Clay wasn't sure what woke him up. It might have been the splitting headache he got from the concrete-hard surface he was lying on, or the light above him penetrating through his eyelids, or the loud zooming, whirring, and honking noises going by his head. He turned his face away from the light and opened his eyes to see that what he was lying on actually was concrete.

Clay and the others were lying on a sidewalk under a street light in a city somewhere. The noises came from the cars running by them. Clay realized how close they were to the road when another car zoomed past. The breeze it made brushed Clay's hair into his eyes. Wait. Clay touched his head. His hat was gone. He reached up to the concrete above his head to see if it was there, and all he felt was a ledge. Oh crud. He sat up and looked over to the road. Flattened into the middle of the street, was his hat.

Clay groaned, got up, and ran into the street to retrieve it. He quickly discovered only Moses could get it and get out alive. Cars just nearly missed him, some almost crashed into others trying to avoid him, others didn't even try not to hit him. All either yelled or honked at him.

"Watch it, punk!"

"Does this look like the sidewalk to you?"

"Hey Eastwood, get off the road!"

"Screw you!"

"Either use pills to kill yourself or get a life!"

One guy even flipped him the bird. Somehow Clay managed to stumble back to the sidewalk. All the noise woke Kimiko and Omi up. After they checked their surroundings, Omi spoke. "We're home. At least, we are back in our world."

"Uh-huh." Kimiko said looking up at the sky. "Judging by the fact that there's no moon or stars in the sky, I'm going to say the world's still in darkness."

Clay shook out his hat to get it back to normal. "And I'm gonna say due to the fact that nobody seems scared, Wuya hasn't shown herself yet."

"Ahem." Omi cleared his throat. "Is anyone besides me wondering how exactly we got back here?"

Clay and Kimiko stared at him, then nodded. "Okay, let's recap what happened." Kimiko said. "Rai and company clobber us before the girl took out that little box, then start climbing out of the trench like there's no tomorrow. Then the girl opened the box, there's white light everywhere, then we wake up and we're here. Is there any part in there that either of you would like to differ with?"

Clay and Omi both shook their heads. "So, any theory on what that light was?" Clay asked.

"I'm pretty sure that that was a Merkabah." Kimiko answered.

"A Merkawhat?" Omi raised an eyebrow.

"Why don't we head back to the temple while Kimiko fills you in?" Clay suggested.

Kimiko moaned and sent Clay a pleading look. "Couldn't we stay here awhile to rest up a little? It'll do no good to fight Wuya if we're too tired."

Clay then realized how bruised and cut up Kimiko was. She looked more beat up than an amateur rider at a professional rodeo. "Yeah, I reckon it wouldn't hurt if we took a little time off. That's really what Master Fung wanted us to do anyway."

"Could we find someplace with a bathroom?" Omi asked. "I would most appreciate it if I could get a bath."

Clay looked at him. Omi was as dirty as an old boot pulled out of a swamp. And he smelled like one too. Clay nodded.

Using Kimiko's ATM card, they checked into a hotel for the night. Okay, so maybe it wasn't night, but it was to them. Kimiko got ice and bandages for her injuries, Omi got a shower, and they all got a well-deserved rest. When they were ready, they agreed to go back to the temple to get some more shen-gong-wu, go back to the Merkabah they had found in the Grand Canyon, and find Raimundo to see what he knew about Wuya. They knew he could be anywhere in that dimension by now, especially with the major time difference, but they didn't have any other lead.

"We'll use the Longi Kite once we get out of the city so nobody thinks it's doomsday." Kimiko said when they left the hotel. "Clay, you can carry both of us right?"

Unfortunately, both she and Omi were watching Clay nod in response so when they rounded the corner, they didn't see the roller-skating pizza boy coming. He skated right into Omi. They fell to the ground. The pizza box sailed into the air and into Kimiko's arms. "Are you guys okay?"

"Oh, I am fine. Thank you for your concern."

"I'm cool. Thanks."

They got up. Omi started to brush the grit off him.

"Sorry 'bout that, dude." The pizza boy said in a rough voice. "I shouldn't have been going so fast, but I'm running a little late."

"Oh no. It was my fault. I was not looking where I was go-" Omi stopped when he looked up at the boy. He had shaggy, thick, ash-blonde hair, light freckled skin, and a slightly small nose. He was wearing a lime-green t-shirt, jeans, and sunglasses. Who in their right mind wore sunglasses in the dark? Sure, the street lights were a little too bright, but still . . .

Kimiko didn't seem to think this was a big deal, and handed the boy the pizza box. "Well, we better get going. Sorry if we made you late."

"No problem. I've still got time." He started rolling away. "Later."

Kimiko and Clay began walking, but Omi stayed watching the boy go. "Hey Omi, you coming?" Clay asked.

Omi suddenly bolted after the boy and jumped him. The pizza box slid along the sideway. When it stopped, a piece of paper attached to the top blew off and landed next to it. "Jesus, what's your problem!" The boy practically spat out the sentence.

"Omi!" Kimiko pried Omi off the kid and Clay helped him up. Kimiko quickly began to think up a reasonable explanation for this. "I'm so sorry, he um, suffers from ah, acute paranoia."

"Why are you wearing sunglasses on a day like this?" Omi asked, bringing Kimiko's and Clay's attention to the fact. Okay, so that was pretty weird.

The boy blinked. "Well come on, they turned up the lights enough to where it's bright enough to be day. Plus, they look good."

Omi thought that was a stupid excuse, even if today's modern kids were strange. Kimiko and Clay seemed satisfied with it though, but Omi knew there was something that wasn't right about this boy. He wriggled out of Kimiko's arms, went over to the pizza, and picked up the scrap of paper. "And what is this? Why is there a blank piece of paper here?"

"Turn it over, kid."

Omi did. On the back was a jumble of numbers and words. "That's the receipt." The boy said. "Can I go now? If I don't deliver this in seven minutes, the pizza's gonna be free."

Shaking his head, Clay picked up the pizza, took the receipt from Omi, held them out to the kid, and smiled. "We're mighty sorry."

The kid took the pizza, but when he grabbed onto the receipt Clay's grip on it tightened and the smiled faded from his face. No. No, the boy couldn't be . . . Clay looked at the boy's face to be sure. Yes, he was. Omi was right. This kid was definitely up to something.

The boy tugged on the receipt. "Dude? Can I have it?"

"Your nails are too neat." Clay said, confusing everyone. What did nails have to do with anything?

The confusion on the boy's face vanished and was replaced with alarm. He started to withdraw his hand, but Clay grabbed his wrists and held them level with his eyes.

"Clay, what are you doing?" Kimiko asked.

"These aren't boy's hands."

"What? He's a girl?" But as she spoke, she began to notice the feminine details of the face. The girl tried to get away, but Clay's grip was too strong.

"Look at her nails. Boys don't usually grow them that long or shape them into crescents."

"Yeah, I can see she's a girl."

Omi suddenly realized he had seen those sunglasses before. "She's the female follower!"

The girl finally stopped struggling and brought her foot up to Clay's groin. When he let go, she tore the receipt from his hand and took off. As she did, Kimiko saw something that made her flush with embarrassment and anger. "I don't believe it! Those are my roller-blades!"