Back in Time Part 2
Anthony and his friends head back in time to fix a problem with the space-time continuum.
Synopsis
The Zapbots head to the entrance to the Gearatron sector as they received a distress call. They find an Earth cargo ship being held by a tractor beam emanating from a nearby planet. On the planet below a secret Gongos base has attempted to capture the Earth ship. As the Gongos threaten the Zapbots from the ground below, the Zapbots proceed to head down to the surface to attempt to deactivate the tractor beam.
In Carry-On's and Pick-Up's quarters, Carry-On proceeds to complain about being bored and feeling like he has no purpose. Pick-Up attempts to cheer up his brother to no avail. At that moment they are requested to join the crew to head down to the surface.
The Zapbots proceed to invade the secret Gongos science lab and are met with little resistance and a badly designed hologram to try and fool them. After they capture the Gongos scientist and his mistress, they discover that they have a small human captive as a pet. The Zapbots take the boy back to Fortress Misslemax for medical attention as Boaty attempts to figure out what the Gongos were up to with the science station.
Later David, Mike Quartz and Anthony board the human ship to greet Captain Williams and mingle with the human ship crew. At the event Mike Quartz pressures Anthony for a Head Masters body and Anthony informs him of the training he would need to go through first. During the event Roberta calls Anthony indicating the human is talking to Click and they leave to check upon him.
In the medical bay David indicates that he is familiar with the human and his name is John M.. He was apparently one of the many humans captured when the Gongos had access to Earth. Anthony attempts to get John M. to slowly open up and gradually John M. learns to trust Anthony. Later to help John M. adjust more he takes him to a holoroom adventure. Mike Quartz who at first seems jealous of John M., later joins the crew after Anthony makes amends with him.
Meanwhile Pick-Up continues to try and cheer up his brother who has a major case of depression. Carry-On comes into his quarters and Pick-Up notices he broke his crank-shaft. Pick-Up forces Carry-On to go to the medical bay after much argument over the issue.
Anthony awakes from a disturbing dream and his friends come up to comfort him during the late-night hours. To help him sleep they head down to the holoroom to create a campout-type scene. As Anthony tries to sleep he explains to Mike Quartz that something is definitely up and he can't seem to figure out what he has to do.
The next morning everyone meets up with Scan to figure out what his and Boaty's analysis concluded. There is a time distortion created by the Gongos hanging over the North Pole of the planet. After Shortstop complains about not getting any sleep Scan puts two-and-two together and realizes that the Gongos were attempting to go back in time and kill his (Anthony's) ancient relatives to prevent the next generation of Zapbots from being born. Anthony must go back in time to correct the issue before its reality collapses on itself.
Back in Time
As Anthony, Jeremy, David and Mike Quartz head with Timetravel through the rupture, he experiences another dream-like state where he talks with Matt E. Matt E. informs him that he still holds a connection to the Matrix of Leadership and he needs to save him ancient relative Salvatore Anselmo in order to restore the timeline.
Anthony and his crew land in Sicily and proceed to look for his ancient relative. They rescue Salvatore from a jail cell and proceed to head back to the forest. Salvatore explains the town is being run by a mafia family and he and his friends are in a gang that simply tries to stay alive. Salvatore agrees to take Anthony and his crew to their secret hideout (once again) located in a warehouse.
The next day Salvatore takes Anthony to meet his parents who are definitely not going to win the best-parents-of-the-year award. Realizing how violent and arrogant they are, he decides to take Salvatore and his friends away to safety.
Back at the hideout, Anthony plans how to navigate the group of Italian boys out of Sicily to France for safety. Suddenly their hideout is attacked by the local mafia. Anthony and his crew cloak and proceed to scare the mafia away making them believe he knows 'black magic'.
Anthony and his crew begin the long journey with the boys to France. They proceed to stick to the side roads but have to take shelter in some nearby caves when massive rainstorms hits. The next day they head into a nearby town and by two wagons with horses to help take the boys the rest of the way. Once they reach the French border they check into a hotel and get some well-deserved sleep. Find an orphanage on the town border, Anthony says goodbye to his ancient relative as Timetravel has noted the time rupture has closed, resolving the problem.
Anthony radios Timetravel and they meet up to head home.
Present Time
Pick-Up goes to have a conversation with Botimus Prime about his brother. Botimus Prime agrees to talk to Carry-On.
Later Carry-On goes to Bop's bar and Bop as usual gets him to open up about his problems. Carry-On gripes of not being part of something big and feels like he is a footnote in various stories. At that moment the Red Alert siren goes off and Carry-On leaves the bar with Bop telling him 'you will find your way.'
Two Gongos ships uncloak near the planet. Aster the leader of the Gongos taunts Botimus Prime. Very shortly after they engage in battle and the various Zapbots on the bridge are knocked from their chairs. As Carry-On enters the bridge he takes control and warps Fortress Misslemax away for safety giving them time to regroup and repair. Botimus Prime congratulations him on his quick thinking and suddenly Carry-On feels more assured about himself.
As Anthony and his friends re-enter timewarp with Timetravel he has another dreamlike situation with the vision of his lost friend Matt E. Matt E. explains to Anthony that the events of this saga all played out before (referring to the original Zapbot saga) except in the alternate timeline, he was alive until this adventure and then dies when Timetravel comes out of timewarp. Anthony frustrated by Matt yells at him but then realizes that Mike Quartz filled the void that Matt E. left. Matt E. always warns Anthony that choosing to ignore his destiny will destroy the universe. As he comes out of the dream-like state and then out of the time warp, he yells at Timetravel to take evasive maneuvers and just misses getting hit by a Gongos ship. Fortress Misslemax warps back just in time and destroys the Gongos ship as Anthony's team returns home. As Shortstop (Anthony) gets to the bridge, Botimus Prime gives accolades to Carry-On once again.
Back in his quarters, Anthony relays the story of the adventure to John M. while Mike Quartz prepares food. Tired and disturbed from the vision from Matt E., Anthony goes to bed early. He awakens halfway through the night to find Mike Quartz has died accidentally choking on a chicken bone. Frustrated by the loss of his lover Anthony orders Timetravel to meet him in Docking Bay One. He controls Timetravel and going back in time, jumps right to the first few minutes before Mike Quartz finishes his meal and disposes of the chicken bone. During the time jump Matt E. confronts him again in a vision and he refutes the universe. He then returns to the present time and finds Mike Quartz alive and well in his quarters.
In the Epilogue scene, Anthony is confiding in just Boaty, Click and Timetravel the events of his actions. Asking the discussion to remain top secret, he asks Boaty and Click to prepare a Plan B just in case the destruction of the universe does happen.
Featured characters
| Zapbots | Humans | Gongos | Planets |
|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
“The Universe be damned then!” I replied.
- Anthony to the vision of Matt.
Notes
Versions
- First Version: 1992?
- Second Version: 2020
- Third Version: 2021
Production notes
SPOILER WARNING
- In the original version of this story, this is where Matt E. died, however when I was rereading it to revamp this story I didn't want to lose the impact of the scene. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I came up with the idea that divergence of the Reality story had an impact on the 'revised saga' and put in these dream-like conversations with Matt E. that will play out over the next few stories. In the conversations with Matt E., he is literally referencing the original and revised saga metaphorically. In the original saga, when Timetravel came out of the time rift, the Gongos hit him and Matt was killed. In this saga, when Timetravel comes out, Anthony knows what is going to happen and has him diverge from being hit thus saving Mike and everyone else. However much like those Final Destination movies, death attempts to take Mike again and Anthony determined to not let fate win, uses Timetravel to go back and alter events saving Mike.
Continuity notes
Real-life references
- Sicily - Italy
- France
Continuity and plotting errors
Other trivia
- Actually did some research on what was going on around the world during this time for this story and found out about the revolutions.
