Book 12

## Chapter 1

“Alright, let’s go to…2000 now!” Ice exclaimed. She peeked at the checklist. It read:

*Time travel to:*

*2019 ✅*

*2008 ✅*

*2000*

*~~3000~~*

“Too bad time travel to the future hasn’t been invented yet,” Hop bear muttered. He looked over at the DOT. “DOT? You coming too?”

The cat had been acting strange lately, she kept checking her phone. Now, she turned it off and sighed. “Sorry, guys,” she meowed, looking at them. “I’ve got to go attend a yoga class for old cats with my parents. I promised them.”

“Oh, okay, have fun!” Ice bear was a little sad that the DOT couldn’t come along, but she knew how glad the DOT was now that she had her parents back, wanting to spend all the time she could with them.

“Wait, who’s that?” Earlene asked, pointing at the DOT.

“Oh, she’s our friend, the Demon of Time,” GOT explained.

“The WHAT???” Simone screamed. “Oh wait, I remember writing that.”

Simone held up the Timebear book she was writing, and wrote that Hop bear sent DOT off to yoga class with the ring and Ice dug her nose.

“Lol!!” Hop burst out laughing when he saw what Simone wrote. Sure enough, Ice was doing just that. “Hey, make me dig my nose!!”

Ice bear groaned.

Hop dug his nose.

“Let’s just go to 2000 now, “ Ice bear sighed.

“I’m writing that right now!” Earlene exclaimed, scribbling furiously.

Ice held out the ring, and a bubble warped around Earlene, Simone, Joy, the two bears and GOT. “October 1st, 2020,” she whispered to the golden ring.

Soft hums of vibration blurred the scenery, the bubble reflecting every colour of the rainbow as it whisked back through time. When their visions cleared, they saw the park that they arrived in. The bubble warped away.

“Wow, what an old park,” GOT commented, stepping onto the grass. Old-fashioned benches lined the path, with a stone fountain and warm-looking  greenery. It certainly looked older than the parks in 2019…let alone those in 2144. Ice bear was a little shocked to see how different it was. In 2144, Antarctica parks were snowy and modern, with beautiful ice sculptures. Even those in America, the one time she went, was more like a soft clearing with lush greenery and rippling stream.

“Hey! These people are walking around without phones!” Hop observed. In 2144, everyone brought their smartphones wherever they went.

“Yeah, smartphones only became popular in about 2010,” Simone told him. She saw a guy with a Nokia phone and pointed. “Look! He’s using a Nokia phone.”

“Never heard of it,” Hop said immediately.

“Me neither,” Ice admitted. “Is that even a phone??”

She turned to Joy for confirmation, but quickly realised that she was as white as a sheet.

“What is it?” Simone asked, looking in the direction Joy was staring at. Her mouth fell open.

Earlene’s did, too.

Sitting on the grass in the park, they saw…

Young 张老师 and her present relief teacher having a picnic together.

Hop stared too. “Um… hello? Isn’t that just your random Chinese teacher from 2019?”

“Let’s slowly back away,” Earlene suggested.

## Chapter 2

After that very weird scene, the six of them decided to get ice-cream. All of them ordered chocolate chip ice cream from the ice-cream vendor with his cart. They picked a bench nearby and sat down, licking their sweet treats. The park might have been old, but it was beautiful!!!

Ice bear looked at the tall, green trees lining the lush valley and flowers blooming from the bluish bushes. Small stones were scattered around the trees in a circle and narrow path stretched toward the horizon, to the warm setting sun.

Simone, Earlene and Joy gobbled down their ice cream in 2 minutes, but Hop wolfed it down in just one second. Ice bear gave her cone to him too. She didn’t really like ice cream anyway. “Remember, savour it this time—” Ice bear started, but it was too late. Hop practically inhaled her cone as well.

Ice bear couldn’t help laughing. But the GOT seemed distracted, he kept biting his fur. She looked over at him.

“Uhhh…” he stared at his fur, looking concerned. “I’m going to the toilet, be right back!”

Without waiting for a reply, the white cat sprinted across the grass and swerved to the right into the bushes.

There was a pause.

“Um,” Joy noted. “Isn’t the toilet the other way? The GOT is going the wrong way!”

“We’d better go tell him,” Earlene said, worriedly standing up.

Ice, Hop, Earlene and Joy all dashed towards the GOT. Meanwhile, Simone was busy narrating the book.

“GOT! GO—” Ice bear stopped in her tracks. “Uhh, why is he hiding behind a bush?”

“Is he peeing in the bush??” Hop’s eyes grew wide. “I mean he is a cat, but I thought as the Guardian of Time, he’d be a little more…proper.”

“Let’s check it out,” Joy replied.

“Wouldn’t it be a bit rude to interrupt someone in the middle of peeing?” Earlene wondered.

“Let’s just tell him where the toilet is,” Simone said, still narrating the book. “Wait…do cats use toilets?” Hop asked.

Ice bear cautiously opened up the bush and peered in.

The GOT didn’t seem to notice them, though. Instead he continued biting his fur. “Argh, this disguise is so itchy sometimes,” he murmured. Then, he…pulled his own fur off???

The skin underneath was pale and green. It was jelly-like, with antennae poking out of his head. Ice and Hop watched in absolute horror as they watched him turn into their worst nightmare.

Behind the disguise of the cat was…

An alien.

Epilogue: DUN DUN DUN!!!