As the USS Iowa slowly drew nearer to the island, Mavis saw the remnants of her destruction. Much of the ice that she had created when she saw Johnny die was still there, but the palm trees and shrubbery were already returning. The sand looked as soft and as friendly as ever. In the corner, the Death's Bane was still there, in serious need of repair.

Mavis could feel her own heart thumping, making her vision go sharp with adrenaline. Why was she acting like this? What made this so exciting? So important?

Mavis opened her bag, and pulled out the vial of Death's Cure that Sadovsky had brewed. The golden liquid inside was still glowing as brightly as ever, and the bottle still felt warm.

Mavis put the vial back into her bag and turned to G4, "Sorry for the detour buddy, you'll be going home in a little bit, after I cure Johnny."

G4 looked down at her, almost surprised, You do not need to feel sorry for me, he said, I'm a robot. I am programmed to have extreme patience.

Mavis smiled slyly. Of course he did.

Mavis turned to Fubuki, "So...you'll be staying with me then, Fubuki."

Fubuki smiled, "Yeah...it'll be nice, having a real family to stick to, you know? It's just…"

Fubuki's mind went back to Olyra, and what she must've been doing at that moment. Mavis had explained to her the time differences when going through the portal. By now, it must've been weeks over weeks for the people in Nareth. Her sister had two missing people in her life: Tiberius and Fubuki. Given that she was always a warrior personality, Fubuki could only guess what she would do…

Mavis continued looking at her, "You're doing it again." she said.

"What?" asked Fubuki, turning back to Mavis, "I'm doing what?"

"Whenever I mention you staying with us, you get all gloomy...are you sure you want to stay? It's your choice, I assure you."

Finally, Fubuki said, "My sister, she's...um….she's Tiberius's wife."

Mavis immediately froze. "What?" she asked, "Olyra?"

"Yeah," said Fubuki, "And...I'm worried...with both me and Tiberius missing, she'll probably go through the portal to find me, and if she does, she'll...probably kill us."

Mavis scoffed. Fubuki was almost taken aback by how little Mavis took of this revelation. "You think Olyra can beat me?" asked Mavis, "Listen, Fubuki, I defeated Tiberius. He's dead! Olyra, if she decides to hunt you down like how Tiberius was trying to hunt me down, will share his fate."

Fubuki sighed, "Yeah...I guess you're right. My sister wouldn't be able to defeat you…"

Mavis hugged Fubuki temporarily, surprising her, "Listen, you're part of our family now. It'll all be good. Olyra won't even be able to find us if we stay on the island, and if she does, she's gonna have to fight her way through Johnny, me, Techno, and Techno's security measures in order to get to you."

Fubuki smiled, "Thanks, Mavis." she murmured.

It was then when Techno cut in, "We're thirty seconds away from docking," he said, "and since our transports were destroyed in the battle, prepare for a swim!"

Mavis didn't even get up. She sighed, "Techno, you're forgetting that we can telekinetically launch ourselves to the island, you know?"

"Oh...right," said Techno, "Sorry, Miss Dracula."

As the USS Iowa dropped anchor, Fubuki grabbed Mavis's arm, bracing for her telekinetic flight, but this time, Mavis didn't let her.

"No," she said, "you're going to have to try flying this time."

Fubuki stared, "You think I'm ready?" she asked, "I don't know…"

"You can do it," insisted Mavis, "I felt how powerful you've become when we were holding out that storm, you can definitely lift yourself and fly by now. Just try, it'll be fun. Watch."

Fubuki watched as Mavis levitated a few feet into the air, hovering over the side of the railing, "Now you try," she said, "Concentrate, and you'll be able to do it."

Fubuki concentrated, pouring in as much telekinetic energy into lifting herself off the ground. At first, she didn't feel anything. Then, she slowly felt herself rising.

Fubuki's heart began thumping. She was flying. Without hesitation, she began to slowly glide over the edge of the ship, keeping herself steady in case she lost control. In front of her, Mavis watched her intensely.

"You alright?" asked Mavis, after Fubuki steadied herself in the air, "you're kind of shaky right now."

Fubuki nodded, not used to the sensation of open flight. Before, she had only been able to levitate a few inches, at most a feet, above the ground. "Yeah….I'm fine, but this is...weird." commented Fubuki, testing her flight out by leaning to the left or to the right.

Mavis nodded, turning back to the island, "Alright, come on, lean forward to fly forward. If you ever feel yourself falling, tell me and I'll help you out a little.". With that, she began to fly towards the island.

Behind Mavis, Fubuki shakily followed her. The sensation was strange, but cool at the same time. As Fubuki slowly made her way towards the shores of the island, she began to feel a stabbing pain in her stomach, as she began to tire from the extended flight.

As the pain began to build, Fubuki gasped, losing control temporarily, and dropping by about five feet. She was now only about 10 feet above the surface of the ocean. Fubuki pushed forward, accelerating until she passed the coral reefs that dotted the area around the island, and finally lost control, dropping to the sand.

As Fubuki scrambled back up, dusting off sand from her black dress, she looked around, expecting Mavis to be nearby, but instead saw her on the other end of the island, staring at the ground while walking back and forth.

Fubuki flew over to Mavis, landing next to her, "What're you doing?" she asked, "where's Johnny?"

Mavis's eyes glowed red temporarily as she used her extrasensory perception to locate the area where she had buried Johnny. She could feel the containment pod, and the exact location of where it was.

"It's right here," she said, pointing to the ground beneath her, "wait…"

Fubuki stepped back as Mavis began to lift tons over tons of sand up, digging a hole into the side of the island. When all the dust and sand cleared, Fubuki saw a metal pod, about five feet underground.

"Is that…" began Fubuki, but she was quickly silenced by Mavis, who without hesitation, had lifted the containment pod out of the hole.

The pod itself must've weighed tons. It looked heavier than a truck, but Mavis lifted it without even putting in any effort. It was a grim reminder to how weak Fubuki still was compared to her teacher.

Mavis dropped the pod onto the sand, calling Techno over, who whizzed in and pressed some buttons and dials on the side of the pod. There was a loud hissing noise, as smoke came out of the edges of the pod entrance, and the doors slid open.

Fubuki glanced in, and for the first time, saw Johnny.

He looked very, very cold. His skin was pale-blue, and there was frost on his hair, but apart from that, he looked the same as when Mavis had left him.

Mavis quickly telekinetically levitated Johnny out, laying him on the grass farther in on the island, and took out the cure.

"So...I just pour this thing into Johnny's mouth?" asked Mavis, turning to Techno.

Techno nodded, "Yes, according to Sadovsky's documents, that is what needs to happen. I can assist you, if you need-"

"No need for that," cut in Mavis, softly opening Johnny's mouth and pouring the golden liquid into it, "I got this."

Fubuki and Mavis anxiously watched, as the vial quickly emptied. There didn't appear to be any visible difference, and Mavis was beginning to really start to worry, when-

"Heartbeat detected," said Techno, "vital organs back in full function. He should wake up any-"

Johnny sat straight up, making Fubuki jump back in surprise. His eyes were wide open. Startlingly human eyes, Fubuki noticed. Johnny looked around, seeing Mavis, Fubuki, and Techno staring at him.

"What the-" Johnny scrambled up, "I...I…" he stared at his own body, feeling his chest, which had now completely healed. He looked back up. "I was dead!"

Mavis flung herself onto Johnny, hugging him so fiercely that Johnny's face began to go white, "You were dead!" wailed Mavis, "you...you're alive now!"

Johnny kissed Mavis, which made Fubuki shift uncomfortably. She would probably have to get used to her teacher being in a romantic relationship with Johnny.

After Johnny and Mavis separated, both of them smiling crazily, Johnny noticed Fubuki, "Hey...who're you?"

Fubuki shakily walked forward, "My name's Fubuki," she said, "and uh...Mavis, we have alot to tell Johnny."

After Mavis and Fubuki filled in Johnny on what happened, telling him how they went through a fabled time portal, took the death's cure, and returned safely, Johnny had already made himself comfortable with the two newcomers. He had slightly recoiled when Fubuki told him that she was actually Tiberius's wife's sister, but still viewed her respectfully. Johnny showed much more interest in G4, and even asked him to do some missile demonstrations for him, in which he laughed as he watched G4 disintegrate a boulder on the island. Mavis noticed that Johnny seemed much more lively than usual, which was, as Techno told her, a side-effect of the cure, and that it should wear off eventually.

"So...Fubuki, you'll be staying with us?" asked Johnny, looking at her, "you sure you want to stay? I mean...I would hate to leave home if I were you."

Fubuki shook her head, "Nah," she murmured, "I've never felt any true form of friendliness from anyone before I was taken through that portal...no, I want to stay here. And anyways, Mavis is my teacher now, and I want to grow stronger…"

Johnny nodded, his eyes going back to the lamb stew which he was eating, "Well...I could go with some additional company," he said, "so...welcome to the family, Fubuki."

Fubuki smiled when she heard Johnny say this. They accepted her so easily. Her mind was jarred back when Techno offered her some lamb stew.

"Oh...thanks, Techno." she said, sipping the soup. It tasted much better than squirrel, and much better than anything she ever had back in her world.

That night, after all the eating and storytelling was done, Johnny turned on the TV, turning to the news channel to see what was going on. According to Techno, it had only been a month since Mavis entered the portal, thanks to the time difference. Mavis was still optimistic about the world and how it was fighting George, but this optimism was instantly crushed.

First of all, there were no English news channels left, according to Techno. The only American channels they could get onto were all blaring a loud, patriotic-sounding band piece, and the only images they saw looked like what Johnny instantly recognized as propaganda.

"What happened here…" murmured Mavis, switching from channel to channel. Each one was the same, blaring music, with a background image showing nukes falling on Africa, "what did George do to this world?"

"According to the intel that I'm picking up," cut in Techno, "George has set up some sort of authoritarian government in the places that he conquered. The only resistance that's still going on is located in Africa, Ukraine, Chile, and Australia."

Mavis glanced at Johnny and Fubuki. "We have to do something," Said Mavis, "we're the only ones who can fight George. We're the only ones who can end him."

Fubuki nodded in agreement. She didn't actually have any motivation for helping the humans, but she did want to grow stronger. Fighting a totalitarian government seemed like a pretty good way to get strength.

Johnny, however, shifted uncomfortably, "Yeah," he said, "I mean, I would love to go for an assassination of George, but there are still many factors that we don't know about. We don't know where he is, what his future plans are, and how much stronger he is than what he was a month ago."

Mavis sighed, "Whatever...we're safe on this island at least… we'll discuss this no further today. Tomorrow, we'll start making plans for what we can do. Techno, have you added rooms for Fubuki and G4?"

Techno whizzed in, "Yes I have," he said proudly, "Fubuki, please follow me…"

Fubuki followed Techno into a room that was on the other end of headquarters. Inside, there was a purple bed, complete with silk drapings and lava lamps. It was beyond Fubuki's expectations. She had never even seen such a room with luxury at this level.

"It's…." Fubuki struggled to find words, "It's amazing!"

Techno bowed proudly, "I made it specifically for you," he said, "I was never exactly good at designing guest rooms, so I thought that using chemically bipolar silk strands and multilinear quantum fibers in your bed sheets would be-"

Techno stopped talking for a second, "My apologies, Fubuki, I'm going off on a tangent again. I should get going."

Fubuki smiled, "It's fine. Thanks for the room, Techno!"

Techno bowed and whizzed out of the room, leaving Fubuki alone in her new home. Fubuki sighed. She would have to get used to such good conditions.

Fubuki sat down on her bed. As soon as her head hit the bed, she fell asleep.


Olyra had established herself as the Queen of Nareth by the time Fubuki was asleep. She had worked the entire public into a frenzy, telling them what the seer had told her.

Right now, Olyra was sitting at the throne in her royal court, surrounded by oligarchs and politicians who were clamoring over each other, trying to offer strategies on how to approach the situation given by the seer.

"Remember, we do not know for certain if the seer was really telling the truth," said the chief Narethian Strategist, "She could just be an insane woman. How do we know anything?"

"Her predictions have never failed before," said Olyra calmly, "if the seer says that something will happen, it will probably happen. If my sister has truly allied herself with those that would kill Tiberius, then we must take haste immediately."

"Yes, but how?" asked the chief military strategist, "we can't just march our troops through that portal, it doesn't work that way."

"Why not?" asked Olyra, "why can't we just march our troops through the portal? Our entire nation is built upon our military, and yet we refuse to use it!"

"We do not know the strength of these foreigners," said another oligarch, "Attacking directly is an admittedly risky move…"

"Enough."

The entire room grew silent as Olyra slammed his desk with her telekinesis, "I'm sick and tired of this squabbling. Some foreigners have brainwashed my sister, and we're talking about politics here. This is what will happen. We will arm our fleets and troops, and make a full-on invasion of the foreigner's land. We will catch them by surprise and crush them, quickly and decisively. Then I will find my sister, and reeducate her."

The room was silent, each person hanging onto every word that came out of Olyra's mouth. She looked around at them.

"Are we deaf? Alert the generals!"

The oligarchs and politicians began scrambling around, making calls and alerting the Narethian military. Olyra's eyes glowed a little. It had been a long time since she's seen battle. Now, she would be leading the armies of Nareth directly into a foreign world.

No enemy will escape. No enemy will live.