 |
Introduction (PLEASE READ!!): First off, the title of this one is pure irony
:). I didn`t think up a story to fit it purposly! Anyway, what I think the problem
with my last story was was that it didn`t follow one straight plot, it went up
and down and up and down. This one has a focused goal and time-span, I also already
know how it`s going to end (which I didn`t before!). But, don`t worry, there`s
going to be a lot of little plots working inside and my trademark Leela and Fry
emotional moments. Also, in comparison to my first story, this one really has
nothing to do with it. It`s in fairly modern Futurama time. So enjoy! And PLEASE
PLEASE read it through! I`m hoping to grab a few new readers with this story.....
It was a nice winter morning as Philip Fry walked
to work with his best pal, Bender, by his side. The morning was nice and cool,
and a slight breeze blew through Fry`s hair. Bender was going on and on about
some robot joke and laughing to himself while Fry drifted off in his own world.
It was going to be two years after Chris-- uh, Xmas that Fry had been in this
strange new world and he still couldn`t believe it. Being in the 3000's was quite
a ride, but it would never be home to him. Every once in a while, Fry would get
homesick, especially around this time of the year. He sighed to himself.
"Hey, Fry, yo, what kind of motor oil are you running
on this morning?", Bender commented and snapped his fingers in front of Fry, who
woke up from his thoughts and chuckled to Bender.
They arrived at Planet Express offices and walked
through the hallways. Rounding a corner, there was Toronga Leela (also known by
her last name). The minute Leela saw Fry, she joined up with him. Fry and Leela
always hung out with each other, and they never talked about why. They had a lot
in common and enjoyed each other`s company. Although she never showed it, Leela
had a soft spot for Fry, he was the only person that felt the same way she did
about a lot of things. Fry also had the biggest crush on Leela and really cared
about her.
"Morning, Fry.", Leela greeted him.
"Morning, Leela.", he answered back simply and sat
down at the meeting table. Leela sensed Fry was feeling a little down today, she
put her hand on his shoulder and then went to help get everyone for the meeting.
Soon the usual gang was gathered for the day`s business, but Professor Farnsworth
was nowhere to be found. Eventually, he walked into the meeting room, slowly and
sadly he took his seat.
"What`s wrong, professor?", Leela asked.
"Oh, uh, I`m stuck in inventing one of my inventions.
My potion needs an extinct ingredient. A chemical commonly found in soft drinks
of the 1990's."
Fry looked up from his seat, "Mmm. There`s one thing
I miss about the good old days." He sighed and looked down again, Leela gave him
a sympathetic look. The professor stroked his chin and thought out loud.
"That just may be the solution to the problem!",
He said as he leaped from his chair. "Be back in a week.", the professor called
out as he ran for his lab. The characters looked at each other and shrugged. Hermes
continued the company meeting and when it was over, they scattered for the day.
Fry wandered into the TV room and laid down on the
couch, again sighing to himself. He looked at the ceiling and remembered doing
the same at his apartment in the 20th century while depressed. Fry couldn`t go
a few minutes without being reminded of his old life and everything he left behind.
Leela walked in, looking for something to do or someone to hang with, and raised
her eye to the situation.
"Fry, the TV`s not on. Are you okay?", she asked,
concerned.
"Just thinking, that`s all.", Fry lightly replied.
Leela walked over and felt his forehead. Fry chuckled,
sat up, and the two smiled at each other. Before anything more could happen, a
rather large explosion was heard coming from the professor`s lab.
"It works!", the professor shouted out in the distance.
Fry and Leela, joined by Bender, Hermes, Dr. Zoidberg, and Amy, rushed to the
lab. There they all gasped in wonder as a large humming machine and a soot-covered
professor stood before them.
"What is it?", Leela asked as many stared in wonder.
"It`s an actual factual time machine! It can take
matter back to any time without disturbing the future.", the professor joyfully
explained. "With this wondrous machine I can get the final ingredient to my potion.
Fry, would you like to volunteer?"
Fry couldn`t believe his ears, "You mean I`m really
going back? ..... I`M GOING BACK!!!" Fry smiled from `ear to ear'. "I can`t believe
it!"
"Leela, you better come along to make sure the
mission is carried out.", the professor suggested.
"Sure, I guess...", Leela answered. After all the
stories she`d heard about Fry`s time, she wasn`t that enthusiastic about going
there. But seeing where Fry came from intrigued her.
Later that night, Fry lay in bed at his and Bender`s
apartment, staring at the ceiling. He just couldn`t get to sleep, his mind was
racing a mile-a-minute about going back. For once, he wouldn`t have to be guided
by someone else and he`d understand how things work. Finally back home, Fry thought
and smiled happily. He got up from bed and went to get a can of Slurm, passing
the video phone, he wondered if Leela was awake. But then decided it wasn`t that
great of an idea to call her, who knows what she`d look like at 2 am?!?! But still,
Bender was in deep sleep mode and wouldn`t care about anything he wanted to say
anyway. Fry picked up the phone.... and put it back down. Why am I having so much
trouble just calling her, he asked himself. Fry then made a decision, when everything
cleared, he would sincerely ask Leela out.... and then she`d reject him as always.
Why couldn`t she just accept him?! Fry sighed. Luckily, the Slurm knocked him
out and he was dosing on the floor in minutes.
"Owwww.", Fry moaned. "I feel like I`ve been sleeping
on a rock." He got up and groaned to see that umong other things on the floor,
he had indeed been sleeping on a rock. But then he realized what day it was. Today
was the day he was going home! His only wish ever since he had entered this frightening
place. Fry walked over to the window -- nice view of the city really -- and just
gazed at it. Goodbye, New New York, you`re not for me, Fry thought to himself.
Throwing on his one and only set of clothes, Fry walked over and opened the door
to Bender`s compartment.
"Bender, get up!", he said.
"Uh-umm-what?", Bender sputtered as the eye cover
whirred up. Bender pushed a button on the side of his head and his eyes flashed
the time (`5:' on one and `12' on the other) and in a computer-istic voice, he
said, "Too early, still recharging." and shut down again. Fry probably could of
woke him up by jamming some booze down his throat, but decided he didn`t really
need to be up at this time anyway.
Fry went back to the window and gazed out again,
imagining looking out the window of his old apartment back in NYC, and he really
started to think about what his life was life then. All the people he knew, things
he did in a normal day, and that lousy leaking faucet! Just then, the video phone
rang and Fry got up to answer it. Who could be calling at 5 am? Who called him
AT ALL anyway? He picked up the phone, the screen buzzed, and there stood Leela.
"Oh, hi, Leela.", Fry greeted her, trying to hide
how thrilled he was that she called him!
"Hey, Fry. Just thinking of what to get together
for the, you know, big trip."
"Well... no offense, Leela, but you may have to
cover up the eye area. Some huge dark glasses could work. It`s just that people
from my time have never made contact with aliens and I don`t know what could happen."
"I guess I can do that. Any other tips?"
"Is dying your hair crossing the line?"
"Yes", Leela smiled.
"Well, see you later.", Fry said and looked down
confusingly at the panel of buttons.
"Third from the right.", Leela suggested.
"Thanks", Fry answered. "I can`t wait until I`m
back where I can understand everything!"
He pushed the button and ended the transmission.
Four hours later, Fry found himself in the professor`s
lab with Leela by his side. He could hardly recognize her with the large "Ray
Charles-ish" dark glasses she was wearing and he felt kind of bad for her. A thought
crossed him, how would Leela react to the 20th century? She could be a little
headstrong and stubborn, especially when she didn`t really know what she was doing.
Fry was also... well, beginning to get just plain
nervous about jumping back into his old life. Full of mixed feelings. It was like
waking up from a dream, not really a bad dream, but a rocky one. Plus, the fact
that it all depended on an invention made by the professor didn`t ease his mind.
"Remember your mission now.", the professor began,
"You must bring back a can of 20th century cola. The port hole will appear EXACTLY
five days later in the same place, keep in mind that it won`t seem like five days
to us in the year 3000's, only a matter of seconds, and if you miss the porthole,
you`ll be stuck FOREVER! Enjoy!" The professor pulled down a lever and a shimmering
vortex appeared in front of them. Leela looked over to notice Fry was shaking.
"You okay, Fry?", she asked.
"Yeah, fine, I`m not nervous or anything!", Fry
said, voice squeaking.
"This is it.", Leela said softly and, being the
brave one, headed for the door.
"No.", Fry said, stopping her. "I`ll go first.....
stay close behind me." Leela nodded and tried her best to imagine what Fry must
be going through. They held hands so they could stay together both physically
and a emotionally too. Fry closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and jumped into
the port hole, taking Leela with him.
The experience the two went through is hard to explain without experiencing
it yourself, it`s like going on a roller coaster a million miles an hour, but
with no wind rushing to your face, twisting and turning endlessly in an abyss
and the whole time Fry and Leela were squeezing each other tight and trying to
scream or cry, but nothing came out. Finally, they landed with not such a feeling
as you would get from falling and landing on a hard surface, but a soft landing
that gave you a sort of rush. Fry and Leela slowly opened their squinted shut
eyes and let go of each other, to just spent five minutes catching their breath,
getting used to gravity, and overall recovering from the trip.
"That.... was.... strange....", Leela managed to
say, out of breath.
"Lets..... do.. it ..... again.", was Fry`s strangled
answer.
Finally, they regained their senses. Fry`s mouth
dropped wide open as he layed eyes on his surroundings and felt like he was going
to cry.
"I`m home.", was all he was able to say. "I`ve
never been so happy to see all of this!"
Leela managed to look at her surroundings, everything
was so... primitive and dirty. The people were so... uncivilized...... well, she
couldn`t blame them.
"Uck...", Leela mumbled as she noticed they had
landed in a dumpster. Although this place was kind of bothersome, it was great
to see Fry so happy. Finally, he came back to Leela after jumping around and looking
at all the sights.
"I`ve got to get back to my apartment! And my job,
and I`ve got to make contact with some people, and oh this is great!" Fry reached
into his wallet and flipped through to make sure he had some 20th century money,
then walked to the street and put his hand in the air. A taxi pulled up and he
got in. Leela hesitated. "Hop in, don`t worry about it.", Fry coaxed her and she
gave in.
"Woah.", Leela sputtered as they took off driving.
"It`s so bumpy." She looked out the window at the city. Some of the box-shaped
buildings she remembered seeing as ruins down below and imagined how poor Fry
must of felt seeing them after coming from here where they were still standing
tall. They arrived at their stop, Fry paid the driver, and they got out.
"Here we go", Fry said as he directed them to an
apartment building. Up the elevator to the 5th floor and down a hallway. "Oh,
it`s so good to see this dump again... uh-oh."
"Oh, oh?"
Fry felt his pockets, socks, and everything on him
mumbling, "Keys, keys, keys, keys, come on!" While Fry was rummaging, Leela looked
up to see a dark figure coming at them in the dimly lit hallway. In one quick
motion, it suddenly grabbed Fry and pinned him to the wall! Leela began to panic,
for once she had no idea what to do! But her fear was put to rest when Fry opened
his eyes and a big smile spread across his face.
"Jerry?", he questioned in wonder.
Leela now saw the face of the figure, it was a guy
about Fry`s age. Dark hair, glasses, jeans and an imitation leather jacket.
"Fry?!", the guy shouted happily. "Is really you?!"
"'Course, it`s really me!! Is it really you?!"
"Oh, Fry-man, where have you been all this time?!"
"All this time?"
"You`ve been missing for two years!!"
"Two years.... what`s the date today?"
"December 14th."
"What year?"
"Uhh.... 2002."
"Say it again!"
"2002."
"YES!! HA HA!"
"Anyway, everybody thinks you`re dead! What happened?!"
"You wouldn`t believe me if I told you."
Jerry opened the door to the apartment.
"Look, I managed to take care of things while you
were gone, but you have to get the payments under control."
"Yeah, yeah, forget about it." Fry went in the
apartment and motioned for Leela to follow.
"Fry, I`m serious about this!", Jerry yelled, but
Fry closed the door and ignored him. Once inside, Leela gladly took off the glasses
and scanned the apartment with her normal vision. Clothes, food, and pizza boxes
EVERYWHERE. Well, talking about Fry it was no surprise.
"Oh, sorry about all this, Leela.", Fry said smiling.
He ran around picking up various objects off the floor... and threw them to other
parts of the floor. "Wow, I have a carpet?"
Leela chuckled and sat down on his couch.
"Yes, I can FINALLY wear something different for
once!!", Fry laughed as he pulled open his closet to discover multiple copies
of the same exact outfit. "Anyway, I really have to see about my job and stuff.
I`ll be back around five `o clock. Leela, I`m begging you, please stay at my apartment.
This isn`t your world. If anyone asks, you`re my cyber pal from.... Yakistonesia."
Leela sighed.
"What am I supposed to do for hours?"
"Watch some TV."
"Umm....."
"Don`t worry, I watched this TV for 20 straight
years and I haven`t had any problems with my eyes. Get with the care-free attitude
of the century!!", Fry said as he headed for the door (bumped into the wall on
his first try) and then headed out. "I`ll be back soon."
When Fry couldn`t be heard running down the hallway
anymore, Leela moaned. This place was really getting to her. She opened a window,
coughed, and closed it. She laid down on Fry`s bed, too baggy and springy, not
comfortable at all. She headed for the kitchen, nothing wasn`t past the expiration
date or packaged right.
"Fry, may be right, when in Rome just go with the
crowd, but I can`t take this!!"
Fry opened the door to his apartment and stepped
inside. With the TV not on it was eerily quiet. He rounded his place looking for
Leela.
"Leela? I`m home! I brought a pizza, half regular
and half anchovies. Mmm." Fry said and closed his eyes remembering their wonderful
taste, but then realized he had gotten no reply. "Leela? LEELA?!" She was nowhere
to be found.
To be continued.....
Thanks for reading! Comments can be mailed to silverwolfpup@hotmail.com so I know how I`m doing and if people enjoyed it or not. More parts coming
soon!!!
|
 |
