EPISODE 9-4

"This is far bigger than the story of a simple robbery, mused Count Bleck. It seems that the robbery was the start of something far more sinister."

"I feel the same," said Dimentio. He hovered head-level with Count Bleck as they made their way down the halls of the castle. Movement of the body helped movement of the mind, or so the Count theorized. His mind felt active enough, anyway.

Nastasia was trotting behind them, not paying any mind to whether or not the activity was necessary. "Well, the first item of business should be to get our property back," she said.

Dimentio slapped his fist into his palm. "Ah, that's right," he said. "I left that poor fellow back in Dimension D." He looked down and thought for a second, and then shrugged. "Oh, he's probably fine."

"Very well," said Count Bleck. "Go and send O'Chunks there to rough him up a bit."

"With pleasure," said Dimentio cheerfully.

"And put them back when they're done."

"Yes, Count Bleck." He disappeared.

Count Bleck turned a corner and saw Mimi barreling down the hallway at top speed. When she was a few feet from the Count she leapt into the air and threw her arms around him, squeezing him tighter than a constrictor. All the time she was squealing, "THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!"

Count Bleck carefully peeled Mimi's arms off of him and gently placed her on the ground. "Well, your welcome, your welcome, your welcome, and so on," he said with amusement. "Now, what am I graciously accepting your gratitude for?"

"CHARLOTTE!" squealed Mimi.

"Charlotte?" asked Count Bleck.

"Charlotte! I saw her out front!"

Nastasia put her hands over her face and groaned. Count Bleck turned around. "Charlotte," he said.

"Of course," she said. "O'Chunks took her to Bowser's Castle. He must have had her trained to be a guard chomp."

"And we bought her back," finished Count Bleck. "Yes, of course."

"I've got to go tell Félicie!" she chirped, and ran off down the hall hollering, "Félicie! Come meet your big sister!"

"Don't introduce them just yet," called Count Bleck. "I don't want to clean up the mess."

"Good heavens," said Dimentio. Count Bleck jumped and turned around.

"You pop more than bubble wrap," he said. "Knock it off."

"Good," said Dimentio, "but not great."

"What do you need?" asked Count Bleck.

"I returned from my assignment to transport Mr. O'Chunks," said Dimentio. "I returned with ample time to overhear the exchange to take place. I understand our little Mimi now has two pets."

"Well, yeah, what of it?"

"It hardly seems fair that she has two pets while the rest of us have none," said Dimentio. "I wouldn't mind an animal companion."

"Don't start," warned Count Bleck. "I'll have none of your sibling rivalry today. I let Mimi have those pets to shut her up."

"But she doesn't shut up," Dimentio pointed out.

"Shut up!"

Dimentio chuckled. "Very well," he said. "But do not for a moment think the matter is dropped." And again, he disappeared.

"Sibling rivalry?" said Nastasia questioningly. She raised an eyebrow.

"They fight like brother and sister," said Count Bleck. "Surely you've noticed it."

"I have."

"Well then, there you go."

They were all gathered in the meeting room, Count Bleck, Tippi, Nastasia, O'Chunks, Mimi, Dimentio, and Mr. L. Mimi was squeezing Félicie happily. Dimentio and Mr. L were avoiding one another's gaze. O'Chunks had a bag by his feet, with rubees bulging from the top and the rest of the stolen goods inside.

"I'd like to thank you all for meeting with me on such short notice," said Count Bleck humorously. "I'd especially like to thank you, Dimentio, for returning O'Chunks back to this dimension in a timely manner."

"I wasn't done wit' 'im yet!" bellowed O'Chunks.

"You'll get your chance another time," said Count Bleck.

"You're lucky he let you 'rough him up' at all!" said Tippi sternly.

"No, he's not," said Count Bleck under his breath.

"So, what's the dealio?" asked Mr. L.

"The Exor Rift," said Count Bleck, "and what that means to us."

"Is this going to be a lecture?" asked Mr. L. "Should I be taking notes?"

"No, but maybe you should just to be safe." Count Bleck straightened his monocle. "It seems that, if the secret to this Exor Rift gets out, the scope of dimensional travel will be fundamentally altered forever." He paused a moment to let the severity of that set in. "Now," he continued, "it is important for us to be aware of it, and it is doubly important for us to decide what to do next."

"May I make a suggestion?" Dimentio raised his hand.

"Yes?"

"Don't tell Bowser."

"Well, that goes without saying," said Count Bleck. "If he knew, it would just be one big barrel of trouble."

"I think he still hates you," said Mimi.

"I'm sure he does," said Count Bleck. "This is not a productive area of discussion."

"Ooh! Ooh!" Tippi cried out. "I just remembered something!"

"What?" said Count Bleck.

"Bestovius," Tippi explained. "Mario visited him to learn the dimensional-flipping power. He might know about this. He knows a lot about flipping and folding."

"Good idea," said Count Bleck. "Nastasia, take note of that."

Nastasia wrote on her clipboard, under DON'T TELL BOWSER, "CALL BESTOVIUS RE: EXOR RIFT."

"Hey," said Mr. L slowly. "I just thought of something."

"What?"

"Well," said Mr. L, "this Exor Rift is in the middle of Bowser's Keep, yeah? Well… like, did you just send Croco back there or what?"

Dimentio froze.

"Uh huh," said Mr. L.

Count Bleck groaned. "All right, we'll go over this again: you need to think before you do these things!"

"Sorry, Count," said Dimentio.

"Sorry doesn't put Croco away from the Exor Rift," said Count Bleck sternly. "Sorry doesn't put all the stolen goods back where they came from."

"It should," offered Mr. L.

"Yeah, that'd be awesome," said Mimi.

"Actually, it would," said Count Bleck, "but we're not here to discuss shoulds. With one exception. You should go back to the castle and put Croco into a dimension where he can't hop the rift back."

"That's mean," said Mimi.

"At this point, I just don't care."

Count Bleck leaned back in his chair in his study. Tippi rested quietly on his hat. For a long time, neither of them spoke. But eventually the silence had to be broken, and Tippi was the one to do it.

"So," she said, "what's the matter?"

"I'm beginning to realize something unpleasant," said Count Bleck.

"What's that?"

"It's never enough."

There was a pause. When it was clear that that was all Count Bleck was going to say, Tippi pressed, "What's never enough?"

"Anything, said Count Bleck with a wave of his arm. We come home from one mission, and the castle's torn apart. We find the robber, and he's found a dimension hotspot. We remove him from the hotspot, and other people could very easily find it and figure out how to use it. They figure out how to use it, and suddenly everybody's dimension-hopping willy nilly."

"Is that such a bad thing?" asked Tippi.

"Well… It changes things," he said at length.

"It makes it difficult for people to know what's going on," said Tippi. "Like when we came home and somebody had broken in, in this castle in a supposedly hard-to-reach dimension."

"Exactly."

"But now we know about the Exor Rift," she offered. "We can watch out for it in the future."

"That's right," said Count Bleck. "We can watch the Exor Rift. But what else is there that we don't know about."

Tippi paused. "I don't know," she said.

"Exactly."

"So, it's never enough," said Tippi lightly. "So, no matter how much good you do, there's always more good that needs to be done, and more bad to fill the gaps. The important thing is that you keep trying."

"I know that," said Count Bleck. "It's easy to say, but it just feels so… hopeless, I suppose."

"If I may," said Dimentio, startling the Count horribly.

"Dimentio!" yelped Count Bleck. "Please, I'm asking you as a friend and as a superior. Would you stop sneaking up on Count Bleck? It would mean a lot to him."

"I'll see what I can do," said Dimentio. "But, your dilemma reminds me of something an old friend told me many years ago when I was studying magic in Macro Land."

"Macro land?"

"Yes. Everything is quite large there, you see."

"Of course."

"He told me, the world is never the same after you touch it," said Dimentio.

Count Bleck nodded thoughtfully. "Is that so?"

"Yes," said Dimentio. "My life is different for having known him, for one thing."

"Is he the one who made you a horrible little demon?" asked Tippi sarcastically.

"No," said Dimentio. "But he is the one who showed me the best way to do things… with magic!"

"Why are you telling me this?" asked Count Bleck. "Is it because you care about me?"

"Heavens, no," said Dimentio. "It's in my best interest that you don't give up just yet."

"Is it now?"

"Yes. I need a place to live until I get my SAT results back."

"You're kidding."

"Yes, I am."

"So, be serious."

"Mmm, no, thank you." And with that, he disappeared.

Count Bleck shook his head. "Okay, okay, I get it," he said. "So, maybe we can make enough of a difference. Sometimes I get discouraged. But I should know it's going to work out."

Just then, Mimi pranced by the door, holding Charlotte's chain. "Hi, Count!" she called. "It's wet outside so I'm taking Charlotte for a walk inside!"

Count Bleck banged his head on the desk and left it there.

I'm leaving for vacation in the morning, and will be back on August 12th. Soon after, I will present to you something much bigger, something quite grand indeed.