Flint The Time Detective Fan Fiction ❯ Venom ❯ Venom ( One-Shot )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Hi. This is my very first Flint: The Time Detective fanfic. I wrote this because
lately I've been reading fics about Merlock and Sara while poor Tony seems to
keep getting the short end of the stick in both fanfics and the TV show. So I
wrote a story where Tony is the star. I hope you all enjoy it. And Flint: The
Time Detective and the show's characters are property of Saban.

Venom

By Cullen Pittman

Our story starts off in a country known as India. Three boys were playing
soccer in a grassy field outside of a village. One of the boys kicked the ball
hard and it flew into a nearby cave.

"Oh no, now you've done it Ari!" said the second boy. "That was your older
brother's ball! And you just kicked it into the forbidden cave! He's gonna
kill you!"

"Yeah, we should never have been playing around here in the first place!" cried
the third.

"Aw, don't sweat it", said Ari boldly. "I'll just walk right in there and get
that ball."

"Have you lost your mind?!" gasped the second boy. "That cave's the home of the
mean-eyed serpent!"

"What is it with you and wanting to shorten your life span all the time?" asked
the third.

"Aw, don't be such yellowbellies", laughed Ari. "Our folks probably told us that
story just to keep us out of that cave. They've probably got some sexy magazines
they don't want us finding stashed away in there." And he calmly walked over to
the cave while the other two stood there shaking.

Ari took out a mini-flashlight and started searching through the dark scary cave
for his brother's ball. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea", he thought nervously.
Just then, he had bumped into something. It was a pair of scaly hands holding a
soccer ball.

"Oh, thank you", said Ari as he sighed of relief and took the ball from the
stranger. But then, Ari's smile turned into a fearful frown as he looked into
the snake-like eyes of the stranger. Ari became so scared that he dropped the
ball and stood there paralyzed. The stranger's shadow slowly approached the boy
revealing what looked like a cobra's hood.

"Hey Ari", called out the second boy's voice. "Have you found the ball yet?" The
stranger suddenly slithered back into the darkness the minute it saw the two boys
step into the cave.

"Look, there's Ari over there", said the third boy. They approached Ari and found
him standing as stiff as a statue.

"Hello, Earth to Ari", said the second boy as he waved a hand in front of Ari's
face but didn't blink.

"Come on Ari, cut out the joke", pleaded the third boy. "Uh, Ari? ARI!!!" he
cried. They realized that Ari was completely paralyzed with fear unable to move
or speak.

"What do you suppose caused him to end up like this?" asked the third boy.

"P.P.Probably that thing!" cried the second as he pointed to the cobra-like shadow
cast on the ground. The boys screamed as they grabbed Ari and sped out of the
cave and back to the village. The stranger just watched the fleeing group as it
made a hissing sound, grabbed the ball, and slithered back into the darkness.

* * * * * *

In The Land of Time, an old man known as The Old Timer was watching the incident
through his computer while little creatures known as Time Shifters were running
around playing with each other.

"It's finally happened", thought The Old Timer. "Venom has been found. I must
inform the Time Police." He was about to activate his vidphone but then stopped
himself. "No, I just can't send ANY time detective to handle this case. It has
to be someone special." And he clicked the mouse on his computer and focused into
a huge building known as the Time Police. He observed all the time detectives
working there today and noticed a young muscular man with wild green hair.

"Why that's little Flint Hammerhead!" smiled The Old Timer. "He certainly has
grown!" And it was true. It had been 15 years since that little caveboy had
visited him and brought back all of his precious Time Shifters. He was watching
the adult Flint having a conversation with a huge flat stone hammer with huge eyes.

"And there's his father, Rocky Hammerhead", sighed The Old Timer. "Still preserved
in a stone hammer. Maybe they'd be perfect for this case. No wait, I still better
explore my options some more." And he observed more of the detectives and
discovered two young detectives who were in their 20's. The first was a beautiful
girl with long pink hair and the other was a guy with light purple hair and blue
skin.

"Why that girl is little Sara Goodman!" said The Old Timer with a smile. "My,
she's certainly blossomed into quite the time detective. And there's Merlock
Holmes, the only detective here that's a vampire. I remember how obsessed he was
with Sara." He zoomed in and studied the couple. Sara was slyly stuffing an
éclair into Merlock's mouth while wiping the cream away from his blue cheek with
her finger. The Old Timer noticed the wedding rings on both fingers and a lovely
engagement ring on Sara's.

"Well what do you know?" smiled The Old Timer. "Those two crazy kids have tied
the knot. I'm so proud of Merlock and Sara, along with Flint. Say, I wonder what
became of Sara's twin brother?" He then noticed a brown-haired janitor mopping
the floor with an electric mop. He turned his computer at an angle and saw the
face of the janitor. "Tony Goodman?" said The Old Timer surprised. "I remember
he had dreams of becoming a time detective when he was a boy. Why is he a janitor?"

* * * * * *

Tony Goodman was hard at work buffing the entire floor until it shone beautifully.
"Finally, I'm all finished!" he said in a semi-proud voice. "Too bad no one will
probably notice like they do me!" Just then, Tony's jaw dropped onto his nice clean
floor for the floor became no longer nice and clean when Flint walked across it.

"Hi Tony", said Flint in a happy voice. "I hope you don't mind me walking through
here. I just got back from solving a big case in the Paris sewers."

"Oh, I don't mind Flint ol' buddy", sighed Tony in a smiling sarcastic voice as he
grabbed his mop again.

"Hey, look Dad", smiled Flint as he showed his hammer-shaped father his dirty
footprints. "Look how much my feet have grown these past years."

"They sure have son", said Rocky. "I remember back in the stone age when we always
put our feet together and have the world's most smelliest contest."

"Yeah", said Flint then sadly stared at the long hammer handle that was now his
father's feet. Then he looked over at Tony who was sitting in the corner covering
his face in grief. "Hey Tony. What's wrong?" Flint asked him. "If it's about the
mess, I can help you...."

"No, it's not just that", whined Tony. "I'm just wondering how my life got this
way!"

"What way?" asked Flint.

"You wouldn't understand", wailed Tony. "You've been lucky all your life. You
got to be a time detective ever since you were a kid! All my life, I have dreamt
of being a time detective and 15 years later just look at everyone! You're the
police's top detective, my twin sister's the second top detective along with her
husband who's a vampire of all people and just look at little insignificant Tony
Goodman! I was lucky enough to even get to be a janitor here! Just where did
my life go wrong?!"

"I'm sorry your dreams didn't come true Tony", said Flint putting a hand on his
shoulder. "Maybe if you'd gotten better grades at school and was a better at gym,
you would've...."

"Yeah, I know", moaned Tony. "Sara and Uncle Bernie keep giving me the same lecture
over and over! If only my old school teacher Miss. Iknow would've supported me
and been a little kinder, I would've had the chance to thrive for my dreams."

"But Miss. Iknow did kind of help you", said Flint. "All those times she made you
scrub the floors for no reason helped you get the skills to get this janitor's job
so we all can work in the same place. Isn't that wonderful?!"

"Yeah", said Tony. "If only I could have the same career the rest of you guys
have. My life's just not worth living!"

"Now don't you dare say that!" said Rocky as he jumped out of Flint's hand and
bounced over to Tony backing him into a wall. "Because I know just what you're
going through!"

"You do?" asked Tony.

"Yeah!" said Rocky. "When I was younger, I came up with this invention called a
wheel. I thought I could start up a great business with this neat idea I had and
become the most famous caveman in the just created world."

"You mean you're the actual inventor of the wheel?" gasped Tony.

"Yep", said Rocky blushing. "But unfortunately, my son and I got fossilized before
I could present it to the cave-public. You can bet I was pretty sore when I found
out that someone else found my wheel idea and marketed it off. I could've been
famous!"

"I'm sorry Dad", said Flint patting his father's stone head.

"Hey, I'm not so bummed about it anymore", said Rocky in a much cheerier voice.
"For I found a new purpose of my life. Being my own son's personal weapon in the
fight against evil. And that gives me more joy than being a big wheel who
invented a wheel."

"Really?" asked Tony.

"Yes Tony", said Rocky. "I believe things happen in life for a reason. Sometimes
we don't always get what we want, sometimes we get something even better. Maybe
you not becoming a time detective might be a blessing in disguise not only for you,
but maybe for someone else too."

"Thanks", said Tony. "But the only thing I can seem to do for everyone here is to
keep stinky toilets clean."

"That reminds me", said Flint as he started shaking his knees. "I need to take
care of those 200 burritos I had for lunch today." And he zoomed into the mens'
room.

"Oh no! Not again!" cried Tony as he covered his ears and ducked down. Suddenly
the mens' room door exploded off and a huge brown cloud came out. "And I just spent
the whole morning disinfecting that place!" moaned Tony as he held his nose.

"Sorry Tony", called out Flint while a toilet flushed.

"You know", said Rocky. "There are times I'm glad I don't have a nose anymore."
And he hopped off into the mens' room to check on his son. "Just remember what
I told you Tony", said Rocky.

"Sure, whatever", groaned Tony as he thought about the mess he was expected to
be cleaning up later today. But right now, he needed to go clean up Jillian Grey's
office.

* * * * * *

Tony opened an office door and found Jillian Grey, the head of the Time Police.
She was at her desk going through a huge pile of files feeling very frustrated.
"Oops, sorry Miss. Grey", said Tony blushing. "I see you're busy right now so I'll
come back later."

"Oh, sorry Tony", said Jillian as she turned around and saw the janitor. "Normally
I leave my office at this time so you can clean it. But today I'm totally swamped.
My regular file clerk just quit without notice and I got all these files all
sitting on my desk totally unorganized!"

"Maybe I can help you", said Tony. "I'm kind of an expert at filing."

"You are?" asked Jillian surprised.

"Yeah", said Tony. "Back in school, my old teacher always made me stay after school
and organize her file cabinet. It was like she purposely disorganized it just to
make me miserable."

"Well, let's see what you can do", said Jillian just wanting to get rid of the mess
on her desk. Tony looked at the names of each and every file. They were info
on all the Time Shifters. Tony secretly smiled remembering when he was a boy and
he went on missions with Flint and his sister and met all sorts of different and
funny Time Shifters. He picked up a file called Artie who was the Shifter that
could bring paintings to life. Tony put that file in the A-cabinet. Then he
started working on the Bs. As Tony read each name while filing, he flashbacked
to all the experiences he had with each Time Shifter. There was Batterball, the
baseball Shifter, Bugsy, who can turn people into bugs, and there was Bindi, the
pink female Shifter who was once madly in love with Merlock, but was now living
with The Old Timer. Tony wondered if Bindi ever got over the fact that Merlock
was married to Sara.

"Very impressive", thought Jillian as she watched Tony file away each folder with
ease until he got to the final file. Tony smiled when he saw the name on this one.
It was his favorite Shifter, Wing. A Shifter who gave him the power to fly a
couple of times, not to mention giving the Wright Brothers the inspiration to
invent the airplane.

"Uh Tony", said Jillian. "You can finish up now if you'd please."

"Oh, sorry", said Tony blushing as he escaped his flashback and filed the last
file into cabinet W.

"Amazing!" smiled Jillian as she inspected all the files that were in very nice
order. "You truly seem to have a knack for organizing and alphabetizing."

"Thanks", said Tony blushing for when he was a kid, he was always accused for
having a messy room. "Wait a minute", he said as he peeked under the cabinet.
"I think I may have missed a file", and he pulled out a file that was pretty dusty.
"Venom?" he asked as he read the name. "Gee, I don't remember us searching for
a Time Shifter named Venom."

Jillian just nervously snatched the file away from Tony and quickly stuffed it in
the V-cabinet and slammed it shut. "You know Tony", she said quickly changing
the subject. "I think you've been a janitor here long enough. How would you like
a job as my personal file clerk?"

"Me as your file clerk?" gasped Tony. "Really?"

"But of course", smiled Jillian. "It took you exactly 30 minutes to organize my
entire filing system while it took my old clerk about 3 days. You'd really be
helping me out a lot and it pays a lot more money than being a janitor. What do
you say?"

"What do I say?" said Tony happily. "I'd be happy too!" "Anything to get out of
cleaning that bathroom Flint worked his burrito magic on", he thought to himself.

"Wonderful", smiled Jillian as she shook Tony's hand. "Welcome to your new life
File Clerk Tony Goodman. And I've noticed on your employment records that you
have some vacation time you need to start taking. Why don't you take a week off
and when you come back, we'll get you started on your new job."

"Thank you Miss. Grey", said Tony while bowing to her for he never really thought
about taking a vacation before. He really couldn't afford to go anywhere special.

"And I'd like to give you a little present too", smiled Jillian as she reached into
her drawer and handed Tony a small plastic key chain. It was purple, shaped like
a grandfather clock, and it had the words, I am an employee of the Bureau of Time
and Space, in big black letters.

"Attach that to your keys so that when you look at it, you'll know that you're a
big part of our team even if you're not a time detective."

"Oh, uh, thank you", said Tony trying to smile, but feeling bummed inside after
hearing what Jillian just said.

* * * * * *

As Tony walked out of the building, he met his twin sister who was already outside.
"Hi little brother", smiled Sara. "What's new with you?"

"Well", said Tony excitedly. "Your little brother just got himself a promotion.
What do you think of that?"

"Really?" said Sara happily. "That's wonderful! What are you going to be doing
now?"

Tony was happy that his sister seemed proud of him. He was about to speak until
Merlock appeared on his timecycle. "Sara my love", he said. "I'm so glad I found
you!"

"What is it honey?" asked Sara concerned.

"We have an assignment", said Merlock. "One I think you're gonna love. We have
to go back in time to help William Shakespeare. The world premiere of Romeo and
Juliet is about to happen and the two leading actors have cancelled for some reason.
I told Will that I'd play Romeo for him."

"But who's gonna be playing Juliet?" asked Sara winking. "As if I didn't know."

"It is the east and you are the dawn my little Juliet", said Merlock as he kissed
her hand.

"Well then lets get going", smiled Sara as she jumped onto the back of Merlock's
timecycle. "It's a good think I got all straight As in English otherwise they'd get
someone else to be your Juliet."

"And that would be a tragedy", smiled Merlock as he kissed Sara and started up
his cycle.

"Goodbye Tony", said Sara. "I'll talk to you about that thing we were talking
about later."

"Oh, hi brother of the lovely Sara", said Merlock. "I didn't see you there. But
goodbye though!" and the two lovebirds sped off into a time warp back to the days
of Shakespeare.

"Just when I had the chance to make Sara proud of me. He had to take away my day
in the sun again!" groaned Tony. "And I thought vampires hated the sun." It wasn't
that Tony hated Merlock, it was just that when he was a kid, he dreamed that Sara
would become a time detective just like him and they'd protect time and the world
as talented twins. But instead it was Sara who became the detective and got
partnered with and wed to a vampire, of all creatures! While poor Tony became a
lowly and lonely janitor. "At least my janitor days are over now." He sighed. "And
I got a weeks vacation to look forward to. Even if I am going to spend it here in
this same old city."

* * * * * *

Tony unlocked the door to his apartment, stepped inside, and turned on the light.
Normally most bachelors would have messy apartments, but not Tony's. Being a
janitor kind of given him the habit to keep it clean.

Tony slipped out of his janitor's suit and changed into a red T-shirt and blue
jeans. "I guess I'll be trading you in for a V-neck sweater", he said as he threw
the suit in a clothes-hamper in a closet. When he closed the closet door, he saw a
dartboard with a picture of his old teacher, Miss. Iknow, pinned on it with devil
horns drawn on her head. "You prevented my detective dreams from coming true!"
Tony growled as he threw a dart at her but missed as usual. He sighed as he walked
into his kitchen.

Tony then saw his vidphone and thought about calling his Uncle Bernie who had
retired and was living in Tahiti with his new wife and his old friend Pteri, the
little robot pterodactyl, so he could tell them all the wonderful news about his
promotion. But he couldn't really afford long distance, and he called his Uncle
Bernie collect so many times too. So he decided to wait until his uncle called him
so he could tell him the news.

Tony then went into his refrigerator and pulled out a couple of slices of leftover
pizza and a can of Coke. Then plopped onto his couch and turned on the TV to
watch the Friday night horror movie. Something he always did every Friday since
he wasn't really lucky in the dating dept. The movie of the week was, SSSSSSS.
"A cheesy 1973 horror flick about a scientist who had the power to turn a man into
a cobra. Tony watched with wide nervous eyes for he totally hated snakes. He
swore that he never ever go near or befriend any of those legless killers. He soon
fell asleep on the couch missing the end that was the scariest part of the movie.

* * * * * *

The Old Timer suddenly turned off his computer for he had seen enough of Tony's
so called life and also because he really didn't want to see that scary snake
movie. "Poor little Tony", he sighed. "So ordinary, so all alone. He's perfect!"
And he went into another room to see his Time Shifters who were all just busy
goofing around.

Raldo was having an arm wrestling match with Muscles, Dipper was watering a happy
Leafy, and Bindi was just peacefully admiring herself in a vanity mirror until
Batterball accidentally tossed a baseball shattering her precious mirror.

"Hey, that's seven years of bad luck I'm gonna inflict on you you dimball!" growled
Bindi as she, Batterball, and some of the other Shifters started having an argument.
But luckily, Getalong sent out a love beam making everyone calm down and start
hugging each other.

"Thank you Getalong", smiled The Old Timer as he patted Getalong's head. Then
he approached a Shifter that looked like a small green airplane. "How would you
like to pay an old friend a visit?" smiled The Old Timer.

* * * * * *

When Tony woke up the next morning, he found himself lying on his couch with the
TV left on. "Oh great", he moaned. "Looks like my electric bill will go up again!"
He was about to reach under his blanket for the remote when he found a lump under
his blanket snoring away.

"What is that thing?!" gasped Tony as he poked at it and it made a squeak. He took
a small hammer and slowly lifted up the blanket and then became relieved when he
saw what it was. "Wing?" asked Tony surprised as he saw the little plane shaped
bird sleeping away.

"What?" yawned Wing as he opened his eyes and saw his old childhood friend now
grown up. "Oh, excuse me sir", the bird yawned. "But does a young boy named Tony
Goodman live here?"

"But I'm Tony!" he said happily. "Don't you recognize me? You gave me wings a
couple of times and we went flying together!"

"Tony, is that really you?!" gasped Wing. "But you're so big now! Did those time
baddies put you on some kind of rack and stretched you mercilessly?!!"

"Oh no", laughed Tony. "I just grew up. It has been 15 years since we've last
seen each other and I've totally missed you!" and he picked up Wing and hugged
him happily.

* * * * * *

Later that morning, Tony had poured himself and Wing some bowls of cereal. "What
are you doing Wing?" Tony asked as he saw Wing staring at the toucan on the cereal
box.

"I'm waiting to see if Sam will put one of his pretty beaks on me like he does in
his commercials", smiled Wing as he stuck out his face at the lifeless box.

Tony just giggled remembering the fun times he had with Wing and all the other
Time Shifters when they were all staying with Uncle Bernie until it was safe enough
for them to go home. "So how are all the other Shifters doing?" he asked.

"Oh, they're doing just great", said Wing. "Sure they get into little arguments
sometimes, but Getalong knows how fix that."

"Yes, good old Getalong", sighed Tony remembering the very first Time Shifter
he ever met. "And how's Bindi doing?" he continued. "Is she over Merlock yet?"

"Don't worry about Bindi", smiled Wing. "Raldo is courting her now!"

"Raldo and Bindi?!" gasped Tony surprised.

"Yep", said Wing. "From the beginning, Raldo was attracted to Bindi because both
he and she have beautiful shells. And when Bindi became devastated from Merlock's
news about marrying Sara, Raldo did everything in his power to cheer her up and it
worked!"

"Well I'm glad somebody's happy with their lives", sighed Tony. "I wish I could be
a little."

"You're not enjoying your life?" asked Wing concerned. "But why?!"

"Because I feel so insignificant", whined Tony. "All of my friends and family have
gone off to greater and bigger things while I've suddenly become the invisible man!"

"But I can still see you", said Wing. "You're not invisible to me."

"That was only a figure of speech Wing", sighed Tony as he stood up and put his
head against the refrigerator door.

"Wow, when The Older Timer told me you would need some serious cheering up, he
wasn't kidding", said Wing. And he grabbed Tony's hand with his wing and led him
to the window. "I know what'll cheer you up", smiled Wing. "How about we go flying
together? Like in the old days?"

"You mean you can still do that for me?" said Tony surprised. "That would sure be
great to go flying again. Whenever we did that, I felt that the sometimes cruel
world below couldn't touch me."

"Well then...." smiled Wing as he shot two large feathers onto Tony's back causing
two small wings to sprout out of them. "It makes me feel like I've died and gone to
Heaven", sighed Tony admiring the wings he totally missed having.

"Shall we go then?" asked Wing as he lifted open the window and flew right out of
it. Normally Tony knew that it was totally stupid to jump out of a window on the
ninth floor, but he felt he could do it now that he had his wings. But
unfortunately, he started falling.

"AAAAAAAH!" screamed Tony as he tried to flap his wings but they were too small
to keep an adult in the air. Wing saw his friend falling to his doom, quickly
transformed into a giant beautiful bird known as Wingmaster, and swooped down
catching Tony on his back and flew back up into the sky.

Tony started to clutch onto Wingmaster's back while clutching onto his chest for
his heart was beating rapidly from that experience. "I thought you said you could
make me fly!" he said while gasping.

"Sorry Tony", said Wingmaster. "I guess my wing power only works on kids."

"So I guess it's no more flying for me then", sighed Tony as he felt the wings on
his back dissolve from that fall.

"But I can still fly", said Wingmaster. "How about I show you a whole new world?"

"You're not gonna dress up like an Arabian prince and sing, are you?" asked Tony.
But before he could say anything else, Wingmaster started to fly off while Tony
held onto his back leaving his home city behind.

* * * * * *

Wingmaster took Tony to all sorts of wonderful places of the world from the Eiffel
Tower, to the Statue of Liberty, to the Sphinx and pyramids of Egypt, while along
the way dodging a few airplanes.

"So my old friends, The Wright Bros., dream of inventing the airplane did come
true", sighed Wingmaster "I sure am proud to be a big part of that moment of
history."

"Yeah, and they've totally improved it over the centuries", said Tony. "Too bad
they still serve bags of peanuts that are impossible to open."

"You mean someone took my little peanut bag idea seriously?" gasped Wingmaster.
"I only mentioned that as a joke!"

* * * * * *

Soon Wingmaster and Tony flew over a small village in India. "Ah, here we are",
said Wingmaster as he flew down and landed on a grassy field.

"Why are we stopping here?!" asked Tony nervously refusing to get down off of
Wingmaster's back. "Don't you know India is cobra country?!"

"The Old Timer insisted that we check out this village", said Wingmaster as he
shrunk back down to Wing causing Tony to slide off.

"What for?" asked Tony.

"He didn't say", said Wing. "But he was totally insistent that I take you here.
Maybe that village has a nice gift shop he wants us to check out."

"Well okay", said Tony. "But please stay by my side in case any cobras pop out
at me."

"Sure thing", said Wing as they headed off for the village while Tony was
cautiously watching his steps so he wouldn't step on any cobras that might be
hiding in the grass.

* * * * * *

Tony walked through the small village carrying Wing under his arm so people will
think that he's just a toy. They suddenly noticed a boy sitting on his doorstep
shaking and crying. The same boy called Ari who had kicked his brother's ball
into the cave and met that serpent. "What's wrong little guy?" asked Tony as he
approached the shivering boy.

"It was terrible!" whined Ari. "I was playing with my brother's soccer ball and I
accidentally kicked it into the forbidden cave."

"The forbidden cave?!" asked Tony.

"Yes", wailed Ari. "I knew I shouldnt've been playing there nor should I have gone
in it! That's when I saw the mean-eyed serpent!"

"The mean-eyed serpent?!!" gasped Tony not liking the sound of those words put
together.

"Yes!" cried Ari. "I took one look at it and I just froze with fear! I was just
lucky that my friends came and pulled me out of that cave before I got eaten!"
and he started to cry some more.

"Hey, don't cry sport", said Tony as he put Wing down and reached into his pocket
to pull out a tissue to give to Ari. But when he did, his new keychain he got from
Jillian had fallen out. Ari picked up the keychain and read the words, The Bureau
of Time and Space.

"Hey, you're a time detective!" squealed Ari with delight. "I've seen you guys
many times on the news!"

"Well, I am employed with the Time Police", said Tony stuttering, "But as a...."

"You can help me get my brother's ball back!" cried Ari happily. "You can go into
that cave on the east side of our village, beat up that serpent, and get me that
ball. Will you please?"

"Well you see", said Tony nervously. "I'm kind of on vacation and.... Oh no, please
don't start doing that again", said Tony as he saw Ari tearing up again.

"But my Mom and Dad are gonna be bringing my brother home from college this
evening!" cried Ari. "If he finds out that I lost his ball to the serpent, he'll
kill me! And my parents will ground me if they find out I went into the forbidden
cave. You've gotta help me, PLEASE!"

Before Tony could reluctantly speak, Wing flew up right between them. "Of course
Tony will go in and get your ball", he said confidently. "He's the best detective
we've got on the force. We'll go into that cave, face oncoming dangers with pride,
and return your brother's ball to you before he even gets home. Right detective
Tony?"

"Now wait just a min..." but Tony couldn't finish for Wing had covered his mouth
with his wing, then grabbed Tony by the sleeve and quickly sped off causing him to
get dragged along while Ari stood there amazed.

* * * * * *

Next we see Tony and Wing standing outside the forbidden cave. "Wing, why the
heck did you tell that kid I was a time detective?!" cried Tony. "I'm just a lowly
ex-janitor who'll become a lowly file clerk next week! We should call a real time
detective like Flint to handle this job!"

"Don't you see?" said Wing. "This is probably why The Old Timer sent us to this
place. Here's the chance to prove yourself a hero. Not just for the boy and your
family and friends, but for yourself as well."

"But he said this cave is the home of the mean-eyed serpent!" said Tony shivering.
"I think snakes are the most evil, vile, creatures in the world!"

"But we have to do it", said Wing. "For the boy who lost his brother's ball! You
saw how sad he was. And if that serpent does show its face, I'll just transform
into Wingmaster and use one of my missiles to scare it into a corner. That way
you can get that ball and be the hero you truly deserve."

"Oh, okay", said Tony gulping. "Just please don't leave my side", he said as took
hold of Wing's wing and stepped inside the dark cave. "Why did I have to watch
that scary snake movie last night!" whined Tony as he slowly marched through the
darkness.

"Maybe if we had a little light", said Wing as he used his eyes like headlights.
As they walked further into the cave they saw something scary on the floor.

"The serpent!" cried Tony as he quickly covered his eyes. "Quick Wing, transform
now!"

"Don't worry Tony", said Wing as he examined the scaly body. "It's just some
shedded skin."

"Shedded skin?!" gasped Tony as he opened his eyes and looked down at the green
lump of skin. He took out another tissue and used it to pick up the skin without
touching it. And it wasn't like any other piece of shedded snake skin. It was
about the size of a human. It had a cobra's hood all right, but it also had the
arms and legs of a human. "We're gonna be dealing with a half human, half cobra?!"
cried Tony as he turned to Wing who was floating there white as a sheet.
"Wing, what is it?!" asked Tony.

"We have to get out of here now!" cried Wing in a panicked voice.

"But I thought you said you can handle this serpent once it appears", said Tony
not liking the fear in Wing's eyes.

"But this isn't just any serpent", gasped Wing. "This is V-V-VENOM!"

"Venom?" asked Tony, "Like the name I saw on one of Miss. Grey's files?"

"AAAAAAH!" screamed Wing as he flew around in panicky circles. "Never mention that
name to a Time Shifter! It strikes fear into our hearts!"

"Well then don't scream like that!" said Tony. "Otherwise you'll bring this Venom
out in the open!"

"AAAAAH! You said that name again!" shouted Wing. "Hurry, let's get out of this
cave NOW!" and he grabbed Tony's hand and started to rush out of the cave.
However, Wing was the only one that got out for Tony was still in there. He had
bumped into something, make that someone!

"Oops, excuse me", said Tony as he was about to get up but then stopped. The
shadow that was looking down at him had a cobra hood and scary yellow eyes. "V-V-
Venom?!!!" gasped Tony but then couldn't speak anymore for he was too paralyzed
with fear to even get away.

Wing realized that his friend was still inside the cave. He peeked inside and
found the serpent slowly approaching the paralyzed Tony. "I gotta save him!"
shouted Wing as he transformed back into Wingmaster and fired a missile into the
cave hoping it would scare the beast away. But unfortunately, the missile hit the
top of the cave causing a whole mess of rocks, boulders and stalactites to come
falling down. A sharp boulder dropped onto Tony's chest causing him to yell out
in pain. Wingmaster tried to rush in to save him, but a whole bunch of rocks fell
completely closing up the entrance of the cave.

"Oh no, what have I done?!" cried Wingmaster as he tried to fire another missile
but realized that he used up his last one. "I've trapped my best human friend in a
dark scary cave with the most evilest of Time Shifters! I gotta go get help!" and
Wingmaster blasted off.

* * * * * *

Inside the cave, Tony was still in pain from that boulder that was still sitting on
his chest. He managed to arch his back making the boulder roll off. But then
yelped and plopped back down for his chest bone and some ribs were now broken.
"What a situation to be in!" thought Tony with fear. "Trapped in a dark cave with
broken bones! I hope Wing finds a way to get me out of here and I also hope that
blast scared away that snake for good!"

But unfortunately, it didn't. For Tony saw the yellow eyes approach him examining
his injured form. Tony was too scared to even scream for help. He suddenly felt a
pair of long arms lift him up and carry him off. "He's probably gonna have me for
lunch!" thought Tony as his head plopped against the serpent's chest. It kind of
felt like a pair of breasts. "This snake's a female?!" thought Tony. "That could be
even more trouble for me!" He thought for he heard that female cobras can be more
aggressive than the males!

Tony then felt the serpent put him down on something like a mattress, then slowly
started to take his shirt off of him. Then it went over and turned on some kind of
lantern and light filled the cave. Tony looked around and saw a cave that almost
looked like an apartment. There was a lantern on a table, a bookcase filled with
books, a cooking pot over a fire, and a washtub.

Tony started to shake again when the serpent approached him. But then stopped
when he got a good look at this serpent in the light. It looked like a human woman
with arms and legs, except she had green scaly skin all over her body, a cobra's
hood for hair, and a cute human face except that it was light green with those
scary yellow eyes. She was wearing tight blue pants and a tight blue shirt with a
cobra's mark on the front that made her look kind of sexy.

Tony looked wide-eyed at this scary, yet kind of pretty, cobra-girl that was
looking down at him. But then looked down at his bare chest and saw an ugly
wound with a little blood pouring out. "Oh no!" he thought. "I bet she now has
a taste for blood. My blood!" But the cobra-girl took out some huge leaves and
started spitting some yellow liquid into them. Then she applied the leaves onto
the wound that caused Tony to flinch in pain a little. Then she placed a scaly
hand behind his back, lifted him up a little, and started wrapping a long cloth
around his chest making the leaves stay in place, then leaned him back down.

"You just didn't inject me with poison, did you?" asked Tony nervously. The cobra-
girl didn't say anything. She just smiled and shook her head no.

"You wouldn't happen to be named Venom?" asked Tony while shaking. The girl just
placed her hands on his shoulders steadying him and nodded her head. Tony felt
uneasy as this scale-covered girl touched his bare flesh, but she started rubbing
her hands through his thick brown hair which made him feel a little bit better.
"This can't be happening to me!" thought Tony while he closed his eyes. "The most
feared animal in the world nursing me back to health!"

He then opened his eyes and saw Venom smiling at him while a skinny forked tongue
stuck out of her mouth. Tony quickly shut his eyes again, but he felt the girl
stroking his hair again. He opened his eyes again and looked at Venom really good.
"Uh, my name is Tony", was all he could say to this unusual looking girl. But
Venom just smiled and said nothing. "Can you talk?" Tony asked. Venom only replied
with a friendly hiss showing that she couldn't.

Venom then went over to the pot on the fire and brought it over to Tony. She took
a spoon and started scooping out some kind of stew and fed some of it to him.

"I don't know what this is, but it's pretty good", said Tony. "What kind of stew is
it?"

Venom giggled as she scooped out the main ingredient of her stew. When Tony got
sight of what he had been eating, he fainted. A scaly question mark appeared over
Venom's head wondering what was wrong with him. Then she took the dead rat that
was lying on her spoon and swallowed it whole.

* * * * * *

Wing started flying all through the city trying to find the Time Police but with no
luck. "I'll go back to Tony's", said Wing. "He must have an address book that has
his place of employment's phone number!" and he zipped over to the apartment
building and flew through Tony's window that had been left open.

Wing looked on the kitchen counter and found a book marked, addresses, sitting
under a huge stack of books. He tried to yank it out, but the result was all the
other books falling off the counter and a huge one conking Wing on the head.
"Someone just threw the book at me", said Wing in a daze as little versions of
himself flew over his head and then passed out on the kitchen floor.

* * * * * *

The next day, Tony woke up and realized that he wasn't in his apartment anymore.
He looked around the cave filled with the familiar stuff he saw yesterday. Then
looked down at his bare torso except for the cloth and leaves tied to his chest.
"That's right", he thought. "I got hit by a rock and this cobra-girl named Venom
took care of me." He started to sit up slowly and realized that he was no longer in
pain. Tony felt his ribs and they were 100% healed. He then remembered that
Venom had spit some kind of yellow liquid into the leaves and applied them to his
skin. "That stuff was almost like the opposite of venom", said Tony with all sorts
of wonders in his head.

Tony looked to the right and saw Venom washing something in her washtub. He tried
to get up, but knocked over the empty pot and spoon that was on his side making a
loud, CLANK!!! To his surprise, Venom didn't turn around. It was like she didn't
hear it.

Tony approached Venom and tapped her shoulder gently. Venom became surprised but
then smiled when she saw Tony standing up all better again. "Good morning!" said
Tony. "I accidentally knocked over a pot back there. I hope the noise didn't
startle you." Venom just scratched her head wondering what he was talking about.

"Maybe that's it", thought Tony. "I've heard that cobras are deaf. Maybe that's
why she can't talk, because she can't hear. But how can she understand me? Unless
she knows how to read lips." Tony soon broke away from his thoughts when he saw
Venom untying the cloth and peeling off the leaves. Tony was surprised to see that
the huge ugly wound was gone like the injury never happened. Venom smiled as she
placed her scaly fingers on his bare chest making sure he was all right.

"Thank you", said Tony not as nervous as before. "I would've been dead if you
hadn't fixed me up." Venom just smiled while her green face blushed red. Then
she pulled something out of the washtub. It was Tony's shirt all soaking wet and
nicely washed. She went over and pinned it on a nearby clothesline to dry.

"And you even got out the bloodstains", smiled Tony. "You really are a nice snake,
I mean girl. I can't believe my friend Wing thinks you're a... WING!!! I forgot,
I have to find him and make sure he's all right!" and Tony hurried over to the
entrance of the cave, but found it was blocked with rocks.

"I can't believe this!" cried Tony as he tried to pull out the rocks but were
jammed in tight. "Wing must be out there on the other side worrying about me to
death!" and he plopped down on his knees in despair. He then felt Venom's scaly
hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Venom looking concerned at him. She
then grabbed Tony's wrists forcing him to follow her somewhere. "Do you know
another way out of this cave?" he asked. Venom just hissed and continued to drag
Tony along.

Venom had led Tony to another part of her cave. He rubbed his eyes and stared at
the beauty of the cave that looked like a giant cove. There was a huge lake with a
waterfall surrounded by ferns and wild flowers and trees with delicious looking
fruit. The reason plant-life could grow in this cave was because there was a huge
hole on the top where sunlight shined through.

"I bet I can escape through that hole up there", said Tony. "But it looks so high
up. How can I get up there?" But then he saw Venom happily playing with a soccer
ball bouncing it around on her feet, knees, chest, and head.

"That's that kid's ball I was supposed to get yesterday", said Tony. "I wonder if
his brother had killed him yet?" Then Venom kicked the ball over to Tony wanting
him to play with her. He decided to think about escaping later and just have a
good time playing soccer with this fun loving cobra-girl. They ran around the
cave and kicked the ball around like two kids on a school athletic field. Suddenly,
Tony accidentally tripped and fell into the lake. Venom went over to help him
out, but he slyly smiled and pulled her in. A wet Venom looked at Tony with angry
yellow eyes.

"Uh oh!" thought Tony. "I forgot this cool babe is part snake!" "Uh, I'm sorry
Venom", he said nervously. "I was only playing...." But he never got to finish
because Venom had splashed some water into his face. She then winked at him and
started swimming wanting him to chase her. Tony started swimming after her but
she was extremely speedy, the way she wiggled around in the water like a sea snake.

Soon Tony couldn't see any sight of her. Then he couldn't see at all, for Venom
had sneaked up behind him and covered his eyes and wrapped her arm around his torso
like strong coils. Then she swam Tony to a huge rock and made him sit on top of it
while she joined him. The nice cool waterfall was pouring down on both of them
making them feel calm and relaxed.

Tony sighed as he rolled up his wet pants-legs and dunked his feet into the water.
He then looked over at Venom who had her legs crossed like she was coiling up.
Sure she was scaly and had a cobra's hood, but Tony soon realized that it was kind
of pretty and the water drops on her scales made her look very fetching.

Venom looked over at the shirtless human male and had some thoughts too. She never
actually spent time with a real live human before, except for that boy who got
dragged out quickly the other day. Tony had a nice smile, brown hair that felt
nice and soft, and cute skin that was smooth, not rough and slimy like hers. He
was also kind, fun loving, and enjoyed his company very much. The human guy and
the reptilian girl just sat there silently on the rock staring happily at each
other while the waterfall poured gently on them.

* * * * * *

The next day, Flint, Merlock, and Sara were all gathered around the door of Tony's
apartment holding boxes of gifts. "I sure hope Tony likes this congratulations
party we're gonna throw him", said Sara. "It's not every day that my younger
brother gets promoted."

"That's because no one can compare to you my sweet Sara", said Merlock. "Not even
your brother."

"And please honey", said Sara. "Don't keep calling Tony the brother of the lovely
Sara. It makes him feel so insignificant. He has a name you know."

"Okay my love", sighed Merlock.

Merlock and Sara were feeling little bummed because their Shakespeare mission
didn't go too well. Both of them had forgotten that in Shakespeare's time, women
couldn't be actors. So Merlock ended up playing Romeo to a big fat beared guy
wearing a dress.

"Flint, did you get the cake like I asked you?" asked Sara.

"Sure did", smiled Flint as he opened the box and showed a half-a-cake that read,
Cong. T.

"That cake was supposed to say Congratulations Tony", scolded Sara. "And why is
there only half-a-cake? Flint, did you...?"

"Who, me?" asked Flint while trying to sprout out a halo but then burped out some
chocolate frosting and the halo disappeared. "I sure wish it was angel-food cake",
sighed Flint.

"Well, at least half-a-cake is better than no cake", said Merlock. "Let's just
knock before Flint gets hungry again." And he knocked on the door a couple of times
but nobody answered.

"He must be out somewhere", said Sara. "That's even better!" and she took out a
spare key that Tony had given her in case of emergencies and opened the door so
they could all come in. "When Tony gets home, we can surprise him! Won't that
be fun?!"

"Brilliant as always my Sara", smiled Merlock.

"You don't think he'd mind if I raid his refrigerator?" asked Flint.

"Sure, go ahead", said Sara. "Now that Tony's got a better paying job, I'm sure he
can afford losing a few bucks worth of food."

"Thanks!" said Flint as he stepped into the kitchen, but then tripped onto
something. "WHOOPS!" said Flint as he fell on his face.

"Flint, are you all right?!" asked Sara.

"I think so", said Flint while rubbing his nose. "Just tripped on these pile of
books on the floor."

"That's weird", said Sara. "Tony is usually a tidy person."

"Maybe now that he's no longer a janitor, he doesn't feel the need to clean
anymore", said Merlock.

"What? Who's there?" said a voice coming from the book pile. They all stepped
back and out of the pile came Wing.

"Wing!" cried Flint happily as he grabbed both his wings and started spinning him
around. "How've you been?!"

"I've been better, believe me!" said Wing as he broke free from Flint's grasp and
rubbed his bumped head.

"What are you doing here Wing?" asked Sara. "And where's Tony?"

"TONY!" cried Wing. "I forgot! You all have to help him!"

"What, what's wrong with him?" asked Sara nervously.

"It's terrible!" cried Wing with tears. "We were visiting India and I led Tony into
a dark scary cave. Then something bad happened!"

"What happened?" asked Flint.

"He got trapped in a cave in!" wailed Wing.

"My little brother's trapped all alone in a dark scary cave?!" cried Sara as
Merlock tried to calm her down.

"Don't worry Sara", said Merlock. "Tony's a tough guy. I'm sure he'll pull through
once we get there to help him out."

"He's also trapped in that cave with V-V-Ve..." stuttered Wing too scared to say
that name.

"You don't mean Venom?!" gasped Merlock now with a worried face.

"YES!" cried Wing as he flew around in a panic.

"Oh no, this is bad", said Merlock who turned from blue to white.

"What do you mean bad?!!" screamed Sara as she grabbed her husband by the coat.
"Who is this Venom and what's going to happen to my brother?!"

"There's no time to explain!" cried Merlock as grabbed Sara's and Flint's wrists
and rushed him out the door. "Tony's in great danger, we have to get to India right
away before it's too late!"

"I hope we can rescue Tony before Venom tries to eat him or at least make her cough
him up before he's digested!" said Wing as he flew beside them.

"WHAAAAT?!!!" screamed Sara.

* * * * * *

Tony and Venom were sitting in the pretty part of the cave having a meal. Tony,
with his shirt back on, was eating some of the fruit he gathered from the trees
while Venom was having roasted rat on a stick. Venom offered him a bite of rat,
but Tony just said, "No Thanks", with a pretend smile. He then started to look up
at that hole on the roof of the cave. "If only there was some way we can get up
there." He thought. "Why can't I think of an idea. Or maybe I don't want to think
of one at all." Tony then stared at Venom slurping up the rat's tail like spaghetti.
Venom hissed wondering if there was something wrong.

"Oh, it's nothing serious", said Tony. "I think you've gotten a little rat on your
cheek." And he took out a napkin and started wiping the stain away from her green
cheek. Suddenly, Tony and Venom looked silently at each other. His green eyes
stared into her yellow eyes that were no longer scary to him at all. And without
thinking, they held onto each other and kissed.

* * * * * *

On the outside of the cave, our friends were trying to break through the pile of
rocks trying to free Tony. Merlock and Sara were blasting it with laser pistols
while Flint was smashing it with his hammer shaped dad. "Are you doing all right
Dad?" Flint asked.

"I'm A-okay so far", said Rocky. "But I could use some aspirin after this."

"How can you take it?" asked Merlock. "You don't have a mouth."

"There are some mysteries you don't want to find out about", said Rocky.

"Will you all stop talking about aspirin?!" shouted Sara. "We have to break
through! My brother needs us!"

"I'm afraid it might take hours to break up this rock band", said Merlock. "If
only there was a back door to this cave."

"Hey guys, I found some kind of back door!" called out Wing. "Follow me everyone!"

"Wow, my words must be magic", said Merlock smiling. "What do you think about that
Sara? Uh, Sara?" asked Merlock as he saw the others rush off to the back of the
cave while he sighed and followed after them.

* * * * * *

Tony and Venom were still hugging each other while kissing. "I can't believe this
is actually happening to me!" thought Tony. "Here I am in love with a girl that's
part snake and we're kissing! And I'm not even scared. I don't even mind that she
just ate a rat before our kiss! Oh wait, maybe I do mind!"

Suddenly, Tony heard a splashing sound. He tried to see what it was but Venom
was still in front of him kissing him. "We were lucky this lake broke our fall",
said Flint.

"But did it have to break my new designer suit?" moaned Merlock wringing out his
blue coat.

"AAAAH!" screamed Sara as she saw Tony in the clutches the cobra-hooded creature.
"She's eating my brother!" Tony peeked behind from Venom and saw his sister and
friends.

"Hey guys!" smiled Tony with green lip prints on his face. "I'm so glad you're all
here."

"Don't worry Tony", said Wing as he transformed into Wingmaster. "This time I am
gonna save you!" and he extended out a long talon dragging Tony out of Venom's
grasp and into Sara's.

"You're safe now Tony", said Sara as she took out her pistol. "This monster will
never hurt you again! Right Merlie?"

"You said it my strong Sara!" said Merlock as he took out his pistol and they both
started firing stun beams at the poor frightened Venom.

"SARA, MERLOCK! STOP!" cried Tony. "You're hurting her!"

"But she hurt you, didn't she?" shouted Sara. But Tony managed to grab the pistol
from her. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

"You have to stop firing at Venom!" pleaded Tony. "She didn't hurt me at all. In
fact, she helped me when I was injured! She's a really nice snake, er, girl!"

"I find that hard to believe!" shouted Merlock as he kept firing at Venom. "This
monster has a reputation of being a killer! It's our duty as time detectives to
protect the world from this evil. Quick Flint, fossilize her!"

"You got it!" said Flint as he aimed Rocky at the curled up Venom and was about
to push the button to turn her into a motionless statue. Just then, Venom started
looking at everyone with angry yellow eyes. She started to transform into a huge
50 foot long python with no arms or legs and that cute human face was replaced
with a scary snake face with long sharp fangs.

"Venom, what's happened to you?!" gasped Tony.

"She's transformed into Venommaster!" cried Merlock. "Does this look like a really
nice girl to you?"

"No!" cried Tony. "I know deep down she's still Venom. You're firing probably
scared her into transforming. Isn't that right Venom?" But Venommaster just hissed
and fired acid out of her mouth.

"Look out!" cried Flint as he and Rocky tackled everyone out of the way while the
acid ate through the stone floor.

"This can't be!" said Tony. "Venom's venom is supposed to heal people, not hurt!"

"Now do you understand that this evil being can never be your friend?!" shouted
Merlock. "Time detectives, let's defang this fiend!" Merlock, Flint, Sara, and
Wingmaster surrounded the serpent and were about to fire again. But Venommaster
managed to knock everyone away with her tail and causing them to hit the wall while
Wingmaster changed back to Wing.

"Please Venom, you've gotta stop this now!" pleaded Tony as he jumped out in front
of the snake. Venommaster hissed as she wrapped her tail around Tony lifting him
up and started to squish him.

"Tony!" cried a beaten up Sara as she plopped her head down in defeat.

"Don't you recognize me Venom?" gasped Tony who was turning even bluer than
Merlock. "I'm Tony. A boulder fell on me and you healed me with your magic venom.
Then you fed me some rat stew! EEYEEW!" Venommaster looked ever angrier at Tony
and tightened her grip on him.

"No, I didn't mean to say that!" gasped Tony. "But I really enjoyed the other times
we spent together. Swimming in that lake, sitting under a waterfall, and we even
played soccer together! Don't you remember?!" and he pointed his dangling foot at
the soccer ball sitting across from the cave. "And we were even kissing a minute
ago!"

Venommaster hissed while a scaly question mark appeared over her head. She did
remember. This human she was about to kill was the first actual friend she ever
had and she was about to end his life right after she just saved it. Venommaster
released Tony causing him to fall onto the floor, then she shrunk back down to her
original form and covered her face with her now returned hands in sorrow.

As Venom sobbed, she then felt some human hands grab her wrists and pull her hands
down. She was looking into the smiling face of Tony. "Hey, don't worry about it
babe", he smiled as he kissed her cheek. Venom hissed a sigh of relief as she gave
Tony a gentle hug. She then saw all the group of injured victims and quickly
approached them. Flint, Sara, Merlock, and Wing were covered with really bad
bruises. Even Rocky had some on his stone skin.

"Can you help them Venom?" asked Tony. Venom smiled and nodded as she spat some
of her venom onto the wounds quickly healing them. Since all they had were bruises,
the healing process worked a lot faster.

"We're all better again!" gasped Flint as he got up with a huge backflip.

"And I feel like a new hammer!" said Rocky bouncing around happily.

"Did V-Ve, did SHE just save us?" asked Wing surprised.

"You bet she did", smiled Tony as he put an arm around her shoulders while Venom
blushed happily.

"Maybe she isn't a monster after all", said Merlock a little vexed.

"Did I just hear that you kissed her?" asked Sara even more vexed than Merlock.

Tony just laughed and was about to speak until a time portal suddenly opened up
and out popped Getalong.

"Getalong!" cried Flint happily as he ran over and hugged his favorite Time Shifter.

"Hi Flint. Hi everyone!" said Getalong happily. "And hello Venom. The Old Timer
really wants to see you again."

"He knows her?" asked Merlock surprised.

"Yes", said Getalong. "And he wants all of you to come back with me to The Land of
Time. He has some things he wants to explain to all of you."

"Okay, we'll get our time machines ready", said Flint. "They're right outside this
cave."

"But how are we gonna get out?" asked Tony.

"Leave that to me", said Wing as he transformed back into Wingmaster once again.
Everyone got onto his back including Venom even though Wingmaster was a little
reluctant at first. Then he flew them out through the hole in the roof and to
their time vehicles.

"Shall we all go?" asked Getalong.

"Wait", said Tony. "I'll be right back, I have to return this soccer ball." And he
sped off to the village while everyone looked silently at the nervous cobra-girl.

* * * * * *

"Oh, thank you!" cried Ari as he hugged Tony's legs happy to have his brother's
ball back.

"Oh, your welcome kid!" smiled Tony. "I'm sorry that it took me a couple of days
though."

"It's all right", smiled Ari. "It turned out my brother took his favorite ball with
him to college so the ball I have here isn't really that special. Isn't that funny?
You went into that scary cave for nothing! Hee Hee!"

"Yeah, hee hee!" said Tony as a headache started to form.

* * * * * *

When everyone had gotten to The Land of Time, The Older Timer came out of his
castle to greet them. "My, look how you've all grown!" he said happily. "Has it
really been 15 long years? But of course to me it's only a mere 15 days. But it's
great to see you all again." He then looked at the nervous cobra-girl that was
hiding in the back.

"Venom my dear!" said The Old Timer as he went over and hugged her lovingly. "I
thought I'd never see you again! It's good to have you home!" Venom smiled and
hugged The Old Timer back too, for she really missed him so much.

"You know her?" asked Tony.

"But of course", smiled The Old Timer. "Venom is the long lost Time Shifter that
I was afraid I'd never see again! Come on out everyone and say hello to a returned
member of our family."

Soon all the Time Shifters rushed out of the castle to see who this family member
was. But when they did, they all started running around in panic. "IT'S HER!!!"
shouted Bindi. "That evil cannibal has returned!" Venom hung her head down while
tears formed in her eyes, while Getalong used her love beam to calm everyone down,
except for Bindi who managed to dodge the beam.

"Why are you all so afraid of poor sweet Venom?" asked The Old Timer.

"And why did you just call her a cannibal?" Tony sternly asked Bindi.

"I've seen her try to eat Coconaut many years ago", cried Bindi, "You should
remember that!"

"I'm not sure", said Coconaut. "It was a crazy day and I can't really remember
what happened."

"Maybe if we turn back the hands on my special flashback clock, we can find out
what really happened", said The Old Timer as he took out a small grandfather clock
and spun the hands back many years ago. And a flashback started.

All of the Time Shifters were happily playing around in The Land of Time while
Venom sat on the ground all alone for the other Shifters sort of always stayed away
from her because she never spoke and she looked kind of scary. One day, Batterball
was playing ball with Coconaut. Batterball pitched a really fast ball causing
Coconaut to get knocked back hard. Venom was innocently opening her mouth making
out a loud yawn until Coconaut got thrown into her mouth by accident.

"AAAAAH!" screamed Bindi as she pointed to the large Shifter that had the small
Shifter in her mouth. "She's eating Coconaut! She's a cannibal!" Venom quickly
spat out the trembling Coconaut and was about to apologize, but Coconaut was too
much in shock. "You stay away from him you cannibal!" screamed Bindi as she grabbed
Coconaut and flew back into the castle. Venom sat there wondering what just
happened. She peeked through a window and saw Bindi saying nasty stuff about Venom
to the other Shifters. Venom became hurt when as she read the lips of the
misguided Bindi. An hour later, a whole horde of angry Time Shifters charged after
Venom throwing baseballs, leaves, and other strange objects. Venom became so hurt
and scared that she quickly left the Land of Time and never returned.

Once the flashback stopped, The Old Timer looked disappointedly at his Shifters.
"I can't believe you!" he said sadly. "Especially you Bindi! Causing everyone to
chase away poor Venom all because of a rumor!"

"But I can explain..." said Bindi feeling a little guilty.

"And furthermore!" continued The Old Timer. "You just misjudged Venom just because
of her appearance and because she never talks to any of you! The reason she can't
talk is because she can't hear! She can only read lips! She's a Time Shifter like
all of you and a member of your family!"

"He's right", said Wing. "At first, I was about to fire at Venom the other day, but
then I learned how she took care of Tony when he got hurt. She really is a nice
Time Shifter who just wants friends."

"I'm sorry Venom", said Coconaut as he slowly approached the surprised cobra-girl.
"I was too much in shock to realize what was going on at that time. If I had known
that I flew into your mouth by accident, I would've told the other Shifters that it
wasn't your fault."

"Hisss!" said Venom happy about hearing, I mean, reading those kind words from
Coconaut's lips.

"I jumped to those same conclusions when I saw Venom kissing Tony", said Sara still
thinking about that shocking scene. "I thought she was eating him too. I'm also
sorry Venom."

"We're all sorry too", said all the other Shifters. "And especially me", said Bindi
as she floated up to Venom trying really hard to make eye-contact with those scary-
looking eyes of hers. "Can you please give us all, especially me, another chance?"
Venom stood silent for a moment, then smiled and nodded and made a forgiving hiss.
All the Shifters cheered as they gathered around Venom welcoming her home.

As all the Shifters gathered around for a family hug. The Old Timer approached
the time detectives and Tony. "I want to thank you all for returning my last and
troubled Time Shifter back to me, especially you Tony. I knew you were the perfect
man for the job."

"What?" asked Tony surprised as well as everyone else.

"But of course", laughed The Old Timer. "I ordered Wing to take you to India so
you would eventually meet up with Venom sooner or later."

"Why didn't you tell me I going to go near Venom?" asked Wing surprised.

"Would you have gone to India if I had told you she was living there?" asked The
Old Timer.

"No, probably not", said Wing feeling embarrassed.

"But why did you choose Tony for this mission?" asked Merlock. "Why not one of
your finest time detectives? Like me?"

"Ahem!" said Sara annoyed.

"And of course my Sara too", said Merlock.

"Well, I didn't want to send a time detective", explained The Old Timer. "Because
with Venom's unfortunate reputation, I was afraid they might do something drastic
and end up scaring her."

"Just like we did", said Flint remembering how they attacked her before learning
the truth about her.

"That's why I decided what she really needed was a friend", said The Old Timer.
"Someone who knows what it's like to feel lonely and unnoticed. Just like you
Tony"

"Wow!" thought Tony. "I guess Rocky was right. Maybe me not being a time detective
was a blessing in disguise not only for me, but for someone else too." And he
smiled and looked at the happy Venom still hugging her old friends. She then
looked at Tony and smiled while sticking her forked tongue out at him.

"You actually kissed her?!" asked Sara.

* * * * * *

A month had passed. Tony was now dressing in white collared shirts and V-neck
sweaters for he was now Jillian Grey's personal file clerk. And he was truly great
at it and received a quick raise after the first month. Jillian wondered how she
had ever gotten along without him.

Back in The Land of Time, Venom was leaning out the castle window with tons of
thoughts in her scaly head. She then felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned
around and saw The Old Timer. "Penny for your thoughts?" he asked. Venom couldn't
understand him for his lips were covered with that huge white mustache.

"Oops, please forgive me dear!" said The Old Timer as he lifted up his mustache so
she could see his lips. "Are you still thinking about Tony?" he asked. Venom
nodded her head sadly. All she could ever think about was that human who
completely turned her sad and lonely life around and wished she could be part of
his world. But that could never be, because of their species.

"Perhaps there is some hope", smiled The Old Timer as he called all the Shifters
into the castle.

"My friends", said The Old Timer as he took out a strange glowing golden stone.
"What I have here is the one and only Stone of Humanity. One touch and a Time
Shifter will be transformed into a human permanently." All the Shifters looked
with wide-eyes at this amazing stone.

"You mean I could've had a chance to become human so that Merlock would like me
better?!" cried Bindi. But then remembered that Raldo was the man in her life now.
"Oops, sorry Rally-poo", said Bindi while hugging the turtle-like Shifter.

"For centuries I've kept this stone a secret, because it can only be used once",
said The Old Timer. "And once that Shifter becomes human, he or she will lose their
Shifter powers and will never-ever be able to be turned back again. And I thought
Venom should get to touch it after everything she went through. What do you say
my dear?"

"SSSSSSS!" hissed Venom while eagerly clapping her hands.

"And I would also like your votes too", said The Old Timer. "If you feel that she
deserves to become human so she can spend it with a kind and caring man. Please
say aye!"

"AYE!" said Wing who was the first to speak out. "AYYYYYYYEEEEE!" agreed all
the other Shifters.

"Then it's settled", smiled The Old Timer as he handed the stone to Venom. "Venom,
you may now become human." Venom happily closed her eyes and touched the stone
with both hands. A minute later nothing happened. She looked like the same cobra-
girl she always was. Suddenly she felt like she needed to shed her skin. She
quickly removed the itchy layers not caring that Shifters were watching her do it.
All the Shifters stared at her in silence as she started shedding her scaly skin
and taking on a new form.

* * * * * *

Another month had passed and Tony had stepped out of the Time Police
building finishing another fine day's work as a file clerk. Even though he felt
he was never going to become a time detective like his friends, he found out he
liked what he did and Jillian was a delightful boss to work for.

"I guess my life is worth living", thought Tony. "There's just one more thing that
I would like to make it complete. But that can't possibly ever happen." But he
spoke too soon when he saw a familiar cobra-hooded shadow appear on the ground.

"Venom?" gasped Tony excitedly, but became a little disappointed when he saw
someone else. It was quite a pretty young lady wearing a green tank top and blue
jeans. She had dark green hair that was puffy like a cobra's hood and a sweet
familiar smile. "It can't be?" thought Tony confused. "But could it?"

"Pardon me, but does a kind, handsome young file clerk named Tony Goodman work
here?" asked the lady in a voice that almost sounded like hissing, but pretty.

"V-V-Venom?!!" gasped Tony surprised and yet happy that the miracle he hoped for
had come true.

"That's right my dear friend", smiled Venom. "The Old Timer fixed it so I can be
part of your world."

"You can talk!" smiled Tony as he happily lifted Venom and spun her around. "Does
that mean you can hear too?!"

"Yes!" smiled Venom as she placed her now smooth as silk hands on Tony's shoulders.
"This new body comes complete with human eardrums as well. The Old Timer and the
other Shifters spent the next month teaching me how to talk. What do you think of
the new me now?"

"I love it!" smiled Tony happily as he stared into her now green human eyes. "But
deep down, I'll still love the old you!" and they hugged each other lovingly and
kissed. "Do you want to have dinner together?" asked Tony.

"Oooh! Do you know a place with lots of delicious rats roaming around?" asked
Venom.

"I think you'd might like to consider cheeseburgers instead", laughed Tony.

"How many legs does a cheeseburger have?" asked Venom.

* * * * * *

Three years had passed and everyone was having fun at the annual Time Police
Christmas party. Flint was loading up on Christmas pudding, turkey, and eggnog
while Rocky was bouncing around all decorated with holly and tinsel socializing
with everyone.

"Look my love", said Merlock as he pointed to the mistletoe that was hanging above
Sara. "You know what that means, don't you?" and he started to pucker his lips.

"Hey look who's here?!" smiled Sara not paying any attention to Merlock causing
him to fall down and kiss the floor while Sara ran over to the guests. "I think
someone spilled some eggnog over here", called out Merlock.

Sara approached Tony with his arm around Venom who was now his wife. She was
pushing a stroller that contained their newborn daughter, Angel Wing Goodman.

"Hello my little Angel", smiled Sara as she picked her up. "Come and give your
Aunt Sara a kiss!"

"Gaagoo!" cooed Angel while pulling onto her aunt's long pink hair with her tiny
hand.

"And how's the best file clerk on the force and my fully-human sister in law?"
asked Sara.

"We couldn't be happier", smiled Venom. "My Tony just received another raise from
Jillian."

"And it couldn't have come at a better time", said Tony proudly. "Now that I'm a
family man."

"You know Tony", smiled Sara as she cradled Angel. "You and Venom are truly the
lucky ones. Merlock and I always wanted to have kids, but we're too busy busting
criminals and protecting the timeline at all sorts of crazy hours to ever have any.
But you're just a simple file clerk. You can set your own hours to spend time with
your family and give your daughter all the love and attention you need. You truly
are the blessed ones. I'm proud of you little brother."

"Thank you Sis", said Tony with tears in his eyes knowing that he made his sister
proud of him. Just then, Angel started wriggling around in Sara's arms crying.

"Is there something wrong honey?" asked Sara concerned.

"Oh, Angel just probably needs a diaper change", said Venom as she took the baby
from Sara and headed for the ladies' room. "I'll be right back."

"That's funny", said Sara. "She didn't feel wet to me." Tony just secretly winked
for he knew what was really wrong with Angel and he knew Venom would fix her up.

Venom quickly locked the ladies' room door and put Angel on a table. She removed
her cute little baby clothes and her diaper and started peeling off her shedding
skin. Even though Venom was truly human, she still had that monthly shedding of
skin and she passed it on to her daughter. Once Angel was free from her old skin,
she smiled at her mother and fell right to sleep in her arms. "Sleep well my little
snakeling!" sang Venom as she put Angel's clothes back on and went to rejoin her
husband.

The Old Timer and all of the other Time Shifters watched everything through his
computer as the trio known as Tony, Venom, and Angel gathered around for a
Christmas picture. "Merry Christmas my children", sighed The Old Timer watching
one of the most happiest moments in his career of time.

THE END

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Well that was my first Flint story. I hope you all enjoyed it. And if you ever
feel like that you're insignificant and wonder if your life's worth living. Just
remember. God made you special just like all of His children and He put you on
this Earth for a special purpose. So be proud of who you are and that you've been
given His great gift of life. ^_^