All right, let's get this next chapter of the prize story underway! Anyway, enjoy!
About a few minutes later, a tied up Pistachion-Melissa was seen struggling as she gave a low, guttural growl. "When I get out of here, you'll be sorry!"
At the moment, this version of Melissa was tied to a chair inside of a isolated room nearby as Cavendish and Dakota were watching from the other side, looking rather concerned. Zack, Milo and Sara were sitting nearby, looking rather concerned as Dakota uttered a few 'hmmms' and 'huhs'.
"Do you mind?" Cavendish frowned as he turned towards his friend. "I'm trying to figure out something here."
"Face it, Cavendish. You don't know what's going on more than I do." Dakota said as he crossed his arms.
"Indeed, indeed. Every consequence that Derek caused SHOULD have disappeared the minute he got destroyed... yet young miss Chase here still remains a Pistachion." Cavendish frowned. "And seemingly, seems to think Pistachions should still rule."
"Tell me something we don't already know." Dakota rolled his eyes.
"I'm just trying to add up the logic!" Cavendish frowned. "And so far... to quote a phrase... it just don't add up!"
"Uh, Dakota? Cavendish?"
The two time travelers turned as they looked towards Milo, who raised his hand in concern. Milo paused as he took a deep breath. "I think I might have a thought. What if Melissa remained a Pistachion as part of a time consequence?"
"Time consequence?" Cavendish paused as he thought about it. "Well... it does make logical sense. I mean, when we went back to the sixties to meet up with Orton Mahlson, we met up with Derek who was currently in the middle of enacting his plan. But HE should have been destroyed along with the other Pistachions when your dog took care of the original plant that created these Pistachions in the first place."
"Huh." Dakota gave a slow nod. "So what you're saying is, ninety nine percent of all time paradoxes are destroyed when a singular moment in time gets destroyed. But the one percent of the original timeline remained."
"Yes, that's it exactly. That's how Derek survived the onslaught when the original pistachio plant was destroyed... and why your friend here remains a Pistachion right now." Cavendish gave a nod as he turned towards Milo, Zack and Sara.
"Okay, that sounds all dandy and all. When do we get to the part where you say 'there's a way to turn Melissa back to human' or 'hey, let's de-MULCH Melissa with a machine'?" Sara asked as she raised her hands.
Cavendish and Dakota looked at each other, not sure what to say... before Cavendish gave a sigh. "We... can't."
Milo and Zack's eyes widened in shock as Sara blinked in confusion. She then asked, "Now, when you say 'you can't', do you mean you don't have the plans for a de-MULCH-er, or..."
"I mean, we can't change her back. When Derek got destroyed, save for how your friend looks, everything about the new Pistachion army and its remnants were erased... including the plans for the MULCH-er. And even if we could build another one that could reverse the effects... I'm afraid the original DNA in your friend is gone." Dakota sighed. "This actually happened before, when somebody transformed into a frog in one timeline... but that timeline was destroyed, but the person remained a frog because of that paradox. Even when someone who remembered him being human tried to turn him back to normal, it didn't have any effect. He was still a frog."
"So... Melissa is a Pistachion bent on destroying the world forever, is that what you're saying?" Zack asked as he looked down.
"Well... not necessarily. Yes, she'll still remain a Pistachion, but if you bring someone or something she remembers from the original timeline, her mindset from her original timeline might return." Cavendish explained.
Milo, Zack and Sara looked at each other before each of them gave a smile, with Sara saying, "Well, that seems simple enough. What do we know about Melissa that she likes?"
"She likes adventures, she has a desire to... take over... the world..." Milo started in excitement before pausing. "Huh. Now that I think about it, this Pistachion version of my friend isn't any different... just her desires are pumped up a bit higher.
"You know, they say that if she sees a friend that she's familiar with, she might remember her time with that friend... it's a slow process, but it works." Dakota shrugged.
After a moment, everyone looked over to Milo as the jinx looked over at them in confusion. "What?"
"When I get out of here, they'll wish they were never born!" Melissa growled as she tried to slip out of her ropes as best as she could, but to no avail. She tried to use her plant arms to break the ropes, but they were pretty tight. She tried to move the chair by hopping, only to fall flat on her face as the chair fell with her. She even tried to reach her head to chew on the ropes, only it couldn't quite reach.
"UGH!" Melissa growled as she tried to move.
"Hey there. You all right over there?"
Melissa growled as she looked up... only for her to stop growling as she looked over at the smiling young man approaching her.
Milo realized that she seemed to stop struggling as he leaned down towards the young plant woman. Melissa looked towards Milo with a confused look. "Do I... know you?"
"You could say we were best friends." Milo said as he started to lift the chair up. "All right, let me untie you and..."
With that, Milo undid the knot as Melissa started to get up, looking around for a moment as she blinked. She then turned to Milo, who still held a small smile on his face.
"I don't know about this, Dakota..." Cavendish said nervously as he, Zack and Sara were looking on, with Dakota remaining calm.
"Just wait..." Dakota whispered as he held out his arms.
Melissa rubbed her head as she examined the boy. For some reason, there was something about this... this young man that she found particularly... attractive. For a human, anyway. She squinted a bit as she rattled her brains, a memory starting to form as she blinked a couple times.
"...Milo. Your name is... Milo, right?"
Milo gave a small smile as he nodded. "Yes. Do you know who you are?"
"I... part of me still wants to rule... part of me still thinks Lord Derek should be the true ruler... part of me wants vengeance... but all in all, I see you and... something else pops out, like we've been friends for a long time." Melissa paused as she eyed Milo. "We... are friends, right?"
"Of course we are." Milo said as he offered her his hand.
Melissa momentarily hesitated as she looked at the hand. For one brief moment, her blood-red eyes flashed as she looked directly at the sweet look at Milo's eyes. Slowly, but surely, her blood-lust for world domination was disappearing, and replacing it was a feeling of warmth and... comfort. She gave a smile as she used her plant arm to grasp Milo's hand gently.
"Well, then we shouldn't disappoint each other... right Milo?" Melissa gave a small, cocky grin, reminiscent of the Melissa of the past.
"Of course." Milo said, his heart slightly beating as he looked at the smiling plant girl. The two locked eyes with each other as the plant girl gave a smile towards the young man.
Sara sniffled as she waved her head with her hands, before clutching her heart. "My heart! It's too full!"
Zack, who was watching closely, gave a small sigh of relief. "At least she's not trying to kill Milo, so... that's a start."
Dakota and Cavendish gave nods to the two as the latter picked up his suitcase. "Well, we better leave you two to integrate your new transformed plant girl into society. Dakota and I need to get back to headquarters as soon as we can. I have a strange feeling that with the Pistachions, the island of Dakotas and all this trouble, we're going to have a LOT to answer for."
"Believe me, it's not going to be a pretty sight when Block figures out that this whole paradox thing links back to us." Dakota said as he gave a small wave towards the two teenage kids before wandering off.
"Uh, right. Well... bye?" Zack waved as he gave a thought. "Sara... how do you suppose Mr. Chase is going to react to having a humanoid plant for a daughter?"
Sara paused before giving a sigh. "He's likely either going to A, blame Milo, B, have an aneurism, or the most likely and what I'm hoping for... C, in that his mind was altered in thinking that Melissa was always a Pistachion and he raised her as his daughter."
"You really think C is going to be a good option?" Zack raised an eyebrow.
"No, but it's most likely." Sara took a deep breath. "Have you ever read that one book where the kid picks up a pair of magic glasses and when he wore them, he accidentally altered the world and the memories of all but the ones who were near the glasses altered with the world?"
"What book was that?" Zack asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The Eyes of Kid Midas? It was written by Neal Shusterman?" Sara said.
"Is he a new guy?" Zack asked, cocking his head in confusion.
Sara lowered her eyelids. "He's been writing young adult books since the 90s! Heck, I bet there are still a few of them in print!"
As Sara and Zack argued over the explanation of who a Neal Shusterman was, inside the room, Milo was holding Melissa's plant hand as the Pistachion girl looked at him, a small smile forming on her lips, not wanting to let go of this handsome young man.
Of course, as expected, while Mr. Chase was upset that his daughter was now a plant girl, he did his best to make sure that he tried to communicate with her. Granted, it took Melissa a little while to adjust to the fact that she had a human father, but thanks to a little coaxing from Milo, she seemed a little more rational as she felt a little more... safe as some memories came through little by little. The same went for Melissa's friends as while there were a few people who had remembered Derek and how he and his army had tried to MULCH them, they all agreed to work together to get the plant girl used to society.
And thus, Melissa's life as a Pistachion, while simple and clean, was not quite as easy as many would make it out to be...
Although there were still some people that wanted to help her change back...
That's the second chapter done! How did you guys like it? Next time, we'll be seeing the new plant version of Melissa interacting with the many characters as her memories slowly come back... but will she want to be human? Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, folks!