…

It was Friday. His meeting with Curio and Wonder was tomorrow. Despite that fact, Stress was still relentlessly thinking about that world. He could not stop his thoughts.

He still had the Kinetic Sabre, which he had retrieved from his sink after his brief encounter with Ruben. He had now conjured up a brand-new question about that world.

“What is the trigger for entry and exit?”

Stress headed downstairs, donned his cap and coat, and set off for that field in search of answers.

Luckily for Stress, he already had quite a good idea about the latter half of his question. Every time he got transported back to Earth; it was always after a fatal encounter. The Pitch Black encounter, the mascot’s attack, Ruben’s sudden appearance. Each event had ended in Stress sustaining fatal injuries, no matter how bizarre they were. Imploding once, then again, then burning to death. It was abundantly clear of the trigger for exit.

Dying.

…

It was cloudy, pretty much just dull outside. He walked against the slight wind, strong enough to fill his ears, yet not enough to drown out his train of thought travelling as fast as it could. Stress was determined to find out as many answers as possible related to the parallel world, starting with the opposite end of the first answer he came to. What was the trigger for entry?

When he arrived at the field, he first looked over in the area him and The Urchin sat and talked before Mr. Mascot appeared. Nothing. He went over to the bench she sat on when they first met. Nothing there either. Not only that, but the fairground also wasn’t here either.

He recalled the times that he had entered before that point, which was three separate times. Once when he sat down on the bench, another shortly after seeing a bubble over the field, the final time was after opening the Kinetic Sabre in his bathroom. Unfortunately, all of these had not much correlation to give any hints. The only similarity between any of those is the bubble and the sabre, the latter of which he had brought along with him just in case it was needed in any way and to give it back to The Urchin if he found her. He didn’t fill it up though due to the possible chance of being burned alive again in his bathroom. If he was going to mess around with the bottle again, it would be outside in an open space, specifically right where he was stood, next to the bench. He then decided to try opening it again to see if it would trigger the entry and low and behold…

Lights. The fairground was back again, followed by the familiar voice on the bench next to him.

“Wha-! Y-you just appeared there! How did you d-do that…?”

The Urchin. Back again. Stress just rose his hand to head height in a waving position before just nonchalantly saying.

“Heyo.”

Meanwhile in his head, it was more like.

“YES! YES! THAT’S THE TRIGGER! MMMMMM YES!”

He had indeed figured out that entry trigger, or at least a somewhat reliable method of entry. It seems as if The Urchin was a “gateway” in more ways than one. The opening of the Kinetic Sabre causes the entry trigger.

“Hey! Hold on! Why do you have my bottle? Give that back!” The Urchin shouted while waddling over to Stress and attempted to snatch the Sabre from his hand yet was pathetically tugging on it with it not budging one bit from Stress’s semi loose hand.

“Here. Oh and also, do you not remember me?”

“I can’t remember someone if I’ve haven’t seen them before. Even I know that much!” she said with a sudden slip of ego.

However strange that question was, Stress was still in theory proving mode and after the events that transpired last night with the Ruben encounter left him with a small piece of evidence.

[“I’ve never seen you before so how in the flippity dippity did you punch me? And I’d never assault a child for fun cause, well, that’s just outright cruel don’t you think?”]

Those were Ruben’s words just before Stress burned to a crisp. Luckily, he’d remember them well that night to craft a different theory.

When he dies, do people’s memories revert to the state they were before his arrival?

He just might’ve proved that theory. Originally, he thought that only he was forgotten, however the fact that he might’ve forgotten The Urchin too (However he did also think that any smart person would not truthfully say to a stranger about them assaulting someone) caused him to come to this conclusion instead.

“Wait, why did you even ask that? Are you d-“

“Delusional? I thought so. Please trust me I’m not going to do anything weird again.”

“Hmmmm… You sound honest so I’ll listen just a bit… BUT I'M STILL NOT TRUSTING YOU!”

“It just dawned on me. Why are you still on this bench? You were here yesterday and now this morning too? Are you waiting for something or someone?”

The Urchin stood there befuddled for a second before saying…

“I j-just got here! I was gonna look at the cool fairground tonight and took a break on this bench cause my legs were tired. Hold on you said this morning?! It’s night-time!”

Stress hadn’t realised it, but she was right. The sky was dark, stars clearly visible through the cloudless scape. The lights of the fairground, the adrenaline, the intrigue. It was too distracting to notice such a detail.

“My theory… just got even wilder didn’t it…”

“Your what now?”

“My theory for this world and how it functions in comparison to mine.”

“Do you want me to trust you or not?! Cause you make it hard to trust you with this nonsense.”

Stress had forgotten that he was speaking with an unnatural being in another world.

“Oh uh… it’s just that I’ve never been too in touch with this world, so even someone like me is still trying to learn the ropes for myself.” He said scratching the back of his head, then it got itchier so he scratched even more until his whole head felt itchy and he couldn’t be bothered anymore despite how distracting it was.

A spark shone in The Urchin’s eye as she heard him say that. She was now a little bit more interested in him. So, she spoke to Stress again…

“So… are you also here for the fairground tonight?”

“Well… hmmm… I am interested. I haven’t really gone to an event like this in ages so it could be fun.”

“W-well! I still don’t uh… really t-trust you yet… You give off an odd… feeling. And you look a tiny bit less distinct than a person should be… AND YOU HAD MY BOTTLE!”

“Uh, I picked that up off the ground nearby, so you must’ve dropped it, (Not true. Stress is just surprisingly good at improv.) also, less distinct?”

“Well… usually people dress eccentrically when outside cause well… you know…”

“Hmm… I usually stand out among groups of people, guess that’s not the case here.”

“I wanna go see the fairgrounds now. It’s so bright!”

The Urchin started to waddle off into the sea of lanterns, figures, and stalls. Seeing such a youthful spirit made Stress smile like a proud parent seeing their child going to play outside. Despite this, his mind was still hard focused on the theory crafting.

…

“So, if I open the sabre then I enter… If I die, then I exit… That’s simple enough. So, about the time not matching up… Wait no it’s now 6pm?! I left my house at 11am! It’s like this then. Either I skipped forward in time to this point on entry, or entry causes me to appear only at this point in time. What kind of powers are at play here, cause it reeks of time travel.”

Stress had this inner monologue while mindlessly walking through the lanes lined with stalls and lanterns. However much he tried to ignore it though, the people all around him were all quite the display of colours and outfits, as if each person were meticulously crafted to be unique from one and other. Stress is a sucker for art and design (reason why his hat is the way that it is), so these flamboyant clothing designs was really piquing his interest, but that wasn’t the important part right now. The important thing is getting a full understa-

“HELLO EVERYONE AND ALL! LADIES! GENTLEMEN! EVERYTHING INBETWEEN! TO A SHOW YOU MAY FIND YOURSELF QUITE KEEN! Now, whatever could that mean? Well, what have you come to see? A grandiose display? A wacky wild ride? A burning sensation?! NOPE. YOU ARE GETTING, ALL! OF! IT! After all…

We are… THE PYROMANIACS!

A loud round of applause followed suit. A live performance? Now this was something Stress had to see. After all, he hadn’t been to a live event in ages (mainly due to the sheer amount of people) but this time he had figured that if he was already there, then he might as well indulge just a little.

…

(“My name. It’s simple really. I am the son of one of The Great Pryokinetics of our generation. Son of Ruben Coalut Scarlet. Rudy Scarlet, a grand title of a name if I do say so myself. I bear that Scarlet name with the utmost respect and honour. However…)

For our first act of the night, we will need a volunteer! And you may ask? Who are the “we” I spoke of? Well come on out! My two gloriously fiendish and respectable comrades…

WELCOME MR. LEON VERN, AND MR. SON CRIMS!

(“Let me introduce you, the audience, to my two close friends and you could say partners in crime. Firstly, we have Mr. Leon Vern. Whooooo boy! This guy’s able to pack up loads of our precious firepower inside his powerful conduit, which we can even use to back our own firepower as I mentioned earlier. Truly a great guy for our heated trio! And now for our true brawn! Mr. Son Crims, or should I say Son Gokio for what the hell kinda power this man’s able to withstand and release. This guy’s kinetic control is on a completely different level to any pyrokinetic our ages, and that’s saying a lot! Now as the clapping dies down, just sit back, and relax. You’re in for a treat tonight…”)

“SO THEN! We did indeed mention the need for a volunteer, but in all honesty, I think I should choose one of you lucky souls to come on up here to put on this show for the rest of you! So… who’s it gonna be?”

He waved his arm around, similar to a figure eight motion all around the wide crowd of colours and clothing. However, anyone who’s good enough to tell if someone is acting could tell that this motion was all a ruse. He was looking for someone. Looking for someone specific in the complex crowd. It took him around fifteen seconds in order for his finger to lock onto his target.

“YOU IN THE BACK RIGHT, THE URCHIN LOOKIN ONE! You look positively thrilled to be here today, I can sense that in your soul too, that excitement! Come on up here!”

(“As always, father knows his stuff all too well for his own good. The Urchin he was looking for. The one embedded into my memory. The sight I see in front of me. It all adds up. Now let’s see who you are…”)

The Urchin just so happened to have wandered towards this show out of pure curiosity, and she was now being asked to come up onto this stage in front of this fifty maybe sixty-person crowd of people.

Her anxious nature refused this offer.

Despite this, the crowd of people started to usher her on; they’d probably didn’t realise she had no guardian with her. Her mind said no, while her body said otherwise. She placed her foot on the first wooden step. Then the second. The third. Fourth. She knew she didn’t want this, despite no apparent danger. Something here felt wrong. The crowd? No. The stage? No. The performers?

Most definitely yes.

“For our opening act, we will have Son over here draw out a long rope from his pen conduit. This rope. You’ll have to think of it like a skipping rope. You know what that’s like right? Say, have you ever jumped rope before little urchin?”

“U-uhm…uuuuh um.”

“I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

“U-UHM…UUUUH UM!”

“WHAT KINDA SOUNDS ARE THOSE! I’ll admit that you’re a pretty funny kid all things considered. Wouldn’t you all agree?”

The audiences cheering felt off putting. Was it mockery? Playful banter might’ve been the right word for it. However, it was not either of those to the actual performers. It was merely just a distraction.

“WAAAAAH!” she yelled as a bright red line shot across her vision and swept her legs off the ground in a burning pain.

“It turns out… That said rope… IS A FIRE ROPE! WOW!”

Just as The Urchin peeked towards the mostly sympathetic audience, it came back round again. She quickly rolled 180 degrees, yet still, another horrendous burn mark on the back of her head followed the scorches on her legs. It was only then that Son had withdrawn the rope to run over to The Urchin on the floor in what seemed like a desperate panic, back turned to the audience.

“OH GOD… Uhm, well we weren’t… entirely expecting that. DO NOT FRET HOWEVER! We will move on to one of Vern’s solo acts while Son is busy with the first aid stuff. DO NOT WORRY! He has this completely under contr-“

“WHAT A LOAD OF BALONY!” was heard by everyone as another figure rose up the stairs.

The Urchin, now in the arms of Son, could only see one thing while listening to all of this. The devious grin of a con artist staring straight into the backstage. Such a grin was only cracked by sheer force, aka Stress’s fist to the back of his head. Such a hit made a loud metal clanging noise.

“WHAT THE FU- AHEM! I mean, what do you even think you’re doing to this show!? We have people watching here! And you assault one of our performers while carrying an injured child!? Who do you thi-!?”

“Actually, I’m the one carrying the child, as you can see here.”

The Urchin had been caught by Stress as he punched Son’s head. As such, he laid her down next to him, as he said.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help just a bit sooner… However, you don’t need to worry anymore.”

“HEYO! GET OFF THE STAGE ALREADY! WE HAVE A SHOW TO RUN!”

“I know I know. But you, Lil Urchin over here, and everyone else here must know something first and foremost.

MY TIME BOMB THEORY IS ALMOST COMPLETE!”

“Your what theory now? Are you flippin delusional? We gotta call the police! Leon! Leon, call the poli-"

“Sorry! You aren’t aware of this, but I am good at something. It’s a little something called plagiarism. I’d hope you’ve heard about it before!”

“What does that have to… No… No… WHY NOW! WHY OH WHY!”

The dark shadow behind Stress was back again, it’s routine unchanging. Tied the fuse. Pulled out the hand. Ignite.

“SPARKING FLASHSTEP TIMES 6!”

Sparks flew once again. Captivation. Intrigue. Horror. Amazement. All feelings were felt in that moment, a moment that lasted under 3 seconds. The stench of steel didn’t matter. The disintegrated body didn’t matter. The terror on Leon and Son’s face didn’t matter. Nothing mattered, but him. At least that was how The Urchin felt. The legendary elusive sparks that appeared in her mind that night, had finally shown their beautiful display.

 And of course, a grand explosion to finish the job.

Time Bomb Theory was in full effect...