Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
- "When You Wish Upon a Star," Cliff Edwards
The golden rays of the sun's light entered into the window of a sleeping sixteen-year-old. She was enjoying a pleasant dream when it was dramatically interrupted by knocking on her door. With a groan she stirred and spun over in her bed. She then burrowed herself under her comforter, attempting to hide away from the sound that disturbed her slumber. The knocking wouldn't relent, making the girl groan again in annoyance.
"Go away, mom," the girl whined drowsily.
"You better get your butt up, Misty Cull. It's almost ten in the morning!" her mother's voice called from the other side of the door.
"No it's not! I set my alarm for eight!" Misty argued.
"Trust me dear, eight was almost two hours ago," Misty's mother retaliated.
Her mother's voice was drifting, indicating she had begun walking away from the door. She trusted her daughter would be awake and didn't need to hang around and rouse her further.
Misty groaned her final complaint, but rolled over and sat up, rubbing at her eyes. She picked up her Powerpuff Girls themed alarm clock and raised it so she could see the time on it.
She stared at 9:33 A.M.
9:33 A.M. stared back at her.
Misty blinked and then released a high-pitched screech that could be heard throughout the neighborhood, accidentally throwing the alarm clock away from her in the same action. She had set an alarm last night, but had set it for P.M. instead of A.M. Now, instead of being early, she was late since her original plan was to leave the house by 9:45. In a panic, Misty leapt from her bed and threw back her comforter in the same motion. She almost lost her balance when her feet were tangled by her comforter, but she managed to kick them off of her without face planting onto her carpeted floor.
"Crud, crud, crud, crud, crud!" she cursed, throwing open her closet doors and searching for the outfit she'd picked out the night before.
She quickly threw on the outfit, making sure it wasn't worn inside out or backwards, and then slipped into her white flats. Due to her limited time, she swept her brush and make-up accessories into her purse. She'd have to take care of that on the run, since her hair alone would eat up time. The last item on her morning routine was brushing her teeth, and, once she finished that, she rushed down the stairs, practically taking them three steps at a time. She was passing the opening for her kitchen, racing for the front door, when her mom called out to her.
"Hold it, young lady. Where do you think you're going?"
"Mom!" Misty whined, poking her head back in. "I'm heading to the mall with my friends. You said I could, remember?"
Misty had brought it up at dinner, and her parents had agreed. Recognition crossed her mother's eyes, but her mother still casted a dubious eye on her, particularly her hair.
"You're going out looking like that?" she questioned.
Misty reflexively ran her fingers over her uniquely colored hair. It would technically be labeled purple, but it was actually in an ombre-style, with her hair being violet-red towards the top and imperial purple towards the ends. When it was pulled up, her hair reached her mid-stomach, but since it was still down, it inched closer to her waistline.
"I'll brush it on the monorail," Misty defended.
"Okay, but what about breakfast?" Misty's mother asked.
"Mom!" Misty whined. "I do not have time for twenty questions. I'm going to be late, and Ezra is going to give me nothing but grief when I get there." At her mother's skeptical eye, Misty defended herself. "No, seriously, that guy is a stickler for time. He doesn't show up anywhere late or early! He doesn't even turn in his test until time is up even if he finished early!"
Misty's mother stared her daughter down, like she was trying to discern if her child was telling the truth or not. When Misty didn't break, her mother released a sigh of defeat.
"Alright, but get something when you're there, okay? Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," her mother said, espousing parental advice.
"Okay, I will, mom. Love you. See you at dinner!" Misty said in a rush, racing for the front door once again.
She was in such a hurry she didn't close the door behind her. With speed she never once showed in her P.E. class, Misty ran through the quiet neighborhood for the Peach Creek Estates monorail station. The elevator was already three feet off the ground when Misty arrived. Instead of waiting for the platform to come back down like any rational person would do, she made a running leap for it. She managed to get her hands on it, then hefted herself up onto the platform. The elderly gentleman already riding the elevating platform stared at the girl in surprise. She looked at him and flashed him a grin and thumbs up.
"Made it," Misty told him, even though he hadn't asked.
The two passengers stepped off the platform - the old man relying on his cane to assist him - and then onto the monorail that was already waiting at the station. Since the Peach Creek Estates station was on one end of the line, there weren't many passengers on it, so the old man and Misty had the monorail to themselves up until they'd reach the next station. With a satisfied sigh, she plopped herself on the floor. The old man gave her another look, this one judgmental, but she ignored him. It wasn't her fault DexLabs refused to furnish their monorails with seats. She pulled out her phone to take a look at the time, and flinched when she saw that it was 9:53.
Oh well, so I'm a little late, Misty thought. The thing's starting at 10:30, so I'll still make it.
With a mischievous smirk, Misty pulled out her hairbrush and began to tame her messy hair. When she had told her parents she wanted to meet up with her friends, that hadn't been a lie. Meeting them at the mall was the lie. Instead of the mall, Misty was actually heading to the Tech Square Convention Center. DexLabs was unveiling their newest experiment at the convention center, and everyone was abuzz with excitement.
Time travel. Real, bona fide time travel. And who was the lucky person being sent into the future? Misty Cull, that's who.
DexLabs had hosted a lottery to see who'd be the lucky person to go five minutes into the future. Out of thousands of names that had been put into the lottery, it was Misty's name that had been chosen. She was giddy with excitement for this lucky opportunity, but had to hide it from her parents. They would have absolutely refused to let their one and only daughter do something so dangerous, so she had forged their signatures on the consent form when Computress had sent it to her. Underhanded it may have been, but Misty wasn't about to let the opportunity slip through her fingers because of her parents. Misty could feel it. This was destiny, and she wasn't missing the chance to make history.
The Tech Square Convention Center was the joint property of DexLabs Inc. and Mandark Ind. It had been built out of necessity. Dexter and Mandark wanted to show off their inventions, but they ran the risk of their property being stolen if they invited people into their buildings. While there was security at the two companies, that didn't mean that their property would be safe. So for that reason, the convention center had been built.
It had been designed with both owners in mind, making sure each decor represented the two eccentric scientists fifty-fifty. The outside was painted white with red trimmings. The inside was painted black with blue trimmings, and the floor was black and white tile in a checker pattern. The only thing that looked out of place were the curtains on the stage. Instead of keeping with the white-black motif, the curtains were instead red and blue to represent the secondary colors attributed to the two companies.
Because they jointly owned it, the convention center had been built in between the two companies near the northern mountain range. Since it was on a slight incline, a short set of steps had been built leading up into the center. It was on these steps that Misty ran to, spotting four figures waiting outside. She ran up to these figures and stopped in front of them, bending over and propping herself up on her knees.
"Made it!" Misty cried, drawing in air to her poor lungs.
"You're late."
Misty lifted her head up enough so that her grey eyes could glare into the golden eyes of her friend Ezra.
"Rude," Misty huffed.
"Okay you two, play nice," their friend Gabby said, stepping in between the two and raising her hands in their directions. "It's actually too early in the morning to deal with you two bickering."
"Are your friends like this all the time?" a girl with pink hair in twin pigtails complained.
"Hi, Cherry, nice to see you too," Misty said to the younger girl sarcastically.
Cherry harrumphed and crossed her arms, looking annoyed at being addressed.
"I'm only hanging out with you guys because my friends couldn't come," Cherry told the girl.
"Awwh, don't be like that. You know you love hanging out with your big sis," another girl with pink hair said in a singsong voice, grabbing Cherry's shoulders from behind and giving her a little shake.
"Get off. You're the most embarrassing, Peach," Cherry complained to her older sister.
Peach didn't take her sister's complaint to heart and instead turned her attention onto her friend. With an energetic bounce, Peach was invading Misty's space, throwing her arms around her friend's neck.
"Aren't you excited, Misty? I could barely sleep last night thinking about it and I'm not even going to the future!"
Misty grinned at her friend's enthusiasm. No matter the situation, Peach was guaranteed to bring a smile to people's faces with her infectious enthusiasm. Even Ezra wasn't completely immune to her, though he tried to hide or deny it.
"I managed to get my beauty sleep," Misty answered her friend. "If I'm going to make history, I have to look my best." She then realized that they were standing outside the convention center instead of inside. "Wait, this thing's supposed to start soon. You guys need to get some seats!"
"Don't worry about that. Mateo's got us covered," Gabby answered.
"We couldn't get the front rows because of the press and celebrities, but we're still pretty close. You should be able to see us from the stage, especially with this." Peach held up a sign that read: SEE YOU IN THE FUTURE, MISTY!
"I love it," Misty said, her eyes sparkling as she looked at the sign. "I'm so hanging this on my wall when this is over."
"Deal," Peach agreed, sparkles in her own eyes.
"Uhm, excuse me?" a voice addressed.
As a single unit, the group looked to the person that had joined their group. He looked to be close to Cherry's age and suffered from a good deal of acne on his face. Misty held back her flinch as she looked at the boy.
"Can we help you?" Ezra asked, eyeing the boy.
The boy gulped and then cleared his throat to push away his nervousness. It didn't work that well since he still managed to stutter out, "I-I-I'm looking f-for Misty Cull?"
"That's me," Misty said, raising her hand like she was in class.
The boy's face lit up with relief. He avoided Ezra's eyes and focused his attention only on Misty. "Great. I'm Douglas. I work for DexLabs. Dexter asked me to bring you to him. He's backstage and we're almost ready to go."
"Oh, right," she said. She smiled at her friends and Cherry. "See you guys inside. We'll celebrate at Pink Palace after!"
Douglas guided her into the convention center which was full with people eagerly waiting for the start of the presentation. Misty was too busy following Douglas that she only managed to do a quick glance, enough to see that the place was inching toward the maximum amount of bodies set by the fire marshal.
Douglas took her to the stage and behind the second curtain, where Dexter and his A.I. assistant Computress were waiting. Dexter spotted them approaching and grinned. As soon as Misty stopped in front of him, the boy pulled her hand into his gloved one and shook it.
"Aaaahh, excellent, you've finally arrived," Dexter said instead of properly greeting her. "We're almost ready to begin. You remember what you're supposed to do, right?"
"Yep. Step inside the time machine and go five minutes into the future," Misty answered. "Easy peasy."
Dexter had sent her an email going over the plan for the presentation. The bulk of the work rested on Dexter's shoulders. He was to present the object to the audience, and when he called her name, that's when she'd enter the time machine. All she had to do was smile and look pretty and she'd be in the history books. Smiling and looking pretty was what she did on a daily basis, so this was going to be a piece of cake.
"Yes, exactly right," Dexter agreed. "I shall begin shortly. You may leave your personal belongings with Douglas."
Misty eyed Douglas, silently scrutinizing the boy to see if he'd sniff through her purse. The boy sensed that she was silently judging him and reassured her that he'd just hold onto her purse until she got back. He was part of DexLabs, so Misty decided to trust him and hand him her purse after doing one last touch up of her makeup.
She knew the presentation started when the ambient music suddenly cut out. The lights dimmed, the front curtains drew back, and a spotlight turned on as it followed Dexter onto the stage. While the audience clapped and cheered for the boy genius, Misty peeked her head around the drawn back curtain so that she could look at the crowd without being noticed. The dim lights made it hard for her to see everybody in the audience, but she could make out a few faces in the front rows.
Cameras from the press were situated in the front center. She could make out Townsville News, 5 Action News, NNN and Hometown Blather filming Dexter's presentation, airing it live for all the viewers at home who couldn't make it. They were going to milk this content for at least a week. She assumed the people wearing the lanyards were with the printed press, but she couldn't see who they belonged to. Probably newspapers like The Daily Neighbor, Townsville Tribune, World Weekly News and the Daily Horn sent their reporters down to get the scoop.
In the audience were the Utoniums. It was no surprise that someone like Professor Utonium would be watching the science experiment, but Misty couldn't deny the sight of the Powerpuff Girls themselves was surprising. She figured they'd be busy saving the city than sitting down to watch a presentation. Blossom was clearly interested, but her sister Buttercup was not. She looked like she desperately wanted a villain to attack just so she'd have something to do. Bubbles didn't have the same level of interest that her sister and father had, but she was paying attention. In her arms was the famous Weasel, who looked unimpressed that he was being treated as a cute animal instead of a genius. The only representative of the Justice Friends was their leader Major Glory. Major Glory didn't strike her as a big science guy, but he was probably personally invited by Dexter, since the boy genius was a huge fan of the America loving hero. Thank goodness the Infraggable Krunk hadn't been invited; there was a high chance the convention center and time machine would have been destroyed from one of his tantrums if he had showed.
The Mayor was in the audience, seated beside the music superstar and record producer Sunny Bridges. The teen hero Ben Tennyson was sitting in the audience with his cousin Gwen Tennyson and Kevin Levin to the right of him. Of the trio, Gwen was clearly the most interested in what was going on, but Ben and Kevin didn't look as bored as one would think. To the left of Ben was his friend and Providence's E.V.O., Rex Salazar. He was sitting next to a man that looked similar to Rex but older, and Misty made the educated guess that they were related, maybe brothers. Beside the man was Dr. Holiday, a world-renowned expert on nanites. Next to her were three individuals who all clearly knew each other because of the way they were leaning in speaking to each other. Based on what they wore and how invested they were in the presentation, she guessed they were scientists. Speaking of scientists, Dr. Benton Quest and his two children were in the audience, watching the presentation with interest. The family's bodyguard, Race Bannon, was keeping an eye out for trouble.
A man, woman, and teenage boy wearing orange jumpsuits caught Misty's attention. It was a surprising look, and she guessed they were a family. No way three strangers just coincidentally wore similar looking jumpsuits in the exact same color at the same event. Next to the family was an orange-haired woman who was also in a jumpsuit, though it was light blue instead of orange. Misty assumed they were all together, and was given confirmation when the mother - or who Misty assumed was the mother - leaned over to talk to the woman. Soyen Chen, the scientist and entrepreneur of the up-and-coming Chen Enterprises, was watching Dexter walk around the stage in a mix of scientific interest and lovesickness. A boy beside her wearing a sock hat was furiously scribbling on his notepad, seemingly writing down everything Dexter was saying. Two children were sitting next to him, a boy wearing an aviator helmet with the number 2 stitched on it, and a boy wearing a strange headset made up of household objects and having a monocle over his left eye. The two spoke to each other in low tones, gesticulating far more than the other audience members were. A girl in a red cap was sitting next to them, but from the way she was slouching in her seat, it looked like she wanted to be seated anywhere than next to them.
"And now, I present to you the individual who will enter my time machine, Miss Misty Cull," Dexter's voice announced, pulling Misty away from her people watching.
The lights on the stage came on as the crowd began to clap. Misty smoothed down her purple sundress - a dress that would look nice for the event but not formal enough to tip off her parents on her ruse - and lifted her chin, an air of confidence radiating off of her. Without a hint of hesitation, she stepped out from behind the curtain and the crowd clapped even louder for her. She didn't feel an ounce of nervousness with so many eyes - some of them belonging to superheroes, celebrities, and top-of-their-field scientists - staring at her. Misty was the very definition of confidence as she crossed the stage, smiling and waving for the crowd. She grinned wider when she heard her friends cheering for her and Peach waving around her sign. She came to a stop before Dexter, shaking his hand once again. They held that position for a moment so that the press could snap their pictures. When the moment passed, the two broke away from each other and Dexter gestured to the time machine next to him.
"Now, if you'd be so kind and enter the machine," Dexter implored.
It was the first time Misty noticed the time machine. She thought of it like an egg since it was in a large oval shape. The door with the DexLabs logo was slid open, allowing Misty the opportunity to see inside. She couldn't see much because of how dark it was inside, but she could see it was roomy. She stepped inside, but not before giving the crowd one more wave. Once she was inside, the door behind her slid downward until she heard a click, throwing her into darkness. The darkness didn't last long because blue lights lit up along the floor. When the blue floor lights hit the wall, it suddenly brightened up the whole chamber, revealing that the walls were made of blue paneling. Just as she was getting used to her new surroundings, a holographic screen appeared from over the door. It was circular in shape and outlined by Roman numerals, making it look like the screen was inside of a clock. On the screen was Dexter, with Computress and the audience being visible over his shoulder.
"Hello, Misty? Are you reading me?" Dexter asked.
"Loud and clear, Dexter," Misty responded.
"Excellent," Dexter said with a grin. "Your bio scan is complete. I will be powering up the main engine now. You may feel a slight bump."
The slight 'bump' nearly threw Misty off her feet, but she managed to keep herself stabilized. She could hear the engine humming, and the time machine was vibrating slightly.
"These readings are incredible!" Dexter gushed. "A fine day for science indeed."
Although Misty couldn't see the readings, the audience could, and the scientists in the crowd were murmuring to themselves or to their colleagues. With everyone preoccupied with the machine starting up, no one noticed a blonde girl with pigtails moving through the convention center. The girl was Dexter's older sister, Dee Dee. A menace to Dexter's inventions, she had only been allowed to the showing under the agreement that their parents would watch her. However, because of the focus their parents were putting on Dexter's presentation, Dee Dee was able to sneak off with her folks unaware. Because everyone's eyes - including the Dexbots - were trained on Dexter and the time machine, Dee Dee was able to sneak backstage. While looking around the area, she came across a control panel with a big red button on it. Her eyes widened as they honed in on it like a moth to a flame.
"Oooooh~" she cooed as she tiptoed over to it. "What does th~is button do?"
"Alright, all signs are good. Prepare for launch in five... four..." Before Dexter could get to three, he spotted his sister out of the corner of his eye. His eyes widened when he saw her finger poised over the button. He ran for her, prepared to tackle her away from the panel if he had to. "Dee Dee! NOOOO!"
His warning was too late. At the exact moment he had yelled at her, her finger had pressed down on the giant red button. As soon as the button was depressed, the time machine gave a violent lurch. It was so strong that Misty was knocked off her feet. She sat up and looked at her enclosed surroundings, watching as the machine continued to shake like it was part of an earthquake.
"Uhhhhhhh...Hey Dexter, is that supposed to happen?" Misty asked. When she received no response, she looked upward to where the screen was. Or where it was supposed to be. Worry pooled in her stomach when she saw that her window to the outside was missing. "Uhhhhm, Dexter?"
There was still no response. The shaking continued, and she was suddenly thrown into darkness. Misty may not have the highest grade in science, but even she suspected that this wasn't part of the experiment. Something had gone terribly wrong.
On the outside, the crowd watched the time machine violently shake about. Many were left speculating if this was normal or not. When Blossom noticed the time machine begin to glow, she decided enough was enough. She switched into superheroine mode and shot out of her seat. Before she could reach the time machine and rescue Misty, the glowing brightened to an intense degree that had everyone covering their eyes. They were temporarily blinded, but didn't need their vision to hear the loud bang that had them jumping in their seats. Then, very suddenly, the light disappeared. When everyone regained their sight, they were shocked to discover the time machine reduced to a pile of rubble.
Blossom dropped down beside the rubble and began moving aside pieces in search of the girl that had been inside. Bubbles and Buttercup joined her, and with the sisters' combined superspeed, they managed to clear away all the debris in seconds. What they found - or didn't find - stumped them. There was no body underneath the rubble.
Misty just disappeared.
The audience immediately began to panic. Dee Dee threw a hand over her mouth and gasped into it, staring wide eyed in horror. Dexter's mouth was hung open in surprise, but he didn't move. For five whole minutes, he didn't do or say anything, even as the press flew into a frenzy and made for backstage. The Dexbots forced the press to stay back, though it didn't stop the reporters from throwing questions at the two siblings. Instead of taking charge of the situation, Dexter remained rooted in one spot while the superheroes attempted to calm the crowd.
Dexter remained in his catatonic state until Computress hovered over and told her boss that five minutes had passed. The boy's jaw snapped shut at the revelation. His face morphed into fury as the redhead swiveled around to glare at his frightened sister. While the press was content to write off Dexter's lack of a response as him being callous in the wake of his creation's, only Computress knew the truth. Dexter hadn't reacted because of callousness or surprise that his invention had literally blown up in his face; he had been waiting. Afterall, his plan had been to send Misty five minutes into the future, and he had merely been waiting for her return, hoping his invetion had managed to work before the unfortunate incident. But now with Computress confirming time was up and Misty hadn't reappeared, Dexter knew that something horrible had gone wrong. Terribly wrong.
Dee Dee had messed up BIG time, and no amount of restraint could hold back the wrath that flowed through Dexter's veins. Of all the inventions she could have messed with, she had to choose this one. The one where an innocent casualty suffered because of her stupidity. If there was ever a time to let loose on his sister's idiotic actions and read her the riot act, it was at this very moment.
"What. Did. You. DO?!"
Here she is, the main character of this story: Misty Cull. I thought of the name months and months and months ago, and I really wanted to write a FusionFall story with her. The Wish Theory just gave me an excuse to do it.
This is my second time writing this chapter. It was already written and finished, but then my computer spazzed out and deleted it. So I rewrote it from my notes and my memory. I'm disappointed that it had to be completely rewritten, but I also think it's better on the second go-around.
Just in case there's any confusion, the monorail is just the name I gave for the slider. I used to call it the bus slider but that just sounded so stupid, so I changed it to monorail since that fits it better. After all, the cars are running on a single (mono) rail.
Veterans from my other story may recognize the names of Misty's friends. I really liked using the FF/FFL OCs, and brought them over. They'll be slightly different in characterization, but not completely different characters. In case you haven't read my other story, Ezra Otieno is the FFOC with the sword, Peach Blossom is the FFOC with the book, her sister Cherry Blossom is the FFLOC used to show off their character creation, Gabriela "Gabby" Camara is the FFOC in the red jacket, and Mateo Herrera is the FFOC with the Hector Con Carne jar on his head.
Wooo, a lot of character cameos in this one. In case it wasn't clear, some of the unnamed people in the audience are Caesar Salazar, the Saturday family, Miranda Grey, Double D, Numbuhs Two, Five, and 2x4, Doc Rhodes, Pete Volkov, and Peter Meechum. Some people that are also in attendance but weren't mentioned are Peggy Danger, Jon Winthrop, and Doctor JC. The last three are supposed to be secret scientists, so I highly doubt Misty would recognize them on name. This is also the case for the Saturday family and Miranda Grey. I could have thrown more secret scientists in, but I settled on the Saturday family, the three FF OCs, and Miranda (the latter studies quantum physics so she obviously had to show up here). Also, I never intended for the old man to be a CN character, but I was reminded of Old Man River from Foster's recently, so I decided to go with him.