I suppose that I should explain about us Osohe.

While we consider Lorraine our queen, we treat her as more of a goddess. She created us to be similar biologically to humans. In fact, many probably would not be able to tell the difference.

There are key improvements over the homo sapiens species, though. We Osohe are logical and open-minded; human xenophobia is a mystery to most of us. We do not lust for power or let fear control us, which are really two sides of the same coin.

Indeed, for agents of chaos, we are rather orderly.

Jeff Andonuts found himself sitting at a circular table made of blue crystal that glowed in the dull lighting of the restaurant. This was the first time that he would eat at an upper-end restaurant in Ceres, and he suspected that it would be his last. Ana told him not to look at the cost of the food, but it was psyching expensive.

"Hey, Jeff."

Jeff turned his chair around to see Claus standing over him. He let out a yelp, almost falling out of his seat. Claus sighed, although Jeff could tell that his disappointment was directed at himself rather than Jeff.

"I know that now might not be the best time to talk about this," Claus said, "But I'm really sorry for everything that I did."

"Hmm?" Tracy asked, setting down the menu to look at Jeff and Claus. "Who are you and what happened with you and Jeff?"

Claus thinned his lips into a smile that Jeff found altogether disturbing. "The name's Claus."

He went on to explain a brief overview of his past, including many facts that Jeff didn't know, such as how the pigmasks hanged his father and best friend along with how poorly he treated his brother Lucas. He ended by explaining the situation around why he tried to kill Jeff.

"Oh, so it's no wonder that poor Jeff would be scared out of his wits," Tracy said.

"I know. I wish that I could take it back, but that's not how the universe works. If I could have it all back…" Claus chuckled. "Mother, Father, Lucas, Fuel, Tazmily, Aphrodite, Ness, and my happy-go-lucky attitude from back then. If I got that all back, I wouldn't know what to do with myself."

"So you're Lucas' brother," Tracy said. "I'm going to kill him, you know."

"You can try," Claus said with a grunt. "You'll lose."

Tracy crossed her arms over her chest and frowned.

"Jeff," Claus said. "Do you know where Ana is? She's been gone for a while."

Jeff looked at the rest of the table, spotting Ninten and Kumatora conversing with smiles on their faces while nobody sat in Ana's chair.

"That's a good question," Jeff said. "Maybe she went to the bathroom?"

"It's been thirty minutes, Jeff. Our food is about to arrive, and she left right after we ordered. Besides, she went that way." Claus pointed towards the exit.

"Maybe we should go and check on her," Jeff said.

"You'd be comfortable going somewhere with me?" Claus asked, his single eye widening.

"I know that you don't mean me any harm," Jeff said. "And I know that you've changed after seeing Mary vaporize Fiven. I may not be comfortable, but my mind knows that you won't hurt me. It will be good practice, considering that we're going to be seeing a lot of each other Darius' Resistance group soon."

"Thanks," Claus said. "That means the universe to me, Jeff. I know that I can do horrible things, so thanks for giving me a second chance."

"And…" Jeff took a deep breath. "I can see where you were coming from. I wouldn't call your actions 'horrible.' There's definitely a philosophy around serving the greater good. And killing me could, logically, have led to that. But I'm glad that you don't think that way anymore. Let's go outside and search for Ana."

After leaving the restaurant, it didn't take long to find Ana. Claus detected her psionic aura nearby and led Jeff over to a gurgling stream not far from the building. Ana sat on one of the rocks, looking past the stream into the darkness of the forest beyond.

"I guess a little bit of peace and quiet is too much to ask for," Ana said, not even bothering to turn around.

"If you wanted to be left alone, you could have told us," Claus said. "We were worried about you. With Giygas' strength, who knows what you could have run into? Besides, he did swoop down and pick up both my brother and Kumatora. You could be next."

"You're right," Ana said, turning around. She smiled, but her puffy eyes told Jeff that she had been crying recently. "I'm sorry. This is what it feels like when I fall apart, I suppose."

"That's not true," Jeff said. "You're doing fine, Ana."

"Do you remember when we talked in the Scaraban prison, Jeff?" Ana asked. "Things haven't gotten better since then. They've gotten worse. It used to take all of my energy to add sugar to my voice and keep a smile on my face. Now…" Ana dug the nails of her right hand into her palm. "I can't even manage that."

Jeff flinched as soon as he saw the blood sprout from Ana's palm and drip down her arm.

"Sometimes, I feel like I can pull through," Ana said. "But now? I couldn't face the world if my life were on the line."

"Is that why you're here?" Claus asked. "Waiting it out until you feel slightly less horrible?"

"Right on." Ana laughed softly. "I take it you've been in my position before?"

"After Aphrodite exploded," Claus said. "It was worst when I went to school here. There were days when I would rather slit my own throat than drag myself out of bed. Those days came more often than I'd like to believe."

"And are you still like that?" Ana asked.

"No. I wish that I could tell you how I overcame it, but it just sort of… happened. Maybe it was Ninten. Those days we spent together trekking through the deadly mines of Vulcan were some of my happiest."

"Ana," Jeff said. "There's no way that I completely understand what you're going through, but I think that I feel it a little bit. With Ness gone, everything seems so empty. At the dinner table, I had to distract myself from the feeling that something was missing."

Ana closed her eyes, her face assuming a neutral expression. She took several deep breaths.

"I think that's it," she said, her eyes still closed. "There's this nagging feeling that something is wrong. No matter what I do, I can't escape from it. That's because it's part of me, not something in the outside world."

"I'm sorry," Jeff said. "Do you want us to leave you alone?"

"I think that I'm ready to come back." Ana stood up, wiping the wet dirt off of her robe. "I don't know why, but all of the colors here seem brighter than they did a moment ago. The sounds are more layered."

"So you feel better?" Claus asked.

"Still terrible," Ana said. "But yes, better."

"Claus and I picked up new portocoms," Jeff said. "So feel free to call us whenever you want. We'll give you our numbers."

Jeff listed off the contact information for their portocoms and Ana wrote it down on the back of hers.

"Mine's special," Claus said. "Jeff picked it up from Dr. Andonuts' lab. It can shrink down to the size of a coin if I want it to, so I should be able to sneak it in wherever I go."

"I'll take your word for it," Ana said. "Hopefully, the others didn't miss us too much."

"Miss me?" Claus asked with a snort. "I don't know if that's possible, Ana. I'm sure they'll look forward to seeing you, but my face will drain them of all excitement."

Ana laughed and started walking back towards the building.

"Thanks, guys," she said. "I guess I don't always have to be the strong one."

The day after classes started, Kumatora approached Ninten in the cafeteria.

"I almost forgot about these walls with the obnoxious swirls of color," Kumatora said. "I mean, look at that! Green, orange, and yellow all right next to each other, surrounded by blue and purple. My eyes bleed when I look at that. They're bleeding, Ninten!"

"Great," Ninten said. "I almost forgot about that too. Thanks a lot for reminding me."

He swatted Kumatora on the shoulder in a playful fashion. Kumatora laughed, not even flinching away from Ninten's smack. He wondered if she even felt pain.

"So how are classes coming along?" she asked.

"It's been a day," Ninten said. "Although I saw that in your basic psionics class, you looked like you were asleep when you went through the basic psionic powers."

"I'm sorry that this school is so easy," Kumatora said, turning her nose up and sniffing. "I mean, even Tracy got the hang of it, and she's been manifesting powers for less than a week."

"That's not normal. Tracy's a prodigy, although I'm not sure if she knows it."

"Well, you didn't appear to have any trouble with it, either."

Ninten shrugged.

"I have outside experience," he said. "I wonder what happened to Mr. Agerate, though. He probably would have let us do some pretty cool stuff. Maybe they fired him because he disappeared for weeks at a time with no real notice."

"Wouldn't surprise me," Kumatora said. "I can't believe that weasel was actually Diana Carpainter."

Ninten grimaced.

"You might want to keep your voice down," he said.

"Why? If he's fired already then what does it matter?"

"Just… we probably don't want everyone to know. It could cause a scare."

"True. Speaking of which, I have a favor to ask of you."

"Oh, this will be good," Ninten said, rolling his eyes.

Kumatora smiled.

"You got it! I want you to come with me somewhere. I've been meaning to investigate it further for a while, but I got wrapped up in the Scaraban conflict."

"Okay," Ninten said, nodding slowly. "Where is this place? If it's somewhere stupid, I'm going to hit you again."

"The chimera labs," Kumatora said.

"You mean… they exist?" Ninten said.

"Yeah. I guess that doesn't qualify as a stupid location, since my shoulder remains unswatted."

Ninten smacked her shoulder for a second time.

"So it does qualify as a stupid location?" Kumatora asked.

"No, but after what you said I couldn't help myself. Well, I totally could have helped myself, but I chose not to."

Kumatora rolled her eyes.

"You're horrible," she said.

"Duly noted. So the chimera labs, huh? You said that you wanted to investigate it further. I assume you've been there before, then?"

"Yeah. I just want to check it out, but I could use some backup."

"That… doesn't make me want to help," Ninten said. "If it's dangerous for you to need a second person, you should probably pick someone more capable than me."

"Oh, I tried," Kumatora said. "Ana refused me."

"Claus?"

"He and Jeff are gone to work with the Resistance. Did you miss the memo?"

"Oh, right. I forgot."

Kumatora swatted Ninten on the shoulder.

"That's for being forgetful," she said, wearing an insufferable smile.

"Hey, you're not supposed to hit me back!" Ninten said. "I could call the cops."

"And they would laugh you out of the room," Kumatora said.

"That's not the point."

"I think that it is." She swatted Ninten again. "That's for missing the real point."

"Okay, this isn't fair," Ninten said. "I'm just a weak, measly human and you're an Osohe."

"Good thing I'm egalitarian," Kumatora said with a wink.

"So back to the chimera labs," Ninten said. "You really have nobody else to go with?"

"You make it sound like a date or something," Kumatora said, rolling her eyes. "No. Nobody that I trust."

"You trust me? You must be a lot dumber than I thought. Aren't Osohe supposed to have superior intelligence to us humans?"

"I can never tell how much of your attitude is an act, Ninten. Do you treat everyone this way?"

"Ann, sort of. Most people, not really. I figured that you would appreciate someone who just says the first thing that comes to their mind."

"Well, you were wrong." Kumatora tried to keep her face neutral, but a smile shone through. "Okay, I'll admit that this is entertaining. But you should really aim higher than annoying me."

"All right," Ninten said. "From now on, I'll be respectful Ninten."

"Good luck keeping that one up."

"You're not exactly helping." Ninten looked around the cafeteria to make sure nobody was listening. "Man, you can say anything and these people just don't give a psych, huh? Ceresian culture is weird. But anyways, I'll go with you to the chimera labs, so long as you promise to protect me with your radiant Osohe powers."

"Radiant Osohe powers?" Kumatora said. "Do you mean psionics?"

"Yeah, that thing. I hear that it's good at keeping people alive."

Kumatora rolled her eyes.

"How can you still be so obnoxious without poking fun at me?" her face softened. "But seriously, Ninten. Thanks for coming. I think it's you who trusts me too much."

"You're welcome," Ninten said. "Now, let's get out of here and find a nice place for you to teleport us over there. I'm not sure if you know, but I hate walking."

"This is it," Kumatora said. "The chimera labs. Do you remember that awful substitute teacher that we had? Ms. Monotoli?"

"How could I forget?" Ninten said. "She picked on Paula like some common bully."

"She was more or less in charge of this place," Kumatora said. "But then Mr. Agerate killed her, apparently. I want to see if the chimeras are still active."

"Still active? What sorts of chimeras have you seen before?"

"Probably not what you expect. Wolves that are more aggressive, stronger, and contain a viper's venom in their saliva. Hordes of spiders that are the size of small plates."

Ninten shivered.

"I hate spiders," he said. "Like, seriously. I joke about a lot of things, but I'll legitimately run away at the sight of one spider the size of a dinner plate."

"Millions of years ago before reptiles took over the planet, there were scorpions the size of large dogs," Kumatora said. "Well, their legs were shorter, but their bodies were about the same size."

"Stop," Ninten said. "Please. You're giving me nightmares while I'm still awake."

"All right," Kumatora said. "I'll go back to treating you like a lost child."

"Thank you! I actually liked you when you saw me that way back in the Deep Darkness."

"You really don't have any pride at all, do you?" Kumatora asked.

"Nah. It was beaten out of me a long time ago."

He meant the words as a joke, but Kumatora's face turned sympathetic.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Are you ready to head in?"

I guess I never really had any parents to look after me, so I can get clingy.

"Yeah," Ninten said. "Let's go."

Kumatora led Ninten through a field of overgrown grass. Ninten kicked aside numerous cans and other pieces of trash without seeing them. He looked at the labs, which consisted of white walls stuck loosely together that looked like they were about to fall apart.

"That doesn't look like it meets regulations," Ninten said.

Kumatora snorted.

"That's what happens when you have underground government research on something like chimeras," she said.

"You sound like a conspiracy theorist."

"Except that I'm actually right."

Kumatora walked up to a door leading to the inside of the labs and swung it open. Darkness cloaked most of what lay inside.

"Give me light," Kumatora muttered.

Her eyes radiated light in a way that looked almost holy. Ninten didn't spot anything of note: only an array of broken beakers, dusty lab stations, and beakers filled with chemicals he didn't want to mess with.

"Heh," Ninten said. "So is this one of your special Osohe powers?"

"You do know that all psions can make their eyes light up like this, right?" Kumatora said. "Let's go."

Ninten followed Kumatora in and closed the door behind him. He took a deep breath, although he couldn't quite stop his heart from racing. He heard something slither behind him and let out a yelp.

Kumatora was there before Ninten realized what was happening. A snake lunged at Ninten, its fangs wide open, but Kumatora caught it in her hands. The snake twisted and flailed in an attempt to bite Kumatora's arm, but she tore off its head with her bare hands and tossed it away.

"Yeah, these chimeras get aggressive," she said. "The plus side is that we're psions, so I could have healed the poison right up even if the snake had bitten you."

"Thanks?" Ninten said, his voice shaking. "Call weapon."

A sword made out of transparent, green ectoplasm appeared in his hands.

"I'll be ready next time," he said.

Kumatora smiled.

"When you're not joking around, you actually look quite determined," she said. "It suits you well."

Right then, Ninten heard slithering from all different directions. He spotted dozens of snakes approach from either side of the hallway. Ninten narrowed his eyes and focused on the snakes coming towards him. Just a little closer…

"I guess they sensed that one of their brethren died," Kumatora said. "Got any ideas?"

Now.

"Ectoplasmic field!" Ninten shouted, and the entire floor around him became sticky.

While the sticky goo kept Kumatora and Ninten from moving their feet, the snakes had even worse luck. The squirmed in an attempt to escape, but none of them had the strength to bust through the ectoplasm.

"Let's go!" Ninten shouted.

He stabbed the snakes through the head one by one. He heard Kumatora manifest PK fire and felt the heat at his back. He imagined the snakes burning away on Kumatora's side as he stabbed snakes over on his end. Before long, all that remained of the snakes were a pile of corpses.

"Nice job!" Kumatora said. "And you said that you weren't competent."

"Eh, I got lucky." He muttered an incantation and the ectoplasm vanished. "What's next, chief?"

"Follow me," Kumatora said. "And keep your ears open for more of these snakes. You're doing great so far."

Ninten nodded, walking a few steps behind Kumatora as she maneuvered through hallways and rooms. Eventually, she arrived at a room with dozens of wolves locked in tiny cells. They bashed against the metal bars when Kumatora and Ninten entered.

"So these things are chimeras?" Ninten asked.

"Yep, the same wolves that I talked about earlier. Stand back."

Ninten took a couple of steps until he was out of the room. Kumatora took a deep breath.

"PK Starstorm," she said.

White balls of energy burned holes through the ceiling as they entered above. They floated into cells and exploded, leaving behind nothing but wolf guts and metal scraps. All over the room, the process repeated itself, although some balls of energy created bigger explosions than others. Ninten watched in a mixture of wonder and horror as Kumatora systematically turned the room into rubble.

By the time she was finished, the walls and ceiling completely collapsed, leaving the passage blocked.

"They didn't have much of a life, anyways," Kumatora said. "It makes you think, though. What if you were programmed to do nothing but fight? Would you even really be an individual at that point?" Kumatora shook her head. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"I've seen worse," Ninten said. "But I'll admit that wasn't pleasant."

Kumatora offered a weak smile.

"Well, these labs are still operational," she said. "It looks like someone fed those wolves, despite all of the snakes roaming around. Maybe I'll explore some more of this later on my own. Are you ready to head back?"

"I've never been more ready in my life," Ninten said. "This place freaks me out."

"You're not the only one. Teleport."

It took Jeff a day to determine the location of the Resistance from what Darius had told him. He found himself standing in the shadier parts of Ceres, looking around at the cracked windows and garbage-filled streets. For once, he was glad to have Claus at his side. Despite their youth, Claus' breastplate and greatsword would scare off any bandits.

Eventually, it was Claus that detected the aura of psions nearby. Darius had specified the exact part of town where the leaders of the Resistance met, but it hadn't occurred to Jeff that the Resistance would keep itself well-hidden. Obviously it would, as it would try not to lend itself to detection, and Jeff cursed himself for not thinking of the roadblock sooner.

Still, Claus detected psions' auras, so they would likely find the Resistance either way. Claus walked up to an unassuming building that looked abandoned and knocked on the door. A man walked up and opened the door, scanning Jeff's and Claus' faces.

"What's a psion doing here?" he asked, his eyes narrowing. Looking at Jeff, "And you have enchanted gear. Nothing about either of you makes sense."

"Are you part of the Resistance?" Claus asked.

"Word's gotten out that quickly?" the man said. "I mean, I guess that's good, but psych."

"A friend told me," Jeff said. "And I wanted to join. He said that the Resistance would peacefully protest Ceres' wars and Monotoli's position in office."

The man grunted.

"It's true that Kim wants us not to fight back, even when the bastards come down on us. At least, not for a time."

"Not for a time?" Jeff said.

"Well, you two already know a lot, so we can tell you a bit more. Follow me."

"You won't trap us anywhere," Claus said. "If you try, I'll slice my way out."

"Oh ho!" the man flashed a toothy grin. "Well, we'll see what Kim says. I'm Frederick, by the way. I was an empirist psion before our movement fizzled out."

"You wanted to put an emperor back on the throne?" Jeff said.

"Considering the state of the universe, I'm surprised that so many people blame me for it," Frederick said. "Now come in, before someone sees us bickering and gets curious."

Jeff and Claus walked into the dilapidated house. The floor was covered with dirt; bugs walked across walls and into shattered vases. The entire room reeked of mold.

"Nice place," Claus said.

"I needed somewhere to crash," Frederick said. "Rent on Ceres, man. Oh, and I'm a wanted criminal. Let's keep moving."

Frederick led Jeff and Claus into another room, where a television displayed a reporter talking about the situation on Vulcan.

"We're starting to see groups similar to the empirists sprout up," the reporter said, his voice filled with static. "Except that they claim to worship only the alien Giygas. They're crueler than the empirists ever were, taking entire towns off the map by killing anyone that they could find."

"Psych," Claus said. "It's gotten worse, hasn't it?"

"Right," Frederick said. "We may want to put an emperor back on the throne, but not all of us were outright hostile towards Ceres, and certainly not towards our own people. Our leader Boras promised to build a better path, but then Ceres declared war on us and Boras died to his own grandson."

"If it makes you feel any better, Ninten's really sorry," Claus said.

"I never understood that," Jeff said with a frown. "Why did President Carpainter declare war on Vulcan after Boras took the reins as the leader of the empirist movement? He seemed better than his predecessor."

"Of course he was," Frederick said. "He was likable, which gave him a real shot at commanding the voice of the public. That's why Ceres took him out and scattered us." Frederick chuckled. "But they just grew more hate and rage. This new band of Giygas-worshippers is their creation, and now the entire planet of Vulcan is paying the price."

Jeff wouldn't go as far as saying that Ceres created these new extremists, but he could see how their intervention sparked rage.

"But that's still not where we're going," Frederick said. "Let's keep walking."

Jeff followed Frederick into another room where a ladder descended into a hole in the ground. Frederick climbed down, and Jeff looked over to Claus. The ginger shrugged and went down after Frederick. Jeff sighed and scaled down the ladder last. He appeared in a hallway that led to a room with cushioned chairs and sturdy tables.

"This is where we meet," Frederick said. "I don't think that Kim is here yet."

Jeff walked behind Frederick, eventually arriving at the room. Other hallways jutted out; Jeff could only guess where they went. He spotted another man sitting down and looking at a portocom. Jeff craned over to see what the mirror-like device displayed, but due to the angle he couldn't see much of anything.

"Would you mind hanging on a sec?" the man asked. "Frederick just came in with a psion and a boy wearing enchanted gear. They probably don't want me to keep them waiting."

"Sure," said the voice on the other end. "Go and see what they're up to."

The man set the portocom down on a table and stood up, looking at Claus and Jeff.

"Hello," he said. "It's Claus, right?"

"Yeah. And you're… Walter?"

The man nodded.

"Wait," Jeff said. "You two already know each other?"

"Oh, did I forget to mention that?" Frederick said. "Yeah, Walter and I met Claus back in Winters. He was with… what was that kid's name?"

"Ninten," Walter said, rolling his eyes. "Only the emperor's heir that you wanted to stick back on the throne." Turning to Jeff, "I apologize for how my companion may come off. Who might you be?"

"Jeff Andonuts. Yes, I'm the son of Dr. Andonuts. No, I don't know him that well, so don't bother asking me anything about him."

"Well, I'm sorry for your loss, then," Walter said. "I was sad to see Dr. Andonuts go. Such a great inventor… judging by the gadgets that I don't recognize, am I to guess that you're following in his footsteps?"

"Indeed," Jeff said. "That is why Darius recruited me to the Resistance."

Walter waved his hand dismissively.

"You make us sound like some exclusive band of rebels."

"Err… you aren't?"

"I guess Darius didn't do a good job of explaining all of this." He looked back at his portocom. "Hey, Jang-Li. Are you hearing all of this?"

"Yes," came a voice from the portocom. "And I would very much like to meet Jeff and Claus."

Walter picked up the portocom and pointed the screen at Claus and Jeff. In the screen, Jeff saw a Dalaamian man in a part of Ceres that he didn't recognize.

"Hello," the man in the screen said. "I am Kim Jang-Li, and I wish to end Ceres' abuse of the universe. You were both in Scaraba when Giygas' minion wiped out Fiven, yes?"

"We were," Claus said. "Do you work with Giygas like Darius does?"

Gah, Jeff said. I'm pretty sure that's not a great way to talk to the leader of a resistance group.

"I do not," Kim said. "And I think that we'll have a better chance to defeat Giygas if Ceres isn't coming down with an iron fist on the rest of the universe."

Jeff cleared his throat before Claus could say anything else.

"Darius requested that I develop video cameras to film the protests," Jeff said. "And I have a couple with me. I can make more without too much trouble, if you need them."

Kim smiled.

"Darius was wise to recruit you, then," he said. "Yes, we can use as many video recorders as you can make. When the time is right, we need to get the word out to as many people as we can about our mission. If Ceres sees how we can band together and protest these needless wars, and they see how the government treats us…"

"It will lead to sympathy," Jeff said. "We win over the public without raising a sword."

"Exactly," Kim said. "I'm glad that you understand. If we fight, people will fear us. If we stand and bleed, people will join us. We resist but not revolt."

"So how does this all work?" Claus said. "I had better not be joining some sort of cult here."

"I pick days to protest," Kim said. "Whoever wants to come is free to show up. People can come and go as they wish. This is about involving regular people, not psions like us or intellectuals like Jeff. We need to make it easy for anyone to join."

"Sounds like more of a social movement than a Resistance," Jeff said. "What if Monotoli just unleashes his army on you and tries to wipe out everyone? What if he tries to instill fear back into people's hearts?"

"Then I have the entire military of Dalaam at my back," Kim said. "I hope that it does not come to that, but I will storm Ceres if Monotoli unleashes the destructive wrath of warfare. We will stand by and accept police brutality, but we cannot let ourselves go extinct."

"By the same notion of forming a loose, general community," Walter said. "We are not super well connected. We do not lodge together or engage in professions together. We are merely people with individual lives but have the same, collective interests in mind."

"Maybe we can get some people at school to help us," Claus said. "Spread the word."

"Anyone who can join is welcome," Kim said. "My goal is to put the power back in the hands of the common people. We are here to expose the cruelty and the contempt behind the Crystal Throne. They cannot beat us all if we stand together."

"Unless someone calls that bitch back in to erase a city," Claus muttered.

That bitch? Oh, he must mean Mary.

"Let us hope that they do not resort to that," Kim said. "And again, if they use their psions and fight us in earnest, my soldiers will protect the people of Ceres. It is a risky time to be protesting, but it is a crucial one. With Giygas' power growing, we cannot suffer more pointless wars."

"Agreed," Jeff said. "So when's the first protest?"

"In exactly a week from now," Kim said. "Right in front of the government capitol building. You can give any video cameras you produce to Walter or Frederick."

"We're moving out of here soon," Walter said. "But we'll swing by your school before the protest. Do you have a portocom?"

Jeff nodded, and he proceeded to exchange portocom numbers with Walter.

"I hope to see you there," Kim said. "Trust me, I'll be in the crowd cheering just like anyone else. At the end of the day, I'm just a person who's worried about the direction that Ceres is headed in. That's all I need to be to give myself a voice."

"Thanks," Jeff said. "I hope to see you there too, Mr. Kim. Maybe we can even grab the media's attention."

"That is a good starting goal," Kim said. "Goodbye, Jeff and Claus. It's nice to see two young people like you who care so much about this universe."

"I think that it's the least we can do," Claus said.

"Especially after the destruction that we caused," Jeff added.

This chapter's a bit scattered, but we got a lot of stuff to cover and sometimes that's just how it rolls. Hopefully you enjoy it anyway!

Chimera Labs: This was the focus for Jeff's story in the first half of part 2 of this fic. They learned about a lot of Minerva Carpainter's scary experiments from it and now Kumatora is recruiting Ninten to help clean things up.

Frederick and Walter: Minor recurring characters, I throw them in when I don't know what else to do lol.

Kim Jang-Li: Brother of General Kim, but as you can see here a lot more friendly. He was also the guy who ran the refugee camps in Scaraba for the people who escaped when Mary destroyed Fiven. Note that Korean names have the family name first, so if he were in America "Kim" would be his last name.

Review Response: Guest: Whoops didn't see this before updating with the previous chapter so I'll do it now! The reason I can update so quickly right now is that I already have all the drafts written and I'm not going through super major revamps with the editing in general. Like I'll fix ideas and characters on a chapter by chapter basis but I'm not planning on rewriting entire arcs or anything like that. So yeah hopefully I can keep up the pace! :) I'm glad that you like Ana's character! She's going through a lot right now but we will get to see plenty of her in the future, so stay tuned. :)