Chapter 1: The Beginnings

The rain tapped lightly on the roof as the young man stirred. He sat up in bed, stretched, and yawned. He looked at the clock; it was 6:45. "Well, time to get up," he thought. He walked into his closet and pulled out a few articles of clothing: blue jeans, a light green shirt, a pair of socks, and some boxers. He threw them into the bathroom and went to go get a towel.

As the water of the shower ran over him, he started thinking about the day ahead. "Today's the last day of school!" he thought with a smile on his face. He started washing his hair, naturally black, but it had been bleached to an orange-ish blonde months ago, so the black was apparent. Some soap ran into his hazel eyes. "Owie!" he said as he quickly washed them out. He was 18, of medium height. He was thin, and not very muscular, though he had been working out recently.

Soon, he was dried off and dressed. Steam billowed out of the bathroom as he opened the door and walked out. He walked down the hall, passing several rooms, and finally to his destination: the kitchen. He pulled a bowl, milk, and a box of Wheatie O's to the table. "Good morning, Jeremy," he heard behind him. Jeremy turned to see his mother standing in the doorway.

"Hi mom," he said as he turned back to his meal.

"Are you excited?" she asked.

"Yep," he muttered while he was chewing.

"Well, I'll go and get Jon up," she said.

"Wait a minute," Jeremy thought. "We have to take our math finals today! Oh well…"

About twenty minutes later, Jeremy was driving his brother to school down the country roads. Fields passed lazily by them in the morning light, and the countryside rolled past them. He then turned off onto a side road. "Aren't we supposed to keep going straight?" asked Jonathan.

"Normally, but I told Eleanor that I would pick her up today."

"Oh," Jonathan said rolling his eyes.

"What?" Jeremy asked as he pulled into Eleanor's driveway. Soon afterwards, a girl wearing a cutoff shirt and shorts came out. She had long brown hair and green eyes. She ran to the car and jumped into the backseat.

"Thanks," Eleanor said as she buckled up. "Now let's hurry up before we're late!"

Jeremy looked at her with one eyebrow raised. "You think they'll actually let you wear that outfit?"

She laughed and punched him playfully in the arm. "C'mon, lighten up! It's the last day of school, remember, and I didn't want to wear my usual, you know, go out with a bang! But I've got something to change into just in case!"

As they were heading towards school, Jeremy asked, with a smirk on his face, "So, Eleanor, did you study for the math final?"

He could see her eyes widen in the mirror. "I knew I forgot something!" She ripped open her book bag and found the study guide. "I'll never get this down in time!" she cried out.

"Don't worry," said Jon. "Just memorize the formulas and pray."

"A lot," Jeremy added.

Eleanor threw a deadly glare their way. "No duh!"

A few minutes later, they had pulled into the already full parking lot of Wicksburg High School. Just then, the bell rang.

"Hurry it up," Jeremy said as he waited to lock the doors. As soon as Jon shut the trunk, Jeremy dashed off to Mr. Sander's homeroom. He was in the door right before the bell rang.

"Well, Mr. Kush, it looks like you just barely got perfect attendance," said the stout teacher. "Now please take your seat."

Jeremy walked to his seat and leaned back, still breathing hard from his dash to class. It was going to be a long day.

About 30 miles away, another young man was awakening. He sat up in bed, drenched in a cold sweat. "Something's wrong," he thought. He couldn't quite remember his dreams. He sat for a little while, casting suspicious glances around his room, but after a few minutes, there was a knock on his door.

"What?" he yelled, still tense from his dream.

"Chris, are you okay?" asked the familiar voice of his mother. Chris immediately calmed down.

"Yes, mom; it was just a nightmare."

"Well, hurry up or you'll be late for work."

Chris went through his morning routine, which was similar to Jeremy's: shower and breakfast. As he was munching on his Fruity Nuts, the feeling struck him again and he tensed up. "What is going on!" he thought.

"Chris, is something the matter?" his mother asked.

"What? Oh, nothing's the matter." He stood up and brushed the crumbs off of his Novels-A-Trillion uniform. "Well, I gotta go; see ya, mom." He went outside and looked at his Yugo. "Something is very wrong," he thought.

Seven miles away in a warehouse, a young woman with short red hair knelt before a woman with long black hair. "Your Highness, everything is set up; the map has been planted, along with the lamp and desire."

"Very good, Rouge," laughed her superior.

"I expect to receive my payment soon," said Rouge.

"Don't worry; you will receive it in full." With inhuman speed, the woman appeared inches from Rogue's face. Before she could react, the woman had Rouge by the throat and hoisted her into the air. She thrust her other hand into Rouge's belly. She then loosened her grip just enough to let Rouge scream as her insides grew hotter and hotter. The warehouse was filled with her blood-curdling scream, then an ominous silence. Where Rouge had once been, there was now only a pile of dust.

Jeremy stumbled into first block, pushing his glasses back up his nose. He took his seat a few rows away from Eleanor who was furiously going over her study guide. Jeremy smiled as the bell rang and Ben ran in late, again; fortunately for him, it was the last day and Mrs. Brannon really didn't care. As she began giving out the tests, Eleanor sighed and thrust the study guide under her desk.

Jeremy glanced at the test on his own desk and had to silence his own laughter. "This is too easy," he thought as he scribbled down answer after answer. Thirty minutes later, he placed his pencil down and leaned back. "Done," he thought as he noticed several other students glaring at him.

Jeremy simply shrugged and put his head on his desk, where he drifted off to sleep.

In his slumber, he heard a soft, pleasant laughter. He sat up and noticed he was no longer in Mrs. Brannon's class. He stared up and saw a blue sky. Temporally blinded by the unusually bright sun, he covered his eyes with small hands. He looked at them for a moment, then noticed that his entire body was smaller. He looked around himself; he could see green grass and small children playing. He noticed that he was also much smaller. He stood up and looked at the children, then at the scenery. "There's something odd with the horizon…" he thought, "almost as if it was painted…." He closed his eyes again, and fell backwards into the soft grass, breathing the deep aroma of the earth, but it was strangely different. He heard a soft noise behind him; he turned around and saw a young girl with brown hair and green eyes.

"Hiya!" she said to him. She held out her hand and grabbed his, taking him to the top of a hill. Looking out from the top of the hill, Jeremy could see vast fields of green, a brighter green than any he had ever seen before. Jeremy turned back to look at the girl, who looked back at him and smiled. "We'll be together, no matter what, right?" Jeremy smiled and nodded. The girl smiled wider, and meteors began falling behind her. They both turned around to look at them, but the sky quickly turned red as the meteors slammed into the nearby ground.

Suddenly, everything went dark. Jeremy felt surrounded by water.

Jeremy awoke with a start as the bell rang. Jeremy wiped some spittle off the corner of his mouth as he got up and packed his things. "That sure was weird," he thought as he put his notebook in his book-bag. He looked at his desk for his test, but it wasn't there. Eleanor looked at him.

"I turned it in for you, since you were asleep," she said as she picked up her bag.

"Thanks," he said, shouldering his bag and walking to the door.

"Hey, you wanna check our grades during Break?" she asked him.

"Sure," he said. They walked out of the classroom together and turned down the hall.

"So how do you think you did?" asked Jeremy.

"Well, considering I forgot about it, I think I did fairly well. You?"

"I think I did okay," Jeremy said, grinning. They came upon a short line of people waiting in front of a screen on the wall. Jeremy saw Ben walking away.

"Hey, Ben! How did you do?"

Ben looked at Jeremy menacingly. "Let's just say I passed."

Soon Eleanor was at the front of the line, looking at the keypad beside the screen. The screen read "PLEASE ENTER YOUR STUDENT I.D. NUMBER." Eleanor typed in a series of numbers. "WHAT DO YOU WISH TO VIEW?" Eleanor moved the cursor over MATH AVERAGE and pressed the ENTER key. "87.6"

"Yes!" Eleanor yelled out and started to do the happy dance. People looked at her a little strangely; Jeremy put a hand behind his head, looked away, and tried not to laugh.

Eleanor looked around herself and blushed. "Your turn," she whispered to Jeremy. He went through the same process as she. "MATH AVERAGE: 98.9." Jeremy broke into a huge grin and produced the famous V-for-Victory sign with his fingers. Eleanor was contemplating all of the ancient methods of torture and which would be suitable to apply to Jeremy.

"Well, see you later," she said to him, turning towards Hailey and her other friends who stood nearby in a huddle, giggling and looking at Jeremy, then at Eleanor.

Jeremy rolled his eyes. "Girls," he thought to himself and smiled. He turned towards a frustrated growl and saw Daniel, one of his friends, looking at a barely passing science grade.

A guy with an extremely weird and retro hairdo slapped Daniel in the back and laughed. "Don't worry, Daniel," Matt said, as he punched in his I.D. for science class. "I'm sure that I got a good grade for you."

It was Daniel's turn to laugh when Matt's grade popped up. "Well, it seems that you didn't do much better!"

Jeremy walked over to the two. "Hey guys! How's it going?" His question didn't need an answer, though, since Matt was red in the face and Daniel was practically rolling on the ground laughing.

Jeremy shook his head and walked away. Suddenly, he felt a presence behind him. He turned his head to see something moving in the shadows, but when he focused on it, it was gone. He turned and continued down the hall, but he felt the presence again. He heard a female cackling behind him, but turned and saw nothing. Jeremy whirled around and sent out a punch. The figure bounced backwards and lunged forward, pulling out a knife-like object and swinging for the torso.

The dust settled, and there stood Jeremy and the figure. The figure had a pencil a few inches away from Jeremy's chest, but Jeremy had his fist against the figure's forehead. "Not bad, Jeremy," said the figure as he stood up. "You've gotten better."

"So have you, Robert. But I can't believe you'd use Rae as a distraction." Rae emerged from the doors, laughing her laugh again. "Where's the blood?"

"Haven't quite cut each other yet, Rae. So how'd you do on your tests?" Jeremy asked.

"100, of course. I couldn't possibly score less, after studying for five hours. And you?"

"98.5. Robert?" They both turned to look at Robert.

"Let's say I'm graduating, and leave it at that." He pulled out a pencil menacingly.

"Find fallen book, put it back. Find fallen book, put it back," Chris thought as he wandered around aimlessly, trying to complete his easiest and most boring task assigned to him at his job. Some of his black hair fell over his hazel eyes and he pushed it back as he knelt to pick up a fallen novel. He looked at the cover: The Fall of Suraptros. Chris' eyes widened as he saw his face on the back of the book.

Suddenly, everything went dark, leaving nothing but his own fear and a menacing, feminine laughter. In combination with his fear of the book he held in his hand, he was chilled to the bone. He slowly opened the book and saw an illustration that horrified him. A dark shadow of a man, gray eyes, long dark hair, and an inhuman expression on his face, standing erect with a sword drawn by his side. What horrified Chris was the man's face itself; it was him!

Chris dropped the book and backed away. "This is unreal!" he thought as the book faded away. He could hear nothing but his heart pounding in his ears and the menacing laughter which started growing louder and louder. Chris whirled around to see the woman from the warehouse standing behind him.

"Soon will be his awakening, Vorados. This time you won't win," she hissed at him then turned and faded away into the darkness.

"It's the end of school," Jeremy thought as he leaned back in his seat. It was near the end of second block, and he, Jonathan, Eleanor, and practically everyone else in the school would check out after this class was over. A smile formed over his face.

"What are you smiling about?" asked Daniel, who was sitting in a desk not too far away. "Are you thinking about what you and Eleanor are going to do over summer?" Daniel smiled wryly. Suddenly, a fist slammed into his back. Jeremy turned to see Matt, one of Jeremy's Christian friends and the son of a preacher.

"Daniel, you pervert! You know Jeremy wouldn't do something like that!" Matt then turned to Jeremy, who was still smiling. "Would you?"

Jeremy got into a thinking pose. "Well, I don't know…." He smiled as Matt looked at him with a shocked expression. "I'm just kidding Matt! You know I just like guys!" At this, Daniel and Matt both turned an extreme color of red. Jeremy laughed very hard at this. He went up behind Daniel and started whispering naughty things in his ear, avoiding the punches being thrown at him. He then did the same to Matt.

"Dammit Jeremy! Don't do that!" Daniel yelled out.

"Matt, why are you so red?" Jeremy asked.

"My poor virgin ears!" Matt cried out as he covered his head.

Jeremy found it hard to stop laughing. "I'm just kidding you two! You know I don't screw friends. And Eleanor is just that; a friend."

"Oh, don't give us that bullshit," said Daniel. "Both of you showed up late for homeroom, you spent half the break together, and you're about to take her home, too. Face it Jeremy; everyone sees how you two act around each other, and, by now, even if you aren't a couple, you might as well be 'cause almost everyone thinks you are!"

"He's got a point," said Matt. "I've heard rumors about this for the last couple of weeks."

"Everyone, please take your seats," said Mr. Sanders. After everyone had settled down, he said, "Okay, the first thing to do is to turn in your books. Please make sure that there are no loose papers in them."

Jeremy, still thinking about what Daniel and Matt had said, held the covers of his history book and flipped it over. A folded piece of paper fell out; he passed the book forward and looked at the paper. "To whoever finds this," it read.

"That's weird," he thought. "I've never seen this before." He opened it up and saw a map. "Wait a minute! This is of… my yard?"

Jeremy stared at the map. "Yes," he thought, "it is my yard, no doubt about it. But what would someone want with a map of my yard?" He traced the dotted line from his porch to an X located underneath his old tree house. He folded it up and put it in his pocket. "Might be worth looking into."

A few rows away, Eleanor was thinking of what she had been hearing, not only from Jeremy's friends, but also from her own, too.

"You two make a cute couple!"

"We are not a couple!"

"Really?"

"Really!"

"You sure act like one!"

"Will you knock it off!"

Eleanor shook her head and sighed. "This is really getting out of hand," she thought, casting a glance at a puzzled looking Jeremy. "What's with him? Oh, well; it doesn't really matter. Around here, it's hard to just be friends, but somehow, Jeremy and I have managed it. I mean, I don't really know him well, but he is kind to me, which is more than I can say about most people." She was snapped out of her thought pattern by a giggle near the back, and she realized that she was still looking at Jeremy. She blushed and turned quickly to the front and looked at her desk. For some reason, memories of the first time she met Jeremy came to her mind.

She had been standing in the lobby, looking confusedly at the bustling crowds of people who didn't notice her. It had been her first day and she had just arrived at break time. She had a distressed look on her face, having not known where to go. At that moment, someone had broken through the crowd and had headed in her direction. Not the most attractive person she had ever seen, but that hadn't mattered to her.

"Hi," he had said. "You seem a little lost. Are you new here?"

"Actually, yes," she had replied. "I just got here and I'm not sure what's going on."

"Well, here we have four classes, or blocks, and between first and second block, we have a break, or snack-time, you could say." He had gestured around himself at the gradually emptying halls. "That's what's going on now. Do you need any help finding your classes?"

"Yes, that would be a little helpful."

"Do you already have your schedule?"

"Yeah, it's right here."

"Here, I'll introduce you to your teachers." That is what they had done that entire break. When the bell rang, Jeremy had said, "Well, we need to get to our second block classes now. You remember where yours is, right?"

"Yes," she had replied. "Wait, before you go, there's been something that has been bugging me."

"What is it?"

"Have we ever met before? You just seem real familiar to me."

"You know, I get that same feeling. Well, we can talk about it later. See ya!"

As she thought back upon it, the question now struck Eleanor as strange. They had both thoughts that they had seen each other before, but they both knew that they couldn't have, it was impossible.

"Oh well, I guess that it's just one of those mysteries of life," she thought.

Chris jumped with a start as he suddenly found himself back in the store, still crouched as if he was going to pick up a book. He turned around, looking for the woman, not caring about the curious stares of some customers. He thought he saw her turning the corner at the far end of the shelf and cried out, "Wait!" as he darted after her. He got to the end and looked in the direction she had gone. "She's leaving!" he said as he saw her calmly walking out the door. He ran towards her, bumping and knocking over several customers. Suddenly, she faded out of sight, just as soon as she stepped out of the store. "What the…" Chris said as he stared at where she use to be. He then felt a hand on his shoulder and heard his name.

"Chris!" Chris turned to see his boss.

"Yes, sir?"

His boss gestured behind him at the fallen people. "What's the matter with you? Looking at stuff that ain't there and knocking people over? Have you gone crazy?!"

"I think I may have," Chris muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, sir. It won't happen again."

"It had better not, or so help me you'll be lucky to find a job in this state! Now, I expect you to apologize to these customers and clean up those messes. Hop to it!"

"Yes, sir."

Forty minutes, twelve perverted puns from Daniel later, and ten assaults on Daniel and Matt's sexuality later, the bell rang.

"Free at last!" yelled Ben as he ran wildly down the halls. Jeremy smiled as he cleaned out his locker. He then headed for his car, saying goodbye to a few teachers along the way. As he passed Mrs. Saunder's room, he thought he heard aggravated talking, so he decided not to pay her a visit. As he arrived at a quickly emptying parking lot, he looked at his brother leaning against Jeremy's yellow Camaro.

"Do we have to take what's-her-face home?" Jon asked, slightly annoyed.

"Yes, we're taking what's-her-face home," Jeremy responded in a stupid voice. "Just wait a minute and I'll go and find her."

Jeremy set his stuff in the car and turned around to go inside, but stopped before he took his first step. He then broke into a wide grin.

Eleanor stood before him, looking slightly aggravated and much different than when he had last seen her. Jeremy realized that she was the person arguing with Mrs. Saunders when he had passed her room, for she was now dressed in blue jeans and an inside-out shirt. Mrs. Saunders was very strict about the dress code.

"Why is your shirt inside-out?" he asked, trying to keep in his laughter.

"It had a Rebel flag on it," she replied, wishing she hadn't just pulled the spare clothes out of her closet. Jeremy had to laugh at that.

"You sure are one big bag of rebellion today, aren't you?" Eleanor had to laugh at her own situation after that.

About 10 minutes later, Jeremy pulled up into Eleanor's driveway. "Thanks again," she said as she turned to unbuckle herself. She got out and took her bag out of the trunk. Jeremy was about to pull out when she rushed back to the car. "Hey, Jeremy!" she called out.

Jeremy rolled down his window. "Yeah?"

"There's something I need to talk to you about. Come on inside."

Jeremy parked the car. He and his brother got out and followed Eleanor to her door as she fumbled with the keys. She let them in, and told Jon to stay in the living room. She then led Jeremy back to her room. Jeremy looked around and saw that her room didn't have very much in it at all. In one corner was a vanity set, complete with dresser drawers. In the opposite, there was a simple desk with a computer on it, beside which was a rolling chair. Then there was her bed, placed in the corner opposite the door. It wasn't a big room, so there was not much space for there to be things, but the walls were void of posters or pictures. All in all, it seemed to lack the feeling of being lived in.

Jeremy commented, "This place sure is tidy. It seems a little empty, though."

Eleanor shrugged as she set her pack down against the wall between her desk and her bed. "Yeah, everyone that comes in says that. I just don't have the urge to really decorate it much. It doesn't really feel like my real home."

"Yeah, I kinda feel that way to, but I'm a pack-rat, so my room feels full from all the stuff. Well, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" he asked.

"Um, it's about what the people have been saying at school."

"Oh, that. Listen, Eleanor; they are people, and people think like that! Anyway, school's over, so we won't see them as often."

"Except for tonight," Eleanor replied. Jeremy was holding an out-of-school party for a small group of friends at his house.

"So? It's only going to be until 10:00, so nobody will do one of those 'I woke up, and they weren't there' stories.

"Anyway," he continued, "I have a feeling that that was not the real reason you asked to talk to me, was it?"

She stared at him for a moment. "No, it wasn't. I keep having this same dream over and over."

Jeremy said, "Let me guess: you're in a park with a fake horizon and you see someone you recognize from somewhere, then you wake up?"

She stared yet again. "No…." She looked him in the eyes. Suddenly, Jeremy could not move; he could only stare into those eyes. Behind her, he saw an image, a person running, running. Then, as quickly as it started, it was over.

Eleanor quickly looked away, almost ashamedly. "That was it, wasn't it?" Jeremy asked.

"… You need to go," she replied, not looking at him.

"Okay," he said, then got up and left.

Back in the warehouse, the woman with dark hair stood in front of a ball of light. Within this ball was an image of Jeremy leaving Eleanor's house. It then flashed to a picture of Chris driving home. "Hmmm…" she thought. "They are already starting to remember. Ner Karas Steratos must be at the heart of this problem." She opened her hand to reveal a small, glowing stone. "We cannot allow them to remember too much just yet. The plan must hurry up. But it will be all over soon."

Chris pulled up in his driveway and went to his room. He sat in his chair and thought about the events of the day. "This is too weird," he thought. Then almost as if planted in his mind, an idea popped up. He reached for the telephone and dialed the familiar number.

Jeremy was wondering about what had happened at Eleanor's house when the phone rang. "Hello, Jeremy speaking."

"Hi, idiot speaking," Chris replied.

"Wazzap, Chris! How's it going?"

"Not too well, actually."

"Don't tell me you can't come to my party!"

"No, worse." Chris then told Jeremy about the events of the day. Jeremy was silent for a few moments afterwards. "Are you still there?" Chris asked.

"Yeah. Well, what I've got to say can't be said over the phone. Come on over and we'll talk."

"Okay. See you soon."

As soon as Chris had hung up, Jeremy dialed Eleanor's number.

"Hello?" he heard over the line.

"Hey, Eleanor. It's me."

"Oh," she said. "What's up?"

"Well, you need to come over a little early, 'cause I need to talk to you about something."

"Umm… I don't know if I should."

"Don't worry. I just need you to meet someone and talk to you a little bit. It's about those visions."

"I'll be over in a minute," she said and hung up.

The woman with dark hair laughed. "Yes! They are all gathering together and soon the trap will be sprung!" She looked at the ball of glowing light, which displayed Jeremy's image sitting in his chair. "Now to hurry along the plan." She leaned close to the ball of light and whispered, "Reach into your pocket."

Jeremy absentmindedly reached into his pocket. He felt a sheet of paper in it and pulled it out. "The map!" he said as he opened it up.

Jon, who was walking past Jeremy's room at that moment, ran up to him and said, "What map?"

"Oh, just some silly map I found of our yard on my book today." He threw it into the garbage can. "Probably something I drew and forgot about." After Jon had left, though, he dug it back out and went outside.

He followed the line up to his old tree house. In the distance, he heard a car pulling into his driveway, but didn't pay it any mind. He spotted a part of the ground that had been recently overturned. He went over to it and started digging with his hands. After a few moments, his hand touched a cold metal handle. He grabbed it and pulled the object out of the ground. It appeared to be an old oil lantern from the Middle East. He brought it out into the sunlight and started polishing the dirt and grime off of it. Then, the lamp started to glow.

"Thanks, Dad," Eleanor said as she watched her father's car pull away. She was dressed in a pair of shorts, again, but these went down to her knees, and she was also wearing a T-shirt that said, "Wicksburg First Priority." She was about to start inside, but heard another car coming down the driveway. She turned to see a Yugo. The car parked and a tall, lanky teen walked out.

"Uh, am I at the right house?" he asked. "I'm looking for Jeremy Kush."

"Yes, this is his house. I'm Eleanor Storm."

"Oh, really. Jeremy has told me a lot about you. My name is Chris Reeves. Have you seen Jeremy?"

"No, and he's usually pretty good at meeting people by now." As they started up the porch, Eleanor spotted something. "Hey, isn't that him over there on the ground?"

As Jeremy held the glowing lamp, a pink mist seeped out of the end. Jeremy dropped it and backed away. It rose a few feet into the air, then started taking shape. A head, body, and arms soon appeared. Jeremy gasped in horror at what he saw. "Buu!" yelled out the pink blob of who-knows-what.

"What the…? Is this a joke?" yelled Jeremy.

"No. I am the genie of the magic lamp, but I can only give you two wishes," Buu replied.

"Can I save them for a rainy day?"

"No, now hurry up."

"Hmmm…" Jeremy thought as he heard soft footsteps behind him.

"Well, my first wish is that everyone I know will be able to speak, read, and understand any language in all dialects!"

Buu stood still for a little while, then yelled, "BUU!" The sky flashed pink quickly, then returned to its normal shade of blue.

"That… was… weird," Jeremy heard Eleanor say behind him.

""What is your next wish?" Buu asked.

"My next wish is…." Suddenly, Jeremy's mind lost its focus and he said something that he didn't mean to. "I wish that this world and the Dragon Ball world will be made into one, placing us somewhere between Z and GT!"

"BUU!" Buu yelled. Suddenly, Buu started glowing. "Buu?" he asked right before exploding. Suddenly, Jeremy's vision went black and he could see no more.

The raven-haired woman laughed evilly. "It is done! Now, to collect the Ner Karas Steratos uninhibited!" She waved her hand and the ball of light shattered into millions of fragments that slowly faded away into oblivion. She then stood still in the middle of the room, concentrating. She slowly opened her eyes, then, muttering incantations, made a few passes and an immense portal materialized in front of her. Her insane laughter followed her through the portal.

Throughout the warehouse was silence.

Meanwhile, at Jeremy's house, Jared, Daniel, Matt, Rae, Hailey, and Robert all stood in amazement as they watched their friends disappear.

"Dude!" said Daniel. "That was cool!"

"Hey, guys!" said Jared. "That portal's still open! Let's hurry up and go through it!"

The group dashed towards the dark spot of space and vanished. The portal then closed.