Scott straightened shakily. "I'd like to call a truce."
"You- what?" Mike stared incredulously. "I'm not falling for that one."
Scott let go of the baseball bat and leaned against the wall. "I'm not exactly in a condition right now to do anything. You pretty much beat the crap out of me. What do you want me to do, fight you to the death?"
Mike almost wished he would. He still burned inside over what Scott had done to Matt. Homestar was not in a much more receptive mood either.
"All right, maybe that was the wrong question. But the fact is, I'm not going to fight you. I'm not that stupid." Scott felt the back of his head and winced.
"I'm not going to
just let you walk out of here." Mike growled.
"I didn't
expect you to." Scott replied coldly. "Go ahead and call the
cops if you want, I just don't want to fight. I can't take
another hit, I'll admit it." He edged toward a chair and eased
himself into it painfully.
Mike glared daggers at him. "Fine. Alex, tie him up." Mike stalked back to Matt, who was starting to stir.
Alex smirked at Scott. She wound a length of computer cord around the backs of her hands and snapped it threateningly in Scott's face, making him jump. Then she tied his shoulders more than snugly to the back of his chair. He gasped for breath as she jerked him against the chair back. "Jeez, you don't need to break my ribs."
"Don't I?" She challenged. Then she shrugged and loosened the cord to be tolerably uncomfortable.
Mike helped Matt to his feet across the room from Scott. "You okay?" Mike asked.
"Ugh… well, I've had worse hangovers in college I guess." Matt muttered. He looked up and saw Homestar. "Hey, did we get the site…"
"Yes." Homeschool replied. "Everything's back. Thank you."
"No problem… shouldn't Homestar be getting back? I can think of a few people who would be pretty happy to know he's all right." Matt suggested.
Homeschool smiled and pulled out the TranSphere. A moment later the portal opened behind him. He stepped aside.
"Well guys, it's been fun." Homestar nodded to Mike and Matt. He walked toward the portal, but Alex caught his arm. He turned around to face her.
"You weren't just
about to leave without saying goodbye to me, were you?"
Alex asked.
"N-no." Homestar replied awkwardly.
Alex smiled and threw her arms around him. "Take care, ya big goofball."
Homestar's pale face reddened. "Uh, thanks Alex."
Alex let go and poked him toward the portal. "Now get back in there, buddy."
Homestar walked up to the portal. Scott laid his hands open in his lap, revealing a small metal ball. It was the second TranSphere. The sphere wobbled, and the air behind Scott shimmered as a second portal tore open. The sphere in Homeschool's hand sparked and he dropped it. Both portals shuddered and tendrils of energy snaked between them. Alex yanked Homestar out of the way as a bolt shot out at him from the first portal. The bolt continued across the room, directly for Scott. His eyes grew wide and he struggled against the computer cord that bound him, but the bolt found him before he even had a chance. There was a flash, and both portals closed. Scott was nowhere to be seen. The room was eerily silent.
"That was my favorite office chair!" Matt said finally.
Homestar looked at the place where Homeschool's portal had been. "Now how do I get back?" He groaned.
Homeschool picked up his TranSphere and rubbed it on his coat, then inspected it. "I'm pretty sure this one's shot." He shook his head sadly.
"What about Scott's?" Alex asked.
Homeschool dropped his Transphere and crossed the room to look at Scott's. He picked it up and fiddled with it for a few seconds. Suddenly a portal reopened behind him. "Well, we sure got lucky. This one still works!"
"It's not reversed or whatever is it?" Mike asked.
"If it was, I wouldn't be standing here. I'd be in limbo, remember?" Homeschool replied. "Come on, Homestar… before something else happens." Homeschool motioned Homestar over. Homestar glanced back at Matt, Mike, and especially Alex. She shooed him toward the portal.
Homestar nervously gazed into the abyss before him. Then he stepped forward and fell into the emptiness. Darkness was suddenly replaced by stinging light. He blinked and sat up. Then he leapt to his feet. He was home! The sky was blue, the grass and trees and buildings had all returned. He looked to his left and saw that even the Stick was back. "I'm finally home!" He declared happily. He looked around for someone to greet, but no one was in sight so he wandered over to Strong Bad's house.
Oddly enough, the door was propped open, so Homestar walked right in. The house was completely empty upstairs, but he could hear voices coming from the basement. He descended into the basement and stood on the stairs, peering into the room. It was very crowded. It looked like everyone in Free Country had somehow packed themselves in there. Towards one end of the room was a makeshift podium, upon which rested a framed picture of Homestar. Marzipan was currently standing in front of it, looking very distraught and giving some kind of speech.
"… he wasn't the perfect boyfriend, but I still liked him a lot. He would always find a way to make me laugh if I was down... I wish I could have given him one last hug before…" Marzipan trailed off and bowed her head. "I'll miss him." She rejoined the crowd, tears streaming down her face silently.
Strong Bad stepped up next and cleared his throat. "Seeing as everyone's had their say now, I guess I better wrap this up. Uh, well… I had to deal with Homestar a lot, since he was always breaking into my house and finding ways to ruin stuff for me and The Cheat. But even though he's probably the most annoying guy on the planet, and he couldn't think his way out of a box, and he was always cramping my style… not having him around is like…" Strong Bad's voice shook a bit. "I mean, that guy was too friggen stupid for anyone to hate. I guess if I would have had a chance, I wish maybe… maybe I could have told him goodbye or something. I-I'd give my lappy to get him back. But-"
Homestar was touched by this remark. "You'd weally give up your computew fow me?" He blurted out.
Strong Bad's head snapped up. "Y-you!" He shoved his way through the stunned audience and stood before Homestar. He stared at Homestar for a few seconds, then grabbed him and gave him a huge hug. Homestar gaped down at him, bewildered. Strong Bad suddenly felt all eyes on him and he abruptly shoved Homestar away. "Jeez, man… I'm glad to see you too but don't get all sappy about it. Yuck." He coughed.
Homestar was still gaping at him. "Did you just-"
"No."
"But-"
"NO." Strong Bad replied firmly. He stalked off, brushing past Marzipan.
Marzipan hurried forward. "Don't you ever scare me like that again! You need to be more careful with yourself… I couldn't stand to lose you again."
"But it wasn't-"
"Shh." Marzipan smiled. She kissed him. "No more hero stuff for a while, okay?"
"O-okay." Homestar stammered, grinning goofily.
"DaAaAaAaA, I think the captain's back on deck, compadres." Homsar announced.
"Who wants some Listerine!" Coach Z cried. Several people groaned.
"Ooo, I'll take some!" The King of Town replied. "Does this mean there'll be a feast to celebrate?"
"Well, I guess this means things are back to normal." Strong Sad sighed.
"Meh mimema meh." The Cheat offered Strong Sad a stick of gum.
"Sure." Strong Sad grabbed the stick and started to pull it out of the package, but there was a snap and he yelped in pain. He yanked his finger out of the trap as The Cheat made a quick escape. "Yeah, things are definitely back to normal…"
"Come on, Homestar. You still owe me lunch." Marzipan went upstairs. Homestar paused and glanced back at his friends. Then he ran up the stairs after Marzipan. "Okay, but you'we payin. I'm bwoke."
Well? WELL? TELL ME HOW IT WAS! Suckfest? Awesomefest? Oktoberfest?