'A River with Currents' - by coldangel_1

[Reply #200 on:]

*tickles Fry's exposed toes*

That picture is somehow refreshing.
As is the story... more more more!

TOTPD!

[Reply #201 on:]

Heh, Zoidberg as Bender. Cute.
Almost up to the part where Fry meets Fry?

[Reply #202 on:]

Yeah nearly.

[Reply #203 on:]

 

[Reply #204 on:]

Haha, reminds me of a Goon Show joke.

 

Situated at an archaeological dig.

Minnie Bannister: Oooohhhh, Henry. These skulls, are five million years old!!

Henry Crun: Ahh, indeed.

(pause)

Both: (Singing) Happy Birthday toooo youuuu....

As for you, Coldangel, I have only one thing to say:

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T STOP NOW!

It's a testament to your skills as a writer, the amount I'm sucked into the story.   


------------------

"Jim, do you ever post anything relevant, EVER?" - Punching Bag

[Reply #205 on:]

Okay. More soon.

[Reply #206 on:]

Please sir, can I have some more?

[Reply #207 on:]

DOOP headquarters, Weehawken, New Jersey.

By special admission afforded by their past exploits, and a shared sense of morbid fascination, the four crewmembers of Planet Express attended the court-martialling of Captain Zapp Brannigan. They’d seen the megalomaniac stripped of rank before, though this time it looked as though there would be no going back.
   The broad, flabby back of ‘The Zapper’ could be seen taking up the defendant booth on one side of the courtroom. A bland prison outfit had replaced his usual velure uniform, but he still held himself with the same pompous arrogance – shoulders squared and head tilted back.
   Fry, Leela, Bender, and Amy, looked down from their secluded chairs at the top of the amphitheatre, taking care not to be seen by Zapp as the reptilian DOOP President made her way to the podium. Fry sat beside Leela and squeezed her hand.
   “This day’s been a long time coming, huh?” he whispered.


NNY
   
Another Phillip J. Fry pushed his exhausted legs onward past 9th and µth streets, his muscles screaming in protest at the unaccustomed exercise. The northbound tube line was congested with a mid-morning crush of sweaty bodies, and wouldn’t start moving again until lunch time. He finally caught sight of a taxi and waved madly to get the driver’s attention, but a Horrible Gelatinous Blob creature beat him to the vehicle, and it flew away.
   “Ah, crap on a white rug!” he yelled at the world in general.


Weehawken

President Glab banged her gavel, and the trial of Zapp Brannigan began.
   “Zapp Brannigan, you stand accused of wanton dereliction of duty as an officer of DOOP and demonstrable unsuitability for command. How do you plead?”
   Brannigan leaned forward. “Absolutely 99% not guilty!” he declared.
   

NNY

Fry skidded to a halt next to a public telephone. He had no money in his pockets, so he dialled collect, ready to recite the number for Leela’s wrist thing... but an unhealthy tone sounded from the receiver and the words ‘Out of Service’ flashed up on the telescreen. He looked down and noticed a small owl’s nest protruding from the telephone box casing.
   “Oh hell!” he shouted desperately, slamming the receiver down violently.
   Fry looked up to see a hovering Slurm truck begin to ascend from the road surface and pull away toward the north. Acting on impulse, he vaulted the payphone and ran toward the truck, leaping up with his cybernetic arm outstretched. He caught the underside of the flying vehicle, and his robotic claw sunk into the metal. He found himself dangling precariously from the bottom of the truck as it flew through the cavernous ‘streets’, hundreds of feet off the ground – taking a free ride.


Weehawken

“Captain Kroker,” the Hyperchicken drawled. “D’you mind explaining to the jury why y’all feel that the former Captain of the Nimbus sitting over yonder is unfit for DOOP command?”
   “I would be happy to,” Kif replied.
   Up in the viewing gallery, Fry leaned close to Leela and whispered: “This should be good.” She nodded, and they listened while Kif gave his lengthy testimony on the ineptitude and dereliction of Zapp Brannigan.
   The trial wore on toward its inevitable conclusion.
“Your honour!” the Hyperchicken announced at last. “The prosecution rests!” With that, and a loud cluck, he tucked his head under one wing and appeared to go to sleep.
   “Zapp Brannigan, the evidence against you is strong,” the President said, addressing the defendant’s booth. “Have you anything to say in your defence.”
   “One thing, your honour,” Brannigan replied, standing up. “I would like… a glass of water.”
   A murmur went through the audience and the President’s green brow furrowed in confusion. “Very well,” she said uncertainly.

Future Fry skidded to a halt at the foot the stairs leading up into DOOP headquarters. A trio of burley DOOP soldiers blocked his path.
   “Stop! - Trial! - Brannigan! - Gun! - Kill everyone!” He gasped breathlessly, pointing wide-eyed at the building behind the troops.
   “Get lost, you damn crazy,” one of the soldiers said, glaring at the unshaven madman in the dirty brown coat. “Get outta here or you’ll be locked up.”
   “But Zapp has a gun!” he shouted. “You have to stop him!”
   “What the hell are you yelling about, ya homeless bum?” a second soldier snapped, stepping forward and putting a heavy hand on Fry’s chest. “You want money or something? You ain’t gonna get it. Now scat!”
   Fry bared his teeth in fury. He grabbed the trooper’s wrist with his cybernetic right hand and twisted until the man screamed out in agony and the crunch snapping tendons could be heard. He pushed the injured man aside and lunged forward, but a pair of lightsabre batons cracked against his legs and he fell headlong on the stairs. The other two soldiers were on him, pinning his arms and legs and calling for backup. Fry clawed desperately at the stairs that his face was being crushed against, shouting at the top of his lungs.
   “LEELA!! LEEEEELA!!”

Leela looked up, narrowing her eye. For a moment she thought she’d heard someone calling her faintly at the limits of her hearing range. She glanced at Fry sitting beside her, but he was absorbed in the court case and didn’t seem to have heard anything.
   It must be my imagination, she decided.
The bailiff brought a pitcher of water and Zapp slowly poured himself a glass, and then stood holding it, staring into space.
   “You know,” he said, “a very sexy and heroic starship Captain once remarked that in the game of chess you never let your opponent see your pieces.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a capsule no larger than a button.
   Glab narrowed her eyes. “What is that?” she demanded.
   “This?” Zapp said, lifting the little pill so that all could see. “This is the insurance policy I kept concealed beneath a strategically cultivated fold of fat for nearly ten years in case I ever needed it. This is shrewdness and forward-planning, the strengths of a true leader.”
   Leela lunged up from her chair and shouted. “It’s a suicide pill! Stop him!”
   The court guards rushed forward, but instead of swallowing it, Zapp dropped the little pill into the glass of water, and with a loud popping sound it began to expand, breaking the glass and forming into a familiar shape.
   “…Okay, it’s not a suicide pill.” Leela sunk back down.
   Zapp gripped the now re-hydrated positron blaster and grinned savagely. “Case DISMISSED!” he shouted, levelling the weapon and opening fire at the approaching guards.


The sizzle of positron blasts and a symphony of terrified screams reached the soldiers outside through their communicators.
   “Oh God, he was telling the truth!” said the man who was currently putting his knee into future Fry’s back.
   “What are you waiting for?” Fry shouted angrily as the soldiers climbed off him. “Go!” The soldiers raced into the building, unstrapping their rifles as they went, and Fry scrambled after them, bruised and winded. More soldiers joined the other from their posts inside the building, rushing toward the central hall where the shots had come from.

After dispatching the guards, Zapp aimed the gun up at the President and fired through her podium, blasting a hole though the timber stand and the middle of her torso with a shower of splinters and green blood. The President fell dead to the floor and Zapp turned his attention elsewhere, roasting the Hyperchicken with a close proximity blast.
   Kif leapt over the witness table and rushed headlong at the deranged gunman, diving at Brannigan in a desperate attempt to grapple the weapon from his hands. Zapp caught the movement and swung the gun up to crack against Kif’s head, sending the little alien sprawling.
   “And now, a reckoning,” he said, looming over Kif and pointing the gun down at his head.
   “No!” Amy shouted, lurching up from her seat and scrambling forward.
   Leela was already moving, overtaking Amy and barging past a few straggling evacuees. She ignored Fry’s cry for her to stop and leapt headlong over the balustrade, flying through the air and crash-tackling Zapp to the ground.
   The two of them rolled together, both scrabbling at the gun, which discharged a few times, blasting chunks out of the floor and ceiling. By sheer weight, Zapp managed pin Leela beneath him, and the two grappled for the positron rifle.

   “The lovely, luscious Leela,” Zapp hissed.
   Fry leapt from the viewing gallery and raced toward Zapp and Leela as the former Captain of the Nimbus pulled the gun out of the cyclops’ grip and pointed it at her head.
   “Suck on this then, you one-eyed whore!” Zapp spat, caressing the trigger.
   A black sneaker at the end of a denim-clad leg caught Zapp in the side of the face, throwing him back violently. The gun went off, sending a spear of plasma into the floor next to Leela’s head. Fry jumped over Leela, ready to follow through with another kick, but a dozen heavily-armed soldiers rushed inside, pointing their assault lasers at everyone present. Fry froze in mid stride, and Zapp looked up with manic eyes.
   For a heartbeat there was stillness.
   Then suddenly an orange-haired figure in a grimy brown coat charged past the soldiers, barrelling straight at Zapp. The Zapper didn’t even have time to adjust his aim before the oddly familiar looking man was upon him, and a steel fist hammered into his face with crushing force.

[Reply #208 on:]

Eeheehee....
Only one tooth falling out?

[Reply #209 on:]

Yeah! this great! but judging from what just happened I'ld say that this Fan-Fic will be coming to an end...I just made myself sad.

Keep it up!

[Reply #210 on:]

You can't reuse pictures! That's a crime against... uh.. the reusage of pictures!
... whatever -.-

[Reply #211 on:]

I felt it was only right to use the same pics as well as large chunks of the same narrative because it's the same scene exactly. We've returned to the beginning... and I'm a lazy bastard.

[Reply #212 on:]

 

Originally posted by coldangel_1:
I felt it was only right to use the same pics as well as large chunks of the same narrative because it's the same scene exactly. We've returned to the beginning... and I'm a lazy bastard.

I’ve done almost the same thing in one of my (as yet unfinished, unpublished) fic’s.

[*Shrug*] 

[Reply #213 on:]

Yay, Zap's getting his come-uppins!

[Reply #214 on:]

Lovin it Coldy, but how will past Fry and Leela react one does wonder...

[Reply #215 on:]

Zapp crashed to the ground, blood spraying from his nose and mouth. An errant tooth skittered on the marble floor, and his blaster fell from his grip and slid a few feet away. He groaned and spat more blood, looking up at the figure that loomed over him and trying to blink away the points of light that danced in his vision. Zapp’s eyes widened in confusion; he turned his head to look at the orange-haired nitwit who was standing near Leela, and then looked back at the figure in the coat who was glaring down at him.
   “You…? You’re… what is this?” he spluttered. There appeared to be two incarnations of Phillip Fry in the same room. “Who the hell are you?”
   “Me? I’m the right hand of fate, you sack of crap,” future Fry hissed. “You killed the woman I love, and I’m here to set that straight. You’re going down.”
   Across the room, Fry and Leela gaped at the trenchcoat - clad stranger in amazement.
   “Fry…” Leela gasped. “That man… he’s…”
   “Yeah.” Fry nodded agreement. “A damn fine looking man. A Cadillac of human beings. A bastion of perfection for the world to look upon in wonder and…”
   “No, Fry, don’t you see? …that’s YOU.”
   “I know; that’s what I meant.”
   Future Fry leaned down to grab Zapp, but the deranged lunatic scrabbled backwards towards his gun.
   “Stop, Brannigan!” one of the soldiers shouted from behind future Fry. Fry moved to intercept the madman, but he reached the gun and rolled onto his back, firing a wild, untrained arc of positron energy into the air. Fry ducked as the blast ripped past inches from his head.
   The energy bolt slammed into the ceiling of the chamber, causing a massive explosion of masonry that rained down onto the courtroom floor. A number of soldiers were struck down by falling chunks of marble and concrete, and the courtroom filled with billowing clouds of cloying dust.
Future Fry couldn’t see anything. He scrabbled around desperately, searching blindly for Zapp Brannigan so he could tear out the monster’s throat. His hands found an arm, and he grabbed it hard, but a woman’s shout of alarm stopped him. Gradually the dust began to settle, and he found himself staring at Leela, standing before him alive and vibrant and beautiful. She was blinking dust particles from her eye, and then looked up at him in wonder, her pristine face awash with unasked questions. He let go of her arm and gaped at her in wonder and joy.
   “Hey!” Fry turned and saw the slightly younger version of himself staring at him stupidly. “How come you’re me? I’m s’posed to be me! Quit copying!”

   “I’m…” future Fry trailed off, lost for words and suddenly remembering Zapp. He looked around desperately and saw only Amy and the DOOP soldiers picking themselves up.
   “Where’d he go?” he shouted. “Where’s Zapp!?”
   “Didn’t see,” one of the soldiers wheezed, coughing out a lungful of dust. “He slipped away… God, the bastard’s killed the President!” The soldiers began to spread out and search.
   Leela and Fry were still staring at future Fry in astonishment.
   “Are you… a clone?” Leela asked, gazing at the gaunt, scarred and unshaven version of the man she loved.
   “No... I’m from the future,” he replied, turning back to look at her again. A strange storm of emotions pulled at his face, and suddenly tears sprang from his eyes. "A horrible future!"
   “What’s wrong?” Leela said, alarmed at the look of anguish on his face. She was startled when he suddenly stepped forward and embraced her, burying his head into the nook of her shoulder and crying quietly.
   “Hey… come on… it’s okay…” she said, holding him uncertainly. She looked at present-day Fry over the shoulder of his future counterpart, unsure of what to do or say. “There there,” she comforted uncertainly.
   Fry watched his future self hugging Leela. He didn’t know if he should feel jealous or not. The image was a confusing one. Bender wandered down from the viewing gallery and nudged him in the side.
   “Looks like you’re stealing your own girlfriend off yourself, chump,” the robot remarked with a chuckle.
Fry coughed politely, and future Fry detangled himself From Leela, wiping his eyes.
   “Sorry,” he said. “I just… seeing you again…”
   Leela looked at him, narrowing her eye. “Uh… Fry?” she said.
   “Yeah?” both of them replied in unison.
   “The future one,” she clarified. “Why did you come back? What… what happened? You said something to Zapp, that he killed somebody…”
   Fry looked her in the eye, and she saw a knife-edge of anguish pass across his face. In that instant she knew; a sense of horror and amazement came over her.
   “I died?” she whispered. Fry inclined his head silently. “I died, and you came back to save me?”
   “Yes.”
   “Oh Fry…” Leela was dumbfounded, lost for words. She’d know that Fry would do anything for her… but to change the very course of time.
   "Wow..." present-day Fry breathed, impressed. “Hey, brown coat,” he said, addressing his future self. “Do you know where Zapp’s headed now?”
   “Oh yeah,” future Fry said dismissively. “He’s just gonna blow up the Orbiting Meadows funeral station, and himself along with it, and send the asteroid crashing into earth.”
   “WHAT!?” Leela gasped, mortified. “But… that will kill millions!”
   “It’s okay, they’re mostly Australians anyway,” future Fry said, waving aside her concern. “The important thing is that you’re safe.”
   “But we can’t let this happen!” Leela insisted.
   “Why not?” Bender asked, genuinely confused. “Like I always say: human life is worth less than toilet paper.”
   “We followed him last time, because he took Amy hostage,” future Fry said. “But we weren’t able to stop him, and you… you died.”
   “But if we alert the DOOP…”
   “No time,” future Fry said with a hint of disgusted irony. “And anyway, he’s waiting for them to show up. They’re his damn audience.”
   “Then it’s up to us!” Leela insisted.
   “NO!” future Fry shouted vehemently, and the group looked at him in surprise. “We can’t stop him – he’s insane! I can’t lose you again!”
   “We don’t have a choice,” Leela said softly.
   “Kif?!” Amy yelled from across the room, and the others looked across at the Chinese girl; she was looking around in frantic desperation. “Kiffy!? Oh no… I can’t find him anywhere!”

Zapp piloted the little shuttlecraft out of Earth’s atmosphere, his face set in fevered determination. He kept his gun trained on the green alien hostage while operating the craft with his free hand.
   “What do you think this will accomplish?” Kif asked, forcing a level of calmness to his voice that he didn’t feel. “This is just a candlepower transport – you can’t even get out of Earth’s orbit in it.”
   “Shut up, you traitorous scum!” Zapp snarled, glaring ahead. The dome of the Orbiting Meadows funeral asteroid loomed ahead, passing across the sun. “There are grave happenings afoot,” he muttered, giggling at his own joke.
   Kif sighed expressively.
   “This is the endgame,” Zapp said.

[Reply #216 on:]

*sigh*.  There's always something, isn't there?

Good stuff, coldangel, well-written and suspenseful.  On the other (bionic) hand, I think you may have gone a little overboard with Past Fry's narcissism and later Future Fry's flippancy toward human suffering.  Then again, that last part was probably another joke at the expense of Australians, so I guess it's all good in that context.

Also, this didn't occur to me until Fry mentioned it, but...brown coat?  That means I'll be praying for a Firefly reference, you realize.

[Reply #217 on:]

Fry's known to be a little narcisstic. "Hey, when you look this good, you don’t need to know anything.” Though his commentary on himself there was kind of also a reference to Bender's inexplicable adoration of the similar-looking Phillip Fry II in 'Luck of the Fryish': "Who is that God-like figure?" ... "...this brave Adonis, this Cadillac of men...". Although Fry's self-adoring comments in that update are probably made in jest.
Future Fry's lack of concern about the impending death of 12 million people is a result of his relief at getting to Leela in time and desire to protect her from suffering the same fate again; those feelings override all else - she is his whole world.

Ha, Brown coat, yes nicely spotted  .
Did you read my previous fanfic, 'The Hero of Bot-any'? The whole thing is closely adapted from the Firefly episode 'Jaynestown'.

[Reply #218 on:]

Ooh cool excellent job ^_^

[Reply #219 on:]

 

Originally posted by coldangel_1:
Ha, Brown coat, yes nicely spotted   .
Did you read my previous fanfic, 'The Hero of Bot-any'? The whole thing is closely adapted from the Firefly episode 'Jaynestown'.

Why do you think I started reading this one?  Actually, I read The Real Decoy first, but the Jaynestown one was also great.

And I'll accept your explanations there.  I just tend to nitpick about characterization a lot, since the characters are my favorite aspect of Futurama (and, coincidentally, Firefly).

[Reply #220 on:]

I see many similarities between Bender and Jayne. I think the two of them would get on well together.

That's okay. I try to stick as close as possible to their original depictions while still adding a gritty quasi-realistic edge. Kind of like my art, the semi-realistic anime interpretation. It's a tightrope act sometimes, trying to add something more without losing any of what's already there, and sometimes it's not entirely successful, but it is fun and an interesting literary exercise.

[Reply #221 on:]

Heh.  I just reread "Decoy" out of boredom, and realized that's the second time Fry's taken out one of Brannigan's teeth.  And I definitely see the connection between Jayne and Bender - they're both comic or semicomic versions of the same archetype.  Like you, I've considered Firefly crossover - perhaps placing it somewhere in Futurama's Future History - but I haven't managed to bring myself to do either the lightening up of Firefly's 'Verse or seriousing down of Futurama that would result.  Also, I can't write for crap.  Nonetheless, there's a lot of potential parallels and connections between the shows.  Aside from "Fox sucks," I mean.

[Reply #222 on:]

Firefly's set 500 years before Futurama, so time-travel would be required. The main obstacle I encountered which prevented me undertaking such a task was the number and sheer strength of the characters. I thought they might overwhealm one another.

[Reply #223 on:]

Well, you seem pretty much committed to your 'hour-long' fics.  Someone willing to do a multi-parter, stick to only a few characters from each side, or marginalize ensemble members (hello, Amy in Farnsworth Parabox) could do it.

Aside from that, an Anthology of Interest bit is possible if you really just want to skim the surface.

"What if we were all cowboys?"  No, already a parallel universe for that.  Hmm...give me a minute...

And I like time travel.  It gives me fun headaches.  It's just that introducing "eventually, humanity goes back to Earth like nothing happened" to Firefly seems to kinda cheapen it.  Also, There Are No Aliens In Firefly.  No Exceptions.

[been drinking]Ah, what the hell.  I'll give it a try over winter break.  It can't possibly turn out worse than that Futurama/Metal Gear Solid crossover I saw on TLZ.  Which despite my hobbies, I had nothing to do with.[/been drinking]

[Reply #224 on:]

You added Leela in to the picture.

Neat update.

[Reply #225 on:]

I put Leela in, yeah. That was actually difficult, but I didn't want to give away her 'resurrection' when I posted that pic as a teaser.

Nerd-  Hahaha! A Futurama/MGS crossover, you say? I never saw that... hmmm... I wonder how that would go...

Snake: Metal Gear is in an underground maintenance base to the north.
Fry: Great, is there a bathroom? I really gotta pee.
Snake: You'll just slow me down. You don't have enough battle experience.
Fry: Hey, I saved Earth from alien invaders! What have you done? Besides sneaking around in lycra?
Snake: People call mercenaries like us "Dogs of War." But you're different. You are a wolf...
Fry: Oh....kay.... (weirdo).

Also, Firefly didn't indicate that all of humanity left Earth. When you think about it that seems unlikely. Human civilization on Earth probably continued after the mass migration, and got back on its feet with the over-population problem temporarily solved. The Firefly system of worlds and the Earth system could well have developed in total isolation from each other over time, meaning Firefly could easily be incorporated into the Futurama Universe. Space is big.

[Reply #226 on:]

Really big.  I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts compared to space.

Sorry.  I'm working on a 48-hour sleep cycle, and I've started having flashbacks to novels I've read.

Hmm...I could probably use that.  Still seems to trivialize it a bit, but I'm over it even just by writing this sentence.  Alright, I have an Xmas project.

Oh, and it was far, far worse than that.  Terribly, terribly executed writing, poorly-conceived plot, lame characters...it was like the original Metal Gear, actually.  If you want the reading center of your brain to start hemorrhaging...

[Reply #227 on:]

I'll pass.
Glad you spotted the Hitchhiker's Guide reference. You have earned my respect.

[Reply #228 on:]

Low Earth Orbit.

“The Marine detachment on the station isn’t responding to my hails,” Leela said as she piloted the Planet Express Ship through the upper reaches of the thermosphere and into open orbit. She backed off the engines as she watched the funeral asteroid lazily swim into view on the convex horizon ahead.
   “He must already be there,” she muttered to herself, setting a course to intercept with Orbiting Meadows.

   Future Fry sat in his seat anxiously. He hadn’t been able to stop them taking off to save Kif and prevent catastrophe; while he understood and agreed with their sentiment, he was still terrified beyond words that the new timeline would end up mirroring the old. His facial scar itched in tune with his worries.
   “I’m gonna break open the armoury,” present-day Fry said, moving back toward the companionway.
   “No guns,” his future counterpart snapped, grabbing his arm. “Zapp’s set the oxygen to a high level or something. Any spark will blow the whole thing up.”
   “Ta ma de!” Amy cursed between clenched teeth.
   Fry looked down at the cybernetic hand that gripped his forearm. His other self let go and looked away.
   “Cool arm,” Fry remarked uncertainly.
   “Yeah,” future Fry grunted. “It’s a useful plot device. You should get one.”
   “How did you…?”
   His future self glanced up at him sharply with a raised eyebrow, the scar on his cheek catching the light. “How do you think?” he said.
   “Oh… right.”
   Future Fry got up and pushed past himself, moving ahead to where Leela sat. “You have to let me do this alone,” he said quietly, gripping the back of her chair. “I’ve travelled from one end of history to the other so I could stop you from being killed by that nutjob; I can’t just let you walk straight into the same trap all over again… please, Zapp’s mine. Let me take him apart. You guys stay in the ship.”
   “Enough!” Leela snapped. “You can’t do it alone. Anyway, you’ve warned us of the danger, so we stand a better chance. Kif’s our friend… and besides…” her voice grew quiet “…Zapp’s state of mind is partly my fault.”
   “That’s isn’t true, Leela” he said. “It was never true. You place so much responsibility on your own shoulders for things you have no control over...” He sighed and ran his left hand through his hair.
   “Look,” Leela said, “whatever happened in the future you came from doesn’t change the fact that we have to do what’s right, whatever the cost.” She looked at him with sincerity shining in her eye. “There are more than ten billion people on Earth,” she said, “and every single one of them is going to die… one way or another. Nobody lives forever.”
   “…All things that live will inevitably die,” Fry whispered to himself, remembering the Space God’s words.
   “That’s right,” Leela murmured, placing a comforting hand on his forearm.
   At the back of the cockpit, Fry watched with growing discomfort as his future self talked with Leela. The two appeared close, and Fry gritted his teeth. Things looked like they could get complicated.
   “Bender,” he muttered, leaning close to the robot. “How am I supposed to feel about this?”
   “Blind with murderous rage?” Bender offered cheerfully.
   “But… he’s me,” Fry said.
   “I guess that means it won’t technically be ‘cheating’ when she sleeps with him,” Bender replied. Fry glared at him and hurriedly strode up to the front of the cockpit, coughing loudly to interrupt himself and Leela.
   “I think I have an idea,” he said.
   “Well?” Leela prompted.
   “Leela, you drop me and Bender and… the other me… at the station to save Kif and deal with Zapp. And then take the ship out and send Amy in a suit to rig the diamond filiment to the asteroid so you can tow it out to a higher orbit…”
   “And Leela will be out of danger,” future Fry added, grinning at his double. “That way even if Zapp does end up managing to blow the dome, the station will be high enough for its descent to be halted in time. Hey, good thinking.”
   Fry looked at his future self coldly and said nothing.
   “I don’t like it,” Leela said. “The three of you will be in there for a long time with no way out while I’m busy moving the station.”
   “You wanna protect the people on Earth, right?” present Fry said.
   “Yes but…”
   “Then this is the best way,” future Fry added.
   “Ahh!” She looked back and fourth between the two Frys, both of whom grinned at her in earnest. Operating in concert, the two of them almost formed a full and cohesive intellect, and they could actually string together a pretty good argument. She groaned in defeat.
   “Alright Fry… and Fry,” she said. “We’ll do it your way. But I want you both in pressure suits, just in case.”
   “Aye, Captain!” both of them said simultaneously.

[Reply #229 on:]

GREAT!

 

Originally posted by Coldangel_1:
“Bender,” he muttered, leaning close to the robot. “How am I supposed to feel about this?”
“Blind with murderous rage?” Bender offered cheerfully.
“But… he’s me,” Fry said.
“I guess that means it won’t technically be ‘cheating’ when she sleeps with him,” Bender replied. Fry glared at him

I laughed at that bit   

[Reply #230 on:]

Yay, updates! Lovly shiny confusing my feelings updates! Once again I'll bow down to your supior writing skills

[Reply #231 on:]

Glad I've still got two readers. We're nearing the home stretch now.

[Reply #232 on:]

Make that three! ... Hah, Leela's outvoted.

[Reply #233 on:]

What, you need a critique every episode?  Sorry, only cute female writers get that much attention.

Still here, though.

[Reply #234 on:]

Orbiting Meadows.

The little green freighter docked with the funeral station and set down gently on the landing pad. Three figures appeared at the top of the stairs – the two Frys, each clad in orange space suits with the helmets dangling from shoulder straps, and Bender grumbling half-heartedly about being dragged along for some stupid heroics, with an extra suit tucked under his arm.
   As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Leela suddenly appeared in the opening behind them and called out:
   “Fry!”
   They both turned, while Bender moved away respectfully.
   She hurried down the stairs and glanced back and fourth between the two of them. She moved to future Fry first and hugged him; he looked dazed, but smiled slightly. Then she turned to present-day Fry, enveloping him in her arms and pressing her lips against his. She kissed him for a long moment, before stepping back onto the ship’s stair.
   “Be careful, both of you,” she said to them. “Make sure you come out of there in one piece… uh… two pieces…? I’ll bring the ship back to pick you up as soon as possible.”
   She ran up the stairs, and within seconds, the PE ship lifted off and gently jetted away, back out the docking gate.
   “She’s so great,” future Fry said wistfully. “Just seeing her again now… I can almost forget how terrible I felt when I lost her.”
   Present Fry watched him intently.
   “You’re a really lucky man,” future Fry said.
   “I know,” Fry replied.
   “No you don’t,” his future self snapped. “You take what you have for granted because you think there’s always gonna be a tomorrow to appreciate it, but one day there won’t be. One day all you’ll have is memories, you need to make sure you have a lot of ‘em to cherish. You have to ask her the question.”
   “The question?”
   “You know what I’m talking about.” The two incarnations of Phillip J. Fry stared at one another for a long moment, before Bender sauntered over and cleared his mechanical throat.
   “We gonna save the stupid green loser, or are you two gonna stand around admiring each other’s perfect hair?” he growled impatiently.
   Future Fry nodded. “Let’s end this thing,” he muttered.
   Together, the three of them marched off toward the access passage.

Outside, in open space, Amy used the attitude thrusters on her manoeuvring pack to align herself as she floated quickly away from the Planet Express Ship. Behind her, she trailed the gossamer length of the ship’s diamond filament tether, which glinted like fine spiderweb in the light reflected from Earth.
   “How goes it, Amy?” Leela asked over the short-range radio link.
   “Almost there,” she replied.
   “Good. I’ve radioed the DOOP task force and warned them to keep their distance, but I don’t know how long they’re going to be able to restrain themselves.”
   Leela sat in the cockpit of the PE ship impatiently. She knew she didn’t need to rush Amy – the Chinese girl wanted Kif back as badly as Leela wanted Fry… Frys? She shook her head – things had become confusing. She couldn’t be in a relationship with two men, and yet it seemed monumentally unfair to expect the future incarnation of Fry to just fade away into the background after all he had done. Leela didn’t know what to do.
   “Got it!” Amy said over the radio link. She had located one of the original mooring points used when the asteroid was first towed into orbit. With some deft movements, she looped the diamond filament around the enormous steel ring and tied if off.
   “Ready to go,” she said.

The two Marines who had been stationed in the orbiting graveyard were sprawled at their posts, blood congealing on the grass around their prostrate forms.
   “He’s been through here,” future Fry said needlessly, narrowing his eyes. “It’s just like last time. Everyone form up on me – keep your eyes peeled.” He moved ahead into the cemetery area with Bender and the other Fry following close behind.
   Present-day Fry took a deep breath and wobbled on his feet. “What the?” he looked around. “I just got a little woozy,” he said. “Does everything smell grey all of a sudden?”
   “Too much Oxygen,” future Fry explained again, tiredly.
   “Why’s that a bad thing?” Bender asked, confused. “I thought Oxygen was good for you disgusting organic lifeforms.”
   “Too much of it can be bad,” Fry replied. “It can be poisonous… and worse than that, it can act as a flammable catalyst…” he trailed off, realizing he was repeating what Leela had said last time…. Last time? That ‘time’ had never happened. It had been erased… and yet it still resided in his memories. He shook his head to clear the confusing tangle of temporal paradox.
   They entered the graveyard and Fry moved off toward the place where he knew Brannigan would be.
   “Zapp!” he called. “Come on out – this is the end!”
   “That’s right!” a loud voice called from across the cemetery and the three of them looked up to see Zapp Brannigan standing on top of a large tombstone, holding his blaster aloft and grinning brokenly through the blood that still caked his lips. “It is the end,” he said. “The end for you, and for me… and look, you aren’t even armed!”
   “We’ve come for Kif,” present-day Fry said, stepping forward. “Let him go and we’ll leave. That’s all we want.”
   “You want to save the life of a worthless lizard?” Zapp snarled. “Very well then.” He reached down and dragged Kif out from behind the tombstone, throwing him forward onto the ground. The alien scrambled away and Bender helped him to his feet.
   “And where might the lovely lady Leela be?” Zapp said.
   “Washing her hair,” future Fry muttered.
   “A pity,” Zapp said. “I’m sure she would have liked to have seen my crowning moment of triumph.” He started to look around through the dome in search of the DOOP flotilla he was expecting to arrive. He noticed instead, the blur flare of the Planet Express ship’s engine exhaust, and frowned in confusion.
   “Moment of triumph?!” future Fry said quickly to distract him. “Is that what you call this act of cowardry-ly…ness?”
   “COWARDRYLYNESS!?” Zapp bellowed, spinning back to glare at the redhead, and leaping down from the tombstone with his gun held high. “I don’t even know the meaning of the word! I have more bravery in my little finger than you have in your entire hand.”
   “Is that why you’re running away and planning to kill yourself rather than facing the music?” present-day Fry asked with a smirk.
   Behind them, Bender pressed the spare space suit into Kif’s hands.
   “Put this on, slimebag,” he muttered to the alien. “Fry’s an idiot, so two of him is twice the idiot. They seem to think making Zapp angry is gonna help.”
   “Thank you,” Kif murmured.
   “Hey, don’t thank me – I didn’t even wanna come.”

[Reply #235 on:]

Ooooh, nice update Coldy. I love the dillema that Leela's facing, and I'm hoping that Future Fry is telling Present Fry to ask Leela what I think he is...MORE...please

[Reply #236 on:]

Go Fry, go Fry, go Bender!
Yay for the shippy, I hope this works out fine for Future-Fry... and normal Fry alike.

[Reply #237 on:]

 

Originally posted by Coldangel_1:
 Bender pressed the spare space suit into Kif’s hands.
“Put this on, slimebag,” he muttered to the alien. “Fry’s an idiot, so two of him is twice the idiot. They seem to think making Zapp angry is gonna help.”
“Thank you,” Kif murmured.
“Hey, don’t thank me – I didn’t even wanna come.”

        

I can definately see that happening.

[Reply #238 on:]

Thank you for your patronage people.
Just as a warning, every single character is going to die horribly at the end of this.

[Reply #239 on:]

Awwwwwww

At least keep Zoidberg alive. he's not even on the ship and I thought that Leela pulled orbiting meadows into a higher orbit so none on earth will die?