Francine was no more. In the spot where she had stood, a flat, circular, green stone lay in the grass next to a unicorn horn.
Portinari, Augusta, and all the kids had witnessed the terrible transformation, and could only gape in awe. Arthur felt as if his heart was going nova, like the sun had earlier. He sank to his knees in front of the stone, tears springing to his eyes. "No, Francine...no..."
Though moved and saddened by the girl's noble sacrifice, Augusta realized that there was no time for sentiment. She bent over, picked up the green stone, held it between herself and Dark Augusta, and willed it to work its magic.
Nothing changed. The uber-witch was still hovering several feet above the expanding crater in the soccer field, laughing maniacally while the beings she had mentally enslaved did battle with the hosts that constantly poured out of the Spiritus Mundi portal. On the positive side, she seemed unaware of Augusta's attempt, and the stone hadn't exploded yet.
"I'm too far away," the rabbit woman grumbled. The entire soccer field was a war zone, as the two sides assaulted each other with fists, fire, and spells. Trying to get close to Dark Augusta was suicide.
While the other kids either tried to console Arthur or wept with him over the loss of Francine, Buster approached Portinari with earnestness in his face. "You've gotta do something," he urged. "Go back in time. Zap Augusta with your ray gun, and stop her from turning into...that thing."
Portinari sighed, his alien expression pained. "There's something I haven't told you, Buster. When I said I had gone back and warned the Time Council not to carry out Augusta's sentence, that was a lie. The truth is, I went back in time...and killed Augusta."
The rabbit boy's jaw dropped.
"But when I returned to the present, 'that thing' was still there," Portinari went on. "So you see, I can't destroy her by going into the past."
"But you can get away from her by going into the past," said Buster. "Can't you?"
"Not likely. As powerful as she is, she would probably chase me through time."
Bored with the interminable struggle, Dark Augusta stretched out her arms and launched a tidal wave of destructive power that encompassed both of the Spiritus Mundi factions, as well as the dimensional portal. The blinding energy dissipated within seconds, leaving only empty air behind. The scorched, pitted soccer field was empty of all inhabitants, except for Dark Augusta herself.
"I have an idea," Buster told Portinari. "I just got a new puppy, and she always barks at her reflection in the mirror. What if Dark Augusta met someone just like her, who had all her power? What would she do?"
"Hmm, I don't know," mused the alien. "I suppose she would get jealous and attack." Then his face lit up. "Buster, you're a genius!"
Dark Augusta was floating towards them, and no one stood in between. Augusta slid the green stone that had been Francine into her purse, hoping the witch wouldn't see it. Portinari knew there was only one hope left. He boldly stepped forward.
"There's still one thing I can do that you can't," he boasted. "I can travel in time."
Dark Augusta only laughed mockingly.
"You don't believe me?" said Portinari. "I'll show you."
Plucking the time travel device from his belt, he adjusted the controls to take him exactly ten seconds into the past.
Ten seconds earlier, it appeared to Augusta and the kids as if clones of Portinari and Dark Augusta had appeared out of nothingness.
"You won't get away that easily," said the Dark Augusta clone to the Portinari clone. "I can time travel too."
She stretched out her arms to seize the Portinari double...only to be hurled to the ground by a magical blast from the original Dark Augusta.
Recovering her footing, she struck back with a death wave that sent the original crashing into a nearby tree. The two Portinaris sought refuge with Augusta and the kids while the two Dark Augustas exchanged bolts of evil energy. Before long they were fighting tooth and nail, each trying to suck the life force from the other, the air around them crackling with malice. Neither of them paused to consider the odd fact that her enemy was herself.
"Now's your chance," the two Portinaris counseled Augusta. "Use the stone against them while they're distracted."
The rabbit woman pulled the green stone from her purse and walked slowly and silently toward the battling Dark Augustas, who were too absorbed in their conflict to notice her approach. She could almost touch the evil and hatred emanating from the pair. She wanted desperately to turn back, but reminded herself that the life or death of the entire universe rested on her back.
She quickly found that the stone indeed possessed the same power as the original, as Francine had wished. As she applied its magic to the dueling Dark Augustas, they abruptly ceased from spell-casting and stepped away from each other.
It's working, she thought, but only for a second or two. They must act quickly.
The kids and the two Portinaris didn't dare to move or breathe.
One second passed. The Dark Augustas stood motionlessly, but their faces were starting to exude remorse and anguish.
Two seconds passed. Their expressions became agonized, as if an internal enemy was tormenting them.
Three seconds passed. No change.
Four seconds passed.
Finally one of the Dark Augustas spoke, in a mournful, contrite voice. "Billions of people...I killed them all..."
Five seconds passed. Bitter tears coursed down the cheeks of the two witches.
Augusta lowered the green stone and turned to the Portinaris. "I don't understand. The effect shouldn't last this long."
"They must be using their own powers to prolong it," one of the aliens hypothesized.
"I don't know how long they can keep it up," said the other alien.
Seeing that the enemy—enemies—had been pacified, the kids and the Portinaris formed a circle around them. The Dark Augustas behaved as if they were in confessional, sobbing and lamenting the atrocities they had committed.
They suddenly lashed out with their arms, causing the kids to jump with fright. One of them shot a magical ray into the sky, and the sun shrank down to its normal size and illuminated the atmosphere with the light of day. The other waved her hand at the stone Augusta was holding, and it expanded, sprouting arms, legs, and a head. Francine fell on her stomach with a thud.
"Francine! You're alive!" Arthur exulted.
"That was really weird," remarked the monkey girl as she stood up and brushed the dirt from her clothes. Her friends gathered happily around her, asking her to describe her experience of being a rock.
The appearance of the Dark Augustas had changed; their hair had gone from pitch black to blonde, and their robes had morphed into floral dresses. Yet their faces showed signs of tremendous strain, signifying that their good sides were steadily losing ground against their vastly superior evil sides.
"I must bring back the people I killed," said Dark Augusta 1. "I have the power."
"No!" exclaimed Portinari 1. "There isn't time. You could revert to evil at any moment."
"But I can't live with the guilt," said Dark Augusta 2. "It's so horrible."
"Give up your powers," ordered Portinari 2. "Do it now."
"No..." mumbled Dark Augusta 1 in anguish. "Must bring them back...I killed them..."
"Stand back, everyone," warned Portinari 1.
Augusta and the kids stepped away, and witnessed a horrifying sight.
Without hesitation or compunction, the two Portinaris removed the energy weapons from their belts, pointed the muzzles at the two Dark Augustas, and pulled the triggers. A high-pitched whine was heard. The bodies of the two witches dissolved into fire, then into smoke.
They re-holstered their weapons. Although they remained composed, it was clear from their alien expressions that they were enduring indescribable sorrow.
After a long, uncomfortable silence, Alan turned to the other kids. "They did the right thing," he assured them. "The universe is safe now. Earth is safe now."
His words didn't make his friends any happier. They had watched the sun go nova, they had seen Francine turn into a rock, they had seen the sun restored to its glory, and they had watched the rock turn back into Francine—but seeing two remorseful women ruthlessly vaporized by alien ray guns had basically spoiled it for them.
"Alan's right," Prunella spoke up. "We should be celebrating. It's not the end of the world anymore."
"We should be celebrating because Francine didn't stay a rock," Arthur added.
"Let's all go to the Sugar Bowl," Muffy offered. "My treat."
Her friends' faces lit up at the prospect, until Augusta reminded them of something. "Don't you kids have school?"
"Awww," they groaned in unison.
As they shuffled off to Lakewood, Augusta struck up a conversation with the two Portinaris. "I'm starting to lose count," she joked. "Is it three now?"
"Three of us," Portinari 1 confirmed with a nod.
"And only one left of me," Augusta reflected. "I'm getting lonely."
"This is why time travel is the safest form of travel," quipped Portinari 2. "Not only does it boast a lower fatality rate, but it actually creates people."
The rabbit woman walked off with the two aliens, as the sun shed its warming light over the city.
----
After a rough start, school proceeded as normal. At the end of the day, the children of Elwood City were impatient to watch the news and hear an explanation of the strange astral phenomenon that had occurred in the morning.
"Scientists are at a loss to explain it," droned the newscaster. "It appears as if the sun simply went nova, then went un-nova about half an hour later."
Arthur and Francine were watching TV together on the couch, and holding hands. Mrs. Read observed this while passing through the room, and cleared her throat.
"Imagine if we'd gone underground with the unicorns," Arthur mused. "We would've had a lot of explaining to do."
"The next time the world comes to an end," said Francine wistfully, "I want to be with my family."
"Hey, what about me?" Arthur complained.
At the Powers residence, Alan was also watching the news broadcast, but found no cheer in it. "Why so glum?" his mother asked.
"I've been thinking about all those planets that were destroyed," the boy replied. "Those people were just like you and me, and they probably thought there was some way to save themselves, but they were wrong, and they died."
"It's a big universe," said Mrs. Powers.
"Yeah," Alan mused. "I guess if Earth had been destroyed, most of the universe wouldn't even have noticed. We think we're so important, but we're really nothing but a speck of dust on the cosmic scale."
"I think you're important," said his mother, who then kissed him on the cheek.
After a few more minutes, he sighed and switched off the TV.
"I wonder what Beat's doing right now," he pondered.
----
In a well-furnished house on a street somewhere in Elwood City, Raymond Mansch stepped into a bedroom and greeted two girls who were seated together on chairs—Tegan Powers and Beat Simon. Tegan had shed her rocker disguise for the more traditional blouse and skirt (and barette, naturally), although her blond hair was still short, having been cropped.
"What are you girls up to?" Mansch asked in a friendly tone.
"Beat helped me learn a new way to use my mental powers," Tegan answered. "I'd like to share it with you."
"This should be interesting," said the goateed cat man.
Tegan lowered her barette as she rose and walked closer to Mansch. After a second or two the man started to protest ineffectually. "No...please, no...not that..."
But Mansch couldn't bring himself to move away or break the mental connection. Tegan had control.
They stood motionlessly for five minutes while Beat smirked triumphantly in the background.
Tegan slid the barette back to the top of her head, and Mansch started to sputter as if emerging from a trance. Quickly becoming calm, he positioned himself in front of a mirror. He touched his nose, his ears, his hair. He smiled, as if a lifelong dream had been made reality.
"At last," he declared, "the Opticron is obsolete."
----
to be continued