Gretchen glued her eyes on the view of forest outside the window she was sitting nearby. It had been a while since they first experienced something out of that black-and-white world.

Dakota looked optimistic while he was on the wheel. She thought, and it hit upon her that they might never get out of this wood. Not that she was impatient. Gretchen knew she could use the incredibly long interval to talk to him at least.

Especially, how she has been feeling about him over the past years.

"Dakota?" she said.

"Yeah, what is it?" he asked.

"Can you stop the vehicle for a moment?"

"Oh, so they had a large wheel back there," Gretchen said while examining the half-remained vehicle of hers. "It was weirdly modified and I like it. Sadly, I can't take notes."

"Um… I'm sure I can give them to ya later," he chuckled.

She still looked at the wheel, admiring at how impressive the thing was placed. Had Dakota and that old woman done this for her while she was dozing off.

"I like it," she stated again, but with a smile.

A gentle smile.

Dakota dropped his jaw. It had been a long time since Gretchen smiled like that. Not a smirk or a playful curve on her lips. She just smiled, with all of her happiness. He wondered why, but as of the moment, he wanted to see it forever.

"Dakota…" she whispered, stood up and faced him. "It's incredible that you have done all of this for me."

Gretchen calmly expressed word by word. She… was actually happy. That's just what the world wants from her after all, "You know that I'm dull not because I was tortured by emotions of people around me, or how we were parted in different ways. Even when we work together, I just can't feel that happy. I guess, it's just how I am. Trying to be cold was in fact trying to hide my weakness.

I screw up… and I always be. But thank you for your he-"

"Gretchen!" Dakota yelled.

She looked up and had a clear view of Dakota's eyeballs. It was sparkling like it kept telling her not to give up on herself. "You're not useless. Everyone is not useless. They have their own missions in the world and they'll do everything to fulfill it. I know that you have one!"

He continued to motivate her, "I know that 4-year-old Gretchen. She was the most cheerful person I had ever met. What had the cruel society made her become?"

"Dakota…" the woman blushed but her eyes still looked down. "I'm not that incredible-"

"No, you're more than incredible. The Gretchen I know…" he said. "well, she belives life exists in every objects around her!"

"Huh?" the woman gasped. "But how do you know?"

"Gretchen, you're still believing that right? Or do I have wrong feelings about you?" Dakota stated. "Well, I know Gretchen and I know she will keep something delightful in her, even if it's just a bit."

"Wait, Dakota…" she prevented him from going any further. "I appreciate your comments. I'm happy… after a long time.

Finally, someone truly understands me…"

Dakota nodded, "Keep it going, Gretchen. Just believe in yourself and-"

"I like you."

Gretchen closed her eyes and faced the ground, in the hope that her feelings would at least be appreciated by Dakota, "I like you, and really liked you when I was 4."

"Y-you do?' Dakota widened his eyes.

"I'm amazed with what you said back to when you let me play in your room for the first time," Gretchen called out a flashback.

Dakota had been watching over Gretchen for an hour. The teacher sastified with his help and seemingly wanted to depend on him for another while.

Gretchen bounced up and down on his bed while commenting, "Your room is really nice, Dakota."

"I know, right? I couldn't believe in my eyes back there either," Dakota said while paying attention to a book. "Anyway, you can have the toys if you want. Keep it a secret though."

The girl stopped bouncing. She was glad to know Dakota lent her some toys he had, but was it rude of her to take away his toys?

"No… thank you," Gretchen faced away, feeling guilty. "I can play by my own."

"Nah, it's fine," Dakota chuckled. "Just take as much as you want. By the way, look at what I'm reading, Gretchen."

He directed her to look at the image on a page of the book he was holding, "Look! This guy is an astrologist. Long time ago, he discovered a comet while observing with his telescope. He named it after himself and called it Comet Kermillian."

"Wow!" she pointed out. "His reward is huge! Can't believe the 83 and a half year comet really worth the price."

"I must admit, yes. But he used half of the reward for donation, and the other half for his research," Dakota changed his tune. "He didn't use the reward for himself."

The 7-year-old boy continued, "That being said, Gretchen, I really like how he dedicates his life for that discovery. I would say it was worthless, but you can't understand a person in your own way."

"Dakota," she called him out. "Do you think we can do something amazing like that?"

The boy chukled and pet her head, "Of course we can believe it! If we don't find a role, what's… the purpose of living."

"What you said back there is perfectly right. I didn't know what I was doing here in this world," Gretchen told him. "I was so desperate that I could kill myself anytime. But I couldn't, and you know why? You."

"Me?" Dakota smirked. "Look, it was you all the time. You have more courage, and that's what you should be proud of."

"If you hadn't been there to show me that 3-page book, I couldn't locate myself in this world right now," Gretchen stated. "There. I like you because of that."

"Wow… thank you, Gretchen," the guy blushed.

"Okay look, I just like you as a friend, okay? It's no big deal."

"I know that," Dakota sighed in relief. "I mean I already have a thing with Cavendish but you know what, I'm glad that I can make you feel better."

Gretchen smiled again. It was the same gentle smile but more confidently. She was ready to beat up some bad guys and make the timeline stable again, "We'll do something amazing right?"

Dakota agreed. She had finally understood where she needed to go and he couldn't be more proud of her, "Save Milo and Amanda."

A few moments later, it was seen that the vehicle was moving in its full speed. This time, Gretchen had the wheel while Dakota was helping her coordinate.

"Any sign of time fabric, Dakota?" she questioned.

"10 seconds left! Stay in the directon! Stay!" he added.

"You can count on me!"

Later, a portal opened and the vehicle ran inside it instantaneously.

After exiting, Gretchen immidiately stopped her car.

They met themselves in a busy street with people and except there was some sign saying that they were in California, they believed that chances of them having been back to Danville were incredibly high.

"Look Gretchen!" Dakota read the sign. "The practice field nearby Danville borderline."

"It's where Milo and his friends usally come by. We've made it! Woohoo!" Gretchen cheered along with the guy. They high-fived before they planned for the next step.

"Okay, so we're back to the real world. Anything that relates to us has been restored in everyone's mind as well," Gretchen informed. "Anything you think that you have to look after seriously."

"Hmm…" Dakota took a moment to think before he realized an important figure he specially had to look after. "Oh no… CAVENDISH!"

He quickly exited Gretchen's vehicle without a word to her, "Oh okay! You look for him while I'm looking for the kids!"

Meanwhile, Milo and Amanda had planned to follow Melissa's plan for a whole day instead of just for a morning as originally planned. Luckily, both of them brough lunch in their backpack and filled themselves well enough.

Just like everyone after lunch, Milo started to doze off for a while. His hands was resting on his knees and he lied his head on the hands. The walkie-talike was incredibly close to his ears.

Lunch passed by and he feel asleep, but that was not the only reason.

Of course, the other reason was beautiful and sweet.

It was Amanda who felt like singing a song. Although she just heard it recently, she loved it immidiately and somehow wanted to sing it to Milo.

More like she was just humming the beat to Milo.

Many hours had passed after they were talking about themselves for a little while. Not only the painful argument had been settled down, but also they had been ingeniously using up the time they were planned to be set apart.

Milo started to sleep an hour ago. The girl could hear and recognize it by his snore and breath. She contemplated and thought that it was probably due to their incidental sleepovers they had before.

Suddenly, she received a call. Amanda then walked away from the talkie and put on her phone. It was her dad calling her, "Hey papa, what's up?!"

"Amanda, qué? Of course, what am I even talking about?" the man chuckled.

"Dang it, dad. Just talk normally," Amanda rolled her eyes and giggled.

"Alright, alright. Um… I do have something…"

"I know you, dad. When you're stammering, it's time you made a special announcement," the girl interrupted.

"NOOOOO!" Bruno screamed, which made Amanda laugh even harder. "Are you psychic? Maybe you should follow psychology in the future. But I try so hard to put it properly," the man moaned.

"It's alright, dad. I won't tease you anymore," she stated but her giggle could still be heard.

"Dad? It sounds weird when you say that word," Bruno commented. "Anyway, do you know anything about the 7-day trip to Arizona?"

"Uh, yes, I heard about it just then," Amanda replied. "It's available for 12 people or two families going together. Besides the t-trip to the Northwest, it says that the tweens (like me) can experience studying at that new high school."

"Yeah, and it can be given away to the one who buys the right pack of that kind of cereal-"

Amanda sighed, "Dad! There's no way we can win it. Oh wait…

…you call me just to tell me this or…?"

"WE'VE WON!" the man yelled. "Yes, we've won the special prize, Amanda! The twelve-people trip is in my hand now!"

The girl's eyes sparkled. "Really dad? You're not telling one of those dad jokes?"

"Sí! I'm not that much of a big fat liar, ya know," the man stated proudly. "Our family is going to have a nice trip together, okay?"

"I agree! You're awesome, dad!" she squeaked delightfully after hearing the good news.

Her family just won a trip from out of nowhere. How couldn't she be happy? But she recalled him saying something about the amount of people going on the trip, "But the number of people going is twelve and our family only has three members. Don't you think it we should invite someone we know as well."

"And that's another reason why I'm calling you," Bruno stated. "I don't know who to invite."

"Dad," the girl suddenly paid attention to the backpack behind her, lying next to the walkie-talkie.

Maybe, just maybe, it would be a great idea from her.

She looked at them adorably. "I wonder if Milo's family can join for this trip. Then…

…it will be just me and him again.

Wait! Won't it be a little surreal? Should I?"

"What is it, hon? Uh… that's what they call their daughters in America right? Right?!" the man kept speaking on the phone. "Amanda? Where are you? Can you hear me or not?"

The man smiled. Somehow he had known what his daughter wanted.

"Alright, I'll call the Murphy family right away. We will have a trip with Milo and his family," the man said.

"DAD?! How do you know what I was thinking?" Amanda yelled.

"I'm your father, duh. And your emotions are easy to be predicted."

"Same goes to you, dad," the girl shot back.

That was how the small talk happened, and the reason why Amanda was so delighted that she was humming and waiting for the right chance to announce the big news to Milo.

It's nothing new that she and Milo have been hung out for a few times. But this time would be special. They would part away from their normal friends. Her family would be hanging out with her and more importantly, they would be real alone together. Not that she complained about it.

The hum she made had brought Milo to the deep sleep. And once he woke up, Amanda would have something to tell him.

Her urge inside wanted her to put her foot outside the corner and leave but two thoughts came into her mind:

1. During this day, Mr. Block and his gang could still be looking for them. If she was caught and it was found out that the argument was fake, the plan would be ruined and who knows what's worse.

2. Her feet were tired in a weird way. So were Milo's. They had revealed that to each other and put out a sneaky plan during the morning talk.

After making both Zack and Melissa convinced that they had not been ready to be back together yet (or you could say that they were acting it real longer than the original time), Milo and Amanda's communication line was on again.

"Is Melissa… gone?" Amanda questioned.

"Yeah…" the boy sighed. "And I think the same goes to Zack right?"

"Hm," she exclaimed. "We can't let Melissa have full control on us. It's time for us to play along."

"You're so cruel, Amanda," Milo whispered awkwardly.

"Besides, I think I twisted my ankle. It would probably take this afternoon to recover," Amanda stated.

"Then you stay there, then. I think I'll come-"

"Don't!" she prevented him. "If you do that, Mr. Block can find us out. Don't do that!"

"Alright, alright…" Milo sat down and sighed. "Geez, what kind of mess they put us into?..."

He continued the talk by revealing the view at a corner of the park where he was sitting, "Oh wow, they sell more packs of cereal recently."

"At your corner? Mine has those sellers too," Amanda stated. "What's so interesting about it now?"

"I know! Some kind of cereal company has initiated a giveaway event. If you buy a special pack of cereal, you will win a trip one-week trip to Arizona!" Milo informed.

"Is that so…"

"Yeah! They sent me a flyer across the fence," the boy said. "And I just saw your dad."

"My dad? Huh," she smirked. "Well, he's a fan of those cereal. I'm not surprised anymore."

"Oh uh… anyway," he stammered. "You should get some rest, Amanda. I-"

He hadn't finished his sentence when he fell asleep right away, "Sorry Amanda. Can I sleep for a moment?"

"Uh… sure. I don't mind," Amanda put her walkie-talkie on the grass.

The noise from the sudden crowd who wanted to buy cereal got more and more quiet, until Milo's snore was the only noise to be heard.

Usually a person's snore is annoying, but Milo's is annoyingly cute.

Amanda's eyelids then finally dropped slowly. She put her backpack below her head and the walkie-talkie on another side of her ear.

She planned to be awake and reveal the news to Milo after he woke up. As time flew, however, Amanda and Milo shared the same sleep from far away, with the communicators being their connection line.

Have a nice nap, folks!

At the own camp of Milo's team, Melissa, Zack and Richard were eating three bowls of spaghetti. The mood was fine except for Melissa who was still pouting and feeling regretful for having pulling out such a plan.

"Burden…" Melissa muttered. "The biggest burden in my life… Don't you think, Zack."

"Ehehe," Zack chuckled. "How can I put this, uh…?"

"You get what you get," Richard teasingly said to his daughter and smirked. "But don't worry. I'm sure that Milo and Amanda's relationship can't easily be broken. You just have to give them time."

"I know, but…" she revealed. "I want to get them back together soon and treat them in the plan but I can't…

Are they mad at me or something? I don't get it."

"That's not necessarily true," Zack comforted her. "Maybe they have planned something that we don't know. I mean, each of them can't just take a corner to seat and wait. They can call each other with phones… That's my theory."

"Sure, it could be like that," Melissa said while having noodles in her mouth.

Zack smiled and did the same with his noodles as well, "She looks funny when pouting."

Dakota ran all the way from the practice field straight back to the dingy strip mall, To him, a few hours had passed. He didn't know how many days it took in the real world. He wondered if Cavendish would be fine without remembering him.

"Cavendish!" he opened the door of his room. Spookily, it didn't have its light on. Many possibilities came into Dakota's mind. The British guy could probably go out for a while.

But much to his terror, the lights didn't turn on no matter how many times he switched on and off. It made no sense to turn off the fuse just for going to the market.

He used the flashlight to find the fuse and was about to switch it on when he heard someone's noise.

"Dakota…" it whispered.

The man startled as he directed the flashlight to his back, only to find nothing.

"Dakota…" it whispered again.

"Who's there?" he turned back and saw no one again. "Cavendish, where are you?"

"Dakota! Why are you leaving…?" the voice started to get more scarier.

Of all times, the flashlight died out in this very scary moment.

"Why does this stupid flashlight die in this moment?" he complained and accepted the fact that he was surrounded by empty darkness, not knowing what was waiting for him.

"Dakota…" it called out his name again. "Why are you leaving…?"

"Cavendish?!" he stammered. "Quit it, man. It's not funny."

"Answer me… Why are you leaving-?"

Suddenly, the light turned on and a Cavendish with his Halloween-masked face revealed. Dakota startled and fainted on the ground.

"What the-?" Cavendish didn't plan for this sudden move. "Who turns on the light?"

"Me," Gretchen spoke while holding another flashlight and a screwdriver in her hand. "Dakota, I thought I could hand you this thing… in my pocket so I come over but… you must have been in a terror?"

"Wait, Cavendish, Gretchen?!" Dakota got up and had not known fully what had happened to him. "Isn't it a Halloween mask? Are you trying to scare me off?"

"J4F, Dakota," Cavendish rolled his eyes. "You could have got a loud rant from me. I thought of this Halloween prank to make up for a punishment…"

"The first one would be better!" Dakota stated. "This gives me the creep. And it's not even Halloween yet!"

"It is, in the author's time," the British man broke the fourth wall.

The scene below is switched constantly from Mr. Block in the park to Cavendish, Dakota and Gretchen in the old room. Read it carefully if you want to understand the context.

Block's mind was totally blank. He just knew that he had to find that deep bond but he didn't know which couple had it. Without that small memory about his activity in the mind, he could easily become a mindless zombie.

It was recently, however that some flashback had suddenly come back to his memory.

At the very first moment when Gretchen reported the news to him.

(*) "Who are they?!" Block asked, when he saw a blond-haired girl and a black boy with yellow shirt. "And what is the connection between them and those two imbeciles"

"Well, according to the data I have, they and the time travellers know each other due to a kid named Milo Murphy."

He also remembered when Gretchen had brought something called Milo's backpack to him.

(**) "I got into the house, and unfortunately, I couldn't find the kid... BUT, I found this," she handed to the man Milo's backpack.

"Hmm... Is this from the boy?" He asked, and Gretchen simply nodded.

The man examined further inside the backpack.

He then smirked with a devil laugh, "Great job, Gretchen! This could help us a lot in the find of Milo Murphy and his acquaintances. Oh, and I've got some new time travellers first class to join in this case. Brace yourself!"

"Yes, sir!" The woman exclaimed.

"So Gretchen, what do you want to show us?" Cavendish asked after the adults had seated themselves properly at a round table.

"This isn't fun, still!" Dakota exclaimed and couldn't brush off the prank Cavendish had given to him.

"Knock it off, you two," Gretchen whispered. "We don't have time for this nonsense."

The woman then looked around. She checked the door and locked it with two to three lockers. The brightness in the room was also adjusted to make the talk more comfortable and convenient.

"Wow, you seem to know a lot about a private talk, Gretchen," Dakota said.

"Thank you," Gretchen smiled.

"Psst, I can do more than that," Cavendish pouted. "But it's okay if you do it anyway."

"Again, stop talking nonsense!" Gretchen whispered. Her gesture had already pointed out that the stuff she was about to show them was not something they can mess around or make noise around it easily.

She put on the table… an image receiver and coordinator. Or to be more simply and specifically, Mr. Block's locator.

"Whoa…" both men dropped their jaws.

(***) He could recall the lecture he had given to Brick and Savannah:

"I know, you two are really potential agents. You two will have a better future, money and fame. And just think, your dreams will come true if there aren't any jerks in your way, especially those two nut guards!"

(****) "And now, our next targets…" he grinned. "Milo Murphy and Amanda Lopez!"

"Wait, why?" the old man gripped his hair and his head. "Why are these memories so strange but so familiar?"

"So Mr. Block has this 'radar' which can locate specifically Milo and Amanda," Dakota said. "There's a short distance between them."

"No, it's not short," Gretchen fixed. "If you put it in the 1:100 scale, their distance right now is about 565 meters."

"A perfect diagonal for a 32 thousands square meters area," Cavendish informed. "I do know where they are exactly. They're entering a Camping Competiton at a local park."

"That distance is logical enough," Gretchen frowned. "But why… What are they seperated for?"

"They… they planned a trick in front of me!" Block yelled. "Those two who are arguing! Somehow I now remember the images on that image receiver. It must be them!

Why fool me? Nevermind the reason. They have guts to have tricked me like that."

He tried to put in the signal of his workers and contacted them.

"Come here at my location! We have identified the targets!"

The "Free Day" has its advantages, but to Melissa, Zack and their teams, that day ain't easy to get through.

"Burden… burden…" Melissa muttered and was still in the mood of having made a horrible mistakes. Even when lying her body next to Zack for a rest, she still hadn't feel better.

"Can you stop saying that every five seconds?!" Zack sighed. He didn't like the way she was acting but he didn't know what he could do to help her out. "Hey, maybe we could get some ice cream again, ya know, before it gets dark."

"Heh, want to do that trick we made yesterday?" Melissa teased.

"Oh please…" Zack rolled his eyes. "But if you want, I can do it to you now."

"You mean it?" Melissa sat up and looked straight to him.

"Why do you desperately want it? I just suggested," the boy's cheeks got more red. "I'm just thinking of a way to… make you feel better. I know that you have not been doing anything wrong but-"

"Zack," she whispered and leaned her face closer to his. Zack could only widen his eyes as Melissa with her feet and hands on the ground leaned her face closer to him.

They both closed their eyes and aimed for another kiss when some noise triggered them to stop.

"Huh?" Melissa looked outside as she pushed Zack aside and saw a group of Time Bureau agents running.

"That was weird. They should be giving up by now," Melissa raised an eyebrow. "What makes them gather into an army?"

"Could it be…?" the girl covered her mouth in fear. "No! No, no, no, no, no! This can't be happening!"

"Melissa, keep your voice down and chill out!" Zack comforted her. Knowing that waiting wouldn't be a better choice, Zack suggested, "Let's follow them suit."

"Okay," Melissa nodded before they both walked silently behind the guards.

Meanwhile, both Amanda and Milo were packing things up. The time they agreed that they had jerked up enough had come, and it was the time for them to go back.

Suddenly, the girl felt kind of nervous. Meeting back with Milo was supposed to be emotional. She did not notice that her mysterious magenta flow was acting up again. It turned on and off repeatedly around her.

She picked up her walkie-talkie and called Milo again, "Heya… Milo. I feel scared."

"Because it's sunset?" Milo said. "No worries. We're about to get back. Though you remind me, I do have a strange feeling too."

The same thing happened to Amanda and Milo.

"Right, right… Are you running back?"

"Yeah, you try it too!"

While Milo was running by a bunch of trees, he didn't know that he accidentally dropped a photo back behind. A picture from Amanda's birthday landed next to the tree.

The weirdest odd occurred as a time vortex appeared next to it. Instead of sucking the birthday picture in, it released another picture of Dakota and Gretchen on fire. The fire spreaded slowly from the birthday picture to a tree nearby.

And so it began the process of sending the park in the wave of fire.

Dakota, Gretchen and Cavendish had already been driving the vehicle from road to road. They would join the battle and try whatever it takes to keep the tweens safe. However…

"I can't believe we have been inside that room for a hundred and twenty seconds, yet we haven't come up with a plan!" Cavendish complained. "What's the point of the meeting anyway? Show us some useless stuffs that we could make use of it at a better time."

"Stop complaining," Gretchen yelled at him. "I'm driving at fast as I could. How are their signals, Dakota?"

"According to the dots, it seemed like they was reaching closer," Dakota informed. "Then we'll think of a plan when we get there right?"

"Of course!" Gretchen proudly announced, closing her eyes. "My plan is as perfect as it could! You can count on-"

"Watch your driving, woman," Cavendish warned.

"AHH! Sorry!" Gretchen grinned awkwardly.

Notes for references to previous chapters:
(*) Chapter 1: What Should I Wear?
(**) Chapter 4: The Birthday Party (Part 2)
(***) Chapter 8: Amanda Seeking Milo (Part 1)
(****) Chapter 12: Guiding