PLD Chapter 21

"CHAPTER 21: Family, Friends, Fame and Many Bonding Experiences"

Sub-Entry -201: "What's Rule 34?":
"Asriella? You awake, Best-ie?"

The goat child opened her eyes.

"Amp!"

"That's my name. Day dreaming much?"

"Yeah...I was thinking about...Chara."

"Your brother."

"Yeah."

"Don't worry about it. Benny went to visit him in the Soul Society. He'll be fine."

"Yeah...you're right."

"Come on, Asriella. Hugs?"

"Sure. Hugs." She replied embracing me, Dr. Ampere Louise Arcade. Just your average gold, electric karate she-wolf.

The moment was short lived when..

"What's the sitches my b--"

"Finish that statement and I will remove your reason for a loincloth." I hissed.

"Aww don't be that way! I'm just fun'in!" Prince Vincent Usajin Tokugawa. Third in command. Personal annoyance.

"Hi, Uncle Vin!"

"There's my favorite butterscotch biscuit!"

"Aww. Don't call me that! It's sooo grooooss!"

"You know you like it!"

I sighed and rubbed my temples.

"Vin, don't you have anything better to do do?"

"You sure like using that question a lot. Ever since you got back from the Under--"

I ahem-ed very loudly.

"...eheh...shutting up."

"Anyway...I promised Lucas I'd help out in his garden." She'd come a long way since the buttercups incident in Lucas Aran Lycans' nature sanctuary.

"Off to perpetuate a stereotype, A-zee-zee?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You know you don't HAVE to like flowers because--"

"Vincent." I warned.

"Because why, Uncle Vin?"

"Duh. You're a girl. Girls have been into flowers for ages. It's a cliche, dudette. Get with the times! Trade in that dress for some overalls and play in some mud puddles!"

"But I want to like them. I've always liked flowers. What does being a girl have anything to do with it?"

"See, Vin? THAT'S a proper attitude. That's keeping an open mind. Let Asriella choose her own path whether it's effeminate or tomboy; don't try to peer pressure her into a lifestyle. Quit trying to stir things up, already."

"I'm not sure I understand...but if I made you happy, Ampere."

"Very. Run along and say hi to Lucas for me. Oh and if Sully is there, say hi for me."

I was referreing to our Terrain Meister, Sullivan Alexander Acorn. He and his OGPX team, Harvey Cat and William Mongoose.

"Provided Antoinette Leota D'Cooliette isn't chasing after him again. Total Pepe LePew complex that one.  Or rather Fifi LeStink."

"Shut up, Vin." I moaned.

At that moment Benny spiraled into existence in a coil of red rose petals.

"Major."

"Commander."

"Hi, sensei." Asriella immediately bowed.

That cracked a smile on normally stoic Benjamin Momotaro Rabbotou. We called him Benny as a nickname.

"I have returned from seeing Brock-domou."

King Brock Canciaris was a noble ruler but hella intimidating. I wish Asriella could have met the late Queen Jayda Lavitz.

"About...the major incident, right?"

"You can relax, Commander. There will be no punishment for us. Disposing of the Wraith made things square. However if it happens again he won't promise to be as...lenient."

"Ohh...I feel so awful you all suffered because of me."

"Asriella. We had this talk before. Don't accept blame for what wasn't your fault. You know it and I know it."

"You're right. I'm sorry. I just...empathize too much?"

"You're good kid, Asriella." I patted her head fur and took a moment to to tie a hair bow into it. I let her see herself in my compact mirror.

"It's so lovely!"

"If by lovely you mean like a sissy--"

Benny thwapped Vincent over the head. "Do not be discourteous again."

"Oww. Just sayin'. I mean isn't this the era when girls can do anything and this little fluff ball insists on playing with dolls and watering flowers?"

"And you're trying to be revolutionary, ironic, and non-conformist by pointing out that you're a guy making this point. Ugh. Why do you rebel against everything?" I glowered down at Vincent.

"I'm a rebel, Donnie. A loner."

"You had to go and butcher that, didn't you?"

"I'm going to Max Murray Mozzarella's." I stood up and brushed off my lab coat and fixed my gi.

"Big sister!" I found myself tackle hugged by my little brother, Gizmo Trey Hackwrench.

"Gizzy!"

"Golly gee whillikers, Ampere! It's sure great things worked out."

Not to complain but sometimes they way he spoke made me wonder if he was really like this...or if Gizmo was just someone's parody interpretation of his own own work just for the sake of pandering to some weird rule of fandom as a cheap tactic of doubling the size of their Alternate Universe?

But that would be silly. He's my brother and this is my home. Why do I get these weird thoughts about fourth walls that don't exist?

"And then everyone got super-pregnant and--"

CRYPTOSMASHER OFFLINE

LOG INTERRUPTED

"Dammit, Violet! Give me that!" I snatched up my holo tablet. "Vi you are forbidden from using my STC-Agency equipment to write your silly Rule 34 fanfictions. What is this crap? Super WHAT NOW? Ugh...this is like your Tumblr blog."

"Volt? What's...Rule 34?"

"Never you mind, Asriel. Violet if I ever catch you trying to turn our lives into gender-swapped Adventure Time again, I'm telling Brooke you installed cameras in the Royal Bathroom and then throw you into her throne room in just a ballet leotard!"

"Eheheheh...ehehehehe...ehhhhhh..." Violet slipped away.

"Max Murray Mozzarella? Ugh. I could come up with better character names in my sleep... You're just the worst, Vi. The wooooooorst!"

CRYPTOSMASHER ONLINE

USER LOGIN ACCEPTED

DELETING PREVIOUS LOG...

LOG DELETED.

RESUMING MISSION PARAMETERS...

Sub-Entry 201: "Lisa M. Coleman, Comforter, Philosopher and Life-Long Love":
I found myself deep in through from that point on out. I didn't...want to lower my guard after all that we had been to...but I reminded myself that obsessing over the past was a sure fire way to repeat the same mistakes and set yourself up to get blindsided or back-stabbed by something expected.

So...I let Destiny and Fate decide the next move while letting my friends and family watch my back and stay at my side.

Toriel was on my mind. So was Alphys and by extension Undyne. Yes, Papyrus was among my thoughts. Sans...to a lesser, more cautious extent.

Of course, Asgore was in my thoughts too.

No villains to worry about. All I had to do was keep coaxing everyone's relationships to follow a healthy, path for an unspecified amount of time.

Get them to the surface and let the True Pacifist ending run its course and somehow prevent them from ever resetting again. And lastly hope and pray the timeline doesn't suddenly collapse.

What could be simpler?

Hey. I made it this far. How much more complicated could things get

* smooch*

"Hmm?" I opened my eyes.

"Lisa?"

"This is a wonderful thing you've done. That poor boy has a happy life and a happy home now."

"Yeah...you know me. Always acting with my heart...and stuff..."

"Honey, what's wrong?"

"Lisa...this is the right thing...right?"

"Don't start doubt yourself, Volt."

"Lisa I've BEEN doubting myself. Since day one. Where's the balance? Where's the "right" between what I should think and what I should feel?"

Lisa gave me a look and shook her head. "Come with me, dear." She lead me off to Mitzi's and picked up a double order of mozzarella and garlic sticks to go with pizza sauce and extra garlic butter to go.

We headed to my living quarters in the UCIAT building. I got a couple of sodas out of the fridge for us.

"Get barefoot, dear. You've been on your feet all day." Lisa said as she ditched her heels and morphed. I took off my sandals and joined her at the table.

We both enjoyed the appetizers and all was well again.

I collapsed on the bed. "Lisa...is this his permanent home? I mean...keeping this secret from him for years to come...I don't know how we're going to do it?"

"You're stressed, Volt. Even without the nightmares you just have trouble letting go."

Lisa massaged my feet. She was right. I was getting tired of standing up and walking around all day.

"Immortality sure doesn't compensate for certain weaknesses."

"Weaknesses? What kind of talk is that for someone just being empathetic. You're worried about taking him away from this. Volt. It's simple. It'll be his decision when the time comes. Just leave it that."

Lisa rubbed my shoulders next before joining me for a long snuggle.

"It'll be okay. Just let go and enjoy the calm." She lay next to me and rested her head on my shoulder, stroking the underside of my jaw with the top of her muzzle.

A bit of TV watching together and before I know it we dozed off in each other's embrace. It was unlikely Asgore and Toriel would ever reconcile and rediscover what we never lost. But...part of me really wanted it to happen. Part of me wanted Asriel to never know anything had fractured between them.

But that wasn't going to happen.

By the time this came to pass, he'd be grown up. He'd be wiser. And even so...he'd see past the smiles and such eventually. They couldn't hide their pain any more than he could.

Lisa was at least right. I needed to keep it simple. Until then I had to put my faith and trust in Asriel's parents. Scott and Callie had this under control. They'd raise him right. When the time came that he was his own man...when the time came that we were BOTH ready for the truth to come out.

We'd all have the discussion. And then...we'd decide where to go from there. And if Asriel did want to go back...I'd arrange the meeting with both sides. We'd go to Mount Ebott and from there find where on the surface they went to.

"You will help me through this...will you not, Azzy?" The easiest thing for a time traveler was to think fourth dimensional. Think about the future. The hardest thing was carving out the road to get there.

"Neil..." Lisa mumbled.

I sighed.

"Yeah. I get it. Thanks."

"Stay the course, dear. Stay the course."

Sub-Entry 202: "A Goat About Town":
"Good day to you, young Asriel! May Eatos watch over you."

"Howdy, Mr. DeRosan, sir!" Asriel rode his hoverboard past Alistair DeRosan, the local warrior priest representing The Church of Eatos.

A growl from Alistair's mount and trusted companion, one big bear named Brick.

"You too, Brick!" Asriel waved.

Asriel turned the corner.

"Howdy, Miss Lulu!" Asriel passed by Luvenia Luraleia.

A brief smile from the psionic viera sniper. "There's a kid who appreciates second chances. Rolled with the punches and came out smelling like a rose. I wonder how he does it...how he makes getting a second chance as great as it all seems to be. To be so lucky..."

At that moment Kid the Cat popped in next to Asriel, floating as if he had jets built in.

"Hello, every meow! How are you? I am fine, thank you!"

Asriel muffled a giggle.

"Ohhhh maaai gaaaah!" He replied, playing along. Guess Violet owed him some GP now.

The fame hadn't diminished his humility. He was still humble and lovable. Didn't look like that was going to change. Even when some of the younger kids asked him for his autograph.. Yeah. This was nice. This was the life I wanted to give him.

The birds were singing, the flowers were blooming (A nice day for a picnic, IMHO.) On days like this...kids like Asriel...created their own Heaven.

Asriel came in for a stop at the fountain, kick-flipping the hover board up into his grasp as I had seen Marty McFly do several times before. He has a seat at the fountain. But he wasn't alone.

"Hmm?"

Sure enough, there was Shi-Shi sleeping at the base of the fountain with Lupe seated nearby. Asriel scooted over and proceeded to stroke Shi-Shi's mane.

The alpha-male lion lazily opened its eyes before licking Asriel's hand.

"Hee! That tickles! And it's all wet!"

Lupe smiled in silence, not wanting to interrupt the moment. It was a lengthy period of time before Lupe and Shi-Shi had to bid farewell. And Asriel was off again.

"Howdy, Miss Vanessa!" He waved as Vanessa waved back.

Asriel stopped long enough to play with Green the Ether Scarab, Mouse the Rabite, and Josquin, Marcel's Drake Slime. It became a short dance party with a little assistance from Asriel's smart phone. But that too ran its course and he was off again.

Goat son continued to hover board his way around town, greeting and being greeted by many of its citizens.

"Hi, Mr. Lagunov! Hi Miss Ivy!"

And so on.

"Mr. Padesh! Howdy!"

Asriel continued his town tour as he headed home from school.

But then...

"...!"

Asriel stopped in his tracks, stepping off the board. He picked it up and held it close.

"M...Mr. Chameleon."

"So. You're what all the excitement is about."

Tithius perched on Chameleon's shoulder.

"Hello, Goat Son!" The pint-sized dragon familiar waved.

"I'm--"

"That sister of yours was a real inconvenience." Chameleon looked down at him.

Asriel hung his head.

"You're...mad at me, aren't you?"

Chameleon suppressed a gruff grunt trying not to be guilt-tripped into reciprocating.

"Look. I can tell you're not a bad kid. But you do hang out with the lagomorph."

"The lago...what?"

A scoff. "The rabbit."

"Which one?"

"You NEED to ask?"

"Aunt...Violet?"

"That's the one."

Chameleon's dour stare intensified.

"Let me give you a copper's worth of free advice. She's been behaving herself. And that's good. That keeps a certain...balance around here. But when she gets mischievious and decides to amuse herself with antics the balance loses stability. And when her amusement involves Tithius or myself that balance is upset. Do you know where I'm going with this?"

"Uhh...?"

"You wouldn't let her encourage you to take part in something that would upset that balance...would you?"

Asriel shook his head.

"Then we have an understanding--"

"Chameleon." Came a stern voice behind him.

"...Didn't see you standing behind me."

"I know you're not threatening one of my students."

"No. Of course not."

"Good. Because I would hate to speak with her highness about it. Don't think I didn't forget about the Royal Treasury. Because if you WERE making a preemptive move against Violet--rest assured if she actually DID do anything, I'd take appropriate action so the others wouldn't have to--well then...De Midian would be too good for you, now wouldn't it?"

And with that Chameleon winced as he felt the hard pinch between his shoulder and neck from behind.

"Good...to see you...too, Valkyrie."

"Teacher?"

"Don't mind my husband."

Jennifer "Valkyrie" Riviera said with a pleasant smile as she folded up her mechanical bird wings; which only added effect to her nickname. She was human but the bionically attached wings were easy to spot.

"He's just trying to establish dominance in his natural setting. Mercenaries do have to maintain a certain level of.....intimidation in their line of work. And it would be a shame to lose face because he was actually nice to someone."

Chameleon's scales were starting to deepen in color.

"Master's face is changing color. Does that mean Master is very dominant?"

"Run along home now, Asriel. Don't want to worry your parents. One of my best students should always be prompt."

"No, ma'am! And yes, ma'am!"

And with that Asriel hopped on his board and he was off.

"Now. Would you care to explain your situation further."

"I think we're done here." Chameleon found his shoulder released.

"Good choice. Now. How would you like to make up for this...misunderstanding?"

"I can think of a few ways. Care if I run them by you?" Chamelon placed an arm around her.

Asriel continued on, relieved. Before he knew it he arrived home and was eager to tell Scott and Callie all about his day.

Sub-Entry 203: "Pondering Reality...and Realities":
I had some time to myself so I decided to visit my secret sub-lab and sneak a peek at things behind the STC-Council's back.

I'd also have a chance to think about little things and such that bothered me about the Underground while I did.

The majority of the room was taken up by my mainframe computer. Bigger is better or so they say. Chances are if I told Violet about it, she'd insist on naming it something like Teletran-1. Or some other reference I'd get but tell her to keep it to herself. But admit it, Volt. You secretly liked to drop references as much as Violet even though you had to conduct yourself as professional.

Never. Admit. To. Anything.

Right. Continuing on.

"Display current Axis of Reality. Zoom in on UTPR sectors."

I studied the current model. The main Axis of Reality pillar housed the majority of what I called the "canon" or "prime worlds". And from each of them stemmed outward to infinty in a never-ending series of branches and spider-veins. Most of the universes of each branch had their own unique 3-dimensional shape. And usually within their own self-contained geometry. Like the "Springfield" universes were unusually...donut-shaped with light distortions that looked like sprinkles?...weird. While other universes had no definitive pattern or geometry to them.

The UTPR infinity-verse was made up of what I described as the crystal cubes. The Prime universe branched out into countless others. Our "UltraVerse" interconnected between worlds in a pretty typical line through the cluster much as other universes either interconnected other reality interpretations or existeded as stand-alones.

"Update image with the most recent findings."

And low an behold the new image of the UTPR multiverse became even more impossibly complicated to sort out.

I sighed.

"Remember, Volt? Remember when it was just the three main ones?"

I stared at the cubes with the largest highlighted text. UTPR-000 (Prime), USPR-001 (Underswap), and UFPR-013 (Underfell). Now it seemed like there were thousands of them.

I glanced at some of the others. OTPR-321 (OuterTale), ATPR-099 (AfterTale), FFPR-022 (Flowerfell), ADR-015 (A Dreemurr Reborn), AFAC-009 (Ask Frisk and Company), MTPR-033 (Mob Tale), SOF-011 (Seed of Flowey), LOTFK-075 (Legend of the Fallen Knight), OLC-100 (One Last Chance), HTPR-666 (HorrorTale), BTPR-9001 (BurstTale) and still more.

"What have we now?" I rubbed my eyelids, feeling overwhelmed.

"Guess we're calling this one BTPR-405 (BirdTale)."

I noticed one that branched off of USPR-001. Looks like another parallel universe. I decided to call it SSPR-050 (StorySwap). And another one branched off of UFPR-013. I decided to name that one SFPR-026 (SwapFell).

"What do I even call this one?" I sighed as I entered G!TPR-??? (Gaster!Tale).

"I think I understand why an annoying little dog would try to hold back the formation of these additional universes for at least a year. But you can't stop progress." I felt the spread of these new universes were like a fan base going...somewhat out of control. But who was I to judge?

"This is getting complicated." I accessed a table I had constructed using a common denominator...so to speak.

While our universe focused on our little cinnamon roll goat prince, I'd noticed there were an insane number of universes which all seemed to be classified by a single variation among others.

I called this table the Chart of Sans. So let's go down the list of what I had discovered.

"Sans Prime. Likes puns. Lazy bones. One HP. Gave up on going back a long time ago. Can't afford not to care in Genocide Timelines. Parka, shorts, pink slippers. Loves ketchup."

The next entry. "Swap Sans. AKA Blueberry. Basically flip-side Papyrus. Hyperactive when given sugar. A go-getter. Identified by his trademark "Mweheheheh!" laugh. Calls himself the magnificent, sans-ational Sans. Not sure if he dislikes puns. Connected to Alphys, the Axe of Justice."

Entry three. "Fell Sans. Saw-teeth. One of them gold. Bullied by his brother. Likes mustard. Warns that if the kid keeps being nice to people they're going to have a good time. Other details...best omitted." On that note it would be a week before I could get the blender image out of my head.

And so on...

Ink Sans intrigued me. I'd come across inter-dimensional zone protectors before. Zonic the Zone Cop for example. These types were anomalies that were charged with the task of watching over the other zones, dimensions, universes. Whatever. Stained in rainbow paint and carrying that brush. I wonder what I must be to him?

Error Sans. This one scared me. For ever special case that embraced the creation there was always a "deleter". With the ability to control other AU beings by wrapping their souls with blue attack tethers, he could cause a lot of trouble. Probably on a massive scale. His view that all AU's are just errors that need to be erased struck a familiar vibe with how Dr. Adonis was so determined to turn all of reality into a sea of chaos he hoped to call Chaopolis was the kind of thing I felt needed to be stopped.

Geno Sans. Similar to Error. Similar mentality. Trapped within the Continue/Reset Nullspace with Frisk while Chara was free to terrorize the pacifist timeline. And I thought the Unstable Timelines caused weird stuff to happen.

Dream Sans. A relatively new case in my research. That halo-like tiara put me at ease. He reminded me a bit of Kitty, the way that he was a nervous ball of insecurity but did his best to watch over the other AU's dreams. Their positive energy.

Horror Sans. Asside from missing a large chunk of the left part of his skull and constantly having that red glow in his eye socket, the less I say about him, the better. I could never hear the phrase "nicey-spicy hot dog" again and not lose my head over it.......yeah. I should probably stop typing now.

Cross Sans. As far as I could tell an unholy fusion of Sans and Chara. That Zangetsu-sized True Knife of theirs gave me bad vibes.

And so and and so on and so on... "Mob Sans. Machina Sans. Gaster! Sans. Bird Sans. Fresh Sans. Science Sans. Paper Jam. Nightmare. Death Sans." Good lord. I needed this database just to index them all and more were constantly popping up.

"It's times like these I understand why the Council has forbidden this. But really...why censor this when we could at least try to understand it?"

I closed the files and sat back and decided to ponder some things about my own reality. Things about the timeline.

"It doesn't make sense."

A lot of things didn't. I had asked Azzy long ago if he had TV in the underground. That would have meant it existed for 100 years before Frisk's arrival. How would that be possible? Would that suggest that humans had TV at the time of Chara's fall? Seemed unlikely. Asriel seemed to recognize the cathode-ray type TV yet the TV I saw in the Skeleton Brothers' house was a flat screen LED type. So...what was the answer?

Another thing that intrigued me was that Toriel's cell-phone was pretty ancient. Although...I wonder how long she had had it? If it belonged to Chara that would mean a lot of things I could infer.

One possible explanation was that it was already the information age during Chara's time. Though that still brought in question why the manner of dress of the other children who fell into the underground was inconsistant. I wasn't sure of the one who represented justice, dressed as a cowboy, actually came from the 1800's or if he was a fan of Howdy Doody in the 1950's or what.

"The timeline is so weird."

But if that was the case then 100 years of time meant that there was very little if any technological progress. The surface world and the Underground would have been kinda stuck in an era. Sometimes it kinda felt ike there were versions of Earth like that. Like it peaked after the invention of computers and such where it had once been cranking out new inventions like the light bulb, phonograph, telephone, and radio all the time.

Another explanation was the opposite case. Chara came from a before time as had the other children. But if that was the case it meant the Underground had invented technology long before the humans. Gaster was a genius after all but was he THAT much of a genius? And besides a lot of things in the Underground were thrown away by the surface world.

Maybe time was passing on both sides and by now it was probably the 22nd century on the surface world. But that would mean scientific progress would have stopped after Chara's time in the 21st century. Besides, Asriel had already recognized the outdated appliances in my workshop.

"This is so frustrating."

I pondered something...new at that point.

"What if...Timeline UTPR-3224...is inconsistant because of what I had suggested to Alphys? What if it is a cassarole of different timelines, events and situations just put together and reconfigured to flow like normal...but people, events, and places are just...shuffled a little. Slightly out of order. Slightly...out of synch? Orchestrated in a way for things to go in and out of existence?"

I considered Rock's world. Pit's partner, Mega Man had come from a timeline where it was 20XX. Then in 21XX intelligent robots had mysteriously disappeared while basic Mechaniloids remained until Dr. Cain rediscovered and reinvented the technology to make the reploids. What happened during that 100 year time frame? Progress doesn't go backwards.

At least not without a good reason.

It was a vague explanation. But it fit a lot of possible criterion. There was the likelihood if an Unstable TImeline was made up of the O.O.P. (Out Of Place) then from their point of view this reality was normal.

So. How would I go about proving it? Should even try to?

Well. I spent plenty of time pondering reality and such. Some guys liked to spend all day drinking and fishing. Some watched whatever sport was in season on TV.

I spent my time being a theoretical physicist. Just like Albert Einstein. Heh. I had some heroes too, Azzy. Just...not ones that had X-Ray Vision or Super Soldier syrum in them. Or carried Bat-a-Rangs or wore head to toe armor with jet thrusters and ARC-Reactor powered weapons.

Sub-Entry 204: "Sax Therapy":
Well, I did it again. I got myself so worked up over things that I had to resort to the one sure-fire cure.

Sax therapy. Don't face palm. The saxophone works wonders for me when I need an all-else-fails to avoid a lecture from the wife or the daughter about overworking myself.

This called for the whole stand for a concert at the fountain.

"I keep coming back here. Can you blame yourself, Volt? Best place in the whole kingdom."

I snagged the baritone sax and proceed with a bit of warm-up. I drews some looks and smiles but not an audience. It was okay. I'd feel too on the spot this early on.

The sun was shining and the grass was still green. But it was getting darker sooner. The transition into autumn was happening all around me.

It was only a matter of time before the first leaf fell.

"Ahh."

Sufficiently warmed up, I switched out for the tenor sax. Something a little more energetic. Something more rock-and-roll. Now that I thought about it, Glenn Frey had that one song...what was it? Oh yeah! "The Heat is On". Appropriate, considering it was still pretty warm if not summer weather out side up until the sun went down. (Music Link)

I wasn't complaining. I'd be doing enough of that when winter landed.

"I could do this all day. But if I did, Lisa and Elektra would think I flipped my lid. Not working myself to the bone."

I switched to the alto sax and moved on from rock to jazz. And I decided to raid the really old school discography and dust off some of my old vinyl LP's with some of music by the late, great Boots Randolph. (Music Link, highly recommended.)

I must've gone through a few albums before I took a breather and put down the tenor sax and picked up the alto sax.

"Why don't you do this more often, Volt?" I asked myself.

"When's the next time you're going to tear yourself away from your work and worries and just play the sax?"

I chuckled.

"Who's going to knock some sense into you next time you really need this but decide not to--"

I sloooooowly turned.

"...how...long have you been sitting there, Asriel?" I asked rather embarassed.

Asriel covered his mouth as he muffled his laughter.

"Long enough."

"I don't get a do-over with this, do I?"

"Nope." He smiled even wider.

"So. How awkward is this?"

"How awkward do you think it is?"

"Darn. You're learning too much from Violet, aren't you?"

Asriel shrugged.

"Okay I'll stop. Only because if I keep doing this I'm going to end up being too much like Chara. I'm the sweet, innocent one."

"The fact that you're acknowledging it makes me nervous. Like you're being clever in the kind of way someone...namely Violet...would play head games with me."

Asriel hugged me.

"Good enough."

I sighed.

"Well, I guess since you're here, wanna hear me practice?"

"Mm-hmm!" He nodded, getting comfy by laying down on the edge of the fountain on his stomach and resting his chin on his palms.

And so I serenaded. Asriel was entranced. I could see it in his eyes. This was the same look I saw in Toriel's when I treated her to "Fiery Nights". Which reminded me. It took me long enough to go back for Jon's favorite park bench.

"You're so good at this."

"Well, I've had the practice. Just as you'll be good at the piano and guitar if you keep practicing under Violet's and Jon's lessons."

The longer he hung around, enjoying my music in the sun the brighter her glow almost seemed to be. I wondered if part of that was his Hybrid Ability.

After a bit I took a break. Then a thought came to me.

"Want to try?"

"Really?"

"Sure. Why don't you give a go with this one." I picked up the soprano sax and fitted a spare mouthpiece on, got a fresh wooden reed out of the nearby box.

"First step, moisten the reed in your mouth a bit."

"Mmm....tastes weird."

"I know. Okay then fit the reed onto the mouthpiece and tighten the screws on the metal ligature to hold it in place. Make sure the edges line up."

"Got it."

"Okay. The proper way to blow is to curl your bottom lip over your bottom teeth. Be careful not to bit down hard. Think of it like making a pillow for the reed. Then put the mouthpiece in your mouth and form a seal.

Okay, don't puff out your cheeks. You want the air go go forward, not outward.

Hold it like so and assign your fingers to the keys as such so you're covering the ivory buttons like so.

When you breathe in, use hte corners of your mouth. Okay, good. Now to form the notes, what you want to do is flick your tongue slightly so that it just covers the gap between the reed and the mouthpiece for a second."

I dug out the key layout diagram for the soprano sax and let him study it a bit.

"Okay, give it a shot."

Asriel shrugged and tried it out.

It wasn't great. But he was putting forth his best effort. And he was learning pretty quickly. Before long he was starting to get the basics down. Now if I could just keep Violet from comparing him to Kenny G, I'd be okay with this.

"Good job for a first-timer, Azzy."

"You mean it?"

"I mean it."

Spending time with Asriel was what made all the trouble we'd been through worth it. And he assured me he felt the same.

Sub Entry 205: "A Bad Time in the Life of Antoine":
"...Zuts alors..." Antoine muttered, face-down.

He'd finally gotten away from Harmony Howlette. She had gotten quite obsessed with him, hadn't she?

"Why am I being cursed with such good looks and charm?"

...no comment.

So what happened to the coyote in question within the span of the day?

Well, let's review.

He woke up to discover Violet and Jon pranked him by dosing him with chloroform and dumping him in the stables. Nothing quite like getting woken up by being kiss-licked by livestock.

He went to Hestia's smelling like...not-Antoine. Within minutes of being served, after enduring the stares and murmurs, his breakfast turned out to be in his words "inexcusable".

"Hah! I say to you hah! I would sooner spread the residue of a sewer pipe onto my croissant than......uh....what eez' with zat' look? Why are you......sacre bleu! Put down zee blade...!"

A temper tantrum and maybe one too many out of line comments later, Antoine was chased out by Hestia herself, wielding the mother of all meat cleavers. She hadn't been THIS pissed off since Ripper crashed his motorcycle through her bakery shop window and blew the gas line.

Only moments later he wasn't paying attention to where he was going and found himself in the back alleys of the slums where he was mugged. He walked away without his shirt and and his boots and a lot of bruises. I had to wonder why he did't believe in socks. With boots that seemed like a pretty good way to get blisters.

In his haste to get back to his quarters at the UCIAT building, he tripped and crashed into a loading cart outside the museum stacked with priceless antique artifacts, sending it into the path of a pickup truck. The resulting swerve caused it to crash into a power pole, shutting down power, phones, and cable TV for the entire block. Plus the pole toppled, causing people to run for cover before smashing into of all things a greenhouse on the opposite side of the street.

Besides the mounds of shattered glass and ruined plants, things got worse with a transport case carrying an active bee hive was smashed open, releasing a pretty angry swarm. A cloud of ticked off bees lead to further panic.

Antoine himself got more than a few stings. And to add to injury one of the live wires snapped him one in the rump, giving him a painful jolt. How he survived that was beyond anyone.

An attempt to get to the hospital resulted in the poor coyote not paying attention and walking through freshly laid concrete. That royally ticked off the construction workers tending to it which led to more severe beatings and getting picked up and thrown into a dumpster.

Climbing out, Antoine landed on a pack of alley cats who used him for a scratching post.

He collapsed for a bit to get his breath in time to see a stray dog sniffing around him. And then it started to lift its leg...

Fortunately Antoine's scream was enough to send it running off before it could do its deed. A narrow escape only to be--

"For SHAME! You filthy sinner! Be gone with you, vagrant!"

Only to be bludgeoned by a group of nuns. Really? Nuns? There's bad luck and then there's "what deity did I offend?" luck. Just. Wow.

Only a short time of recovering from THAT, Antoine found himself accidentally walking into the law enforcement expo that Bunnie was volunteering at to give self defense demonstrations. A misunderstanding resulted in him being mistaken for volunteering to play the role of a "violent attacker". And then he was quickly smacked around like a rag doll before shoulder thrown into the bushes.

At least he got a round of applause from the crowd.

"Merci....I am knowing I am quite great...I did not feel zee thing, eh-heh...(ouch...my aching EVERYTHING...)..."

Bunnie raised an eyebrow. "I did not know he had it in him. Maybe he does have a fighting spirit?"

Antoine limped away from that, looking over his shoulder.

"Howdy, cutie..."

"Ohhh noooooo..." Antoine slow turned to see Harmony Howlette with her lasso out.

"Y'all know how I love when you play hard to get! You get a two minute head start, sugar-pie!"

And Antoine just took off in a dead run, ignoring the pain.

Harmony mounted up on her horse. She pulled off her cowboy hat and waved it around as the horse reared up on two legs with a mighty whiney.

"Yeeeeeeee-haaaaaaaaaaaaaaw!"

And from there the chase went on until...

* SPLASH*

Antoine had managed to ditch the crazy cowgirl and land face down in a muddy puddle. He rolled over out of the filth onto his back and then back onto his stomach and just laid face down for a time.

He managed to drag himself to the fountain before having himself a good cry. Then he felt it on his shoulder.

"Mr. Antoine?"

A gentle rub.

"You look like you're having a bad day." He looked up at goat son's sparkling green eyes. Kindness virtue.

Asriel helped him up onto the edge of the fountain.

"It's okay. Everyone has a bad day." He smiled as he handed Antoine a sunflower.

"...?"

And then he hugged him. "I'm here for you if you need a friend."

Moments passed...and then Antoine finally smiled with a muffled sigh.

"Merci. Merci boucoup."

"Umm...Marcie...Bucket to you too?"

"We will work on zat." He said, patting Asriel's head.

Sub-Entry 206: "Spider Cider For the Soul?":
I decided.

"I hope you're in some mood to talk." I pulled the doors of the phone booth closed and opened the "expanded" phone directory of the Circuits of Time. Normally using this method tied it to the timeline of the Two Great Ones, Bill and Ted. (Music Link)

However...

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the USB jump drive and popped open the modification I had made on the phone and fit the drive into the socket.

I uploaded the new dimensional coordinates into the Dimensional Axis Rig device I had added and realigned it for UTPR-3224.

I looked through the pages of the timeline I had chronicled and had secretly printed into my own personal Directory for the Circuits of Time in the section

I marked "Undertale Pacifist Timeline". While I had more or less permanently altered the events of UTPR-3224, barring a True Reset or an Erasure, the event chronology was pretty much the same.

Time was passing on both sides but I could control how far apart my visits were. I could go back as far as I needed, as close to the last event it took place I took part in.

I entered the phone number for the date and time and the area code for the place. And then I pressed the alpha and omega switches--normally the pound sign and the star sign on an ordinary phone--at the same. I slipped my shades on and crossed my arms.

The antenna atop the booth extended and electricity began to swarm it. A shaft of light wrapped around the whole phone booth, swallowing it up. As one last afterthought I partook in a wicked air guitar solo before I felt the whole thing being dragged down into a twisting, bending, roller-coaster-ing tunnel in a void filled with similar tunnels and electronic splendor.

In my excitement...I just couldn't help myself.

"EXCELLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENT!!!!"

Outside the Ruins...

I watched as the booth fell from the sky and landed before the gates with a crackling shockwave.

I exited the booth and closed its doors.

"Kommand. Phone recall. Be ready to send it when I'm ready to leave."

"Acknowledged, Commander."

And with that the Booth exited through the Circuits of Time.

I sighed.

"Well. Here goes nothing."

I knocked on the door.

Silence.

Shouldn't be surprised, should I? I mean...Sans stopped getting answering knocks after Toriel had him promise to watch over Frisk. It's actually nothing short of amazing that she left that night to bump into me in Snowdin. Even greater that she'd come to our rescue in Hotland. And coming to the Capital not once but TWICE...

All that progress.

How could I let that be thrown away because of the Wraith's manipulation. If she kept up like this...how would she ever get to a state that should could have hope and dreams again? I couldn't bring Asriel back to this.

And then there was Asgore, but...I could put that off for a while. One parent at a time.

I knocked again.

"Come on, Tori. Don't do this to me. Do do this to yourself."

I sighed and sat down, leaning up against the gates.

"Toriel. Please."

I sighed and hung my head, pulling my knees to my chest...as Asriel had done in the past.

Too alike...we were...

I must've drifted off. It was hours before...

"Hmm?"

A lone spider?

"Muffet?"

More spiders soon followed and arranged in a line before me. The looked confused, like they weren't expecting me.

I smiled, took out 7G and laid it on the ground. A few of them carried off the gold and came back with a spider donut.

"Mmm." I accepted and enjoyed, trying NOT to imagine what ingredients went into it.

"Thanks." I nodded.

I closed my eyes and waited a little longer. That's when I heard the snow pack crunch.

"Ahuhuhuhuhuh..."

I looked up.

"Hello, Muffet. Long time no see."

"Ahuhuhuhuhuh! Your patronage is appreciated. Perhaps I can interest you in something more filling than a mere donut. Only 99,999 GP?"

"Thank you, Muffet, but perhaps another time. I'm...actually here to check on on...well...a friend."

"Ahuhuhuhuhuh! Well. I know you didn't just come to any old place. Only one person lives in this neck of the woods. Speaking of which there's the matter of discussing the bill for my services bringing supplies to Grillby's."

"Eheheh...can I transfer her bill to my tab? I'm good for it."

"Do I look like Grillby?"

"Pleeeeease?" I gave the adorable eyes.

A sigh. "Very well. But we will discuss payment sooner or later. And later may come with additional fees."

"I can live with that. Anyway. I can assume it's no coincidence you're here. I mean...besides getting my customer feedback for the donut. It was delicious, by the way."

"My, my. You're a sharp one. But you are correct, strange wolf monster. I come here as a favor to the caretaker of the ruins. She has...stopped going out for supplies and groceries so...she asks me to deliver them to her residence as a favor."

Toriel stopped going out for food and such? How bad did you scar her, Chara-Wraith?"

"Speaking of which...how is the child?"

"My spiders tell me they are well. They seem to be traveling back and forth between the places of the underground. They seem to be enjoying themselves."

What? Frisk wasn't trying to get to the Capital? What was the hold up? Why were they...?

A thought occurwed. What if...they...were delaying their confrontation with Asgore because they were...getting used to the underground. I hadn't foreseen this. Was Frisk becoming too attached to the Underground? This could be a problem.

What if they didn't want to return home? I suppose they could [RESET] and start their journey over. I mean...Frisk had done that countless times. Either out of guilt for for selfish reasons. Maybe they had learned their lesson and decided not to get the talk from Sans about taking away memories and such.

No. They had to fight Asgore. They had to fight their Best Nightmare. They had to let the Six Souls open the way through the barrier and return.

From there they had to decide to reload their Save File and head back to Hotland to look for a better solution and get the call from Undyne to return to Snowdin. And then the delivery of the letter to Alphys, and so on.

I might have to make more trips here than I thought to get Frisk's head in the game. Plus I still had others to check in on. I had to talk to them. Comfort some. Encourage others. Make sure our friendships were still strong.

And...y'know...maybe I needed some face time with them as much as they needed it from me.

"That's...good to know." I looked off to the side.

"Hey. If you...miss the human, I can--"

"No. That's okay. They'll be fine. They don't need us hovering over them, leading them by the arm. That's why they're not with the caretaker of the ruins, anymore. Right?"

"Eh? Well. If you're sure, dearie." Muffet shifted.

"So....um..."

"Right." Muffet motioned for the spiders to go on ahead. And that's when I saw them crawl through a tiny crack in the wall. "They'll go on ahead and let her know to open the way forward.

I nodded.

"Thanks."

Sub-Entry 207: "Is it Too Late to Say I'm Sorry?":
The wait was on for Toriel to answer the door.

"So...um...you know, right? You know...who she is? Who she...really is?"

"..." Muffet hesitated a bit.

"I think....we've all known, dearie. But we've...tried to forget. Not as a slight to her, mind you...but..." Muffet closed all five of her eyes.

"On that day...when the kingdom lost hope...lost our prince and princess. Something...something else was lost that day."

This rang a unexplanably familiar vibe. Channeling another AU, perhaps?

"Was it the Queen's happiness?"

"...not the word I was looking for. But close enough. She stopped smiling. Her eyes got cold. And dark. And so...angry. But mostly...so very--"

"Sad."

"Yes."

Every word of this conversation was following a...pattern that was easy to anticipate. Like I could sense what had happened...what was about to happen...and what had yet to happen in the further future. So could I predict with certainty what would happen next? No...it was...just a feeling.

"While the king maintained his smile. But...it was a lie, wasn't it?"

"Asgore didn't want us to see him...weak. He wanted us to keep calling him His Royal Fluffybuns. To laugh. To have dreams...to have hope. But..."

"He's dying inside. Metaphorically speaking. That's why...he doesn't know if he can go through with it. This child....their soul could set us all free but...they've won us all over. They're our friend...to some of us...family. It's finally setting it what Prince Asriel would have wanted."

"I...want to be as free as the next person, dearie. But that child..."

"Yeah."

In that moment I didn't have a tinge of fear around Muffet or her spiders. I think...I had made my peace with arachnids. But...stinging insects...not so much. At that moment...

I heard it behind the doors...and then...

* Creeeeeeeak*

"Miss Muffet, you have arrived." I saw the dark, copper red eyes in the darkness, the outside light making them visible like rubies.

"I am here, dearie. My friends and I have brought everything you asked." Sure enough a small army of spiders was carrying a number of groceries, supplies, and what-not. Enough to last a while.

"I cannot thank you enough--" Toriel stopped short. "D...Doctor."

"Hello, Toriel...or should I say...your highness, Queen Toriel."

"Please. Do not."

"Toriel, you have to face this. Even if you are removed from the throne...many of us still see you as our Queen."

"Why did you come here?"

"A lot of reasons. I...I didn't leave you in a good state when I left. I...I felt bad that--"

"Doctor...why do worry about a silly old woman like me?"

"Somebody has to. My family and I...we're very worried about you. When I told them about...well...things..."

"You do not need to worry about me...I'll manage. Somebody has to--"

"Take care of the flowers?"

"...!"

Okay THAT was from many other True Pacifist Timelines; paralleled in two points in time. Said once by goat mom after Frisk spared her and decided to walk back through the ruins to that place...then again at the end of it all by Asriel when he chose not to go back. In that very same place. How very alike mother and son were. There were no coincidences. Only the illusion of them.

"That is what you were going to say, isn't it?"

Silence.

As we talked, Muffet and her helpers carried the supplies in, down the corridors. I knew Muffet had a couple extra pairs of arms, but I wondered how her spiders were going to get up the staircase? I came to a conclusion that I would have hesitated to make before all this: magic.

"Toriel. May I please come in?"

"......"

"Toriel...please. We really should talk. I'm begging you. Hear me out. It's for the best."

She struggled to act aloof.

Finally she conceded.

"I do not know what you can say that will change anything. But very well...you may come upstairs."

And so we walked the path, climbed the stairs and made our way to the living room again.

"This time I will offer the hospitality." I said as I released a platter of Cinnamon Bunnies from storage when she wasn't watching me access my E.N.G.I.N.E. dots.

"How did you...?"

"I have a bit of my own magic tricks up my sleeve." I set them down on the table. "I know they're not much but...at least accept my offer."

Toriel muffled a sad moan, her mouth closed.

I foresaw a scenario where I could be playful and try to feed her a piece of the Cinnamon Bunny like a parent trying to get a fussy child to eat, but...I didn't want to push my luck. She didn't need to be patronized or treated like a child.

So I got to the point.

"You should hear this. It concerns Chara."

Immediately I saw I had Toriel's attention.

"First. Let me just say it. We did it. My team and I caught her."

"Tch...!"

Toriel squeezed her eyes shut.

"Wait. You should know the truth. The WHOLE truth."

"...?"

"You didn't fail as a mother, Toriel. And you are worthy of motherhood. The eighth child is still alive. Befriending monsters. Not just surviving but living. Thriving. They're so determined. This one's special. I know it. And you know it."

"Mnn..."

"Toriel. You didn't fail with Chara. Or the Prince."

"...how can you say that?"

"I can because we made a very important discovery when we captured Chara. Chara...her ghost was not completely in control of her actions. There was another...another entity involved in this. Something...not of this world. Something dark and evil."

Toriel slowly looked at me inquisitively.

"It used her. It used Asriel. It's been using all of us for some sick game I can't even begin to understand."

Toriel's eyes were fixated on me.

"My team and I found a way to separate Chara from the....well...I guess you could call it a Wraith. Well....we disposed of that horrible creature and locked it away in a prison of no escape."

Toriel's expression softened.

"We gave Chara a proper exorcism. With a ritual we were able to lay her spirit to rest. She's at peace now. She...she wanted me to pass a long a message that...she's so sorry for everything. She understands if you can't forgive her and she will abide by her banishment and disowning."

Toriel begin sniffling. And that turned into a cry.

"This...this only makes it worse. Why, Doctor...why did you tell me this? Why? Why would you--"

"The truth had to be known. I couldn't let you be weighed down by a lie. My family and I couldn't accept you punishing yourself for something else's evil scheme. And couldn't rest until I knew the truth about Chara. I know humans are complicated creatures. But even a human child can't be that evil to its core. I had to make this right...for her sake and for Asriel's."

Toriel looked down at her trembling hands.

"I cannot go back on my decree. I have to uphold it but...now it's even harder than ever to bear, knowing that I've condemned an innocent child."

"Chara...did feel strongly against humanity. Some of that really was her. But the outside force controlling her. It used that hatred and that emptiness and misery of her past life on the surface to twist her. Made her act on that twisted-ness.

You did everything you could, Toriel. No parent...no one ever had a chance against this Wraith. Life can be hard and unfair. But it's it's been said...that which doesn't kill us only makes us stronger."

"I do not wish to be stronger. I...I don't know what I wish for anymore."

"For starters, you can wish for the child out there to be happy, to keep going, and to stay determined."

"That word again...why is it so important? What is it about that word that seems like...it's....it's..."

"Like it's the key to the universe itself? Yeah...I've gotten that feeling, too."

"Doctor...how can she forgive me...for what I've done to her?"

"How? Because she can. And she did. Now is the time for you to forgive yourself. And then...it's my hope that some day you can forgive Asgore."

She gave an irate grunt.

"You said it yourself...how many years did you both spend being enemies. Is it as easy as it seems to stay mad at a person for this long?"

"..."

"Don't get me wrong. I despise the deeds he committed. Despise them as much as the pain and suffering the Wraith caused you......all of us. But I won't despise him. He is a coward and he is weak...but he's a man in pain who regrets every drop of blood on his hands. If he was truly horrible...he wouldn't feel a single regret about what he's done. He wouldn't even believe he did anything wrong. That's the mark of someone truly unforgivable."

Toriel got up out of the chair, hanging her head, her eyes hidden under the mysterious shadow that just kept popping up despite there wasn't anything that could cast it. She started to walk over to me as I had followed suit and decided to stand if not to offer her the Cinnamon Bunnies I had brought.

But she faltered. While her knees were covered up by her robes, I could tell they were weakening. So it didn't take me as much by surprise when she dropped to her hands and knees...and cried...really cried. You compared how Asriel cried to Asgore. But I was seeing it in you at this moment, Toriel.

"I want so desperately to take it back...to take it all back...to just re--"

"No, Toriel. There is no resetting this. It's happened. We can't fix the past. It's set in stone no matter how much we want to change it. We can only work with the present. Try to build a better future."

I knelt down and gently rubbed her shoulder.

"Is...Is it....*sob*...is it too late to say I'm sorry?"

"Not until you decide it is, Toriel. Not until you decide it is. Toriel. It's never meaningless to apologize."

"I'm...not ready to face Asgore yet. But...maybe...maybe I can work up what little courage I have left to come to the child's aid when they need me."

I smiled and offered a hand. "It's a start. But take it slow. One step at a time. You don't have to forgive Asgore today or tomorrow. Being there when the human needs you is a good first step."

With that I helped her stand up. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve...this was getting to be an all too familiar mannerism among the Dreemurr family. I'd see both Asriel and Chara do so. I swear if I saw Asgore do the same, I'd have a complete set.

After a bit more comfort and pep talk and finally getting her to partake in the Cinnamon Bunnies...

"Are you going to be okay, Toriel?"

"I think I will. And....thank you. I do not deserve your compassion. But it would be rude to refuse it."

"Hey. As long as I was able to rekindle at least one spark of hope then my day wasn't a total waste." I said with a bright smile.

"I will...need time."

"That's the best thing for you now."

By that time Muffet had come and gone. Toriel's fridge and pantry was well stocked. And I felt comfortable about leaving the Ruins this time. It was the first time I left those gates with an honest to goodness good feeling.

I signaled Kommand for a pickup and I was off to home.

Sub-Entry 208: "Prince takes Knight? Checkmate?  Wait...This Isn't Chess...":
I brought Asriel back to the X-Vault. We were overdue for some best friend time out together.

"And this?"

"Well believe it or not this is how people that actually HAD network connectivity in the 80's used to connect. Before an Internet even existed and before the first modems were available. What you did was you'd use a cord phone like so, dial in the outside line and sit the receiver in this adapter cradle. I got this one from a bunch of high school goofballs who tried to use their computer to create a woman."

I held up the device.

"Create a woman?"

"It's complicated and it involves some...well...weird science. There was a military supercomputer, Barbie doll, and a bolt of lightning involved."

"You're right. That IS weird." Asriel looked over the machine before putting it back down on the lab table.

He picked up a lab report.

"What's...D.A.R.Y.L.?"

"Military project that really crossed some lines." I looked sour. "Data Analyzing Robot Youth Lifeform. One of Appra's secret shames in the war against Renalia. While the latter was horrible for scorching the earth, Appra was no better.

They came up with a horrid idea for creating a new kind of cyborg. One different than the Head Computers of the VARS series. In essence they created a type of supercomputer core, forming it within the skull of a human child. It could outperform anything a human could do with a capacity to learn far superior to a normal kid."

"A boy with a computer for a brain?"

"But...when the General directing it learned that D.A.R.Y.L. had the capacity for experiencing emotions, including fear, he ordered the program...terminated. In every sense of the word."

"You mean...?"

"Yes." I closed my eyes and let my ears droop.

"Ohhhh..."

"Come on. No tears. Spoiler alert, the kid escaped after hijacking a several million dollar fighter jet. He and the family that took him in disappeared. I doubt anyone would ever find them now."

Asriel smiled.

I did have a reason to bring Asriel to the X-Vault but I decided a bit of a walk down memory lane couldn't hurt. Besides. It would prepare him for down the road as I'd slowly reveal more of my secrets to him and ready him for the point he'd be able to join me on missions here on Fontraile and off world missions for our allies that weren't on this world.

"Conky's ready to be charged up again!"

"Oh! Thanks, Magic Screen."

Well, true to his name, Magic Screen was...well...a magic screen. I wanted to keep him at the Mage Academy but things didn't quite work out that way. So I kept the wheeled, armed, magical, living Etch-E-Sketch here to watch over Conky on the off chance he'd run out of power before I could get back to him.

Plus he kept in handy for times I needed visual aids.

"Go ahead and take care of it, for us, would you please?"

"On my way!" Magic Screen rolled back over to the other side of the room where Conky was waitng. On the wall was that living wall clock in the shape of the United States of America, "Clocky". And on the table under him, the living globe of the Earth, "Globey". The quarter was together again after the days of the old Playhouse.

I chuckled a bit as Asriel waved to the group of strange, magical living creatures and the robot. Weird oddities for someone like me to have hanging around the X-Vault--a repository of mostly technology and vehicles.

I continued to point out artifacts and vehicles from my past.

"Whoah....that looks just like...!"

"Like a giant version of one of those toy robots in Vi's sub-lab? Yeah. The is one of the original five prototypes. Allow me to introduce you to the body of Strategic Artificially Intelligent Nuclear Transport (S.A.I.N.T.) prototype number four of five. His program is completely wiped. He was just too dangerous to keep around."

"You said four of five? What happened to the others?"

"One through three were destroyed after they were *ahem* reprogrammed."

Johnny Five, you mischievous little devil, you. Who else could crack the NOVA Access Code and then decipher the computer language that Newton Crosby invented? And of all things to reprogram them with...why not the personalities of Larry, Moe, and Curly? Violet couldn't have done better herself.

"And Number Five? I think Aunt Vi mentioned him when she came into your shop. Sorry...it was hard not to pay attention to the conversation even though you asked me to ignore it."

"Water under the bridge, Azzy. Well...I wish I had an answer to that. Number Five...or rather Johnny Five was something else. He was unique. Shortly after he and the other four gave a war game demonstration at a private press conference, he was struck by lightning and gained a mind and a soul of his own."

"A robot with a SOUL?" Asriel looked intrigued.

Okay, it was somewhat different than what I had said about modern science being unable to create an artificial soul. This was a force of nature that GAVE a soul to a machine. And even I couldn't explain it, having been struck by countless bolts of lightning; several of which involved me carrying a TV antenna out into thunderstorms in Miranda City. What? A lightning elemental has to have other ways of satisifying a guilty pleasure than being in the epicenter of an orbital cyclotron.

"He got into a lot of mis-adventures and such. But his creators and the military that had the contract with Nova Robotics to create them in the first place got scared of his erratic behavior. His makes wanted to find out what the malfunction was. The military wanted to destroy him. In the end he escaped being blown up by a missile by buidling a copy of himself as a decoy. He escaped with his creator and a woman from Oregon to a homestead in Montana where he disappeared.

A couple years later he resurfaced in the New York City of that world and reconnected with his other creator to help him build those toys that are now in Vi's sub-lab. There was a lot of mishaps, a lot of craziness, and Number Five foiled a jewel heist at the risk of his own soul after being being nearly destroyed. After that...well...none of us know where is now."

"Wow. This UltraVerse we're all part of has a lot of stories...a lot of amazing things. It's...so much bigger than the world was part of."

"Yeah. It seems like all the time I'm discovering that it's like it has no limits. And other universes have this in common. We're all...so insignificant in the grand scheme of things. But we keep giving ourselves meaning...we keep givings ourselves purpose. We all honestly believe we matter. Every last one of us matters."

Asriel nodded with a smile.

And that was when I happened upon it. Parked right in the very space we left it after finding every last part, tracking down every piece, reassembling it to the very last memory board, making sure every tire was inflated to proper pressure.

"Whooooooah...what kind of a car is this?"

I gasped lightly. I looked upon the glossy metal shell of the 1982 Pontiac Trans Am--Tri-Helical Plasteel 1000 MBS (Molecular Bonded Shell) plating and tempered with Pyroclastic Lamination...and painted in sleek glossy black. The red light bar directly in front of the hood...that scanner known only as the Anamorphic Equalizer. THere was no mistaking it.

"Could it be? This is...!"

"Volt?"

"It is. This is the original body...the original everything." I looked at the nearby table. There was the core motherboard...the Alpha Circuit. Once installed in a secret government mainframe, it served a new purpose with the Knight Foundation.

"...!" I siezed it and opened the driver's side door.

I knew the stories. My mentors were heavily involved with Knight Industries--the parent company of the Foundation for Law And Government (F.L.A.G.). founded by the late, eccentric billionaire genius, Wilton Knight.

"Look at all those computers and stuff!" Asriel looked all over the huge bank of lights, displays and equipment.

I pulled open the compartment between the seats and fit the board into place and attached the ribbon cables and such. I snatched up a handful of electric fuses and reached under the dashboard and up into the firewall and fit them into the sockets underneath.

As a final note, I reached into my lab coat pocket and retrieved a key with the logo of the Knight Foundation etched on it.

I fit it into the main power lock and turned the key. And with that every light, display and monitor all throughout the dash board lit up.

Once again the legacy of Wilton Knight lived again.

"Heh."

"Oh wow!" Asriel hopped in the passenger-side seat and closed the door. I closed my door once behind the wheel.

"Well...you've certainly been asleep for a while. Wasn't easy getting all the boards back from your KR-4000 shell. Nice but candy apple red doesn't suit you. After all, there's no red in chess. Just white...and black. But...on the down side...you are still waaay obsolete and without purpose--"

"Well THAT'S just wonderful." The slightly-British accented electronic voice suddenly spoke up. "You still me in mothballs for a second time. But at least you had the decency to buy up my parts, though it does still make me feel like merchandice from Manny, Moe and Jack's."

Well so much for him not holding a grudge over the "Knight RIder 2000" case. Fifteen or so years after those hey days and he still hadn't forgotten about it. Come on, Volt. Of COURSE he hadn't forgotten about it. Nor had you forgotten about Maddock, who made the decisions behind Devon's back; dismantled the car and had it sent to be recycled to make room for the future.

"Waaaah! Who said that?!"

"I did. I am the voice of the central processing unit of Knight Industries Two-Thousand. K.I.T.T. Or "KITT" if you prefer." The internal camera re-positioned to get a good look at Asriel.

"A car that TALKS?"

"Hmm. A GOAT that talks. Now that is headline news."

"Okay, I deserved that. Sorry, sorry!" Asriel rubbed the back of his head.

"It's good to hear your voice, old friend."

It was complicated how I crossed paths with K.I.T.T. But suffice to say...there was plenty of time travel involved that I would experience what my mentors had been involved in for myself......much like most every case in the X-Vault. I really had no idea how many timelines I might have...amended.

"Volt Arcade. I hope this isn't going to become a habit. I've had my fill of furry companions with--"

"Right right. A KITT doesn't always need a cat." I mused, recalling the tiger.

"You'll be glad to know the teddy bear won't be making a return appearance either."

"Now THAT I can rest easy over. Good riddence to bad rubbish I say. So. Explanations are in order."

"And introductions. K.I.T.T., this is Asriel Tobias Dreemurr-Arcade."

"Howdy, KITT."

"Howdy? How very...rustic."

"Be polite, old friend."

I knew K.I.T.T.'s artificial intelligence to be generations ahead of its time. It was a miracle of science then and a miracle of science now. He always had an ego that was easy to bruise and displayed a very sensitive, but kind and dryly humorous personality.

"Do I want to know the specifics?"

"Condensed version. He's an orphan. He had some pretty traumatic times. He's with me. And I'd really appreciate it if you try to be friends."

"If I had a heart instead of an arithmetic coprocessor, he'd be plucking at its strings. Still. You've appealed to my compassion. Very well then. Asriel, it is my pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise, I'm sure!" Asriel smiled.

A moment of silence.

"My...condolences about Devon." I looked off to the side. "It was no way for him to go. That man did more than any one man could have done."

For Michael, the mention of Devon Miles would be a very sore spot. This was why I didn't like to bring up the Knight Rider 2000 case. He met a terrible fate as the victim of a senseless gun shot to the head. And his secrets were pried from his dying brain with an RNA reader, allowing the criminals to strike hard at the Knight Foundation.

And this would later lead to an ambush which put K.I.T.T. offline after being submerged in the ocean. Now makeshifted into Michael's 57' Chevy, K.I.T.T. would be soon be cut right out of the picture, crippling the foundation's resources. Taken offline in the same way that damaged the Alpha Circuit of his unstable predecessor, the Knight Automated Roving Robot (K.A.R.R.) had suffered.

Fortunately the Alpha Circuit survived only to installed in the Foundations successor vehicle, the Knight Industries Four Thousand; a 1991 Dodge Stealth, customized to look like a red 1988 Pontiac Banshee.

But let's face it...K.I.T.T. looked better in black. I'm getting off topic. Back to the matter of Devon...

I felt like I shouldn't have brought him up. I decided to leave Bonnie out of it. April, too. And any other employees or allies that they had known.

"There's no dwelling on the past."

"He was the one, KITT. The one who taught Michael that...one man truly can make a difference."

Another moment of silence.

"So...about Michael?"

"Well...Michael Love stopped existing a long time ago when he became Michael Knight. As for where he's gone since he went back home to fix up his 57' Chevy...we...no longer have that information." I looked off to the side.

"Well. I believe you've been cooped up long enough. What say we hit the road and put some well-deserved miles on you, huh?"

"Oh how wonderful. Just that much closer to the scrap heap."

"Oh stop it, you old so-and-so. You want to go for a drive or not?" At that the engine started and the gearshift moved into place on its own as the accelerator moved down on its own.

"I'll take that as a yes. Be careful getting out of here. You don't want to drive off the runway and--"

In retrospect I should have done a better job recreating this world and I shouldn't have positioned this city on the edge of a large body of water.

"Noted."

And K.I.T.T. piloted us out of the hanger and the city itself and into the lands behind.

"This is so cool! A car that can drive itself!"

"You want to see something really cool?" I mused.

I had a whole list of things that were "really cool" about this car and its A.I.

Just to name a few: oil jets, smoke screen, grappling hook and winch, Induction Coil, Flamethrower, Tear Gas Launchers, Ultra-Magnesium Charges, Telephone Com-link, High Traction Drop Charges, Microwave Jammer, Microlock for remotely locking other cars brakes, Ejector Seats, Laser Power Pack, Medical Scanner, Super Pursuit Mode, and so on.

I only wish I were making all this up. Knight Industries had a Swiss-Army Knife mentality when it came to designing him. (Heh...the real challenge was keeping this car out of Violet's hands; one of a kind and I'm sure I knew what she'd do just to get a car this cool.)

But I was only interesting in showing off one thing above all others.

"I see Michael has rubbed off on you. Are you really going to use...that?"

"Asriel. Would you kindly press that switch right there?"

"The one that says Turbo Boost?"

"Do it. You're gonna love this." I said grinning ear to ear.

And so he did...and the next thing we knew there was a massive surge of speed and the car tilted up on its rear wheels...and then we were flying through the air.

"COOLEST! CAR! EVER!"

I think that bit of flattery definitely put Asriel on K.I.T.T.'s good side.

We said across the chasm and landed on the other side of the cliff with ease and continued our drive. A while later...

"...come on. Admit it. You enjoyed that. For old time's sake you enjoyed that."

"Would you stop pressing the issue if I agree?"

"Someone's cranky."

I manually brought K.I.T.T. back to his parking space and turned off the engine. Asriel and I got out.

"Conky will tend to you once his recharge cycle is up."

"Hmm. A butler made up of back stock from Radio Shack. How lucky can I get?"

"Oh you." I smirked. "Hate to break it to you but there are no more Radio Shacks. Went the way of Reaganomics, mullets, and cathode-ray tubes."

"And I suppose Pac-Man is still in the Smithsonian now?"

Asriel and and I looked at each other.

"What's...Pac-Man?" Asriel asked.

"Ouch." K.I.T.T. responded.

Sub-Entry 209: "You Gotta Come Back With Me":
Well with that distraction out of the way, I led Asriel to where I had parked the Deloreon now that it was rebuilt. I was taking a risk telling him what it was.

If it even remotely occured to him that a time machine could be used to go back to his past...that would be a difficult request to bear...but...the problem with it was......

"Well. You've probably seen this in my garage a couple times."

"What does this one do?"

"Well...to be perfectly honest. It's a time machine."

"Time machine? You mean...?"

"Yeah. Like I said. I am a time-traveller."

A long pause.

This was different than Ecto-1A. This vehicle was far less limited than the transwarp gateways we used to get the Ectomobile to New York.

"So...we could...go back to..."

"...Asriel...are you---"

Was he...finally homesick enough to ask? What he was asking was impossible. HIs timeline was gone. I mean COMPLETELY non-existent. It couldn't be recovered. The Dimensional Rig would identify it as an impossible destination.

"No. I already know it's too late. It wouldn't do any good to to back to the past. I'd just relieve it. I'd just get in the way. If I learned anything in that dark place you found me in...all that thinking I did...I'd probably just make things worse."

"Asriel...is...that why you're so cooperative? Because if you resist change you think...it'll turn out badly?"

This was one way he was different than me. He was more go-with-the-flow. I resisted change. I had programmed myself to thrive on routine. Plus I didn't get bored. My infinite patience thanks to the Pandora's Box and Genie's Lamp saw to that.

I had given Chara-Wraith the speech about repeating the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. But I didn't expect things to be different. I counted on them to be the same. And familiarity gave me comfort.

When things were out of place...that's when I got nervous. That's when I sensed that I'd need to fix things. That was where I had to give things a nudge to make sure they went according to Destiny and Fate's plan; whether i agreed with their deliberation or not.

History on other worlds, in other universes, was meant to be "look but don't touch". That was what the Prime Directive of the Council had once considered sacred. Back when they respected the old ways of tradition and the importance of limiting the Butterfly Effect. Not like now when erasing a galactic senator's infidelity could secure our operation's funding remained quite ample. How disgusting.

"...is it a bad thing if it is? Isn't it like sensei says? If you fight the current of water...of life...you won't be in control. But if you go with the current and accept things, you can be in control of your life."

Well. My Asriel wasn't that much different than the other ones, after all.

Each of them accepted their fate at the end of the True Pacifist timeline.

Each was willing to self-punishing for their cruel deeds as Flowey.

They...resigned themselves to their fate. They decided, immediately, that they couldn't defeat Fate. Like Sans...they just gave up.

Rather than protest or offer my own insight, I hugged him. I came to a conclusion.

This is fine.

"We're going off world again as a favor to on of my other mentors. He left something behind and needs me to pick it up."

That was basically true, but what I really meant was something got knocked off course again. Just like the slight alterations to 1955 that I had to put some metaphorical touch-up paint on. Kommand had passed on the message. Something crucial had disappeared from records in his world's timeline. How did it happen? Why did it happen?

This was too much of a coincidence.

First the minor problems in 1955...now this? Once was a fluke. Twice was a coincidence...a suspicious coincidence. But three times would be a systematic pattern. I was beginning to suspect things. Best to leave that for a time when I could properly analyze them. This situation had already happened.

"So tell me, Doctor, where are we going this time?" Asriel interrupted my thoughts with kind of a smug smile. The kind of smile that looked like...he was looking forward to this.

"You mean to WHEN are we going this time?"

Asriel just laughed with a closed-eyes grin.

"We're going to the year 1986. To a place called Hill Valley, California. Relative to New York which is on the far north-east, it's on the far west border of the continent."

"Learning more about the different versions of this "Earth" place is incredible."

"Yeah. It often proves to be. But...as far as Earth Prime goes...none of us will ever get to see it. It's a place beyond our reach. The different Earths in the UltraVerse and other dimensions are...interpretations. Variations. Modified in people, places, events, and reality itself. I could explain further but...you probably won't be able to comprehend it until your older and more educated. When I've had a chance to teach you about quantum mechanics and the laws of time and space."

"I can wait."

I noticed Asriel's eyes were cyan. Patience. Yeah. That was about right.

"Oh! Before we leave..." He pushed up his sleeve and accessed the bracer's Unitrix Core, changing into human form.

"You're on the ball, Azzy." I said as I demorphed and entered the destination time on the keypad and then set the Dimensional Axis Rig for its default.

"This vehicle's a little different. But the same rules go. Buckle up. It's the law."

"Already done. So. How is it different?" Asriel asked. "Nevermind. I think I want to be surprised."

"Oh you'll be surprised, alright. When this baby hit's 88 miles per hour...you're going to see some serious S-word." I drove the car onto the launching track.

"Volt? The gateways aren't appearing. And the end of the track is...! We're gonna run out of road."

Roads? Heheheh...I said it before, and I'll say it again.

"Roads? Where we're going we don't need...roads." Yeah...I'd already said and/or thought this before. This one was for you, Mentor. And you as well, Violet. God's I'm terrible...and somehow loving it.

I stomped on the accelerator pedal and hit the button for the catapult. We went from zero to holy crap in seconds!

"Volt? Volt?! This isn't what I meant by surprised, Volt!!!

And low and behold we launched off the end of the track.

"VOOOOOOOLT!"

And I hit the hover conversion in mid-air.

I grinned as we accelerated further and climbed skyward.

Eighty-five...eight-six...eighty-seven...

"What did I tell you...?" I smirked as the Flux Capacitor lit up with a magnesium-white light and a whooshing crackle as everything lit up with neon blue glow and the wormhole emitter projected the portal...

Sub-Entry 210: "That's the Power of..."
"...Eighty-eight miles per hour!"

"Ohh!!!" Asriel's eyes widened as I piloted the Deloreon through the clouds.

"F-flying?!"

"Flying." I said happily.

I looked down at the ground below. It was going to be a lot harder to find a way to land the time vehicle without drawing attention now that it was no longer all farmland as far as the eye can see let alone owned by Old Man Peabody.

"Hmm..."

Then I remember, there was an abandoned drive-in. It was in operation during the 50's. Past Emmett had made us of it to send the Time Machine back to 1885. With any luck no one would poke around there in 1986.

"Hold on, Azzy. We're coming in for a landing."

I flew to the drive in and landed. We were in luck. Not a soul for a few miles. It was a cinch getting back to the main road and en route to Hill Valley. I drove my way past Lion Estates--the street which the McFly family lived on.

"Wow, everyone's dressed similarly to back in New York. But...different somehow."

"Learning experiences are fun, aren't they?"

"Oh yes! I wonder...if..."

"I don't know. You and Chara came from a world with a different history...different progression of events. I don't know what the world outside looked like."

Well. That wasn't true. I'd seen...a montage of places and events in the True Pacifist endings. But the ones I'd seen were 100 years after Chara's time; While it was a timeline where I saw a castle in the distance, it was also a timeline with Papyrus and Sans driving a car and a scooter(?) down a highway, where Alphys and Undyne were enjoying a date on a sandy beach with Onionsan in the ocean, where Metatton went on tour in Japan with Napstablook and Shyren, and where Toriel was teaching at a school that Asgore had been made the gardener of. I wasn't sure what the world looked like before Chara fell. All I knew was that there was a "village" with Golden Flowers at the center.

Maybe one day I'd make it my mission to see it through. To see the tragedy unfold for myself. But...now...I couldn't bring myself to do so. I was too happy to fill my heart, my mind, and my soul with tragic events.

I wanted to show Asriel around the town itself. Show him that iconic clocktower in the Courthouse building. But I had a mission to complete. One thing I didn't have any qualms about, was keeping as far away from what was once Gertrude Tanen's residence.

If this were 1955, I'd be inclined to head to the east end of town to a block past Maple to what was presently known as John F. Kennedy Drive. But the address at 1640 no longer existed. I'd explain to Asriel soon enough why.

I turned on the radio for Azzy and up came a familiar Huey Lewis song. I gave him a smile and a wink. I could tell he liked it.

I kept my eyes open for the residence. We came up to the Burger King and there I saw it. Street address, 1646 North Victory Boulevard. Looking like a run-down garage more than a residence with a chain-link fence.

"This is it, Azzy."

"Your...mentor's house is the smallest place I've seen yet."

"Yeah...the Brown Family Mansion was destroyed in a fire. Emmett had to sell of a lot of the family assets and the land they owned to developers to fund his research and the construction of the Deloreon."

I got out, opened the gate and drove the car into the driveway, parked it, and set its cloaking mechanism. Hopefully no one would think to park in the driveway while we were inside. That would be a problem.

We got out and I led Azzy to the door and picked up the door mat and nabbed the key and opened up the residence.

The place hadn't changed despite the fact that the McFly auction had come and gone. But something wasnt' right. Why was...it still here? Marty should have long since recovered it.

"Your...mentor's place is...kind of a mess." Asriel wrinkled his snoot.

"What's...that smell?" He looked down...and immediately regretted it.

"Ewww!"

"Dammit, Emmett. You left Einstein's automatic feeding machine on again."

Wait a minute...it shouldn't have any cans loaded up. What was going on here? Why weren't Clara and the kids keeping track of Einstein at the other place?

Everything was still laid out for the-- I picked up the inventory list. Wait.

This wasn't an auction to sell of his assets. This was a garage sale. Then that meant mentor's financial affairs were in order. Then that meant Violet did pay for it fair an square. Marty wasn't going to need it after all. I sighed. So far it SEEMED like the timeline had corrected things but...what did this mean for the future? What did it mean for the Institute? If this was the case why did Kommand send me down here? Everything seemed on track...

"Whoah." Asriel looked at the giant amplifier and the speaker.

"Yeah. Really."

He looked at the huge array of clocks. Some of them were hooked to the coffee maker, the toaster, the radio, and the TV to go off on a timer. The clock with the man "hanging around" drew my attention. Especially how it foreshadowed Dr. Brown's little...mishap with the clocktower in 1955 that I had to correct.

"What are we looking for?"

And then I saw it. The model of Hill Valley. Wood. Not to scale or painted.

"There." I started to hustle over to the model when I heard something outside...then a noise at the door.

"Someone's here!"

"No one's supposed to be here. Technically not even us! Quick. Asriel, use the Spectre function on your bracer like I showed you!"

"Okay!"

And then we both stepped out of time and space, intangible to the world.

"Hello! Anybody home?"

I knew that voice.

"Oh crap." I muttered.

"Volt?"

"Of all people...why did it have to be him?"

"Huh. No sign of crazy old Doc Brown or the butt-head."

Biff Tanen. Really? Really? Man, the plot thins. What was he doing poking around Doc's residence? Things weren't going quite the same as they should have been. I rechecked the time coordinates on my bracer.

Guess Edna Strickland-Tanen and Kidd Tanen weren't keeping an eye on their deadbeat grandson and he was falling back on his old habits. This was why we needed George McFly to constantly keep an eye on him when his family wasn't. You were likely to get conned. Damn slacker was always trying to get away with something.

It was definitely after the point when Marty took the Deloreon back to the 1930's for that adventure. But why was the garage sale still going on? It must not have been that long after. But why was...!

Wait. Did Dr. Brown put the item BACK in the SAME hiding place in the model AFTER he and Marty cleaned up that...after-adventure mess and got things back to normal? Ugh. He and Egon had that whole absent-minded thing in common.

Heh. I was one to talk.

Things were starting to make a little bit of sense but...why did I feel like there had been minor tampering to the timeline and such?

Still if this was the scenario things were less pressing than I thought. The major timeline events leading up to it, especially during the overlapping time travel events in 1955. If anything happened in that pivotal point in history, it would be a MASSIVE mess of paradoxes.

But first things first (but not necessarily in that order)--the matter of Biff Tanen.

"Another of those not-the-best-person-in-the-world types?" Asriel asked.

"Sadly, yes. Biff Tanen. Bully since the 1950's.  Has a family history of bad eggs--from Bufford "Mad Dog" Tannen to notorious gangster, Kid Tanen.  He's always trying to get away with something when he's not being watched like a hawk. What is he doing--"

"What was McFly's kid so interested in this model over? I bet it's something I can hock and make some money off of. Maybe the Doc actually invented something that could make someone rich."

"Ugh. This old song and dance." I remembered it from the previous timeline. Biff hassled Marty over it and a bunch of other equipment here. He soon found it in the back of the Courthouse section. Oh crap. I couldn't let him get his hands on that. Now I knew what this was all about.

"Just nerd stuff. Maybe I can sell it to research lab or the government or something."

That tears it.

"Azzy, what say we teach him a lesson about breaking and entering and stealing another man's property?"

Asriel's eyes were yellow. Someone was feeling a strong sense of justice.

I spied Marty's guitar among the boxes still around. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I looked to the guitar then the amplifier...then to Asriel. It was time for history to repeat itself. And I knew Biff was dumb enough to fall for the same thing twice in a row. After all, he crashed his car into a manure truck...twice.

It was the first time I'd seen Asriel with a devilish grin. And I gave Violet Hell about corrupting the innocent. What was I getting myself into this time?

I willed hand solid enough to snatch the guitar, carefully without making any sound and pulling it out of time and space and bringing it over to Asriel who ducked under the bed. I was relieved the case of Plutonium was long since gone.

Wonder what Doc did with it? You don't just walk into a pawn shop and trade in a lead-lined case full of plutonium stolen from a Nuclear Research Facility and walk out with cash. Yet, I was certain Emmett learned his lesson about dealing with groups of Libyan "Nationalists". You don't eff' around with terrorists and you really don't eff' around by ripping them off. Of course if he had delivered, that would have been treason. Albert Einstein, rest his soul, would be shamed.

I went back and fetched the hookup cable and plugged it into the amp and ran it all the way back to the bed and I ducked under it with Asriel. Once there I turned the guitar tangible and plugged in the cable.

Now came the tricky part. Remotely turning on the amp. I felt my way around to the electrical socket behind the bed and traced the path back to the amplifier and used my electric powers. I bypassed around many of the circuits until I could get the main power on.

One of the most fun laws of electricity to exploit was getting around the law that states electricity follows the path of least resistance.

As I worked, I rerouted the blocks of switches and variable resistors until I had the whole thing at full volume and maximum overdrive. By then the hum of the speaker caught Biff's attention...which I was counting on.

"What the He--" He said as he got in front of the humming device.

I nodded to Asriel who switched off his bracer and turned tangible long enough to rake the strings of the guitar. And the whole room was filled with the loudest chord we had ever heard with explosive results, sending Biff flying back into the book shelf and the pile of junk before the hole thing buried him under it.

"Mr. Tanen seems a little "strummed out".  I guess against our "pluck", he's not a good "pick" to be a first "string"?" Quadruple points for those puns, Asriel.

I quickly willed myself tangible enough to grab Dr. Brown's journal and notes with the flux capacitor schematic inside and step out of reality with Asriel in tow.

"What is it?"

"Something irreplaceable." I said as I showed Asriel the schematic of the flux capacitor. He immediately recognized it as that glass Y-tube from the Delorean and understood. I hadn't explained what it was or what it did, but...he sensed that it was extremely important just from observation. Without spilling uncessary, sensative secrets to him, everything just made sense.

He was having trouble containing his excitement, though. But who could blame him. I was feeling it, too..

At that moment the door opened and who should step through but mentor himself and both George and Marty McFly in the company of Doc's dog, Einstein. I figured they could handle it from here. Fortunately for us, George and Marty had parked a distance away from the drive way. Seemed like a convinient wrap-up with no real explanation, but I could ask Kommanda bout it later.

I got the feeling she might have had a hand in it somehow. Much as Nibbler had a hand in Phillip J. Fry's prank call pizza delivery that had him ringing in the year 2000 for a couple seconds before finding himself cryogenically frozen and awoken at the last day of 2999, in time to ring in a new year, decade, century, and millenium. Yeah...another story for another time.

We waited out the events. Once Biff had been appropriately dealt with and Dr. Brown had left the premises I got Marty's attention without stepping into the time stream, leaving the Journal in plain view for him. Marty shrugged and picked it up. "Yo, Doc! Wait up!" He'd take care of the rest.

I could trust Marty to make sure things were well in hand and hopefully this would be a wake-up call to Emmett about being careless about his journal. Much as one future was dependent on a Sports Almanac, another future depended on this journal containing the foundation of Emmett Brown's research. Once I saw Marty actually hand it over to Emmett I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Mission accomplished, little guy. Let's go home." We loaded up into the Deloreon and headed home from there, dropping our human guises.

"Thanks for taking me out on another mission. They're fun."

I nodded.

"Volt...do you think about the future a lot?"

"All the time."

"I worry about it, too."

"Asriel. It's just like my mentor said--"

"Your future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one. Right?"

A smile.

"That's right."

"I will. Thanks."

"Thank you." I nodded.

Chapter 22

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