Smarty's Fanfiction--Darkness Prevailing

[on:]

Here is my new fanfic, Darkness Surrounding.

Desc.: Fry and Leela go on a mission and they get sucked into a wormhole, which warps them to Earth 10 years later where war has broken out...



Here it is, pretty long though (6,016 words long.)

Darkness Surrounding


…May 12, 3009…

The darkness around the small ship surrounded them. Leela was piloting the rented ship from
the ship depot, as this was a mission that needed a small one. Fry was in the copilot chair
relaxing, but he had his eyes open in case Leela needed any help piloting. But he had confidence
that she’d be okay. It was only them two in the pit, and on the ship, because the Professor only
needed two crew members. He said he would have sent Bender too, to help, but he was worried
that he would steal the cargo. They had no clue what the cargo could have been, but they had
given Bender $20 to see what it was. He had told them that he had overheard the Professor
talking to Hermes, and that there was a small test time machine that he was sending out to be
tested on the planet X-83J.

Leela stared at the empty space ahead, and once and a while, she’d stare at her wrist computer to check the time and coordinates. She frequently hummed tunes she heard on the radio often, but Fry didn’t notice much. Fry played with his fingers in his lap, twiddling them in circles. He sometimes looked up at Leela, and the path ahead, but he usually quickly brought his head down again, as not to disturb her.

Fry then spoke up, “Are we almost there? Where are we going anyway…”

Leela replied softly, “I don’t know. I have no clue where this place is,” she explained, “I am
relying on this ancient Universal Positioning Unit to guide me. It says we are about five hours away.”

“Ugh,” Fry complained, “I just want to get there. The bed in the cabin is way too small, and my
back hurts. I haven’t eaten in hours…”

“Then eat.”

“I’m too lazy…” Fry said.

Leela rolled her eyes at him and continued to steer.

“Wait a second,” she started, “What the hell is that thing up there?”

Fry leaned to the window and saw the thing Leela was now pointing to. He gasped. The “thing”
was a bright blue vortex of light that seemed to be bringing the ship in. Fry sat down quickly and
buckled his belt.

“Oh my God!” Leela said. “That is a wormhole! I have to steer us out!”

“Hurry!” Fry screamed. He tightened the belt a notch more and grasped the arm rests like they
were going to actually save his life. The interior of the ship began to glow bright blue.

She tried to pull on the wheel, but the ship was taken over. “I can’t! Oh no! What are we going
to do…no one has come out of one alive, or at least returned to tell the tale.”


“Great!” Fry said, “Scare me, why don’t you. That’ll help.”

“Fry! Just brace yourself,” she ordered, “I have no clue what will happen next…”

Leela  sat down, buckled in, and they both waited for their fate to be revealed. With the ship
being sucked into the object, they could do nothing. The power went out suddenly, and Fry
gasped. It was pitch black, and all they could see was darkness and blue as the wormhole
engulfed them. A high-pitched buzzing was heard throughout the deck and the two both passed
out.


…May 12, a few hours later…


Fry sat up. He had awoken from a three hour nap. He rubbed his eyes and unbuckled his belt.
After getting up and stretching his arms, he noticed that the power had turned back on, so he
shook Leela awake.

“Wha? What happened?” She asked.

“The wormhole?”

“Oh,” she said. “Well, we need to continue piloting. Where are we…” Leela looks at her wrist
computer in search of the time and the position in space where they are. “Oh, it is only 2:00. We
only slept for three hours. Hey…why are we close to Earth? Maybe the wormhole turned us
around.”

“Aww man..” Fry said.

“Let’s just go home and explain to the Professor what happened,” she suggested.

“Yeah,” Fry agreed.

They piloted towards the earth, but as they got closer and closer to the rock, the big blue planet
seemed not as blue as they remembered. It was almost like it had rusted. As they entered the
atmosphere, there was a sense of destruction, air pollution, and death. They looked on in horror
as they reached New New York.

Their home city was in ruins, as the Old New York was then. They saw graffiti in places like the
Statue of Liberty and the streets. People ran around, shooting each other. Bombs frequently
went off in random buildings in the city. Buildings were torn down, or near collapse. Fry solemnly
looked on. How many times had he been through the destruction of this city? Too many. But he
had been frozen then.

“What happened? We have only been gone three days!” he exclaimed, angrily.

“Are you sure? Maybe we have been gone a week…let me check.” Leela checks her wrist and
looks at the time again. In block letters on the screen the date reads: March 12, Tuesday, 2:17
PM, 2019.

“Oh my God,” she gasps, “It has been 10 years! The wormhole completely zapped us 10 years
into the future…a horrible future.”

“You sure? Check the ship’s clock…”

She looked onto the dashboard and saw the same. “Same thing, Fry. We have been bounced to
the future.”

“How?”

“Maybe the time machine in the cargo hold was triggered somehow by the wormhole,” she
explained.

“Maybe…what happened?”

“I don’t know,” she answered, “Maybe if we land we can ask a surviving person what is going
on. Let’s see if the Professor is at Planet Express.”

“Good idea, he’ll know what is up.”

The two piloted the ship down into the nearest parking lot, unsure of where their former work
could be. The ruins made it too hard to tell which building was which. Leela took out two plasma
guns and handed one to Fry. She loaded her own and placed it in her belt.

“Here, in case we need it. We are going to split up. Call me on your walkie that is in your pocket
when you find Planet Express or if you are in trouble.”

“I have a walkie-talkie?” He checked his pocket and found a small, round walkie-talkie. “Oh,
yeah, I forgot that we brought these.”

“Yeah, Fry, don’t waste it!” she said.

“Right!” He said, with a mock salute. They ran off in separate directions in the way they thought
the building was. Behind Fry was the walkie-talkie he just found.





Leela turned her head to the side repeatedly to see if there was anyone following her. No one
there. She looked everywhere else. She had been paranoid since the two split up, unsure if
there was someone on her tail. She crept into an alley where she started walking, gun in hand.
She heard a step behind her.

“Who is there?”

Nothing. It was silent and calm, and all that could be heard was the fluttering of a piece of trash.
She turned around and continued to walk. Her eyes shifted side to side as she walked down the
alley. She then heard a trash can fall behind her. She turned and saw four men who looked like
all they wanted to do was killing. And that was their intention. They had their guns in their hand,
and turned all four of them on her. She turned to run but all that was there was a wall. Dead
end.

“So this is how it ends?” she said. “In an alley waiting to die ten years in the future on a
destroyed planet?”

“Yep,” one of the men said who seemed to be the leader. “You are about to die, Pretty. Pretty
odd for one eye! Ha!” He moved closer to her, staring her down with his beady black eyes and
scraggly mustache and beard. He never stopped, and Leela continued to be pressed to the wall.

“Shut up!” Leela said, pointing her gun, changing targets one at a time, cautious on who may
shoot her first.

“Eh, she’s a monster,” the one with the eye patch said.

“What are you going to do? Shoot us?” the third said, “We will just shoot you. You can’t shoot all
of us, Ugly.”

“Damn right, Stitch. Boys, sic her. Like dogs with guns,” the leader said. They all turned their
guns on her and got ready to shoot while Leela huddled in the corner. There was no way she
could defeat them on her own…

But then, right there, a mysterious figure jumped from the escape ladder onto the leader of the group. Like a ninja, he brought the man down. He wailed for help but the man punched him out cold. The second, Stitch, went to shoot the man. The man got up, barely missing a shot of the laser. He kicked the Stitch, who was to his left, in the face in one swing of his leg. He turned to Leela and motioned to her to help. She quickly got up and knocked out the third man. The mystery man ran down the fourth and final gang member to bring him down. The man started walking back down the alley out of breath, and he wiped the sweat that had accumulated off of his forhead. Leela sat on the ground, and she laughed.

“Whew that was close,” she said, “Thanks. That was kind of fun.”

He looked up with his hair in his face and said to her, “No problem.”

She looked him in the face and gasped. “Hey, you’re just a kid!”

“Got a problem with that?” He answered, wiping off his vest.

“Uh, no,” Leela answered. “Just that…well never mind. Do I know you?”

“No…” he replied. “If you knew me, why would you be asking if you knew me? And wouldn’t I
have recognized you?”

“Oh, right. Ok then, what are you doing out here? And where did you learn to fight like that?
What’s your name?” Leela asked.

He sighed. “I am out here trying to survive. And I didn’t learn to fight like that. It just came
naturally to me. I needed to teach myself to defend me, so I did. You need to be able to survive
in World War III.”

“Oh,” she said, “Wait. World War III?! There is a World War III now? The Earth hasn’t had one
since the 20th century!”

“Wow,” he answered, “you are either nuts or you have been traveling way too long. It has been
going on for 9 years.”

“Oh my…well how did it start?”

“No one really knows, or even cares to remember. It is just happening. That is all that I can think
about. I was only 6 when it started.”

“Wait…so you are only 15?”

“Yeah,” he answered. “That was good math,” he added, sarcastically.

“Funny, kid,” she said, ruffling his hair. “My name is Leela by the way. What is yours?”

“Don’t touch my hair again,” he said, starting to walk away.

“Wait!” Leela called to him, “What is your name?”

He called from the end of the alley: “It’s Jon!”

“Jon…cool name,” she said to herself. She saw him walking farther away. Afraid of more killers,
she ran after him.



They kept walking for a while, always on guard. When they got to a safer place, Jon explained to
Leela about the war and why everything is as it is:

“It had all started in the United States, of all places. Of course, it would have started there. The
politics of the world was stationed there. Many of the countries hated the USA for having that
kind of advantage. Half the leaders since the Earth became one had been from America. The
Chinese, Japanese, Russians, Germans, and the British all disapproved of this, them also
representing neighboring countries. The US was disgusted by how the countries acted towards
them. They stopped trading, speak, and UN meetings. The United States warned that if the
countries did not behave like a one Earth, then they would have to come over to them
themselves, and make them.

“Of course the countries didn’t stop. And of course the United States went into them to stop
them. With the US in about 23 countries at that time, trying to get them to follow the conduct of
the Earth, the world was almost free for the taking. But no one wanted an Earth that was
fighting with itself. It was like the American civil war but at a greater scale. World War III had
begun.

“Countries started to take sides. Australia immediately took Britain’s side, Canada and Mexico
took the US, along with many other Latino countries and various European sites. Countries like
Japan, Russia, Germany, and other independent countries went independent and used their own
armies.  The world was officially divided. The war spread to everywhere, even New New York,
where the French had bombed. The United States were devastated, almost the same as the
incident on September 11, 2001, almost 1000 years ago. The US became more determined to
win back the countries and regain power. They are still at war today and we are in as much
danger now as back then.

“My parents were helping in the army a few years ago. They are still there, but in this day and
age, I was ready to be on my own by the age of 9. They will be coming home soon. I’ve been
waiting.

“Wow. I can’t believe that the US started the war…living without your parents must be tough. I
was an orphan, so my parents were always away to me…” Leela said.

“That sucks.”

“Yeah, but we met up in the sewers…I became happier when I met them...”

“That’s cool. So, where are you even headed?”

“Oh! Fry…I hope he found it. I am going to Planet Express. Or at least what’s left of it,” Leela
explained.

“I know where that is! Come on, Leela.”

“Oh!” Leela said, surprised. “Ok then.” She shrugged and followed him.

They walked a few blocks, turning corners cautiously. The only things that they had to deal with
were some dogs and some homeless people who wanted food. They soon came up to the
disheveled front door of the place Leela worked, or used to, at least. Jon went first, to look for
anything out of the ordinary.

The place was a wreck. Chairs were thrown into corners, stains covered the walls and floors,
and beakers and glass covered the ground. Old paychecks were ripped and the safe in the wall
had been ransacked, or at least very thoroughly gone through. It looked as though the French
had bombed just that one room.

“It is a mess in here!” Leela exclaimed, “It is worse than the time that Bender and Fry threw that
party…ooh I don’t even want to go into that again…”

“Yeah, it is a mess, like the whole city...hold on.” He listened. After a few seconds, he placed his
finger over his lips to signal to Leela to be quiet. He started to walk down the hall to a door
where he heard strange sobbing sounds. Leela was behind him, and he opened the door to
reveal Fry kneeling in front of a frail Professor. And Fry was the one crying. Leela ran over to him.

“I’ll guard the door…” Jon said, gun in hand.

“Fry! Fry! What happened?”

Fry sniffed. He wiped his nose and eyes and looked her in the eye. His eyes were red from crying
and his nose dripping. “The Professor…he…he says he is going to die…” Fry leaned on Leelas
shoulder.

She pat him on the back to let him know that she felt sorry. “Fry...I am so sorry...I know he is
close to you, and your only relative alive.”

“I know…It’s just that...He is so sick...he is going to die any second.”

The Professor started to wheeze. He sat up a little, reached out his hand and touched Fry’s
shoulder. He then spoke: “Fry...Leela...I need to tell you...you...”

“Tell me what? What!” Fry screamed. But it was too late. The old man took his final breath and
fell, lifeless, to the pillow. “He is gone,” he started to cry more. “Gone!! Why? Why did we have
to leave for 10 years…”

“Oh, Fry,” Leela said, hugging him. They both cried. In the corner, Jon even felt a little grief. He
didn’t cry, or at least if he did he hid it, because he turned away. After he had heard enough
crying, he turned back and said, “Let’s move from here. The enemy is getting closer. I can feel it.”

“Come on Fry,” Leela said quietly. They both got up and left the Professor on his death bed.



They traveled for an hour towards the place where Jon stayed. It was in central New New York.
This time, they had no trouble on the way. There was just silence, silence and the patter of feet
walking down a cracked street.

They reached their destination after 10 minutes of more walking, and Jon showed them in. For a
run down building, it was nicer than the rest. It was most likely because since he lived there, he
wanted to keep it as clean as possible. It had a couch, a bed, a TV that played movies, and a
radio. He walked in and sat on the couch like a normal teenager would—relaxed and laid back. Of
course, he was a normal teen.

After a while, they told each other some stories about each other. Leela and Fry told Jon about
their previous experiences with missions and such. Jon told them about the war, his parents,
and what it was like when he was in school. Suddenly, they heard steps from the other room.
Jon got up with the gun in his hand, aiming it at the door.  He looked through the target…The
door opened quickly, and the intruder barged in. They all screamed and Jon was ready to attack.

“Who is it?” Jon asked. The dust cleared and he could see that it was only a friend, “Amy! It is
you. You gave me a heart attack!”

The two, Leela and Fry, gasped at the fact that Amy was still alive. She was the last one they
would have thought to have survived. She was dressed in green camouflage gear and had 3
guns in her belt, and a knife. Under her eyes was eye black and her hair was longer than before,
just enough to put in a ponytail. She hugged Jon, and Leela went ballistic.

“Amy? Is that you? What are you doing here? You two know each other?”

Jon and Amy laughed. Jon whispered something to Amy, and she nodded. She started to speak.

“Yeah, we are good friends. I saved him when he was 13 from a pack of rogue dogs and we
have been helping each other ever since.”

“Wow,” Fry said.

“Yeah. How did you get here? I thought you were...dead.”

“Well, we did leave 10 years ago and--”

“Ten years ago?” Amy asked, “I recall you guys leaving only three…”

“Huh?” Fry asked, confused. “No. We were on our delivery when the wormhole brought us back
here, ten years into the future and...”

“Wait,” Amy interrupted. “Wormhole? Ok, hate to break it to you, but Fry and Leela did die three
years ago. Just not...you guys. I think you are from a different universe. It is the only
explanation. ”

“What?” screamed Fry, almost simultaneously.

“Yeah…the time machine in the back sent us forward 10 years…and the wormhole could have
sent us to a different dimension...but how can that be true?”

“It is true,” Jon said. “I still remember Fry and Leela. They were married.”

“Married?” Leela said surprised.

“Then it can’t be us...we have to be from a different world...Leela won’t even go out with me,”
Fry explained.

“Don’t get into this again, Fry,” Leela started.

“Wait. How did they die, anyway?” Fry asked.

“I’ll tell them,” Amy volunteered. She took a breath and began. “Well, the war started 9 years
ago. I am taking it that Jon told you.”

“War? What war? The world didn’t just get attacked by space monkeys or something? Because
that is what usually happens.” Fry asked.

“Ugh, World War III, Fry. The first world war since your last one in the 1900’s,” Leela explained.

“Whoa.”

“Now, Leela and Fry—not you—were married, and they got married in...Uh…3002. They were so
cute together. They became the best spaceship pilots in the country. (Leela taught Fry how to fly
well and accurately.) When the war started, they tried to stay hidden so as to not get drafted.
ALL of the pilots got drafted, an order issued by none other than Zapp Brannigan. They
unfortunately got called about three years ago to go on a special mission to stop a ship convoy
in Egypt. They left...but they never returned. They found their bodies in their ship a week later.”

“Oh...” Leela said. “What about the others, Bender, Hermes and Zoidberg?”

“Ah. Zoidberg disappeared about a month after the war, who knows why, I definitely
don’t...Hermes unfortunately was robbed and his family was killed in their home...that was a
terrible loss for all of us. Bender was drafted into the robot army and got crushed by a land tank
on Mars…And the Professor is still at Planet Express. He is alive.”

“No,” Fry said. “He died...today.”

“Oh my God, that is horrible! I was going to check up on him today, too,” Amy replied.

“So basically, all of us died?” Leela asked.

“Yeah, everyone except me. This war has already lost 200,000 million Earthicans, 75 million of
those American.

“That is horrible,” Fry said.

“You are telling me!” Jon said, “They even drafted some teens who were 16. One of them was
my best friend, Jeremy. I haven’t seen him since he left last year.”

“I’m so sorry, Jon,” Leela said.

“It’s ok; I am used to people leaving.”

Leela turned to Amy and asked, “What are you doing now?”

“Well, there is no more DOOP just to let you know. Once the Earth had gone into war, the Order
fell apart. Now, the American army started up again as soon as the war started. I was enlisted. I
couldn’t do battlefield stuff, so I was given the job as secret agent. I scope out spies and
enemies in disguise. I know every type of martial arts in the world, so I can defend myself in the
most efficient way possible. Not bad for a former engineer of Planet Express, eh?”

“Wow, that is awesome,” Fry said. He looked around, and out the window. There was a
homeless man struggling with another for a slice of bread. He could hear a bomb explode in the
distance, and the sky filled with orange. The air, even though he couldn’t smell it, smelled like
death and hatred. “You sure there is nothing to end this war that the Professor had invented?”

She thought a second. “I don’t know. We could go check his blueprints. Come on! We can take
the hover board.”

“You still have that thing?” Leela inquired.

“Yeah, I rigged it to hold 5 people in case I needed to help someone around while doing my job.
It is outside.”

The three followed Amy out onto the stairs of the building, and she pushed some buttons on the
side of the door. A latch clicked and lo and behold, there was a hover board stashed inside a
hidden compartment brick in the wall. She pulled out a small box and pushed a button. The box
expanded to a large board in which they all got on. They sped off towards Planet Express and
got there in about 15 minutes.



“Here we are,” Amy said. She hopped off first, then Jon, Leela, and Fry. They walked back into
the gloomy building, avoiding the room with the resting Professor. They ran to the basement and
opened his blueprint file. It contained hundreds maybe even thousands of papers. They began
to search for anything that could help.



...March 12, 3019. One hour later...



“Found it!” Jon exclaimed. The other three crowded around him, waiting to see what he had
found. He opened it up and showed the others. He pointed to the name: War Ender. “This has to
be it!”

“Yeah, Jon, good job,” Leela says. “Let’s get this thing built. Let’s save the world. Again, right
Fry?”

“Yeah,” Fry replied, “Many times we have stopped Earth from ending.”

“Ok, guys, we need all these supplies,” Amy said, pointing to the list. “I will start building the
mechanics and Jon, you the electronic parts.”

“Right!” Jon said, hurrying to the spare electric pieces in the corner of the basement.

Fry and Leela searched the basement for spare parts to build the contraption. Amy started to
gather nuts, bolts, hammers, screwdrivers…



...March 12, 3019. Three hours later...



“Almost...done...there!” Fry said. “The wing is on, Amy!”

“Good!” Amy yelled from the balcony ahead. (They were now in the ship garage which they
picked because the roof could open. The ship wasn’t in there anymore, though. Amy had said
that the army needed it for war deliveries, but since Leela and Fry were in hiding, they had no
choice but to sell the ship to them instead of offering themselves up to pilot.)

Leela turned to Jon, “We are almost finished, Jon. Your parents will come home soon.”

Jon said, “Yeah, they will...” He tightened a bolt. “I’ll be right back.”

Jon walked out of the room and up the stairs to the outside balcony. Fry looked at Leela then
they left to follow him. Fry got there first, and he heard crying. He peeked in and saw Jon, with
his head in his hands sitting on the edge of the broken terrace. Fry went up and sat next to him.

“Hey, man, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Fry looked concerned. “Something is wrong. Tell me.”

“Fine. My parents aren’t coming back, Fry.”

“Don’t say that! You have to believe,” Fry answered.

“They aren’t, ok? I have to live with that, so leave me alone.”

“We are going to bring them home! I am sure of it. Leela come here!” He waved her over.

Leela, seeing him through the doorway,  made it to the balcony and sat on the other side of
Jon. “What’s wrong, kid?”

“He says his parents aren’t coming back,” Fry explained.

“Oh, come on don’t say that. Of course they are—“

“They aren’t coming!” Jon screamed, tears streaming from his face. “They are dead! D-E-A-D.
DEAD!”

Leela’s mouth gaped. “What? You said they were in the army! You said they were alive! Why did
you lie?”

“I didn’t lie...well sort of. I can’t tell you.”

“You can tell us,” Fry said.

“No. I can’t tell you. Both of you.”

“Tell us!” Leela said.

“Fine. But you won’t like it,” he said. He wiped the tears from his eyes and took a deep
breath. “So, my parents got drafted into the army 3 years ago because...they were good pilots.
They died...trying to...stop a convoy in Egypt. I was twelve.”

“Wait...that means...” Fry said.

“Yes. That means you two were my parents. Well not you...them...they’re gone...you reminded
me of them. I thought it was you, my mom, when I saw you Leela, but since you didn’t know it
was me,  I knew my dream was gone. I knew my parents were dead and you had to come from
somewhere else. I had to tell Amy to cover and say she met me a year after they died. That is
enough, I bet you are mad at me enough.”

He stopped. Leela put her hand on his shoulder and said to him, “Keep going. I want to hear
more.”

“Ok,” he said. “Well, my mom—you Leela, basically—was very much like you are now. She was a
fighter. That is where I got all my skills from. My dad said that I have her nose, if you can tell. My
dad...he was awesome. He was a great mathematician. Yes, I know you are probably
amazed...my mom said that he was quite the goof before she married him. She said that she put
him in line, and made him go back to college. He said it was the best decision that my mom made
for him since their marriage. And he said that she made a lot of decisions for him! Yeah...both of
them together though...so in sync. They said they were soul mates. They flew together perfectly.
They became famous for flying ships. Man...They left me...when I was only 12...it wasn’t their
choice, the commander of the army needed them. Everyone got drafted, so I understood. If only
they had been stronger, ready even. If only I could have stopped them...”

“Jon...there was probably no way you could have stopped the army from sending them. It is not
your fault,” Leela said. She stared off into space, thinking about what he had said about his
parents. “We were really great in this world. You must really miss us—I mean—your parents.”

“Yeah...they were always a great married couple...”

“Just to, uh, let you know…There is no way in our world that she’ll marry me. But maybe in this
one…,” Fry whispered to Jon. Jon laughed a bit and then looked at Leela who looked mad.

“Yeah, Fry. Maybe it is because you say things like that.”

“But—“ he started.

“Just kidding Fry. Let’s not think about that right now. Let’s think about saving the world.”

Jon nodded and got up. He wiped the remaining tears from his cheek and breathed once more.
He went back to the object and before he could get to work, he stopped, and stared at the
garage. Or at least, what was in it now.

“Hey, looks like Amy went and finished it!” Jon said, grinning.

He had been right. The thing was standing, 100 feet in the air, ready for its launch. They all ran
down and prepped for it, opened the roof, and made sure all the pieces were together. They
were ready. Jon grabbed the blueprints to double check.

They all sat on the roof waiting to set it off. They were all laughing around a small table. Jon
started to take out the blueprints to do the final check. He read through the list of objects
needed to complete the thing, the dimensions, and the labels. He found something in the corner
though…He saw an arrow pointing to the back. He saw a label on the back, and he gasped. He
quickly shoved the blueprint in his pocket.

“So, ready to launch?” Jon said, uneasy.

“Yeah, let’s end the war!” Amy said.

“Yeah!” Fry said.

“Woo!” Leela cheered.

“Woo. Yeah. Let’s go,” Jon said.

They all walked to the control panel they made. It was on the ground outside the building. They
had brought Leela and Fry’s ship to the outside in case they needed it. They were ready to push
the button. Jon opened the latch to the launcher.

“Ok, moment of truth…10…9…”

“8…7…” Amy added.

“6….5…4…” Leela said.

“3….2…….” Fry anxiously said.

“….1….” Jon whispered.

He pushed the button. The thing rose from the building to the space above, and the group
waited to see what would happen. Jon quickly turned to Fry and Leela.

“You guys have to leave. NOW!” Jon yelled.

“Why?” Leela asked.

“That thing is…an atom bomb…it will destroy the whole earth,” Jon explained. Out of the corner
of his eye he could see Amy, shocked, slump back into her chair.

“But…it said war ender…” Fry said.

“War ender could also mean end of the world. You guys have about three minutes to leave
before it destroys us.”

“This is the end…” Amy said, a tear coming from her eye.

“Jon we can’t leave you…” Leela said. “Come with us. We can take you in, you can be our son.
We are like your parents. I mean, we kind of are them in a way!”

“Yeah,” Fry said, “Please, Jon, please! We can’t leave you here to die!”

“Yes, you can,” he said.

“Jon!” Leela said.

“Jon, go with them,” Amy said to him.

“No! I won’t.” He turned to them. “Look, I would love to stay with you. I’d give anything. But…I
belong to this world and I believe I should die with my world. I will be with Mom and Dad soon…
we’ll all be together in heaven…”

“Jon…” Leela said.

“Go! You need to. You have a life ahead of you. Who knows? Maybe you guys will eventually get
married and have a kid just like me. Go. Back to your own world. I need to stay here.”

Fry looked at him. “That is very mature of you, Jon,” he said. “I wish I was that mature when I
was your age. Maybe I would have married Leela like your mom married your dad. Or maybe I
would have had a job in the 20th century and I wouldn’t even be here right now. Keep that
maturity…unfortunately you don’t have much time to keep it…I wish you would come with us.”

“In a way, I would. But I don’t want to abandon my parents.”

“Well, bye Jon. I wish I could have been a mother to you…” Leela said. She hugged him and
turned to Fry and nodded.

“Kid, I would really have liked to be your dad…” he said, and then he whispered in his ear, “And
to have married that woman right there. I hope that your thoughts about us getting married and
having a kid like you will come true. You really are some kid.”

“Thanks, Fry,” Jon replied. “Now go! Get! YOU need to leave NOW! The bomb crashes in about a
minute…”

“Bye! Both of you…have a good time…up there,” Leela said. “Say hi to your parents for me, huh
Jon?”

“I’ll be sure to, Leela. Bye.”

They waved as they went into their ship, almost reluctantly. Leela and Fry buckled their belts
and they took off into space. Leela slowed the ship to a halt as they reached the moon. They
watched solemnly, in tears, as the clock counted down and hit 0. The world blew up. It imploded
into a mess of nothingness. The war was over, but the world had ended—and so had their
parallel son’s life.

The two stood in the window, both crying. Fry sat down. He covered his face with his hands and
wiped the tears that streaked down his cheeks. He shook his head over and over, repeating to
himself, “If only he had come with us…”

There was silence. Then Fry got himself back into reality and stopped crying he breathed deeply
and said to Leela, “I can’t believe he was our son, sort of.”

“Yeah. Do you think that could really happen to us, Fry?” Leela asked.

“What?”

She was silent for a second, and then she told him, “That we could get married, have a kid, live
like Jon’s parents did…”

“I don’t know, Leela... It’s really up to you. I already love you with all of my heart. And I always
have. I just need you to give me love back.”

She sighed. “I hope that happens eventually, Fry. I really do, honestly. But I am not ready for
marriage and kids just yet.”

“We don’t have to do it all at once. I don’t know one person who would in their right mind.”

Fry smiled softly and they looked at each other. Leela smiled as well and looked down. Then they
looked at the remains of an empty, destroyed earth.

Leela’s hand went to the side on the table next to her, and Fry’s went atop.


…And the darkness around the small ship surrounded them…

[Reply #1 on:]

Nice job, Smarty.  I read over on Arch's forum that this will be your entry in the writing contest that's going on over there.  Good luck!

[Reply #2 on:]

Thanks, soylentOrange, means a lot.


**edit**

I added almost 2000 words to the story. Just more detail, really, so if you want you can read it over. I included an explanation on how the war started and stuff. More dialog in some places, more descriptions.

[Reply #3 on:]

Just a thought--

I was thinking if I should do a whole "what if Jon had gone with them" kind of thing. 


Interesting...thinking...mayb e...depends.

**edit**

Now I wish I didn't end it like that...interesting things could have been made. Hmm...I have an idea to make it so it was like it never happened, or that the end was at least a dream. Nah, wouldn't make sense...

I'll just have to brainstorm a new idea, and this time I am going to try to lay off the relationship a little bit between Fry and Leela, but definately aknowledge it.

[Reply #4 on:]

A good start in writing. I wish Jon would come back as survivour, or from another universe, or as you said it would be somebody's bad dream.
And it is written... It's much easier to read this, than Archonix's or coldangel's fanfics. Good work!

[Reply #5 on:]

Thanks, I am actually working on a story right now, and I was thinking whether or not I should do something like that.

[Reply #6 on:]

Here is the beginning of the sequel to Darkness Surrounding.
There isn't a title yet, but that is fine. I have a thought out story plot for this, so hold on as I write it. (I made an organizer to keep my ideas in sync.)

It starts about a month after the Jon experience happened, and they made it back to their own time. So here is what I've written so far:


December 31, 1999

“You’ll never amount to anything… I mean, you are only a pizza delivery boy, Phil.”

It was Yancy, Fry’s older brother, who was speaking to him. It was New Year Eve at about 11 o’ clock in the morning, and they were sitting across from each other in their parents’ basement playing cards. There were a few dollars, a watch, and a baseball in the center of the table.

Fry snickered and said, “Well, since I have beaten you at every game so far, maybe I can be a world famous poker player?”

“Phil, seriously, when are you going to get a real job?”

“I have a good-paying job…I get pizza all the time, not that it is free or anything, but at least I have a job.”

“Phil, I went to college. I have a job. At least go back to college, get an education, and figure out your life from there.”

“College was boring, and it was hard,” Fry answered, looking at his cards.

“That what college is!” Yancy said. “You have to go through it. It is a test. If you pass, you become successful. If you don’t, well…you become a pizza delivery boy.”

“Just shut your mouth, Yancy,” Fry said to him, now angry. “Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard and he is doing fine!”

“Exception,” he explained, “he is smart.”

“Ugh! Yancy shut up! I will make my own decisions!”

“Sure…”

“Oh yeah? Well, I will lead a successful life and you will see me! Just wait,” he snapped. He put down his cards and said, “Read ‘em and weep, bro.” There were four aces on the table with the king and queen he also held. Yancy was astonished, but he quickly became angry.

“Lucky hand.”

“You don’t even believe I can be successful at winning this game! Ugh! I am sick of you and your jealousy!” He started to walk away.

“Jealous? You think I’m jealous?” He grabbed Fry’s hand and pulled him so they were face to face.

“I am not talking to you, Yancy, so leave me alone. I have to go to work.” He pulled free from his brother’s grasp and walked up the stairs and out the door.



“Ahhhh!”

Fry woke up. His forehead was drenched in sweat and the blankets in his bed were scattered on the ground. His hair stuck to him in all the wrong places, and he breathed heavily. He looked around to see that he was just in his apartment.

He walked into Bender’s room and poked him.

“Bender,” he whispered.

“1…0…1…” Bender said, in his sleep.

“Bender…”

“Money…” he continued.

“Bender!” He finally yelled.

“Huh? Wha? Who’s there?” He said, panicking. He looked to see Fry looking at him. “Oh, it is just you…what do you want, meatbag?”

“I need to talk to you.”

“Why?”

“Because! Come on, we can have some beers.”

They went into the fridge and grabbed two beers, and then they walked to the table where they sat down and talked. Fry told Bender the whole dream.

“…what a dream. And that was the third one this week! And, like, the twentieth since Leela and I came back from our mission!” Fry said. “I haven’t thought about that since…well…I never thought about that. I don’t even remember that happening…” He thought for a second while Bender took another sip of beer. “Wait…Oh yeah, now I remember. I was supposed to take the day off for New Years that day, so I played cards with Yancy. But then we got in that fight so I decided to go to work anyway, instead of spending the day fighting with him…”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah, it does. That was the last thing I said to Yancy. Before…before I got frozen.”

“If I were you at that point in time,” Bender started, “I would have taken the stuff on the table, then left.”

“Bender!” Fry snapped, “I am pouring out my life and you are thinking about money?”

He took a gulp of beer and answered, “Yes.”

“Ugh…I am going back to sleep,” he replied. He walked to the bed and covered himself with the blanket again. He turned off the lamp near his bed and went back to sleep. Bender chugged the last of the beer and went back into his “room.”



The next day, June 3, 3009


Fry sat at the conference table with the newspaper in one hand and a Slurm can in another. His feet were resting on the table. The Professor could be heard tinkering in the lab.

“Damn screwdriver! Why won’t you hammer the nail in?” behind Fry the Professor hit a nail repeatedly with a Phillips head screwdriver.

Fry continued to read the paper. He took a sip of his soda.

“Hey!” The Professor continued to scream, “Why is the robot panda loose? Stop! Stop! Hermes!”

Leela came to the table and sat across from Fry.

“Hey,” she started, “Don’t you think we should help the Professor?”

“Nah,” Fry replied, “He did this yesterday.”

“Oh,” she stated, “Hey, I didn’t know you read the newspaper.”

“I’m not,” he replied, “I am reading the comics.”

“Oh, I do that too. I just rely on the TV to give me the news. So, I wanted to talk to you.”

“Shoot,” he said.

“You have been really tired for the last couple of days…I just wanted to know if something was up.”

“Well,” he started, putting down the paper, “Can I tell you something? I mean, can you keep a secret?”

“Of course, Fry.”

“Well, I have been having some weird dreams lately about the past. Not just things from the 20th century but from anything that happened. One of them was about my brother and one was about…well…Jon. Actually, a lot were about him.”

“That is weird,” she said, “I have been having dreams all the time about Jon…If only we could have saved him.”

“Yeah,” he said, “My dreams about Jon are always about him coming home with us and getting a part time job here, and he always sat in the chair right…”

“Right where I am sitting?”

“Yeah…wait. You had the same dream?” Fry asked.

“Yes!” she said. “I always wake up in the middle of the night and I cry about how he hadn’t come with us. He was so young…he had such potential. Too bad he had to grow up with war.”

“Yeah…so have you been thinking about that a lot?”

“Fry…” she said, “I know you want to go out with me but I don’t know. It is still too soon and…”

“It has been a month,” he said, throwing the can of Slurm in the recycling bin, then returning to the paper.

“That is still too soon!” she said. “These dreams are preventing me from wanting to be happy, Fry. We need to wait until it goes away.”

“Ok,” he said calmly, putting the newspaper down again, “I agree. I can’t focus with these dreams tormenting me…They are all about mistakes I’ve made, things I wished I could have done.” He put his head in his hands and cried, subtly.

“Fry,” she said to him, putting her hand on his shoulder, “You will figure it out soon enough. Just…just hold on. I’m sure Jon wants you to be happy, Fry. That’s why he died.”

“I know,” he said, sniffling, “I know. I just wish that he could have come with us. That would have made me happy.”

“I think it would have made us all happy, Fry, but he made his decision,” she said, making her grip on his shoulder tighter. “Come on; let’s go see if we have a delivery to make.”

“Ok, Leela,” he said. And with that, they got up and left the room.



More coming soon!

[Reply #7 on:]

Here is the next little part I wrote:


Meanwhile, at DOOP headquarters…


“So what do you expect? The universe is run dry of fuel! Of course everyone is turning against each other,” Nixon argued.

The DOOP headquarters was filled with races from all over, and everyone was fighting with each other. They were still located in New Jersey. Nixon’s head was to the left of the Amphibiosan leader and Zapp Brannigan was to Nixon’s right, behind the woman. Kif was next to Brannigan, sighing as usual.

“Order! Order!” The woman said, “We aren’t going to solve this problem if we are all fighting. So, let us organize and…" She hit the hammer on the table. "Please!”

Everyone continued to bicker at each other. Several delegates were in fist fights. It was pure madness. An Amazonian woman finally had enough and stepped into the aisle and yelled, “QUIET!!”

“Thank you, Thog, please sit down,” she said. “Now that I have your attention, does anyone actually have an idea on how to solve this problem?”

The room fell silent. Everyone looked to each other, rubbing their heads. No one knew an explanation, or had a solution. Zapp stood up to the stand.

“Ok, here is my plan," he started. "I say we blow up planets until we find fuel.”

"Ugh, are you serious?" Kif asked.

“Zapp, Lt. Kroker is correct. Not only is it immoral, it is completely illogical. I will have to decline that, because no one here has fuel on their planets anyway.”

“Alrighty, then,” he said. He thought for a moment, then said, “How about we nab some scientists and make them find an answer?”

The woman thought, then answered, “That is a fine idea, Brannigan. But maybe if you could get them to do it willingly.”

“Yes,” he said, “Willingly…unless they decline.”

“That I am okay with. Commence the consultation of scientists everywhere! Meeting adjourned.”


Back at Planet Express


“Everyone into the conference room!”

Everyone in the lounge turned to look at the Professor. He had an angry look on his face, and they chose not to argue with that. Everyone dropped what they were doing and went to the conference room.

“Good news, everyone,” the old man stated, going from angry to happy. “Well, for me it is, at least.”

“Oh, God, what it is this time?” Leela asked.

“What?” He asked.

“The good news,” Amy said.

“Ah, yes.” He fixed his glasses. “Well, I have just been informed by DOOP that I must report to a scientific conference.”

“Oh," Leela said, “So are you going to leave one of us in charge? Or—”

“If you are going to leave anyone in charge, it would be me!” Bender inturrupted. “Now give me all the combinations and keys to the safes—but only the safes with money. You know, in case someone comes in and tries to steal it, I can stop them by taking it first.”

"No, it should be me!" Zoidberg yelled. "I never get anything around here, I don't, and I deserve to watche the Professor's business, I do!"

"You ain't gettin' nothin', Crab Cake!" Bender started to strangle Zoidberg.

“Bender, Zoidberg, calm down. You have it all wrong,” he said. Bender and Zoidberg abruptly stopped and sat down. The Professor adjusted his glasses again, smiled, and said, “I am taking you with me!”

Fry stood up and yelled, “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!” He stopped and looked around only to see that no one else was screaming and he sat back down.

Leela stared at Fry. She then turned back to the Professor and said, “What if we don’t want to go?”

“Well, they told me that if we declined and decided not to cooperate, then they would forcefully drag us from our homes, kicking, screaming, and all.” He smiled.

The crew looked at each other like helpless dogs.

“Can…Can dey do dat?” Hermes asked.

“Oh, my, yes,” the Professor answered. “It IS the government.”

“Stupid government…” Fry mumbled.

“Well, we might as well leave now!” The Professor got up and started shuffling to the ship.

No one moved. He turned around and said, “Leave, or else I will fire you. Or worse: not pay you!”

Everyone started reluctantly shuffling into the ship. Leela took hold of the ship’s wheel and strapped herself in, while Bender and Fry took their normal spots, and everyone else sat on the couch.

Bender stood up and pointed in the air. “Mush!” Bender said, to Leela.

She turned and stared at him angrily. He turned back to his spot and said, “Take your time, then…”

She pushed some buttons, started the engine, and in a few minutes they were off to the DOOP headquarters.

[Reply #8 on:]

Hmm I've been having trouble writing the next bit because I need some ideas for an alternate fuel source...

Some ideas I have:

-Use whatever remaining natural oil there is forget I said that...
-Go Bendin' in the Wind and use Whale Oil!
-Make up some caray-z fuel

[Reply #9 on:]

well, why not dark energy?  It is the most potent form of 'energy' in the universe...

[Reply #10 on:]

I have made my desision to make up some sort of plasma, and make up that they found a way to contain it and use it as fuel. It is Fiction!  I will make it work...but in a very "scientifical" one-paragraph explanation.*

*Could be science or just words that sound like it.

*edit*
I could also somehow fit dark energy with the plasma, making up some crazy thing that when mixed together it is the most effective form of fuel. But I don't know, I can just put the plasma in as a placeholder and decide to change or leave it later on.

[Reply #11 on:]

Nice new av Smarty I like you
You seem like a cheerful and optimistic person and you've become a well-liked member of our little community and I hope you stick around.

[Reply #12 on:]

Thanks, Books, and I plan on staying. I am addicted to this thing...it is hard for me not to go on it.

[Reply #13 on:]

UPDATE!!!! Hooray, big one! I found the source of new fuel!



At DOOP’s Gathering Hall…

The ship landed in the nearby lot. The crew was late, so they hurried out of the ship. Fry tumbled onto the ground and Bender landed on top of him, but Leela quickly helped them both up and they ran to the front entrance.

“Oh,” Leela said, “Professor, if you didn’t have to stop at the store to get your glasses fixed, then we wouldn’t be running in!”

“Well,” said the Professor, carried by Zoidberg, “If Amy hadn’t fallen on them…”

“It was an ACCIDENT!” Amy yelled.

“Ok, we get it, just stop da fightin’!” Hermes exclaimed.

They finally made it to the door and were escorted in. The crew looked around. Scientists were talking so much, the DOOP leaders could barely control them. People were fighting…

“Did an angry bomb explode or what, huh, guys?” Fry asked.

No one responded. They weren’t late, unless they were in the middle of a very heated discussion. They realized that it hadn’t started because they could hear the people on the stage trying to quiet people down. The crew walked down the aisle to their seats in the back.

“Guh, why do we have to sit in the back?” Amy whined.

“Because,” Leela explained, annoyed, “the Professor was too cheap to buy seats close to where we don’t need a TV screen to see the stage...”

They sat down and filed in, Leela being on the outside. Fry looked around at the building, and saw that it was just a stone ceiling with carpeted aisles and theater seats. He reached into his pocket and took out a candy bar and started to nibble on the end. Bender was sitting a good three seats away from Zoidberg, by the Professor’s orders.

Fry took a big bite of the chocolate and turned to Bender, who was sitting next to him. “Bender,” he started, swallowing his food, “you’ve been quiet. Have you had enough to drink? Do you want me to go to the concession stand or something?”

“What?” Bender asked, as if surprised, “Oh, no thanks, Fry, I am just not feeling well…”

“Hmm…” Fry said, “Well, okay then.”

“That was weird,” Leela whispered, to Fry.

“Yeah,” Fry mumbled, “Bender never passes up a drink. He has been awfully quiet. By now, he would probably be striking up a conversation with the fembot in front of us, or at least chugging some beer…Something is up.”

“We can ask the Professor to examine his wiring later,” Leela said. “Maybe he blew a fuse.”

“Yeah, that would be gr--” 

“SHUT UP!” the Professor yelled, interrupting Fry’s sentence. Everyone turned to the inside of the row, where the Professor stood. In the midst of 100,000 arguments, one knew it wouldn’t take long for Farnsworth to strike up heated argument. Of course, it only took him five minutes to get face to face with none other than Dr. Ogden Wernstrom.

“Oh, please Farnsworth, you couldn’t quiet down the crowd let alone find the solution for fuel,” Wernstrom sneered.

“Oh, sure,” he said. He turned to Leela and across the crew, he yelled, “Leela! Go quiet the crowd, or you are fired!”

Leela quickly got up. She ran down the aisle as quick as possible and even passed some scientists going to their seat, and a young one walking down the aisle, nearly tipping him over. She looked behind to see that she had tripped him, and yelled, “SORRY!” as she continued her run. It took her 15 minutes, but she made it to the stage panting, and before anyone could stop her, she went to the microphone.

“Hey, hey, who do we have he--” Zapp started, but was interrupted by Leela hitting him in the nose.

Leela smirked at Zapp, who was holding his bleeding nose and returning to his post by Nixon. She adjusted the microphone on the podium so it became level with her mouth, and she took a large breath and yelled at the top of her lungs, “QUIET!!”

Heads turned to the stage immediately and the scientists covered their ears. The bad part about the stone walls in the auditorium was that it was a perfect habitat for echoes. It even reached the Planet Express crew in the very last row of Section ZZ. When she got everyone’s attention, the councilwoman went over to her.

“That is quite a voice you have there,” she said.

“Well,” Leela said, “I am always yelling at my crew members, so I am used to it.”

“I would think that they would listen to you if you ever yell like that!” The Amphibiosan woman smiled. “Well, thank you, now to get this crowd of scientists on the road to a solution.”

“Ok,” Leela said. She walked off of the stage and avoided the confused stares of some of the scientists. She passed the scientist she had before knocked down, and looked back, thinking if she should apologize again. She decided to continue walking since he took no attention to her. When she made it back to her seat, Fry held up a hand.

“High five!” he whispered. Leela slapped him on the hand and smiled, then turned her attention to the stage. The woman had waited for her to sit down, apparently. The councilwoman nodded and she started to speak.

“That, my friends, was the best display of childishness I have ever seen,” the woman said. “Go on, congratulate yourselves.” She started clapping. No one joined with her. Everyone was confused. “Oh, come on? No one is proud?”

Everyone’s heads went down, almost as if the gravity had been increased. The Professor just sat with his arms crossed, though. The woman continued to speak, “Good. That was the worst display of manners I have ever seen. Scientists fist fighting over fuel…sounds like a newspaper headline. You behaved no better than the delegates at the previous DOOP meeting! This world is beginning to come apart!” She looked around and sighed. “Is there anyone who can think of a solution?”

“I have one, ma’am.”

The voice came from the middle of the aisle, near the steps to the stage. Everyone turned their heads to see him. A young man carrying a large box had begun to climb the stairs towards the podium. When he reached the top step, he was stopped by Zapp Brannigan.

“What do we have here?” he asked. “You don’t look like a scientist…”

“I went to Mars University and majored in quantum physics. I think that is enough proof.” He seemed cross, but that quickly faded and he smiled coolly. “Look, I have a solution, and you are stopping me. See a problem with that?”

“Zapp,” the woman said, “let him speak, please.”

Zapp stepped aside and let the young man pass. He walked to the podium, and people started chatting. He coughed and said into the microphone, “Now, I wouldn’t start talking. Unless, of course, you want that young lady to come and make you deaf.”

Immediately people stopped talking. He looked around and nodded. He started to speak again, “Ok, so, I have the fuel solution!”

“And what is it, uh, what is your name?” Zapp asked him.

“Well, the solution is plasma,” he answered calmly.

“Plasma?!” The Professor yelled, now standing. His nostrils flared and his fists were clenched. “That is impossible! Plasma never worked for the scientists before, it is too hot for anything to contain the required amount!”

“Ah, sir, but this is special plasma.”

“Special?” Farnsworth asked, “The only thing that is special here is Fry!”

“Hey!” Fry said.

“It is special, sir,” he said, “You see, regular plasma wouldn’t be normally contained by this test tube.” He held it up for all to see. Scientists adjusted their glasses, amazed that the plasma was contained in it.

“How is that even possible?” Wernstrom chimed in. “Glass can’t hold plasma!”

“But I said that this was special. What is in here is regular plasma. But what was added to it was dark energy. Not dark matter, but dark energy.” Everyone was now paying attention. “You see, the dark energy, when mixed with plasma, cools it enough to be contained in anything. Also, when mixed, the plasma absorbs the energy from the dark energy, and it can be used as fuel. It can even be used in the existing dark matter tanks. Another thing…since plasma is an excellent conductor, it can be used in an electricity powered motor, giving it quadruple the power of normal electric motors, giving it two ways it can be used as fuel.”

“And this…plasma…does it really work?” The councilwoman asked.

“How do you think I got here?” He laughed. “If you want proof, take this fuel powered R/C space ship.” He pulled out a spaceship about a foot long, and placed it on the stage. He then poured the test tube of plasma into the fuel tank. He took out the remote, pushed some buttons, and the ship began to fly. Scientists were gawking at the miracle ship, flying on plasma. When it reached the back, Farnsworth and Wernstrom were open-mouthed.

“Cool…” Fry muttered.

“That is one cool ship,” Bender said, “I wonder if I should steal it.”

“There is the Bender I know!” Fry exclaimed.

“What? I’m not going to steal it, it isn’t mine!” Bender said.

“Uh,” Fry said, concerned, “okay…”

Leela looked at Fry in a concerned way and Fry was the same. They knew that something was up with Bender, he just wasn’t acting right.

Back on the stage, the young man landed the ship in the box. After a second of silence, the crowd erupted with applause for the discovery. Zapp slapped him on the back and he jerked forward, smirking. The councilwoman nodded with approval. She went up to the podium.

“Obviously if this young man can find the solution to fuel, we can find solutions to anything. Now, what is your name, sir?”

“My name is Gregory Mason, ma’am. I am sorry, but I don’t know yours either.”

“Oh, I am Aef Amfibios, leader and newly elected councilwoman of the Democratic Order Of the Planets. You are a bright young man.”

“Thank you,” he said. He then put all of his things in his box and walked off the stage. He then ran up the aisle to the back where his seat was, which was across from Planet Express.

“Hey,” Leela said, whispering to Fry, “That is the dude I bumped into on the way down.”

“So?”

“Just thought I would point it out,” she said. She turned to the Professor. “Hey, Professor?”

“Huh? Wha?” He looked around. Leela waved to him. “Oh, Leela. What?”

“We should ask him to come back to Planet Express with us. Maybe he can get us some free fuel.”

“Oh good idea! Let’s ask him when the meeting is done.”

“Why not ask him over to dinner and to your house too?” Fry muttered under his breath.

“Meeting adjourned!” Amfibios said.

The crew quickly went over to Gregory. He was getting his box together and he looked up, finding the crew surrounding him. He looked around and said, “So, uh, want my autograph or what? I mean, really. What?”

“We are from Planet Express, and dis is Professor Hubert Farnsworth,” Hermes said.

“Yeah, we were wondering if you wanted to come back with us and have some coffee and chat about your discovery,” Amy added.

“Oh, well, I’d be flattered,” he replied. “As long as she doesn’t yell!” They all laughed. Leela blushed. “What’s your name, miss?”

“My name is Turanga Leela, captain of the Planet Express ship, nice to meet you, uh, Gregory, is it?”

“Yes, that is my name!” he confirmed. “Nice to meet you, Turanga.”

“Just call me Leela.”

“Ok, Leela, and who are the rest of you?”

“I am Amy, the engineer intern,” Amy said.

“Hermes Conrad,” he said, shaking his hand.

“Dr. Zoidberg, doctor of Planet Express and best doctor in New New York, to add,” Zoidberg said, with the crew staring at him. “What? Ok, I am second best.”

“Hey, I am Bender, the ship’s chef…and I’m not feeling that great…meet you guys in the ship.”


“Hmm,” Fry said. Then he turned to Gregory. “I am Phillip Fry, delivery boy, nice to meet you, Gregory. Just call me Fry, though.”

“Okay, Fry, just call me Greg, then,” he said. He looked around and said, “Well, let’s get going. I wanna see this ship of yours.”

They walked out of the doors to she ship. Greg happily took out some more plasma, and poured it into the tank.

“That won’t be enough to get home…” Leela said.

“Yes,” he said, “plasma has quadruple the fuel power as dark matter had, so it goes four times the distance. I mean, you only have to go to New New York right? Right across the river.”

“You live around here?” Fry asked.

“I live in New New York,” he explained.

“Oh,” Fry said.

“Well, let’s go!” He said, smiling. Then he ran onto the ship.


The way back was jerky and slow. The Professor was, of course, as stubborn as ever and threatened to fire Leela if she didn’t let him drive. He told her that it would be a bad image if he let her drive, even though she was the captain. Leela made Bender and Fry get up so that she and Greg could sit on the chairs, and Fry grumbled as he squeezed in with Zoidberg, Hermes, and Amy on the couch. Since there wasn’t any more room on board, Bender went to the cabins. He explained that his head hurt.

“So, Greg, when did you decide to like physics?” Leela asked.

“Well, it all started when I was young. I always liked math and science, and physics just snagged me on a hook, I guess,” he said, shrugging. He stared out the windshield at the city coming up.

“That is cool,” Amy said, “I am studying to be an engineer.”

“That is awesome, Amy,” he said, “keep it up and maybe I can ask you for some help on better fuel tanks or something.”

Amy giggled and turned back to the windshield. Leela looked at Greg.

“So, Greg, how old are you?” Leela asked.  “You look young.”

“Huh?” He asked. “Oh, I’m twenty-three.”

“Wow,” Hermes said, “dat is young!”

“I’m 160 years old, and I started inventing when I was 5 years old!” The Professor added.

“You, you are really 160 years old?” Greg asked.

“Yes, and don’t repeat it,” he said.

“Cool,” he said. “Hey, is that Planet Express?” He pointed at the red building on the corner of the street.

“Yes, it is,” Fry said. “Best place in the world.”

“Really?” he asked. “Well, if it really is the best place in the world, I should have a good time here.”


The crew sat around in the lounge, in their usual spots. Fry and Leela were on the couch, with Greg joining them, and Amy, the Professor, and Hermes sat at the table. That left Zoidberg with the floor. Bender, again, was away, resting in the ship's cabin where they left him.

"Aww, there's nothing on TV," Fry said, throwing the remote to the ground.

"There is more to life than TV, Fry," Leela said.

"No, there isn't," Fry said.

Greg muttered something to himself.

"What, Greg?" Leela asked.

"Nothing. So, do you and your boyfriend always get in fights?"

"We aren't--" Leela started.

"No we aren't, because Leela won't admit that she likes me," Fry said.

"That isn't true, Fry, I like you as a friend," Leela explained.

"Always with the friend!" Fry complained.

Leela mouthed the words, 'we will talk later' to Fry, and he nodded.

“So, to change the subject,” Greg started, “where is the robot?”

“He is…uh…not feeling well,” Fry said.

“Actually, we are worried about him,” Leela added. “Professor, do you think you can check his wiring? Something is definitely up with him.”

“Yeah, he didn’t want to steal or even drink beer!” Fry said. Everyone in the room gasped.

“So, will you help Professor?” Leela asked, turning to Farnsworth. She discovered that he had fallen asleep in his chair. “Must have been time for his nap…we will have to wait a few hours.”

“I can do it,” Greg offered. He took the last sip of Slurm and placed it on the coffee table. “I have fixed a few bots before, so it shouldn’t be hard.”

“Okay,” Hermes said, “But if you break him, well, just tell him dat we aren’t payin’ any insurance.”

“I will be sure to, uh, not break him then.” Greg walked out the door towards the ship. Leela and Fry followed, and Zoidberg quickly took the opportunity to jump on the couch.


On the way to the ship, Leela grabbed the toolbox and Fry took Bender’s blueprints for his wiring. Greg took off his white lab coat, leaving him in a black T-shirt and jeans. They entered the ship and headed for the cabin.

“Do you really think that you can fix him, Greg?” Fry asked.

“Yeah,” he said, “at least, I think so…”

“I hope so…I miss him,” Fry said.

"Yeah, must be hard to know something is up with your best friend," Greg added.

"How did you know he was my best friend?" Fry asked.

"Oh, I can tell when you said that you missed him. I mean, really, who would care that much about a robot if they weren't best friends?"

"Good point," Fry said.

They walked into the messy room and turned on the light. There they saw Bender, asleep in his hammock. He was muttering binary code in his sleep. Greg rubbed his hands together and opened the toolbox. He took a screwdriver out and carefully removed Bender’s head. After it was removed, he cleared a space on the junked up desk in the corner, then placed it down.

“Hey…hey!” Bender yelled, suddenly awake. “What the hell are you doing with my head? And who are you?”

“I am Greg, remember? The scientist from the convention?”

“No, I don’t, I don’t remember anything from the last 3 hours,” he explained. “Now what are you doing? Fry! Stop him!”

“Bender, we are trying to see what is wrong with you!” Fry tried to explain. "Come on!"

“Nothing is wrong with me!” Bender yelled.

“You have been acting awfully weird, Bender,” Leela added. "Just let him help you."

“No I haven’t! I am the same old bending unit, now hands off my head!”

"Why are you doing this, Bender?" Fry asked.

“I have to unscrew the panel on your head, so shush!” Greg yelled, loosening the screw.

“No!” Bender yelled. Greg was still loosening the second screw in the panel when Bender's body got up from the hammock. Bender quickly and brutally punched Greg in the back of the head. He took his head and ran out the door to the cabin, and out of the building completely.

As soon as he was punched, Greg collapsed onto the ground. He was holding his head. It wasn’t bleeding, but it had made him unconscious. Leela quickly went into a panic attack, while Fry gaped at the door Bender just exited.

“Oh my God!” Leela yelled, crouching down to him. Tears began to form in her eyes.

“What the hell was that about?” Fry asked, in panic. “Why would Bender do that?”

“I don’t know, but we need to get him some help,” Leela said. “Help me bring him to the lounge, quick!”

Leela grabbed him under his arms and Fry held his ankles, and they both walked off of the ship together, as quickly as possible with the unconscious scientist.

[Reply #14 on:]

Bianca declares this fanfic good so far, can't wait to read the rest!

[Reply #15 on:]

Thanks!

Here is another small update:


Leela and Fry got to the lounge after about ten minutes. They quickly rushed him to the couch, and set him down. All at once the crew crowded Fry, Greg, and the crying Leela.

“What happened, Leela?” Amy asked, hands on her mouth.

“He…he…Bender…” Leela sobbed.

“What?” Amy asked.

“Greg was trying to fix Bender, you see, and…well…he went crazy,” Fry explained.

“Greg?” Amy asked.

“No, Bender!” Fry exclaimed. “His head was off his body because Greg needed to open the panel or something, and Bender started freaking out, saying nothing was wrong with him. Then his body got up from the hammock and…and…”

“What? What did he do?” Hermes asked.

“He hit Greg…in the back of the head,” Fry explained. He put his arm around Leela and she cried on his shoulder. “It’s okay, he is just unconscious.”

“I know, but what if he dies? Or goes into a coma?” Leela said. “Not only may we never talk to him again, but we may never solve the fuel problem! The whole world can be in danger…”

“He will come around. He is a strong guy, I guess,” Amy said.

“Do you want me to check him?” Zoidberg asked.

“I would say yes,” Leela said, “but I don’t want you to make it worse. No offense, but let’s just wait a while, and if he doesn’t wake up in a few hours we can bring him to the hospital.”

“Aww…” Zoidberg commented. “Well, we just wait, I guess.”

Leela wiped her eye and sat down on the coffee table in front of Greg. Fry leaned against the wall and slid down. He put his head in his hands.

Leela looked at Greg. It was the first time she really looked at him. His hair was messed up from the trip of them moving him. It was long, a little below the ear and was light brown. He had a full, almost scraggly, beard. He looked so young…but yet he was so mature for his age. He was frowning, as if he was sad, or just in pain. Leela looked away in tears. She moved to the ground and lied on the floor and closed her eye.


Leela walked into Planet Express. It was the morning, and it was time for work. She was in a surprisingly happy mood. After a quick trip to the coffee pot, she went to the lounge, where Fry was. Amy was also in the room, filing her nails.

“What’s up, Fry?” She asked.

“Nothin’ much, Leela,” he said, flipping to the next channel on the television, “just watching some TV.”

“Oh, cool,” she said. “Is he here yet?”

“Oh, yeah, he is in the conference room. Either that or he’s with the Professor.”

“Thanks, I better go see him,” she said. She got up and walked out the door, towards the conference room. There she saw him next to the Professor, striking up conversation.

“So, this really changes your voice?” he asked.

“Oh, my, yes…Listen!” The Professor spoke into the microphone, sounding exactly like Leela, “Hi, my name is Leela and I like to ask for raises!”

The two laughed and then he saw Leela walking towards them and he immediately stopped. The Professor also looked over stopping.

“Ok, enough you two…” she said, taking him by the arm towards the conference table.

“Talk later!” he said to the Professor.

They got to the table and they sat down. He twisted in her seat while she just sat.

“What are you doing?” she asked him.

“Just turning in my chair, I find it entertaining.”

“You are a science and math whiz and you like to turn in your chair?”

“Uh, yeah,” he answered.

“That’s kind of predictable, Jon. You are sometimes childish.”

“Hey, I am fifteen,” he said.

“Fifteen is still a kid, Jon. I remember when I was fifteen…yeah don’t want to remember the braces…”

“Ha! You had braces? I don’t need ‘em according to the dentist.”

“Lucky you,” she said, laughing.

“Yeah…” Jon said. “You know? This place is the best. And I am glad that you and Fry made me welcome here and...” he turned and fear covered his face. “Ahhhh!!!!!!!!!”

Bender came up the stairs towards Jon and he started to run, but it was too late. Bender had beaten the boy to a pulp, and Leela couldn’t help. She was glued to her chair. The image of Jon flicked to Greg, and the two most influential people she had met in the last month were getting destroyed by a sick robot.

“Ahhhhh!!!!” Leela yelled. She was covered in sweat and she started crying. It was dark, and no one was in the room except for Fry, who was asleep.

But he wasn’t asleep for that long. He yelled as well, just as Leela had. He sat up and wiped his forehead. They looked at each other. Then at Greg, who was still asleep.

“Fry…” Leela started.

“Leela, I had the worst dream…” Fry said.

“Jon…and Greg…and Bender...”

“Hurting them?” Fry asked.

Leela nodded.

“So we…” Fry started.

“Had the same dream?” Leela asked, completing Fry’s sentence.


“It just isn’t possible!” Leela said. She was pacing the floor of the locked room. They had fallen asleep earlier while waiting for Greg to come to, and the Professor had just left them in their. Being his forgetful self, and being one who locks all the doors, he locked them in without even realizing it. Fry sat at the table in his T-shirt, his jacket on the back of the chair.

“I am hungry…” Fry complained.

“Fry, you are thinking of food?” she asked. “Greg could be dead, we are locked in the lounge, and this freaky dream thing is going on, and you are thinking of food?”

“Well, yeah, I haven’t eaten in seven hours…too long, Leela,” he said. “When does morning come?”

“I don’t know Fry, there isn’t a clock,” she said, “but judging by the light outside…like an hour or something.”

“Okay…want to try to wake Greg up again?”

“Sure…” Leela said. She went over to him and nudged his shoulder. She stroked his hair and put her hand down. “Oh, it is useless. It was a good week before I woke up from my coma, Fry.”

“Yeah, but the whole time, I told you to wake up,” he said.

“Yeah…” she said, “And, well, I heard you! Maybe we can get him to hear us, too.”

Leela kneeled down next to Greg. Fry took a spot on the coffee table and watched. She took a deep breath and whispered in his ear.

“Greg…” she started. She looked at Fry and he nodded, “I…I need you to wake up…It…it’s really important. Just wake up, Greg, please, wake up! We need you…everyone needs you…I can’t…I can’t afford…to lose…”

“Leela, keep going,” Fry said, calmly.

Leela shed a tear. “I can’t afford…to lose someone else…not like Jon…not like before, Greg…please wake up…”

She started sobbing. Her head was in her hands, and she was truly crying. Fry put his hand on her shoulder.

“No…don’t…”

Leela looked up. Greg was talking in his sleep, so he was waking up.

“Fry!” Leela exclaimed, “He is waking up! But, he is having some sort of a bad dream…oh…Greg, wake up!”

“Help! Help! Stop them! STOP! NO!” Greg thrashed his arms around. Leela had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit. She buried her face in Fry’s shoulder as he just stared, unable to help him. His legs kicked and he punched at the air, as if he was fighting something. And, suddenly, his eyes opened. He breathed heavily and deeply, and he looked around the room.

“Wha…where…Leela?” Greg turned to her. She looked up and she smiled with joy. She went over and hugged him.

“You are alive!” she exclaimed.

“Of course I am…what happened? Why am I asleep here?”  he asked, confused.

“Well,” Fry started, “Bender…went nuts and…well, he kind of punched you in the head.”

“God,” he said, rubbing the back of his head, “my head does hurt…I don’t remember a thing about that.”

“Wow,” Leela said.

“What?” Greg asked while he wiped off the sweat on his forhead with his shirt.

“You are alive!”

“So, why are you so excited about that? I have only known you for a few hours...” he started.

“Never mind,” she said, “But something was going on with you. You were thrashing in your sleep, like you were fighting…”

“And yelling, too,” Fry added.

“I was?” he asked. He took a deep breath and wiped his face again. “Well, I guess there is no way to keep it from you now…”

“What?” Fry asked.

“I think I had a vision of the future,” he said, “and it isn’t good.”

[Reply #16 on:]

The streets of New New York were quiet that night. The wind quietly rustled between the buildings. The alleys were empty. In this quiet, foot cups could be heard running. Bender was running through the streets. He muttered as he was on the run.

“Nothing…wrong…just…nothing…” he said, erratically. He had reached the corner of a building, but had stopped because he heard voices.

“…on the run. I repeat, rogue robot on the run!” said the communicator.

“This could be our big break,” Smitty said, jumping.

“Yeah, man, we could finally be number one…” Earl said.

“We just need to find this robot…” he said, pulling out his light saber club. He twisted it around in his hand and he hit himself in the head. “Ow!”

“Man, you need to stop doin’ that,” Earl said.

“Whatever, man,” Smitty replied. He went over to pick up the dropped saber. Next to it was Bender’s foot, and he looked up. What he saw was Bender, hugging the wall. “Earl! I found the robot! Get—“

Bender hit him in the helmet, and Smitty went down. Earl came to help, but Bender punched him out too. Both of them lied in a heap on the ground, unconscious. Bender ran down the street as he had been doing.

All you could hear from Bender was him muttering, “Nothing…wrong…nothing…”


Meanwhile…

Nixon, Amfibios, Zapp, and Kif were sitting at a small round table in the DOOP headquarters. The place was empty, and the room was guarded on the outside wall. Amfibios held a vile of the Dark Plasma, as they called it for short. She looked at it as if she was inspecting it, moving it around in circles and sometimes tapping the glass.

“I still cannot believe that that young man found the secret to the fuel,” Amfibios said, shaking her head in disbelief, “It is almost a miracle!”

“Yes, yes it is,” Nixon replied, “a whole fuel problem solved by a damn hippy…”

“He is most definitely not a hippy, President Nixon,” she replied.

“Did you see that boy? He was almost like a caveman!”

“Yes, his looks were…different than normal scientists,” Amfibios said, “but he is a bright boy, Richard.”

“Whatever,” Zapp said, butting in. He stood up and pounded a fist on the tabletop. “He was definitely trying to impress Leela…I can’t let that happen.”

“Zapp,” Amfibios started, “worry about personal troubles later, please.”

Zapp sat down and put his chin on his hand, and he looked away from the table in anger. He motioned for Kif to get him a coffee and Kif went into another room, which was the building’s kitchen. Nixon suddenly shook his head.

“I don’t get it, Amfibios,” he said, “The fuel problem is solved and yet there is still war between countries on Earth. This is another problem!”

“Yes, I have seen that your planet has been having trouble with that,” she said, “Zapp, any ideas?”

“Why not just create another World War?” Zapp asked. “I mean, usually everything is fine after that.”

“Damn it, Zapp!” Nixon yelled, “We are trying to prevent war, not encourage it!”

“I’m just saying,” he said, “sometimes war is necessary, and you have to do anything to get what you want!”

“EXACTLY!”

The three turned to the back of the auditorium where the voice was heard. They all gaped. A sweet old lady with three sons walked down the aisle smoothly and calmly. Her hands were clasped together and she walked lightly.

“Mom?!” Zapp asked, confused.

“Yes, Zapp, dear,” Mom said, quietly, “It is me. And, I agree with your statement.”

“You agree that war is necessary?” Amfibios asked.

“Oh, dear, no…not necessarily. But I do agree that sometimes you have to do anything to get what you want, which is why I am terribly sorry to say that I must do this.”

“Do wha—“ Zapp started, but was interrupted. Mom had pushed a button on her dress and the fat exoskeleton that she had been wearing disappeared into her blue jumper. She pulled out a laser gun and her sons, Walt, Larry, and Igner did the same.

“This, you bastards!” she said in her gruff tone. She held the gun to them and pulled out another, now aiming two guns at them. She motioned to her sons to go over and each one put a gun to their head, leaving the three DOOP members helpless as Mom bound them.

[Reply #17 on:]

FANTASATACICSAS Smarty You have a real future in this. Keep it up. 

[Reply #18 on:]

Thanks!

[Reply #19 on:]

Hey Smarty!!


edit: oh, this is fan-fic.. I'll take this someplace else.. nice work you're doing here though.

[Reply #20 on:]

Hi gudbjorg and thanks.

[Reply #21 on:]

I haven't had a chance to read the whole sequel yet, but I like what I've read so far.  Keep it up!

[Reply #22 on:]

I'm not even close to finishing...it is already longer than my first one. Geez.

Edit:

Here is another little update:   
------------------------------------

Greg was lying on the couch upside down. He was playing with the television remote, flipping to random channels. He looked over at Fry, who was sleeping on the floor. He sighed and turned off the TV, then he dropped the remote.

“Why are you upside down, Greg…” Leela asked, tiredly.

“Helps me to think,” he replied, “the blood rushes to my head.” He smiled at her. She attempted at one but was too tired to do so. Then her expression changed to a frown.

“Greg,” she started, “I know you just woke up. But you need to tell us what you saw in that dream.”

“I’d…I’d rather not,” he said, as he started to sit upright.

“Please, Greg,” she pleaded, “It may be important.”

“Not now, Leela…” he said, sighing.

"Okay, but you do need to tell me eventually..." Leela said. "So, to change the subject, then, do you have a girlfriend? Or a wife?"

"Nah," he said.

"Well, I'm always available," Leela said, smiling.

"Uh, no offense, but no thanks," he answered.

Leela's expression changed yet again to angry. "Is it because of my eye?" she asked.

"No, of course not! I love your eye! It's just that...I guess I'm just not that into dating older women. I mean, you are like, what, 5 years older than me?"

"True...but that's never been a problem."

"It's also the fact that...hey...what’s that?”

Everyone became silent, except for Fry, who was snoring. Greg got up and made his way to the window. He opened the shade a crack to peer down. He quickly turned to Leela again.

“What is it, Greg?” Leela asked.

“It’s that Amphibiosian, what’s his name…” he started. “He works for Captain Brannigan.”

“Kif?” Leela asked, surprised. She went over to the window and opened the shade all the way. She could see Kif, yelling and slamming on the front door of Planet Express. “How are we going to let him in? The doors are locked.”

“Leave that to me,” Greg said. He went over to the TV, where he found a screwdriver. Then he went over to the door’s access panel and pulled out a small laser. With the laser, he opened the panel, and unscrewed another panel on the inside. Greg started to hotwire different wires together, and in no time, the door slid open.

“Greg, you’re a genius!” Leela said, kissing him on the cheek. He blushed, and then went over to Fry. He hit him on the head and said, “Come on, Fry, wake up! The door’s open…”

“Ow…Greg?” he said, “How long was I asleep…”

“It doesn’t matter, come on!” Greg exclaimed. He pulled Fry’s arm and together they ran out of the room. They met Leela at the front, where she had already started unlocking the many locks the Professor set. She finally finished and slammed open the door. When it was open, Kif came barging in, falling on his knees. Kif was out of breath and wheezing, but managed to stand up and talk.

“Help, Leela! You need to help…” Kif said, breathing heavily.

“What? What is it, Kif?” Leela asked.

“She…she took over…I saw the whole think…oh…Leela, she has Nixon and Amfibios!” Kif said, shaking Leela’s arm in the process. "And Zapp...but who cares about him..."

“Who? Who has them?” Greg asked.

“M…Mom!” Kif exclaimed.

“Mom?” Leela asked. “What does she want with them?”

“It isn’t them, well, it is, sort of,” Kif started. “Let me explain. Can I sit down?” Fry came over with a small chair for him to sit in. Kif collapsed into the chair. “Okay, so I went in the kitchen of the auditorium where the meeting was held, to get Zapp a coffee. So, when I was coming back, I heard voices. I opened the door a crack and saw Mom coming down the aisle. At first I was just wondering why she was there, but then I saw her dress…like deflate, or something…she pulled out a gun and her three sons pulled out theirs. She started talking about, ‘Sometimes you have to do whatever to get what you want.’ Then she and her boys tied up Zapp and Amfibios, and then they glued Nixon to the table…

“The next thing I saw was Mom, taking the Dark Plasma! She started saying on how she despised Professor Farnsworth for destroying all the Dark Matter, and needed to control the fuel business. She said that the plasma would make her rich…then, she started saying on how she was going to take over the world…ooh…she said that she would get back at Farnsworth if it was her last thing she does, and she would do anything to do it. She is going to control the robots again! It is horrible, Leela, horrible…”

Kif stopped, and started sobbing in his chair. Leela had her mouth wide open, as did Fry. Greg stood with his head down. Leela started to shake her head. “It can’t be true! She stole the fuel! UGH! Kif, are you sure that is what she said she was going to do?”

Kif continued to sob. Greg lifted his head, and tears streamed his face. “He’s right, Leela.” Leela turned to see him crying. Leela put her hand to her mouth and went over to him. She hugged him, although he pushed her away. Fry went over and hugged Leela, although she pushed him away. Soon enough, everyone except for Fry was crying.

“What are you guys crying about?” Fry said, angrily. All three of them looked up with tear-stained faces. Fry continued, “We have beaten Mom before! What makes this time different?”

“Fry, this is different than your previous encounters,” Greg said, quietly, “What Kif said was right. That is what I saw in my dream. Mom had taken over Earth, robots were enslaved once again, and my fuel solution belonged to her. I also saw countries at war with each other, bombs falling, fires blazing, loved ones dying…including you, Leela.”

“What?” Leela said, looking up.

“I saw you, you were taken by Mom,” he said, “And she killed you…she killed you as one of the ways to get back at Farnsworth.”

“How do you know that is true, I mean…” Fry started.

“It was just a dream,” Leela said.

“No, it wasn’t,” Greg said. He sighed. “You see, I’ve been to the future. I know when, how, and why this war is going to start. And I think I know how to fix it…I just need some help.” He looked up as Fry, Leela, and Kif stared at him in disbelief.

[Reply #23 on:]

Here is another small update...I've been busy, so it is almost weird to get back to this.

“…you are all fools,” Mom sneered. She walked around grasping the container of Dark Plasma. She turned away from them and held it up to the light in the window at the back. Igner silently peered over his brother, Larry's, shoulder to see what she was holding. She turned to them and he looked away. She began to examine the small test tube yet again. “You kept the solution to fuel that unguarded? I practically walked in here.” She turned around again.

“You will never get away with this, Mom!” Amfibios said. Her glasses were now on the ground, as they had fallen down when she was being tied up by Mom's ignorant sons.

“If you haven’t noticed, I have tied you up. I have already gotten away with it. No one knows I am here, and no one cares,” Mom said, “There are no threats! I have won.”

“I can’t believe…” Zapp mumbled. Mom got in his face and smiled softly.

“Believe…?” she said, trying to get him to finish the sentence.

“Nothing,” Zapp said through his teeth. he was so angry, his brow was almost covering his eyes. He bared his teeth at Mom and breathed heavily.

“Oh, continue, Zapp,” she said, “I know what you are going to say. You can’t believe that I tied you to a chair, stole the fuel, and got away with it. You can’t believe that the “Zapper” couldn’t win.” Zapp stared at her in silence. Each word she said got him more and more angry. Behind his back his fists were tightly closed. “Well start believing it, Brannigan, because it is happening right now, in real time…” Zapp suddenly got angry and attempted to break lose of the ropes by wobbling the chair like a maniac. Mom simply stepped back and watched, twirling the plasma in her hands. She chuckled.

“A rebel, I see…” she said, laughing. She turned to Walt. “Walt, get the serum.”

“Yes, Mother,” Walt said, going to a bag that was on the front of the stage. He took out a large needle, gloves, and a bottle of clear, jelly-like, blue fluid. He walked over to Mom and handed it to her.

“Thank you, Walt,” she said. She then slapped him and he stepped aside.

“What is that...” Zapp cautiously said, narrowing his eyes.

“Oh, just something I like to call animus-imperium serum.” She poured the blue, gooey liquid into the needle and tapped it a few times.

Zapp looked confused. “Anus-Imperial cereal? What the hell is that?”

“Animus-Imperium serum…Holy craps, you are dumb!” She squirted a tiny bit out of it and started to walk towards Zapp. Zapp began to get uncomfortable and squirmed in his chair.

“What are you doing?! Stay away!  I don’t like needles!” Zapp screamed, attempting to nudge his chair away as quickly as possible. In the processs, though, he fell down and was left motionless. All he could do was sit there and wait to see what the old lady would do to him. During the whole time, Nixon and Amfibios stared. And they stared in horror as Mom crept in and jammed the needle into Zapp’s arm, where he then went limp.

[Reply #24 on:]

Greg stood in one corner of the lounge while Fry, Leela, and Kif huddled around the table. He had his lab coat on again and he stared out the window. Fry had his head on the table while Leela talked.

“Should we believe him?” she asked, looking his way, “He is nice…but…he could be lying and may be a part of Mom’s group. That could be another reason why he would know what is going on…”

“I think we should trust him,” Kif said, “we need to save them. Mom was serious…ugh…this is going to be so hard…”

“I think he is telling the truth, too,” Fry said, “Although I don’t like how he is hitting on you, Leela.”

“Fry, he isn’t hitting on me,” she said, “He said to me that he didn’t want to date me.”

“Really?”

Leela rolled her eye. “Yes, Fry. Now, I think we should trust him. He’s done so much for us…the future though? I guess they perfected time travel…”

“I guess so,” Fry said. “Let’s bring him over here.” He turned to Greg. “Greg, come here.”

Greg walked over with his arms crossed and stood in front of the table. He looked down. “So, do you believe me? Or do I just sound like a crack pot?”

Leela stared at him. “Yes, Greg, we believe you,” she said, smiling.

“Sweet,” he answered, “So, are you going to help me defeat Mom and her plans, and help me get my formula back?”

“Yes!” Kif answered, “Anything…”

“Okay,” he said, laughing.

“Wait,” Fry started, “why do you need to get the fuel back? Don’t you know how you created it?”

“Well, yes,” he answered, “but the war started because of world conflict. I came back to help stop that by giving you the answer to fuel. The problem is…Mom wasn’t supposed to get the fuel…the government was. If Mom continues to own the fuel, people will get angry, because it will be a monopoly. The prices will get higher, people will get mad, and who knows what can happen.”

“So this all starts when Mom plays Monopoly and bets the fuel?” Fry asked.

“No,” Leela said, “Mom takes over. Like when she had the Dark Matter.”

“Oh,” Fry mumbled.

“But we can stop it,” Greg said, “I think I know how.”

Leela lowered her brow. “Just how will we do this? Mom is the most powerful person on Earth, maybe the universe. It isn’t easy to defeat her. We know. We have done it a few times.”

“More of the reason to try,” Greg said to her, “If you could beat her at least once, there is a chance.”

“Okay,” Kif said, “But how will we do this? It seems impossible.”

Greg rubbed his head where he was hit the night before. “Well,” he started, “We will need to get together a rebel army, of course. Then we can figure out a good strategy.”

“An army?” Leela asked, “Who will be willing to fight in an army?”

“Anyone who wants to stop war, to be able to fuel their ships, and be a hero,” Greg said.

“So who exactly would that be?” Leela asked.

“The average underpaid worker,” he said, “And anyone we tell what will happen.”

“Well, we are now enlisted, Leela,” Fry said, humorously.

“Ha ha, Fry,” she said, frowning. “What if they don’t listen?”

Greg smiled. “They will have to!” he exclaimed. “We have a Lieutenant right here. I am sure we can pass him off as a general, with Zapp captured at the moment.” Greg turned to Kif, as did Fry and Leela.

“Wha? No, no!” Kif said, waving his arms, “I can’t pretend to be a general and tell people to join a rebel army! I can’t do it!”

“Kif, I know you can,” Greg said, putting his hand on his shoulder, “I have faith in you. You can do it. To save the general you despise.”

“I don’t despise him,” he said, “He can just be a pain…I have to like him. He is one of my only friends.”

“More of the reason to do this, Kif,” he said. “You need to do this to save him, to save the world, and bigger yet, the universe. They need you.”

“Not to put any pressure on you, Kif,” Fry said, sarcastically, staring at Greg.

Greg looked at him with an angry look and mouthed the words ‘shut up.’ Fry snickered and Leela hit him in the back of the head.

“I…I don’t know, Mr. Mason…err…Greg. I have never done anything like that in my life…” he said.

“Don’t you have a girlfriend? Or a wife? Anyone you can fight for?” Greg asked. With that, Fry and Leela stared at each other and put their heads down. “What?” Greg asked.

Kif sighed. “I had a wife, oh my wonderful Fonfon Ru…but then she slept with Zapp…after I, well, died. I overreacted, and I basically left her…I don’t know if she’ll take me back.”

“Who was that, Kif?” Greg asked.

“Amy Wong…” Kif said.

“Oh, Amy? I met her today,” he answered. “I am sure you two will get back together.”

“Really?” Kif asked, “You really think so? Or did you see it in the future?”

“I won’t say,” Greg said, “because not saying may make you want to help even more. It all depends how much you want her back, Kif.”

Kif sat silently. He stared at his hands, which were drumming the table. The room became still. Then he sighed. “Greg…I’ll do it.”

Greg slapped him on the back and Kif laughed as a reaction. Greg laughed as well and he smiled. “Kif,” he said, “You won’t regret this.”

“I am sure I will,” he said, “but only if we lose…which I don’t think we will do.”

“That’s the spirit!” Greg said.

“I am sure Amy will join as well,” Leela said, “so she will be even more proud of you, if you help to become a leader.”

“I don’t know about leading,” Kif said, “Maybe just getting people to join. I think you and Greg should lead.”

Fry crossed his arms. “What about me?”

“Fry,” Leela said, “I guess you could help, but you aren’t the best at leading.”

“I am too,” Fry said, “I led a whole universe, remember?”

“Fry,” Leela said, “That was with the help of a giant alien from a different universe.”

“Whatever,” Fry said, looking down.

“Fry,” Greg said, “I think you could lead. I will even make you a leader of a whole troop.”

“Really?” Fry asked raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I trust you, and believe you can,” he said.

Fry turned to Leela and smiled at her. Leela rolled her eye again.

“It is almost 8 AM,” Leela said, “the Professor and the rest of the crew should be here soon. The Professor is usually up once Hermes comes, so we should talk it over with them when they get here.”

“Yeah, definitely,” Greg said, “We need all the help we can get. And with the Professor having tons of inventions and stuff—“

“How do you know he has inventions?” Fry asked.

“He is a professor. I am assuming a lot of professors have inventions. I have a few myself, you know.”

“Ah,” Fry said.

“Yeah…so, what’s for breakfast? I am starving. I was in a coma, you know,” Greg said, laughing. Everyone else laughed with him and Leela led them to the kitchen.

[Reply #25 on:]

Mom tapped her fingers on the table as she watched Zapp, who was still unconscious. Amfibios had stopped struggling, and now stared at Zapp’s limp body. Her glasses were down to her nose and almost off. Mom’s sons took Nixon and put him on a chair instead of the table, and he was now next to Amfibios.

“What have you done to him?” Amfibios asked wearily.

Mom laughed. “He will be awake soon, just you wait, Amfibios. He will be much more…calm…when he comes to.”

“I know that he won’t just be calm, Mom,” Amfibios stated. “What did you do? He is lying limp in his chair, and he has been like that for at least half an hour. Is he dead?”

“Of course not!” Mom answered. “I need him. I can’t kill him. The serum just takes a little while to sink in.”

“Have you given him drugs? Is he just going to be quieter?” she asked.

“In a way, yes,” Mom answered.

“How exactly?” Amfibios asked.

“Well, the brain controlling serum will sink into his brain, and he will be calmer, more awake, and ready to obey.”

“Obey?” Nixon asked. “What is this, a hippy hypnotizing potion of some sorts?”

“Shut up, Nixon!” Mom said.

“I won’t shut up! I am the president of Earth!” Nixon growled.

“Shut up, we get it already,” Walt sneered.

“Walt, you shut up too!” Mom snapped. Walt instantly kept quiet. “Anyway, back to my explanation. Zapp will wake up, he will listen to me, blah, blah, blah. He will do anything I will say, and he won’t care about what I tell him. If I told him to kill you, for example, Nixon…he would.”

Nixon gasped. “But—You can’t tell him to do that!”

“I won’t, Nixon. I need you too,” Mom said.

“For what?” Amfibios asked.

“To get bazillions of dollars…” Igner said.

“Shut up!” Walt said.

“Walt!” Mom yelled, slapping him, then Igner. “He is right, you know. Who cares if they know? They can’t go anywhere. They are helpless. The leaders of the universe are gagged, tied up, and helpless.” She turned to Amfibios and Nixon. “Do you two feel so powerful now? I am the most powerful person anywhere. Now you know for sure.”

“You are horrible!” Amfibios yelled.

“I know,” Mom said. She snapped her fingers and Walt took out a magazine from a bag. She started to turn the pages. Amfibios gave up and put her head down, letting her glasses fall to the ground. Nixon’s face still showed his anger, but he soon turned away.


They sat there for another ten minutes in the same way. Mom was halfway done with her magazine. Walt, Larry, and Igner were sitting in seats in the auditorium, ready to serve their mother if needed. Amfibios and Nixon had fallen asleep.

Out of the blue, a groaning sound filled the auditorium. Mom looked over at Zapp, who was stirring. Mom slammed the magazine on the table and the two leaders woke up immediately. Amfibios looked around, then finally met Mom.

“What is happening?” she looked to Zapp, who was starting to sit up.

“He is waking up, dumbass…” Mom said quietly. She turned back to Zapp. He sat up completely and opened his eyes. Mom untied the ropes that bound his hands and feet and he stood up. Mom stared him down from head to foot.

“Zapp…how do you feel?”

“Rejuvenated and ready to serve.”

[Reply #26 on:]

Okay, so I haven't updated in a bit, because I'm having either writer's block or just a surge of forgetfulness. I don't want to write myself in a corner, that is the main point. Here is a short update, and I'll add to it. I'm not going to end the section here, it is just that I need to think of some good story line  :


Fry stared at the digital clock on the wall of the room. It said 7:58. Everyone else was scattered all around, anxiously waiting for the professor to wake up and come to work. Greg was toying with Leela’s wrist-thing to try to improve it. Leela was asleep on the table. Kif anxiously drummed his fingers on the table top, as he thought about the task he was to fulfill—getting an army together.

I have never gotten anything together, Kif thought, Well, I have for Zapp, but not for anything else. I am quiet…there is no way anyone will be able to take me seriously and actually follow me to join the rebel army…but Amy…she will be so impressed if that happens. We haven’t really spoken much…since…since I got angry at her. I never really forgave her for that, although, because I was so angry, I actually stood up to Zapp. That anger fed my ability to take charge and initiative. Anger isn’t the best motive, though. Anger may make things work, but it can cause things to go wrong. I know this from Zapp…No, that is stupidity… Kif shook his head. He put it on the table and placed his hands on his neck.

“Kif, are you okay?” Fry asked him.

Kif mumbled, still with his head down, “Yes, I’m just thinking, that’s all…”

Ugh…What am I going to do? It is almost like the whole universe is depending on me. And it probably is. I’m sure Gregory could get people together on his own, but, for some reason, he needs me. If he is really from the future, like he says he is, is there something that happens that needs me in the equation? Will Amy really get back together with me if I do this? Will she think of me as being a brave soldier? Or just someone who wants to apologize, win her back, and become husband and wife once more? Either way, I think she won’t care. She wanted to apologize to me. She wanted to get back with me. I’m the one who blew it. She would probably give anything to be my wife, just as we were before any of this conflict began. I should really do as Greg says. It is the only way I can save the universe, and more importantly, Amy. If she gets caught up in this I don’t know what I will do. I know she loves to fight. She would do anything to save me, and I should do the same. Kif raised his head up. It’s final, then. I’ll do it. I will become a leader to the people.

Kif stood up from his chair and turned to Greg, who was fiddling with Leela’s wrist-thing. Greg turned to him. “What’s up, Kif? Have you come to a final verdict?”

“Yes, Greg,” Kif said sternly. “I have taken up your offer on becoming the voice of the Rebel Army. I think I can do it. For us, and for Amy’s sake.”

“I thought you’d say something like that, Kif,” Greg said smiling. Just as Greg put down Leela’s device, a small buzzing noise emitted through the hangar. On the other side, across from the lab, the Professor emerged.

“What are you all doing here?” he asked. “Get to work!”

Leela woke up abruptly and Fry turned to the old man. Greg instantly stood up and Kif sat back down. Greg spoke up.

“Uh, Professor Farnsworth, we have an issue--a very large issue. And I was just wondering…could I possibly borrow your ship to save the universe?”



 

[Reply #27 on:]

Bump...


The crew sat in the lounge. The Professor was seated on the couch with Greg opposite to him, and everyone else stood around. Greg was finishing up explaining to the old man on what was happening with the war and Mom.

“…so you see, Professor Farnsworth, we really need your ship to be able to get the army together. Mom could destroy the world!”

“I see,” Farnsworth answered, “I always thought Mom would find another way to gain power again. This is indeed very bad, Gregory. If we don’t stop her, well, I don’t know what will happen! It will be like Mother’s Day all over again!”

“So you’ll let us use the Planet Express ship?” Greg asked happily. Everyone was smiling.

“Hell no!” Farnsworth snapped.

Everyone’s expressions changed to surprise and confusion. Greg’s smile quickly turned into a gaping frown.

“But..but you just said…” Greg started.

“I’ll let you use a different ship, though,” the Professor said laughing. He started to walk out back into the hangar. Fry stood around, then followed him. Kif, Leela, and Greg looked at one another and followed them both.

“But, Professor,” Fry started, “You only have one ship…right? Am I missing something here? Leela?” Fry turned to her. She shrugged.

“Oh, Fry,” Farnsworth said, “I have made a new ship…see?”

The Professor raised his hand to the Planet Express ship. Everyone had a confused look once again. The Professor looked to where he was pointing and jumped.

“Oh, sorry!” he exclaimed. He then went to a drawer in the lab and found a button. He pushed it and a loud noise came from under their feet. Kif started to panic, but Greg calmed him down. Soon enough, the Planet Express ship sunk into the ground. Everyone went to the railing to see the event taking place. There was a gaping hole in the center of the hangar now, and the rumbling stopped. After a few seconds, it began again and something started to rise out of the hole.

“What the…” Leela started.

In a few seconds time, a large ship emerged from the hole. It was just a little smaller than the Planet Express ship, but was much better designed. The ship was painted black, with red and silver stripes on the tail, wings, and nose. The rockets in the back were very simple, but they looked very powerful. The ship was boxy and aerodynamically better than the green ship they were used to. Everyone was in awe.

“It took me a while,” the Professor said, “in fact, it took me all of 10 years to make it. Ever since you all came to me in 2999.”

“What is it?” Fry asked.

“It is a ship, dimwit,” Farnsworth said.

“I know it is a ship, but why haven’t you told us about it? How long has it been done?”

“Well,” the Professor continued, “I started 10 years ago, as I said, and finished last Tuesday. Great isn’t it? It is exactly the same as the Planet Express ship.”

“Then why even build it?” Kif asked.

“Well, it is a little different. You see, I have made some new adjustments. There is a new cup holder for Fry…”

“Yes!” Fry exclaimed.

“…and it can become invisible!”

“Say what?” Greg asked. “That’s impossible.”

“Yes, I have found the way to make it come basically invisible.”

“How?” Greg asked, obviously taking interest.

“Well, after three years of studying molecules and atoms, I discovered that they could be engineered to reflect light differently. It took me a year to actually accomplish that, and then I began more work on my new ship. The ship is still a little visible, for it is seen invisible, but with waves of light bouncing off of it, wherever it is, the background behind it looks distorted. But it is enough to use.”

“It is amazing,” Greg said. “I was actually working on a way to make things invisible when I was in the future, but after I heard about the war I decided to come back here to help. I never got to finish.”

“Well, it is done now,” the Professor said, “but no one must tell of how it works. We can’t have invisible Mom ships everywhere…”

“Correct,” Leela said, “We need to have a low profile.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“So can we go on a joy ride now?” Fry asked.

[Reply #28 on:]

Smells like teen spirit and Futurama's classic epic story... I just didn't understand

Show spoiler

That new professors' black ship... Did they use it when they left Jon?

Gregory is russian, isn't he?

[Reply #29 on:]

No, Greg isn't Russian.

Smells like teen spirit and Futurama's classic epic story... I just didn't understand

Show spoiler

That new professors' black ship... Did they use it when they left Jon?

Show spoiler

The black ship was something completely out of the blue I thought of. I needed something to keep the story moving, and a ship the Professor had been working on secretly for 10 years was a good one. It wasn't the one they used when they left Jon, because that was just a small one. The crew had no clue about the ship beforehand.

[Reply #30 on:]

You haven't updated since the beginning of March, are you working on your art?

[Reply #31 on:]

Leave her alone Future Shock. Smarty has said she's been very busy with school and life, unlike the majority of us. She will return to peel and writing and arting in due time. Thanks.

[Reply #32 on:]

Okay, okay, okay [/grunting stupidly]

[Reply #33 on:]

Small updateee finally.


Year 3012…Dune Apartments, NNY…

It was 8 PM on a Friday night. There wasn’t anything much for Greg to do that night except work on his project. The grad student of Mars University had a messy room with papers, test tubes, and harmless chemicals in bottles spread out across the floor.

Greg himself worked diligently at his lab table set up on the right side of the small apartment. He had in one hand a pencil, and in the other, an empty test tube. He studied the dimensions of the tube and set it aside as he recorded the data into his notebook. He ran his hand through his hair.

“I will never get these calculations done in time…Only one more use on the time machine until it breaks, too,” he said to himself. He threw his head back. “I’m running out of time…”

He stared at the numbers and various equations on the sheet of paper, trying to make connections. On the paper held words such as dark matter, dark energy, electricity, and solar energy. He was trying to create a fuel source. He circled dark energy and solar energy.

“Could these two have anything in common?” he asked himself. He had already created an experiment with dark energy and solar panels, but failed. “Certainly it can’t work if I try it again...” He thought again. “Unless…” He started to scribble words down related to solar energy.

Sun
Heat
Yellow
UV
Light
Flare
Star
Plasma
Radiation
Bright

After the brainstorm he stopped. He scanned down the list of words, trying to come up with a real answer to what he was trying to do.

“Heat…maybe. Would heat do anything to dark energy? I could set up an experiment for that…yellow is stupid, UV is also not a good idea…” he continued to scan. “Light…some kind of trigger maybe? Triggers the particles in the dark energy to release energy? Maybe…Flare. Flares don’t happen often, it wouldn’t help. Star…just relevant…Plasma, well, that’s ridiculous. Plasma is too hot to be contained in its pure form, and its containable form has no energy. If it could be contained, then it would have enough energy for fuel, but our modern science isn’t good enough I guess…Radiation…no…bright? Same as light.”

He continued to look at his list and the possibilities. He took three sheets of notebook paper and put them on three clipboards. He wrote on the tops of them heat, light, and then he stopped. He held his pen above the last paper, thinking what the last trial would be. He wrote down plasma.

“Eh, what’s the harm?” he asked himself. “The only problem is going to be getting it.”

Then he went to go get a heater and a very bright lamp, and a tank of useless dark energy to begin his experiments.

[Reply #34 on:]

Cool.
It's good to see you back Smarty. We all have real lives and accept that sometimes they take from our casual activities. You're a great new member and it would be a shame if you forgot about us.
Good luck with you band.

[Reply #35 on:]

It's a rather small update. And I'm not blaming you for any wrongdoing. Well done.