Timmy vs the Blast from the past event: Episode 4

Content warning: spoilers from the Strangerville quest!

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I ran away from the lab as fast as I could, no way I was spending even one more minute with that thing. The more I see that place, the more I'm convinced aliens have to be involved. A plant like that can't be born on our planet, right?

All of this is just so unfair, of all places and times I could travel back to, why had I to see that monstrous plant again? I've already fought against it once, I don't want to be involved in that craziness all over again!

So I ran, ran and ran, until I returned back home.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

Why does the world hate me? I just wanted to go back home, that's all I asked!

That was too much for me at that moment, how could it not be? And I could have overreacted a little bit.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"HAAAAAAAAAAAA! Wait..."

"What are those weird clothes? Are you involved with all those impossible things going on in town lately? No way, you're an alien in disguise, admit it!"

That's when I was definitively sure I really travelled back in time.

Oh my, I had forgotten about those stupid long hair... Was he my teen self? Well, if this was the case, he was at least a person I could trust... 

"Please, don't be scared, I come in peace! You see, I'm a time traveller, and I don't know how to return back to my time. Also... I'm the future you!"

"What!? Demonstrate it! What were my grades during my senior year?"

"None, I dropped high school at the end of my junior year! The teachers refused to admit aliens exist and that they are a threat to us, it was the only possible option!"

"Well, that's... right. I guess it's really you after all. Or should I say you're me? It's so confusing..."

He hesitated for a moment, before adding:

"Is Strangerville still a mess in your future? Do you know how to return back to normal?"

"Well..."

I actually don't remember meeting my future self when I was eighteen, did it mean I was messing up with my (or his) timeline? What I remember for sure is that I helped fight that huge scary plant back then, and that Father Winter was involved too, but my memories about that time are so incredibly blurry too...

I didn't know what was better to do, but what I was sure about was that I didn't want to leave the young and scared Timmy alone. For sure, I could teach him one useful thing or two...

"Aliens can use telepathy, you know? That's why you need to wear some metal on your head, it will prevent their telepathic waves from reaching your brain!"

"I knew it! Only aliens could be the culprit behind all of this!"

"Surely they are, who else could do it?"

"Take care of that hat, you’ll need it in the future!"

Before Erwin could realise there were two Timmys, we returned back to my trailer (or should I call it his trailer? It's all so confusing...) 

"So it's because of that alien plant! I knew they seemed suspicious, people have been behaving so weirdly since the lab accident..."

"Ehm..."

I actually don't know the details about it. Even if the huge plant is dead in my future, a lot of people still behave very weirdly. 

Does it mean that the aliens' experiment is still going on, just on a smaller and less obvious scale? I knew it, those aliens are the worst!

"Do you know how to solve the situation, right? Can you help me save the city?"

Risking my life to kill that plant again was the last thing I wanted to do. But that mother plant had to be defeated around that time by the young Timmy and two others if I wanted to preserve my timeline. And, honestly, who else could do it in time? 

So, very reluctantly, I ended up answering:

"Actually... yes, I can."

"That's great! Thanks, ol' man!"

"Hey, I'm not old!"

So it was decided, before finding a way to return back to my time I had to destroy the huge scary plant. That was a lot of work... But it was also late already, making up a plan for it was an issue for another day. 

Or so I thought.

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"Someone here has been a very, very naughty boy!"

"No way, now there are two of them!"

"The space-time fabric is about to break, do you even realise how inconsiderate your behaviour has been?"

"What? I only wanted to help, I swear!"

"We need to solve this issue as soon as possible, there's no time to waste!"

"Wait, I—"

"The plant has been furious since when you broke the space-time fabric and appeared in front of it, we have to hurry up if we want to save the town and the space-time integrity! So, young Timmy, ol'Timmy, hurry up and help me bring all that herbicide to the lab!"

I was actually too confused to complain, I had the vague impression I remembered that conversation. Father Winter was actually involved in the destruction of the Mother plant when the young me destroyed it after all, and pretended to be my friend since then too. Thinking about it, I don't remember exactly when we met. Why can't I remember it, though?

I didn't have the time to think about it, as I was being dragged to that scary secret lab once more.

"Take one of the other sides, hurry up!"

Oh my, this is so scary... Why it's always me?

Father Winter didn't stop shouting orders to us. "Dodge the arms!", "Spray faster!", "Are you at least trying to aim?" I was already doing my best, what was he thinking?

"Hey, young Timmy! Be careful, fight back!"

"Young Timmy!?"

"Don't get distracted!"

"No way!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"C'mon, am I supposed to do this all on my own?"

"You see, Timmys? This is how it's done!"

My trembling knees didn't seem to have realised it yet, but it was over already, somehow. So we brought back home young Timmy, still a bit dizzy after being beaten up by one of those weirdos protecting the plant, as I prepared for another scolding from past-Father Winter.

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"This is so crazy, is it over? Really? I'm the town's hero now!"

"Take this, young Timmy. It's my favourite fruit, I'm eating it all the time! I'm sure it'll help you recover!"

"Thanks, ol'Timmy!"

"You're right, it's grea—"

"TĦ€ MŐŦH€Ř Į$ ČĂŁŁING, Į MŮ$Ŧ Ř€$PŐNĐ!"

"Stop wasting your time, ol'Timmy! You have to return back to your time, NOW!"

"It's all such a mess, one of you wasn't enough? I'll have to erase young Timmy's memories about today, if I want the timeline not to collapse on itself! As for you, instead..."

"You're probably better off remembering about today instead, and about this threat in particular: don't you ever dare travel in time again, or I'll ensure to curse you that time. I've been clear?

"Very clear."

"And now go back to your time, you messed this up enough already!"

Before I could realise what happened, Father Winter snapped his fingers, and when I reopened my eyes again I was in a completely different place and time.

"Betsy, is that you? I missed you so much!"

"You really are a good plant, all the opposite of that scary giant!"

"Kitty! You're here too!"

Yes, somehow I returned back to my original time! Are there multiple timelines, by the way, or did I just risk modifying the future I live in? Thinking about it, my memories about the destruction of the mother plant for the first time, as a teenager, are so fuzzy, and if Father Winter really erased young Timmy's memories about that event... What if I lived the same day twice, once as my young self, and once as my current more mature self, and it has always been the way this timeline unravels itself?

All of this is such a mental trip, it's all so crazy! But it's also very scary too, I risked so much! I don't know yet how I managed to travel back in time to begin with, but I don't want to investigate it either. 

"I swear, I won't try to travel in time ever again!"

First of all, I threw away those flashy clothes. Then, I blocked Emit on my phone and all my social media profiles. All of this was simply too much, if it wasn't for Father Winter's magic I would remained stuck in my past! I didn't even want to hear about that weirdo for the rest of my life!

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I was chilling at the local bar, trying to forget that crazy week, when the TV broadcast was interrupted by special news.

"We interrupt the program for a sudden news!"

"Emit Relevart, who acquired extraordinary popularity on social media pretending to be a time traveller, was arrested this morning by the Willow Creek police. Apparently, his so-called quest was just a cover to advertise some vintage video games, but turned out to be one of the worst episodes of disturbance to the public peace in recent decades. His imputation is of incitation to—"

"Weren't you a friend of his too, Timmy?"

"Who, me? No way, what do you take me for?"

I didn't break time, Strangerville remained the same as I remembered. Everything is gonna be alright. 

Meanwhile, at the Roswell mansion...

END OF THE EPISODE

§HermioneSims§ corner

How else could I close such an absurd story arc with Timmy XD

Today I decided to open this small parenthesis to share a bit about the writing process for this chapter: you have to know I was this close to elaborating a completely different plot, turning it into a cross-over and dropping a Tre from Seventeen & Muldusk from an alien spaceship in the sky, and have him helping the two Timmys in defeating the plant (I'm referring to GlacierSnow's story here, if you don't know it I strongly suggest you give it a look!) 

Sadly, however, I found this version with Father Winter somehow more coherent with the messy plot of Timmy's universe, and his magic was also the most straightforward way to bring Timmy back to his time, so here we are. I don't exclude returning back on that idea later though, we'll see...