Things Change

Story
Gwen goes over to John’s house, knocking on the door.

Gwen: Come on John! I know your home. (John opens the door.) You okay? Now is when we usually go on patrol.

John: Oh, right. I, uh, guess I’m not completely back in the swing of things. I couldn’t remember what peace time was like.

Gwen: That’s okay. These things take time. You were forced in that timeline. Come on, you drive. End Scene

John is driving his car through downtown.

Gwen: You look tense.

John: I still expect a fire salamander to jump out of the ground and attack. Also, it’s been a long time since I’ve been in human form.

Gwen: Don’t worry. Fight a few bad guys, go hero a bit, you’ll be back to normal.

John: Maybe.

Suddenly, a flock of giant, mutated pigeons fly down, attacking the city. People start running and screaming, and John parks the car, he and Gwen getting out.

John: Ha. I forgot about the weird things we used to encounter.

Animo: John Smith! (John and Gwen look up, seeing Dr. Animo riding on one of the pigeons.) Now, the has come that I, Dr. Animo, exact my revenge on you!

John: Rrrright. Let’s get this over with. (Body glows, turning into Water Hazard. The pigeons fly down to attack Water Hazard.)

Water Hazard: Almost too easy.

Water Hazard raises his arms, and the moisture in the air turns to water, forming a water sphere around all the pigeons. Water Hazard then fires streams of water from his hands, which tear through each individual pigeon. He releases the sphere, and all the pigeons fall to the ground.

Animo: No! This isn’t over yet, John Smith!

The pigeon he was on starts to fly off, when it stops. Animo turns, and sees that a water whip had wrapped around the pigeon’s foot, and Water Hazard pulls the whip, bringing the pigeon to the ground. Water Hazard fires water, tearing through the pigeon.

Water Hazard: It is over. (Water Hazard charges forward, and punches Animo. Animo falls to the ground, and Water Hazard stands over him. Water Hazard starts to continuously punch Animo.

Animo: Ahhh! Stop! Stop!

Gwen: John! Stop! (Water Hazard was about to punch Animo, when he stops. He looks up, seeing a crowd of people watching. Water Hazard stands up, and starts walking back to his car, reverting.) What was that?

John: Too much has changed.

Gwen: What’s changed?

John: Everything. Me. Things change Gwen, and some things aren’t meant to happen. You shouldn’t have brought me here. (Arrives at his car, opening his door.) I’ll meet you later at Mr. Smoothy. (Gets in and drives off, leaving Gwen behind.) End Scene

John arrives and parks at Mr. Smoothy, getting out of the car. Waiting for him was a large group of fangirls.

Fangirls: There he is! Ahhh! (The girls run forward. John looks at them, giving them an evil stare. The girls stop, and slowly back away.)

John: This is ridiculous. I don’t fit in here. But, in order to prevent P’andor’s wrath, I have to die. (His head perks up, getting an idea.) That’s crazy enough to work. (Turns into Clockwork. A green circle forms on the ground, and Clockwork disappears.) End Scene

John, Gwen and Kevin enter the forest, and they travel for some time. Then, a stream of purple lightning comes down, stopping them. Gwen and Kevin step back, and Sonogram appears, multiplying to surround them. The clones unleash their sonic screams, pinning them down.

John: Guys! (Activates Omnitrix)

Vicktor: You don’t want to do that. (John turns to see Vicktor) Your foe is up ahead.

John: And what if I want to fight you two first?

Vicktor: The longer you wait, the better the chance that P’andor will disobey his orders and kill her.

John: Urgg. (Deactivates Omnitrix, and runs off.)

John runs deeper into the forest, when someone walks out in front of him.

John: Another? (Activates Omnitrix.)

Person: I wouldn’t do that.

John stops, confused by the voice. The person comes out of the shadows, and it was him, another John, though he had a hardened face.

Past John: What the? Are you, me?

Future John: Yes. I’m here to take your place.

Past John: This doesn’t make sense. Two of the same person can’t exist in the same timeline.

Future John: Exactly why I’m here. To ensure you’re the one that survives.

Past John: I don’t have time for this. Julie’s in trouble.

Future John: And you will save her. Just let me do this.

Past John: Fine. What do I do?

Future John: Stand still. Omnitrix, scan and copy settings of adjacent Omnitrix.

Omnitrix: Scanning and copying settings of Omnitrix. (Releases a beam of green light, hitting Past John’s Omnitrix.) Settings fixed.

Future John: Good. And now. (Grabs Past John’s Omnitrix, and twists it several times.) There. I’ve added some new aliens, and some new features. Now, the Omnitrix will only respond to your DNA. No one outside your family will be able to wield it.

Past John: Cool.

Future John: Now, in two days, arrive at the Mr. Smoothy no sooner than 12:27 p.m. That’s when I leave to come here. Until then, you need to be invisible.

Past John: Invisible. (Activates Omnitrix, and slaps it down.)

ChamAlien: ChamAlien! How’s this?

Future John: Good. Farewell. (ChamAlien turns invisible.) Time to fight. (Walks off.)

P’andor: The Earth is mine, no matter what happens. Goodbye.

P’andor superheats his fist again, and swings it at Julie. Julie raises her arms, and closes her eyes. She hears the sound of a fist hitting flesh and bones breaking, but felt no pain. She looks up, and gasps. John was standing over her, P’andor’s fist going through his back and piercing through his stomach. John’s face was still hardened, as if the heat and pain didn’t affect him.

Julie: John? (P’andor pulls his fist out of John, and he collapses forward, Julie catching him.)

P’andor: Ha! With Earth’s hero gone, I stand supreme.

Gwen: (breaking into tears) No. No. (In extreme anger) NO!

Gwen takes her anodite form, and her mana hair stretches out. The hair grabs Sonogram and Vicktor, lifting them up. They then start to glow pinkish, and the two explode in purple light. Gwen then moves her hair to attack P’andor. P’andor fires radiation beams to try and counter, but it was no use. The hair wraps around him, and in a few seconds he explodes in purple light.

Kevin: Gwen! Calm down! (Gwen falls to her knees, crying.) Calm down.

Julie had put John on his back, and sees the extent of his wound. A hole the size of P’andor’s fist was there. His spine was shattered. Organs burned. John was gasping for breath.

Julie: No, don’t leave. You’ll get better. Gwen can fix you. John. John! Listen to me! Focus on my voice! You are not going to die!

John focuses his eyes on her, and smiles. He raises his arm, and uses his hand to wipe a tear from Julie’s eye. He then closes his eyes, looking like he has gone to sleep.

Julie: JOHN! (Julie starts crying heavily, putting her head on John. John was dead.) End Scene

Gwen and Kevin are driving to Mr. Smoothy.

Kevin: Wow. You’re making it sound like this future John that you brought back isn’t doing well.

Gwen: This is serious. I have a feeling that he’s going to do something really stupid.

Kevin: That’d mean that he’s back to normal. (They arrive at the Mr. Smoothy, and they see John sitting at a table, drinking a smoothy.)

John: (cheerful) Hey guys! You’ve got to try this new blueberry pineapple smoothy. You wouldn’t think that it’d work, but it really does.

Gwen: John? What happened?

John: Well, this really depressing future version of myself appeared as I was going to rescue Julie from Lucci. He stopped me and went to fight Lucci himself, dying in the process. He told me to lay low, so I did.

Kevin: Wait. So your the John from this time, not the future?

John: Confusing, isn’t it? I could’ve, and my future self should’ve, told you not to mess with time. It, for better or worse, happened the way it was supposed to.

Kevin: Wait a minute! So you died, and Gwen went back to stop it. This caused an alternate future, and she brings the future John back to the present. He then goes back in time and takes your place, where he dies. So the only way that this ended to not have an alternate future is to create that alternate future.

John: Yep.

Kevin: My head hurts now. (Gwen hugs John)

Gwen: I’m just glad your back. (Lets go) You have to tell Julie.

John: I know, I know.

Characters

 * John Smith (original and Alternate Future)
 * Gwen Tennyson
 * Kevin Levin

Villains

 * Dr. Animo
 * P'andor (Past)

By Alternate Future John

 * Water Hazard
 * Clockwork

By Original John

 * ChamAlien (first appearance)

Trivia

 * The Alternate John dies, allowing the original John to take his place.
 * It's revealed that it was the Alternate Future John that was killed the entire time.