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Chapter Three: Zero Hour

"So you're a vampire." Arlo said as he took a better look at the vampire shark. He wore a wool black coat and a grey and red scarf, with skinny jeans with combat boots. He was wearing sunglasses over his eyes, for some reason. His skin was dark black, he had fins on the back of his head and the back of his spine, ankles and wrist.

"Yeah, why do you got a problem with that." The vampire said opening his mouth and revealing his sharp teeth . "I'm also blind too, would you to make a comment about that as well." He said pulling off his sunglasses and revealing his completely blank and pale eyeballs.

"Uhh, no I'm not a vamperist, nor do I hate the blind either. I watch Mr. Magoo once a month." Arlo said as he tried to keep the meeting going smoothly.

"Yeah, well I was there at its premiere as well." The vampire said as he put on his glasses without any problems occurring. "Also before you ask, no I was not at the crucifixion, I was at the trial but I had some things to do on that day. Plus if every vampire said they were at the crucifixion it would be like Woodstock, I was there though. Drunk a hippie's blood and stared at my hands for six hours." He said.

"I was there at Zero Hour too, got my first kiss their as the portal opened and the first wave off furs came through." The vampire said referring to the event in 2025 San Francisco, when furs first breached the dimensional walls and sent their first agents into the human world.

"Well then that must have been interesting, but why did my boss want to meet you?" Arlo said as he inquired on what he was supposed to be doing. "Is this some sort of agreement between our groups, or a declaration of war."

"No, we're her because I am a liaison, if you will, to the vampires. I tell you all the vampire gossip, and you make sure that everything stays in check. If anything vampire related goes wrong, I join you on the investigation." The shark said carefully explaining his job to Arlo.

"Well then, I am sure that we will get along quite fine, but I don't even know you name yet." Arlo said as they started to dance into the world of clichéd lines, trying to see who could better make an impression.

"Why would you want to know my name, I thought it would be completely secret. Plus I don't tell my name to just anyone." The vampire shark said as he pronounced every word with style, as he leaned over the table.

"Well then I like to say, I don't work with just anyone. Especially vampire sharks, whose names I don't know yet." Arlo said as he started to lean in over the table both of them looking at each other intensely.

"Hello sirs what would you two like for the dinner?" Their waiter said as he came over to the table and asked for their order, not caring about how ridiculously they were leaning over the table.

"Uhh, I have the chicken dish." They both said, with a strange face as they sat back down on their chairs and turned in their menus. The waiter went to the kitchen and the two looked at each other and laughed.

"Perhaps I should first introduce myself, my name is Arlo Acosto. I am a spotted salamander, with the ability to gain power in the sunlight. Quite ironic, if you say so." Arlo said continuing with the flirting.

"Oh well you know what they say opposites attract, so let that happen. However, my name is Virgil Crane; it is oh so nice to meet you Arlo. I can tell we are going to have quite the fun times together." Virgil said as he introduced himself to Arlo.

"Well then Mr. Liaison, I say you know how to pick out a restaurant." Arlo said as he looked at the fancy architecture and the neatly painted walls and ceiling.

"And you know how to pick out a suit, you look quite delicious in that outfit. If I wasn't more trained, I would have to just up and drink your blood. I look like a mess." Virgil said complementing Arlo on his suit.

"Please you look prefect to me." Arlo said as he looked at the vampire shark. He then realized what he was saying, his face blushed and he turned away from eye contact.

Soon enough their entire meal was eaten and they had to leave the restaurant. As they left Arlo laughed at a quip that Virgil made and leaned into his shoulder.

"So where's your car? Maybe I can go over to your house?" Virgil said as he walked out of the restaurant and onto the New York sidewalk. Arlo put his hands into his suit pockets because of the cold wind blowing down the street.

"Don't have one right know, it's undergoing some modifications after some prawn damage." Arlo said as they walked towards the street. "Have to take the bus to a station near my house, would you like to come on. There should be a bus here right now."

In front of them, the super-fast bus came to a quick stop and opened its doors as if planed.

"Wow, how convenient to the pacing, we won't have to wait at all." Arlo said as he walked onto the bus, which was similar to the buses of New York's past, the same color scheme, except it was covered in a layer of bacteria resistant plastic and garbage slid right off the floor and into a garbage can at the end of the bus.

Arlo walked in and no one was really on the bus only a few kids that were playing a video game or something. He walked to the back of the bus after placing two tokens in the payment slot, and sat down followed by Virgil who sat in the seat next to his.

"So now then tell me about yourself? Also if you a vampire why isn't your skin all pale, your skin is about as black as the night." Arlo asked getting curious about the subject at hand. Virgil didn't look surprised at the question at hand and only laughed a bit.

"Well that only happens to humans because it changes there pigment level, so luckily for us animals without different karyotypes, we don't have to be Count Dracula." Virgil said laughing at the question, "Careful though I do bite." Virgil turned around in his seat, so that he was able to face Virgil.

"Why'd you do that?" Arlo said as he wondered why the vampire turned around. Virgil said nothing and only leaned in, placing his lips on Arlo's. He shocked the salamander, as he passionately kissed Arlo.

The bus stopped and Arlo realized, what had happened. He stood up and looked at Virgil.

"Listen, I'm sorry I not into guys. Sorry if I led you on." Arlo said apologizing and started to walk down the bus's length. Arlo was surprised and questioning what just happened.

"What day is tomorrow?" Virgil asked one last question.

"Uhh, tomorrow that's the 24th. Sorry." Arlo said as he quickly walked off the bus and into his apartment building trying to leave the vampire behind. The door opened and Arlo entered his house as Virgil smiled from the bus.

"Well then tomorrow you will enjoy." Virgil said from the bus as he looked at Arlo entering his house and had to slowly wait for tomorrow. The bus drove off and Arlo went in his house and had to sit down and think for a few minutes.

"The Next Day"

"You know when someone likes you but then your straight, so it becomes a bit awkward and a tiny bit forced." Arlo said to Valo as they explored an ancient crypt that had opened up in the subway. He shined a flashlight down the rocky tunnel, and looked around trying to find what caused the tunnel's collapse.

"Kind off, but I know it the other way around. I'm usually the gay guy, but maybe you should try to accept the date, he's probably going to pay for it anyway, so what's the harm with a free meal." Valo said as he explored deeper into the tunnel, he shined his flashlight down but the light reflected off something and shined back.

"Well there's something." Arlo said as he traversed into the tunnel following Valo. They climbed down a tiny ledge onto the rocky floor below it; on a column, there was a golden relic. It seemed to be pure gold and adorned with other types of jewels.

Valo touched the blue jewel on the front of the gold piece and suddenly there was a blue flash around them. It engulfed them and they felt the ground coming out from underneath their feet. They couldn't open their eyes as the floated into something.

They bodies were thrusted around by some force, and they kept being flung around and suddenly they landed on solid ground again. They opened their eyes and the sun was shining down on them. They were standing in the middle of a street and a hovercar was flying right at them.

Valo grabbed Arlo and pulled him out of the way, he ran to the sidewalk and took a breath. There was no one on the sidewalk strangely. The street was lined with three story buildings all fit with little shops.

On the other side of the road there was a grassy hill that lead downwards to a lake or an ocean. The two looked up and suddenly saw a red steel bridge in the background.

"Oh shit." Valo and Arlo said as they looked up and saw the Golden Gate Bridge, the first sign that something was wrong. They realized they were in San Francisco, however when they looked up they saw people flying around on Hoverboards, the second sign that something had gone terribly wrong.

"Weren't Hoverboards banned in 2075?" Arlo asked as he looked at the people flying around barely avoiding each other because space movies thought people that they were in 2D space.

"Yeah, that could be a problem." Valo said as he looked around and found a calendar conveniently hung on the wall. He walked over and found it was hung on August 2025. "Yeah this could be worse of a problem, we are in the month of Zero Hour."

"Which means we should either be hiding because it'd be bad that when we get back there's a annotation in a history book that says furs were seen in the days before." Valo said as he pulled Arlo into the nearby empty alley.

However, they screamed when they bumped into a shadowed figure that started to scream at them. Valo pointed up his flashlight and found a dark as night shark looking at them, who looked exactly like Virgil.

"Virgil, how did you get here!" Arlo cried out as he looked at Virgil, the shark looked at him, confused for a moment on what was happen.

"Uhh, I don't know who you are." Virgil said confused as he pulled the two back into alley. "Are you two vampires?"

"No, but you are you are Virgil Crane, you're a thousand year vampire, you been at Jesus's trail but not the crucifixion and were at Woodstock were you drank a hippie's blood and looked at your hands for six hours. And do you have the date?" Arlo said boasting to Virgil.

"Well today is the 15th, also did I happen to do you two, because maybe you but shrimp man here any day you and me." Virgil said being slightly ironic with him.

"Give it a hundred years or so." Arlo said being ironic. "So now then we're from your future, we were sent back in time due to some crazy relic and now were on Zero Hour, when all the furs are going to come to this dimension."

"Ok if this is the truth then where the heck is this portal going to open up?" Virgil said asking the first obvious question.

"The portal will open on the bay bridge, where the traffic is going to act exactly like any other day." Valo said piping into the conversation. "Now given the circumstances, we should probably go there be like a welcoming party for the group."

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea." Virgil said sounding a little untrusting of the situation he was currently in, "Now, you two are furs before they should be and we don't want to change the history books so put this perception filter on and you'll appear like normal humans to regular people."

Valo and Arlo reached out and pieced a tiny metal piece, which they placed on their collars. They stood their standing their awkwardly waiting for someone to pipe up.

"So do you happen to have the time? We might have some time to spare, get a cake or something." Valo said partly joking with Virgil.

"Well right now it is 8:00, what time does this portal open up on the Bay Bridge?" Virgil said looking at his Apple Watch 5.

"According to historical accounts the portal is going to open up at exactly 12:00, just as rush hour hits its peak." Arlo said as he tried to explain what would happen.

"Well then we have 4 hours, maybe you'd like to do some stuff, come follow me." Virgil said as he ran grabbing Arlo's hand, in an ironic way and started to pull the salamander through the alley.

Arlo didn't get tired because of the sun being out and Valo because he was a prawn but when they arrived at the top of a hill only Virgil was moderately sweaty.

"Well then I say you two are quite the runners, but these are my hoverboards and the tourists love to go down Lombard Street, with a 27 degree angle of elevation and eight hair pin turns. No one even with the biggest things dares to go down the road with all the 100 mph cars and all that." Virgil said as he pulled out 3 cubes and they all flatboards on the ground.

Blue lights flashed out from under the board and they started to float. Valo and Arlo looked at the board and couldn't decide what to do with them.

"Hoverboards must have been out from fashion in your time, so just get on and let the wind flow through your hair." Virgil said as he raised his foot and stepped up on to the board, he pulled his other foot on and they seemed to lock in. He moved it by angling his feet and seemed it easy.

Arlo was the first to try and had to catch his balance, keeping his body from shaking so that he didn't fall off the board. He started to run back and forth, almost hitting Virgil to catch him and causing both to laugh.

"Yeah, you're totally straight." Valo silently whined as he started to get on his board, his higher weight causing the board only to float a bit off the ground. "I can only imagine how strange I look."

He started to float over to group and joined the two who were looking down the street, it looked like an architectural nightmare, and who ever made it could not have been in their right mind when they designed this road.

"Wait how are you going to be able to go down this hill if you're blind?" Arlo said remembering what future Virgil said, he assumed this one was blind as well because of his sunglasses and lack of eye contact.

"Please just because I can see with my eyes doesn't mean I can see with my ears, or my skin. I am also a shark don't forget, I can smell everything, and out of water where electronic sensing would work one could say I evolved a very primitive echolocation." Virgil said as he showed off by floated his hoverboard against a rail before flipping up and doing a 720 onto the ground.

"So eight hairpin turns down the hill, first one to reach the bottom gets the honor of presenting the cake to the entering furs." Virgil said as he, Arlo and Valo all got ready to go. "Three, two, one, Go!"

All three of them shot off as they took down the twenty-seven degree angle hill, they speed up as they approached the first hill, Virgil and Arlo being the closest. Valo slowed himself down as the other barely managed to turn the first, and twisted his legs.

He managed to get the hoverboard going sideways and he made the turn and drifted through the first turn, able to keep most of his speed. He quickly surpassed Virgil and Arlo, his higher body weight allowing him to speed up and handle turns.

"Ah come on have a little fun." Virgil said as Valo speed right past him and through another turn. Unfortunaly this took his eyes off the race for a second and Virgil crashed into a tree a second later. Arlo stopped and jumped off the board coming to Virgil's aid as he helped him up from crashing into a tree.

"Geez, no wonder they banned these things. A few inches over and you would have gotten your head sliced off." Arlo said noting the large and pointy tree branch that looked slightly too close to the road. "And Valo gets the cake."

"Guys are you ok!" Valo cried out from the bottom of the road trying to get their attention.

"Yes, we're fine Valo." Arlo said as he looked into Virgil's eyes and had to shake the feeling off love. "No, I'm straight." Arlo whispered to himself as he tried to figure out why he felt that way. "Now then Virgil, perhaps we should do something with less chances of hitting trees."

"Well then we can't go driving." Valo said as he came up the hill and interrupted the two. "Perhaps we should go to a bakery and get the cake, because if traffic on the gate bridge is going to be as bad as normal..."

"That sounds like a good idea, but first have you two have to do one last thing." Virgil said as he stood up and faced the two, without any help.

...

"Welcome to the arcade, this one of the last open. Given the current state of the arcade and considering this one is barely being kept open these are probably not going to be around by the time you two are born." Virgil said as he entered the large building with many large and bulky machines.

"Wow, look at these graphics these are really primitive machines." Valo said as he entered the building and looked at the large arcade machines. There were tiny sprites moving across the machine that seemed to be asking on for money.

"Do you have any money for us, because wow this is like history coming alive in front of us." Arlo said as he looked at a machine that was called Pac-Man.

"Obviously, why would I take you here to just give you a little tease?" Virgil said as he reached into his pants pocket. He pulled out a bundle of coins and handled a few to Arlo and a few more to Valo.

"Now this is Pac-Man, you're going to be chased by the ghosts around the map. Each ghost has a specific set of instructions to follow, but with a big dot you can start to eat the ghosts." Virgil said as he bent down and inserted a coin into the machine.

The coins brought the machine to life with big flashy lights and a musical jingle that played as Arlo grabbed the red stick and started to move it. The cheese man on the screen started to follow his command. The cheese started to eat the tiny dots and on the side of the screen a number counter went up.

'Good job just avoid the ghosts and get all the dots to win the level." Virgil said encouraging Arlo as he played the game with a certain amount of proficiently. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a few coins, and placed them on the machine. "I actually have to go make a call, I be back in a few."

Virgil walked out of the building and pulled out his phone. "Father, they're coming back. Twelve O'clock, its opening right on Gate Bridge. I know what could happen. Yes I'll hold them off until you can destabilize the portal." Virgil hung up the phone and looked into the arcade bar, with shame on his face.

"Well guys, I think we should probably get going there have been reports of dimensional instabilities on the bridge, so we should probably get their before anyone else shows up and does something that might interfere with the portal opening." Virgil suggested not knowing that he had just said his own plan.

"Yes, I guess so it would be bad if the portal never opened then we couldn't exist at all." Valo suggested going right alone with Virgil's plan.

"I just hate those temporal paradoxes, always preventing me from killing Hitler and stuff like that." Arlo said joking as he reluctantly stopped playing and returned some of the coins to Virgil. He put some in his pocket in case they would become valuable in the future.

...

"So how long is it until they arrive here?" Virgil said as he looked at his watch, which he still had fifteen minutes until he could prevent the portal from opening. He just had to keep Valo and Arlo out of the know until he could drain the dimeson energy and close the portal before it even opened.

"So how come we landed on this day, shouldn't we have landed back on the same day and in the same city?" Valo asked out of boredom as he thought about what had gone on in the day.

"Well if the year calculation was only 365 days straight instead of the deeper 365.675 something, that we use leap days to smooth out the calendar, it could be said that we landed on what 365 days would put us on. It probably put us here because this was where; I mean New York is going to be in 125 years or so. I guess." Arlo said as he ran the idea through his head trying to figure out how that would work or if that would even be able to work.

There an energy outburst on the overpass and the cars quickly drove out of its ways. A green glow emitted from the outburst as dimensional walls were broken down and a portal formed. There was a loud sound of wind exiting the portal preventing them from hearing themselves.

"Guys I'm sorry but I have to take this portal down, for honor!" Virgil yelled as he jumped over the fence and entered into the highway, he ran over to the portal and placed his fingers into the mesh. His body glowed green as he started to absorb the portal; the portal started to shrink down.

Arlo and Valo's bodies started to fade out of existence, as they became paradoxes of the time.

"Oh no, if Virgil destroys the portal then we won't exist." Valo said with a sizeable amount of worry in his voice over what was going to happen.

"No crap, but we have to keep that portal open." Arlo said as he jumped over the fence and onto the highway, which was currently clean of traffic because of the massive portal blocking the road. Arlo walked up to Virgil and tapped him on the back.

"Listen this isn't going to work, you'll just create a paradox!" Virgil yelled over the sound of wind from the portal.

"Yes but we were sent here by them, if they come back they'll just have reason to send us into another dimension again!" Virgil said summing up about what happened to the original vampires.

"No it won't because I met you in the future, and you are wonderful their too and I have to say I love you too!" Arlo said as he pulled Virgil off the portal and in a moment of irony, placed his lips on Virgil's.

As the first wave of people came in Virgil and Arlo had their first chronological kiss.

"Wow, keep it classy folks." Valo said sarcastically as he walked up to the furs entering the dimension and handed them the cake. "Hello welcome to this dimension, please don't kill us."

The people in their cars stepped out and looked at the incoming group of people through the portal.

"People of Earth, we come in peace into this universe. There were many of us before and now at the loss of our own homeworld we wish to join yours!" The commander of the Zero Hour group said to the humans as they walked out of their cars.

Valo walked over to the portal and pulled the two apart, having them walk to the side as not to get anyone's attention.

"Well then, felt good to touch history. Now one hundred years until our story begins to starts." Arlo said to Virgil as he looked at the group and tried to see anyone familiar.

"Is that my grandfather?" Valo said as he looked at a large and bearded wolf in armor walking through the portal. "God is he going to be surprised when his grandson turns into a Prawn."

"Yes but a good Prawn he is going to be. So we've been back in the past for what, like three hours?" Arlo said as he wondered how long they would be trapped in the past, and how they would get back home.

"And we haven't used are powers as well, but there's something I'm missing. Something always happens after the first wave of people comes through, I remember so because it was the first Michael Bay movie that filled his explosion quota without not being false." Valo said as his mind settled back on that movie.

A massive explosion reared its head though the portal, shaking the Golden Gate Bridge to its core. Valo grabbed Arlo and Virgil and pulled them down to the ground even though the shockwave passed them and they were safe.

"We really need to practice on good and bad times to duck in explosions." Valo noted a massive Godzilla figure passed through the portal and on to the bridge. "Well then turns out Michael Bay was completely correct for once, who would've guessed."

"Well then if we can push it back in then maybe I can close the portal!" Virgil yelled as he jumped up.

"I've been waiting to see your powers!" Arlo said as he jumped back over the fence and approached the monster leaving Valo behind. Standing in the sunlight in front of the creature's massive shadow he waited for a few seconds taking in energy.

Virgil stood in the shadows of the creature where the sun couldn't weaken his powers. His hands glowed with a blood red energy and he pointed them forward, energy followed from the massive beast and into Virgil's hand making him stronger.

Arlo jumped forward and entered his super mode, the red aura covering his body and letting him float above the ground. Through he put his hands forward and rammed his body into the beast. It roared as the double assault hit him and spikes down its spin glowed.

Nuclear Breath flew out from its mouth and onto the crowds of people below. The Zero Hour group was shooting at this beast and the beast roared one final time as it feel back into the portal, which closed the beast exited.

"Well then that felt a bit added-on but at least one can say we didn't fight a Godzilla-like beast in 2025. Oh wait, quickly disappear!" Valo said as they realized they might have been threatening their existence again.

...

"So how are we going to get back to the future?" Valo asked as they walked into a room with cryogenic chambers, "Oh well then Virgil, enjoy the slow path."

"Yeah I know, but that's how the cookie is going to crumble. Arlo, dear do you have any Powerball numbers?'

"Nope." Arlo said, as he made sure that Valo was in the pod and closed it, freezing it, and then he programmed it so that it opens for the hour after they left.

"Well then we have a hundred and twenty five years, so I've programmed the machine to wake you up every five years, so what do you say would you like to have twenty-five dates with me?" Virgil said being romantic.

Soon enough all three were frozen, the years passing over then until five years before the present where Virgil had to leave, he cried that day. However eventually their journey to the present was over and only an hour after they left they woke up only aged as if twelve hours had passed.

"Virgil!" Arlo cried out as the pod opened, luckily for the timeline Virgil moved the pods over to New York when the vampires switched coasts, because it was cloudier on the other coast. He ran out of the room and found himself facing older Virgil.

"Oh god I'm so sorry about what I said. I was just so confused and no one ever touched me like that before." Arlo said re-entering the innuendo game.

"Well then I have waited one hundred and twenty five years for this, and now then trust me when I am in danger, I am quite the screamer." Virgil said causing both of them to laugh.