Special Headnote: That Episode 2 tag was preserved for the 63 pairs of eyes that had seen this prototype chapter of a project. For references, this is the Episode 1: The Weeping Water Lily. Unfortunately, the summary's been lost, so you'll have to find out the contents on your own. My apologies.

It's been a long time. How have you been?

Well, I've been busy assembling this story, along with some other unrelated ones. Tell me what you think, yeah?


In a room filled with sunlight leaking out of its windows, a pen danced its way through the paper as another sigh hit it. After the page ran out of space, the girl flipped it around, and pointed to another piece of paper.

"That's the… 60th page done, in 3 hours… You know, I should propose a patch for that. Fastest Official Accounting Document Writer… That'll be nice."

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. When she got up and opened it, she saw Ginger with a… slightly troubled look on her face.

Slightly might be an understatement, she thought.

"Hey, Gretchen… I-I need your help with something. A-are you busy?"

"Oh. Well, actually I am kinda busy. Isabella's been handing me twice my usual paperwork, but, uh, I think I can give myself an excuse to rest after 60 pages. What's up?"

"Oh, thank goodness. See, do you know what date is it today?"

"Uh… July 14th?"

"It's more than just a July 14th, Gretchen!" she yelled out, making the shorter girl reel back in surprise.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" Ginger slapped her forehead. "It's just—"

"Hold on, hold on, don't tell me," Gretchen interrupted her with a wave of her hands. "I think I'm having an actual shot for that Sherlock Scan Patch I've been pining for these few months, hold on, let me take a guess… It's Baljeet's birthday today, and now you're freaking out because you don't have the perfect gift for him, and now you're roping me out of my paperwork for a trip around town to find the perfect present, right?"

Ginger only cocked her head, letting her mouth open slightly.

"Uh…"

"Come on, I want to hear it," she crossed her arms and smiled. "A little gratification goes a long way."

"…You're close, if it helps. It's actually two days away."

"Oh, man!"

"Yeah, sorry for your loss. Anyway, I've been searching for a gift for him, yeah? I found this perfect copy of the encyclopedia he wanted for a long time on the library. So, I went there to loan it, but it turns out he already borrowed that same book! Ditto for the copy of the museum pieces! So I thought, why not a flower instead? But then I thought, a rose would be so cliché and impersonal…"

Gretchen slowly faded away from the conversation; she went through these ramblings several thousand times every month, and she currently did not have the energy to walk through another one.

"So then I called the security guards, and then those guys painting the roses red—"

"Ginger! Point?"

"Oh! Oh, sorry about that. I've been getting this tendency to ramble on about…"

An unappreciative look from Gretchen, and she finally closed her mouth.

"Okay, right. Point is, I've found a piece of paper detailing about a rare flower. So rare, the scientists haven't even completely analyzed it yet."

"What? Is that even possible?"

"Behold, Gretchen. The Weeping Water Lily."

She pulled out an old-looking page out of her pocket, holding it far above her face as a shining light leaked out of the window to illuminate it in dramatic lighting. Gretchen snatched the paper from her friend's hands, rudely interrupting the chanting angelic chorus.

"Is there even such a thing? Weeping Water Lily… Reproducing capabilities unknown, current location is unknown, but vaguely presumed to inhabit the Danville Highlands..."

"Wait, you understand that thing?" Ginger turned beside her to take a look.

"What are you talking about? It's simple. Sure there's a lot of scientific lingo involved, but it's pretty basic. Its zygotes are determined to be precisely homogenous and endemically integrated to the temperate conditions of exact state of forestry that can be found in Danville Highlands. Problem is, the specimen is statistically low in numbers because it cannot reproduce properly, since all of its pollinators are driven away by its ca—"

"Stop explaining! Please!" Ginger yelled out, panting as if she ran 7 laps around the log's running field. "I was lucky to catch that Highlands bit!"

Gretchen smiled at her almost smugly. "Heh, that's peculiar. I thought you'd learn lots of things from dating a walking encyclopedia."

"We're not dating! As much as I wish us to be…"

Gretchen pointed her eyes up in a blink.

"…Uh-huh… Well, I'm sure that'll be a fun trip, Ginger, but why didn't you call Isabella first? She can clear the operation for the whole troop, and I think she'll be really glad to help too... You know, considering your… mutual, uh… alignments?"

Ginger shook her head hard, almost as if she wanted to detach it from her neck.

"But that's exactly the problem, Gretchen! If I tell her about it, she'll take the flower all for herself! Then she'll go to give it to Phineas, except she'll get cold feet at the end of it, and then she'll end up letting that flower rot in the locker! Just like the Ruby Ring and the Gallant Gold Bar!"

"…That's, uh… that's actually a pretty good point." The short-haired girl sighed, putting a hand under her chin. "Uh, I don't know. It sounds good enough, but I really don't wanna let that pile of paper pile up even more..."

She pointed behind her, where gargantuan stacks of papers neatly surrounded the table, threatening to fall and sink everything in their path with the slightest disturbance.

"Oh, the accounting documents? I'll take care of that for you."

"You? Taking care of all of that?"

"Sure! As long as we get that flower, why not?"

"Ginger, do you even know where you're going with this? It took me 2 hours to sort through 30 of those things!"

"Please. You're underestimating me again. Like you said, I've learned much from dating an encyclopedia. I've learned numbers, Gretchen, not uh… what do you call it? Squidia…nelics?"

"Sesquipedalians."

"Yeah, that. So, you'll help me?"

Her eyes darted back and forth, from Ginger's pleading face to the massive stacks of paper behind her.

"…Alright. Just let me get my uniform."


"...I know, right? The internet is so redundant! Too much on teen celebrity crises, not enough on actual information. And that, Ginger, is why I continue to stick to books on biologies."

"You sound just like Baljeet," Ginger chuckled. "You know, you should talk to my sister some time. She goes on and on about the latest gossip she pulled from the Internet, but when there's a question about basic math and trigonometry—"

Gretchen turned her head when the girl suddenly went still as a statue.

"Hey, Ginger? What's goi—"

"Ssh!" She pushed a finger against the shorter girl's lips. "Maybe she hasn't noticed us yet…"

"What are you talking about?"

Ginger squinted, looking at some… thing that was presumably barreling down on them, from a long, long way away.

Before Gretchen could open her mouth again, the girl suddenly broke right to the street next to her, with Gretchen's hand paling from the tightness of her grasp.

"Ginger! What the heck is going on!?"

"We need to hide, now! If she knows it's us, Isabella will be on our case in no time!"

"Wha- Isabella? She's at where she'll always be, at Phineas' house! Who are we running from?"

"I'll explain later! Do you have the schematics of the tunnels?"

"The Emergency Tunnels? What f—"

"Do you have it or not?!"

"Always will!" She pulled out a small folded piece of paper, and handed it over to her.

"Alright then, lemme see… Take a sharp right… And inside the bushes you go!"

Gretchen could only hold out in earnest as her arm got nearly pulled out of its joints in the sharp turn, followed shortly by the leaves and thorns hitting her body as they dived past the shrubberies.

"Isn't this a little melodramatic for a breakneck chase with something that could most probably be nothing, Ginger?"

"Ssh. Help me open this hatch."

With a flash of a disapproving look, she moved to grab the hatch's handle.

They dropped down from the hatch's ladder and sat down on the brick floor, trying to catch their breath. It was pitch black without sunlight, so they stood up, pulled out their flashlights and pointed it around the horizon.

"Alright then, Ginger, care to explain what was that all about now?"

But a third person let out a small chuckle them from behind, resting cold fingers on their shoulders. It whispered,

"What'cha doin'?"

The two screamed at the top of their lungs, simultaneously hitting the shadow with their flashlights in reflex.

"Ow! Hey! What was that for!?"

"Hey, wait a sec…"

Gretchen finally pointed the flashlight at the person rolling on the ground, revealing a familiar face who was by all means not their fair leader.

"Man, you guys are really tense! Ow, do you think I might get a concussion or something from that? Hey, who else bets Isabella's reeling from shock now because I used her catchphrase? Ouch-he-he-he…"

"Katie?" She narrowed her eyes at the green-eyed girl. "What the heck are you doing here?"

"I was going to ask you that same question, but apparently I was not on the need-to-know list," Katie replied, shifting a glare at the second girl. "Assuming by Ginger's preposition to run for the hills the moment she saw me!"

"Oops. Yeah, sorry about that. I was just worried for the… mission."

Ginger knelt down to her to examine the blonde's head. "But why on earth would you make us jump like that? This tunnel's creepy enough on its own."

"Haven't you gals heard of a thing called harmless fun? Ow! Man, I've been left behind in patch counts enough as it is! If I get to a hospital for this again, I swear I'll take all of your earned patches as long as I'm in there!"

"No, don't worry, it's just a small bump," she replied, ruffling through Katie's scalp. "You won't get to the hospital for this tiny thing."

"Oh, thank goodness." She closed her eyes, arching her neck on Ginger's lap. "So, you wanna tell me what's so important I need to get a bump on my head for asking?"

Gretchen crossed her arms. "It's actually a little silly. Ginger's—"

"No!" She yelled out, forcing a wince out of Katie. "If you tell her, then she'll tell Isabella the moment we bring that flower down to storage! Then my plan's all busted for sure!"

"Isabella? Flowers?" Katie rolled her eyes up at Ginger, grinning deviously. "He-hey! Is this another one of those my crush before your crush thing you got with Isabella?"

Silence.

"…I'm not going to tell you, if that's what you're asking."

"Oh, come on!" She put on the best pleading face she had. "Even if I said pretty please with a cherry on top?"

"Nope."

"Oh, come on, Ginger, I swear I won't tell anyone! Anyone at all!"

"You swear, huh?"

"Yes, I swear! I swear like a mare with a flare on my bare wares that I will tell nobody, at any price they may put."

"Ginger, that trip will be difficult," Gretchen cut in. "We might need an extra pair of hands."

With unappreciative eyes, she looked up at the bespectacled girl, than to the girl wearing a hopeful grin on her lap.

She finally closed her eyes, and sighed.

"…But only if you performs the Fireside Honor Pact first, Katie."

Katie's expression immediately evaporated.

"A-a-are you sure that's really worth it?"

"It is if you want to know my plan, that just coincidentally goes against Isabella's wishes."

Katie's eyes, wide open and unblinking, darted back and forth though the tunnels in deep thought.

"O-okay…" She rose up slowly, shivering in both body and voice. "But tell me, if I were to… participate in this plan of yours, would there be any… extra… compensations given to me, in return for taking this risk?"

"Hmm… That depends. Do you count patches as 'compensation'?"

Her eyes immediately went wide again, a new smile crossing her face. "Boy, do I! You're telling me I'll get a patch for this?"

"Discovering Something That Almost Doesn't Exist Patch is one guarantee. The Collection and Preservation of Endangered Species Patch is another. The Swinging on a Vine While Howling Patch is optional."

"Three patches!?" The blonde girl squealed with glee. "Why didn't you just tell me that earlier?! Heck, I'll do the Swear right now!"

And so she went, declaring in subjective, esoteric languages, for 15 minutes without stopping, her will to not say anything about Ginger's intentions under any pressure, unless the pressure is inflicted by someone using rank over her, in which case she is cleared to report to the higher ups… and several more chapters upon general secrecy, defection, moles and others, finishing with…

"Then you, Ginger Hirano, patch number… 46321/536-E… are cleared to rip my sash from my person… with extreme prejudice and cartoonic violence, and… and give it back to me upon… a time that you may… see me fit… in redeeming myself in light… of the failure. There."

She fell on her rear, panting heavily, before taking her waterskin and downing its contents in ten seconds.

But then she doubled back as the water went into the wrong side of her throat.

Ginger and Gretchen rushed to her side. "Katie? Are you okay? Can you breathe?"

She only responded with more forced coughs.

"Come on, Katie. Let it all out!"

"I'm-cough-trying!"

They stood near her, patting her back to help her breathe.

"That's a good Katie. Come on, let it out."

Several minutes later, her hacks went down little by little, before it finally faded into nothingness.

"Oh…" Ginger breathed in relief. "Thank goodness that's done with."

The blonde, looking as if she didn't almost spit out her own heart into the ground several minutes ago, flashed that smile at her again.

"So, can you tell me about the plan now?"


The trio walked through the tunnels, each of their footsteps echoing loudly against the stone walls. Gretchen led the way, flashlight in one hand and map on the other, while Ginger and Katie walked and talked behind her, recapping (and discussing things that are only remotely related to) the entire plan.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Katie said, putting a finger under her chin. "You'll only go to this trouble for the deepest kind of love. I mean, I really want to find theone for me too for a really long time now, but apparently, looking from Isabella and you, I think I can say that if you don't feel love blindsiding you like a semi-truck going 300 miles per hour, then he as sure ain't worth the trouble."

"Precisely!" Ginger cheered, giving her friend a thumbs up. "You are getting this after all!"

Katie giggled again, then went to the girl in front.

"How about you, Gretchen?"

"Hm?"

"C'mon! You've helped Isabella with Phineas ever since we all graduated from Lil' Sparks," she asked, her voice soon taking a teasing tone. "Don't tell me you've never felt something for a boy somewhere, someplace? Hmm?"

She turned her gaze back to the map. "Nope. I'm more than happy to help you people get your… 'targets' or whatever you please, but I don't plan on actually getting there myself. I think we gave some very priceless proof positives about what happens when those two see their boy wonders, and I for one, do not intend to suffer the same fate."

There was a short pause.

"…She's got a point, you know," Katie whispered to Ginger's ear.

"What point?"

"Precisely," Gretchen closed. "Anyway, we're nearly there. Should be only a couple more turns down."

Katie then ran up to Gretchen, looking up at the tunnel map from behind her shoulder. "So Gretchen, where are we going right now? Off to the HQ to get jungle-tracking gear?"

"No. That'll be too high profile for Ginger's tastes. We're going to the backup storage unit."

"Which one?"

"Not the backup storage warehouses, Katie. That'll be too high profile too. We're going to the backup storage unit."

"Okay… Where is this backup storage 'unit'? And how come I only heard about it now?"

"That's because none of it's official. Our budget's too thin to pay another official warehousing permit. I told her it wasn't necessary, but Isabella insisted that we can't rely on three supply warehouses alone. Says that we need to be more open-minded, to be more prepared in case we need a quick exit in another apocalyptic scenario."

"Really?" Katie raised an eyebrow. "I mean, I understand her caution, what with almost re-detonating the Toba supervolcano by accident and everything, but she specifically says three warehouses aren't enough?"

"Yep. Personally, I think it's really more because Phineas was the one who proposed it to her."

"Oh… That makes a lot more sense."

The three climbed a small staircase leading up to a pair of massive wooden doors. There, Gretchen opened the 5-inch lockpad, and pushed the doors open. As they stepped outside, the sunlight came slicing down to the girls' eyes, forcing them to rest their hands below their eyebrows.

"So, Gretchen," Ginger started, gazing around at the gray and barren concrete field all around them. "Where is this backup storage unit?"

"Over there!" She pointed to a point on the ground. "Follow me!"

They followed Gretchen to the none-too-exceptional spot. Once there, Gretchen knelt and felt around the floor for a button. After several minutes of searching, she found and pushed the well-disguised button.

The dust on the ground began to wipe themselves up, making Ginger and Katie leap in surprise. Gretchen stayed on her knees, waiting. After a second, a black monitor and keyboard rose up from the floor.

The monitor said: Please enter secret name of facility.

"And apparently it has a top secret name too," Katie quipped behind her. "Man, Isabella's secretive about this place!"

Sparing a snort, Gretchen then typed up the keywords:

Perfectly Hitherto Idleness Negating Emergency Apocalyptic Shelter.

She pushed the button that now lay next to the monitor. The computer then buzzed, causing it to sink back to the ground. Replacing it was a handle stuck to the floor, not unlike the one a person would find on a top side of an attic ladder. She pulled it open, revealing a metal ladder heading downwards to complete darkness.

She smiled, and stretched her arm to the ladder.

"So, who wants to go first?"


"Hey Gretchen," Katie asked as they walked down the dark hallways. "Did that secret password's acronym actually spell P—"

"Yes. Yes it did," she answered dryly. "Thank you for noticing. Isabella designed some parts of this place herself. She insisted on a lot of things about this place."

She wandered around, looking for another button on the floor. When she pushed one, another machine rose up dramatically from the floor, this time a metallic table with buttons from all color spectrums peppered on its surface. She pressed the white button, and row by row, the lights started going up, revealing just how large the room actually is.

"Holy… this place is huge!"

The shelf that Katie almost bumped herself into was not twice her height like she expected of other normal shelves; in fact, two dozen hers won't quite make that tallness.

Three hundred of those shelves sat upon the gigantic room, each carrying hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of materials, laser guns, backpacks, and other miscellaneous items upon its stacks.

"Yep. Drink it in, people." Gretchen smiled with pride. "The intention's not exactly pure, but boy it sure does its job."

The three then went on a self-guided tour around the place, searching for their own pieces of equipment. As Ginger and Katie went, they found another button-covered table.

With a grin, Katie turned to her companion.

"Hey Ginger," she said, elbowing her shoulder lightly and pointing to the table. "You wanna see what this place can really do?"

"I dunno, Katie. It's half past twelve already, and I do wanna get this done before five. It's self-serving supper time at the house!"

"Oh, come on, don't be such a fuddy-duddy!" She took her friend's hand and brought them in front of the machine. "This'll take less than seven minutes!"

"...Isn't that saying's supposed to be three minutes?"

"How should I know? I'm not a lexicon book."

When they strolled over to get a closer look, the two gaped at just how many buttons were actually on the thing.

"But... How is that even possible?" Ginger moved her hand along all the buttons, trying to make sure that they were real. "I was sure I saw at most a dozen when we were far away... How did it go into three hundred when we got closer?"

"Oh come on, Ginger, that's basic! Everyone knows you can't fit three hundred buttons on thirteen pixels of animation."

"Wh... What does that even mean?"

"You'll learn someday, girl," she said, waving her hand away. "Then you'll learn to see the world from my view. So, which one do you want to push first?"

Still unable to shake her confounded look, Ginger turned back to the table. "Oh, I dunno, Katie. Pushing buttons all willy nilly never did anyone any good."

"Perhaps so… But try to think it like this. Isabella obviously designed this place to last. Now would she be so stupid to put a self-destruct button or something like that on this place?"

"Well… no. But-"

"Come on! Just one push!"

Without waiting for further replies from Ginger, she already pressed one button at random with her fist, just as Gretchen passed by that very same hall. She ran up to them with a worried and angry look.

"Katie! Did you just push one of the buttons here!?"

"Uh... Would I get in trouble if I say yes?"

"You… Which one did you push!?"

"Well tell you the truth, I'm not exactly sure," Katie replied with an embarrassed smile, shrugging her shoulders. "I, uh… wasn't looking."

"Wh…" Gretchen shook her head hard in disbelief. "You! Seriously, if we're not sisters-in-sashes for two years, I'd be so mad at you!"

Gretchen pulled out her flashlight and sweeped the light all around the table. One of the buttons glowed when the light hit it, directing the girls' stare at it.

"You pushed the deep blue one…"

She let out a sizable sigh of relief, letting her shoulders slump slightly.

"Come on, Gretchen, don't be so mad," Katie pleaded. "I mean, what's it gonna do? Make us jump all throughout the scenes on this story?"

As if she struck a nerve, Gretchen's head jumped up slightly, before turning around to give Katie a chilling glare.

"Actually, yes." Gretchen crossed her arms, obviously resisting the urge to yell at the blonde. "That's exactly what it'll do. You just pushed the Take-a-Wish button, and you just asked for the extent of its abilities. The thing's programmed to surpass every single expectation any skeptic has on its abilities! Now, it'll do everything in its power to take on yours."

Three seconds passed before Gretchen looked around in silence.

"Okay, maybe the warp isn't ready yet. But thanks to you, Katie, we'll soon be transported all throughout the past, present, and fut—"

A sudden blue flash erupted around them, and then the three were no more.


Gretchen opened her eyes…. Except they've been opened the whole time.

She tried to turn her head… except her moves had been choreographed to the situation.

She tried to ask something her friends… except she already opened her mouth to say something else.

She saw… in a cave. A natural pedestal, with a shining light. Purple…

"…only get 62 percent of its full effects if we stay on the very edge of—"

She felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned around.

"What is it, peo—AAH!"

Gretchen jumped out of her skin at the sight her two friends, in menacing military-grade gas masks with bright red eyes.

"Oops. Sorry."


Katie found herself opening the consciousness…

"AAH! What the heck am I doing in swinging with a grappling hook on a—"

She hit her head on a stalactite, and passed out. She plunged down hundreds of feet to the awaiting water below.


Ginger opened her eyes, which immediately went wide at the—

She contentedly accepted, and closed her eyes again.


As the three girls jumped back and forth through the snipped lines of time, a cheery tune started to play, followed shortly by a voice which chipperness surpassed even the tune it was singing along to.

In every group that will be formed,
there's always the moron to boot.
You take her in and snap! There goes your game.

And every task you undertake
will be a short piece of waste.
Of time! Of effort!
Unless you straighten her out…

from a push of a button, that makes the flow of time crumble
the flow of time crumble-e, the flow of time crumble.
Just a push of a button makes the flow of time crumble,
in a most confusing way!

The girls mucking around the place
has very little time to rest
While trying to survive the plot spoilers!
Though quite intent in their pursuits,
They'll find that it is quite a loop
To find,
their way,
back to the normalcy of time…

Just a push of a button, makes the flow of time crumble
the flow of time crumble-e, the flow of time crumble.
Just a push of a button makes the flow of time crumble,
in a most confusing wa-ay!


After several more nexuses and pitfalls and dips, they finally ended up on a single moment, where the flow of time resumed as normal.


"…and that, Katie, is why you don't press buttons that can set up artificial scene cuts all willy-nilly! Now, not only I have no idea where we are, I'm feeling both the déjà vu and the scene whiplash breaking down on my bones!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry! I just can't resist the shmuck bait, that's all…"

The three Fireside Girls were walking under the forest trees, each of them more than dumbfounded as to how they got there. They agreed to sit down for a minute to get their stories straight. Gretchen sat on the edge of a cliff overlooking a lake to try to regain their bearings, while Ginger and Katie checked on the state of their newly-equipped equipment.

The leading girl sighed, putting a palm on her forehead. "Alright then, looks like we didn't end up that far… Anyone have an idea where we are right now?"

Ginger looked around. "Offhand? I'd say we're at the Danville Highlands. Just before the…"

She suddenly stopped, letting out only an audible gulp.

Gretchen blinked, realizing the where the map was pointing also.

"…Right. Okay then… Check your wares, people. See that they're all waterproofed."

"Hey, anybody else want to talk about what their visions of the futures are like?" Katie asked cheerily, wrapping up her numerous holsters. "I got hit by a rock, passed out, and drowned on a waterfall!"

The two gave her a strange look.

"…That's a… nice way of putting it, Katie," Gretchen said. "Well, I saw the two of you in gas masks. Creeped me out real nice…"

"Hey! That means I've got the best one among…" Ginger said, before stopping herself yet again.

"…Hey Gretch, that button… it's supposed to let you experience snipped cutscenes from the future, right?"

"Yep. Recent future, mind you. A month at its farthest. Usually it takes you some three hours to nine days, give or take some."

Hearing this, Ginger squealed like five-year-old, a silly grin tearing through her face and her hands busy wringing each other. Looking at the strange sight, Gretchen only stared with eyes pointing up, while Katie excitedly took pictures of her with her camera.

"Look at that. Proof positive number 363. Some more from both of them and we'll fill the 700th photo spot by the end of the week!"

Gretchen turned away again, and used a pair of binoculars to search for the cave's entrance.

When she actually found it, she had nothing more to offer than a sigh and a quip.

"Right. Of course it had to be on the very far side of the lake…"

She cleared her throat to interrupt her friends' vacuous activities. "Alright then people, listen up. I've found the entrance to the Cave of the Weeping Water Lily, curse whoever is so uncreative with the naming, and it's all the way down across the lake below. Yes, you heard that right."

The two stopped their mischiefs and ran up to the edge, trying to get a peek at the mouth of the cave.

"So how are we gonna get down, Gretchen?" Katie asked, looking down at the three hundred-foot drop. "Care for the old leap-of-faith style swan dive?"

"And let the water shatter my bones so the fish can have my skin and muscles for dinner? No thanks." She ruffled through Katie's pockets, and retrieved a compactly folded parachute. Waving it to the blonde, she opened it up, and strapped it on tight.

"I'm gonna glide my way in the breeze. See you girls on the other side!"

And with that, she ran off the cliff and opened her parachute, gliding gently across the large lake.

"Okay then, Katie," Ginger stretched out an arm to the blonde. "Hurry up and hand me one of those."

"Roger!" She handed the Asian girl her parachute, but showed no signs of wanting to put up her own.

"Katie? Aren't you going to put your parachute on?"

"No thanks, Ginger," she replied, pulling out a grappling hook from its holster. "It's as good a time as any for me to practice on using this thing. I for one don't plan on drowning in a waterfall today, or at any time for the rest of my life for that matter."

She swung her index finger in a wide circle, pointing all around the edges of the lake's rock walls. "I'm gonna use this baby to circle around the cliffs, swinging all the way around to the other side! Huh? Come on, what do you think?"

Ginger raised her eyebrows.

"…If you want me to be blunt? That's actually a very bad idea, in a loong line of, and I love you when I say this, very, very bad ideas."

Katie let out a dejected groan in response.

"But then again, I'm not my sister. And you've got a point in the drowning in the waterfall there, actually, so, I can only say see you there!"

Ginger waved her hand, and jumped off the edge as well, opening her parachute and joining Gretchen on cruising through the air.

"Right… let me see this baby…" Katie examined the grappling hook, rotating it back and forth in her fingers. A few minutes later, and she finally gathered up her confidence.

"Alright… let's do this thing!"

With narrowed eyes, she shot at the tree some distance on her northeastern direction. The grappling hook caught successfully on it, and after several psyching breathing exercises, she counted down to the final swing.

"Okay, Katie, get your nerves down… In 3, 2, 1… Geronimooo!"

She screamed in both fear and exhilaration as the air hammered on her face. She barely had the effort to keep her tongue inside her mouth, causing her mouth to form a chesire cat-like grin; one that she gladly embraced.

"Man! This is awesome!"

She shot and swung her way past the cliffs and trees, enjoying every last thrilling moment of it.

However, just as she began to truly enjoy herself, misfortune rears her ugly head.

As Katie aimed for the shot that marked the half point of the lake, a patch of dust particles collided with her eyeballs. In reflex, she rubbed both of her hands on her eyes, stopping the chained shots and sending her plunging into the drink.

"Oh no-no-nono! I'm going to faaallll!"

The blonde fell with a mighty splash, causing both Ginger and Gretchen to turn their heads.

"Oh man! I knew it was a bad idea!" Ginger exclaimed, looking down at the far away dot that was her fallen friend. "Hey Katie! Are you alright!?"

There was a short pause as the sound waves took their time traveling the distance.

"…I'm fine!" was the tiny echoing answer.

"You're gonna have to swim the rest of the way!

"…What!?"

"It's okay! Look on the bright side! At least you can earn your Olympic Swimmer Patch now!"

"…Okay! I understand you! …Just wait for me on the other side!"

Ginger rotated her head back to Gretchen. "Boy, this is going to make for some real delays, now isn't it?"

"Whoa, look at you, in a rush all of a sudden. What's your hurry?"

"Oh… I don't want to spoil it just yet! I just can't wait for my… tee-hee-he!"

Gretchen gave her a weird look.

"Uh-huh. I'm sure."

She looked at her wristwatch, which was pointing to 12.45 P.M.

"Still, look at the bright side, Ginger."

As if on cue, their foot gently landed on the white sands of the isle. After removing the parachute's straps, she took off her beret, and pulled out a yellow lunchbox from under it.

"At least we can have our lunches surrounded by the greatest scenery ever."

Ginger's smile returned again.

"Huh. Nice point. If it's a big delay, better make sure it's worth it…"


Some half an hour later, Ginger and Gretchen sat on a log, munching on their sandwiches under the gentle breeze and the peaceful splashing of the water. As they finished the second one, a hand crawled underneath the waves, reaching around for something to grab on.

Ginger looked up from her photo album. "Oh, there you are, Katie! What took you so long?"

Katie, soaking wet, weak and weary as a lost wig, wheezed her lungs out as she crawled on the coastline. After she made it out of the waters, she rolled on her back, and stretched out her hand to them.

"W-wa… water… please!"

Although a bit amused by the scene, they didn't spare a second in throwing her a water bottle, which she downed in less than ten seconds.

"Th-thanks…"

She raised her hand again, this time pointing a finger at Ginger's sandwich. "Can I have one of those?"

Without waiting for a reply, she snatched it out of her hands, and nibbled little pieces of it into her mouth.

"Thanks again. Man, this is good…."

Ginger and Gretchen stood beside her, looking down at the water-wrecked girl. "Hey Katie, you sure you'll be alright for the rest of this? That cave will not be kind to visitors you know."

"What? No, no, I'm fine… Just need to lie down for a few minutes, that's all. And maybe some shade if you would be so kind? Thanks a third!"

The two girls looked at each other, unsure what to decide. But before long, Ginger patted Gretchen's shoulders, hiding a disappointed look behind a smile.

"Gretchen, could you take care of Katie for me for a bit? I gotta find that flower inside the cave real fast. Backinabitthanks!"

"What the- Hey, Ginger! Wait!"

But her warnings fell on deaf ears; the lovestruck girl just kept running deeper and deeper inside the cave.

Katie wolf whistled at her. "Whoa, look at her… rushing all of a sudden! What's her hurry?"

She only let out a sigh, taking out a full-sized umbrella from her pocket.

"Take a wild guess. Hint: It's not academic."


As Ginger went deeper inside the cave, she found the most beautiful sight in her life; that is, if it's not so dangerous.

She gaped at the sight of the cavern in front of her. Far on the northeast side was a giant waterfall, which with the help of what little light that leaked out through the ceiling, created a sparkling rainbow that hung beautifully in front of it. Stalagmites, rock faces and other structures of varying shapes and sizes surrounded it, all glittering by the drops from the waterfall hitting their faces. The massive cliffs' greenish gray coloring that contrasted with the white and the rainbows from the waterfall was simply icing on the cake.

Mouth still agape, she took a bunch of snapshots with her mobile camera. She made a mental note to bring Baljeet over here when they get together at last; this was simply too beautiful to ever miss.

But she shook her head. That bit will come… but not today. Today, she was on a mission; one that she intended to accomplish, by any means necessary.

She squinted around, trying to find something that will lead her to the elusive Water Lily. There was nothing resembling the photo on her page on the waterfall, so she directed her gaze to an opening that led to another part of the cave.

It was easy to locate, just straight across the way from where she was standing… except there was a deep ravine the width of an aircraft carrier standing between her and it. A former bridge could be seen bridging the gap once upon a time, but now it was nothing more than a piece of rotten rope holding up wood-colored moss.

She glanced to her right; the bridge won't do, but the cliffs on the other hand…

"…Huh. Well I did say 'jump right to it' to her once, now didn't I?"


"Are you sure you're fine, Katie?"

"I told you, I'm okay! This is nothing compared to Isabella's cupid arrows fiasco! If she can recover without a scratch in eleven minutes, then so can I!"

Gretchen was reluctantly supporting Katie through the corridors of the cave; the blonde was more than adamant to prove her wellness. Soon, the two found themselves in the cavern's entrance, experiencing the exact same dazzle as Ginger did minutes ago.

"Whoa… This is so…"

Katie stopped speaking, and craned her neck at a faint sound.

"Hold on a minute… Gretchen, do you hear someone jumping around…?"

"Hey look! There she is!"

Gretchen pointed to an orange streak hopping from spire to narrow spire, showing feats of agility that an average joe could only dream about. Gretchen cupped her fingers into her mouth, and called out to the girl.

"Hey Ginger! What the heck do you think you're doing?!"

The Asian girl stopped in her tracks, and turned to the two waiting girls. "What does it look like? There's no other way around! The exit's on that way! Come on, get up here with me!"

"Well, did it ever occur to you to wait for us and use Katie's grappling hook as a tightrope instead of hopping around like a rogue bunny rabbit?"

A long moment of silence passed between them.

They received no reply, nor do they need one; the sight of Ginger punching the walls of the cliff was more of a response than needed.


Several minutes later, Ginger finally reached the exit tunnel. With a series of quick gasps, she dropped on one knee. Her forehead was covered in sweat, evidently left over from the adrenaline of the heights.

"Oh, there you are, Ginger!" Katie greeted brightly. "What took you so long?"

Both Katie and Gretchen giggled both at the blonde's ironic echo. Ginger only gave them a weak glare, but kept her own head low to hide the tinge of embarrassment lighting up her cheeks.

"So, where to next, Gretchen?" She tried to sound a bit austere, but did not quite make it. Although they noticed, the laughter soon died down anyway.

"Alright then, 'Chief', there's your flower down there." Gretchen handed her a pair of binoculars.

"Where? All I see is this river."

Indeed, the tunnel beyond them was narrow, and more importantly, flooded with a raging river, rolling down to a waterfall after a good amount of twists and turns; no habitat for a delicate flower.

"Turn on the x-ray mode and zoom in 300 percent."

She pressed a button on the bridge of the binoculars and spun it around, and saw another large cavern in front of the waterfall. At the very center of it was a small patch of land, with a pedestal laying on its center. And on that pedestal, a very familiar shape sat down, gracing it like a delicate crown.

"I-I… Is that… Is that …?"

"Yep. If the photo on your page is right, that should be the ever rare Weeping Water Lily," she finished in an overdramatic tone. "Now only problem is how are we going to cross this river without getting swept away to pieces…"

"Pfft. That's easy, Gretchen!"

She pulled out a small piece of rubber from her pocket, and tugged on the string sticking out of it. It suddenly expanded into a full sized raft, complete with rows and life vests.

"So, anyone feeling for another Extreme Water Sports Patch?"


They all cheered as the boat rowed the raft past currents, rocks and narrow canals. Although there were several close calls due to the lack of crew, there were still nothing remotely damaging. However, the cheers soon vanished as the waterfall harrowed on closer.

"Hey Ginger!" Gretchen tapped the girl's shoulder. "We had our fun, but it's time for the big finish! What do we do now?"

"Yeah… I was hoping you could come up with something!"

"What?"

"Yeah! I think we've established that I'm not really good at long-term thinking five minutes ago, Gretchen!"

Gretchen only gritted her teeth; a proper response was beyond her at this point.

"Hey, girls! I think I know what's happening! I think this is it!"

The two girls turned to Katie. "What's it?"

"Relax! I got this in the bag!"

She stepped over carefully to the front of the raft. "Come on! Grab hold of me tight!"

They did as they were told, and grabbed the blonde's belt and leg.

"Okay, Katie, what now?"

"Now? Now we wait."

The tension grew as the waterfall drew ever nearer to them. Katie stayed unfettered, while the two girls' doubts just kept increasing with each second.

"Katie… any second now!"

"Alright then. Time for a dance with destiny!"

"Really?" Gretchen rolled her eyes up. "Really, that's the best that you came up with? Dance with destiny, that is so-"

"Hey, do you want me to save your life or not?"

Gretchen shut her mouth immediately.

"There's a good girl. Now, hang tight!"

She reached to the holster wrapped on her waist, and pulled out a very familiar device. Seeing the gun tied on her fingers, the girls' eyes went wide.

"Oh no. Oh no! Katie! Don't do that!"

"What? Do you girls have a better idea?"

"That's not the point! We'll sink to the bottom if you go with that!"

"Trust me, girls! This is my future! This is the way it was meant to happen!"

"I think you forgot the part where you drowned to death? We won't be liking that, thank you very much."

"Well, then I'll just have to give destiny the throwdown of its life, now won't I?"

Gretchen and Ginger's screams came to a head as the raft began to tip at the tip of the waterfall. Katie, not showing fear in the slightest, shot the hook at a nearby stalactite. The hook wrapped on, and she swung out of the raft just as it began its descent.

"Alright, girls, listen up! I'll need to shoot this at least three times more so we can get low enough to jump! Don't move around too much, or the trajectory will be all messed up!"

"Sure! We're hanging for our lives here, anyway! How much do you think we can move?"

"Look out!" Gretchen pointed just ahead. "Rock pillar!"

"Hey girls?" Katie looked down and up again. "Disregard what I just said! Mess up my trajectory, like, now!"

"Yep, don't worry! I got it!"

Ginger swerved herself right with as much as force as she could muster, forcing the rope to lean right and narrowly evading the tall rock pillar.

Katie then let the rope go from the gun. She waited several seconds before shooting again, shaving off some altitude from the ground. As they swung around the cavern, Gretchen pointed to the front again.

"I hate to be redundant, Katie, but there's that rock pillar again!"

"Well we'll just do what we did last time! Lean!"

And went they did again round the pillar.

Katie fired off the final shot to the ceiling; the small speck of an island was but a mere 15 feet away from their feet.

"Wait a minute…" Gretchen muttered, looking up to where Katie fired off, sounding afraid in response to the unnatural crack on the cave's ceiling. "Katie… did you just hit a fissure point?"

"Uh… so what if I did?"

Gretchen looked up again, then turned a dead stare on Katie.

"With that hook? Should be nothing except a 50 foot stalactite falling down 300 feet and landing on the point of our maximum amplitude, causing instant collision and loss of consciousness on account of severe force administered on our cranial areas on impact.

'What does that even mean?"

"Stalactite!"

Ginger didn't bother to preserve her friends' hearing capacities, on the account of being terrified by a gigantic stalactite that was loosening quickly from its place by a crack made by Katie's hook. Before long, it fell down and set upon a one-way crash course, straight to their front.

"Oh boy… I should've aimed it a bit better."

"Yes. Yes you should."

"That thing's too big! There's no way around it!"

"And, it'll land just as we reach the end of our swing, breaking our skulls in a thousand fractures!"

The two stared at Gretchen with an inquisitive look.

"…What? I'm expressing how I feel by stating the cold hard facts."

"Well do you have a fact that can help us take down this rock?"

"As a matter of fact, I do! Because under Clause 343 Article 58 Section 32 Clause 99…"

"Gretchen, if you have any secret weapons, don't bother putting 'em up after we're crushed!"

"Hold on, just let me finish! I am herebyclearedtouseweaponsthatmightendangerthesurvivabilityofnonthreatlivingbeingsasis statedbyFiresideGirlsCodexandAdvancedManuaSection1 there!"

Gretchen pulled out a ray gun from her pocket and fired at the looming stalactite. As soon as the beam made contact, the gargantuan piece of rock disintegrated into nothingness, clearing the way for their entrance.

They screamed one last time as they plunged and stumbled down the beachline. When they finally settled down on firm grounds, Ginger saw fit to launch some inquiries to her friend.

"You have a disintegrator ray gun on your pockets?"

"Well… yeah."

Silence.

"…what the... How? Why?"

She only laughed at the question.

"I would say I was carrying it around ever since Isabella's cupid arrows fiasco, but in all earnest, don't tell me you already forgot the Fireside Girls' one motto, Ginger?"

Chuckling all the way through, she twirled the ray gun like something out of a cowboy movie.

"Never forget the one motto that makes you a Fireside Girl, Fireside Girl! Fireside Girls are always prepared!"

Ginger felt an eyelid twitch by a combination of Gretchen's antics and words.

"…okay. I'll buy that... I think..."

"Hey! Wait a minute! I have a question!"

Katie stuck her hand in the air as she went up on her feet, shaking her head clear of sand.

"That machine... my future says that I should've drowned on the lake! Not that I'm not glad or anything, but why on earth didn't it really happen?"

Gretchen laughed gently, waving her hand around.

"Please. It doesn't create the future, Katie. It creates approximations of the future. After all, there are no future but the ones we make for ourselves."

Hearing the line, the blonde muffled a light chuckle.

"Whoa… A poetic and heavy-handed message! My favorite!"

"Heh. Yeah, I- Hey, where's Ginger?"

Gretchen spun around, and gasped when she sighted Ginger walking in a trance towards the flower lying on the pedestal.

"H-hey! Ginger! Stop!"

She gritted her teeth and ran up to Ginger, pulling the enthralled girl forcibly by the rear of her collar. Ginger barely snuck out a gasp before her back hit the sand.

She then turned her head to Gretchen, a cold glare steeling her pupils.

"Hey! What was that for!?"

"I could ask you the same question. Didn't you bother to read the paper?"

"Yeah! That's how I know it's here! Now let go!"

"No can do. I can't let you go blind. Not yet anyway…"

Ginger chuckled, faintly closing her eyes. "Oh, Gretchen, Gretchen, Gretchen… when will you ever let a girl go free?"

"Very funny, Ginger. I'll let that slip because you're now under a love stupor. But I'm a tough person. I'll still have your best interests at heart, even when you say hurtful things to me."

She turned to Katie, motioning to take her place in keeping the girl restrained. As she stood up, she took a pebble, and aimed upwards to the ceiling, making hand motions from the rock to the Weeping Water Lily.

Ginger's eyes turned wide as soon as she could lift her head up.

"What are you… What are you doing!?"

"Katie! Keep her steady."

"Uh, Gretch?" Katie lifted a worried eyebrow. "You're not going to throw that pebble to the flower now… right?"

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing!"

Ginger writhed and wriggled with more and more force from Katie's fingers, and finally slid out at the very last moment; just as the pebble shot off to the air, before falling down straight to the beautiful white lily.

The world fell into slow-motion as Ginger stretched both hands in a vain attempt to seize the stone, all the while forming a large 'no' in the process. After a very long, yet very brief moment, Katie caught up to her and grabbed her in a full-nelson, precisely as the stone struck the lily on its yellow center.

With a whimper, Ginger closed her eyes and turned her head away, refusing to see the ruined flower.

"What the…" she heard Katie whisper.

"…huh?"

"Ginger… open up."

After a bit of prodding, and a sudden spike of hotness running through her eyes, she finally complied.

Ginger froze when she saw purple smoke erupting from the flower.

"Back off, people!" Gretchen pushed them back with the back of her hand. "That's a biohazard! Code TG!"

"Tear gas?"

"I told you, you don't understand all of the things written on that paper, Ginger. It never got the chance to reproduce, because if something touches it harder than a feather fluttering down, it'll start spewing a modified version of capsaicin all over the place!"

She smacked her head at the confused expressions aimed at her.

"An active ingredient in tear gas and pepper sprays. That's why they call it the Weeping Water Lily, people."

A long 'ohh' went through the cave.

"Yep. And the only way to make it spew from a distance without ruining it is if you hit the center. Those things can get back up from anything!

"W-wait a minute…" Ginger asked in a low voice. "D… Does this mean…"

"You see now, Ginger?" Gretchen stifled a cough from the sharp, spicy scent. "If I… If I let you take that lily out of its place, you'll be hit full force with the gas. It'll blind you for a good hour, and cause you to cough so hard it'll burn your throat out for a week!"

She wiped a twinkle of a tear from her eye.

"I can't let you go through that… not when you have a boy to impress."

There was a moment of silence.

"Oh my… G-Gretchen, I…"

"It's okay, Ging. I told you; you're in a love stupor back then, All pardoned."

"Aww, Gretchen... Thank you! I swear, I'll make it up to you later!"

"Heh. Yeah, I am so nice at heart," she said half-sarcastically. "Anyway, we need to keep our distance," she said, turning back to the purple gas pillar emitted by the flower. "If my estimates are correct, we should only get 62 percent of its full effects, if we stay on the very edge of—"

She felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned around.

"What is it, peo—AAH!"

Gretchen jumped out of her skin at the sight of two girls on her back, who out of nowhere wore glowing, red-eyed gas masks.

"Oops, sorry. Didn't mean to startle you."

"Katie? H-where did you get those?"

"Ginger bought five," she pointed to the second girl.

"Just like you said, Gretchen!" Ginger said to her, raising her hand and waving it around. "Fireside Girls are always prepared!"

She chuckled. "Yep. You remembered after all…"

Katie handed her one of the gas masks. "You want one, tough gal?"

With another cough, Gretchen snatched the mask from her hands. "Seriously, don't you people even bother to… Ah, you know what, I'm not even gonna say it."

She put the mask on, and blew three times to let the gas out.

"Hey, hey!" Katie called out. "Check what this thing does to my voice! Quick, quick, think of quotes from people with gas masks!"

"Ooh-ooh-ooh!" Ginger replied enthusiastically. Uh, oh, I know this one! Uh…"

"I find your lack of seriousness disturbing."

The two stopped moving, and slowly turned their heads at Gretchen's booming voice.

"…What?" she replied, shrugging her shoulders. "I just thought of quotes from people with gas masks."

Silence.

"…technically, it's a breathing apparatus, Gretchen."

"Uh-huh. Whatever makes you happy, Katie. Now, gloves, gloves… Ah, there we are…"

Gretchen pulled two arm-long gloves from her pockets and put them on, snapping the rubber several times on her upper arm.

"Next up… container. Ginger?"

The summoned girl stepped up to the pedestal. She held a medium-sized plastic bowl on her hands, containing water that takes up half of its space.

"Okay… keep it steady…"

Gretchen took a wide scoop and carefully extracted the lily from its spire, with its soil, root, and flower as a whole. She dropped it in Ginger's bowl, who promptly took out a lid to close it.

When the plant fell to the water, it began to blow bubbles inside it. The flower's tear gas slowly dissipated, transforming into tears of water raining down to the small pond below.

The three chanted 'aww!' simultaneously.

Ginger stuttered bare pieces of words, at a loss of words at the prize.

"This is… this is just…"

"This is just perfect, Ginger," Gretchen finished, patting her on the back. "And what's more, you'll have the honor of carrying your own personal trophy."

"Now come on, let's find a way out of here, huh?"


2 days later, at Baljeet's house..

The little crowd placed their gift boxes at the pyramid, which Baljeet examined throughly for possibilities, although he restrained himself from opening them right there.

Gretchen whispered to Ginger, "Why did you wrap the pot in paper, Ginger?"

"Traditional conforming uniformity," she replied tersely, placing her gift on the side of the pile.

"Oh..." She nodded her head. "Fair enough."

When the small assembly split around the back yard to get the snacks, Ginger found herself sitting alone in a table. Soon enough, a guest joined her there.

"Why sitting alone, Ginger? The party's over there."

"Oh, hi there... I'm.. just worried is all."

"Heh. First birthday gift, huh?"

"Yeah." Ginger lay her head on her hand. "I'd suppose you know about it better than most."

"Indeed. But I need to ask you; why did you keep it secret from me?"

"W-what?" She furrowed her eyebrows. "How did you..."

"Katie told me everything. The waterfall, the lake, the time machine... Heh, and before you storm up to her to talk court of the oath, you should really read up on the fine print, Ginger."

Isabella pulled out a small book and opened up a page in its middle. "Any Fireside Girls Swear of Secrecy taken prior to the task at hand, unless directly stated otherwise by the demanding party, is rendered void if the secret portion of the task has been deemed complete. See?"

Ginger gaped for a full three seconds before smacking a palm into her forehead.

"Relax, Ginger. I get your logic, however insulting that logic is. I once thought like that when we were 6! Albeit with a completely different set of circumstances, of course. Just one question, though..."

"Hm?"

"Katie told me it's a pot with a flower. Do you think wrapping an extremely rare flower in gift wrapping is a really good idea?"

"Relax, I'm not stupid," she said, waving her hand away. "I followed the Flowers section of the Wrapping Vulnerable Objects in the Manual to a T. If they say it'll hold a week, then you can bet it'll hold for four hours."

"Okay, I'll buy that... But why wrap it in the firat place? Why not put it in a basket, or bring it just as it is?"

"Traditional conforming uniformity."

"Huh?"

"Social conventions," she said dryly. "I betted I'll be the only one bringing an unpackable gift, so I thought why not conform? I don't wanna be too upfront and high-and-mighty like. Besides, when he unwraps the gifts, can you imagine his surprise? There he'll be, opening one random gift tagged by my name, and..."

Ginger squinted when Isabella shot her a knowing smile.

"What?"

"You can drop the act, Ginger. You just said that I know it better than anybody."

She dropped a false chuckle. "What are you talking about?"

Isabella only kept the sweet stare up, which made Ginger more nervous by every second. Finally, she hit the final straw, and confessed her thoughts.

"Okay, I admit it!" She groaned, burying her head under her hands. "I'm shivering over it! I can't stand that my gift will just be one among the pile! Even if it is just for a few hours more!"

"Aww... There, there, Ginger." She patted her unfortunate friend's head. "You can let it out. It's fine!"

Isabella raised a sudden eyebrow. "...Hm. This must be how Gretchen feels everytime she did this. I admit, it feels pretty nice. Bet I-"

Her mouth was silenced and her face scrounged up a bit when she hit a bit of a realization.

"Wait... If I'm in that position, then she... Tsk, nah! It must be the spirit of kindness! Yeah, that must be it."

Looking down on her friend, Isabella put a finger to raise Ginger's chin.

"Hey, try to think at it this way. You know you had the most heart, effort and thought set upon that gift, right?"

"...yeah. I took every account. He'll..."

"Then he'll love it, by any way accountable, because all your work will show on that."

"You... you really think so?"

"Yeah, and for more than just the cheesiness of that line. See, you know him better than most. Ergo, you'll know better what makes him happy. Am I right?"

"T-that's... a pretty good point, actually."

And besides, you know what they say..."

She slid her a glass of soda from across the table. When Ginger took it in her hand, she lifted her own glass into the air.

"If you don't succeed..."

Ginger looked up to her, before muttering a reluctant reply.

"You try and try again."

"That's my girl!" She chuckled lightly. "Look, I still think it's a little weird and silly about who your heart picked out, but who am I to argue about the heart's pickings? Don't worry, if you need any help, you can call on any of us. Juat like how I call all of you when I need help!"

She sighed, but still returned the smile sincerely. "Thanks Chief. Glad I can count my world on you now."