When we last left Marty and his friends, they had just left the school dance in 1955 for the second time and they had come to ask that timeline's Doc to help them, but he was freaked out at seeing them since he just sent them back to the future in the year 1985 only to come back from the future, leading the scientist to suddenly pass out from the shock. Due to the lightning storm, it was now raining, so Marty and the others began to help Doc inside away from the rain and to get settled in back home with Marty driving at the wheel. They soon found the scientist's home and decided to get settled for the dark and stormy night outside and placed him down comfortably in front of the fireplace until he would wake up and they would try to ask for his help again. The next day came while Marty, Atticus, Thor, Cherry, Lionel, and Mo were sleeping together in Doc's living room until the man would wake up and then help them out so that they could go back home and be done with their time-traveling adventures once and for all. Suddenly, the TV service resumed while they were all asleep.
"Hey, kids, what time is it? Howdy Doody time!" The TV announced.
Doc then suddenly got up and clutched his head. "Great Scott! Ooh... Howdy Doody time!" he then exclaimed before he took out his recorder and began to record a diary entry, thinking he was alone. "Date, Sunday, November 13th, 1955 7:01 AM. Last night's time travel experiment was apparently a complete success. Lightning struck the clock tower at precisely 10:04 pm sending the necessary 1.21 jigowatts into the time vehicle, which vanished in a brilliant flash of light leaving a pair of fire trails behind. I, therefore, assumed that Marty, his friends from outside Hill Valley, and the time vehicle were transported forward through time into the year 1985. After that... After that... I can't recall what happened. I don't even remember how I got home! Perhaps the jigowatt discharge coupled with the temporal displacement field generated by the time vehicle caused a disruption of my own brain waves resulting in a condition of temporary amnesia. Indeed I now recall the moments after the time vehicle disappeared into the future, I saw a vision of Marty and his friends from out of town saying, 'We've come back from the future'," he then added as Marty got out of his chair, with Doc facing his back to him, and he then started walking towards Doc. "Undoubtedly this was some sort of-" he then continued, only to get suddenly cut off.
"Hey, Doc." Marty waved and grinned at the old man as he was the first one awake out of all of his friends.
Doc spun around as if he had heard a ghost. "YAAAAH!" he screamed.
Marty jumped from the overstuffed chair he had been asleep in, careful not to trip over that pink board, hovering quietly, six inches above the carpet. "It's okay, Doc!" he raised his hands in a gesture of peace. "Calm down. It's me, Marty."
"No, it can't be you!" Doc shook his head vehemently as he threw down the microphone he had been talking into. "I sent you back to the future!"
"That's right," Lionel explained patiently. "But we came back again... back from the future! Don't you remember last night? You passed out, and we brought'cha home!"
But Doc's head kept shaking "no" as he marched from the room. "This can't be happening!" he declared. "It's a dream!"
Marty turned and followed him, as Sabrina and the others watched with mild interest.
"It's a nightmare!" Doc amended. "You can't be here! It doesn't make sense for any of you to be here!" He walked into the bathroom. "I refuse to even believe you are here!" And with that last word, Doc slammed the door behind him.
"Not again..." Sabrina sighed and groaned. "What do we do now?"
"You give up too easily, Blondie," Marty said to Sabrina before he took out the letter they got from Western Union. "We are here, and it does make sense," he then explained to Doc. "We came back to 1955 with the you from 1985 to get a book back from Biff. So once we got the book back, you, that is the you from 1985, were in the DeLorean when it got struck by lightning and you got sent back to 1885!"
"And you weren't alone either." Thor added.
"1885?" Doc asked before he suddenly opened the door. "It's a very interesting story, Future Kids, but there's one little thing that doesn't make sense. If the me in the future is now in the past, how could you possibly know about it?" he then asked suspiciously.
"You sent us a letter." Marty replied, shoving the letter in Doc's face suddenly.
Doc glanced at the group before he took the letter a few minutes later and soon began to read the letter with a magnifying glass while the kids in the background began to play with Doc's stuff such as the mind-reading helmet and toy DeLorean model. "'Dear Marty, Atticus, Cherry, Lionel, Mo, Thor, and Sabrina: If my calculations are correct, you will receive this letter immediately after you saw the Delorean struck by lightning. First, let me assure you that I am alive and well. I have been living happily these past eight months in the year 1885. The lightning bolt that hit the DeLorean caused a jigowatt overload which scrambled the time circuits, activated the flux capacitor, and sent me back to 1885. The overload shorted out the time circuits and destroyed the flying circuits. Unfortunately, the car will never fly again'... It actually flew!" he then paused to turn to the kids in amazement that the car was able to fly.
"Yeah, well, you had a hover conversion done in the early 21st century." Marty explained.
"It's true." Atticus added with a nod.
"Incredible!" Doc replied before he went back to reading. "'I set myself up as a blacksmith as a front while I attempted to repair the damage to the time circuits while Drell, Hilda, and Zelda did what they could to adjust to the timeline as well in their own unique ways. Unfortunately, this proved impossible because suitable replacement parts will not be invented until 1947. However, I've gotten quite adept at shoeing horses and fixing wagons'!" he then turned over to the kids again. "1885! Amazing. I actually end up as a blacksmith in The Ol' West." he then noted in awestruck.
"Pretty heavy, huh?" Cherry replied and nodded.
Doc then went back to reading yet again. "'I have buried the DeLorean in the Delgato mine adjacent to the old Boot Hill Cemetery as shown on the enclosed map. Hopefully it will remain undisturbed and preserved until you uncover it in 1955. Inside, you will find repair instructions. My 1955 counterpart'," he then stopped briefly. "That's me!"
"Yes." Cherry nodded obviously.
"'You should have no problem repairing it so you can drive it back to the future'," Doc soon continued. "'Once you have returned to 1985, destroy the time machine'," he then looked at the kids questioningly. "Destroy it?"
"Uh... Yeah, well, it's a long story, sir," Thor replied as he played with the model DeLorean. "Hmm... Wonder if they could put a DeLorean in Transformers?"
"'Do not, I repeat, do not attempt to come back here to get us'," Doc then continued to read the letter. "'We are perfectly happy living in the fresh air and wide open spaces, and I fear that unnecessary time travel only risks further disruption of the space-time continuum. And please take care of Einstein for me'," and again, he turned to the kids with a question in his voice. "Einstein?"
"He's your dog, Doc," Cherry replied as she decided to play Chess against herself to pass the time with the dog there who was called Copernicus. "Einstein, it's what you call your dog in 1985."
Doc then smirked and continued reading. "'I know at least one of you will give him a good home. Remember to walk him twice a day and that he only likes canned dog food and Sabrina, take very good care of Salem and he'll take good care of you too'... What an odd request involving a cat," he then shrugged off, not realizing Salem was a lot more than an ordinary cat before he soon continued to read the letter until he was done. "'These are my wishes. Please respect them and follow them. And so, children, we now say farewell and wish you Godspeed. You've been good, kind, and loyal friends to me and you made a real difference in my life if I haven't known all of you as long as Marty. I will always treasure our relationship, and will think on you with fond memories, warm feelings and a special place in my heart. Your friend in time, 'Doc.' Emmett L. Brown. Also Drell Grimwood and Hilda & Zelda Spellman'," he then finally concluded until he saw the date. "This says September 1st, 1885. I never knew I could write anything so touching."
"I know, I know Doc, it's beautiful." Marty nodded as he stepped over to his old friend.
"Also, who are Drell, Hilda, and Zelda?" Doc then asked.
"Long story short, my aunts and my possible step-uncle," Sabrina replied. "Now do you believe us?"
"I think and hope he'll believe us now." Atticus remarked.
"We know it sounds strange, Dr. Brown, but you can trust all of us." Cherry reassured the scientist.
"Aye," Lionel nodded. "Promise!"
A small dog was soon heard whining.
"Oh, it's all right, Copernicus!" Doc told the poor dog. "Everything's going to be fine."
"I'm sorry, Doc, it's all our-I mean... My fault you're stuck back there," Marty then said to his good old friend. "I never should've let Biff get to me."
The others frowned, though they were glad that Marty took the blame rather than blame the rest of them.
"There are plenty worse places to be than The Old West," Doc reassured. "I could've ended up in The Dark Ages. They probably would've burned me at the stake as a heretic or something."
Sabrina chuckled nervously. "Heh... That kinda reminds me of a school field trip actually..." she then said sheepishly.
"Oh, never mind that, my dear. Let's look at the map." Doc replied then.
"Right." Atticus nodded in agreement.
Doc soon searched the map, looking deep in thought. "It says here the time vehicle is buried here in a side tunnel. We may have to blast." he then suggested.
Soon, they all came near a cemetery and Doc and the others then blew up the opening to a cave.
"I think you woke the dead with that blast!" Marty shouted over the ringing noise in his ears.
But Doc shook his head impatiently. "Just a few tombstones," He waved vaguely at the ancient graveyard on the far side of the road, where a few of the brittle old markers actually had fallen. "We'll set 'em up later."
Doc pointed in the passenger seat of their rented tow truck. "Bring that camera. I want to document this excavation—for a record!"
"It's different, but the same," admitted Sabrina, as she grabbed the large flash camera and the duffel bag full of tools and supplies from the Hill Valley Army/Navy Store. Doc grabbed his own duffel bag and led the way toward the hole they had blown in the hill.
There, at the center of the new hole, was a tunnel leading into the hill and down. As they got closer, Marty and his friends saw that it was a real mining tunnel, the ceiling supported by what looked like old railroad ties, with a pair of narrow railroad tracks running down into the darkness.
"Everyone, lanterns!" Atticus said, and everyone brought out a lantern helmet from the bags.
Doc flicked on his lantern and shined the light into the recesses where the midmorning sun didn't reach. After a quick examination to determine that the explosion hadn't harmed the support beams, Doc led the way into the tunnel. Marty turned on his own lantern, then bent down to flick on the light on Copernicus's helmet. That being handled, the group descended further.
"I've gotta hand it to myself," the inventor muttered appreciatively, "hiding the time vehicle in a location like this. The temperature stays constant, very little humidity: a perfect preservation environment. Brilliant!" Doc chuckled.
A clump of dirt fell from the ceiling, barely missing Cherry's nose. She just hoped these old wooden beams were as solid as Doc thought they were. Even the dog didn't seem to be particularly comfortable in this underground tunnel. Copernicus whimpered softly, walking very close behind Marty's heels.
"This reminds me of the time I attempted to reach the center of the earth," Doc continued happily. "I'd been reading my favorite author, Jules Veme. I spent weeks preparing that expedition, and I didn't even get this far." He sighed wistfully. "Of course, I was only 12 at the time..."
"12... What an age to be, huh?" Atticus remarked.
"Yeah... Good times..." Sabrina added with a nod.
"Find anything interesting at least?" Mo asked the eccentric scientist.
"It was the writings of Jules Verne that had a profound effect on my life," Doc explained. "I was 11 when I first read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. That's when I realized that I must devote my life to science."
The others nodded as that sounded very educational and nice to know about their old friend.
"Doc... Check it out... Look at this." Marty soon said as he found a little cranny in the cave with wooden planks covering it, marked by an "ELB".
"My initials... Just like in Journey To The Center of the Earth!" Doc realized. "That means the time machine must be right through this wall."
Soon, Doc and the kids chopped through and found the DeLorean, covered with a sheet, inside.
"It's been buried here for 70 years, two months, and 13 days." Doc said with a sigh.
"Astounding." Atticus whispered.
Just outside the area in the cave where the DeLorean was hidden,
Marty was reading the letter out loud and Doc was staring with a magnifying glass at the time circuit control microchip as the others waited along. "'As you can see, the lightning bolt shorted out the time circuit control microchip. The attached sche... she'-" he then struggled with the next word.
Cherry took a look over his shoulder. "Schematic." she then said to him.
"'Schematic diagram will allow you to build a replacement unit with the 1955 components, thus restoring the time machine to perfect working order'." Marty then said and nodded before he continued reading aloud.
"Unbelievable, that this piece of junk could be such a big problem," Doc said before he found something rather interesting. "No wonder this circuit failed... It says, 'Made in Japan'."
"What do you mean, Doc? All the best stuff is made in Japan." Marty replied.
"China too." Atticus then added.
"Unbelievable!" Doc exclaimed in shock.
"Yeah, things get worked out between our countries," Lionel replied. "So their tech gets better."
"You kids have an answer for everything, don't you?" Doc replied.
"And to answer that question is yes," Cherry replied with a smirk. "Anyway, enough about us, let's carry on. Shall we?" she then suggested.
"Agreed," Atticus nodded. "I think we've done all we could over here."
"So the car has really been here since 1885?" Mo then asked.
"I gotta admit, this is really strange." Atticus remarked.
"Say, Doc, when you uncover something that hasn't been invented yet, is it still considered archaeology?" Marty soon asked.
Doc then considered Marty's question for a second, before shaking his head. "No. Insanity." he then answered.
"Hey... Here's an ancient letter," Cherry said before opening up a crinkled yellow piece of paper with a death threat on it, confusing her a bit. "'You won't hear the last from Hedley Lamar in Rock Ridge. I'll get you one of these days, Sheriff Bart and Waco Kid. February 7th, 1874'." she then read aloud.
"A film actress and inventor from Austria wants revenge on two guys called Waco Kid and Bart?" Thor asked out of confusion, scratching his head.
"That's Hedy Lamarr, apparently this is Hedley." Cherry corrected.
"So who the bloody flank is this Hedley character?" Lionel inquired.
"I don't know, but whoever he or she was, they sound like bad news." Cherry noted.
"Definitely didn't hear that in History Class." Mo added.
"Ah, Hedley Lamarr..." Doc soon said as that name stuck out to him before he explained to the kids. "He was the district attorney in a town called Rock Ridge just outside of Hill Valley back in 1874 who actually was in charge of laying the railroad track to bring trains from out of town."
"Ohhh," Lionel said. "So what exactly happened with that?"
"Don't they teach you kids this stuff in school?" Doc asked.
"Probably... But I feel like some of us are asleep." Cherry replied before glancing over.
"Hey! I don't fall asleep in class!" Marty glared.
Cherry looked at him again before crossing her arms with an eyebrow raise.
"...That often." Marty then added sheepishly.
"Well, I'll tell ya the story sometime when we have more time." Doc soon told the young ones.
"Okay," responded Patch. "But we'd better get the DeLorean out of here first, then figure out what we're gonna do next."
"You kids are right," Doc nodded. "Let's get to it."
"Right." The rest of the group agreed as they began to do just that.
"All right. Where do we go from here?" Sabrina soon asked.
Doc lifted the map into the lantern's light to answer the teenage witch's question. "Hmm... According to this, it should be around here-" he then started to say.
Marty soon scratched the hair under his helmet. The tunnel didn't look any different here than it had on the way down, just one more or less straight passageway leading deeper into the ground, without side tunnels or anything else particularly interesting.
Atticus helped out the most, chuckling to himself. "I'm gonna be the next He-Man." he then said.
"Whatever you say, Fudo. Whatever you say." Cherry rolled her eyes playfully.
So Doc led the way once again, with Marty, Copernicus, and the kids following behind him.
"We can't stay in 1955 forever... Especially with Aunt Hilda and Aunt Zelda... Harvey, Chloe, and Pi..." Sabrina frowned.
"Relax, Sabrina. We'll get back home," Cherry told the teenage witch. "We just gotta work around here and see what we have to do, then we'll be back in 1985 and we'll see what we can do with Marty afterward since he's our friend too and so is Doc."
"You sound positive for once." Sabrina commented.
"I'm just trying to help," Cherry shrugged. "I don't know how long this will take, but in my lifetime, it just feels like another brand new adventure, especially since we're not from Hill Valley like Marty or Jennifer are... I just hope Jennifer will be okay for Marty's sake though and he doesn't fall asleep in class."
"Stop saying that!" Marty complained to her.
"Not my fault you're not a top student like Alex Keaton, kiddo!" Cherry smirked.
"I don't even know who that is!" Marty retorted. "You're not making any sense!"
Cherry just gave a bit of a smirk.
"I've been trying to figure her out for a long time myself." Atticus told Marty.
Marty just groaned and shook his head as they continued on.
"Oh, gosh..." Mo mumbled and suddenly looked sick to her stomach once she found something.
"Whoa... You okay, Mo?" Atticus asked the tomboy. "You look like you just saw a ghost."
"I think I basically did." Mo replied wearily before she took out her flashlight to show what she saw that spooked her.
Copernicus was with her and was barking and whining as though he also understood the shock.
"What's going on with you guys?" Marty asked as he came by along with the rest of the group before he felt like his heart was going to stop as he glanced at the writing. "Oh, no... Not that. Anything but that." he then thought out loud.
They found a tombstone that got all of their attention in a very bad way:
HERE LIES
EMMETT BROWN.
Date of Birth: Unknown.
Died: September 7, 1885.
And then, in smaller letters, farther down the stone:
Shot in the back by Buford Tannen over a matter of $80.
Then, at the very bottom of the marker: greeted in eternal memory by his beloved Clara.
"Oh, no..." Lionel whispered. "How... how can this be?!"
"DOC! HURRY!" Marty suddenly cried out urgently.
"Marty, what's wrong?" Doc called. "You look like you've seen a ghost!"
"You're not far off, Doc." Marty informed as he pointed at the face of the tombstone, and Doc turned to look.
"GREAT SCOTT!" The inventor clutched his heart and staggered back, but he didn't faint.
"We're so sorry." Atticus frowned as this was very sad and spooky at the same tie.
"I'm getting chills," Doc said to the group once he got over the shock before he stopped and frowned at the teenagers. "Children, please; don't stand there!"
"Sorry." The group said once they got off of Doc's grave, forgetting they had been standing there.
Doc waved the teens' apology aside as he reread the tombstone. "Shot in the back?" he then wondered. "What kind of a future is that? And who's this 'Clara'? There's no mention of any Clara in my letter."
"Maybe you had a girlfriend or something?" Cherry shrugged at the inventor. "Heck, you probably got lonely back in The Old West."
"After all, you're only human." Atticus responded.
But their suggestion seemed to upset Doc even more than the gravestone. "I can't get involved with some pioneer woman!" the inventor exclaimed passionately. "That kind of thing could do irreparable damage to the entire space-time continuum!" He then took a moment to collect himself, then spoke in a calmer voice: "Better take a photograph, Marty. This calls for further research."
Marty and the others felt concerned to see Doc this grim, even the rest of the group since they didn't know him as well as Marty did, though what he just said gave them an idea.
The City Archives, down in the basement of the Hill Valley City Hall, would have been long closed by the time they towed the DeLorean back to safety. The place was thought of to be closed until they were allowed inside so that they could do the research they had to do and soon, they looked around the archives from the 1800s to see what they could figure out.
"Guys, I think I found something." Marty spoke up.
"Lay it on us, buddy." Thor spoke up.
"Gladly," Marty nodded before he read aloud what he had found. "'Buford Tannen was a notorious gunman, whose short temper earned him the nickname 'Mad Dog'. He was quick on the trigger, and bragged that he had killed 12 men, not including Indians or Chinamen'."
"Damn... Biff's twisted family tree AGAIN!" exclaimed Lionel as he snapped his fingers.
"Dang... Is there a Tannen in every century?" Atticus commented to himself.
"Is there any mention of me?" Doc asked Marty. "Was I one of the 12?"
"'However, this claim cannot be substantiated since precise records were not kept after Tannen shot a newspaper editor who printed an unfavorable story about him in 1884'," Marty continued to read until he looked up at Doc and shrugged. "I guess that's why we can't find anything."
Doc turned his attention to a file of his own and came to somebody else who looked familiar: a man, in his mid-20's who bore a resemblance to Marty. The picture came from the early 1900s; a little later than what they were looking for, but the man was surrounded by his family, including an older man; his father, perhaps?—who was dressed as a farmer.
"Look," Doc pointed out. "'William McFly and family.' Your relatives?"
Marty nodded. "Yeah. I think my great-grandfather was named William," He glanced at the photo. "Nice-looking fella."
"This can't be a coincidence unless it's a mistake," Atticus said thoughtfully as he tried to put his future detective skills to good use. "Maybe there was another Emmett Brown in 1885."
"Did you have any relatives here back then?" Sabrina asked the inventor.
Doc could only wish that were true. "No," he replied. "The Browns didn't move to Hill Valley until 1908, and then they were the Von Brauns. My father changed it during World War One."
Marty and the others then went back to flipping through the file in front of him. They all stared at the next photograph, open-mouthed.
"Well, now there's no doubt about it anymore." Cherry remarked as she took a look.
The caption read: The new clock, September 5, 1885. And in the photo stood the white-haired "Doc" Emmett L. Brown, dressed in a long coat and tie, western boots, and a Stetson hat, right next to a six-foot-high clock face resting on top of a Conestoga wagon.
"Great Scott! It's me! Then it is true! All of it," Doc gasped as he felt his heart sink into his chest. "It is me who goes back there and gets shot." He looked up to his teenage friends. "What's the date on that letter?"
Marty reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out the crumpled yellow letter. "September 1st, 1885." he read again.
Doc swallowed as he took the letter from Marty. "That means I get killed a week after I write the letter." he then realized in horror.
Marty lifted his gaze from the book and looked straight into the inventor's eyes. "No, Doc," the teenager announced solemnly. "None of that's gonna happen, because we're gonna go back to 1885 and bring you home."
"Yeah!" Lionel chimed in. "We're gonna save you from gettin' iced!"
"One way or another." Cherry added.
"Let's just hope we can go back home afterward." Atticus commented.
"I'm sure we will as long as we all work together." Mo nodded.
"And how!" Thor added.
"Well, we've come this far," Sabrina shrugged. "Might as well try to help out one last time."
Doc just had to wonder how the teenagers were possibly going to pull this off, but he didn't doubt them.
"So, how are we gonna blend in this time?" Thor soon wondered.
"We're gonna need some Wild West clothes," Cherry suggested. "I'm not crazy about The Wild West genre, but I guess I'll have to put up with it for now so we don't stick out like the sheriff in Blazing Saddles."
"Good movie," Lionel responded. "And I think I've got us all covered!"
"Do ya now?" Marty asked.
"Yes indeedy." Lionel declared as he wrung his hands out and waggled his fingers.
"...Is that like Bewitched?" Marty wondered.
"Something like that, yeah," Sabrina replied. "Let's just hope it's enough to help us blend in."
"Okay then," Marty nodded before he looked back at Lionel. "All right, buddy. Show me what you got."
Lionel waved his fingers, which began to spark and glimmer. "Ippity... Pippity... POW!" he declared, engulfing himself and his friends in a gleaming light.
The group soon flinched and braced themselves for impact before they were all suddenly changed and altered for their newest time travel mission. As the light faded, they saw they were all decked out in Wild West-style clothing.
Marty looked down and around. "Hey... Not bad." he then admitted.
"Not bad at all, pardners," Thor added as he attempted a Western drawl. "Now that we're all set, we might as well hit the road off to 1885 to save our family and friends!"
Marty just looked agape at what he just witnessed.
"Close that mouth," Cherry said as she clamped Marty's jaw shut. "You're gonna catch flies."
"Trust me, this is the least crazy thing you've seen," Lionel insisted. "Believe me on that."
"...I suppose that's true," Marty shrugged. "All right. Now for our next move." he then suggested.
"Right." Atticus nodded in agreement.
Soon, later that morning, they went over to The Pohatchee Drive-In and there was plenty of artwork of Cowboys & Indians. Very fitting for what was bound to happen to the group later once they would leave 1955 one last time in The DeLorean.
"What's with all the Indians?" Thor wondered.
"Probably just some gimmick to draw in crowds or something," Marty shrugged as they looked around. "It's gonna be some walk back to Hill Valley from here." Especially, in these too-tight cowboy boots."
"You'll live." Sabrina replied.
"It's still the safest plan. After all, we can't risk sending you back into a populated area, or to a spot that's geographically unknown. You don't want to crash into some tree that once existed in the past," Doc reassured the teenage group. "This area was completely open country. And since where you are going there are no roads, this terrain is safe to drive across. You'll have plenty of run-out space when you arrive," He turned away from the movie screen and pointed at what looked like a small cave beyond
the concession stand. "Now, there's a cave back there which will be a perfect place to hide the time vehicle." he then explained to them.
"Let's hope it serves the purpose we need." said Lionel.
"The clothes fit?" Doc asked.
Marty nodded unenthusiastically. "All except the boots. They're too tight." he then answered as he held up the offending footwear. He had tried them on, but had gone back to his Nikes when the boots had crushed his toes. There was another problem here, too.
"I just hope that these work out well enough like in Clint Eastwood movies." Mo commented.
"Clint who?" Doc asked since Clint Eastwood didn't start making Western movies until the 60s.
"Never mind." The group replied.
"Marty, you'll have to wear the boots, even if they are uncomfortable," Doc then advised. "You can't wear those futuristic things in 1885. You shouldn't even be wearing them in 1955."
"I'll put 'em on when we get there." Marty shrugged before he looked out.
"Just think, an adventure in The Wild West..." Cherry commented. "I never would've imagined such a thing."
"Crazy how life works out," nodded Atticus. "And yet... here we are."
"Precisely." Cherry agreed.
"Hey, Doc, you think I'll get a chance to ride a horse?" Marty soon asked. "I used to ride at summer camp. I was pretty good, too."
Doc smiled at that. "I don't see why not," He glanced back at the car. "I think that's everything. Your other clothes are packed. I put gas in the tank. What about the hoverboard device?"
"I got it. No worries." Sabrina said, taking out the pink Hoverboard from 2015 before she put it under the DeLorean seats.
"And you mustn't forget the photographic evidence," Doc added hurriedly. He passed Marty the photo of Doc at the clock tower they had taken from the archives and the snapshot showing Doc's grave. "If you have any trouble convincing me to come back with you, just show me these." he then added.
"Right." The group replied.
However, Marty paused and frowned at the mass of wires and vacuum tubes that now was mounted on the hood of the DeLorean. That, and the big 50s-style tires that Doc had mounted on the car to replace the ones that had shredded with age, made the DeLorean look like one of those so-called funny cars Marty used to see when he went down to the Hill Valley Speedway. He glanced back at Doc. "You're sure this tiling'll work?" he soon asked.
"Of course!" The inventor responded enthusiastically. "This device will do everything that, uh, 'microchip' could do," He paused to scratch his head. "I would have made it bigger, but there wasn't room."
"Okay... Then it looks like we're all set to go back to the past." Mo said before the DeLorean doors were open, allowing her and the rest of the future group to go inside the car.
"Time circuits on," Doc said as he twisted the appropriate handle. "Destination time," he then added as he pulled the letter from his pocket. "I wrote the letter on September first, so we'll send you back to the very next day, September 2nd, that's a Wednesday." he then punched the new date on the DeLorean's keypad:
DESTINATION TIME
SEPT. 2, 1885, 8:00 AM.
Next to the destination were the two other time displays, where they were now:
PRESENT TIME
NOVEMBER 16, 1955, 10:00 AM.
And, of course, the last time the machine was used.
LAST TIME DEPARTED
NOVEMBER 12, 1955, 9:44 PM.
Marty did some quick arithmetic. The machine had been sitting here since 1885.
"Sheesh, looks like these circuits, the flux capacitor, and everything hadn't been used in over 70 years." Thor realized.
"I just hope that Doc knows what he's doing," Marty replied. "Though if I know Doc, then I'm certain that he does." he then added.
"I get shot on Monday," Doc announced as he climbed back out of the car, "so you'll have five days to locate me. According to my letter, I'm a blacksmith, so I probably have a shop somewhere."
"Don't worry, Doc," Marty said, perhaps a bit more confidently than he felt as he pushed all doubts behind him. "I'll find you."
"We will always find you." Mo added.
"That sounds weirdly familiar," Cherry said to herself before shrugging. "Meh."
"You ever think you'll write about our adventures?" Thor asked. "You wanna be the author after all."
"Heh... Maybe someday?" Cherry chuckled as she rubbed the back of her head a little. "I dunno for sure, but at least George in 1955 gave me some sort of inspiration about his own writing until he wrote his best seller in our timeline."
"Well, I think you'd be brilliant at it," Lionel said casually. "And it's not like you'd be doing it alone."
"I guess we'll see what happens after this." Cherry commented.
"Especially with what Marty and Jennifer planned before we got wrapped up in this time travel adventure." Thor commented.
Marty blushed a bit bashfully before he nodded. "That would be great." he then agreed, though he looked a bit soft about something else.
"Marty, you guys don't have to do this," Doc soon said, sensing worry in the younger group. "If you want to go back to 1985; it's all right."
"Doc, I got you into this mess," Marty replied, more certain of his purpose. "I'm gonna get you out."
Doc paused for a minute, his eyes blinking rapidly. "Thank you," he managed at last before the inventor looked like he was going to get choked up all over again. Instead, the inventor pointed at the drive-in movie screen. "Drive the time vehicle directly toward that screen. If you go the other way, you'll come up on that gully too fast and you might bottom out the car and rip the gas tank or fuel lines." he then said.
Marty stared at the large, white expanse at the far end of the drive-in. "But, Doc, if I drive at the screen, we'll crash into those Indians." he objected, pointing at the Wild West mural painted beneath the expanse of white.
But Doc shook his head in that no-nonsense scientific way of his. "Marty, you're not thinking four-dimension- ally. Temporal displacement will occur before you get to the screen. You'll instantly be transported to 1885 and those Indians won't even be there." he then assured the boy.
"Oh, right." Marty answered.
"They won't have drive-ins in The Old West," Atticus told Marty. "Now let's saddle up, pardners and rassle up into a brand new adventure... Y'all."
"Please stop talking, Quick Draw McGraw." Cherry murmured as that sounded a bit forced to her.
"Aye, so let's make like the rabbit and Riccochet, okay?" asked Lionel.
"Sounds... Good." Cherry blinked in response.
"I'll show ya later." Lionel replied as that was another Hanna-Barbera cartoon.
Doc reached inside the tow truck and pulled out a gun belt, complete with a Colt revolver. "You're sure you don't want to take this?" he then asked the group.
"It's probably best that you keep a hold of it anyway," Cherry replied. "The only gun experience any of us really have is Wild Gunmen on Nintendo."
"We don't know how to use it anyway." Marty added as he covered Cherry's mouth for referencing Nintendo in the 1950s.
Doc nodded and tossed the gun belt back in the truck. He turned and looked at the group since this was it. "Good luck," he then said, almost choking up once again. "For all our sakes. See you in the future."
"You mean the past?" Atticus corrected.
"Whenever." Doc shrugged.
Once Cherry and the others had climbed inside, Marty lowered himself into the DeLorean and closed the gull-wing door. He turned the key in the ignition. The engine caught and roared to life. He and his friends were on their way. Doc knocked on the window. Marty opened the door as Doc leaned down to speak to him.
"Marty I know I've cautioned you about interfering in events of the past, but if for some reason you fail, and I end up getting shot in the back-" Doc began to say out of slight hesitation until he paused and took a deep breath. "—get that son of a bitch who does it."
Marty grinned up at his mentor. "We won't fail, Doc." He closed the door again as Doc stepped out of his path. Soon, the auburn teen put the DeLorean in gear and turned the DeLorean across the asphalt and gravel, toward the drive-in screen.
"Happy Trails, Marty!" Doc called after him. "Vaya con Dios!''
"Atomic batteries to power..." Lionel recited as he cracked his knuckles. "...turbines to speed. Contact."
Marty waved and shifted the DeLorean up through the gears. He aimed the car for the center screen and floored the accelerator as this was it and the few miles per hour kept going up until finally 88. Marty glanced in the rearview mirror. as he saw the flux capacitor starting to glow.
"This is it." Atticus said to himself and soon, the three sonic booms were heard and the three flashes of white light were seen.
"Hi-yo, Silver." Marty whispered as he and the others teenagers vanished into the past.
"Away!" The rest of the group added while leaving 1955 to go straight into 1885.
Wednesday, September 2, 1885
8:00 AM
There were Indians everywhere! But the movie screen was gone. The first thing the group saw was a cloud of dust, rising from a ridge directly ahead. And then there were galloping horses, charging over the ridge, a hundred horses or more. And mounted on those horses were a hundred men, some wearing buckskin, some with feathered headdresses, some with little more than loincloths and designs painted on their chests and arms and faces. Marty recognized those clothes and designs from his high school Hill Valley history class. It was the local Indian tribe, at least local in 1885: the Pohatchees! And all hundred of them were headed straight toward them as they had nothing else to do or say in this situation.
"INDIANS!" The group yelled out together as they were faced with real live Indians and not the Wild West mural from the Hill Valley drive-in.
Marty soon hastily shifted the DeLorean into reverse. The Pohatchee Braves kept on coming. The group could hear their war cries even over the racing car engine. Marty swung the steering wheel to the right. He hit the brakes, threw the car into first gear, and swung the wheel to the left. The Indians were getting closer. He could make out their angry faces in his rearview mirror. Marty accelerated and shifted up to second and it looked like they were out of there! ...But of course they weren't.
"This is gonna be harder than I thought." Sabrina groaned and put her hand to her head.
"Would it really be a time-travel adventure if it wasn't harder than we thought?" inquired Mo. "Still, we'd better scram before we become targets!"
"We gotta park somewhere... I don't know where though." Thor commented as he looked around as the Indians continued against the plains.
Marty soon drove the DeLorean across open desert land, very rough, dry, bumpy, open desert land. The car's wheels lurched from a prairie dog hole to a dry wash creek bed to a rock outcropping, jarring the group's whole bodies with every new obstacle. He didn't dare go any faster, for fear that he would bend a wheel rim or do some damage to the underside of the car.
"Just don't panic, guys," Marty told the others. "A car is still faster than a horse."
"Agreed." Atticus said as everyone else nodded.
Marty looked out the side-view mirror.
"Oh, snap!" Thor yelped. "The Pohatchees were really close now."
"I can even see the whites of their eyes." Mo gulped.
"Not to mention their rifles, knives, bows, and arrows." Sabrina remarked.
"We're down to 15 miles an hour!" Cherry cried out.
"Uh-oh..." Everyone else murmured as now was the time to panic.
"Help!" Marty yelled. "It's time to put the pedal to the metal later and worry about consequences later!" he then told the others.
The DeLorean bounced faster and faster across the rough desert terrain, up to 20 and 25, then close to 30 miles an hour.
Marty risked another look out the side-view mirror. "I think we lost the Indians... now that I think about it, I think we lost ground too." Marty said before he and the others looked out the windows suddenly.
The DeLorean was bouncing so much now that there was dust everywhere.
"At least the road is clear up ahead so far." Atticus pointed out, not seeing any cacti or outcroppings through the haze.
This was all very true, but still, no one in the group liked the banging noises the car was making as the tires jumped over the uneven desert ground. Marty looked in the mirror and it looked as though The Indians looked even closer than they did before. They all could definitely hear their war cries now, even through the closed windows.
"Time to speed up, guys." Marty soon told the others.
"What?" The group replied and soon, the ground dropped away beneath them as they were soon slammed forward as the car stopped dead.
It took them all a moment to realize they had dropped right into that gully that Doc had told them to hide the car in. Marty also realized it was a good thing they had been wearing their seatbelts, otherwise, they might really have gotten hurt. Eventually, the group could hear the sounds of Indians screaming and the thundering beats of their horses' hooves and soon, the Indians had reached the gully and jumped right over them and not one of them stopped.
"I dunno about you guys, but I'll never take my history class for granted ever again." Marty said to the group once they got out of the car once the coast was clear.
"Hey, you and me both," said Mo. "But... on the bright side, there's the cave where we're supposed to hide the DeLorean!"
"All right, all we should have to do is push it in and we're good to go from here." Atticus advised.
Suddenly, a bugle was heard being blown and a voice added in that called out "CHARGE!"
The group then looked back to where the Indians had come from. There was the United States Cavalry, a hundred mounted men strong, headed straight for them!
"Oh, NO!" The group cried out as that was all that they could say at a time like this. They all then looked at each other before they ran right into the DeLorean and slammed the doors shut after them.
A moment later, a hundred cavalry horses leapt over the gully and the DeLorean, then rode away, in pursuit of the Indians.
"Well, at least no one questions the car?" Atticus shrugged.
"It probably looks like some kinda covered wagon to them." Sabrina suggested.
"I think so too," Cherry said before she looked around. "I think the coast is clear again."
The group made their way out of the car and got ready to push the vehicle towards the cave, when they heard something trickling from underneath the DeLorean.
"...what is that?" Lionel asked.
"I don't know, but I feel like I'm gonna hate the answer." Cherry replied meekly.
"It's familiar... But I can't place it..." Marty murmured until he looked down and saw a stream of liquid coming from underneath the front of the car. "Gas!" he muttered in disbelief. "We ripped the gas tank!"
"Aw... That's just great..." Cherry groaned as she hit her head against a window. "Why don't we just throw in a bear attack while we're at it?"
Soon, they heard a noise from the cave behind them and it ended up being a growling noise. As though by cruel fate, Cherry slapped her hand over her mouth and they soon found that they were in the company of a grizzly bear.
"Yaaaah!" Marty remarked.
The grizzly bear ran toward him and his friends. Marty and the others ran, too. His boots fell from his grip, but there was no time to stop and retrieve them. Then his fancy, white, 10-gallon hat flew from his head. Too bad. Marty had a bear on his rear end—the kind of problem that only had one possible solution: Marty ran like hell, and his friends followed suit.
"Haven't you got some way to stop a bear?" Mo asked her boyfriend.
"If we can stop running long enough to catch our breath, I'll be sure to try it!" Atticus responded.
"Sounds great, He-Man." Cherry smirked.
"Ha, ha, ha." Atticus laughed sarcastically in response.
The group continued to run after what felt like a very long time, especially without the DeLorean.
"Doesn't this countryside ever end?" Thor complained.
"I thought we were sent back to Hill Valley in 1885... All I see out here is sand and the sun..." Atticus groaned and panted as the heat began to get to all of them and he was no exception.
"At least the bear stopped chasing us." Mo murmured in relief.
"I'll go anywhere with you guys... Just as long as we get some decent shelter with food and water..." Sabrina panted.
"Well...I dunno about water, but food?" suggested Lionel, pointing nearby. "I think we might be covered."
By now, the kids had reached some farmland.
"This is the first sign of people we've seen." Cherry commented.
"Heck, this is the first sign of anything we've seen since those Indians and cavalry way back at the DeLorean." Atticus remarked.
Marty and the others walked cautiously between two rows of low, green plants, careful not to squash any of the greenery underfoot. He wondered if any of this stuff was good to eat. He didn't recognize it, probably because it wasn't wrapped in plastic with a grocery store label on it. Civilization had to be around here somewhere; if only he could keep walking and ignore how tired he was. It was good he had found this farmland, with its rows of vegetables. It helped him walk in a straight line. Still, he almost stumbled once or twice on the loose earth beneath his feet. He needed food. He needed water. He needed rest. He needed to stay far away from bears. He seemed to have forgotten to change into his boots after seeing his dust-covered sneakers, but the boots were stuck along with his hat, back with the DeLorean, and the bear. He reached a slight rise between two of the fields and saw buildings in the distance. But there weren't enough of them for a town, even a small wild west town like Hill Valley. There were only two small shacks: a farmhouse and another that appeared to be a barn.
Marty had to admit it: "We're lost." he then said aloud.
"Gee, was it that obvious?" asked Cherry dryly.
"Why does everything you say have to be so sarcastic?" Marty complained.
"I was born with a silver tongue in my mouth." Cherry retorted and smirked.
The group soon continued, looking around the civilization and unfortunately, they didn't notice the ravine underneath them All of a sudden, there was no ground underneath their feet. They were soon rolling down the side of a hill, straight toward a fence somebody had stuck in their way. Their heads connected solidly with one of the posts, making them yell out before they soon saw stars and then they blacked out as they landed flat on their backs and groaned.
A pair of dust-covered boots soon approached the group, checking to see if they were conscious to show a familiar and also unfamiliar-looking man who had discovered him. "Maggie!" he soon voice called overhead. "Fetch some water! We've a hurt bunch here!"
"I have the weirdest déjà vu feeling..." Cherry murmured before she passed out after her friends.