will be ready that fast."
"Yeah, I guess you're right" Amy said, a smirk appearing on her face. "All right - we're going to have a lot of fun with this. Again."
"Yeah, definitely" Cliff said, smirking also. "Just remember, Amy - if you want to beat them up, don't hurt the pretty face of the Lorraine look-alike. We'd like to keep that intact."
"I won't" Amy assured him. "Good luck to us, guys - and let's hope that we'll be able to grab that food they have as well. It's so funny to watch when people can't do anything about you eating their food. I think we should have done that in the 'McFly is named Calvin and dating Susan' universe."
"Yeah, that would've been a good idea" Cliff admitted. "We could have a lot of fun here as well, though - and we're definitely not stopping soon, so we'll have plenty of chances. Taking a break - yes. Stopping - never."
As Xiff and Amy both nodded, Cliff couldn't help but smile. He remembered that, when this whole adventure had began, back in 1987, he'd been just hoping to prove that Brown was a nutcase. Now, though, he had much more than that. He had unlimited power with the time machine, a lot of girls to kiss, future information and loyal allies - and even a girl which he had to admit that he liked. Yeah, this adventure certainly surpassed whatever he had dreamt about ever in his lifetime.
And as he placed himself in position to open the door to the cafetaria quick, he could only hope that the rest of the adventure would go just as well.
oooooooo
Kelly Greenwood was feeling very happy, as she was eating her meal. Today wasn't a bad day, after all. Sure, there wasn't anything strange going on - but she had vacation from college, which meant that she could spend more time with her friends... and her boyfriend.
Kelly sighed, and smiled. Todd McKay certainly was the most wonderful person that she'd ever met. Not all girls considered him to be good-looking, but Kelly certainly did. She just couldn't understand how biased her other self had been against Todd, in the timeline before Todd went back in time. Even if there hadn't come anything else that was good out of that time change, Todd had proclaimed that getting them to date was more than worth it.
The nineteen-year-old then thought about how she'd had to adjust to the change. For a day or two, it had seemed like the boyfriend that she'd known for a long time, had turned into a complete stranger. Sure, Kelly hadn't really got the chance to realise that this Todd wasn't dating her in those few minutes before they got dragged off to the '50s. And after the adventure, which, according to Todd, had taken him almost two months - while it had been just a few hours for her - Todd had told her that he was now fully adjusted to this new world.
Of course, there was also the fact that Todd, Todd-from-the-other-world as she'd come to call that part of his personality, had a crush on Kelly for about as long as they'd been dating in the new world. Kelly remembered what Todd had told her. In this world, a more confident Todd had asked her to the Enchantment In The Air Dance, a dance for people in their early teens who had to adjust to the world of High School, which had been held back in 1980, and anyway, while they were dancing, Todd had scared off a bully who'd tried to harass her. After that, Kelly had fallen in love with him. In the old world, however, insecure Todd hadn't asked her out, and, while he had watched the bully, he didn't dare to interfere, and when he finally decided to do so, the host of the festival had interfered instead and chased the bully away, who had perhaps even been about to rape Kelly. Ever since then, a disappointed Todd hadn't dared to come close to Kelly, and her other self had, after hearing that Todd had been near, come to view him as a wimp, too. Kelly shuddered at that course of events, and was glad that such a thing had never happened here.
"Hey."
Kelly's head moved up rapidly to face her best friend. Mallory Ross, formerly Mallone, smiled faintly at her. "Lost in thoughts again?" she asked, while taking a bite of the hamburger in front of her. "It doesn't matter - I was, too." She shook her head. "I can't believe that I'm actually living in the 1980s now. It freaks me out."
Kelly had a hard time keeping herself from rolling her eyes, and shook her head instead, like Mallory had done. "You've been here for two full years, you know" she said.
"Two years, four months and ten days" Mallory corrected her.
"Stop acting like Brent" Kelly said, with a grin. "But you know what I mean. One would think you would have adjusted already."
"I have!" Mallory exclaimed. Softer, she continued: "Well, mostly. I am feeling quite okay here, so I guess I managed to adjust very well. But still... life is so different here. No robots. Shops are on solid ground. When you want to get something from a shop, you actually have to go there and can't just order it on your computer and get it delivered within ten minutes. Cars that actually drive, and actually use gasoline, without the driver being put into jail for it, for being a 'danger to the citizens of the town'. Life's weird here."
"Well, it's not like 'your time's great and mine's bad' and all that stuff" Kelly argued. "I mean, you admitted yourself that things weren't all too well in the twenty-eighties either, didn't you?"
"Yes, I did" Mallory said, nodding. "While I wouldn't call our future government tolitarian just yet, and it was by no means Orwellian, I just have to say that life here is a lot more democratic. One actually gets to vote. That was quite different in our times. We did have some basic rights, but mostly, one cared for him- or herself and didn't really bother with other people. You did have some friends, but not many of them and the friendship wasn't really as developed as here either. That really was quite the adjustment."
"Yeah, I can imagine it would be" Kelly said, thoughtfully. "Well, anyway, not to stop our - quite interesting - conversation about the future, but maybe we should take some food, now? That's the basic reason we came here, after all."
"True as always" Mallory grinned. She took a bite. "Mmm, this is delicious. You know, while this is great food, I can remember that, in 2085, we had..."
Mallory's ideas about food were not revealed as the door was slammed open and three unfamiliar people entered, two boys and one girl, of about their age. For a moment, Kelly thought she was going insane. It wasn't the girl, who was a brunette and had an evil grin spread out on her face, that was shocking - Kelly knew for a fact that female bullies existed, after all. It was the boys. Both of them seemed to be twins - which would've been normal otherwise, but now wasn't, because they both were the spitting image of Charlie Winfred!
"This is heavy!" Mallory exclaimed, her words indicating that indeed, she was doing a very good job of adjusting to the 1980s.
"Well, well, Lorraine Baines" Charlie number one said, with a grin. "It's great to see you here - even though we tapped in an entirely different code this time around."
"Lorraine who?" Kelly demanded, confused. "Listen, Charlie Winfred, I don't know what's going on, or where that clone came from, but you know as well as I do that my name is Kelly Greenwood!"
Charlie frowned. "Charlie Winfred?" he repeated, seeming honestly confused. "What's that supposed to mean, 'Kelly'?" He spoke the last word with obvious sarcasm. "My name is Cliff Tannen."
Kelly frowned, as she wondered why Charlie would be trying to fool her like that. "Yeah, right" she muttered. "And I'm the first lady of the US! You're Charlie Winfred, and I don't know why you're trying to fool us like this, but if you'll excuse me - we're eating." With that, she moved back to her plate.
Charlie continued to look at her, stunned. His female companion, though, wasn't as silent. As Kelly was eating, the girl suddenly took her plate, and took a bite of the hamburger. "Hmm, nice" she said, with a smirk. "They make these okay in the '80s, I guess."
Kelly wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, but the confusion was replaced by her feeling furious at the girl stealing her food. "What the heck was that for!" she exclaimed. "You're going to pay for that, you know!"
"Oh, is she?" the second Charlie said, with a grin. "I guess that you guys really are weird. That doesn't matter to me, though - as you look just awesome."
Kelly was used to people thinking of her as attractive, but now, she wished that she wasn't. "Leave me alone!" she called out, as the second Charlie grabbed her arm. She tried to grab the plate where the girl was still eating from, but failed as First Charlie grabbed her left arm. "I didn't do anything to you!"
"Yeah, that's right!" Mallory said, speaking up. She'd been silent for some time now, seeing as the bullies only seemed to notice Kelly, but now, she'd accused herself of being wimpish and spoke up. "Kelly did nothing to you! Leave her alone!"
"Well, miss Suzy MacArthur has something to say as well" the girl said, snickering. "Oh, sorry - I must have been mistaken. I guess that you have decided that you'd prefer a different name as well, huh? What's it going to be, Stephanie Stebbs? Harmony Brown? You could try to take the name of what are probably your colleagues."
"My name is Mallory Ross" Mallory said, obviously confused about the completely unfamiliar names. "Mallory Ross-Mallone, actually. I'm married to Brent Ross, if you want to know. Now leave us alone."
"I am not even thinking about it" First Charlie said. He took a step forwards, took out some cloth, and put it into Mallory's face. After a few moments, the girl passed out.
Kelly gasped, as she inhaled a whiff of the stuff on the cloth, and recognised it as chloroform. However, she didn't pass out - as it was too few and too far away. She stared at the Charlie's and the girl, astonished.
"Now, are you calming down now?" the girl said, with a smirk. "Then if you're nice, we'll treat you better. We might even introduce us to you."
"Good idea, comrade" First Charlie said, with a smirk. "Yes, we might as well do that. Wouldn't want our dearest Lorraine to lack knowledge of who we are."
"Comrade?" Kelly repeated. "What are you guys, communists or something? Is this a conspiracy?" She began to panic. Sure, comrade wasn't a communist-exclusive word, but Kelly wasn't feeling calm enough to think of that fact.
The bullies burst into laughter. "Nah, no communists" First Charlie said. "Just kidnapping you. By the way, my name is Cliff Tannen, as I said before. Pleased to meet you, miss Kelly."
"And I'm Xiff Tannen" Second Charlie said.
"I'm Amy Needles" the girl said. "Guess you've never heard of these names, huh?" Kelly shook her head. "That's good, then we can get you to learn them the hard way, and give the names of Tannen and Needles a strong image, thanks to no knowledge of wuss versions."
Kelly wondered what that was supposed to mean, as the bullies began to push her outside, into the street. 'Xiff' was carrying Mallory, while 'Cliff' and Amy were holding her. Then, as they'd walked a few paces away from the Café, they encountered a very familiar young man.
"Holy shit!" Charlie Winfred whispered, as he looked in front of him. "What's going on? Who are you guys and why do you look so much like me?" He looked at Kelly and Mallory. "And what are you doing with Greenwood and Mallone? They're my girls!"
Cliff grinned. "A man after my own heart" he said, with a smirk. "So, I guess that you're Charlie Winfred?"
"That's right" Charlie confirmed. "Who are you guys? And what are you doing here?"
"We'll give you a brief explanation" Cliff said. "If you can come with us, you can hear the longer version." He looked down, for a few moments hesitating. "However, we don't want you to hear" he told Kelly, with a grin. "Of course not - I'd love to keep the element of surprise for you. That is going to be great." He smirked. "So, I guess we'll have to get a different solution for you."
Kelly just had enough time to think of what that might mean as Cliff stuffed the chloroform in her face. She tried to stop herself from inhaling it, but was soon forced to. After a few moments, Cliff took the chloroform away, convinced that she'd be passed out.
Kelly smirked, as she was now at an advantage. However, as she tried to profit from the situation, she found out that she was just about strong enough to give Cliff a gentle push - which, of course, made him found out that she was still awake.
Annoyed, Cliff put the chloroform back in place. This time, Kelly couldn't resist, no matter how hard she tried. After a few exhausting moments, she gave in and finally joined Mallory into dreamland.
oooooooo
Marty Emmett felt very uncomfortable, as the bus finally slowed down. They had now moved into the new world - however, since the dimensional code was 'TR', it was an entirely new one. He sighed, as he just wished that it would be someone else who would be the first to experience this abrupt change in dimensional codes. At least the PF codes had been slightly familiar to the folks of the EJ worlds - or so it seemed. The TR code, however, wasn't.
"So, what are we seeing?" Doc Nineteen said. "Boy, this is so weird. I can't believe I'm in another world. Well, I can believe it, seeing as the facts tell me so. Still, it's very strange."
"You won't get any argument from us there" Doc Three said, smiling faintly. "This is a very abnormal situation. So - yes, we're in a weird scenario. That doesn't and shouldn't stop us from acting on this, though. We have to find the girls before Cliff finds them - and therefore, our other selves."
"Where do you think they are going to be, smart me three?" Emmett Seventeen asked.
"The girls or our counterparts?" Doc Three asked in return.
Emmett Seventeen shrugged. "I don't know" he admitted. "Maybe even both. I mean, if it's an entirely different univarse, anything should be possible."
"Universe" Clint prompted.
Emmett Seventeen slapped himself on the forehead. "I always forget that when I get distressed" he gave as apology.
"Which is quite amusing, as it's the opposite situation with me" Marty Senior Seventeen said. "Anyway - I share in my best friend's opinion. Anything lies within the realm of possibilities in this space-time continuum."
"Yes, I know" Doc Three said, with a sigh. "But, anyway, I don't really know where to find our other selves. This world makes the whole thing even more frustrating. I am completely unfamiliar to Green Valley. Well, I might've been there once or twice, but I don't know the town as well as I do with my own home town. Do you, One?"
Doc One shook his head. "I don't" he said. "I guess that we're both in an unfamiliar situation here. And seeing as that we're the original 'Doc's' for both universes, I'd say that puts us in a pretty bad position."
"Hey, what about me?" Doc Two complained. "Chronologically, I came before Three here." He paused, softening his voice. "I understand why I've never been at the wheel, though. I'm not the first of the EJ worlds - and it's Three's train which we're tracking down. Also, I'm not so sure whether I'd want to be at the front. I'm not quite liking the responsibility that comes with it."
"I understand" Doc One said. "I don't like it either, but we do have a mission to accomplish. Of which we now don't know how to do it."
"So, what do we do?" Marty Senior Three complained. "We don't even know which girls Cliff wants to kidnap here!"
"Good point" Doc Three said, with a sigh. "I guess that we could just fly around and do nothing, and hope for someone who looks familiar to appear, but that would probably be a bit too much wishful thinking."
"Definitely" Doc Five agreed. "And we know not to be thinking in a wishful way by now. That didn't help us any the last time we did that."
"Yeah, that's right" Doc Four muttered. "I just have no idea what to do, though."
"I think I do" Marty Senior Seventeen said. "Doc... Doc Three, why don't you activate your temporal tracking device? You should be able to locate the temporal train quite quickly."
Doc Three frowned. "But if he hasn't captured the girls yet, that wouldn't do us much good."
"It would" Marty Senior Seventeen argued. "We'll have to remember that we're completely unfamiliar to this world and potentially to the girls of this world. So, our best gambling stake would be to track down the train."
Doc Three nodded slowly, and then, he pressed some buttons on the time tracker. Suddenly, he let out a gasp. Astonished, he pressed a few more buttons - and let out another gasp.
"What's wrong?" Marty Junior Fifteen demanded.
"Staying here would be our best bet indeed" Doc Three said. "Hill Valley is on here, all right, but apparently, some familiar houses don't exist. My house exists here, while it doesn't in the EJ worlds, but it's abandoned. The ravine is marked as Shonash Ravine. And while the ground where my mansion stood on is still there, there is no house on it. However, there are also no businesses around it, and my garage is also non-existent. The Mall is called Twin Pines here... Great Scott, this is a very weird world!" He paused. "I think it's safe to assume that neither of us exist here."
"You're kidding" Marty Junior Eleven said.
"I wish I was" Doc Three said. "But from the evidence that I can see here, it is our best guess to think of how the world turned out here. I guess that no mansion means my parents don't exist either."
"They could've bought another house" Marty Junior Fifteen said.
Marty Senior Thirteen One shook his head. "I met them in '25" he said. "They weren't the type to get a small house. They wanted a large mansion to live in, to gradually adjust to Hill Valley and to America in a relatively deserted area, while still being close to the centre of the town."
"That's off then" Marty Junior Nineteen said. "So, we don't exist. What next? Where are we going to go search for Cliff now?"
"Good question" Doc Three said, switching on his time tracker's tracking functions. "Hmm... if I'm seeing this correctly, they shouldn't be farther than about two miles away."
"Where are they?" Calvin Klein III asked.
"Close to the Square, from what I can see" Doc Three said. "Where the girls from Sixteen's world... I believe it was theirs... found them in the bus."
"No, it was mine" Marty Senior Eleven corrected. "It is my property in my reality." He looked around. "Considering the present time - will be, I guess. Whoa, time travel merged with dimensional travel is heavy."
"Tell me about it" TeenMarty said, as all his grown-up counterparts nodded. "It's so strange that we can actually travel through dimensions. It would've been awesome, hadn't the girls been kidnapped."
"Yeah" Marty Junior Five said. "This brings up the almanac mess all over again."
"We definitely know that the Tannen's can be nasty, but in our world, we ended up avoiding that mess" Doc Eighteen said. "I knew that my other self had gone through that, and that it happened because of a sports almanac, so I managed to avoid it."
Doc Three swiftly turned to him, confused and apparently slightly angered. "Excuse me, I must have heard you wrong" he said. "You did WHAT in 2015?"
"Since I had seen my own tombstone in 1885, I knew that it wasn't going to be nice for me if I went on the normal way" Doc Eighteen explained. "I mean, I didn't want to be shot. So, when I saw Marty holding an almanac, I recognised it, put him in the car, gave him a brief explanation and headed off to get Jennifer."
Doc Five was just about as stunned. "You... you purposely avoided Biff stealing your time machine while that event had made Marty be stuck in 1955 for the second time?"
"Yes" Doc Eighteen confirmed. "I really didn't want to go through the same thing."
"Were you nuts or something like that?" Doc Three exclaimed. "That's way too dangerous! You could've done potential great damage to the very structure of the space-time continuum!"
"He's correct" Marty Senior Seventeen agreed. "I'd never accept such a risk. Why did you do that, just in your own benefit? Great Scott, did you actually try to create a paradox!"
"Of course not!" Doc Eighteen defended himself. "I didn't need to go back to 1955 and get myself trapped in the Old West - Doc One had already done that, after all!"
"That's impossible!" Doc Three argued. "Without an outside device to help him, it is impossible for me One to have crossed the dimensional barrier! The time machine wasn't equipped for that just yet!"
"Well, then explain to me why there's another version of me laying in the local graveyard!" Doc Eighteen called out.
"It must've simply been another Emmett Brown!"
"The Browns didn't come to Hill Valley until 1908, and then they were the Von Brauns!"
"It could've been another Brown family!"
"Um, Doc?" Marty Senior Three said, softly. "I think you'd better calm down..."
"Keep yourself out of this!"
Doc Three and Doc Eighteen looked at each other, as they both had said the same thing. "All right, I guess I'm over-reacting a bit" Doc Eighteen said, a lot softer. "I just was so confused. I'd expected another version of myself to have an open mind."
"I have an open mind" Doc Three said. "Well, most of the time anyway. I guess that I over-reacted this time. Sorry for shouting at you so much, Eighteen."
"It's okay, Three." Doc Eighteen then smirked, and added: "But this ain't settled yet."
"You bet it isn't" Doc Three smirked back. Turning to his Marty, he added: "But why did you say I had to calm down?"
Marty Senior Three's face changed into a faint grin. "Look outside" he simply said.
As Doc Three did so, Marty Emmett followed him, and let out a gasp. Outside, walking through the street, was another version of himself, or of his father - but he was accompanied by a boy who bore a way too striking resemblance to George McFly. "Great Scott!" Doc Three hissed.
"You bet" Marty Junior Two said. "Heavy, huh?"
"Definitely" Emmett Seventeen agreed. "Why do you think they're out there? That boy looks so much like Marty's - Marty Senior's - Dad!"
"To be honest, I have no idea" Doc Three said. "But we'll find out soon. I guess we'll have to reveal us to them."
As Doc Three moved the bus down, Marty Emmett felt very nervous. He wondered what was going on here. Overall, though, his concern for the girls dominated his mind - making him less curious to seeing what was going on. That was too bad, though, as the trip just had token a very, very interesting twist.
oooooooo
Todd McKay looked at his friend, Brent, and figured that his life wasn't that great today after all. They'd just returned from the Courthouse Square, where they hadn't been able to find Kelly and Mallory, and they didn't know anything about what happened. Well, that wasn't entirely true. Someone had told them that he'd seen three versions of Charlie Winfred, who were kidnapping the girls - who were both unconscious!
The nineteen-year-old shook his head. Even though he knew time travel was possible, and had travelled through time several times, he just couldn't believe that there would be three versions of Charlie. However, if that story would be true, then time travel had to be involved, which might be a repetition of what happened in that fateful weekend in May 1985.
"What do you think, Brent?" Todd asked. "Where do you think the girls went?"
"I have no idea, Todd" Brent said, with a sigh. "They must be somewhere. I can't believe they'd just abandon us like this. I..." He sighed. "Todd, what if they really did get kidnapped? I was so happy when I met up with Mallory in 2085, and when she ended up loving me as well. I just want them to be safe."
Todd looked at him with sympathy. "We'll find them" he said, reassuringly. "Don't worry - we'll be fine. They'll be fine. We'll get them back and we'll laugh about what happened. You don't have to worry about Mallory leaving you or being kidnapped. She loves you, that's obvious, and kidnapping isn't a solution either."
"Yeah, you're probably right" Brent said. "And Kelly is completely in love with you, too, like you are with her. But I'd just..." He then gasped. "Todd!" he exclaimed. "Todd, look! Quick!"
Todd looked up, and as he did so, he felt the urge to faint. In front of him was a bus. That wouldn't be very weird normally, but the bus was hovering about a foot above the ground. Also... did he see someone who looked just like himself sitting in the back? Todd swiftly turned to Brent. "What's going on?" he demanded to know.
Brent got no chance to answer - not that he would've known, probably - as an old man stuck his head out of the front. "Good afternoon" he said. "You guys are probably confused by what's going on, but I have a question to ask you first: Are you missing some girls, by any chance?"
Todd gasped. "How do you know that?" he asked. "Did you kidnap them? Are you here to get ransom from us?"
The look on the older man's face was priceless. "Marty?" he asked. "Why would I do that? You know me, right? Dr. Emmett Lathrop Brown!"
"Emmett Lathrop Brown..." Todd slowly repeated. "No, I've never heard of it. And why are you calling me Marty?"
"Because that's your name?" Dr. Brown said. "Martin Seamus McFly?"
Todd shook his head. "No" he said. "I've never heard of the name, neither of yours. You must be mistaking me for somebody, because my name is Todd McKay."
The older man frowned, then rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right, Todd McKay" he said. "Really. And you're Brent Ross, right?" With that, he was facing Brent.
"Um, yeah, that's true" Brent said. "How did you know that? I've never seen you before in my life?"
"Quit the nonsense, you two" Dr. Brown said. "I don't know what exactly is going on here, but I do know that you guys aren't Todd McKay or Brent Ross."
Todd began to get annoyed with the guy. He wasn't extremely fond of his name, but he did like it and didn't like the fact that the guy was insisting that he couldn't be Todd McKay. "Take a look, then!" he exclaimed, taking out his driver's license and passing it to Dr. Brown. "It says it there."
Dr. Brown looked at the license, and gasped. "Great Scott!" he exclaimed. "This looks real... this is real."
"Told you so" Todd said, with a frown.
"It's true" Dr. Brown said, his face going pale for some reason. "You really are Todd McKay. And you really are Brent Ross. Great Scott!" He took a step back. "I don't think I'm feeling quite all right. I must be dreaming."
"What do you mean?" Brent asked. "And why are you so confused?"
His answer for that was temporary cancelled as a guy who bore a striking resemblance to Todd arrived. "Doc?" he asked. "What's going on? Why are you so pale?"
"Take a look yourself" 'Doc' said. "These guys just told me that they're Todd McKay and Brent Ross."
Other Todd started to laugh. "But that's impossible!" he exclaimed. "Todd and Brent are fictional characters from the Teens In Time movies! They don't really exist!"
Outside, Todd and Brent shared an uneasy glance. "All right, they're nuts" Todd concluded. "Come on Brent, let's get out of here before they find out we're gone. I don't want to face another nutcase, like with that Peanutbody fellow in 1955."
"I don't know, Todd" Brent said. "Even if they're nuts, it's nuts in a fascinating way. You know, what if they know where our girls are?"
Todd considered that for a moment. "You're right" he admitted. "I still think we ought to go, though."
As he was still pondering that, 'Doc' returned. He smiled at them. "Well, anyway, I should probably ask you guys to come aboard, if you're really missing girls - Kelly Greenwood and Mallory Mallone, right?"
"That's correct" Brent said. "Although it's Mallory Ross - she married me in July 1985." He looked at the older man. "What's going on there? And what's this about these 'Teens In Time' movies?"
"I understand you'd want an explanation" Doctor Brown said. "I would want one as well. Here it goes - we're from another universe. We're chasing a nutcase who is most likely unfamiliar to you, but has kidnapped the girls that we're familiar to us and most likely now to you, as well. If you can't find them, Kelly and Mallory are most likely in their hands, as they resemble the girls that we're familiar with. And I know this all because in our universe, you two and your girlfriends are just fictional characters in a movie trilogy called Teens In Time. The movies star Michael J. Fox and Crispin Glover and were released in 1985, 1989 and 1990."
"Right" Todd said. "And we're supposed to believe that? In case you really don't know, that trilogy was named Mind Warped!"
"It's the truth" Other Todd said, appearing behind Dr. Brown and looking amused at the 'Mind Warped' comment. "Brent - you haven't told Todd about all of your adventures in 1985, 1955 and 2085, have you?"
"No" Brent said. "Not into detail, at least."
"Very good" Other Todd said. "I guess you didn't tell him what happened on the night of May 31st, 2085, did you? And how you and Mallory shared your first kiss?"
Brent's eyes went wide. "You don't... you won't..." he stammered.
"You kissed that night, Brent?" Todd asked, stunned.
Brent blushed. "Yeah, I kissed Mallory" he admitted. "I was just in love with her... this is so strange. I guess that, since you know, you have to be telling the truth. Plus the already evidenced fact that you're a time traveller."
"I guess so" Todd muttered. "This is so weird. I'm a fictional character, in some world. I'm simply a character."
Other Todd chuckled. "It's not simply a character" he corrected. "Teens In Time was a super-popular movie in 1985. You guys are very well-known in our world." He looked at the teens. "Anyway, are you going to come aboard now? I bet that our companions will be freaked out at the fact that you two are here."
"I don't know" Brent muttered. "I don't know how I'd feel in front of people who consider me fictional."
"Actually, I consider you to be just a version of my grandpa" Other Todd said. "My grandfather, George McFly, looks an awful lot like you. So it wouldn't be like we only know you from the movies. We could've easily mistaken you for other versions of our relatives - heck, we did do that, in the start." He extended his hand. "Sorry for not introducing myself - I'm Marty McFly Junior, by the way. Number Three."
Todd and Brent shook the offered hand. "Pleased to meet you" Todd said, still a little nervous. "I guess I could introduce me to you, but I suppose you already know who I am..."
"Just the things that were mentioned in the movies" Marty Junior Three said. "I'm curious to learn more - but first, we have a mission to accomplish. Follow me." Todd and Brent nodded, as they nervously stepped on board.
Inside, they were immediately greeted by the weirdest crowd that they had ever seen. There were over two dozen people who resembled Todd, about a dozen that looked like his father, around twenty versions of this 'Dr. Brown' fellow, he estimated that there were about six or seven girls, a few other people that he didn't really know and there were a few guys who were all wearing name tags saying 'Mike H' - everyone was wearing name tags, for that matter. As he then looked further, Todd recognised to his astonishment the name on the name tags of one of the guys he didn't know - his name was, apparently, Todd B!
"Todd?" he repeated, curious about his apparent namesake. "Are you named Todd, too?"
"Um, yeah" Todd B said. "Who else is, then?"
"I am" Todd said. He smirked. "I guess that confuses you, doesn't it? Considering the other versions of me are all called 'Marty Junior'... and some other names."
"Definitely strange" a version of the guy who looked like his father said - Todd read the name tag as being 'Marty Senior Three', making him the father to Marty Junior Three which he'd already encountered. "And I thought things couldn't get much weirder when we bumped into smart me here again." He pointed at Marty Senior Seventeen. "Who's your friend over there?"
"Brent" Brent said. "Brent Ross."
A lot of occupants on the bus had stunned looks on their faces. "You don't mean..." Marty Junior Five started.
"Yes, they're the main characters of Teens In Time" Dr. Brown number Three - his name tag said Doc Three - said. "I was astonished at first."
"Well, you can't have been more stunned than I was" Brent said. "Finding out you're a fictional character in some other world can't be taken lightly, Dr. Brown."
"Please, call me Doc" Dr. Brown Three said. "But, yes - it's very astonishing. I know, since I've lived through that before."
"You mean, you guys are fictional too?" Todd said, astonished.
"That is correct" Dr. Brown Three said. "You are apparently our replacements for a trilogy which is filmed in some other worlds around 1985, which centres around us. That should give you a good idea as to why the Marty's look so much like you - you're their replacements for our world. Both of you are played by Michael J. Fox, you in our world, and Marty in the other world. The movie trilogy is called 'Back to the Future'."
"Never heard of it" Brent said. "Sounds like a catchy title, though... um, Doc."
Todd shook his head. "I can't believe this" he muttered. "I'm fictional in a fictional world! This makes my situation even worse, if you think about it."
"Yes, I suppose it does" Doc Three said. "However, in the world of number one here, they found out the same thing. They travelled to the fictional Family Ties Universe, and found out that they were fictional in that world."
"Weird" Todd concluded. "That would be like you finding out that our world is real, and see that we consider you fictional. We don't, though. The only movie trilogy of the 1980s... and 1990, I guess... that Michael J. Fox starred in, was Mind Warped."
"Mind Warped?" Marty Senior Four exclaimed. "But... but that movie replaces Back to the Future in our worlds!" About half to two-thirds of the crowd nodded.
"Wait a second" Brent said. "But I thought Teens In Time was in Back to the Future's place in your world?"
"We're from different kinds of worlds" Doc One explained. "One - that's me - and Two, Four, Six, Nine, Ten, Twelve, Fourteen, Fifteen, Eighteen and Nineteen are from worlds with an 'EJ' dimensional code. Three, Five, Seven, Eight, Eleven, Thirteen, Sixteen and Seventeen have PF for a dimensional code. You guys have TR. Anyway, in the PF worlds, Teens In Time replaces Back to the Future, while in EJ, Mind Warped does."
"Wait a second" Todd said. "You guys are from multiple worlds? You guys are from twenty different worlds?" The crowd nodded. "All right, what the heck is going on here?"
"Well said, Todd" Brent said, equally stunned. "I mean, this is all confusing enough - and we still don't even know where these guys came here for? What are you doing here, anyway? And what does it have to do with the girls that Todd and I are currently missing?"
"That's a confusing story" Doc '87 said, with a sigh. "In our world, there's a fellow called Cliff Tannen - looks just like your Bart Winfred, but he's a teenager - and he's gone off to steal my time machine and travelled to 2017. There, he took the local girls along with him - he'd already kidnapped somebody from my world, and allied with his future son, Griff. He started hopping through versions of 2017 and has been doing so every since. By the way, he has teamed up with Amy Needles and Xiff Tannen in the meantime. I guess you don't know them, but now you know. All four of them apparently dislike the McFly family and the Tannen's are trying to get the girls to fall for them - not that it would ever happen, of course. However, they try to kiss them anyway. We've made a detour to 2047, and now, we're in a very weird world, apparently."
"Hey!" Todd exclaimed. He then shook his head. "I can't believe this" he muttered, his eyes travelling around the crowd - and then suddenly stopping as they met someone very familiar. "Charlie?"
The guy shook his head. "Bill Tannen" he said. "I'm Griff Tannen's good cousin. Well, good - not bad, at least. I'm disgusted at what my relatives are doing. I wish that I wasn't related to them."
"I'm a Bill Tannen too" another Charlie look-alike said. "Same story with me here."
Todd figured he had no reason to doubt that story. "Weird" he finally settled on.
"You bet."
"So, what are we going to do?" Brent asked. "I guess that we're not going to hang around here a little and wait 'till the... Tannen's, I guess... release the girls on their own."
"Definitely not" Doc Three said. "We fly around a little, and occassionally, we confront them. We try to be as close to them as possible." He checked his tracker. "Great Scott! I left it on all the time, ever since we met up with Todd and Brent here! My poor batteries!"
"You're being a little too materialistic now, Three" Doc Five said.
"I guess so" Doc Three said. "Still, you saw what a lack of batteries did to Marty Senior Seventeen... Great Scott, that I didn't think of that before! We could've used the batteries of my time tracker for your shrinking ray, Seventeen!" He slapped himself on the forehead.
"It slipped my conscious brainwaves as well" Marty Senior Seventeen said. "The chance was realistic that the batteries would not have managed to place themselves into my shrinking device. In such a situation, all it would've handed to us would have been false hopeful feelings."
Doc Three nodded. "I guess so" he said. "Still, I should've remembered that."
"Where are they now, anyway?" Brent asked, trying to bring the subject on something else.
Doc Three checked the tracker. "Close by, actually" he said. "Shouldn't be more than half a mile from here." He slowly began to smile. "Anyone else up to facing them again?"
"Not really" Calvin M Nineteen admitted. "Then again, I'm relatively new here. Do whatever you want to do. But I doubt that we're going to have a lot of fun with this."
"Yeah, that's true" Emmett Seventeen said. "It'd only please the bullies."
"Still, if we do nothing, nothing happens" Doc One said. "None of us is interested in maintaining the status quo. Cliff wants to get rid of us and settle down with the girls - I'd hate to think what that might hold - while we want to rescue them."
Todd and Brent shivered as they thought of what Cliff probably would want with the girls. "Not to be overly optimistic, but do you think there's a chance they're still safe?" Brent tried.
"If you don't know where they are, they've been kidnapped" Doc Five said. "That's a classic one by now. The chance is very tiny that they're still safe. Still, we don't know for sure."
"Which we can find out by confronting Cliff, as gruesome as the results might be" Doc Three said. "Which, once again, counts in the favour of my plan of confronting him now - at least then we don't have to worry about leaving this dimension while the girls are beginning to look for Todd and Brent instead - which would just over-complicate the situation."
"If he doesn't have them, I doubt he'd tell us" Doc Two said. "He'd love for us to be worried about them."
"I know" Doc Three said. "Still, I think..."
The group fell silent as a faint chugging noise could be heard nearby. "Is it them?" Marty Senior Five asked.
"Certainly" Doc Three said. "According to my tracker, we are very far away from railroad tracks, and trains don't fly in the '80s. Not as far as I know, anyway. Also, the time tracker says they're about two hundred yards away, and coming closer at a slow but smooth pace." He looked into the bus. "So, what are we going to do?"
"Ask them" Doc Eight said. "Todd and Brent should be able to decide. They're new here, after all."
"All right" Brent said, after some initial hesitation. "Let's do it." Todd nodded in agreement.
"Good" Doc Three said, walking over to the front, and turning some circuitry on. Within moments, the bus was in the sky, and started to fly towards the place they knew the villains to be. Moments later, a beautiful steam train came in sight, flying in the sky at a slow pace, as Doc Three had already said.
Brent stared at it. "Is that the time machine of our villains?" he asked.
Doc Three nodded, not exactly pleased. "Yes, it is" he said. "It's actually mine - fell into the hands of the Tannen's some time ago. Great Scott, if they damage it..."
Brent continued to stare. "I can't believe that you actually built a time machine into a vehicle" he said.
"What else should I have built it into?" Doc Four said, sarcastically. "A house?"
Brent shook his head. "My time machine was built into a refrigerator" he explained. "It seemed an ideal way to me to move around up to 100 miles per hour - that's the speed needed to trigger time travel."
"Your reality is a lot different from ours" Doc Seven said.
"Sounds like a fascinating time machine, though" Marty Senior Seventeen said, grinning with a slight mad look on his face. "I'd like to have a look at it..."
"Marty!" Emmett Seventeen exclaimed. "We don't have time to cut apart other people's time machines now!"
"I wasn't planning on that!"
Doc Three carefully moved the time machine over to the other one. The train's commander seemed to be quickly figuring out what the meaning of this was, as he slowed down the train. Moments later, a grinning face appeared at the window.
"Good morning, afternoon, whatever it is" a guy who looked an awful lot like Charlie Winfred said. "I guess that you're off to confront me again?"
"Correct, Cliff" Doc Three said.
"Ah. And what are your mad idea's this time?"
"They're very simply ideas" Doc Three said. "Look, Cliff - if you let go of the girls, you can keep the train for all I care. I'll give up chasing you. I love my train, but I don't want you to... to do whatever you want to do to Suzy and Marlene and the others."
"Give up the girls?" Cliff called out, astonished. "Right after we captured such a beautiful one too! Another Lorraine Baines look-alike! This one seems to call herself Kelly."
"Oh no..." Todd groaned.
"Your girlfriend looks like Lea Thompson?" Marty Junior Four squeaked, astonished.
"It's not of the matter right now" Doc Three said. "Look, Cliff, we'll keep chasing you forever, and then we'll take the train too and somehow we'll manage to erase your knowledge of all this. You can't go on like this forever - you'd be better off negotiating."
Cliff considered that for a moment. "All right, I'll negotiate" he said, with a smirk. "This is my proposal - I give you back every duplicate. You'll let me keep one of every girl I have. So, one Stephanie, one Stacy, one Marlene, and so on. Also, you'll let me keep the two Lorraine look-alikes. Also, I want your time bus, your time tracking device with which you've been chasing me, all other versions of that device, and smart McFly's shrinking device. I think I've got some use for it."
"But if you take our bus, we'll never get home!" Doc Five protested. "Also - you can't just take the girls! You can't just force us to pick a girl that can be liberated and one that has to stay! This is a bad offer, Cliff!"
"It's my only one" Cliff said, shrugging.
Todd stepped forwards. "How do we know whether you even have our girls?"
Cliff smirked, and moments later, another Tannen or Winfred look-alike came in sight, dragging an unconscious Kelly. "Hi, Todd" Charlie said. "It's me, it's Charlie. I have to say, I never expected you to let go of your girl so easy."
"Charlie Winfred!" Todd exclaimed. "Could've expected you to join them!"
From that noise, Kelly opened her eyes, and shrieked. "Argh!" she exclaimed. "Let me go!" She looked up. "Todd!"
"We'll rescue you!" Brent called out, helpless. "Don't worry, Kelly!"
"Do worry" a brunette girl sneered, joining Cliff. Todd figured that was Amy Needles. "Charlie, maybe you could drop her to the ground."
"Drop me..." Kelly muttered, stunned.
"Ah, really?" Charlie protested, grinning. "She's so pretty!"
"I don't like it too" Cliff said. "But our friends here don't want to back off."
Todd looked on, pale, as Charlie began to move up Kelly to above the ground. "No!" he exclaimed. "Stop! We'll back off!"
Cliff shook his head. "Could've expected that" he said. He signalled for Charlie to haul her back in. "To think that, even in such a world, no one goes on to help them. Too bad." He shook his head again, and closed the cab door.
Moments later, the train started chugging away again. Todd and Brent looked after it as it accelerated and disappeared. Then, moments later, a loud boom and a flash indicated that it had left the current dimension.
"I can't believe this" Todd muttered, turning back to the inside of the bus as Doc Three closed the cab door. "That he'd actually drop her in the ravine."
"I know" Doc Three agreed, patting Todd's back. "It was quite a shock to me, too. Apparently, he's adjusted to not caring for other people's wishes - or lives, for that matter."
Brent shook his head. "Just too weird" he muttered.
"I think that 'weirdness' is the appropriate term here, and for you as well" Marty Junior Four said, eyes still open wide. He stared at Todd. "Is that Kelly girl really your girlfriend?"
Todd frowned at him. "Yeah" he said. "Are you that shaken up about me dating another girl than you're used to? I'm not a version of you, after all. And I don't see what's wrong with me dating Kelly. She's very attractive, isn't she?" The look on his face changed into a faint smile. "I can still remember when we first met, in both timelines. It was love at first sight - for me, at least."
Marty Senior Five shook his head. "The problem is that I'm... well, she's my mother" he said. "Marty Junior Four is stunned because your girlfriend resembles his grandmother, my mother, Lorraine Baines." He grimaced. "I'm used to the Teens In Time movies portraying Michael J. Fox and Lea Thompson as a pair, but I never really liked that. So, yeah, I can see where Junior Four is coming from."
Todd's eyes opened wide. "Really?" he said, astonished.
Marty Senior One nodded. "Yeah" he said. "And on my first time trip, I actually was forced on a date with my own mother as a teenager, who had a major crush on me. So, I guess that seeing you and Kelly would bring back bad memories."
"He's correct" Marty Senior Seventeen said. "Granted, my female ancestor once removed never went quite as far in our version of the space-time continuum than she did in the others, but I can grasp the feelings that my other selves appear to have."
"Yeah... whatever" Todd said, a little confused.
"He always talks like that" Emmett Seventeen said, with a grin. "That's our world - the 'intelligence switch' world."
Todd simply shook his head, as Doc Three looked down at his time tracker. "The time machine went to... August 10, 1987, 12:30 PM, Green Valley, California, MW 50."
"Green Valley and 1987 again?" Marty Junior Six said. "Cliff must be suffering from a bout of nostalgia."
"Can Tannen's even have that?" Marty Junior Four said.
"Apparently so."
"So, are we ready to go?" Doc Three said. "I'd like to remain close on their tail."
"If we can pick up the refrigerator, first" Marty Senior Seventeen said. "I'd love to have a look. This is a unique experience, after all."
Doc Three gave him an understanding look. "I can understand that you'd like to see the wonders of another time machine" he said. "I'm curious, as well. If Brent doesn't mind..."
"I don't" Brent said. "Go ahead and pick it up."
"...then we'll go on" Doc Three said. He began to carefully manouvre the bus through the sky.
Todd sat on his seat, as the bus moved above Green Valley, and after a few minutes, it arrived at the house where Brent lived. The bus gently landed, and Brent excited, an eager Marty Senior Seventeen going along.
The teen then looked around. "This is just so weird" he muttered. "First, we have these girls be kidnapped, and then, I end up being fictional!"
"You already were fictional" Emmett D pointed out. "Technically, you've been fictional since July 3rd, 1985 - which was when the first Teens In Time movie was released."
"One could argue, though, that Todd was fictional ever since his birth" Marty Einstein protested. "After all, he was created by the creators of the 'Teens In Time' movies."
"They hadn't even thought of him back then" Emmett D argued. "Theoretically, one could say that the Teens In Time universe sent ideas to the head of Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale in our universe."
"Hey, quit that, guys" Marty Sixteen protested. "We're not all the son or grandson of a scientist, you know."
"I'm not the grandson of a scientist" Emmett D pointed out. "My father was adopted by a scientist. It's a different thing."
"That's not entirely true, son" Michael Brown said. "I consider myself a Brown, now, even though I was born a McFly. I do consider Christopher Brown to be my father - but that might be because I barely knew George McFly, and Biff Tannen wasn't really a father figure to me."
"Biff Tannen?" Todd repeated, recognising the name as it had been talked about before. "Where are you from, anyway?"
That question, however, had to wait, as Marty Senior Seventeen and Brent re-entered the bus, Marty obviously excited. They were carrying the refrigerator.
"Whoa" Jennifer B said. "Cool thing."
"Yeah" Emmett Seventeen, her husband, agreed. "And, Marty - quit the drooling. You too, Marty Einstein."
As Marty Senior Seventeen gave a small mutter of protest, the bus lifted up again. "Are you guys ready to leave?" Doc Three asked the Teens In Time locals, as he tapped in the Destination Time.
"For Kelly and Mallory, definitely" Brent said, as Todd nodded. "I'd do that even if we had to go down to Orwell's 1984."
Doc Three chuckled slightly. "I hope it doesn't come to that, but you never know" he said. "It does exist, though - and apparently, One here has beaten Big Brother."
"What?" Todd said, stunned, as Doc One blushed.
"I think we'd better go, Three" Doc One said. His counterpart nodded, and accelerated. A confused Todd barely noticed as the bus reached 88 - which was, apparently, the speed needed to time travel in here - and was surrounded by flashes of light, a loud sonic boom sounded, and it left the Teens In Time Universe.