California 2014

Youngblood was alone with his sketchbooks when he heard footsteps again. This time, however, he heard his own voice echoing through the hall as the footsteps came closer.

"Is the barbecue over yet?"

"I hope so. We've been stuck here for forever."

"Why didn't you make that deal with the devil like I suggested?"

"Why is that your solution to everything?!"

"I think the barbecue's over, but even if it's not, we need to find Youngblood."

"Right."

"Yeah, we can't just leave him here. It's, what, eleven years in the future for him?"

"No, Pepper, it's fourteen years. Learn how to do math already."

"I'm going to text him," one of the Gerards said. Youngblood thought that it was Figment, but he still wasn't quite sure which Gerard was which. They all sounded the same. He peeked out of the closet, and sure enough, Figment had pulled out his cell phone, while Revenge peeked over his shoulder.

"Why do you have wheat as your lock screen?" Revenge asked.

"It's calming," Figment answered.

"But there's literally nothing to be calm about right now!" Revenge exclaimed. "Youngblood's gone, Frank's going to die, and I still don't have anything to drink!"

Figment ignored Revenge and gazed longingly at his field of wheat. As he opened up his phone and started texting Youngblood, Poison said to his older self, "You can't just text him, dumbass. He has a flip phone."

Figment sighed, looked at his wheat lock screen one more time, and then put his phone back into his pocket. "You're right, but what are we going to do?" he asked.

"YOUNGBLOOD!" Poison screamed. "Tell us where you are, or Revenge is going to come and suck your blood!"

Meanwhile, Pepper was busy opening every door in the house in a desperate attempt to search for Youngblood. "Whoa, I have a whole room for my comic book collection!" he said. "That's awesome!" He then turned around and opened the door to the closet.

Youngblood stepped out, feeling a little disoriented. The bright lights in the house blinded him as he approached his future selves. "There you are," Figment said when he saw him. "We were looking for you."

"Yeah, I know," Youngblood said.

"Why on earth were you in there?" Pepper asked.

"Figment said to hide," Youngblood said.

"He also said to follow him," Poison said. "You've got to listen better."

"Come on," Figment said. "Let's go find Alien, and then we can get out of this era."

The five of them went over to the window, and sure enough, it looked like the barbecue was over. Alien and Frank were the only ones in the backyard, and they were putting the tables away and disassembling the grill.

"We're going to have to sneak past Frank if we want to talk to Alien," Figment said.

"And how are we going to do that exactly?" Poison asked. Revenge opened his mouth to say something, but then Poison said, "If your suggestion involves making a deal with the devil, I am going to strangle you."

"No, I was going to say that we should paint the whole house jet black," Revenge said. "It will be so cool that Alien will have no choice but to come inside and time travel with us."

"I like that idea," Youngblood said.

"Me too," Pepper said.

"That's an even worse idea than the deal with the devil," Poison said.

"What if I die and become a ghost, but I stick around to haunt Frank while the rest of you go to the next era?"

"I'm not letting you die, Revenge."

"What if we all say 'so long and thanks for all the fish' and blast off into space like those dolphins in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?"

"No."

"What if I claim that I am the master of the wicket, and then Frank tackles me, and while he's distracted, Figment takes us all to wherever we're going next?"

"Still no," Poison said, while Figment just laughed.

"Why don't you like any of my ideas, Poison?" Revenge asked.

"Because they're all really bad."

"No, they're not."

As Revenge and Poison bickered, the others watched Alien and Frank through the window. While Alien talked to his boyfriend on the other side of the glass, Youngblood thought about what Frank had told him, the promise that he'd made. He had to stop Figment from sacrificing himself, but he still had no idea how he'd do it. At this rate, Figment would die, and Frank would be stuck in his own personal hell: a life without the only person he'd ever truly loved. Every time Youngblood looked at Frank, his heart broke just a little bit more. He had to help him. He only wished that he knew how.

"We need a real plan," Poison said. "We need a way to get Alien's attention without letting Frank know we're here."

"No, we don't," Youngblood said.

All four of the other Gerards turned and looked at him. "What are you talking about, Youngblood?" Figment said. "Last time I checked, Frank didn't know we were here, and I'd like to keep it that way."

It was too late to take those words back, so Youngblood figured that he might as well own up to his mistakes. "Frank knows we're here," he said. "I told him."

"Why the fuck would you do that?" Figment said angrily.

"Frank and Mikey found me in the closet," Youngblood said. "I had to tell them something."

"You told Mikey too?!" Figment shouted. He sighed and said, "You're lucky the Watch didn't catch you, Youngblood. You have to be more careful, but at least this means that Frank might be able to help us." He paused and looked out the window one more time. "No wonder he looks so sad. He just found out that he's going to die soon."

"But we're going to stop that from happening, right?" Pepper said.

"Of course," Figment said.

The Gerards went back to looking out the window and spying on Alien. He talked to Frank for a little while longer, but all of a sudden, Bandit ran out from behind a tree, holding onto Figment's coffee mug.

"What the hell?" Figment shouted. He paced around the kitchen, looking absolutely furious. "I trusted Alien with my time machine, and he gave it to Bandit! We can't get stuck here, not when we're so close! Why can't I do anything right?!"

"I hope she doesn't figure out how to use that thing," Poison said nervously. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if she time traveled somewhere and got hurt."

"That won't happen," Figment said. "The time machine's calibrated to my brain waves. Nobody else can use it." He paused and added, "I'm more worried about not being able to get the machine back. We have to leave this era at some point, and we can't do that unless we have the time machine."

"So what are we going to do?" Pepper asked.

"We could..." Revenge began.

"No, Revenge," Poison interrupted.

"You didn't even let me finish!"

Figment thought about it while Revenge and Poison argued. "I've got it," he finally said. "Youngblood, you've already told Frank about time travel, so you're going to go out there and get the time machine back. Once we've got it, you and Alien are going to come back inside, and we're going to time travel to 2016."

"Okay," Youngblood said, but on the inside, he was terrified. They couldn't go to 2016, not before he'd come up with a plan to keep Figment from dying. He decided to stall a bit to buy himself more time, to find a way to unravel Figment's plan. He slowly walked out the door, his heart pounding and his mind racing.

Frank and Alien both noticed him as soon as he was outside. "Youngblood, what are you doing?" Alien said quietly. "Get back inside."

"Hey Gerard from 2002," Frank said. "What are you doing out here?"

Alien turned to Frank. "How do you know him?" he asked.

"I talked to him earlier," Frank said. "Right?" Youngblood nodded as Frank looked toward the house. "Ooh, and are those the other Gerards? I think I see one from the Black Parade era - that was a fun album - and is that you as Party Poison, Gee? You were pretty hot back then, but I think you're even more beautiful now."

Alien blushed and said, "Thanks."

Frank quickly blew a kiss to the other Gerards and then turned back to Alien and Youngblood. "So what are you doing here?" he asked Youngblood.

"I...uhh..." Youngblood stammered in a desperate attempt to buy more time.

Revenge suddenly opened the window, leaned out, and shouted, "HURRY UP ALREADY, YOUNGBLOOD!" before Figment pulled him back inside.

"I thought you should know that Alien's mug is actually our time machine, and we kind of need it back," Youngblood said.

"Seriously, Youngblood?" Alien said. "You told him about time travel too?"

"I'm sorry," Youngblood said.

"You'd better be!" Alien exclaimed. "If we get captured by the Watch, it's going to be your fault!"

That was when Bandit ran up to the three of them. "Look Dad! Look Fwank!" she shouted. "Look what the mug can do!" She pushed the button on the side, and it transformed into a watch. Then, she pushed another button, and it turned back into a coffee mug.

"That's pretty rad, Bandit," Frank said.

"Frank, you're missing the point," Alien said. "Bandit, could you please give me the mug back?"

"No!" Bandit exclaimed. She then pointed to Youngblood. "Who's that?"

"He's...uhh...our friend," Alien said. "Bandit, I'm serious. Give me the mug."

"Bandit, please listen to your dad," Frank said. "We really need that back."

"No!" Bandit said as she turned it from a mug to a watch and back again. "I need it!"

"You could bring something else for Show and Tell," Frank said. "Maybe one of Gerard's action figures?"

"Those are collector's edition, Frank," Alien said.

"It's better than the mug, isn't it?" Frank said.

"Anything's better than the mug," Alien said. "Bandit, give it back."

"No!" Bandit said. She held the watch in her hands and then shouted "Catch!" as she tossed it toward Alien, Youngblood, and Frank.

Youngblood watched the time machine fly through the air, and he froze, terrified that something would happen to it. That time machine was the only way out of this era. If it broke, then he would be stuck in 2014 forever. He would never get to come home.

Thankfully, Frank reached up into the air, caught the watch, and handed it to Alien. "Thanks Frank," Alien said, smiling. "You're the best."

"No problem, babe," Frank said. "Bandit, let's find something else for Show and Tell, okay?"

Bandit pouted. "But I want the mug," she said.

"Gerard has a lot of coffee mugs," Frank said. "I'm sure he'll let you borrow any of the other ones. Just not that one."

While Frank tried to console Bandit, Alien and Youngblood ran back into the kitchen with the time machine. "Thank God you got it back," Pepper said as Alien gave the watch back to Figment.

Figment strapped the watch onto his wrist and quickly started typing. Youngblood wanted to do something to stop him, to keep him from going to 2016 and sacrificing himself for Frank, but it was too late. If he tried to take the watch now, Figment would know that he'd figured out the plan. Youngblood decided that he'd stop Figment as soon as he got there, but he still felt like he was letting Frank down.

All of a sudden, Figment stopped typing, and all six Gerards vanished into thin air. 

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