Tweeg and L.B. arrive back at the cabin early in the morning to find Buffy a nervous wreck. She'd been pacing around the kitchen and looking out the window every couple seconds the entire day, and had no idea how long it would actually take L.B. to find Tweeg. When they finally arrive at the door, she's too tired to even be angry, too tired to even suggest the saved food wrapped up on the table after she made L.B. and Tweeg a celebratory return home dinner that inevitably went cold, and far too tired to actually sit there and go over details regarding where Tweeg actually was or how he got out. She figures all that stuff could be saved for the next day. L.B. and Tweeg concur. Together, they sit at the table. Tweeg has to sit really low on the uncomfortable bounder chair. He feels like a giant again. He and L.B. talk over some coffee.

Buffy: "I don't know where you was all day, but waiting here made me stir crazy."

L.B.: "Yeah. Sorry about that, babe. I had to actually find out where Tweeg was. It was a whole mess, I tell ya."

She looks over at Tweeg with a soft smile.

Buffy: "Welcome home, Twig."

She bounds off to bed. Tweeg immediately looks over to L.B. with a brow raised and a stare of disapproval.

L.B.: "I mean hey, don't look at me. I said I wouldn't call you that stuff anymore. I can't speak on behalf of Buffy.

Tweeg just rolls his eyes.

Tweeg: "Oh, never mind."

They sit there for a moment in thought, Tweeg with bags under his eyes and L.B. dangling his legs and swinging them back and forth, trying to begin the next sentence.

L.B.: "So, uh, you still gonna go through with this whole 'trying to not be evil' thing?"

Tweeg limply shrugs as he tiredly holds his glass mug of coffee. His voice is barely audible.

Tweeg: "At this point, I feel like I have nothing else to lose."

L.B.: "If it makes ya feel any better, we'll be with you all the way. We got your back, Tweeg."

Tweeg stares into his coffee, deep in contemplation.

Tweeg: "L.B.? What did you think of being my henchman?"

L.B.: "I didn't HATE it, but I didn't particularly like it either, especially how it was more like an unpaid internship."

Tweeg: "Yeah... just another thing for me to be sorry about."

L.B.: "You need to stop kickin' yourself in the pants over this stuff. If you really do wanna change, I want that for you. As much as you and me used to tussle, I never once saw you as my enemy. I never really cared about evil or good or any of that stuff. I just wanted a job, somewhere that would offer me shelter from the cold. You offered me those two things. I was totally content with you doing you, just wanting to be the best evil villain you could. Behind all the snickering and goofing, I was rootin' for ya."

Tweeg leans on his hand with a smug grin on his face.

Tweeg: "I would love to see how you spin that as being a good henchman."

L.B.: "I still did what I was told. I still followed you, every step of the way. I guess all that stuff was supposed to be some sorta negative reinforcement, like if I made it seem like I didn't respect you, you'd try even harder."

Tweeg: "It was demoralizing, embarrassing, and even more of a reminder of why I'm just not cut out for this."

L.B.: "No need to get all bent outta shape. I was doing it so that maybe you would respond back out of spite, and maybe it would make you try different tactics, or it would just toughen you up and make you more intimidating."

Tweeg: "You don't think I'm intimidating?"

L.B.: "I've met fobs more threatening than you."

Tweeg: "Really trying to hammer it home, huh?"

L.B.: "Nah, I'm just bustin' your buttons, as usual. You gotta learn to take a joke sometime. It'll make ya a happier person."

L.B. leaps up from his chair.

L.B.: "I'm going heading to bed. Feel free to make yourself comfortable on that couch over there."

Tweeg shuffles his way over to the couch in the living room, having to lean in the doorway just so he doesn't bump his head on the ceiling. He scratches his head as he looks at the couch before gently lowering himself onto it and contorting his body for the next half-hour to try to find a semi-comfortable sleeping position. As much as he hated M.A.V.O. dungeon, at least it wasn't this cramped. Still, he feels safer, and somewhat at home among the familiarity of L.B. and Buffy, and as though he could rest with peace of mind.

No sooner does he get to sleep and all of a sudden the doorbell rings and he's jolted back into consciousness. He opens his bloodshot eyes to find L.B. hopping towards the door. Tweeg rises from his laying position, rubbing his cramped neck as he tries to make heads and tails of what day it is. L.B. opens the door to find three visitors: Teddy, Grubby, and Gimmick, the latter in the middle folding his arms with a dissatisfied look on his mustachioed face. L.B. plays dumb like he doesn't know why they're there.

L.B.: "Hey, uh, what a lovely surprise. How's it hangin', Gimmick? Funny seein' you guys in this neck o' the woods."

Gimmick: "You can, uh, cut the small talk, L.B. You have something of mine and I'd like it back."

L.B.: "Oh, right, your, uh... thing. Lemme go get it. I'll be right back."

L.B. hops right into the kitchen and past Buffy as she stands curiously in the doorway. Gimmick watches him with a raised brow. Tweeg walks into the room to see what's going on. He twists and turns his body, cracking his back like a strip of bubble wrap, trying to rid himself of the horrid kink in his back from the lousy sofa.

Tweeg: "Oh boy, my back feels like a pretzel. What are you three doing here?"

Grubby and Teddy look over at him.

Grubby: "We could ask you the same question."

Tweeg snobbishly turns his nose up at Grubby.

Tweeg: "What? Can't a man pay a visit to his henchman?"

Grubby: "What's this about you being in 'the slammer'?"

Tweeg: "Huh?"

L.B.: "Who told you... wait a minute, that furry little rat! He squealed on me, didn't he?!"

Teddy: "You mean Fuzz? He's no rat, he's a fob."

L.B.: "Tiny little furball with a worm-like tail? Sounds like a RAT to me."

Gimmick: "Simmer down, L.B., I'm not even mad, moreso just, er, uh, curious."

L.B.: "Look, Gimmick, I was just gonna ask you for help bailing out Tweeg but you wasn't there so I just took the shrinky thingy and broke him out."

Gimmick: "What was Tweeg doing in M.A.V.O.'s dungeon?"

Tweeg walks up to L.B.

Tweeg: "I'll tell him. After I had acquired gold from L.B. to pay off the ridiculous taxes on the tower, Quellor and Mrs. Maggotheart had decided to inexplicably raise the tax on the tower nearly tenfold. I caved! I gave them all the money just so they'd leave me alone, and then, they sent another tax!"

Gimmick: "I see. So they were, uh, harassing you with exorbitant tax fraud."

Tweeg: "Huh?"

Gimmick: "Silly Tweeg, M.A.V.O. doesn't own that tower. We should, er, um, speak with King Nogburt about this. If my claim is true, M.A.V.O. has made false claim over that tower for years, and you could be entitled quite the amount in back for it."

Tweeg: "Really? You'd do that for me?"

Teddy: "That's what friends are for."

He winks at Tweeg, and Grubby catches onto it.

Grubby: "Hey, uh, Teddy, care to take a walk outside with me? There's something I'd like to talk to you about... in private."

Teddy: "Sure, but whatever could it be?"

They go outside. Gimmick continues to inquire of the data L.B. obtained from his usage of the machine while Tweeg follows Teddy and Grubby from behind, waiting behind the wall in the doorway to eavesdrop on them.

Grubby: "Okay, spill. You've been acting kinda weird the last couple of days."

Teddy: "Whatever do you mean, Grubby?"

Grubby: "That little wink, the suspicion that Tweeg wasn't involved in the theft last night, your sudden lack of interest or apparent distraction from what's going on around you, what gives?"

Teddy: "I'm not at all certain what you mean."

Grubby: "It's almost like you're hiding something from me, like there's something between you and Tweeg you're not telling me about."

Teddy looks away from Grubby in shame.

Teddy: "I can't say."

Grubby: "So, you did promise him something?"

Teddy: "Grubby, what are you talking about?"

Grubby: "A couple of nights ago, I noticed you sneak out of the house. I saw you follow Tweeg out towards Mizley Meadows. Now, you know you and I don't keep secrets from each other. Friends don't do that. So what happened?"

Teddy: "You spied on us?"

Grubby: "Teddy, I— "

Tweeg rushes out the door and off into the distance.

Tweeg: "I just can't do this!"

Teddy runs to pursue him, and Grubby stops him.

Grubby: "Teddy, where are you going? Forget about him."

Teddy balls up his fist and turns to Grubby with an expression he's never seen before, and for the first time since they've met, Teddy raises his voice to him.

Teddy: "What did you have to do that for, Grubby?! Why couldn't you just mind your own business?!"

Grubby is in pure shock. He just stands there as Teddy runs off into the distance after Tweeg.

Teddy: "Tweeg! Wait!"

Tweeg runs out of breath and is leaning against a tree. Teddy catches up to him, also catching his breath.

Teddy: "Tweeg. Please, let me just explain it to them."

Tweeg: "I-I don't know if I can go through with this. It'd be betraying everything I've ever stood for."

Teddy: "You don't need to be afraid, Tweeg. I want to help you."

Tweeg paces back and forth.

Tweeg: "But what about the Octopede, hmm, prying into my business? He followed us! Here I was, vulnerable, at my breaking point, and I thought we were alone and here, Grubby followed us!"

Teddy: "He just didn't know."

Grubby runs up from behind. If Tweeg and Teddy had low stamina, Grubby was practically asthmatic by the time he made it to the trees.

Grubby: "Guys."

Tweeg raises his hand and bows out.

Tweeg: "I'm outta here. I need some time alone."

Teddy sits on the ground with his arms folded around his knees and ashamed of himself.

Grubby: "Teddy?"

Teddy turns his head away from Grubby.

Teddy: "Just leave me alone."

Grubby looks at Teddy with a very solemn expression and leaves, back to the cabin. Teddy dwells in his own thought as he contemplates what to do next. As Grubby walks back to the cabin, he tries to put on his best poker face, as if nothing had happened, and walks in to see Gimmick and L.B. still conversing in the doorway.

Gimmick: "So, all it took was a mirror of refracting light to bounce the beam around?"

L.B.: "Uh huh."

Gimmick: "Fascinating."

He turns to Grubby.

Gimmick: "Oh, Grubby, you're back. Er, uh, where's Teddy?"

Grubby is looking out the doorway and not paying attention.

Grubby: "Huh? Oh yeah, he said he'll join us back at the house."

Gimmick scratches his bald head.

Gimmick: "That's strange. It's quite the hike back home from here."

He shrugs.

Gimmick: "But Teddy does love his long walks of solitude."

L.B.: "Now that I think about it, where did Tweeg go?"

Gimmick: "That's strange, both Teddy AND Tweeg are missing."

L.B.: "You think they're together?"

Gimmick: "That seems plausible, but unlikely."

Teddy merely sits out in the wilderness to calm down and gather his thoughts. Meanwhile, Tweeg is still running, still fleeing. He just keeps going, farther and farther away. The trees pull on his robes, like arms, yanking and tugging at the seams. They tear at the fabric, ripping holes as he continues his flight. He stops only when he reaches a river. By this point, his robes are in tatters. They barely conceal him.

Tweeg gazes into the river. He looks at his wobbly reflection glistening off of the water. Through the ripples and distortions, he can see the wrinkles in his eyes, just how tired he is. He places his hand on his cheek, feeling all the indents, all the imperfections. In a fit of anger and disgust, he tears at the tatters of his robes, ripping the last threads holding the garment together, and tosses them into the river. He watches as his clothes ride the rapids out into oblivion. He stares at them until they can no longer be seen on the horizon.

It is then that he realizes what he did was pretty stupid. Now he stands there in nothing but his boxers, like a fool, the man that lost everything, walking around in the wilderness. Tweeg follows the river downstream in the direction of Ben's Beach. He figures, if he's gonna walk around in his boxers, at the very least he should go somewhere warm, but then he realizes... what if people see him? He changes his trajectory, back and forth, pacing around until he tires himself out.

Running on basically nothing in the first place thanks to L.B.'s tiny couch, his back is killing him. He starts to think about his dad, Elroy, remembering the last time he was with his father. Tweeg knows very well that his father is supportive of him and knows very well that he would love his son no matter what he does, but he feels the shame rise up in him once again, for taking his father's money and for being confronted and forced into giving it back. Why would a villain feel such shame? It is this thought that becomes stuck in his mind for hours as he stumbles around aimlessly.

Meanwhile, Grubby and Gimmick have decided to return home without Teddy. Gimmick argues, but Grubby insists that Teddy did not wish to be found. Nevertheless, Grubby thinks long and hard about his friend, wondering if he indeed did pursue Tweeg. By the time they get home, it's late into the afternoon, and the sun has set. Grubby has made a pot of coffee and sits at the table staring at the door. Gimmick walks down the stairs to see Grubby with a look like a lonely dog waiting for his master to arrive home. Gimmick had evaded the question ever since they left, but it feels most pertinent to him, now that Grubby's anxiety is ever so visible, to inquire of him. Grubby fiddles around with the handle of his hot mug. He takes a deep sigh before making his confession to Gimmick.

Gimmick: "You've been quiet all day, Grubby. What's, uh, bothering you?"

Grubby: "Teddy and I had an argument earlier."

Gimmick: "An argument? About what?"

Grubby pauses for a moment and looks at Gimmick several times, almost judgmentally with nervousness.

Grubby: "Okay, so I, um... spied on Teddy, sorta."

Gimmick: "Okay?"

Grubby: "The one night a couple of nights back when Teddy said he was going out to look at the stars on the roof, I went to bed and he didn't and you went down in your lab, right?"

Gimmick: "Go on."

Grubby: "I couldn't sleep, and then I saw Teddy go out into the hallway and down the stairs. I figured he'd be up there longer, but since he changed his mind, I went to see what he was gonna do instead. So he went outside, and then Tweeg was out there. I wondered, 'Why is Teddy following Tweeg out towards his tower? That's really suspicious'. And, um, from the distance I could see him interacting with Tweeg. I couldn't hear what was going on; I didn't get that close, but he, uh, he hugged Tweeg."

Gimmick is a bit taken aback and has to do a double-take.

Gimmick: "He hugged Tweeg? That's, er, um, peculiar."

Grubby: "So they went out into the meadows and they just laid in the grass staring up at the stars. He was there for, like, five minutes, just staring at the stars, and then he came back home. I ran back and climbed into bed and he didn't suspect a thing. See?"

Gimmick: "I'm with you... so far."

Grubby: "So I was just wondering, what was going on? When we were at L.B.'s earlier, I pulled him to the side and I, uh, confronted him like, 'What's the deal? Why are you being all secretive?' Then Tweeg runs by, out into the woods and Teddy goes to follow him. So I'm all like 'Why?' and Teddy gets angry and he yells at me and tells me to mind my own business."

Gimmick: "Teddy got mad? Oh my."

Grubby is utterly flabbergasted. He lets go of his coffee, his hands trembling and just filled with uncertainty. He breathes heavily as if he's suddenly filled with fear that Teddy wouldn't want to be his friend anymore.

Grubby: "I-I-I've never seen Teddy get angry before, ever! Oh, Gimmick, I really musta messed up real bad if I could make someone as docile as Teddy angry!"

Gimmick smiles, shaking his head slightly and laughing through his nose into his white mustache. He places his palm on Grubby's hand in reassurance, with a bright and sympathetic grin.

Gimmick: "Oh, Grubby, everyone gets, er, angry, I suppose even someone as calm and as rational as Teddy sometimes. I think you, uh, forget that Teddy is a person, just like you and me, and even he has his limits. If he needs his time, just let him be. He's a bright boy. He'll make it home just fine."

Grubby doesn't look too reassured.

Gimmick: "Teddy loves you, Grubby. You two are best friends. I've, uh, never seen two more inseparable compadres. Maybe, eh, maybe you developed a little jealousy over his, er, interactions with Tweeg, and feel as though threatened with being replaced."

Grubby: "Ya know, I kinda never thought about it that way. Maybe I was a bit jealous. I'm gonna apologize to Teddy, as soon as he gets home!"

Gimmick smiles once more at Grubby before heading down to the lab.

Gimmick: "I think that's a great idea."

It's not too long after Gimmick goes down into his basement, maybe fifteen minutes at best, that Grubby spots Teddy walking from inside the screen door. He rises from his chair and is immediately ready to bombard Teddy with his regret the second he steps through the door, but he doesn't. He takes a step back and realizes within an instant that Teddy would want nothing less than some sort of restraint, so he just sits back down. Teddy is no sooner in the screen door and Grubby immediately apologizes.

Grubby: "Teddy! You're home! I'm so sorry! Please, whatever you do, please forgive me!"

Teddy raises his hands in surrender at Grubby's assertive and immediate apology. At the very least, he's calmed down to his standard very jovial mood. Teddy looks right into Grubby's eyes with a face like a puppy dog, competing with his sorrow.

Teddy: "No, Grubby. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you. You were only looking out for me."

Grubby: "I don't get it. What went on between you and Tweeg?"

Teddy: "I guess the fob's out of the bag now. You're right, Grubby, I did follow Tweeg out into the woods. We did go to Mizley Meadows. Tweeg, um, he lamented to me that he lost his home, that he got kicked out of M.A.V.O., and that he was a worthless loser. I saw him and he was crying. He made me promise not to tell you, or anyone else for that matter, because he was really embarrassed about it. I tried to keep it a secret, but it just wound up blowing up in my face, I guess."

Grubby slouches in his seat, staring off into space before summoning a coherent sentence for the first time in nearly ten seconds.

Grubby: "So... Tweeg... is he still out there?"

Teddy scratches his head and shrugs in uncertainty.

Teddy: "Yeah. He's out there somewhere. I didn't find him. Also, I told him that I'd show him how to be a good person... if he'd allow me. He told me he'd think about it. I really don't know if he did or not. I was hoping he'd show up sometime soon. He's just... so miserable. I don't like seeing him unhappy. I don't like seeing anyone that unhappy."

Grubby: "Yeah... yeah, me neither."

Tweeg has wandered around the wilderness basking in his own indecisiveness for so long that, much to his dismay, he's started to amass a small army of followers, tiny fobs that march and hop to his backside with childlike curiosity. He's shooed them away many times at this point, but they continue to follow him nonetheless. At some point, he just gives up. Darkness approaches on the horizon, and in an act of desperation, Tweeg gathers some sticks and some rocks and hopelessly tries to start a fire. He sits, Indian-style in the darkness of the woods, surrounded by several curious little fobs, furiously attempting to start a fire by rubbing two stones together to create sparks from the friction.

Tweeg knows nothing about survival. For his whole life, he's always had others do things for him, be it his mother, or his legion of bounders, and because of this, Tweeg has grown lazy and even more useless than he would have otherwise. In reality, Tweeg is aware of his clumsiness and overall incompetence, and therefore settles for others to solve his disputes for him. Now he knows that this has come back to bite him in the rear end. All of Tweeg's frustration, all of his dismay, at M.A.V.O., at his mother, at L.B. for constantly calling him "Twig" or "Tweak" or any variation, at Gimmick and Grubby for whatever they may have done to him, it manifests itself in the force between two silly little stones. With this, Tweeg has achieved that which primitive man has centuries ago; Tweeg has made a fire.

The tiny fobs surrounding him "ooh" and "ahh" at the warm fire. Tweeg just continues to sit there staring into it. Wordless seconds turn into minutes as he stares blankly into the fire, watching the anguish slowly burn away into the air. Slowly, he finds himself becoming calmer, almost entranced by the fire, how it dances, how powerful but controlled it is, and how it bares itself to him and blesses him with its warmth, even though he knows that the fire could very well just as easily kill him. He watches the fire as it dims, smaller and smaller into the ground. He is at pure zen.

Tweeg looks to his side, at one of the several peacefully sleeping fobs. Curiously, he reaches out his hand. He hesitates several times, each time getting closer, but each time, becoming more and more curious. Eventually, the hand settles on the small furry creature's head. Slowly and gently, he brushes through the fur and the antennae. The fob shifts around a little bit, and each time, he draws his hand back, as if worried that he might be disturbing the creature. A tiny smile begins to form on Tweeg's weathered face as runs his green hand through the soft fur, feeling the warmth of its body heat on his palm.

He finds his breathing less erratic, slower, and more deliberate. Tweeg has achieved maximum calmness. He looks back into the dying fire. It is weak, pathetic, and barely keeps him warm compared to the fobs. Tweeg douses the fire. What happens from here on out is but a blur, but Tweeg finds himself drifting off to sleep. As he curls into a ball on the ground, the fobs all lay on top of him until he looks like nothing but a hill of mismatched colored hair, antennae, and tails.

Tweeg awakens the next day, uncertain how many hours he slept, and uncertain if it's even daytime. Tweeg rises from the ground, sitting up and stretching. The balls of fur either scurry or flat-out roll off of the top of him and onto the ground like a bunch of fluffy eggs. He looks around him, smiling and realizing he's still surrounded by his new friends. He stands, looking into the sky at the most perfect blue day he's ever seen. It is here and now that he finally decides to pay a visit to Teddy Ruxpin.