Canadian Pacific 5-5

Chapter 9: The Inverted

When we went back to school on Monday we were quite surprised to actually see Andrew there. He waved ‘hi’ and continued to class like the weekend had never happened. We stood there for a minute pondering how Andrew’s behaviour could be so wildly different when someone stepped forward and stood beside us and said, “I can’t explain it either.” We looked over and saw Conner standing there looking at the spot where Andrew had disappeared around the corner. “What are you doing at our school?” John asked. “I figured that I should check up on how you’re doing. And you know, this is my school too,” Conner replied.

“I have a theory,” I said, “What if Andrew has a bit of a guilty conscience? It would override his evil side just long enough to get him to school.” “Sounds about right,” John replied, “He’s never missed a day if he could avoid it.” “But would that mean that his ‘evil reference sheet’ could be deleted while he’s here?” Brent asked. “I doubt it,” Conner replied, “The evil side of him probably still has control, and his conscience is just overriding some of his actions.” After a moment of silence Conner spoke again, “Well I have to go but I’m sure you’ll find out more at lunch.” With that he disappeared and left us to our day.

Sure enough at lunch Andrew met up with us. He seemed extremely agreeable and as though he had never even thought of being evil. “Hey guys,” Andrew said as he walked to the cafetorium with us, “I found something recently that I want to show you.” “Is this some trick to try and destroy us?” Brent asked. “No! No. I just can’t seem to be evil while at school. Stupid conscience!” Andrew replied. “Well then seeing as we can sort of trust you, what did you want to show us?” I queried. “Something really cool. Here, step into this shadow,” Andrew said as he gestured to the wall. As we did what he asked we found ourselves transported into a strange world.

The world we stepped into looked like the negatives from a film camera. We also noticed that it was filled with pixelated characters. “I call it the N-Zone,” Andrew said as he stepped through the portal. “Why?” I asked, “Because it’s full of Nintendo characters?” “Well…” Andrew sheepishly replied, “Yeah, that and it looks like a film negative.” “So,” John asked, “Does time pass equivalently in our world and this one?” “Actually I’m not too sure,” Andrew replied. “Why don’t we find out?” Brody said. “Shouldn’t be too hard,” I said, “My watch said 11:10 when we stepped in and we’ve been here about five minutes ‘N-Zone’ time so all we have to do is leave and check one of the school clocks.”

We did as I had said and found, surprisingly enough, that time passed the same in our world and the ‘N-Zone’. “Well that’s good news,” Brent said, “at least there won’t be any serious consequences to loosing track of time in the ‘N-Zone’.” “Well,” I said, “We have a while before lunch is over so why don’t we see what else goes on in the ‘N-Zone’?” “Sounds like a good idea,” John replied, “Can you take us back in, Andrew?” “Sure,” Andrew said as he opened the shadow portal again.

John, Brody, Brent and I had just barely stepped through when Andrew laughed maniacally. As the portal to our world closed the last thing we heard Andrew say was, “SPITE!” “Well ain’t that just wonderful!” I said. “Way to hide your sarcasm,” John said, “Looks like we could be stuck here.” “Maybe our teleporting powers still work!” Brent said hopefully, “Can’t hurt to try right?” We all shrugged and agreed before focusing on the world outside our own. Sure enough the ‘N-Zone’ lost focus and Conner’s world came into view. When we arrived we were surprised to find ourselves in school. Just then we realized that Conner was standing in front of us and looking at us with an exasperated look on his face.

“Why are you here?” he asked. “Well, Andrew locked us in the ‘N-Zone’ and this was the only way we could get out,” I replied. For a moment he just stared at us with an unimpressed expression on his face. “‘N-Zone’?” he asked, “Never mind, I’ll find out later. So just head back to your world and please don’t bother me again today. I’ve not had the greatest day.” With that we sheepishly focussed on our world and teleported back. When we arrived I started planning how we could try and get Andrew back to our side. I knew that there was no way a simple plan could possibly fool him. The rest of the school day was uneventful and I was home before I knew it.

The week flew by as my plan grew. I spent the entirety of Friday night putting the finishing touches on it. Finally turning my light out at 3:45 am I went to sleep planning on exposing my plan to the one person who could really help me. I awoke at noon that Saturday and, after having lunch, teleported to Conner’s world. When I arrived I found him installing two new light bulbs into a ceiling lamp while singing John McDermott’s ‘Scotland the Brave’. I could see in the misty reflection of the bulb that he was watching me so I stepped forward and began to present my plan. I showed him the diagrams I had made that I would later show my friends as well as the detailed list of things that needed to happen and when they were to happen.

He eyed over the plans and said, “Is it OK if I check over these tonight and see if there are any issues that I might be able to point out? I doubt I’ll find any though. You’ve done really well with this plan.” “Sure! That’s why I brought these to you. I wanted to make sure they were almost foolproof. Plus I feel I’ve missed something,” I replied. The next day Conner met up with me in the afternoon. “Plan looks good,” he said, “You’ve covered any sort of scenario I could think of. I’m going to show my friends this and see if they can spot any issues but I think you could start putting that plan into action right away.” With that he disappeared and I began to make a copy of part of the plan to show my friends.

Monday at lunch I got John, Brent, and Brody to follow me to a locked classroom. I opened the door and we went in. Laying out the diagrams on the table I gave them all the information they needed to know. I pointed out where each one needed to be and at what time. They all agreed to the plan and we set up to enact the plan on Thursday after school. We ran through the plan once more before heading to class. As I left the room and locked it again I saw Andrew disappear from a corner of the room and knew he had been watching the whole time.

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We pulled into the parking lot of Sudbury’s Conversion Bureau a little while after I finished. We had long since put away the tarp and swept off the remaining Serum. We put some of our stuff into the room we were assigned before heading back out to the truck.

“We’re going to get an early dinner. Wanna come?” I asked the Mane 6.

“Sure, we’d love to,” Rarity said.

“Alright, then,” John said, “Hop on!”