With the final touches on the small metal object, Grace was panting, sweating from the heat of
the small room that was covered in papers of the constant notes that the blonde made over the
last few months. She’s been sweating all spring over the progress of a seemingly impossible
device that’ll change the world according to her. The only human that visits her is Travis, her
best friend/lab rat. Travis whistled on his way to the dark part of the science building. He wore a
red varsity jacket, a white shirt with a nice picture of his favorite Joshi wrestler, and red worn
sneakers he loved. He typed in the code that his friend gave him and walked into the dimly lit
laboratory. Travis fixed his messy brown hair and saw his beautiful pal, in her lab coat, hiding
her surprising nice body. Her head turned to have her bright blue eyes behind her thick-framed
glasses.

“Perfect,” Grace said as she scribbled her last bit of notes. She placed the notebook down and
walked over to Travis.

The man had his hands in his pockets, looking around the room. “Like come on, Grace. I told
you about having some damn music on. It’s dead quiet here.”

She rolled her eyes at the complaint. “Last time I did, you bitched about not liking classical.”

“Because it’s boring! Who cares about bumblebees and how they fly? Bor-ing!”

“And who cares about Tomoko Aran and what she does at midnight?”

Travis gasped. “Don’t talk about my queen like that!”

Grace giggled as she went back over to grab the metal devive to give Travis. She smiled as he
took it, looking it over. It was like a clicker, fit with a button at the top. The side had an acronym:
B.L.I.N.K.

“Blink?” Travis questioned.

"Yes, or the Bonds Linked In Natural Kin. It’s designed to have you link with any one of your
relatives, past or future. You can assimilate into your great grandfather in World War II or your
sons in some cyber warfare.”

Travis looked at the button in awe. “Shit… How the hell would that work?”

Grace attempted to put it in layman’s terms. Bless her friend, but he wasn’t the brightest. “Well,
you basically take control of their bodies. You live their lives.”

“Would they know I’m me?”

The blonde shook her head. “They’d see you as you.”

Travis was amazed. “So I just push this button here and…” He pressed the button, not
expecting it to do anything yet.

Grace saw that, and her eyes widened. “NO!” She screamed, but it was too late. Travis blinked
out.

Travis looked around after he pressed the button. He looked around to see that he was in a
bedroom, it was the past, he knew it. He looked down to see he was wearing some knight
armor, shiny and hardly scratched. He had a sword on his side. He was in some servant’s
shack, as far as he knew. He didn’t pay too much attention in class. The smell of roses filled the
air as he saw a wooden door open. It was a nude woman. She yelled at the same time Travis
did. “I’m so sorry ma'am!”

“O-Oh my! I didn’t know you were here…” She sounded almost sarcastic. “B-But we’re cousins!
We shouldn’t!” She swooned, peeking out.

Travis looked at her, confused. “What…?”

“I m-mean…If we must…: She began to step out, revealing her body.

“No. NO.” Travis pressed the button, blinking out.

When he blinked back in, he saw that he was in an alleyway. The neon lights blinked
everywhere, the fog was ever-present, and he noticed that he was surrounded by thugs wearing
cyber jackets. He looked down to see he had on self-lacing sneakers, ripped jeans, and the
same light-up jacket. The three punks wearing spiked hair and tattoos all over their bodies
walked closer and closer. “So, this is the junker that screwed my girl, right?” The middle one
asked. He could remember his name for some reason. It was Horse. The two beside him were
Mox and Franxe.

Travis made a nervous laugh as he slightly put his hands up, “Listen, You got the wrong guy.”

“Oh, I got the right one. Sick 'em, boys!” Franxe went for a swing. Travis ducked under and
countered with a right hook. Horse wrapped his arms around Travis’ neck, choking him to keep
the man in place. Mox punched Tracis in the gut once, having the man grunt in discomfort.
Travis lifted his legs to push Mox back, at the same sending the leader to the brick wall,
weakening his grip. Travis sent a few elbows to the ribs and flipped him over to have the Horse
crashing to the concrete. While the boss crawled across the dirty ground in pain, the other two
punks got up to attack him. Mox punched Travis in the face, sending him and the blood from his
mouth into the wall. Franxe joined in on the beating, kicking him down, aiming at the body and
head. The duo teamed up to throw Travis into the garbage cans. He bashed his head right into
them, making Travis see stars for just a moment.

As the two punks attempted to help their leader, Travis got an idea as he recovered. He stayed
on the ground, letting Horse laugh as he stepped up to the prone Travis. As soon as the boss
was close, he bashed his face in with a garbage can lid, making more teeth fall out in the
process. Travis kicked up and rushed the other two, beating the pair with the metal lid. He
panted as he saw the three on the ground. He tossed the lid, and with a job well done, he
pressed the button to blink out,

It took a few moments to figure out where he was. What made him snap out of this feeling was
an exploration. He was freefalling. looking down was some land, but it was obvious that he was
headed towards the big blue ocean. Anti-air shots exploded around the man, as he saw
soldiers falling and attempting to survive the fall. Travis was spinning, seeing the falling plane
brandishing the flag of Imperial Japan smoking and breaking apart. He knew he just blinked in
the middle of a warzone. Looking down to see that he had war gear on. He was in World War II.
He attempted to blink out, but the button slipped out of his hands as he was hit by a piece of
cargo and pushed back by another AA shot. He dove to see the small, shiny button, getting
pushed by the blasts and other shots from the ground troops. He grabbed the object and blinked
as he almost hit the ground.

Travis fell into some snow. The rush of cold hit his body as he stood up. He had a garb on,
looked to be a kimono. To his side was a katana. Across from the snowy field was a woman.
She looked oddly similar to Grace, except she had black hair. The same body type, eye color,
everything. A name popped in his head: Ito. She walked forward slowly. Her katana at her hip.
“Pick up the blade, master.” She said. It was in Japanese, but he understood it perfectly.

Travis was used to the confusion at this point. He had a chance to blink out, but he was far too
interested in the fate of this woman to leave now. He picked up the sword and armed himself,
letting the snowfall down softly. The crunch of the snow was loud as both parties walked in a
circle. The snow formed a makeshift arena as they stepped around a few more times.

Ito charged first, using her speed to end her opponent. Travis instinctively grabbed his hilt with
both hands and defended himself, blocking all shots that came his way. The sparks flew as he
fought the woman. He ducked under another swipe to cut her side, but Ito jumped to the side
and cut Travis’ back. He rolled to recover, staining the snow with red. Ito continued the
onslaught, cutting his cheek before Travis countered with a left hook. Ito was stunned for a
moment, just enough time to turn and jam the sword right into her back, with the ending showing
through her chest. She violently thrashed around, in shock that she was dying. Travis had her in
his arms, setting her down softly. He looked right into her deep blue eyes. “I…” She muttered
out. “I love you…”

Travis kissed her as she passed away, not caring about the blood in her mouth. Snapping out of
the trance, he pressed the clicker, blinking back.

He landed back into the lab, With a shocked Grace running to him. “Holy shit! Travis, are you
ok? Are you hurt? Are you…”

Travis put a hand up. “I’m fine, Grace.” He got up, grunting.

“How was it?” She asked.

“Blinking?”

“Mhm.”

Travis walked to the door frame. He turned and smiled. “Dogshit.”