Doppler squinted as the mutt, to him, seemed to shake its head.
Was it mag--
A sharp whistle came off to the side of him, where the "fancy" kid had gone, tearing his eyes away from both duo and mutt before him to see what the heck was going on.
How many more surprises could there possibly be?

That other kid seemed to be standing at one of those metallic counters that surrounded the giant central tube, and was making a motion with one of his hands that told Doppler to come closer.
Come closer...and DIE.

Doppler gave a glance at the child in front of him, who was looking the other kid's way and chewing on the sandwich -- at least, until he noticed Doppler offer up said glance, and thusly flipped him the bird.
Well.

"Dick," Doppler muttered, hastening an approach to Sir Bowtie's way.
He paused briefly to turn back and gesture for the mutt to follow.
Not that he cared or anything...but he didn't exactly want to see what yonder birdman might do if the mutt was left behind.
Sic that robot dog on it?
Then make a hamburger out of it?

Where even did that grilled cheese come from?
...Damn it, he was getting hungrier just thinking about it.

Doppler halted when Bowtie held his hand up, just a few feet away from the metal desk-thing.
He could hear something clicking away, and it took a moment for the clicking to click in his brain; it sounded like a keyboard of sorts.

Doppler tossed another glance behi--"OGEEZE" he stumbled, hopping away and digging his back into the metal box.
Rubbing his spine, he glared at the boy who'd come up behind him, who now held the slightest hint of a smirk behind his grimace.

Okay, this was just getting ridiculous.
"Can SOMEBODY just tell me what the FRAGGELDTY is GOING ON?" Doppler finally shouted, flailing his arms around.
Long, winding tunnel under his basement, giant glowing tubes in a saucer-shaped room, two kids stacked up in a trench coat, robot dogs puking grilled cheese, getting flipped off...it was pure madness.

"Aanndd...done."
A beep came from the keyboard-sounding thing, Bowtie looking almost as bored as the other child, now leaning nonchalantly against the box as he tossed in the last slice of grilled cheese, the sounds of him chewing rather loud, with a suspiciously knowing eye cast his way.
Doppler wanted to punch him, but his growing frustration was cut short by a hissing noise.

First, he looked to the glowing tube, before realizing it was coming from his OTHER side, and turned to see that, just a few steps away from the...triage, a big panel had slid out in the floor, and now something was rising up.
Doppler held back a gasp at the familiar shape, waiting for it to come up in full before he'd let his eyes sparkle with tears.

A grateful, excited squeal slipped out from between his lips.
There!
There it was!
His time machine!

Oh, JOY OF JOYS OF--
everything went black.
Doppler toppled to the floor, as the kid in the t-shirt stood over his prone body, blowing on the fist that had punched him in the noggin.
The kid in the t-shirt looked down at the large wolf-dog with a malicious smirk, the black dog that had kept to his side turning to meet the fleshy canine's gaze.

"Gitum."
The mechanical canine lunged.

The child's eyes widened, voice slow to the punch as the mutt dodged the robot and landed right on top of him, pummeling him to the ground and grabbing hold of his arm.
He didn't even have a chance to utter another swear before stabbing, tearing pain pierced him to the core; he managed to grind his teeth to stop a cry of pain from escaping him, but he doubted that he'd be able to hold out for long, especially if the mutt was about to do what all dogs did to a small, writhing mouthful: shake their head and rip it to shreds.

The robot was in the middle of turning around, when over the console leapt the second caniform robot, its head lowered in an attempt to tackle the wolf-dog off the kid.
Behind it, "bowtie" was squeezing his nose and looking rather exasperated himself.

The child hissed, clenching his teeth as the mutt lifted its head with his arm in its mouth, before then tearing itself away as it refused to be knocked over by the robot.
One of his eyes watered while he stared at the ripped flesh, blood quickly oozing to seal up the wounds.

Dog and robot seemed to lock together for a moment, the robot snapping at air while the mutt wrapped its jaws around half of its thick throat.
The mechanism's paws skidded over obsidian, the dog's body heaving as it shoved with all its might, pushing all three over to the second robot, tossing both to the floor.

The child with the ripped arm was struggling to stand up, stumbling over to the console as his head swirled.
The one whom had so far remained removed from the fight -- besides the falling Doppler, of course -- was reaching over the metal box to try and help him up, but was slapped away.
A glare was shared between them, the one without excessive blood loss clearly conveying by look alone: 'See what you did?
You barking moron.'

Meanwhile, a groan echoed from Doppler's direction.
A bonk on the head from someone so small (granted, he was pretty tall and a bit muscular for a kid, but still a kid nonetheless) could only go so far.

The two robots had both managed to untangle themselves by now, standing and spinning on their paws to meet the fleshier mutt.
"විලුඹ!"
In an instant the two were still, jaws agape and red eyes glaring past the mutt, who stood facing the human duo in the most obvious gesture of aggressiveness a dog can give.
The shout had come from the child in the bowtie, his palm held out, eyeing the large wolf-dog.
The other child had also stopped his movements, elbow bent and fingers tight on the metal rim as he stared warily, challengingly at the beast; blood dripped from his arm, plopping into their own tiny puddles on the dark floor.
The pair exchanged a glance, each keeping one eye on the threat.

The bleeding child mumbled through stiff lips, "Haben irgendwelche ideen?"

"Bleibe stille," the other replied.
Louder, but in a smooth, calm tone, he said, "සීමා ආරක්ෂකයන්.
මන්දගාමී."
To this, the metal dogs seemed to reactivate; they broke off from one another, keeping the same relative distance from the mutt as they began to circle around, neither gazing at the mutt anymore, but instead at the child who had spoken.
One only had to walk a few steps before stopping; the other continued on, heading towards where Doppler was, who was now rubbing his head and beginning to push himself back to his feet.

"Ugh...," he grumbled, squinting and completely unaware of what was going on, "whydjogkoesitdsfeleslikdsidrnkauaglonlaonoyfcoffee."

Doppler, hand to his head, caught a glimpse of the strange yet familiar room, before his attention was pulled away by the sound of growling, scrambling paws, a blur and a shout.
He noticed that a really big mutt had leapt on top of some kid, and-- oh, yeah...this.

He wasn't sure what game the mongrel was plaisthatblood.
In the moments between seconds his mind tried to process the instantaneous scene that was occurring before his eyes, he noticed the blue jeans kid with an arm that looked like a bloody rag.
But without the rag.
Immediately, Doppler (who, in addition to his lingering bewilderment and dizziness, grew ill at the sight) decided that this was getting way too serious, and he really needed to book it the heck out of here.

As he turned around in an attempt to get his bearings, he noticed the robot loping towards him, and then the polished sheen of his tubular time machine when in the next moment his nose knocked into it.
He held his smarting schnoz with one hand, while the other managed to skim across the surface, eyes staring wide-eyed at the approaching robot.
He felt the white metal give way underneath his fingers, hastily pulling off the glove as his palm began to glow.

His body tensed as the robot got closer and closer, ready to run, yet certain that aaanny minute now the time machine would activate.
The hand on his schnoz flung forward a little, flapping the glove as though to shoo the beast away, and, oddly enough, the robot actually ended up pausing about nine inches from him, and just stood there.
He glanced back towards the two children, then at the robot dog.
Then he heard the distinct hiss of a door sliding open and he, himself, slid inside the machine.


The child which the wolf-dog had lunged at instantly went down, arms curling up over his head and around his face, while the rest of him rolled up into a tight ball.
He didn't feel teeth digging into his body, at least not right away, which he was definitely thankful for; unlike his companion, he'd probably start to pass out near instantaneously at such an intense stabbing pain.

Speaking of his companion, he was busy staring between the dog and the intruder, clearly at a loss as to what to do.
He was hesitant in engaging with the mutt again, and he knew he could take down the kid, but--
after a few heartbeats, he was vaulting over the boxy console, legs forward in an attempt to knock the dog off-balance, although he'd more than likely just fall on his ass instead.


Technically, it was only one part of his time machine.
A rather small part, really, not much bigger than a phone booth or a restroom stall.
But it was the important part, and that was what mattered!

Doppler drew up a keyboard, holographs projecting on the curved wall as he hastily typed in a date.
He was about to punch "go" when the mutt came to mind.
Within only a few seconds, three things ran through his head:
One, that dog was clearly more dangerous than he initially thought.
Two, but was it less dopey, as well?
Three, was it on a rampage, or was it actually...protecting him?

Despite the unlikelyhood with which he considered both possibilities of the last thought, Doppler's mouth made up its mind before he did, and he was soon shouting out through the doorway:
"MUTT!
GET IN OR GET LOST!"
His finger hovered over the holographic button, ready to slam it down the instant either the robot twitched, or the mutt rammed himself into the machine.

Everything went according to plan -- surprisingly so.
With all that had gone wrong along this unintended trip, Doppler was genuinely surprised, and extremely relieved, when something finally went rigt.
It was a nice change, and he very much hoped that it wouldn't revert anytime soon.

The massive wolf-dog came darting in, squashing Doppler uncomfortably against the wall, his finger now being forcibly pressed into the button he would have pushed down anyways.
The door slid shut without so much as a single malfunction or fuss from the hostile strangers beyond, at least none that he could tell, and in less than a second the machine was humming with electronic pulses.
The lights went off inside, leaving only the glow from a locked console that showed the state of the machine and the progress of its travel.

Doppler's eyes were glued to it, grinding his teeth in the expectation for it to be thrown out of wack, and the duo dropped off who-knows-when.
The last date that had been shown was the same one as when he had last traveled, and it didn't look as though the clock had progressed.
Having no clue as to how many days must have passed since that fateful day at the ice cream parlor, and too much in a rush to really think about it, he'd instead punched in a very specific year, way back into the past.
It was only in these moments, when he was finally able to catch his breath, that he realized he might have made a mistake: this TIME machine couldn't travel through space.

If the cave wasn't there, were they going to be squashed?
Or the door unable to open?
Or that the door would open, but then everything would cave in as dirt came pouring in?
And if it was still there, well...they were still going to be squashed -- just by those two kids.
He didn't know which option to hope for.

Regardless, in a few minutes the machine would arrive at its destination.
Doppler rubbed his arm nervously, glancing down at the dog taking up at least a third of the floor space.
He tried not to look at what he was sure had to be blood on its muzzle.

The buzzing slowed, then quieted, and a sudden pop accompanied by an elevator ding announced their arrival.
The lights remained off -- nothing unusual, just the standard settings -- and the display flashed green.
Doppler took a moment to see if any sensors were connected to this machine's core-- but of course not.
First thing to go wrong again...but it was hardly the machine's fault; he'd rewired the sensors a long time ago to fit the bigger, newer, shinier casing of its upgrade.
All he saw now was an error message.

He also noticed there was only enough fuel left for half a trip back to the present -- or, well, before the present...because fuck the apocalypse.

Doppler took a breath.
It was either death, or back to the 1880s with sir bowtie and mister will-one-day-have-his-arm-ripped-off.

Doppler pushed the "door open" button, open it did go.
First thing he noticed: no blue glow, which must have meant no giant tube.
Actually, there was hardly any light that he could see from where he stood, still in the time machine, unwilling to step out.

"Ah--shit...," he muttered, patting at his pants.
The flashlight.
Did he leave it way back when?
Fuck.

Oh, well, wait-- Doppler held out his hand, testing for a wall of rock and soil.
Nope; that was air.
He poked his head through, scrambling to get around the mutt, assuming it was still huddled inside, as well.
Nothing straight ahead; however, to either side of him he could see a couple of spotlights.
One was pointed down what could have been the familiar too-long corridor into the saucer room, had it not been the most normal-looking cave rock.
The other was even closer to where they were, pointed at an also very normal wall of soil that would only take a few steps to get to.

Was the subterrannean saucer under construction here?
He'd best get moving fast, then, before the workers return....

Doppler stepped out of the pod, automatically moving towards the more distant spotlight, ready to get out of this cave and back up to the cabin.
Assuming the way out would be the same.

However, as he approached the tunnel, a shadow appeared in front of the light.
A very tall shadow.
Doppler was instantly backpedaling a couple steps before pausing, saying, "Oh, don't tell me--"
The silhouette adjusted itself, turning around, and Doppler could catch a glimpse of a face through the bright light, squinting back at him.
He also noticed that the clothes weren't a trench coat, but instead the figure wore a tailcoat with some muddied slacks.
Which meant it couldn't be two kids stacked on top of the other.

"Doppler?" said an all-too familiar voice.
Doppler double-checked the shadowed face, and felt the tension in his muscles melt away.
"How did you get here?"
There was a pause, the shape craning to get a look at the mutt.
"What happened to Speckles here?"

Holy shit.
Doppler's eyes began to well with tears.
"Food first?" he croaked, feeling the dust drain from his moist cheeks.
Rubbing at his face, Doppler turned to the mutt and gave it a grin.
Hopefully it wasn't going to attack anyone.

The man nodded and waved his hand, and Doppler immediately fell into step beside him.
"Come on," his uncle said.
"I already have some grilled omelets going."
Things really were turning out fine!
...Well, except that his relative was apparently probably evil, but whatever-- eats first, everything else later!

Doppler froze when the mutt came very close to his uncle, afraid it might bite, but instead it just seemed to sniff at his hand.
He let out a sigh as his uncle responded with a simple, shooing wave, clearly unconcerned with the dog's nudgings, and probably completely oblivious to its hinting, as well.

The duo would be led down the tunnel they'd originally come through-- well, sort of the tunnel.
No white tiling, no harsh lights; the tunnel grew quickly dark around them, although there was a spotlight just in the distance to break it up.
Every spotlight was pointed at the wall, leaving Doppler to stumble around in the darkness, keeping close to the walls and listening to his uncle's footsteps.

It opened up into that old cavern where he'd first seen that strange doorless wall, and, save for the absence of said weird wall, this particular cave looked no different from the future one.
He couldn't attest to the smell, however; perhaps it was just his hunger getting to him, but this place had a stronger scent of groundwater than he remembered.
He could even hear some distant dripping.

Down the next tunnel, taking the turn, and there lay some familiar light.
Doppler knew that faint, buzzing, flickering yellowness, and rushed on ahead of uncle into the cellar.
He wasted no time in bounding up the stairs, eyes stinging as he broke out into the brighter, but still dim, lighting of the upstairs.

A lamp on a small stand provided most of the light in the small entry hall of the stairs; the window just to the left had the curtains pulled tight, but through the cracks between them he could see that it was night.
Doppler glanced down the left hall -- there was no couch as before, only a wooden mesh chair -- and saw that the living room beyond was thankfully bare of collapsed roofing.
Turning right, he slipped into the kitchen that sat just past the doorway beside the front door, and plopped himself down on one of the four chairs belonging to a small table pushed against one of the nearest walls.

The scent of cooked eggs and grilled cheese was strong-- as was a slight smokey smell.
Doppler immediately stood back up and went over to the stove, where he then flipped the contents inside a couple of pans, noting the slightly charred underside.
Damn his uncle; going way down there, leaving these things sitting without watch?
Why was he even--

his thoughts broke off as his uncle entered the room, pushing Doppler aside to fix the mussed-up state Doppler had so carelessly left the omelets in.
"No, really," Doppler said, watching him flip the omelets twice before shoving them deep into the pans, "you trying to burn this house down?"

"I hardly think you have room to complain," his uncle replied.
"You shouldn't even be here.
I'll be calling your parents as soon as morning comes."

Doppler hid the nervous look on his face as he sat back down, pretending to look at a chipped wall clock that hung above the table.
Call his parents?
With his past self probably still home?
Why, they'll think his uncle mad!

...Huh, so nothing too new there.

Doppler eyed the tailcoat his uncle was wearing; the "tails" had been cut short, and the coat itself was worn and tattered.
"So, uh."
He wasn't sure whether to question it or not.
Good thing he didn't have to, as very soon the food was being plopped down on the table.

The "grilled omelets" were basically just regular omelets smashed together with grilled cheese sandwiches.
He had to wonder why his uncle had made so many; there was enough here for at least three adults.