A Matter of Time

The cool air chilled us as we walked down the dark road, fallen leaves crunching beneath our feet.

“Sorry about my uncle,” Hudson sighed, “He can get a bit carried away with the spirit of the holiday and all.”

“It’s cool man. I wasn’t even all that scared, really,” Joe lied dismissively.

“Gotta say, I was impressed,” Nick said, “When you said that your parents were throwing a Halloween party, I imagined it would just be a couple of their friends hanging out drinking cider. But I was wrong! They really went all in. Costumes, decorations, a haunted walk, Uncle Steve manning the grill- that was awesome!”

“I was surprised too,” Hudson admitted. “They don’t usually get that into it. How much further to the playground, anyways?”

Joe shrugged, “Not far. We’re almost there.”

We marched single file down the side of the road, parading through the starless night. I was dressed as Kuskabe from Jujutsu Kaisen, wearing a tan trench coat, a tie, and carrying a katana. In front of me was Joe, wearing the Gorilla suit that he had finally purchased after years of deliberation. And behind me was Hudson, dressed as Michelangelo of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. His orange headband flapped behind him as a light breeze brushed past us.

“Oh man, I can’t wait to hit the slide,” Joe cheered. We had left the party about fifteen minutes earlier, opting to walk to a nearby playground after the urge to use the slide had struck us. “But first, I gotta take a leak. Just give me a minute- DON’T leave me here!” He demanded. He was afraid of the dark and overall a big baby.

“Whatever man, just make it quick,” I said. He trudged off into the treeline.

“Should we leave him?” Hudson asked, grinning devilishly.

“Sure, let’s go,” I agreed.

We began to walk away when Joe shouted, “Guys, come in here! You’ve got to see this!”

Hudson frowned, “No way man, I don’t want to see what’s going on in there!”

“No, not that!” Joe scoffed, “Just come in here!”

Reluctantly, we pushed aside some branches and entered the woods, Hudson following my steps exactly so that he didn’t step in mud or fall on his face. About fifteen yards in, the trees opened up and left a clearing. Joe stood in the middle. “Check it out!” He said. He was surrounded by perhaps two dozen uninscribed tombstones.

“Woah, weird,” I exclaimed.

“What a strange place for a cemetery,” Hudson added nervously.

“Do you think it is some kind of pet cemetery or what?” I asked.

“I don’t know, these graves are pretty big,” Joe noted.

“True,” I nodded, shifting my attention to a statue bigger than me at the end of the cemetery. It depicted an angel, arms and wings spread wide. “And what's up with that? It looks like it’s frowning. Strange…”

Hudson added, “Is it just me, or does it have horns on its head?” The statue, likely once white, was now weathered and wore patches of green moss.

“Okay, while you guys think about that, I just remembered I have to piss, so I’m going to go do that. It will probably take a few minutes since I think I will have to take the whole suit off. Don’t leave!” Joe ran off past the statue, further into the woods.

A strong breeze ripped through the trees and leaves fell upon us. Despite the eerie presence surrounding us, Hudson and I chatted idly about anime and video games for a few minutes before Joe re-emerged from the treeline. He wore his full suit, including the mask.

“Why do you have your mask on?” I asked.

“I’m surprised you didn’t try to scare us,” Hudson admitted.

Joe took the mask off reluctantly. “I guess I was in too much of a hurry to get out of there. Didn’t want anything to get me, you know. It’s a prime night for werewolves.”

“Sure enough,” I shrugged. “Let’s get going.”

“Okay,” he agreed. I peered at him briefly. Something seemed off, but I ignored it for the time being.

We walked single file down the road once more, but this time I had taken the lead. We reached the entrance to the park and Hudson cheered, “Finally!”

Under the streetlight I looked at Joe again and noticed that he was now wearing a bowl cut. Before I could say anything, he cheered, “Yippee! Let’s go!” And took off running towards the playground. I followed, racing towards the slide. Joe slid down first, then I went. As we caught our breath at the bottom, I asked,

“So what, did your hair get longer while you were in the woods?”

“What?” he responded, frowning.

I gestured to his hair. “The bowl cut. I thought you hadn’t had that haircut for a few years now. Or do I just not pay attention?”

Before he could respond, Hudson arrived.

“What, did you walk?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said, “I didn’t want to trip.”

I noticed almost immediately that his beard was missing. Hudson hadn’t been smooth-chinned in ages. Something weird was going on here. They both stared at me, and then they looked at eachother. The night was silent aside from a few crickets chirping in the distance. I felt my muscles grow tense. Suddenly I yelled, “Woah, what was that!” and pointed over their shoulders. They both turned to look, and I bolted off in the other direction. I broke into the woods and felt them following me. Branches scraped my face as I sprinted blindly through the woods, numbed by adrenaline. I ran as fast as my feet could carry me, thinking only “I’ve got to get out of here!” It wasn’t even a thought really, but an instinct. Then, I tripped. I fell hard and slid in the dirty, fallen leaves. The breath was knocked out of my lungs. Still, I rose quickly and looked around. Ahead of me was a familiar landmark- the back of the statue we had observed earlier. I turned to see what I had tripped on- Joe’s limp body, sprawled out unmoving in just a pair of boxers. That settled one thing- those things following me were not Joe and Hudson. Not the ones I knew, at least. I strategized quickly. I didn’t want to lead them to my house. I could keep running and call for help, but they were close behind me- I didn’t have much time. Joe would come first, then Hudson a bit behind. This was assuming that their speeds were equal to the Joe and Hudson I knew. I could hide, and ambush fake Joe. Then, I could do the same to fake Hudson. I didn’t have many other options. I hid behind a tree and waited, the sound of snapping branches and pounding feet approaching. Fake Joe emerged cautiously, scanning the area with his eyes. As he stepped carefully over real Joe's body, I bolted out from my hiding place and threw both of my arms around his neck, pulling tightly. He thrashed, slamming the back of his head against me. I tucked my chin and bore it until, to my amazement, he began to pry my grip loose. He shouldn’t have been able to do that- was this Joe stronger than the one I knew? Panicking, I began to knee him harshly. We grappled until I felt a hand on my shoulder; I had taken too long. Fake Hudson pulled me off of Fake Joe with boorish strength. I stumbled back and scurried away to a position where I could see them both. They stared at me intently as I fought to catch my breath. My mind raced. Suddenly a thought occurred to me: Whatever these impostors were, why were Joe and Hudson the only ones? Then I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head, and my vision went black.

“Anybody else want a rootbeer?” Joe asked over his shoulder as he walked across the yard away from us, headed for the cooler on the other side of Hudson’s house.

“Sure- thanks!” Hudson replied. I looked around, my head spinning. We were in Hudson’s front yard, playing basketball. It was familiar- I noticed his ninja turtle costume. This was Hudson’s parents Halloween Party! Hadn’t we already been here? I felt intense deja vu… this had already happened. If my memory was correct, then any second now…

“AHHH!” Joe screamed, falling backwards and landing on the ground, both hands to his heart. “What was that!!!”

Laughing Maniacally, Hudson’s Uncle John extended a hand to help Joe up. The prankster was dressed as a vampire clown, wearing makeup, a wig, and a red clown nose in addition to fake vampire teeth and a dracula-style cape. Hudson hurried over to them. “What happened?” He asked.

Joe, rising to his feet in his gorilla costume, pointed an accusatory finger at Uncle John. “He jumped out from around the corner and Grabbed me!”

John continued to laugh shamelessly.

“Hey, how about you take it easy?” Hudson said to his uncle, mildly annoyed.

“Sorry boys,” John wheezed, “I just can’t help myself this time of year.” He walked away chuckling. It was exactly how I remembered it- everything. This had happened before. Which meant… What had happened to me? I tried to remember.

“Oh man, I wish you guys had a slide here Hudson,” Joe shared as they returned. He was pretending that he hadn’t just been on the ground screaming a minute before.

“You are so right,” Hudson said. “I could go for a slide so bad right now…”

Gulping his rootbeer, Joe decided, “Let’s go to the playground! They got slides!”

“Are you allowed to use the playground in the middle of the night?” Hudson asked.

“I think so,” Joe shrugged.

“Okay, let’s do it then!” Hudson agreed. I was too distracted to chime in. Next thing I knew, we were walking down the side of the road, single file towards the playground.

“Sorry about my uncle,” Hudson sighed, “He can get a bit carried away with the spirit of the holiday and all.” I paid little attention to the conversation as I racked my brain desperately for something that was rubbing at the borders of my memory.

“...I gotta take a leak. Just give me a minute- DON’T leave me here!” Joe demanded.

“Should we leave him?” Hudson asked, grinning devilishly after Joe had left.

“Sure, let’s go,” I shrugged absently.

We began to walk away when Joe shouted, “Guys, come in here! You’ve got to see this!”

There was some bickering before we complied. Hudson and I entered the forest and found ourselves in some sort of hidden cemetery. My attention was instantly drawn to the tall statue of the angel at the end of the cemetery- and then I remembered it all. I rubbed the back of my head, which suddenly ached. Joe said something about going off to take a leak and began to walk deeper into the woods. My heartbeat raced. “Wait!” I hollered, running after him.

“Huh? He turned to look at me. Over his shoulder I saw a pair of eyes shining. I grabbed Joe’s arm and pulled him back towards the cemetery. He resisted. “What are you doing? I gotta piss!” he demanded.

“We have to get out of here!” I shrieked. My tone must have convinced him, because the blood drained from his face and he took off running beside me. Both Hudsons looked shocked to see us running at them full speed. One wore a michelangelo turtle costume, and the other a dragon ball t-shirt and a pair of shorts. I lowered my shoulder and trucked the dragon ball Hudson with all of my might. I was reminded of freshman year football practice, when I had tried to topple my giant friend Deauntay in a similar fashion. I knew something was off about these doppelgangers- they were too tough. My shoulder connected, and it hurt just as much this time as it had with Deauntay. The difference was that this time, my target fell. Joe and I each grabbed real Hudson by an arm and we tugged him through the woods and out onto the road.

“What’s going on!?” Joe demanded.

“Doppelgangers! I don’t know! Will kill us! Trust!” I coughed, sore and out of breath.

“Should we fight?” Joe suggested.

“Will lose!” I assured him.

“But we have the numbers!” He argued

“No!” I started to say when another figure jutted out onto the road ahead of us. It was me, wearing an old navy sweater with round glasses. The fake me grinned evilly. We slowed to a stop as Fake Joe and Hudson appeared behind us. We backed together.

“Doesn’t look like we have much choice, now,” Joe choked.

“Okay,” I breathed. Everyone, take yourself. But these guys are really tough- I don’t know why!”

Hudson gulped loudly as they closed in on us, then we broke off into one on ones. I threw a series of quick punches out at my opponent. He dodged or parried them effortlessly. This was fine; I expected him to be a good fighter. I just needed to get a read for his movement tendencies so I could find an opening to exploit. This goal in mind, I kept on the offensive. Eventually, he raised one arm slightly too early and I tucked my punch in just below it, slamming him right under his ribcage. It was a firm, unguarded blow in a weak spot- enough to send most men to the ground. But of course, he didn’t fall. He barely grunted before lunging forward and next thing I knew I was playing defense. Only, it didn’t last long. Turned out I was right in the first place; they were too strong. I guarded with both arms, and they were both broken within seconds. My thin hopes that someone would hop in to help me were shattered when I caught a glimpse of Good Hudson on the ground. Joe was still up, it looked like- but he didn’t seem in much shape to last long. Then that was it.

“That Uncle Steve sure knows how to grill a slab of meat, I’ll tell you what,” Joe declared.

“You’ve got that, right, buddy!” Hudson slapped his shoulder.

“I’m gonna go grab a drink,” Joe decided. “Anyone else want a rootbeer?” He asked over his shoulder as he walked away.

I was sweating. This time, for some reason, I remembered. “Wait!” I called.

“What?” Joe turned and asked. He and Hudson both looked at me quizzically.

I swallowed hard. “You guys need to listen to me,” I told them solemnly.

“Ok fine, but I’m getting a root beer first,” Joe said and ran off.

“What’s going on?” asked a concerned Hudson.

“We aren’t safe. It’s… complicated.”

“AHHH!” Joe screamed across the yard as Uncle John scared him witless and he fell to the ground.

Soon, we were gathered beneath the basketball hoop. “This is going to be hard to believe, but I need you to trust me. This isn’t just one of those things that happened in my dreams that I thought was real- this is legit.” I explained everything that had happened. Joe and Hudson both looked uncomfortable. “So we need to figure out what to do quickly, before they kill us again,” I concluded.

“Okay, that makes sense,” Joe said.

“Do you have a plan?” Hudson asked.

“What, that’s it?” I raised an eyebrow. “You guys believe me?”

“Of course man. I mean, it’s no crazier than that time you saved us from that labyrinth in the woods with the giant spiders and the guy who thought he was the Minotaur,” Hudson said seriously.

“Wait, I thought that was a dream?” I exclaimed.

“Nope, that one was real.”

“Huh. Wow. That was a crazy night.” I turned to Joe.

“Yeah, something pretty similar to this has happened to me before. You guys remember Zombie Hudson?”

“Uh, no,” I admitted.

“Yeah, I know you don’t. So anyways, what’s the plan?”

We considered staying at the party where there were others, but there was one major problem: we didn’t know if this phenomenon was affecting other people, or just us. We might be surrounded by imposters as we spoke- we couldn’t know for sure. So, we retreated home. We piled in the car, Enchanted by Taylor Swift playing at a very low volume as I drove along the dark road in the opposite direction of the playground. There were far more deer in the road than usual- almost as if something was scaring them out of the woods. When we reached home, we filed into the basement and pulled out the whiteboards. We had to know what was going on. We brainstormed: Doppelgangers, shadows, shapeshifters, skinwalkers (Hudson seemed to hate this idea the most). We strongly considered a classic cursing. We made a breakthrough around midnight.

“That’s gotta be it!” Joe agreed.

“Aw man,” Hudson sighed. “Does that mean it’s my fault?”

“No Hudson, it’s not your fault. It’s my fault, if anything, for falling into that time portal. But really, it’s all of our faults. So let’s not worry about that. When we went back in time, we must have gunked something up fierce. I don’t know how it would have happened. But that would explain why the impostors seem to be versions of us from two years ago.”

“Do you think we created some sort of glitch? Or like an unsanctioned timeline?” Joe asked.

“Maybe. Hard to say.” I felt a chill run up my spine and I stood. “Do you guys… feel like we’re being watched?”

“Yes,” Hudson said quietly. Joe grabbed the mallet next to him.

We all armed up and watched tensely, sweat dripping and muscles quivering in anticipation. We remained that way all night, until we realized we had made it to the next day.

We decided to bring another head into this project. If our theory that we messed up by traveling to the past was correct, that would mean that there was a good chance that maybe we might potentially be the only ones in danger after all. We were tired by the time we decided this. Regardless, we called the producer. Shockingly, Aidan wasn’t doing anything important, so he came over. We explained everything to him as best we could. He listened with a straight face and nodded throughout the whole story, then immediately began speculating once we finished talking.

“Okay, you should be good. The attacks have only started once you encounter the impostors on Halloween night in that cemetery, right? That is the trigger. Now that you have lasted to the next day, their window is probably closed. Beings that don’t belong in this timeline won’t be able to last here for very long. You probably outlasted them already; they should be gone.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Yes. I’m positive,” He assured us.

Aidan stuck around, and that night James and Katrina came over for a fire. E]We explained to them what we had been going through. I couldn’t tell for certain if they thought we were lying, but it didn’t matter all that much if the threat was gone now anyways. James and Hudson jumped on the trampoline.

“What?” Katrina asked.

“Huh?” I said. Then, I realized I had been staring right over her shoulder at a swaying bush behind the garden. “Oh, sorry, I was just looking past you at… well uh… nothing.” Despite Aidan’s words, I still felt paranoid. I couldn’t get past the feeling of eyes following me.

In the morning, Hudson clutches up with free Dunkin drinks and he, Joe, and I head over to the beach to check on my three by three plot for Invertebrate Zoology class. I am keeping a journal and taking photos of every species that enters the plot I picked throughout the semester, checking once a week. It was a windy November day, but I still had to go check the plot. There was nobody else on the beach, which was weird. There were always at least a few people running or walking their dog. It was low tide, and we walked down on the hard sand towards the rock wall where I had picked my plot. Joe climbed up on the rock wall and walked around while I inspected my plot. Hudson sat back on the soft sand and sketched his surroundings.

“Woah!” Joe hollered, then I heard a splash. He was gone.

“Joe? Joe! Where are you?” I was frightened that he had fallen into the water. I clambered up the rocks to see if he was on the other side. I looked over the edge and jumped a mile when I came face to face with bowl cut Joe on all fours, climbing the other side. “AHHH!” I screamed. I jumped down from the rocks. Hudson was gone. Then, suddenly, Fake Hudson jutted up out of the tall grass in the dunes. I bolted- I was already outnumbered, but by now I knew that fake me was around somewhere too. Fake Joe and Hudson were right behind me. I ran as fast as I could, down by the water where the sand was hard. My goal was the car. If I could get to the car-

Out of the water dove fake me, sopping wet and covered in hives. He tackled me to the ground.

“AHHH-”

“Nice shot, Hudson!” Joe said, eating his last piece of steak by the basketball hoop. “That Uncle Steve sure knows how to grill a slab of meat, I’ll tell you what,” he declared.

“Stop everything and listen right now,” I demanded, shaking myself out of a funk. I felt dizzy from the clarity of the transfer this time. “And somebody call Aidan. He needs to hear this too.”

We met in the shop. Joe pulled the blue tarp off of a massive structure in the middle of the floor, revealing the time machine that he had built a while back.

“She still runs, right?” I asked to clarify.

“Should work fine.”

“So we are gonna go back in time, but how are we planning to fix everything?” Hudson ventured.

“We will have to do some quick decision making based on what we discover once we get there. But essentially, we are going back to the part of the timeline that we interfered with to see what’s up. Aidan will stay here and guard home base so that we don’t have any problems returning.”

“Right, about that-” Aidan raised his hand. “What am I supposed to do if all three of your doppelgangers show up here?”

And so, we called James and Katrina. We called Noah too, but he was too busy apparently. Once they arrived, we fortified the shop.

“Okay, this is better,” Aidan acknowledged. “It’s still not a winning fight for us, but I will definitely take a siege over straight combat.”

At that, we prepared to depart.

“Good luck in there,” Katrina said.

“Try not to mess it up anymore,” James added. He shook Hudson's hand. Then, we entered the machine.

My stomach lurched like on a roller coaster, then dropped back into place suddenly. We stumbled out of the machine and found ourselves standing on top of a grassy hill in the middle of nowhere. A smooth-chinned Hudson stood in front of us, eating a ham sandwich. He lowered the sandwich and his eyes widened, then a portal appeared between us and another Hudson sprang out. He was running full speed, and barreled right through the other Hudson, sending him flying. Then he disappeared through another portal, just like that. Sandwich-Hudson rolled roughly down the hill at an alarming speed, yelling “Wahhhhh!” the whole time. Then he hit a bump and flew into the air. I grimaced in anticipation of his harsh landing, but instead a purple portal appeared like a crack in the ground right where he landed. He disappeared through it. We all looked at eachother.

“Welp. I guess that’s my bad after all,” Hudson laughed sheepishly.

“Let’s go check it out,” I shrugged. We walked down the hill towards the purple crack.

“That sure does look like our glitch,” Joe decided. He waved his hand over it a few times, then stuck his head through. “Holy… you guys are gonna need to see this,” He said, then he dove through the portal. We jumped in after him, shaking our heads.

What we entered seemed to be some kind of high school gymnasium, and it was packed with people. Only, there was something strange about the people.

“Aren’t these all… us?” Hudson asked.

“Looks like it,” I agreed.

The gym was packed with different variations of ourselves. I spotted bodybuilder MCS, Esports MCS, French MCS, Clown-in-training MCS, animated MCS, Pirate MCS- there must have been more than a hundred variants of us in the room. Joe walked up to an MCS team wearing overalls and straw hats. “Hey- Joe, right?” He asked the one on the right.

“Actually it’s Joe Wrong, if you ask my wife.” He chuckled. “Farmer MCS. What can I do you for, partner?” They shook hands.

“What’s everybody doing here, pal?”

“Oh, we’re just waiting for our turn. Science MCS is going to make us superior beings, I guess. Whatever helps the harvest, am I right?” He grinned.

“Right you are. So uh, where are they at?”

“They're down in the science lab at the end of the hallway. They’re meeting with Regular MCS 2 right now. What unit are you with, anyways?”

“Oh, right, my bad. Joe, Regular MCS 4,” He gestured to himself.

“No way! I’m a big fan of your work. You boys have done some great stuff for the community. Well, if you need anything, I’ll be over yonder with Medieval Knight MCS. Take care, brother!”

Joe returned to the group. “So you guys heard all that?”

“Yeah,” I said. “So we’ve got to get over there and see what kind of junk Science MCS is up to.” We shuffled towards the exit when a Hudson wearing a camo jacket and cap said “Hey, you boys aren’t trying to cut now are you?” and spit on the ground.

“Of course not!” Hudson told him. “Just using the can.”

“Roger that brother, my apologies,” Hunter Hudson said, patting Hudson on the arm.

We ran down the hallway towards the science lab. The door was closed, so we peered through the window. Inside we saw ourselves wearing lab coats and safety goggles. Also there were ourselves- the same ones that had been attacking us in our own present- strapped into chairs. Science Joe held a frightening looking syringe with a long needle on the end. I kicked the door down and we burst in. “Stop!” I yelled.

“What is the meaning of this?” Science Hudson roared. The whiteboard behind them read “Science MCS”, but just above it was the clear remnants of where the word Evil used to be written and had remained for a very long time.

“Oh no-” I exclaimed. “This isn’t just science MCS… this is EVIL Science MCS!”

“What?” Nick from Regular MCS 2 exclaimed. “No man! They are just going to make us super strong and stuff!”

“No man! They’re gonna make you mad evil too!” I explained.

“Why would they do that?” He asked.

“Because they are Evil Science MCS! You’re being duped!”

Regular MCS 2 Joe said “Huh. Well, now that you mention it, this situation is rather sinister… say, Joe, you wouldn’t inject me with evil juice would you?”

Evil Science MCS Joe looked away and started whistling.

“Help! Get us outta here!” Regular MCS 2 Joe called.

With a flying roundhouse kick, I launched the syringe from evil Joe’s hand.

“How did you find us out?” Evil Nick demanded. “Wait a minute… you must be… this is the Original MCS! How did they get here?”

“Woah, you guys are the originals?” MCS 2 Nick asked as I unlatched his wrist holds.

“Uh, I guess so.”

“Stop them!” Evil Nick yelled. Evil Joe and Hudson charged at us. Good Joe and Hudson covered me while I tried to free the MCS 2 team. Then, evil Nick started laughing menacingly. I looked up to see him holding a beaker full of angry looking solution just before he threw it at me. I dodged and it shattered on the floor, filling the room with a red smoke that hurt my eyes. I couldn’t see a thing. Then I felt a foot in my ribcage. I grabbed the leg and yanked, and he fell over. Then, someone else kicked me. I rose to my feet and grabbed him, throwing him over a chair. Next thing I knew, it was an all out brawl. I couldn’t see a thing the whole time. A minute of relentless, blind beating went on until I dropkicked someone into a switch that turned the ceiling vent on. The smoke dissipated almost immediately. I scanned the room with my guard raised. First I saw Evil Joe on the ground sprawled out. Then, MCS 2 Joe next to him breathing heavily. Then there was Original Hudson and MCS 2 Hudson both strangling each other with two hands. They released their grips and brushed eachother off. Then there was MCS 2 Nick standing in a corner facing a wall with his guard up. Then there was Original Joe holding Evil Hudson in a full nelson. Then, there was Evil Nick lying on the floor in a very unnatural position. It was him I had kicked. I coughed up some smoke and cleared my throat.

“Well, alright then. Good work boys.” We high fived all around and tied up Evil Science MCS. We delivered them into the hands of Law Enforcement MCS and prepared for our return trip.

“Thanks for saving us, you guys,” Regular MCS 2 Hudson said.

“Yeah, seriously. Who knows what would have happened if we had become evil and super strong. We might have tried to hunt you guys down and become the originals ourselves or something,” Regular MCS 2 Nick said.

“Glad we could avoid that,” I told him. “It’s been a real pleasure meeting you guys. Everyone here is super cool.”

“For real,” Joe agreed.

“Honestly,” Hudson nodded.

We grabbed a ladder from the janitors closet and used it to climb through the rift in the ceiling that we had come through. Then we hiked back up the hill to our time machine and went home. We landed back in the shop to find Aidan asleep in a chair holding a baseball bat. Katrina was sitting at the table working on a puzzle and James was sawing a bunch of pieces of wood in half for no reason.

“Hey, you’re back!” Katrina acknowledged.

“How was the trip?” James asked. Joe slapped the back of Aidan’s head and he woke up.

“It was crazy,” I said, “But I think we solved our issue. Those guys have no reason to come for us anymore. They aren’t evil now. They’re actually super cool guys.”

Aidan rose and scratched his chin. “That’s good. That’s very good. However, I don’t think the problem has reached its end. When it comes to glitches, the typical rules of linear time travel don’t apply,” he speculated.

“What are you saying?” Joe asked.

“I’m saying that I think the evil ones are still out there. If you take care of them, they shouldn’t come back. But we can’t just leave them out there, or they will still wipe you out.”

“Aw man,” Hudson frowned.

“Do you think I will still come back if I get whacked this time?” I asked.

“Hm… good question. I'm not sure. I think you will though. I think your power comes from excessive exposure to unnatural time-space phenomena, mainly resulting from your time in that time portal. Hopefully we won’t need to find out though.”

“Good point.”

“So, do we just wait for them to show up?” Hudson asked.

“Nah, I’m sick of waiting around here,” James said, raising his saw.

“Yeah, he’s right,” Joe said. “Waiting them out is too tedious. We have lives to live.”

“Alright,” I shrugged. “Everyone gear up; Let’s go hunting.”

The three of us arrived at the cemetery dressed to scrap. I wore a cutoff shirt, good sneakers, and a headband. Joe wore his Death Kwon Do outfit, and Hudson his finest gym clothes. I nodded to Joe, and he walked off past the Angel statue into the woods. Just as I expected, I saw eyes peering through the bushes in the distance. Hudson and I watched from a safe distance- we didn’t want to invite the other two to jump in just yet by getting too close for comfort. Joe turned his back to the eyes, and Impostor Joe bolted out towards him. Just before he reached Joe, Aidan sprung out from behind a tree and bashed the imposter in the head with a baseball bat. He fell hard to the ground, and Aidan hit him again. Joe turned and started kicking him aggressively. This went on for a while. It seemed like overkill, but these guys were seriously tough. Evi, Science MCS had a real dangerous concoction on their hands. We hadn’t been able to defeat one yet- so we had to make sure it was done. Once it was, Joe apologized. “Forgive me, Joe of Regular MCS 2. It should never have been this way.”

The four of us walked to the playground next. For the same reasons, we ran off and left Hudson a fair distance behind us. Instead of playing on the slide though, we listened carefully. A bush rustled and we turned. The second Hudson crept up behind Original Hudson. James ran from the baseball dugout and Katrina from behind the batting cage. We let the three of them handle it. It was quick and business-like.

That left one. We had never actually seen where Evil Nick came from. Excluding the beach attack, he had shown himself somewhere near the cemetery though, just later than the others. And so, we walked six wide down the road back towards the cemetery. I expected him to ambush us, but an ambush didn’t come. This concerned me. How long would he be willing to wait us out, looking for the right moment to strike until he could get us one by one? We couldn’t let that happen. We pulled out the thermal detector and searched up and down the road. I wracked my brain; where would I hide if I were Evil Nick? Then I realized it was obvious.

“Check the trees!” I hollered, almost too late. He came down right on me, knocking the wind from my lungs. Joe kicked him off me and James and Aidan swarmed him. I fought to regain my breath, head spinning. Hudson grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. The other four had him surrounded. I wheezed.

“I’m sorry, Evil Nick. We have already saved you in the past. But today, it's’ you or me.”

He nodded, and inhaled deeply. Then, he struck. He fought like a storm- wild, harsh, unpredictable. No one could get a hold of him as he let out a barrage of punches.

“Grab him!” Katrina yelled. “We’ve gotta stop his movement!” Joe got a hold of his arm for a second, just long enough for Aidan to get a hold on his leg. Katrina put an arm around his neck and James pulled out a knife. But then Evil Ni k hoisted Joe off the ground and hurled him over head at James. They both fell. As Hudson rushed, Evil Nick grabbed Aidan by the head and tossed him. He tried to shake free of Katrina. She lost her footing, but she held on. I tackled his legs and he fell, landing in the leaves off to the side of the road. He struck Katrina’s chin with the back of his head and her grip loosened. He rolled over and lunged towards me. I held him at arm's length as he reached for my throat. I saw headlights coming down the road. It was a big black pickup truck, driving right over the yellow lines in the middle of the road. I brought my knees to my chest, feet leveled with his ribcage, and launched as hard as I could. He flew into the road, barely landing on his feet. He stumbled back two steps, off balance, then was struck by the truck and went soaring. I climbed to my feet and ran after him. There he lay, crumpled on the ground. It was over. The truck driver rolled down their window.

“Well well well, if it isn’t Huddy and the boys,” Sean said to Hudson. “And is that Katrina? What are you hooligans up to tonight, huh?”

“Sean, you really ought to be more careful. You could kill somebody. You just did, actually. You killed me.”

Not paying attention, he said, “You guys want a ride? I’ve got to go pick something up from your house for the dog. We all climbed into the bed of his pickup truck and felt the cool air against our skin on the ride home.

“You guys want to watch a movie when we get back?” Hudson asked.

“Let’s watch the Breaking Bad movie,” James suggested.

“No, let's watch a scary one,” Aidan requested.

“I’ve been scared enough already. Let’s watch a Peanut’s special, or maybe a Ghibli movie,” I said.

“I agree- I want something light,” said Hudson.

Katrina mentioned, “I still haven't seen Totoro.”

“Ooo, Totoro!” Joe cheered, as the truck engine roared into the cool, still night.