The copper haired youth ran towards his mentor's office, his blue eyes full of excitement. Once there, he threw open the door, without knocking, and shouted: "Giovanni! G, you're NEVER gonna guess what I just finished!" Peter ran into Giovanni's office, overjoyed with himself.
Giovanni, who had been going over stacks of paperwork, slowly looked up slightly annoyed by the disturbance. On the other hand, Giovanni was hoping for a distraction.
"G?" asked Peter wondering if he should run back out. Giovanni let out a sigh, set down the papers and propped his chin in his hand.
"What," said G, "Did you just finish?"
"Well," Pete smiled, "It's kinda show 'n' tell, so ya gotta come with me."
"Peter, I am very busy. Can it wait?"
"No," Pete said angrily, "No, it can't."
"Oh," Giovanni replied unmoved, "That's right. The world revolves around you."
"Please, Giovanni, come see what I made."
"Alright, if you leave me alone afterwards."
"I will. I PROMISE."
Peter brought Giovanni to a work shed behind G's mansion and showed him what looked like a large, aluminum telephone booth. Giovanni blinked, looked at Peter and was unable to speak.
"Well?" Peter said when G hadn't spoken for a few minutes.
"What the hell is this?" G replied.
"Can't you tell? It's an inter-dimensional time machine!"
"You've been watching Bill & Ted's Adventures while you were high again, haven't you?"
"No, don't be silly," Pete said picking up two wristwatches, "That," Pete pointed at the machine, "works with these," he tapped the watches, then set them back on the table. Giovanni thinks Peter has gone completely insane but is intrigued.
"How do the watches work with THAT thing?"
"Simple, ya put the watch on and, when you're ready to come back, just press the red button." Giovanni picked up a watch and looked it over. "What red button?" he asked.
"Hmm?" Peter looked at the watch too. "I forgot to make it red. Gimme." Snatching the watch from Giovanni and the other from the table, Pete pulls out some red nail polish and dabbed a bit on the side of each watch. Proudly, he showed the watch to G, pointing out the button, "THAT red button."
"Oh. Very well. How do you know it's inter-dimensional? Have you tested it yet?"
Peter was shocked. How dare G ask a question like that. A question Pete couldn't answer. Pete set the watches down. "No," said Pete, "I haven't tested it. But I made it, so I know that's what it does."
"Peter, what if it only blows things up?"
"Nonsense," Pete said, pushing Giovanni into the machine. "C'mon, let test this puppy out." Peter went inside also, closed the door behind him and began to fiddle with buttons and dials.
"Peter wait," G said, nervously. "Don't worry," Pete said, checking a readout. "No, you forgot-" G was cut short. "I know what I'm doing," Pete said reaching for the green 'GO' button.
"NO, Peter, WAI----"
When Peter and Giovanni looked around again, they were no longer in the machine or the lab. They were standing on a grassy hillside, no trace of civilization near them.
"Cool," laughed Peter feeling a breeze through his hair, the sun shining down on both of them.
"Peter," Giovanni spoke angrily, "You forgot something."
Peter blinked and thought to himself. Then said, "Well, it couldn't have been my wallet. I got it right here," he pulled out his wallet and put it back, "Couldn't have been extra underwear," he struck a macho pose, "Because I'm going commando," and he grinned, showing off his fangs.
"That's more than I needed to know," said Giovanni.
"What could I have forgotten?" Pete thought aloud, rubbing his chin.
Giovanni finally had it. "THE WATCHES, you moron! You left the watches on the table! Now how are we supposed to get home?!"
Peter stared blankly from shock. When he came back a minute later, he said, "Damn that was stupid of me. Good question. How DO we go home? We don't know where; or perhaps WHEN; we are."
"Great," said G, "Just PERFECT! I'm being audited this year and YOU take me on one of your stupid misadventures! Serves me right for taking a break and trusting you."
"Not like it's all my fault," Peter grumbled.
G gasped. "What do you mean 'NOT ALL YOUR FAULT'?! You pushed me in that contraption of yours! OF COURSE this is all your fault!"
"Well, ya coulda fought back," snapped Pete.
"I would have if I knew you were going to hit 'GO'! Idiot."
"Jerk," Pete said, crossing his arms and turning his back to Giovanni.
"That's how it is," G said, "Fine."
Then Giovanni did exactly as Peter had, just facing the opposite direction. They stood that way; backs to each other, not talking; for a half hour. It was Giovanni who decided to come to reason first.
"Look at us. You screw up just a little and we act like children."
"So what," sneered Peter.
"We're definitely not going to get back home like this, standing here being angry with each other."
Peter realized where Giovanni was going with this. "But," Peter said, forgetting he was angry, "But what if we've been transported to America before the settlers? We may be walking for days, maybe weeks."
"Does it matter? If we stay here nothing will happen. We will not go home."
Pete sighs, "You're right," and starts walking in the direction he's facing. Giovanni followed him.
"I suppose you are 'following your nose' like always, eh?"
"Damn straight," replied Pete, "If I can't scent out a human by now, I should be drawn, quartered and fed to rabid wolverines."
"Um. Yes."
They kept walking with no set direction, feeling that continuing the present path would be the best.
"Sun's going down," Pete said. It was the first thing said in hours.
"Yes, yes it is," replied Giovanni, "And I'm tired of walking. Let's rest."
"Giovanni, how will we be able to find anyone at night? They'll all be inside."
G looked at Peter, trying to come up with a good, rude reply. Before he could, they heard what sounded like thunder.
"OH!" said G, "What a perfect way to end the day! RAIN!!"
"It's not thunder. The sky's too clear. Not even dark enough for a distant storm," Pete said. Giovanni stood, to listen better, but heard nothing.
SUDDENLY...
"GROUND!!" Peter shouted jumping away from a strange lightening bolt. G moved equally fast, nearly being hit by the beam. "What the HELL was that?!"
"I don't know," answered Pete, "But I know it wasn't lightening. The energy was all wrong-- it had no electrical charge." Pete stood back up and gazed to the west. He thought he saw something hover in the air. G had not seen this. Peter gave Giovanni a stern look, stopping G's babbling. Pointing towards the west, Pete said, "I think there's someone over there. C'mon!" and he started running.
"Peter, wait--oh what's the use," G said running after Peter.
When they where close enough to see two men fighting, they jumped for joy. They weren't completely alone. Peter and Giovanni thought the fighters were on the next hill--until they ran to the spot of the expected 'next hill.' There was not another hill, and they had lost sight of the fighters. They looked all over and begin thinking it was an illusion of hope.
Giovanni looked up, then, having nowhere else to look. "Oh...my...," G said, slowly.
Pete looked up, too, "God. Now, that's just not natural," he said.
The fighters were about twenty feet above their heads, obviously levitating by sheer will. All Peter and G could do was stare, amazed, at what was going on.