Well. That had undoubtedly been the absolute strangest encounter with WordGirl ever.
Tobey stared out his window, studying his latest project—which he had dubbed the Bio-Dome. He had revealed far too much to WordGirl about his intentions behind it, but she seemed to have that affect on him at times. Just when he thought he was finally over the heroine, his infatuation seemed to resurface yet again. Even after all this time. Oh, he was hopeless.
But what on Earth had happened yesterday? Tobey had never seen WordGirl like that—so weak, feeble…helpless. What had caused it? It certainly couldn't have had to do with anything Tobey had done. He had found her in that condition, after all, just after she had deflected that huge meteorite headed for the park.
So…could it have something to do with that? Was the force of the meteorite too great for even the mighty WordGirl to handle? Or had something else been the cause of her downfall? Maybe he should go back to the park and examine the crash site.
Tobey stood up, deciding on his course of action. He decided to just walk to the park, and enjoy the nice afternoon while he could. He had nothing better to do today anyway, until he began his shift at the ice cream parlor this afternoon. Saturday evenings were usually pretty busy, so he might as well do something constructive before heading off to defend the parlor from sticky hands, dripping cones, and whining children.
On his way through the park, Tobey noticed Becky sitting with Violet, who was situated behind an easel with a brush and palette in hand. He was about to go over to just say hello on his way, but he hesitated when he saw that Becky seemed preoccupied as well. She was leaning against a tree and scribbling in a notepad, looking up every so often as though seeking inspiration before turning back to the pages and continuing to write.
Tobey decided not to interrupt them, and continued toward the place he had come across WordGirl the day before. As he approached the meteorite's collision course, he was amazed that WordGirl had been able to just fly off only fifteen minutes after enduring such destruction. The only thing left of the trees that had been in the meteorite's path were splintered stumps, and felled branches littered the ground so thickly that Tobey could hardly find space to walk without having to clamber over the severed limbs.
The meteorite itself had been all but destroyed. It was now only rubble. Fragments of rust-red rock and the occasional glittering yellow stone were covering the ground, as well as embedded in the small crater the meteorite had left behind. The biggest pieces left of the broken meteorite were only about the size of his fist, and a bit of the red stone had even been reduced to scarlet powder.
Tobey bent over to take a closer look. He carefully picked up a red rock about the size of his thumb and examined it curiously. What was this stuff? He was almost certain he'd never seen it before. It had a rough, granular texture, and was quite weighty for its size. Tobey winced, trying not to imagine how painful it must have been when WordGirl had struck the meteorite, and tumbled into the heap of its broken pieces.
Standing up straight again, Tobey pocketed the crimson stone. He still didn't know what had happened here, and now understood roughly the same amount he had yesterday—nothing. After Tobey had shoved the stone into his pocket, he remembered that his shift started in approximately half an hour. Oh, bother. He was not looking forward to dealing with whiny, slobbering, incompetent children yet again. It was after a shift at the ice cream parlor that Tobey was most grateful that he was an only child.
He had never really realized how much he loathed working there. But he couldn't just quit—a job is a job, after all, and he needed the extra income. Even if it drove him mad…
«The next day, at the Botsford residence…»
Becky looked up, half irritated and half curious. When the Narrator said things like "meanwhile, at…" or "later on, at…", it made her wonder where—or when—he'd been before. She almostwanted to ask—almost—but she didn't want to encourage him. It didn't matter anyway, since she was in the middle of telling Bob what had happened the previous afternoon.
"No, I don't know how I did it!" Becky continued her story, "I was just really mad, and I knew that I needed to protect those people, and then—BAM!—I shot him with these weird, golden, light-ball…things! Yeah, from my hands!"
An awed squeak was Becky's only reply. Her monkey sidekick was staring at her with his hands on his cheeks and his mouth hanging open in wonder.
"Yeah, it's cool, but what does it mean?" she replied anxiously, staring at her hands uneasily. "How did it happen? Why did it happen?"
Bob chattered at her while examining her hands. Becky blushed faintly at his words before answering him.
"Friday? Well, I mean, nothing really important happened on Friday. Mrs. Groves assigned us a new project, and Violet told me about her latest art project, and— Oh, you mean as WordGirl? Well how would I know what you meant, Bob? I lead a double life you know."
Bob looked at her suspiciously, moaning a complaint and crossing his arms.
"Okay, fine. Friday…just a regular old day, being regular old WordGirl…heh heh…"
He moaned again irritatedly.
"Oh, well, see, I was tired because I ran into a meteorite made of lexonite, and, well, you probably don't want to hear the whole, vapid story, but—"
Bob let out an annoyed series of squeaks.
"Sorry, Bob, but I'm WordGirl—it's kind of my job to use complicated words. Vapid means boring, lifeless, or tiresome; like how the whole story about what happened on Friday is totallyboring and tiresome—it's vapid. Really, really vapid."
He waved his arms in protest and let out an unhappy screech.
Becky bit her lip when Bob reminded her that she already had told him about the lexonite meteorite, and that he had realized that she was keeping something from him, what with her guarded, nervous demeanor.
"We-hell, yeah, and that was the whole story. No, I'm not leaving anything out." At least, not anything important, she added mentally.
The monkey chirped. Ugh, why did Bob have to keep asking questions? Becky really didn't want to talk about the whole, weird thing with Tobey right now, and she was sure that it had nothing to do with her new ability anyway! It was so easy for her to lie to everyone else—why did Bob have to be the one exception?
"Bob, can we just drop it?" Becky asked finally. "I just want to know what's happening to me."
She dropped her head into her hands and leaned her elbows against her knees. Her friend's face softened, and he patted her back comfortingly as they sat on her bed in silence. After a few moments he piped up again with an inquisitive squeak.
"Yeah, I tried doing it again after the police came for the Rock Tossing Guy. I went into the forest and punched a few trees with the glowing light stuff, but it wasn't as strong as it was when I was fighting him."
Bob examined her hand and squeaked again.
Becky shook her head. "I can't get it to work again. I was messing around with it last night, trying to figure out what the heck it is and how to control it, but today I haven't had any luck. Maybe it just wore off or something."
Becky flexed her hands silently. She had wondered about what it could possibly be—a new power… a crazy, inexplicable fluke… some kind of Lexiconian puberty… an ability she'd always had but didn't know about… a temporary result of her exposure to lexonite… perhaps even something to do with her last fight with the Energy Monster? The color was right, but it hadn't felt like the same kind of energy given off by the Energy Monster.
"Could it be like…alien puberty?" Becky suggested, self-conscious.
Bob shrugged and squealed.
"Oh, that's right," Becky replied disappointedly. "No one on Lexicon had any super powers because of the lexonite."
"Becky!" her mom called from downstairs.
"Yes, Mom?"
"We were about to start our Sunday Lunch-and-a-film-athon!" Mrs. Botsford sang. "We're having peanut butter and whatever-you-like sandwiches!"
"That means peanut butter and bananas for you," Becky teased Bob, who was already at the door. She raised her voice to answer her mom. "Okay! We'll be down in a sec!"
Bob squealed as Becky caught up with him in a flash and the two started downstairs.
"I don't know what movie they'll choose this time, Bob. I just hope it's not Avengers again."
It was so awkward sitting next to Tobey on Monday. Becky had to hide her discomfort as Mrs. Groves went over the latest chapters, though it wasn't easy. Luckily for her, Tobey seemed to be distracted, so he wasn't really talking or paying much attention to her.
"Okay, class, we'll be starting to work on the Bio-Bottle project on Wednesday," Mrs. Groves announced near the end of the hour. "So you should discuss with your partner how you're going to do it today and tomorrow."
"So, Tobey, do you have any ideas for our project?" Becky prodded, trying to draw her partner from his thoughts.
"What? Oh…yes. I have a little something," he replied, smirking slightly at his own joke.
"Okay," she played along. "So…what is it?"
"Oh, um… remind me to show you after school," Tobey answered nervously. "Meet me at the park?"
"Sure!" Becky agreed with a smile.
The bell rang, and she headed off to History, waving good-bye to Tobey.
After school, Becky waited for Violet at the school's entrance as usual. When her friend came out, Becky explained that she was going to the park to work on a project with Tobey. Violet smiled sweetly, as though she knew something that Becky didn't, said that she completely understood, and told her to have fun, before heading home with a wave.
Becky headed straight for the park to meet Tobey. She didn't know why, but for some reason she felt kind of…nervous.
"We're just working on a project," she tried to soothe herself. "He doesn't know that I'm WordGirl, and that I already know what he's going to show me. I can act surprised, I do it all the time."
«Nervous? »
"Oh, come on," Becky complained.
«What? There's no one here! »
"That doesn't mean I want you bugging me! What if someone hears me talking to you?"
«You were just talking to yourself… »
"We-hell, uh, I…" Becky sputtered. "Just… Don't you have anything better to do?"
«No. Narration is pretty much my sole purpose. »
"Can't you narrate elsewhere?"
«I suppose. Meanwhile, the grocer is selling groceries at the grocery store… »
As the Narrator's voice faded away, Becky entered the park. She immediately spotted Tobey, and hurried over to meet him. She didn't see the big dome thing, but figured either he would take her to it or it would come to them.
"Okay Tobey, so what did you want to show me?" Becky asked after they had exchanged greetings.
"I guess it's kind of a surprise."
Tobey pulled out a remote and entered a few commands, then waited. The ground thudded as the huge, robotic dome emerged from the cover of trees, and settled right in front of them.
"Oh, wow, Tobey—it's amazing!" Becky exclaimed in awe, not having to feign her surprise.
"Thank you," he replied, seeming pleased at her reaction. "I call it the Bio-Dome."
Tobey's Bio-Dome was different from when she had seen it as WordGirl. Now the island within the dome sported a small grove of trees, colorful wildflowers dotting a grassy terrain, and several berry bushes of different denominations placed amongst it all. Movement drew Becky's attention to a little flock of birds dancing through the trees. Upon further inspection, she also saw bees buzzing from flower to flower, a butterfly flitting lazily around a bush, a squirrel darting over tree roots in search of nuts, and a variety of fish swimming in the—wait…
"Oh dear… All the fish are dead!" Tobey cried dejectedly.
Becky stepped closer to the dome to observe the very still water. It was water from the river, as were the fish, and it looked very clean—as far as rivers go.
"I don't understand!" Tobey announced as he fiddled with the remote for the Bio-Dome, appearing to be checking some readings. "I installed a refrigeration device to stabilize the temperatures and counteract the greenhouse effect, I supplied the fish with their naturally occurring dietetic needs, I've been monitoring aquatic pH levels and particle concentrations—"
"You didn't put any plants in the water," Becky pointed out softly.
Tobey paused. That had never occurred to him. She beckoned for him to come stand next to her.
"Plants supply us with the oxygen we need to breathe," Becky began.
"Well of course," Tobey replied with a nod. "I know that."
"Well, it works the same way underwater," she continued. "Aquatic plants oxygenate the water the same way terrestrial plants oxygenate the air, and the fish need that to survive. Without it—"
"They die," Tobey groaned, rubbing his forehead. "Oh, robots are so much simpler…"
Becky snorted. "Maybe for you."
"Oh, especially for me, I assure you," he agreed, flashing a grin.
"I can see that," she replied as she gestured to the huge robotic dome.
"Yes, well, aside from the fish, the Bio-Dome has been completely self-sustainable since Friday afternoon," Tobey boasted. That comment made Becky recall that he had the contraption completed last Friday after school…not very long after AP Biology had ended.
"Wait…Friday… How on earth did you build this in one afternoon?" she asked, stunned.
"Machine shop," Tobey stated simply, shrugging.
Her jaw dropped. "You've got to be…are you…seriously? One hour?"
"Of course," he replied, straight-faced and completely serious. He wasn't even being bigheaded about it—he just seemed to be puzzled at Becky's speechless astonishment. "Um, Becky, are you alright?"
"Uh…yeah. Just really impressed!" she admitted, snapping out of her stupor. "This is amazing!"
"Well, I just wanted our project to be extraordinary," he affirmed, shrugging modestly.
"Then let's make it extraordinary!" Becky declared, rolling up her sleeves and dragging a surprised Tobey toward the river, Bio-Dome in tow.
I am merely content with this chapter, not happy :/ It's mostly the middle section. Darn that middle section! (Except the Avengers part—I couldn't resist!)
*As you may have noticed, in the first chapter I said that Biology was Becky's last class of the day. Well, now I'm changing it to second to last, to save the story's continuity, since with the way I had it, Tobey would have created the Bio-Dome in like ten minutes, which is illogical… If anyone's confused about the timeline, just let me know. I realize this chapter is kind of funky time-wise.
So I just went on a trek across America with my family! It was only two and a half weeks, but then I've been exhausted the last few days since we got home, and… That's why it took me so long to update. We drove through 12 states to visit my sister and her new baby. SHE'S SO FLIPPIN' ADORABLE! My niece, not my sister. I loooove her!
ANYWAY, loooong author's note… Reviews are really appreciated! Let me know what you think!
Your Pal,
SuperOreoMan