Once all sixteen kids picked up their bikes from the pile on adult Wes’ driveway, they took off towards Kettle, and then rode to the celebratory pizza place that was in the same shopping plaza as the local Blockbuster. Jace felt a new sense of freedom on the way there, and was beginning to understand the benefits of owning his own vehicle.

Papa Peppino’s, at the end of the plaza, had been replaced by a beauty salon by the time Jace came around, but he was used to the place and its food as it was now; Wes often ordered from it when he needed a break from Pizza Hut, and they had eaten dinner at the casual locale several times already. Today, it was about to be invaded by a group of kids of varying ages almost big enough to fill a classroom.

They filled up the bike racks and headed in, their dirty faces and red and blue-soaked t-shirts earning a few stares from the other patrons and the wait staff. Tables were brought together, and pretty soon the Super-Soakists were squeezed in tightly together in the back near the three classic arcade cabinets—which Gavin eyed from a distance, checking to make sure his local high scores were still on the board.

After the pitchers of Pepsi were poured, the chatter about the game’s most epic moments began while the four pizzas were tossed in the oven. Only Jared seemed sullen and reserved about things, and as Wessy had kept the food coloring incident a secret, the others figured that he was just upset about missing the final gun-and-run. Jace, about as tired as Colin who looked ready to collapse, could barely focus on all the many little discussions, but he did feel satisfied about the game and seeing the others happy.

Soon, the pizza arrived: a pepperoni, a sausage, a green pepper, and one ham and pineapple. Mikey and Janice looked pleased about their divisive choice.

“Looks good, huh, babe?” Mikey said as the others watched, a few grimacing.

Janice smiled back, his braces already near her lips. “Think we’ll have leftovers?”

“That’s what happens when you have refined tastes.”

She giggled, and they locked lips for longer than the two seconds that already made it uncomfortable for everyone looking in their direction. The sight reinvigorated Jared’s sardonic nature, and he quickly made kissy faces towards Sadie, opposite him. She just gagged, rolled her eyes, and then looked away from him and the smoochers.

“… Uh, anyway…” The Terror continued the list he was going through before the food dropped, “when I was eleven—I mean, yeah, I was already stealing Halloween candy by then—but I had more issues than just a need for material possessions. Now I know that I did those things because my parents didn’t let me trick-or-treat, so I was angry about that too, but that was also the year I was held back a grade.”

“And the year he got his nickname, around our side of Desert Tree,” Gavin said.

“Which I didn’t like at first. That hurt, man. Words hurt.”

“It’s brave of you to admit that. That’s… what I’m supposed to say, right?”

“That works. I mean, I was all of a sudden the biggest kid in class, and no one wanted to be my friend, and I had this new name, so of course I’m going to do the only thing I can do and live up to it. Most kids don’t sabotage bike chains, or pre-lick Ring Pops and hand them out, or drop stink bombs in all the school toilets.”

Stu replied, “Or, just, you know… beat up kids for no reason.”

“To be fair, I could’ve given wedgies, but I never did. I saw them as undignified.”

“Must suck to have to repeat a grade,” Arthur said, and—for a split second—Jace was worried he was also talking about him. “Did you have the same teachers?”

“Uh-huh. A few. Buuut… sometimes it was easier doing things a second time.”

“Man, even the bullies in Desert Tree are nice,” Zach said, leaning back in his chair after tearing into a slice. “I love getting to grow up here.”

“Reformed bully,” Terror corrected. “I’ve made a lot of progress.”

“Do you have, like… a therapist or something?” Jace asked him.

“Huh? Nah, my parents couldn’t afford that. I just got lucky that all my buddies took a chance on me. Gavin here changed my life, just by sticking around.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Gavin sighed. “You big softy.”

When the pies were half-way gone, Jace, after an image of eating in a pizzeria with his dad passed through his head, took the chance to ask the middle-schoolers, “Hey, um, do any of you know Conrad Baker? He’s a sixth-grader, so…”

“Conrad?” Duval was the first to reply. “How do you know that guy?”

“He kinda ran a secret club at our school last year,” Wessy said. “But then we realized he had become a jerk. Or, maybe he always was one.”

“Kid’s a punk,” Dierdre revealed a shocker. “He’s always in detention when I, you know, have to go to it. Heard he keeps skipping classes, too.”

“He’s just a nuisance to everyone,” Daron added. “A loser who thinks he looks good in a leather jacket and that it makes him King of the School, even in sixth grade.”

“Yeah, stay away from him when you go next year,” Gavin concluded the peer reviews. “And, hey, you ever need help with guys like him, we’ll have your backs.”

“Ouch…” Jace murmured under his breath. “Geez, Dad…”

“Welp, that settles it,” Wessy said. “I won’t even remotely look up to him now.”

“You did in the first place?” Sadie asked him. “He ran a club by a dumpster, and I heard he actually charged kids a dime just to get in and pocketed all the money.”

“Aw, man, he did that to The Dump?” Stu replied with a groan. “What a butt.”

Gavin exclaimed, “Hold up, Stu. You never told me you had a trash club.”

“Yeah, dude. DT Elem’ totally did. What, didn’t Miller have a hidey-place?”

“We just had one in an alley the sun couldn’t quite hit. We called it…”

Celeste jumped in, “The Shade! Yeah, that place is still there, still cool.”

“Good to hear.” Gavin raised a soda-filled glass. “Anyway… I’m not even upset the Reds won—heck, it made for a better story than it just ending in a tie. So, ‘grats.”

The others brought up their drinks as well, getting the table a few more stares from the patrons who hadn’t spent the morning sweating and getting soaked with dyed water. Once the cheers were over with, Wessy nudged Colin, sitting next to him.

“And here’s to my buddy Colin, who scored the only point.” Wessy waited for a reply, but Colin seemed lost in thought as he chewed on some crust. “Hey, you okay?”

“Huh? Y-yeah, just thinking about… some other stuff. Pizza’s good, though.”

“You earned some extra leftovers. If there’s any left.”

Colin gave Wessy a smile, finished his crust, and went back to being pensive.

• •

Jace collapsed onto the nice, comfortable couch upon returning home. Nearby at the computer desk was Wes, playing a PC game for a change. He turned the volume down once his nephew arrived, but the loud gunshots, alien screams, and profanity-laced remarks of its deep-voiced protagonist remained quite audible.

Wes peeked over at him as a new level loaded, then went back to the screen and greeted Jace, “Long day, huh? So… did someone actually win that thing?”

“Colin scored a point. It was crazy… but we did it.”

“Huh. Interesting… I hope I can remember that later on. I wonder if… Nah.”

Jace sat up and asked, “What?”

“Again, my memory’s fuzzy, but I’m pretty sure no one scored in the original game, on a different block. We tried a final run of sorts, but it didn’t work out. Glad Colin got you the win, especially since he’s not going to be in the laser tag tourney.”

“Yeah, about that… Um, Celeste was great, but now I’m worried about Jared getting in. We caught him cheating, and you chewed him out pretty good.”

Wes paused his game, sighed, and turned back around. “It’s always Jared. So now Wessy is going to think he’ll actually try cheating there too, and get them disqualified.”

“Yeah, probably. We’re making final team plans tomorrow, at Arty’s. How am I supposed to fix this? Jared totally screwed things up for himself.”

“I’ll come up with the right things to say before then. I think it is fixable.”

“So… what are you playing? Sounds like something M-rated…”

“Duke Nukem 3-D. A classic—I had to buy it. Just came out, too.”

“Hey, Unk, can I ask you something? I know you like these years so much you went back a second time, but I’ve been thinking. If you could, would you ever want to actually go back? Like, be a kid again, not just an adult watching all this stuff happen?”

Wes leaned back in his office chair, swiveled around, tried to respond, thought for a bit, and then finally replied, “Mostly…? Maybe? If I could fast-forward through the boring or painful stuff. But it’d be weird not having total freedom all of a sudden. Or a bed time… Not being able to drive… Having to ask if I could watch certain movies…”

“Wow, and I thought you hated being an adult.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, I said that. But… I’m used to it.” He returned his gaze to the monitor. “I’ve been used to it for almost twenty years.”

• •

A loud alarm woke Jace the next morning, before the sun was up. It sounded like a strange electronic trumpet, repeating every second. Thinking the house was on fire, he jolted up and went to the living room, where the stereo system’s speakers were blasting out a noise that forced him to cover his ears. Wes had beat him there, and was trying to find the right dial on the wired-up CD player to turn it down. A nearby clock read 5:27.

“What the hell, dude?” Jace yelled out. “What is that?!”

“My security system!” Wes shouted back, and managed to reduce the volume to a reasonable level. “It’s my Nostromo alarm—the ship from Alien. Set it up yesterday. Just didn’t expect it to be that loud… or sensitive. Dunno what it’s complaining about.”

“I knew I recognized that sound! Holy crap, it’s like the house is self-destructing.”

“Saw that movie, did you? I guess it wouldn’t traumatize 2020 kids too much…”

“We watched an old videotape at Zach’s place. Colin almost fainted, when, you know… That was a weird sleepover, actually. I don’t think we ever saw his parents.”

Wes looked around the room to check for any broken windows. “Okay, so I didn’t panic when it went off, because I figured there was no way time cops would break in just a day after I set it up. Probably a fault in the wiring… I’ll have to…”

“I’m actually kind of impressed, I admit,” Warren said as he walked in from the kitchen. Fully suited up, he looked around and added, “But you forgot to lock your back door. It’s the stupid mistakes that end up getting you killed. By cyborgs.”

“Why are you here, and at this ungodly hour?” Wes groaned and switched off the alarm. “Couldn’t you have just jumped ahead to noon first? Hope you brought coffee.”

“Jace,” Warren said and turned to him, who was now wide-awake. “You can go back to bed. I need to have a chat with Wes. Nothing to worry about. Boring stuff.”

“Whatever,” Jace said, but looked at him suspiciously as he returned to his room.

“I haven’t gotten up this early in years, kid,” Wes complained once they were alone. “I hope you dropped by to say something really interesting.”

Warren motioned to the dining table. After another moan and a yawn, Wes joined him, sitting across from the ninja. The time-traveling assassin in training tapped the table with his servo-enhanced fingers for a moment and then removed his head gear.

“I’ve been limiting my time jumping to avoid detection,” he explained. “Forcing myself to sneak around in real time sucks.”

“Aren’t ninjas known more for that anyway, over their chrono-capades?”

“Can you be serious for a second? I’m going to give you something, and I need you to take good care of it and only use it when you absolutely have to.”

Upon hearing about a possible gift, Wes shut up and watched as Warren took out a time quartz—the one that must’ve been his original. It looked worn and had several cracks, but its interior holographic interface was still functional.

“You’re giving this to me?” Wes asked and grabbed it. It felt cold in his palm, as if it would never absorb any body heat. “Can I travel through time with it?”

“No,” Warren replied emphatically. “That big circle on the interface is the only thing you’re going to mess with. I pre-programmed it to send you to today, twenty minutes from now. If the time cops find you, or… if I’ve disappeared for longer than usual, press that button—keeping in mind that it doesn’t move you through space. It can communicate with mine so I’ll be alerted, and nearby, once you properly use it.”

“Ah… I get it. You’re worried about… things.”

“I mean it. It’s not a toy. I know you want to play around with it, but don’t.”

“Yeah. Okay, sure. Emergencies only.”

“One more thing. It doesn’t have a lot of life left in it, and it’s very tough, but don’t damage it. I’ve read the… ‘instructions,’ and if these things break…”

“You don’t need to tell me. I’m always gentle with my tech.”

Warren got up to leave, but put his headgear back on first and warned Wes once more, this time with his digitized voice. “Resist temptation, and just… don’t.”

“I won’t! Geez. We have to work on our trust issues.”

Ninja pointed to his goggles and back to Wes to say he had his eyes on him. He then left the way he came, with Wes making sure the door was locked this time.

After making wake-up juice, the mischievous uncle took the quartz to the office he had set up for himself in one of the smallest rooms of the house. It had become his secret lab, and unbeknownst to Jace, he had recently bought a used laptop and was using it for his notes and plans instead of the tower PC, now relegated for internet and gaming. He went to the desk, turned on its lamp, and with a magnifying glass, began studying the magical rock he had thought about often for the last few weeks.

“Okay…” He said and took a sip of coffee. “Let’s see what makes you tick.”