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No one celebrates Romeo's birthday.
Mostly because he never shared it with anyone. Why should he? It's not like anyone would care. He doesn't even celebrate them, so why should others care?
But he wants people to care.
And people did care last year. However, it was by accident. The Flying Factory went rogue while Robot was trying to find the party settings, settings that he forgot he even added. The only reason why he added them was because he was bored and needed something to pass the time while he thought of something new to invent.
He invited the PJ Masks to a last-minute birthday party as he joked about making every day his birthday, trying to lighten up the mood some more, only to get nervous laughs and a tense atmosphere in return.
Well, he was only half joking when he said that; the truth was he just wanted more company every day. Sure, he had his robots, but he wanted human company. No fighting, no mocking, no pointing and laughing at him, just peaceful, friendly human company.
I mean, they do say that Romeo should never get what he wants.
Well, maybe he did eavesdrop and hear it from those PJ pests, anyhow.
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A boy wakes up and opens the curtains to let the sunlight graze on his sleepy face. Romeo rubs most of the sleep out of his eyes and reaches for his glasses on his bedside table. He blinks a few times before debating whether he should get out of bed at all today.After all, it's not even his shift to be a nighttime villain tonight anyway; he could stay in bed all day, and no one would bat an eye. Inventions take time and effort, after all. However, he gets a nagging feeling that he is missing something today.
Is it an invention that needs work?
He anxiously gazes around his bedroom but sees nothing that needs fixing.
Does he need to go somewhere to get his materials from the local junkyard?
He looks beside him, on his bedside table, where his glasses lay earlier, to find a mini notepad he usually writes his schedule for the following day on. He never deviates from whatever he writes on there.
But however, sometimes he doesn't write anything on the notepad simply because he doesn't have anything interesting to do on the following day. He looks at the notepad and sees that he hasn't written anything down to do for today.
Romeo sighs and closes his eyes again, wanting to sleep until it's his time to cause havoc on the city below.
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Robot finishes charging and proceeds to follow Robot's daily schedule. Check on the Flying Factory, check on the other robots, check on Master, find things to keep himself busy, and then repeat. It was an efficient cycle for Robot, being programmed for it and all.
The robot checked the Flying Factory, checked on all the other robots, and made sure they did their daily maintenance and such. Then Robot proceeded to check on Romeo, Robot's master.
Wait. Romeo.
Robot remembered something important today! Regarding Robot's master.
It was Romeo's birthday today!
Robot opens the door to his master's bedroom when Robot finds out that Romeo is still on his bed. Which isn't a surprise to Robot, since Robot's master tends to sleep in a lot.
The robot walks up to his supposed sleeping master, only to find him wide awake and staring at the ceiling.
"Good morning and happy birthday, Master!" the robot greeted.A systematic greeting that Robot wasn't really programmed to do; it was just force of habit. However, Robot did change it today to accommodate the fact that it is Robot's master's birthday today.
Romeo quickly shook his head, snapping out of his thoughts, and sat up facing Robot. "Good morning, Robot," came the boy's weak reply.
"Anything on your agenda today, Master?" Robot asked, grabbing the notepad that was unceremoniously left on the bed. Romeo didn't even bother to reply since he saw that Robot already held the notepad in his robotic hands. Robot quickly flipped through the pages, only to find nothing written for today. The robot returned it to the bedside table.
"Do you wish to keep sleeping, or do you want to start your day, Master?" Robot asked while checking Romeo for any health-related issues, again, another part of Robot's daily routine.
Romeo just drowsily shrugged and hopped off his bed to start making it. As he was arranging his bed, Robot left to make some food for his master.
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It was recess time in Tarabiscoville Elementary School. All the kids played outside in the playground talking about things like school and toys, while Connor, Greg, and Amaya were talking about something else among themselves.
"Guys, today's August 31st, right?" Gekko asked his friends, who were sitting at the bench eating their cream cheese bagels with him.
"Yeah! Is there something important to do today?" Connor chipped in after munching on his bagel.
"Guys! It's Romeo's birthday!" Greg blurted out in a loud voice, shocking his friends a bit, before they returned to chomping on their prized bagels.
"Oh, right! You think he's got something planned? You know him." Amaya spoke up, finishing her bagel.
"He's been reusing his previous inventions just to poke around and play with us at this point," Connor replied, donning a confused expression as he used his elbow to rest his head on the cold metal lunch table.
"Yeah! When we asked him about it, he kept saying he's planning something big, but it's been weeks! Do you think he's really planning something?" Greg questioned, also confused at the current situation.
The three of them look around, looking for anything out of the ordinary, but there is none to be seen.
"Let's go see what he's up to tonight and confront him about it!" Connor whispered to his friends.
"Bet," Greg and Amaya replied with equal determined energy.
The three of them cautiously looked around for any eavesdroppers before doing their PJ hand move.
"PJ Masks, we're on our way! Into the night to save the day!" The trio whispered as they finished their hand move. They then continued to chat amongst themselves, waiting for time to pass until their next class period.
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As he watched Robot walk out of his bedroom, Romeo arranged his bed and got dressed. He didn't know what to do for today, so he spent a few minutes walking in circles, trying to think of a schedule to follow. Eventually he gave up and just went to the kitchen for breakfast.
He didn't really pay attention to his birthday, never really cared, and never bothered to celebrate. He just treats it like any other day.
As he walked down the hallway leading to his kitchen, he remembered something.
"Happy Birthday, Juliet!Mommy needs to go for a while! It's really important, so I can't tell you! But I left some money for you, but remember to spend it wisely on things you actually need, like food and water! I also baked you a piece of cake. Mommy doesn't have a gift for you this year, but she is trying! With love, Mommy Claire."
Thud.
Romeo falls on the floor with a thud.
No.
He doesn't want to remember this.
He doesn't want to remember her.
What he used to be. He's not her anymore.
He can't be her anymore.
But if he's not her anymore, then why can't he breathe?
Why is it so hard to breathe? Why is his body hurting all of a sudden? Why didn't his body hurt before?
He tried sucking up his pain and attempted to stand up. It was pretty difficult. He shakily got up and put a foot forward before falling again.
Romeo breathed out a deep sigh before turning it into an exasperated and out-of-breath scream. He just stayed on the floor for a bit, his body refusing to move.
After a bit, Robot eventually found him and was taking the boy back to bed.
"Master, are you unwell? If so, you should have told me," Robot started. Robot's voice was soft in contrast to his harsh metal footsteps against the cold floor.
Romeo just shook his head as he closed his eyes and let his body relax in Robot's huge hands.
Robot then opened the door to Romeo's bedroom and lowered the boy onto his bed.
Robot then left Romeo for a bit to head to the kitchen to get some reheated breakfast for Robot's master.
As Robot left, Romeo was left by himself to think.
Life has been hard for Romeo lately. Wait, no, life has always been hard for Romeo. It's just lately; it's been extra hard.He hasn't been able to figure out what to even do with his life. Every invention idea he thinks of nowadays is something he's done before. He hasn't been able to bring himself to work or even go near his desk at all, and he's mostly just staying in bed, and when he does get out of bed to keep up appearances with the PJs and the other villains, he mostly just reuses his old inventions to do little things with the excuse of 'working on something big!''
But he knew that the PJs were not buying it. Neither did the other villains. He saw firsthand the confused expressions on their faces as they just shrugged off.
Maybe he should think about something else.
Panic attacks like that have been really annoying him lately. But it's always been like that. He wishes he could just shut his brain off and forget everything. But of course, the brain of a self-proclaimed genius isn't so simple. He keeps thinking. Thinking about inventions, about others, about himself. He just can't shut his brain off. The thoughts consume him before he can even get a chance to breathe.
But then again, it's not like he could remember his past too clearly either. Most times he tried to remember the extent of what he experienced in the past, it left him with a pounding headache and blurry vision, and seconds later, he couldn't even remember the faces of his tormentors.
Then, right there, that's when he got it. His biggest plan ever.
Romeo wants to build a time machine. To go back into the past and hopefully change something. Anything. To not turn into the person he is now.
Perfect.
"Master, your food is getting cold. I just reheated it."
Robot's words broke Romeo out of his thoughts, and he finally noticed the warm metal of the food tray that lay on his lap.
"Thanks, Robot," Romeo replied as he began eating. He thought of the inner workings of his possible time machine. Calculations quickly took over his brain as he began to piece together a potential blueprint with more enthusiasm than his previous month could give him. As soon as he finished, he hastily scrambled over to his working desk to start piecing together his grand plan.
"Master, what happened earlier? Aren't you supposed to be resting?" Robot looked at his master in question, who was shaking and scurrying to his desk and looked like he was about to drop dead on the spot with his unusually pale complexion.
"I'm fine, Robot. That was, uhh—" Romeo cut himself off in his tracks as he desperately tried to cover for himself. "Lack of sleep! Right! I was trying to regain my senses!" Romeo frantically retorted as his words were slurring into each other and becoming more muddled the further he spoke. Well, it was half true, since Romeo was practically exhausted beyond even his comprehension when the event occurred.
"Just take care of yourself, Master." Robot sighed as Robot walked out of the room, robotic footsteps leaving Romeo to his work. Romeo just nodded his head and accepted his fate.
Minutes swiftly turn to hours as they slip away. Romeo aggressively wiped the anxious sweat that rolled from his forehead with the back of his oil-stained gloves. The adrenaline that rushed through him was the only thing keeping him working.
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Night in the city!
And a brand-new team of heroes is ready to face fiendish villains.
To stop them messing with YOUR DAY!
The Power Heroes transform in their respective areas and then swiftly make their way to SpaceQ.
"Alright guys, listen up!" Catboy's voice rang through the meeting room as all the other members gave their attention to him.
"As you probably already know, or maybe don't…" Catboy trailed off. "It's Romeo's birthday today!" He announced with a smile, leading everyone to cheer before Catboy silenced them.
"Last year, it was just a birthday party that went wrong, but we don't know what he's planning this year." Catboy spoke with animated hands.
"So you're saying we find out what he's planning first, stop him if he does something, and then go celebrate?" Ice Cube spoke up as his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree with that last word.
"Mhm!" Catboy nodded. "However, it would be best if only a few of us would go first before getting others if needed."
Everyone else nodded before Owlette spoke up.
"How about the three of us, Catboy and Gekko?" She gestured to the people she was speaking of. The two of them nodded as they made their way out of SpaceQ.
"Pj Masks all shout hooray, because Catboy, Owlette, and Gekko will save the day!" The other members shouted out as the trio made their leave.
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Romeo released a deep and scratchy exhale as he looked at his latest masterpiece. It was still unfinished; as much of a genius as he is, he can't make a time machine overnight. But oh, how he wished he could.
He took a step back and looked at his invention, smiling as he admired it, exhuastion never comparing to the relief after finishing something big.
A time machine that could take him to his past. Where he will erase himself. Forever.
Suddenly Romeo recieves a splitting headache, similar to the one he had this morning. His shaking hands drop the wrench he was holding onto his feet, the initial shock waking him up and draining him from all the built up exhaustion he had for a second. Then came the pain.
Great.
As if he needed more. He gazed into the reflective metal of his work in progress and found her staring back at him, pointing with an extended finger. Romeo turned away, only to find the PJ trio looking at him dumbfounded.
Romeo took the hand he didn't know he grabbed so hardly on his skull off his head and shook his head, pretending everything was fine, sending the other children an awkward smile to try and lighten up the situation.
"What are you planning this time, Romeo?" Catboy asked as he glared at the scientist. "Oh, and happy birthday by the way!" Gekko cheerfully greeted, earning a soft smile from everyone, except the birthday celebrant himself. Romeo's face did support a smile, yet it was cold, empty and uncanny, which rubbed the PJ Masks the wrong way. The boy himself was really dirty. Dirt, oil, grime, and wounds littered Romeo's body. However, this was a normal thing, so none of them paid any mind.
"What's that?" Gekko asked Romeo, who hastily covered the machine with a cloth and picked up the wrench he had dropped.
"Uh-uh! No peeking! You have to wait until I'm done!" Romeo shouted at them, waving his hand at them to try and shoo them away, to no avail.
"Well, if you're all looking to fight me or something tonight, you're out of luck," Romeo huffed, turning back to work on his machine again.
"Eh?!" The trio all squeaked, baffled at the fact that Romeo was unprepared tonight.
"A genius as I am, I can't make a thing overnight, you know. Come back in a few more nights or something. I'm working on something big!" Romeo announced, a more lively smile appearing on his face for a split second before falling back to that uncanny-looking smile again.
"Oh… Okay…?" Owlette mused as she carefully eyed their surroundings, wary of traps.
"Why are you all still here? I don't have anything to offer you!" Romeo turned back to meet the trio, an annoyed expression present on his face.
"We were wondering if we could go to your birthday party…?" Owlette offered, trying to diffuse things before they get out of hand.
"Birthday party, what do you mean?" Romeo asked, confusion washing over his annoyance.
"You have one every year, don't you? You had one last year, so surely you have one this year!" Catboy reasoned, stepping forward a bit to approach Romeo, appearing more friendly than apprehensive.
"Not every year; last year was just… unexpected." Romeo trailed off, the memories from the year before still lingering on.
"Unexpected?" The PJ Trio all pressed the boy in confused unison.
"Well, whatever. Be grateful you don't have to do any work tonight. Go enjoy yourselves," Romeo waved them dismissively as he grabbed a blowtorch from his desk and continued to work without paying them mind.
The trio looked at each other with a confused look but shrugged and greeted Romeo goodbye as they mumbled their way out of the Flying Factory.
When Catboy, Owlette, and Gekko returned to SpaceQ, they told the other members about the events inside the factory, leaving the others just as confused as they were.
"Maybe after he finishes his new gizmo he'll throw a party?" Gekko reasoned out.
"I don't really know…" Owlette replied. "He said that last year was unexpected, so does that mean he didn't celebrate his birthday before last year?"
"Come to think about it, have we ever seen Romeo celebrate his birthday before?" Catboy asked everyone, earning shakes of the head in return.
"Perhaps we are looking too much into this?" Newton replied, everyone nodding and agreeing in return.
They just decided to call it a night, and they all went their separate ways.
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Romeo paid no mind as the PJs walked out of his room, chattering whatever among themselves; the scientist could not bring himself to care. For he was too focused on his task in front of him, and he will stop at nothing until he gets it done.
But he, of course, in typical Romeo fashion, pondered about everything they said to him.
He didn't know they cared about him so much and even why, to the point where they remembered it was his birthday today. Again, it's not like he himself wants to care anyway.
But still, it got him thinking. Why did they care so much?
Then he heard a knock on his door.
"Come in!" Romeo's toned down yet still squeaky voice echoed through the room. Robot walked in, looking at his dirty master while holding an omelette and a cake on a tray.
"How's the progress on your latest invention, Master?" Robot started to converse as Robot placed the tray on the desk near his master.
"It's going well," Romeo stated, a soft smile making it's way to his face. "I estimate the progress to be about 40% done! This will take a while to complete, though." Romeo wiped the sweat off his forehead again, less aggresively this time.
"Eat, Master." Robot gestured to the tray of food, breaking Romeo's train of thought. The boy sighed as he took off his gloves to not contaminate the food as he began eating. Robot took the time to arrange and organize the messy area around his master, putting tools back into place and cleaning any oil spills. Romeo just spaced out and put his body on a sort of autopilot to eat for him as his brain spiraled into thought, trying to keep himself from having another panic attack.
When Romeo had finished eating the omelette, Robot lit the candle on top of the cake, once again breaking Romeo out of his thoughts and back into reality. His brain lagged behind for a bit as he wondered why Robot lit a cake.
Right, it is his birthday today.
He was just stressing about it a few minutes ago; how could he forget it so quickly?
Romeo let out a sigh as he blew out the candle on his cake.
The remaining hours left of the day just blur by.
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The sun rose over a bustling Tarabiscoville a few days later.Amaya, Connor, and Greg have already completed their science project thirty minutes ahead of time, so they get the remaining thirty minutes of the period exploring the science lab under supervision.
The trio chattered as they looked at various science equipment and a display of experiments of students who used to be at their school.
As they walked down the hallway, displaying things like invisible ink with citrus juice and other interesting things. But one experiment caught Greg's eye in particular so much he had to stop and take a look.
It was a robot.
Greg had to blink twice before he could confirm what he was seeing.
"Connor! Amaya! Look what I found!" Greg called his friends, who ran over to look at the saw with him.
"It's a… mini space-themed robot?" Connor asked Greg, who nodded in agreement. They looked for the nameplate on the display case to see who made it.
It read: Juliet Mecano. Second Grade.
The trio were shocked upon seeing it, remembering what happened on that day. Greg especially. He heard everything directly coming from Romeo.
"No one listened to me back then, and still no one listens to me now! Robot only does because I'm ordering him to. He doesn't care. I know it. He would leave me in a heartbeat if he got the chance! So would Robette! Everyone will! No matter what I do, no matter what I say, no one will ever listen to me, or care, or love me, NO ONE! No one. So I trust myself. Only myself. The truth is, I join villain alliances just to not feel alone for another night. I just feel SO LONELY EVERY NIGHT!"
Somehow those words in particular stuck with Greg.
Greg was snapped out of his thoughts when he saw that his friends were not beside him.He looked around for them and saw them talking to their science teacher, who was there to supervise them.
"What was she like, teacher?" Greg heard Amaya ask their teacher as he drew closer.
"Well, Juliet was a..." The teacher paused, thinking of words to say. "Strange/i> student, to say the least," the teacher started.
"Strange...?" Catboy repeated, confused about what he meant.
"She was amazing at math and science. Had the highest grades I had ever seen," the teacher mused.
"But in every other subject, she was..." The teacher trailed off again. "How do I word this nicely?"
"A failure."
The trio jumped at the sudden change of their teacher's tone.
"She failed in other subjects so much I wonder if she was even trying to be honest. Sometimes she would try and actually do the task; other times all she did was stare at her desk, sweating and shivering like she'd seen a ghost."
The teacher sighed as he continued, disappointment clear in his voice.
"But in my subject…" the teacher mused. "She was the smartest girl around. She always would ask questions after class, and she would actually listen to the class."
"But then one day, she just vanished. Like poof! Gone! No dramatic goodbye, no formal letter. She just stopped attending school. I tried to contact her parents, but they were out of reach." The teacher ended, taking into account the concerned faces of his students.
"I think I know where she might have gone," Greg whispered to Connor, who then relayed it to Amaya.
"Thanks, Teacher!" Amaya cheered as they made their leave when the lunchtime bell rang.
They then made their way to the benches outside and took a seat while opening their lunchboxes.
"I guess we all know what happened to her…?" Amaya told her friends, who were still stunned by that revelation.
"Yeah. I didn't know she used to go to our school." Connor trailed off, trying to piece the whole thing together in his head.
"Do you know anything, Greg?" The two children turned to their friend, who seemed awfully quiet.
Greg stopped in his sandwich-swallowing tracks. He remembered his heartfelt exchange with Romeo that day. None of them mentioned sharing their sentiments with others, so Greg didn't know what to do. But, of course, it would be pretty bad to leave his friends hanging, so he just told them the bare minimum.
The rest of lunchtime flew by pretty quickly.
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Romeo sighed as he slouched in his chair, releasing a very relieved yet stressed sigh. Relieved since he finished the first step of his operation, but stressed because he just finished the first step. He stared at his mechanical achievement, his eyes wandering over to one button.
A transport button.
This was a button that could send him back to the real world, should he ever enter inside. Romeo was not really sure exactly whyhe made it. Perhaps there was a lingering feeling nagging him inside his head that told him he didn't want to go through with this. A part of him that wanted to live.
The long-awaited time machine stood there before him in all its finished glory. He checked off a little checklist of all the steps of his plan, his hands shaking as much as he tried to stop them.
Step One: Build the time machine finally got a little checkmark next to it.
The euphoria guided his body towards the machine like a sixth sense while anxiety tried to pull hil out of his excited trance. 'This is it.' Romeo mused, the final end to all his suffering. No more sleepless nights thinking about what could have been, no more wondering whether it was even worth it to be a villain or to just give up completely-
Then his door opened.
"Romeo!" Catboy shouted, startling Romeo and aggresively yet successfully pulling the kid out of his haze.
"What surprise have you got for us this time?" Owlette asked, not really caring about the answer.
"Not your business. You can just leave. I won't destroy the city or anything. Just leave me be," Romeo frustratedly blurted out, as he was rapidly waving his hands at them before returning his focus to his time machine.
The trio looked at each other with a hesitant and confused look before looking at Romeo again.
"We learned our lesson plenty of times already, Romeo," Owlette retorted, aware of how many times Romeo pulled a trick like this on them before.
"We don't trust you with these kinds of things." Catboy backed her up, his eyes trying to lock in with Romeo.
"Just tell us what you're trying to do with that thing—" Gekko tried to diffuse the situation down while pointing to the machine.
"Nothing that'll bother you. Now leave me alone." Romeo exasperatedly stopped Gekko in his tracks as he took a sharp breath and stuck his hand into the machine.
"NO YOU DON'T!" A shout came from behind Romeo, making him slightly jump.
"Super Cat Speed!" Catboy shouted as he sped into the machine, cutting Romeo off as he dragged his friends to go in along with him.
"WAIT!" Romeo screamed, but it was too late. They were already inside.
"The machine is only supposed to hold one person at a time!" Romeo sighed, defeated. "Who knows what'll happen?"
Silence.
"Well, I have to update this before I lose them. And fast!" Romeo said to no one in particular as he scrambled around his room, gathering all the things needed to fix his machine in time.
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The morning sun burned onto the streets below, but the citizens of Tarabiscoville didn't really mind it, since it's normal for them anyway.
Wait, the sun?
"Umm, guys...?" A slightly high-pitched boy started.
"Yeah, Gekko?" A girl chimed in.
"Why is it daytime?" Gekko asked his friends, who were trying to get up.
"You're right, Gekko! Wasn't it just nighttime when we entered that machine? And why are we at school…?" Catboy asked, trying to remember what happened just before as the other two looked at the kids happily flooding the school gates.
"We should change out of our pajamas! We could be exposed!" Gekko feared, covering himself with his arms.
"This is Romeo's little world, remember? Perhaps he was trying to do something here. None of them even pay attention or even look at us," Owlette reminded her friends as she followed the kids, the other two following suit.
"Guys, look!" Gekko gestured, trying to get his friends' attention as he pointed out a smaller version of themselves, still in a group.
"Is that…?" Owlette muttered, not believing what her eyes were showing her.
"Our past selves?" Catboy took a bit to process things. "COOL!" Catboy said as he tried to pat his smaller self on the back, only to phase right through him.
"Eh?" he uttered out as he tried to touch his little self with a little more force this time, only to fall right through him. The other two tried as well with their respective counterparts, yet also ended in the same result.
"That's weird. We can't touch anyone," Owlette muttered as she passed by the happy kids.
"Did we just enter a time machine?" Gekko asked his friends, who just nodded in agreement, still baffled by the whole thing.
They then heard a muffled scream followed by some laughing. They turned around to see a little girl shoved into the sandpit, with other children laughing at her before walking away. The other children just stared pitifully before turning away themselves.
The PJ trio quickly ran over to help the girl before realizing that they couldn't touch her.
"Hi, are you oka-?" Gekko tried to ask her, but she got up and phased right through him, leaving the trio once again confused. She had quite the pained expression on her face.
"Guess they can't see or talk to us either." Catboy sighed as they followed her in.
Class soon started as the girl squirmed uncomfortably in her chair, clearly disturbed by something.
Class continued as usual, so the PJ trio began to chat while passing the time, the only thing they could do to pass the time. They would talk about absolutely anything that so happened to cross their minds at the moment. l
The teacher, wanting someone to answer a question, she sought out the class record, and chose a name at random to be called.
"Mecano, Juliet."
The classroom once bustling with chatter suddenly was speechless. Her voice rang in the silence. Gekko audibly gasped. Juliet. Wasn't she the name Romeo mentioned? Is she Romeo's past self? Before all the villain stuff?
The PJ trio silenced themselves as they listened in.
The trembling kid in question shakily stood up, her glassy eyes not even daring to meet with the teachers, much less her classmates, who were giggling behind her back. Her raven hair adorned with a white streak, tied into long, flowing braids was now drenched in anxious sweat that rolled down her face the more she stood there in slience. She felt the glasses slipping off her face, but her hands felt tied to her side, like she felt tied to her fate of class embarassment.
"This was the kid who was pushed in the sand earlier," Owlette whispered to her friends, who nodded in agreement and kept watching.
When the teacher asked the question, all that came out were stutters and mumbles. She only managed to mutter out a few single words before the teacher slapped a ruler on her desk, startling everyone in the class and making the poor girl jump. She then ordered Juliet to sit down before giving a long lecture on why students should pay attention in class. Juliet herself wasn't even listening anymore, the swirling thoughts that plagued her mind were the only things she could hear. Her hands gripped her thighs enough to make them dig into her skin, a feeble attempt to regulate herself to no avail.
Gekko felt an oddly familiar sense. This is what Romeo was talking about with him. Romeo felt the same way as Greg did, as this is a similar experience that Greg had faced too. Before he could let the memories take over his mind too, Gekko got an idea.
"Hey, Owlette," he whispered to her.
"Yeah, Gekko?" she responded back.
"Can you use your owl eyes on Juliet's notebook? I need to confirm something," Gekko asked her, hoping she got the hint.
Owlette understood what Gekko was trying to do and complied.
Her eyes scanned the girl's notebook, which was littered with notes scribbled down on the topic.
Owlette relayed the information to Gekko.
"She did pay attention," he mumbled.
The entire class suddenly got up as soon as the bell rang to head into the locker room, with the little girl dragging behind. The trio followed them.
It was physical education. The first activity was an endurance race, which was expected. On a whistle's blow, the entire class ran as fast as they could. Some leading, some lagging behind. Juliet was among the latter. She was the last one to finish, that is. She took so long that a few other children took out their handkerchiefs and threw them at her feet to make her trip. No one complained about it, so it seemed like tradition to them.
In the following activities, those kids found every way to bully the poor girl, but she didn't bite back or complain; she just accepted it.
The remaining hours flew by quickly, as once again, nothing interesting happened. The trio took this as a break to chat and roam the halls while nothing was happening. They saw the posters littered over the walls.
"The annual school science fair!" The three cheered as they saw the posters.
"I remember these!" Greg excitedly cheered as he read the details on the poster.
"Weren't we the ones who designed this poster?" Catboy asked, the other two starting to uncover old memories.
"Yeah! It was a competition we didn't even know we were in," Owlette mused.
The three began laughing as they continued to converse, the time flying quicker than they thought.
Soon enough, all the kids rushed out of their classrooms, eager to go home. Except for Juliet, who stayed in the classroom. The PJs kept an eye on her and saw that she took something out of her bag.
It was the robot they saw earlier.
the space-themed one. For the first time, she actually smiled, like a happy, genuine smile. The children couldn't help but smile with her.
As the minute passed by, she began tinkering at her robot. Fixing, testing, and fixing again.
However, she flinched when she heard the door slam shut.
In a flash, the bullies pick her up and shove her into a nearby storage closet and lock it. The PJ trio were shocked. They didn't see the bullies get this violent before.
Said bullies quickly stole a glance at the trinket Juliet was messing with and started destroying it.
Bit by bit they tore it down, laughing as the girl in question banged on the cabinet door, asking for help and trying to break free.
The PJ trio quickly dove into action.
Gekko tried to use his muscles to break the cabinet door open, while the other two tried to stop the destruction currently happening.
"Guys, it's no good!" Gekko cried as he struggled and failed to open the cabinet doors, the other two sharing similar complaints because of the whole phasing-through-things thing.
Eventually the bullies left, giggling with diabolical glee as the teacher breaks Juliet out of the cabinet and blames her for the mess. She reasons that she was the only one to have made the robot, so therefore she should clean up her own mess.
The little girl cried as she picked bits and bobs off of the floor as the three children watched on with despair.
As Juliet left the classroom and headed home, Catboy and Owlette weren't sure what to do next. But Gekko did.
He gestured over to Juliet, and they were a little confused, but they trusted Gekko and followed her home.
---------------------------------
The PJ Trio was expecting someone to welcome Juliet home.
They all remembered how their parents greeted them when they went home and hoped Juliet would feel the same way.
But once Juliet went home, she placed her bag on the floor rug in her room and flopped onto the bed and screamed as loud as she could. The mattress muffled most of the volume, but it was still audible.
After a while, Juliet got up and read her school books to pass the time. Trying to make sense of the words with red-rimmed eyes and tears threatening to fall from them.<
An hour passed; nothing interesting happened. So the PJs walked out of the house and used the opportunity to talk about their findings.
"I don't understand though," Catboy mused. "Why did Romeo make a machine just to stalk a girl? Why is she so important anyway?"
"She shares Romeo's surname, Catboy," Owlette replied, Catboy trying to think it over.
"Wait… Yeah! That checks out!" Catboy grinned. "So he does have a reason to check on her like this. But why the past?"
"He has his reasons, I guess." Gekko nervously shrugged. He knew what was coming since Romeo had already told him about it, but the fear still remained.
They were startled when they saw a lady walk into the house. They went outside Juliet's window to check on her, yet she seemed to have fallen asleep on her desk.
The lady also comes to check in on her before going to the kitchen and making… cake?
The PJs pay attention to the woman, who looked quite somber while baking. Shouldn't you be happy while making a cake?
Once she was done, the woman placed the cake on the counter before hurriedly packing her bags and leaving. The trio were baffled by what they just saw.
Suddenly, in a snap, the night turns into day. The children were confused but remembered they were in one of Romeo's machines, so they paid it no mind. They instead went inside the house to check on Juliet, who was awake and rushing and stumbling out of the house, seemingly not noticing the cake on the counter.
They followed her to the school, where the science fair was being held. They expected her to lash out, considering how it seemed like she had been mistreated for the longest time now. The three children gasped as they saw Juliet's bullies on the stage instead of her.
However, the little girl just sighed and left through the school gate. The look of her eyes signaled a sense of finality. As if she's never coming back.
"I want to disappear," she says, looking back at the gate one more time before leaving and never looking back again.
---------------------------------
As Juliet arrived home, she placed her bag in her room as always, but this time, she didn't stay in there for long.
The children soon find Juliet drowsily eating breakfast with a robot, one that suspiciously looks like the robot that follows present-day Romeo around.
As the little girl weakly lifts a spoon to her mouth, the robot approaches his master.
"What is the problem, Master? Is the food not to your liking?" The robotic yet concerned voice echoed in the dining room, breaking the eerie silence as the girl swallowed her food.
"No, it's not that," Juliet replied with a sigh. "I just…" She trailed off before speaking. "It's not the food that doesn't feel right. It's me.
"I don't feel right."
The trio listened in as she confessed.
"In what way, Master?" Robot replied, not understanding at all, yet willing to help in any way that Robot could. But Juliet quickly excused herself and ran to another room in her house. Of course, in typical PJ Masks fashion, the three kids followed her.
She ended up in the bathroom, staring at herself in the mirror with a gaze whose anger and confusion alone could shatter the very reflective surface that her anger stemmed from. She remained quiet for a bit; the words she wanted to scream remained stuck in her throat, threatening to spill out along with all her pent-up frustration.
'Disappear for good! '
'No one cares if you go missing.'
Those words, along with everything else that's been said to her, only made her head ripple in pain, like her thoughts were making her split in half.
Until she came to a conclusion.
"If they want me gone," Juliet spoke out in a grouchy tone, with tears rolling down the side of her face, tears she didn't bother to wipe."Then I will disappear for good. I want it too, after all."
In a daze, Juliet grabs spare scissors that were kept in the bathroom and raises them up to her head. Black, sometimes white, locks of hair begin to fall on the floor as a soft smile grows on her face.
The three children gasp in shock and confusion as they witness the scene unfolding before them. Gekko remembered what Romeo said to him about this exact event.
"What's happening to her…?" Owlette asked as sweat trickled down her face. Before anyone could reply, the sound of pained and heavy footsteps interrupted them.
Suddenly, Romeo barges into the room with a shining metal dagger in hand and tries to attack Juliet with heavy breaths and a tear-stained face. But when he phased through her, a hint of confusion appeared on his raging face before he shook his face and tried again.
And again.
Again.
But it was no use. Realization dawned on Romeo as his weak hands let go of the dagger as the sound of the metal crashing against the floor made his ears ring. He let out a deep sigh as he began to cry, giving up as his legs gave out, sending him tumbling towards the floor.
The PJs were speechless as they tried to piece this whole thing together, confused and concerned. Gekko was the first one to muster up courage to approach the boy. Romeo painfully flinched as Gekko's arms enveloped him in a tight embrace. The other two followed suit.
After a while, Gekko let go of the other as Romeo harshly wiped the tears off of his face with his dirty gloves and looked at Gekko, who, in turn, looked back.
They stared at each other for a while until Romeo spoke.
"I'm sorry," came a soft whisper, which made Catboy and Owlette raise their eyebrows in suspicion while Gekko's face just fell. "S-sorry for dragging y-you guys into my own mess," Romeo stuttered out as he tried to fake a somber smile, to no avail.
"Actually," Gekko softly replied. "It's kind of our fault for rushing ourselves in like that."
"Nonsense," came the reply. "You had all the reasons to be nosy about my plans. After all, I am a villain. Heroes shouldn't really be trusting villains. Same goes the other way around."
"He's actually got a point!" Catboy exclaimed. "But Gekko also has a point too." The silence made Catboy explain further. "We shouldn't be trusting Romeo, but we also shouldn't immediately jump to conclusions either."
"Besides!" Owlette popped in.
"What even is the whole purpose of this time machine thing, anyway? We can't interfere with the past, so what's the point?" She questioned.
"I thought it could," Romeo murmured; however, it was still loud enough for the others to hear.
"What do you mean?" Gekko asked, getting a sigh from Romeo in response. "Do you really want to know about my intentions with this thing?" Romeo asked the trio in a calm and surprisingly honest tone of voice, one that caught the other children off guard. All three of them nodded, eager to listen with determined faces.
"Fine, fine. I'll tell you. Just don't think less of me after hearing this. Or do; I can't do that for you." He sighed as he began his story.
"I've always hated my life. I see everyone around me getting the things I want so effortlessly, yet here I am, trying my absolute hardest, and nothing ever goes my way. Everyone hated me for just existing, memories of which still haunt me today."
Romeo huffed out a panicked exhale, then continued.
"I'm never happy with myself. I never was. Everyone around me just supports these thoughts. Every day's already a chore for me. I didn't know what to do with myself anymore. Being a villain is fun and all, but there's so much pain I can give others before I get hurt myself. But I can't be a hero; I'm so used to hurting others I don't know how to interact with them in a good way anymore. So I figured I'd just erase myself completely, to shut my brain off and not worry about anything anymore."
Romeo sniffled as the trio had frowns on their faces. Owlette's and Catboy's were more of a shock, while Gekko's were more of sympathy.
"So I made this time machine to do that exact thing. The plan was to go back in time and erase myself, but you all went in here first and jammed this machine!"
Romeo huffed in anger before returning to his defeated tone. But before he could continue, Catboy spoke up.
<"Jammed it, how?" Catboy asked, before being stared down by Gekko. "Isn't there a more important question to answer first?"<
"It was only meant for one person. Me. Not three people all at once. So I spent time to upgrade it before things went south."
"So you were the one changing time?" Owlette asked, receiving a nod in return. "Yup," Romeo replied, popping the p.
"I just need to flash time forward to the event that really mattered. I built a camera in that thing," he said with a somber smile.
"You mean... this?" Catboy gestured to the scene unfolding in front of them; Juliet was now on the floor, crying as a pained smile donned her face.
Romeo could only nod as the trio finally pieced together what happened.
"That girl... She was you?" Catboy asked, the realization finally dawning over him.
"That's why you wanted to…" Owlette trailed off; she didn't want to finish that sentence.
"Wait. You're trans—?" Catboy and Owlette asked him in unison, only to get cut off.
"Yeah—" Romeo huffed out, breaths becoming shakier. "But just because I am, just because I'm different than you all, doesn't mean I want to be treated differently!"
"What do you mean differently?" Owlette replied, not seeming to understand.
"Just because I'm the way that I am doesn't mean I want to be treated like a pity case!" Romeo hissed, not bothering to face them and risk seeing the look on their faces as he continued. "I want nothing to change; I want everything to be the same as usual! I don't want you all to baby me and judge me for simply being me!" Panicked and sharp breaths interrupted his speech, but he chose to go on, gripping his pants with enough force to paint his knuckles white.
"You all already hate enough as it is! I already hate myself enough already! I just want everything to stop!" That's why I did this whole thing in the first place! "The pain from gripping his thighs distracted him from saying anything further, his panicked breathing only making him suffocate in his situation.
Gekko watched on and listened, and when he realized that Romeo didn't want to speak any further, Gekko took it upon himself to act.
He gently placed a hand on the other's shoulder, trying to break him out of his thoughts. Romeo visibly flinched, but then he slowly turned his head to face Gekko, showing his vulnerable and pained expression.
"Just because you're different from us, doesn't mean we'll treat you any different." Gekko broke the silence.
"Why? You have every right to. It's not like you're supposed to listen to me or anything. I'm a villain. I just wanted to get those thoughts out, that's all." Romeo mumbled, his voice was soft, yet loud enough for Gekko and the other two to hear.
"Yeah, you're a villain, but sometimes you're also our friend too!" Catboy chimed in, stepping closer to the pair.
"Besides, being transgender doesn't change anything for me." Owlette continued, a warm smile washing over her face.
"It doesn't change for me either." Catboy shrugged as he backed Owelette up.
"You're not saying anything, Gekko," Owlette asked him before gasping. "You knew?"
"Yeah. He kinda told me quite a while ago, actually," Gekko confessed, happy that a weight has been taken off his back.
"This machine can't change the past. Nothing will," Gekko started while Romeo carefully listened in.
"You just have to accept yourself and your past along with it. You can't change the past. But you can certainly accept it and not let it get the best of you," Gekko replied with an honest smile, a smile so warm it touched Romeo's cold, closed-off heart, a heart that had only known pain for too long.
"But I can't!" There came the reply. "No matter how hard I try, I can't!"
"Not alone, you can't." Catboy spoke up with a determined smile. "Despite all the nasty things you've done to us, you still have a long way to go," Owlette joined in.
"I mean, we all did some terrible things in the past that still haunt us even now," Catboy stated. "Like that one time I broke Owlette's car on accident because I kicked a ball too hard."
"Wait, that was YOU?! I thought that was Cameron!" Owlette fumed, looking directly at Catboy's blue eyes.
"See? You're not the only one struggling with your past. As a matter of fact, we all do!" Gekko replied. "I see you're right." Romeo smiled. "I'll try," Romeo confidently huffed.
"But is that car still broken? I can fix it, you know," Romeo offered, showing how underneath all that evil, there's still a kind child underneath, peeking at the curtains of the evil façade.
"Nope, it got fixed a couple weeks ago." Catboy shrugged.
To their surprise, Romeo began to laugh. Not an evil manic laugh, but a warm and kind one. This led to everyone else laughing along with him.
"Wait!" Gekko realized something really important. "How do we get home?"
Romeo sighed before replying, "I made a transport button for us to head home." The other children sighed in relief but were quickly cut off by Romeo.
"It can only be pressed by someone in the real world."
--------------------------------
Meanwhile, at the Flying Factory, Robot was doing chores and factory maintenance as usual, all the while incredibly worried for his master. He hasn't seen him in a while, the whole day even. He finally heads to Romeo's room to check on him. He gently opens the door to find his master absent. As if he vanished without a trace. He looked around the room, looking for any sign of what experiment his master might be executing at the current moment. He eventually found a note on his desk, next to a machine. A machine that Master has not explained to him yet. The robot didn't even know what it was himself.
The note was a checklist describing a plan. Robot skimmed through the checklist and was concerned by how short it was.
Step One: Build the time machine. Has a little check mark on the side of it. Robot then concluded that this machine before him is a time machine. Robot kept reading.
Step 2: Step inside and erase everything for good. This one also has a checkmark beside it. Robot was confused. What did Robot's master mean by erasing everything?
Robot saw that the machine had a camera built into it and used it to see what's happening inside the machine. Robot found Robot's master on the floor, happily chatting away with the PJ Masks. Right, the PJ Masks were here earlier. The robot makes a mental note of that. The robot looks around inside the camera and decides it's time for them to head home. The robot skimmed through all the labeled buttons before finding a transport button. The robot pressed it, helping the kids return home.
The kids were sucked out of the portal and landed on the cold, hard factory floor."We're out. We're out!" Catboy exclaimed as his vision stopped blurring.
"Hey Robot," she greeted Robot as she approached him. "Yes, Owlette?" came the mechanical reply.
"Were you the same robot back then, the same one we saw in the time machine?" she asked, waiting for a reply.
Romeo scoffed and said, "Pfft! Of course he is! He's the most loyal companion I have ever had!"
now's the time to share something Robot's been hiding for quite a while now. Robot sighed before finally mustering up the courage to speak.
"Actually, I've been with him for longer than he can remember," Robot spoke, leading the children to stop their chattering and listen to him. "What? How?" Romeo's squeaky voice asked. Well, it wasn't that squeaky anymore, not like when he was first reunited with Romeo again. How Romeo is changing his voice to go deeper, Robot didn't know.
"Your parents made me Master," Robot started. "I was made to watch over you, but they fought. Your mother took you away from me."
"My mother…?" Romeo wondered, memories coming back. "Was she the woman we saw baking the cake and… leaving?" Catboy asked Romeo, who simply nodded in return. "I had a feeling something was up with her," Owlette concluded before Robot spoke up again.
"I thought I was done for as they dragged me over to a junkyard, where I stayed for years…" Robot trailed off. "Until Master found me and repaired me. I instantly recognized that it was Master. I have never let go since."
"You were made to look after me…?" Romeo asked. Robot nodded. "No wonder you are so loyal to me." Romeo smiled a warm smile, one of gratefulness that he hadn't experienced in a long time.
"Thanks, Robot!" Romeo cheered, giving his companion a tight embrace. The PJs all cooed at them before Romeo cleared his throat, effectively silencing them.
"Well, now that disaster is over." Gekko exhaled a sigh of relief. "You never really celebrated your birthday properly this year. Shall we have a party?" He offered, lighting up the mood even more.
"I'll operate the party settings!" Robot cheered as Robot headed out. "Wait for me, Robot! You don't want the Factory to go crazy again!" Romeo scurried and slid after him, chasing him down the hallway in an attempt to catch up with him, leading the PJs to chuckle.
"PJ Masks all shout hooray?" Catboy offered to chant with his friends, relieved smiles appearing on all their faces.
"Because in the night, we saved the day!" Romeo pops in to join them in their little chant before running back to the cockpit of his Factory.
Romeo and his friends now do celebrate his birthday.