Great job to Dirtkid123, AlienGhostWizard14, LabGirl2001, ceeceerocks2000, LRW, and Sodaluv8 for answering correctly! Douglas and Chase did try to reenact the past to bring back S-1's memory, but as we all know it wasn't as successful as they had hoped it'd be. ;)

Lady Cougar-Trombone, thanks for the comment!

Short note about Storm and Leo's conversation from last chapter: in case you've seen TNT's Leverage, it may have sounded familiar to you. That's because it was inspired by Eliot and Parker's conversation when they got trapped under the ice. I forgot what job it was, but if you've seen the series you'll remember. :)

Okay. Next chapter we go.

Episode Tag to: Bob Zombie

Chronicle #061

"Fusion"

10/03/15

10:09 PM

Weddings are great occasions—most of the time. It really depends on a few factors, such as the couple, how the wedding is set up, and, of course, the reception afterwards. I'm not saying that the whole thing has to be elaborate and pricey. Actually, I think that if it's well thought out and planned, even if it's done on a small budget, it will be nice. When I was younger, Mom's cousin had a small wedding. They didn't have much money, so they decided to get married by the lakeside owned by the groom's grandparents. It wasn't a very big place, but it was pretty. I don't remember much of how it was set up, but I do remember that it was fun and that the couple was happy.

Last I asked, Mom said that the two of them are still happily married.

Of all the weddings I've been to, though, my favorite is Mom and Big D's. I'm probably a little biased because it's my parents' and because I was included in the entourage, but with that aside it was honestly great. Being a tech titan, Big D had no problem spending tons of money – and I do mean tons. Mom felt a little overwhelmed at first because she knew that, traditionally, spending for the big day fell on her shoulders as the bride, but Big D suggested that they take a different route with theirs. After a long talk, they decided to go Dutch, and the wedding was on.

There were a lot of people there, important people, but what made it the best, above everything else, was that Mom and Big D were extremely happy. Mom looked so beautiful. Big D looked spiffy, too, but Mom was just wow.

Not to brag, but I didn't look shabby in my suit and tie myself.

It's been nearly three years since that happened, and since then, I've been to another wedding – a few days ago, to be exact. It was the wedding of the century, and I don't mean that in a good way. Perry unfortunately found a loophole in our family's ownership of the island, and she took advantage of that by laying claim to this whole place. There's really no use in explaining and recounting how bad everything looked. I mean, come on. It was Perry back in power and this time, there was no stopping her. Do I need to say more?

We were pretty desperate to have some tug on the ownership, so we had to resort to having a forced wedding. Guess who was thrusted into having to marry Terry Cherry Perry?

I gotta give Douglas some props, though, because that was a terrible place to find himself in. Imagine having to become a husband to that modern day Cruella de Ville. Yet, even if he didn't like it at all, he still rolled with it because it would be the best for everyone. "For an evil mastermind, you've got a big heart," I told him half-jokingly and half-sincerely while we were hanging out by the beach the night before the wedding.

He may not have been terribly excited about what was supposed to happen the following day but hey, that was the first time I was asked to be the best man. Admittedly, that surprised me because I thought he would have chosen either Adam or Chase. So, even if it was unexpected and even if the wedding was more torture to him than anything else, I still made sure that I did my best man duties, even if all that amounted to in our situation was some time off while everybody else was asleep.

Douglas just grumbled bitterly before taking a swig of the beer he got from the mainland. "Don't make this more depressing, kid," he told me afterwards.

"No, I'm serious," I said. "And why is that depressing? I just told you you're a good person."

"Yeah, well, look at where being a good person took me," he said. He frowned thoughtfully. "Maybe I should just run away tonight. I don't have to do this. This is not my problem. I won't even get anything from this because even with my share, I know Donald's going to try to control it."

"Douglas?"

"Hm?"

"You're mumbling. Like, crazy person mumbling," I told him. He just stared at me. "Look, just hang tight, okay? I'm sure Chase or someone else will come up with a solution. If not, well…I'm sorry to say this, but I can't let you make a run for it. We need the island back."

"And how are you going to stop me?" Douglas challenged.

I finished drinking my soda. Once it was empty, I crushed the can with my hand, the tin cracking loudly. "I'll find a way," I said.

He looked at me blankly. Just when I thought that he mistook what I did as a threat, he started smirking. "Huh. You've got an evil streak," he commented. "I knew there was a reason why I chose you as the best man."

I just chuckled at that.

Afterwards, we talked about the plans for tomorrow and what needed to be done to make sure all his effort would count. Of course, after a while, he went back to being grumpy and unhappy, but I reassured him that someone would think up of something. He did cheer up a bit when I told him that his night could be worse: he could be in Bree's place. She had drawn the short straw, figuratively, and had been chosen as Perry's maid of honor. As we were having our untraditional version of a bachelor's party, they were having their bridal shower, and from what Bree has told me recently it's a party no one would want to be invited in.

I guess that was why she was the one who came up with the fix to Douglas' and, ultimately, our problem. Perry drove her crazy the day leading up to the wedding that she made sure everything would work to our favor instead of hers. I have a feeling that part of the reason why Bree did it, too, was because she didn't want Douglas to end up with a wife like that. He may have been bad towards them in the past, but she knew he didn't deserve being married to a person he didn't even love and who, let's face it, will probably cause him to snap and return to the dark side.

It worked out well. There was a wedding ceremony, but Bree did a switcheroo that had Perry unknowingly signing a contract that gave us complete and total ownership of the island. No marriage licenses were signed, and that set Douglas free. That also set Perry off that she went on a Storm Trooper mode on everybody, but no one was harmed.

Believe it or not, despite the entire catastrophe, a number of the students enjoyed the wedding. They thought it was awesome. Then again, it was the first wedding they've ever been to so it wasn't really a surprise that they liked it. In fact, they liked it so much that it sparked conversation between the students. It was like a repeat of the night Era, Spin, Bob, and I played The Game of Life, only this time, the other kids weren't looking at it like it's a game.

It died down eventually, though, because they did realize that we're all too young to be seriously discussing topics like that.

I agree. We've still got some years to go.

Of course, that's not to say that I haven't thought about marriage. Besides being a hero, I also want to spend the rest of my life being with somebody I love when the time comes. I know this may be a bit premature, but I have a feeling that that somebody may just be the girl I'm with now.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just at that stage where I'm so stupidly in love with Amaranth that I'm not being very realistic. We seem to be on the same boat of waiting until after we're past twenty-one, so that means we have at least five years to go. Who knows what would happen within that time period? But, I meant what I told Chase when I (finally) told him about the new girlfriend. I didn't sign up for another relationship just to say I'm in one or just to get over Janelle. Either one would have been a pretty lame reason. Plus, it would've been mad disrespectful.

I'm dating Amaranth because I like her and would love to get to know her. I want to know her strengths, her quirks, her likes and dislikes to see whether she's the one I want to marry one day.

It may just be the whole 'I just attended a wedding' mentality going on in my head, but I've got a feeling that I'd still be dead serious about this even after it wears off.

Signed,

Leo Francis Dooley

10/04/15

12:01 AM

The Adam Chronicles

What's Douglas' middle name? Reviews and answers are appreciated!

Just a quick story recommendation: Wintershadow35's The Nightmare Reality. It's just been posted recently and was written for another author's challenge. If you like mysteries, this is a story for you. Please do give it a read! The first chapter was written so well, and it really does keep you guessing. If Leo's one of your favorite characters, it'll make the read much more enjoyable. :)

Alright. We're catching up! There's only Human Eddy left, and then there will be an open tag in place of the subsequent episode. Stay tuned!