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lunadensoutatime · 3 years ago

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Atlas: A Tail of Time - Chapter 1

Basically the movies in fanfiction form only Marty has a dog :)

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Friendships can be a funny thing, and sometimes it's how you meet your friends that's even stranger. For example, while one pair of friends in this story met through a dare, another met in the street...

Hill Valley, California

May 17th, 1982

Summer was just around the corner and the sun was shining, an almost perfect day, the kind of day when no one expects danger. The little husky pup in the box on the curb had thought so too, scrambling out of the box the best it could with its tiny, puppy sized legs. Once free to roam it gamboled about, marveling at everything with not a care in the whole world.

Obviously it was not paying attention to where it was going and wandered into the street, but that wasn't a problem now was it? Rush hour traffic was still a few hours away and the road was fairly clear. Note that it wasn't completely clear. As cliche as it was, the pup was in the middle of the road with an oncoming car, the driver not seeing the dog.

One Marty McFly did see the dog.

The 14 year old had just gotten out of school and was skateboarding down the side of the street on his way home when he saw the little husky in the middle of the road. He also saw the car coming dead on for it, the driver not slowing down. Now Marty had a heart, he also wasn't chicken that's for sure...

In a flash he leapt from his skateboard, grabbed the puppy to roll into a heap on the curb at the other side of the street, the car honking at him as he did so. The car slowed down for all of 3 seconds for the driver to check their mirror to see if they had hit anything, not seeing any problems, they sped back up and kept going.

"That was a close one little guy, what were you doing in the middle of the road?" Marty asked the dog rhetorically, knowing it wasn't going to reply back.

Instead, the little husky turned its attention back across the street to the curb and the box it had come from. Marty followed the pup's ice blue gaze to the box, "Free puppies huh? Just waiting for someone to adopt you then?" The dog turned back to him and wriggled a bit almost as an affirmative, before leaning forward to lick his face.

"Sorry buddy but I don't think I can take you home with me, don't think my mom would be happy about you in the house." Bittersweetly Marty carried the puppy back across the street, grabbing his skateboard on the way, before putting the pup back in the box. "You'll find the right person."

Setting his skateboard down, he jumped on it and made to take off when he felt something brush against his leg. Looking down Marty saw the little husky had climbed onto the back of skateboard and was now looking up at him. "Huh, what're you doing down there?" Picking up the dog and placing it back into the box, the young teen watched as the little puppy climbed out of the box and back onto his board. After a few more times of this, Marty realized that this dog wasn't going to let him out of its sight.

It was already after when he should have been home and he didn't really have any other options, so Marty picked up the little husky, and skated home. Hardly in the door he met his mother, a frantic look in her eye as though she had been worried something had happened to him. "Why are you late?" she asked worriedly, then she paused and looked to the dog in his arms, "And what is that?"

"Well I was coming home from school and saw this puppy in the street about to get hit by a car. So I saved him and was about to put him back in the "Free Puppies" box he came from but he kept getting out to follow me. So there really wasn't anything else I could do."

"I won't have that dog in my house, I don't need another thing to look after," Marty's mom held her head in exhaustion.

"You won't have to look after him mom, I can take care of him," he countered.

"We both know how this ends Marty, you'll take care of it for a little bit and then get tired of doing the work and I'll have to do it."

That felt just like being called chicken, and Marty hated being called chicken.

"I can take care of him mom and I'll prove it," he said, walking past her and to his room, closing the door. He set the husky down on the floor as he went to sit on his bed, watching the little pup wander around exploring, and as it pulled out a world atlas from the bottom of a bookshelf, playing with it. Marty looked at the little pup with a small smile on his face, "You need a name."

The dog shook the atlas in its jaws violently for a second and Marty reached down to take it back. What resulted was a tug of war between the book and somehow the little husky managed to keep possession of it.

"Atlas then."

That's how Marty McFly got himself a dog.

Hill Valley, California

October 25th, 1985

The key clicked in the lock and the door opened, a pair of Nike shoes putting the rug back over the spare key as four white paws slipped past them and into the room. "Hey, Doc? Doc. Hello? Is anybody home?" The voice belonging to the shoes called, then he whistled, "Einstein, come here boy. What's going on here?"

The husky the paws belonged to let out a bark, probably calling for the building's occupants too. 17 year old Marty McFly turned to his dog, "Do you think they're here Atlas?" Atlas did not reply verbally and moved to Einstein's dog bowl on the floor, overflowing with canned dog food. Both scents of the inhabitants were stale.

Marty walked around her, eyeing the bowl with disgust, "Wha-aw, god. Aw, jesus... Atlas don't eat that." She looked up at him puzzled, she hadn't been planning on it.

While the husky abandoned Einstein's bowl in favor of looking around, the teen began flipping a series of switches and turning dials as far as they could go. His guitar plugged into the huge amplifier in front of him, Marty raised his pick, ready. Atlas was already crouched down with ears laid flat, preparing herself for what was about to happen.

The amplifier blew out with a bang and one strum to the guitar, Marty getting sent backwards into a bookshelf that tipped and spilled its contents onto him. Atlas scurried over, sticking her nose through the papers covering him as the boy leaned forward, removing the sunglasses from his face. "Whoa. Rock 'n' roll," he said.

An old fire alarm on a post began to ring, Marty scrambling out of the pile of stuff from the bookshelf to grab the phone the alarm was connected to. "Yo," he said, holding the receiver to his ear.

"Marty, is that you?" the voice on the other end answered.

"Hey, hey, Doc, where are you?" Atlas's ears perked up as she heard Doc's voice, both she and Marty seemed relieved to hear it.

"Thank god I found you," Doc ignored Marty's question, he himself also seeming to be relieved. "Listen, can you meet me at the Twin Pines Mall tonight at 1:15? I've made a major breakthrough, I'll need your assistance."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute. 1:15 in the morning?" Marty asked in disbelief. Why that early time in favor of all perfectly good times during the day?

"Yeah."

"What's going on? Where have you been all week?"

"Working," was Doc's cryptic answer.

"Where's Einstein, is he with you?" The teen proceeded to worry about his eccentric friend's dog.

"Yeah he's right here."

"Y'know, Doc, you left your equipment on all week."

"My equipment, that reminds me, Marty, you better not hook up to the amplifier. There's a slight possibility for overload."

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind," Marty replied, fully registering the fact that Doc's warning was worthless. The blown out amplifier was proof.

"Good, I'll see you tonight. Don't forget, now, 1:15 am, Twin Pines Mall."

"Right."

Just as the conversation seemed to be over, all of the clocks along one of the lab's walls struck the hour, 8 am. Atlas barked at them for a second. 8 am? That didn't seem right, it felt much later-

"Are those my clocks I hear?" Doc's voice came through the receiver again.

"Yeah, it's 8 am," Marty clarified, waving his hand at Atlas for her to be quiet, even though she had already stopped barking.

"They're late. My experiment worked. They're all exactly 25 minutes slow."

"Wait a minute. Wait a minute, Doc. Are you telling me that it's 8:25?"

"Precisely."

"Damn, I'm late for school."

Things always had a way of working against Marty. Well, Mr. Strickland sure was, but that wasn't the point.

When things weren't going so well Marty knew there were some people he could count on to at least make him feel better:

Number 1 was Atlas, who never seemed to want to leave his side, even when he was at school. The husky actually stayed on the grounds while he was in class, to wait for him to come out at the end of the school day. Even though she came close to biting Strickland that one time when he was trying to give the McFly kid detention unreasonably-

Number 2 was Doc, who would get him wrapped up in some strange science experiment to help take his mind off of things. He was more of a father figure than Marty's real coward of a dad.

And number 3 was Jennifer, she always stuck by and was looking out for him when she could. Even when she got in trouble a few times for it-

So here he was again, arriving at school late - no thanks to any of Doc's clocks - for what was probably the 4th time in a row. But that was only if he got caught...

"Hello, Jennifer," Marty said, greeting his girlfriend.

The blonde rushed up to him, "Marty, don't go this way. Strickland's looking for you. If your caught it'll be four tardies in a row."

She led him around a corner and away from the supposed "Strickland Zone" when she said, "Alright, c'mon, I think we're safe."

"Y'know this time it wasn't my fault. The Doc set all of his clocks 25 minutes slow," Marty replied, his reason for arriving late.

"Doc? Am I to understand you're still hanging around with Doctor Emmett Brown, McFly?"

Of course, Strickland had found him all the same.

"Tardy slip for you, Ms. Parker. And one for you McFly, I believe that makes 4 in a row," the bald, scowl wearing, teacher handed out the tardy slips like like he found immense joy in doing it. And honestly, he probably did. "Now let me give you a nickel's worth of advice, young man. This so called Doctor Brown is dangerous, he's a real nutcase. You hang around with him you're going to be in big trouble."

"Oh, yes sir," was Marty's response, quite sarcastically I might add-

Which, expectedly, Strickland didn't take very well...

His voice rose as he addressed what he saw as a future degenerate, "You've got a real attitude problem, McFly. You're a slacker. You remind me of your father when he went here, he was a slacker too."

Strickland's raised voice easily met Atlas's ears from where the dog was situated outside the school building. She knew Marty's schedule, and intentionally placed herself as close as possible to him in that given moment. What she was hearing - through a conveniently placed open window - made her blood boil and a growl rise in the back of her throat.

Through that same open window, the trio inside could hear Atlas's barks of rage, and it only added fuel to Strickland's fire.

"Then you let that dog follow you around, instead of training it to stay where it should. At home."

"Atlas hasn't hurt anyone, and I've never gotten a complaint about her. Can I go now Mr. Strickland?" Marty was already done with this guy and it wasn't even noon.

"I noticed your band is on the roster for dance auditions after school today," Strickland simply ignored Marty's question and went on berating him, "Why even bother McFly, you haven't got a chance, you're too much like your old man. No McFly ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley."

Marty's irritation was clear as he confidently said, "Yeah, well history's gonna change."

"Next please," the Audition Judge said in their curt tone.

"Alright, we're the Pinheads," Marty introduced his band, his guitar in hand. The group had hardly started their song when the judge cut them off.

"Okay, that's enough. Now stop the microphone. I'm sorry fellas. I'm afraid you're just too darn loud. Next, please. Where's the next group, please."

Marty walked down the sidewalk near the town square, Jennifer on one side and Atlas on the other, an election van going down the road. "Re-elect Mayor Goldie Wilson. Progress is his middle name," came from it's bullhorns as it trundled along.

"I'm too loud. I can't believe it. I'm never gonna get a chance to play in front of anybody," Marty ranted, still frustrated about the disappointing audition.

"Marty, one rejection isn't the end of the world," Jennifer tried to reason with him.

"Nah, I just don't think I'm cut out for music."

Atlas jumped in front of him, barking once in outrage. How could he say that? Of course he was cut out for music!

Jennifer seemed to agree with Atlas's objection, "But you're good, Marty, you're really good. And this audition tape of yours is great, you gotta send it in to the record company. It's like Doc's always saying-"

"Yeah, I know," Marty sighed, "If you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything."

"That's good advice Marty."

"Alright, okay Jennifer," the boy went on, trying to entertain Jennifer's idea of sending in the tape - only in his view. "What if I send in the tape and they don't like it? I mean, what if they say I'm no good? What if they say, "Get out of here, kid, you got no future." I mean, I just don't think I can handle that type of rejection. Jesus, I'm beginning to sound like my old man."

Atlas instinctively pushed her head into Marty's hand, trying to reassure him, she was there if he ever needed her. For a few seconds he petted the dog, it was comforting and a reminder he wasn't alone. Atlas cared, and Jennifer did too.

"C'mon, he's not that bad. At least he's letting you borrow the car tomorrow night," she pointed out.

Right as she said that, a pickup truck went by, something that didn't hesitate to catch Marty's interest.

"Check out that 4 by 4. That is hot," he said, a fantasy already coming to life in his head. "Someday, Jennifer, someday. Wouldn't it be great to take that truck up to the lake? Throw a couple of sleeping bags in the back. Lie out under the stars."

"Stop it."

"What?"

"Does your mom know about tomorrow night?" Jennifer asked.

"No, get out of town, my mom thinks I'm going camping with the guys," Marty replied. The idea of telling his mom about what he was going to be up to the next day seemed like a joke. "Well, Jennifer, my mother would freak out if she knew I was going up there with you. And I get this standard lecture about how she never did that kind of stuff when she was a kid. Now look, I think she was born a nun."

"She's just trying to keep you respectable," Jennifer countered.

"Well, she's not doing a very good job," Marty sent back before he kissed his girlfriend, something that ended up being short lived.

Their moment ruined by a woman rattling a collecting tin in their faces.

"Save the clock tower, save the clock tower," she said, "Mayor Wilson is sponsoring an initiative to replace that clock. Thirty years ago, lighting struck that clock tower and the clock hasn't run since. We at the Hill Valley Preservation Society think it should be preserved exactly the way it is as part of our history and heritage."

Atlas put herself between the lady and Marty and Jennifer, forcing the woman to take a step back. However, even with a decent sized dog between her and her target, the collector stayed where she was.

In an effort to get her to leave, Marty pulled a coin out of his pocket, dropping it in the tin. "Here you go, lady. There's a quarter."

"Thank you," she replied, handing him a piece of paper, "Don't forget to take a flyer."

"Right."

"Save the clock tower," the lady went on down the sidewalk, shaking her tin.

"Where were we?" Marty asked, turning back to Jennifer.

"Right about here," she replied.

They leaned in to kiss again when someone called out, "Jennifer!"

"It's my dad," Jennifer sighed, getting up and going over to his car.

"Right."

"I've gotta go."

"I'll call you tonight," Marty reassured her.

"I'll be at my grandma's," Jennifer clarified, hurrying back to scribble the number on the back of the "Save the Clock Tower" flyer. "Here, let me give you the number. Bye."

"Perfect, just perfect," Marty grumbled. He walked up the driveway to his house and past the totaled family car being hauled in by a tow truck.

Atlas gave it a quick glance before following Marty inside. Something wasn't right there, it smelled like trouble, and she wasn't going to let her owner face it alone.

"I can't believe you loaned me a car, without telling me it had a blind spot. I could have been killed," a gruff voice stated.

Biff Tannen, the husky hated him. But all she gave was a low warning growl, something that Biff either didn't notice, or didn't care about.

"Now, now, Biff, now, I've never noticed any blindspot before when I would drive it. Hi, son," George McFly tried, key word tried, to defend himself, pausing for only a second to greet Marty.

George was a pushover, there wasn't really any other description for him. If it wasn't for him being so passive and non-threatening, Atlas wouldn't have cared for him. The only thing about the man that bothered her was how little he actually stood up for himself and his family.

"But, what are you blind McFly, it's there. How else do you explain that wreck out there?" Biff fumed.

"Now, Biff, um, can I assume your insurance is going to pay for the damage?"

"My insurance? It's your car, your insurance should pay for it." Biff held up the corner of his sport coat, the material damp with some unknown substance. "Hey, I wanna know who's gonna pay for this? I spilled beer all over it when that car smashed into me. Who's gonna pay my cleaning bill?"

"Uh-" George hesitated, but didn't get a chance to answer before Biff fired another question at him.

"And where's my reports?"

"Uh, well, I haven't finished those up yet, but you know I figured since they weren't due till-"

The coward was cut off again as Biff grabbed his tie, pulling George forward so he could knock on his head.

"Hello, hello, anybody home? Think, McFly, think. I gotta have time to get them retyped. Do you realize what would happen if I hand in my reports in your handwriting? I'll get fired. You wouldn't want that to happen, would you? Would you?"

"Of course not, Biff, now I wouldn't want that to happen. Now, uh, I'll finish those reports up tonight, and I'll run them on over first thing tomorrow, alright?"

"Hey, not too early I sleep in on Saturday." Biff then pointed at George's feet, "Oh, McFly, your shoe's untied." When George looked down, Biff smacked him in the face with his hand, "Don't be so gullible, McFly."

Biff walked away from George and into the kitchen, pulling open the fridge to grab a beer as Marty and Atlas watched from the hall. "You got the place fixed up nice, McFly. I have your car towed all the way to your house and all you've got for me is light beer."

"What are you looking at Butthead? Say 'hi' to your mom for me," Biff said to Marty before he left the kitchen, quickly kicking Atlas to the side on his way out. The dog yelped and turned around, growling, but Biff was already gone.

"I know what you're gonna say, son, and you're right, you're right. But Biff just happens to be my supervisor, and I'm afraid I'm not very good at confrontations," George said to Marty, aware about how his son was upset with his actions.

"The car, Dad, I mean he wrecked it, totaled it. I needed that car tomorrow night, Dad, I mean do you have any idea about how important this was, do you have any clue?"

"I know, and all I can say is I'm sorry."

"Believe me, Marty, you're better off not having to worry about all the aggravation and headaches of playing at the dance," George was still apologizing to his son even when dinner was served.

"He's absolutely right, Marty. The last thing you need is headaches," Marty's older brother Dave commented.

At that moment, Marty's mom Lorraine walked in from the kitchen, tossing a pan onto the center of the table. "Kids, we're gonna have to eat this cake by ourselves, Uncle Joey didn't make parole again. I think it would be nice, if you all dropped him a line."

"Uncle Jailbird Joey?" Marty questioned, Atlas perking up from where she was under the table, she hadn't met Joey before. The guy had gone to jail when Marty was really little, and Atlas hadn't even been born yet.

"He's your brother, Mom," Dave replied.

"Yeah, I think it's a major embarrassment having an uncle in jail," Linda, Marty's older sister, added.

"We all make mistakes in life, children," Lorraine sighed, Dave springing up from his seat.

"God dammit, I'm late!"

"David, watch your mouth. You come here and kiss your mother before you go, come here," Lorraine reprimanded.

"C'mon, Mom, make it fast, I'll miss my bus. Hey, see you tonight, Pop. Woo, time to change that oil," and Dave was out the door.

"Hey Marty, I'm not your answering service, but while you were outside pouting about the car, Jennifer Parker called you twice," Linda said, not particularly caring.

"I don't like her, Marty," Lorraine complained, "Any girl who calls a boy is just asking for trouble."

"Oh Mom," Linda sighed, "There's nothing wrong with calling a boy."

"I think it's terrible," Lorraine prepared her lecture, "Girls chasing boys. When I was your age I never chased a boy, or called a boy, or sat in a parked car with a boy.

"Then how am I supposed to meet anybody," Linda protested.

"Well, it will just happen. Like the way I met your father."

"That was so stupid," the teen girl grumbled, "Grandpa hit him with the car."

"It was meant to be," Lorraine stated, "Anyway, if Grandpa hadn't hit him, none of you would have been born."

"Yeah, well, I still don't understand what Dad was doing in the middle of the street," Linda retorted.

"What was it, George, birdwatching?"

George turned away for the TV, faking innocence, "What Lorraine, what?"

"Anyway, Grandpa hit him with the car and brought him into the house. He seemed so helpless, like a lost little puppy, my heart just went out for him."

"Yeah Mom, we know, you've told us this story a million times. You felt sorry for him so you decided to go with him to the Fish Under the Sea Dance," Linda sighed.

"No, it was the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance," Lorraine corrected her daughter. "Our first date. It was the night of that terrible thunderstorm, remember George? Your father kissed me for the very first time on that dance floor. It was then I realized I was going to spend the rest of my life with him."

The phone began to ring, Marty, who was fast asleep in what Atlas had decided to be the strangest sleeping position she had ever seen, jolted awake. He reached for the phone, putting the receiver to his ear and answering with a groggy, "Hello?"

"Marty, you didn't fall asleep, did you?" Doc's voice came through the line.

"Uh Doc, uh no. No, don't be silly," Marty replied, trying to hide he had in fact been unconscious a few minutes before.

"Listen, this is very important, I forgot my video camera, could you stop by my place and pick it up on your way to the mall?"

"Um, yeah, I'm on my way."

#Atlas: A Tail of Time #A:ATT #back to the future #marty mcfly #doc brown #atlas #fanfic #bttf #fanfiction #bttf fanfic #atlas au

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