Guilt was eating away at Ellie. She was being a shit mother and she knew it; all thanks to the paparazzi. All she wanted for months was a child to care of on her own, and now that she finally had one she barely saw him anymore. But the media stayed away from Boyd (for the most part) which was all that mattered in the end; being Ellie's end goal.

But now that the cruise had arrived at the first island, things were going to be different. From afar, Ellie looked like a dad or a hardcore lesbian, your choice. Her and Boyd adorn hats and sunglasses too and it seemed to do the job. They were caught by an interviewer now and then, but it was easy to escape paparazzi on the island. Every so often, Ellie would pull out her phone to check the news. It seemed Mark hadn't attempted to change anything yet and, to be honest, she wouldn't be surprised if he didn't even try at all. He might have seemed like he regretted his actions the previous night, but for all she knew it was just an act to save his life. Act or not, it worked.

Ellie squeezed Boyd's hand as they walked toward a local restaurant. Most of their walk had been silence or awkward small talk so she decided on speaking up again to clear the air.

"I apologize for not being around you often, Boyd. I am trying my best to divert the media's attention from you." She smiled weakly as she continued. "But now that we are on the island, I promise we can spend tons of time together, alright?" It wasn't the best apology, but she hoped Boyd would understand. He was extremely smart, even if he acted childish, so Ellie was sure he knew everything that was going on. Though... a part of her hoped he didn't after what Mark had said about his new project 'Ta-Da'.

He nodded "Yes, I understand, but don't worry, mom! Piper has been keeping me company so it's not all bad!" He was still upset about the whole Mark thing but there wasn't a point in bringing it up now. They were trying to have a good time on the island. Not mope around and rant about how much Mark was pissing everyone off.

"That makes me feel better. Much appreciated." It really didn't. Ellie was happy Boyd made a new friend, but he also wasn't some other family's responsibility. She owed that family a giftcard or something. Whatever, she'd just give them someone's wallet that she stole. "Anyway, after lunch Ashley told me you can pick any tour you want. It will be covered by her boss." Who's name she had yet to know. He was paying for shit so did it really matter?

That made Boyd smile. "It was very nice of her to offer us free stuff! I'll be sure to draw her something before we have to leave the island!"

Ellie's robo-heart sunk. That was right, Ashley was going to be staying on the island for her job. Ellie squeezed Boyd's hand tighter as she began to grow nervous. "A drawing is a wonderful idea-"

"Hey Ellie! Boyd! Over here!" Ashley waved at the two of them from the front entrance of the restaurant. "It's so nice that you guys were able to meet me and my boss for lunch! He's really interested in meeting you both."

Pushing her worries aside, Ellie greeted her with a hug. "Ashley, it is so good to see you!" They literally saw each other like a few hours ago. "And it is of no problem. The least we could do is say hello to him; he seems like a very generous man."

Boyd waved. "Hi, Ashley! Nice restaurant choice, it smells really good!"

"Thanks!" Ashley let them both inside the restaurant. They had to move to the very far end of the building to get to their table. The front of the place was very lively with tourists but the table that they were seated at was in the far corner with dim lighting. It was almost something you would see in an Italian gangster movie.

There was a man sitting there at the table, hunched over this notepad scribbling words down like a madman. He was the only one around so Ellie and Boyd quickly pieced together that it was Ashley's boss. His hair was a mess. It was very frizzy and unkept and it looked like he had just been electrocuted in a comical fashion. There were also dark circles under his eyes and it made his whole appearance more sickly. He was wearing a white button down shirt where the buttons were not buttoned in the correct corresponding hole and a long black coat. Homeboy looked a little scary not gonna lie. He was giving the vibes of a goth college student working on their senior project at 4 am.

Ashley sat next to him, letting Ellie and Boyd sit together in the booth across the table. "Hey, Annie!"

He didn't bother to look up from his work. "It's Anity, Ashley."

"It's a nickname, Annie."

Dr. Anity sighed and stopped writing, finally realizing that Ellie and Boyd were there. His expression did a 180. "Oh! You must be Ellie and Boyd! It's a pleasure to meet you both."

Damn. Ellie thought Mark looked like shit in the morning, but this was a different story. She shrugged it off, organics were just weird and couldn't take care of themselves. She smiled back.

"Yes. It is very nice to meet you, Anity."

Boyd squeezed Ellie's hand tightly and wouldn't let go. Little dude wasn't getting good vibes. Ellie squeezed his hand back as a sign that it was alright. Anity seemed a bit off his rockers, but not a danger.

"It is very kind of you to be offering everything that you are."

"It's really no trouble at all, my dear. A friend of Ashley is a friend of mine." Dr. Anity went back to writing.

The three of them all stared while he worked. No one, not even Ashley, could make out what he was writing. All doctors had bad handwriting. It was something only he could make out.

A waitress came by and got everyone's orders when Dr. Anity eventually stopped writing again. It seemed like he didn't even notice that the waitress was even there to take his order. Whatever. He didn't really eat that much anyways. He set his pen down again and stared at Ellie for an uncomfortable amount of time. "Tell me. You are a robot, correct? As well as the child?"

Boyd immediately tensed up, Ellie taking notice right away. She wasn't expecting a question like that right off the bat, but it made sense with all the news coverage.

"No- I mean, well, yes. I am." Ellie glanced at Boyd quickly. "But Boyd is not. He is a definitely real boy and it would be much appreciated if you referred to him as such."

Dr. Anity looked back and forth between her and Boyd. "I see..." He went back to writing, making it feel like he was taking notes about them. "And who created you?"

Now Ellie was beginning to think he was just being plain rude. This was not a proper conversation to be having when you just met someone.

"Mark Beaks."

Maybe he really hadn't seen all the news coverage if he didn't know that already. Or he just wanted to clarify?

Boyd's chocolate milk finally came and he quickly turned his attention to that to distract himself from whatever the hell Dr. Anity was going on about.

"Ohhh I've heard of him." There was another pause while he continued to scribble notes down. Man was this guy weird. "One last and final question for the time being. Are you able to die?" He set his pen down and knitted his hands together on the table, resting it under his chin. There was that uncomfortable stare again. "If I were to cut you open, would you still function as though nothing had happened?"

"Pardon?" Ellie stared back for a moment before dodging her eyes away. "That is a bit of a strange question..." She paused. "And a tad rude."

"How is it rude? You already know that if I was to be cut open, organs thrown out of their proper place, blood everywhere, I would die. So why can't I know what happens to you? It's only fair if you think about it."

Damn. What a weird tourist agent. But he also had a point. Maybe? Ellie settled on answering the question just so he would stop pestering her.

"Yes, I would be able to function, though I am capable of feeling pain." She answered. "The only way I would be able to truly 'die' is if someone were to destroy my core processor."

"Capable of feeling pain..." Anity wrote something else down in his notes. "Interesting. Okay Ellie, those are all the questions I wish to ask you for the day. However, I have many more that I would kindly ask you to answer in the future. As a token of my gratitude, I will be paying for your lunch as well as the tour Ashley had promised. More can and will follow if you are willing to comply with my questions."

The way he said 'comply' didn't sit right with either of them. Boyd began to shake. That was Ellie's tipping point. She took out one of her many stolen wallets and placed a twenty on the table.

"I can cover it. Thank you." She stood up, still holding onto Boyd's hand. "It was nice meeting you, but Boyd and I should really be going..."

"Wait! Ellie, at least let me walk you out." Ashley felt bad that she didn't really defend Ellie during that whole conversation. She locked arms with Ellie and guided her away from the table and whispered. "I'm so sorry about my boss. I should have warned you that he's a little..." She trailed off, not sure which word would be best used to describe a man like Anity.

"Yes, you should have warned me but it is alright." Ellie felt it was odd to be asked all those questions, but she wouldn't have minded all that much if Boyd wasn't present. She should've left sooner. "He has unique interests for being in charge of a tourist company. Which I suppose is fine, but it certainly was not an appropriate conversation to be having in front of Boyd."

Boyd nodded. "Ummm... not to hurt your feelings, Ashley, but I'm not sure I really liked that..." By 'that' he meant Dr. Anity. "My mom and I are going through a lot right now so that didn't help at all." He wasn't usually one to be so up front, but someone had to say it.

"Shit... I know. I'm really sorry. I'll try to come up with an excuse so you don't have to deal with him again. He means well but... no I understand. That wasn't alright of him."

"Why is he so interested in us? I don't like it." Boyd felt even more rude, but he wanted an answer. There were too many questions on his mind with everything going on and he didn't want more piled on top.

She shook her head "I honestly have no idea. I'll ask him about it later if you want me to but I'm just as confused as you are."

He shook his head. "No. It's fine." The last thing Boyd wanted was Dr. Anity finding out he was trying to get into his business. It was best to just forget about it. His stomach grumbled shortly after he spoke.

"Oh, we really should be getting you nutrients, shouldn't we?" Ellie looked back at Ashley. "I will see you again later, Ashley. Tell your boss we thank him for his kind offers but we will pass from now on."

Ashley let her go. They were already at the front of the restaurant again. "Alright. I'm sorry about him again..." She paused "Maybe we can hang out later today if you're free?"

Ellie smiled. "Certainly."

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"OI!" Glomgold got into a defensive stance as he stood, still in a bikini, in the middle of a city with Gloria. "WOT IS GOING ON?!"

Local citizens quickly walked past, avoiding eye contact.

Gloria shook the Time Watch as if she was strangling it. "This fucking thing I swear..." She looked down at Glomgold. "Hey, go and ask someone where and when we are." If anyone was going to be considered a weirdo for asking the year, she was going to make sure it was him.

"OKEH!" He got on all fours and cockroach crawled away, only to return a minute later. "I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND THE WORDS THEY WERE SAYING, BUT-" He spit out a Hello Kitty keychain and held it up. "I GOT THIS!"

Somehow that spit up keychain had the answer Gloria was looking for. It was a tourist keychain that had Hello Kitty holding a sign with the year they were in as well as the city. Tokyolk.

"Tokyolk? I think this is the city where Gyro used to live..."

"HOO?!"

Gloria ignored that. She started walking in a random direction while Glomgold was crawling all around her, scaring everyone who just happened to be walking by. She stopped and kicked him. "Okay this isn't working. We're going to have to find you a children's leash."

"WOT?! WHY?! I'M NOT DOING' ANYTHING!" He stole a random child's lollipop while he spoke, the kid ran off crying with her mother. "THAT'S RIGHT! RUN YOOH LITTLE FUCKER!" Glomgold blinked one eye at a time before swallowing the lollipop, along with the stick, and turning back to Gloria. "WHERE ARE WE GOIN?!"

Gloria sighed "Well I would say we should go to the store and buy that leash I was talking about... but I don't know where we are or where to find one." She paused "I think we should try to look for Gyro, if he's even here at this time. Do you have any bright ideas on how we can find him?"

"HOO'S GYRO?!" A booger dripped from his nose and he sniffled, sucking it back in.

That disgusting booger sniff gave Gloria an idea. "That's it! Glomgold! Smell this!" She held the Time Watch closer to his level for him to sniff. "My scent is on here but so is Gyro's. Do you think you could track him down?"

He sniffed it. "OOOOH! DR. FUCKFACE!" Glomgold began turning in circles before pointing his beak north. "THAT WAY!" His sweaty hand grabbed onto Gloria's as he scuttled down the street, knocking over many passerbys. And people wonder why no one likes Americans.

The weird scene continued on for quite some time, except when Glomgold stopped to pick out a school girl outfit to 'blend it', before they reached a very small apartment complex. He pointed up at it.

"That's awesome, Glomgold! If Japan sells Goldfish, I'll be sure to buy you some!" They entered the apartment complex and she waited on Glomgold to continue to find the specific apartment Gyro lived in.

The door they stopped at was in shambles, but Glomgold gave a curt nod to let Gloria know this was the one. She knocked.

There was tons of rustling on the other side before the door opened. Sure enough, it was Gyro, and he was blocking the apartment behind him with his body.

Gloria nearly burst out laughing. It was totally him, but he was still in his dorky phase! He had the scruffy sleeves, unkempt hair, and horrible glasses she saw in a photo in his lab back in Duckburg. The one where he was posing with Boyd. God, he was so ugly, but she found it charming.

"U-um, h-hello?" He clearly hadn't been expecting visitors.

"Hey, uh... are you Gyro Gearloose?" Gloria couldn't help but smile. She thought he was super cute but also a total mess. It was weird seeing him as all the pictures she would use as blackmail.

"Y-yes..." He squeaked out. Gyro's first thought was Dr. Akita had sent someone to fire him.

"MOVE!" Glomgold shoved him aside to rush into the apartment, obviously for food.

"NO WAIT-" It was too late, the door was wide open and Glomgold was rustling through the cabinets, school girl ass in the air. "It's not... decent."

Yeah. It wasn't. The other side was a mess. Science papers and ramen noodles everywhere. And based on the lectures Gyro had given Gloria about japanese culture, she knew it was highly inappropriate to have guests over when your apartment was in such a condition.

"Sorry about Glomgold... he's crazy. Do you have any Goldfish? That's the only thing that will shut him up for a few hours."

He gave Gloria a strange look. "Goldfish? No, but I have Hikari Saki." If you're wondering what that is, it's literally fish food. Gyro had a large fish tank in the corner. Funny since his future lab was under water.

"FOUND IT!" Glomgold sat down on the counter and started munching away at the fish flanks. Classy.

"Ummm..." Gyro was getting more confused by the second. Fellow foreigners showed up at his door, knowing who he was, and now one of them was eating the food for his fish. "You can come in. I apologize that the place is a m-mess." He gulped. He was beyond embarrassed.

Gloria let herself in and shut the door. It was weird how he didn't have anything snarky or witty to say about Glomgold. "It's alright. My name is Gloria by the way, and that animal over there is Glomgold." She pointed at Glomgold who was currently chewing on some of the cardboard from the fish food box.

"I'm Gyro Gearloose," He held out his hand before awkwardly retracting it. "B-but you already know that. Um... is this about how I didn't properly clean my station back at the lab? O-oh no, I told myself I would get there extra early so he wouldn't know but of course he knows. He always knows. I'm a fool." He covered his face. "You can go ahead and tell me that Dr. Akita wants me fired."

"Woah woah woah! I'm not with Dr. Akita and you're not fired. I was wondering if you could help me with this." She handed him the Time Watch. "Glomgold over there spilled an ICEE on it..."

"OI! THAT WAS YOUR FAULT, STOOPID GORL!"

Gyro cringed. His neighbors were not going to be happy with all the ruckus going on. They already didn't like him as is. He shook that off as best as he could before taking the Time Watch.

"Y-you want my help? I'm just an intern." He shook his head. "You should be contacting Dr. Akita. Not me."

"But I want your help with it, Gyro! Intern or not, I know you're more than capable of helping me!" Plus from what Gyro had told her about Dr. Akita, it wouldn't be smart to let such a corrupt dick get a hold of time travel. Also this was his invention and Gyro was probably the only one who would be able to figure it out.

Gyro blushed. "R-really, well, I mean... if you say so..." He wondered if this was some sort of test. "What is this anyway?"

"Ummmmm..." Fuck. How do you tell someone it's a time machine without giving away that you're a time traveler?!

He gasped out of nowhere. "Oh my g-gosh! Are you a time traveler?!" Well, someone was observant. He moved in closer to study her. "I should have noticed sooner! Your hair, your clothes... it's so odd." His eyes widened. "N-no offense!"

Gloria laughed. It took every ounce of willpower not to roast this man over his own hairstyle and clothes... but it seemed like this version of Gyro might cry if she did. "It's fine. The Time Watch started sparking and making bad noises. I didn't mean to come to this point in time but I'm glad that it did because you can help fix it!" There was no way Gloria was leaving without more blackmail photos by the way.

"O-oh wow!" Gyro sat down at the cabudai and pulled out a toolkit that was conveniently placed under it. "Whoever made this must be a genius! But the design is a bit ugly..." He trailed off. "No matter! I'm sure I can help you somehow!" He patted the seat next to him. "Please! Sit!"

Gloria sat next to Gyro and watched him work. He was still wearing the same yellow hat which she thought was interesting. Or maybe he buys the same hat over and over again when it gets old? Whatever. "So how are you enjoying Japan and your time working for Dr. Akita?"

"It's lovely! The culture fits me well I think, everyone is polite and reserved like me! But... I do scare a lot of people being so tall and, you know, foreign." It was clear he didn't have any friends in Japan. Or probably at all. The sentence somehow gave it away. "And working with Dr. Akita is such an honor! He's a very intelligent man. I want to be just like him someday." Gyro set down a tool just to pick up another. "Where are you from? Are you a scientist too?"

"Duckburg, California. I