Fitz

Chapter 1 Part 1: An abnormal day

It started as a normal day for Fitz. He went through his morning routine and got on the bus to school. He sat down next to his friend, Cody, and listened to him drone on and on about some new interesting thing he had learned about over the weekend. This week's topic was Tipler Cylinders.

"It may be hypothetical, but it could allow us to finally travel back through time, but not forward unfortunately. You just need to go incredibly fast to travel forward in time - or I guess you could travel to the other side of the world." He looked over at Fitz, who stared off in the distance at nothing in particular, definitely not listening to Cody. Cody reached over and conked him on the head.

Fitz turned away from the view of cookie cutter houses and perfectly manicured lawns, confusion in his icy blue eyes. "Did you just hit me? Seriously?" He put his hand in his sandy blonde hair and rubbed his now sore skull.

"You weren't listening to me, and I had to get your attention somehow," Cody said leaning back and nodding, completely unapologetic.

"So your first idea was to hit me atop the head? For someone of your intellect, your actions are pretty primitive."

"I had to get through that thick skull of yours somehow," he said, a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. "If it hurt that much, it means that I'm finally getting through to you."

"Ha ha, very funny. For your information, I was listening to you."

"Oh, really. Well then, if you were listening, why don't you tell me what I was talking about."

Fitz opened his mouth to respond, thought about it, closed his mouth, and grinned sheepishly.

"Ha! See? I knew you weren't listening!" Cody crowed in triumph.

"Well," Fitz replied, leaning back toward the window, "It's not my fault you put everyone to sleep when you talk."

"Oh-ho, you think I'm going to let you get away with talking to me like that?"

"Um, yeah. It's not like you can do anything about it."

Cody cracked his knuckles menacingly, his face scrunched up in feigned anger. "You're about to see what I can do. You shall feel my wrath."

Fitz raised an eyebrow. Cody was about ninety pounds soaking wet with noodle arms and big stocky nerd glasses to boot. And while Fitz wasn't going to win any wrestling matches soon, at a head taller than Cody and at least twenty pounds heavier, he could probably sit on him and snap his bony behind like a pretzel stick.

"Feel the power of my disdain!" Cody aimed a karate chop at Fitz's head, but before it connected, Fitz blocked with his arm and poked Cody in the ribs.

Cody choked dramatically, coughing out, "He got me! My life's blood, how it drips and poisons the sand beneath us." Cody fell onto the seat, his head leaning back at an awkward angle as he reached his hand up for theatrical effect.

"What? Where the heck are you? There's not sand here."

"...poisons the snow beneath us."

Fitz laughed and elbowed him. "You're so weird."

"Fitz? Fitz, is that you? Fitz, my friend, my legacy must go on!" Cody coughed again, laying a heavy hand on Fitz's shoulder.

"Whatever, dude, you can carry on your own legacy." The bus pulled to a stop at a red light, making Cody jerk slightly forward and slide down until he lay half off the seat, arm still outstretched toward Fitz.

"No!" Cody said weakly. "You must help me, Fitz, my friend, my brother from another mother."

Fitz snorted. "Fine, I restore you with my, uh, mystical power of..." Fitz looked outside for inspiration. "What the...?"

"Oh, the power of 'what the.' At least it's original," Cody responded sarcastically.

Fitz stood up, panic already coursing through him. "No, dude, look! What is that?" He pointed out the window at what looked like a swirling ball of blue fire forming between the two outstretched hands of a redheaded girl on the side of the road.