"Alright, the portal is ready to be turned on," Isuka said, finishing up the circle she was drawing around the homemade machine. It was a ring of white chalk surrounding the portal that glowed purple whenever a stray lightning bolt ran across the frame. The ring they would walk through stood on a stand created with an assortment of sheet metal. It had several bundles of wiring coming out of the back and going into the ground of the library to never be seen again. Its panel was far inferior to the first portal, with only three buttons that worked the contraption. All in all, it looked like something you would find at a junkyard. She turned to Lao, also looked worried when he saw the entire thing shake violently for a second. "Are you sure you two want to go back?" She said, hopping back when the portal crackled again.

"Y-yeah…." he said, staring at the chalk circle. "I don't think giving it a line of cocaine is going to make this better though."

"It is not a stimulant drug, I applied an infused barrier that will keep the machine from, well…" More lightning jumped out but was stopped by some invisible barrier before it could reach the mage. "That."

"Smart," Lao said. "I'm going to go get Virto."

"Please hurry back, I don't want to be around this hazard as long as I have to," Isuka said, eeping when the machine jumped around again. "Hurry!"

"On it." Lao jogged around the library looking for Virto. He saw him in one of the backrooms, packing clothes away into a suitcase. "Hey," Lao called, knocking on the glass to get his attention. Virto turned his head, smiling and closing his case. "Lalu!" he said, coming up to the door to welcome him in. "Come on in, I have to show you something."

"If you're calling me by my Earth name you must be in a good mood," Lao said, turning one of the chairs inside around and sitting on it backward. Virto did the same, tapping his hands while waiting for his friend to get comfortable. Lao looked around and smiling back awkwardly, catching the cheerful look on his friend's face. "So, are you going to go or…"

"Well, I've just been waiting so long to ask you this!" Virto responded, leaning back in the chair while he threw his hands to the sky. "It has just been eating at me, not knowing how you would respond, or if you would accept it...but I think I'm ready now."

"Accept what?" Lao said. "Wait, is this about Vargas? I already know you're gay, man. It ain't the 16th century, it's cool now."

"While I'm glad you're fine with that, this is actually different." Virto took a deep breath and got up, going to the suitcase he was packing earlier. He opened it and took out a flower print sundress, showing it to Lao. "You see, I don't know how to explain it so you would understand, but…"

"Oh, you wanted to surprise your mom with a gift!" Lao jumped in. "Yeah, you have not talked to her in a while…"

"That too, but actually…"

"You wanted to surprise Leana? I don't think she even wears dresses like that actually-"

"Lao these are for me," Virto interrupted sternly, causing Lao to clam up. "They...I like wearing them. When we went installing the screws in, it was calm, it was peaceful, I got to realize. I hadn't really thought about this with everything that was going on. But now I finally had time to reflect and I realized that I had some stuff to figure out. The long hair, the fact that I don't feel comfortable in anything remotely resembling jeans. Seriously, when was the last time I didn't wear a lab coat around?" Virto asked. Lao thought back quite a bit, but he couldn't get a good answer until going all the way back to the middle of high school.

"Like...am I comfortable in this body, right?" Virto continued. He sat back in the chair, staring at the dress like it was a mirror for him to see himself in. "I got all these clothes without really thinking about it at first, like... I just didn't want to do that alone, so I wanted to tell you before we left, in case we were leaving for good."

"...Like a head's up?" Lao asked, seeing Virto stare deeply at a flower pattern on the dress.

"Right…" Virto put the dress back inside the suitcase, sighing as he sat back on the chair. "So, what do you think?"

"Well...it does feel kind of weird, hearing this for the first time," Lao admitted.

"Kind of...weird?" Virto repeated, his face turning a bit sour.

"Well yeah. This is the first I'm really hearing about it, is this like a thing that just started?" He asked.

"Not really, I've been thinking about this for a while."

"Well then," Lao said getting up. "I think the best way to figure it out is to keep on doing the stuff that you were doing before. You were kind of a neet then, maybe you just need new jeans that fit you."

"I…don't think you understood the question," Virto said. He could feel the air between them growing unsteady, as if neither of them was on the same level of thought that they were. Lao stopped moving towards the door, turning back to Virto's concerned facial expression.

"I mean, you're always telling me to look at the facts, and the fact is you literally haven't updated your closet in years. Besides, you-"

"I am very aware that my fashion sense is outdated, but that isn't the question," Virto clarified. "I'm starting to think you aren't taking this as seriously as I am."

"I mean, was I supposed to put all my attention into this from the get-go? I thought this was a heads-up thing," Lao said raising his hands up in frustration. "We have a portal that could explode in our face and a motorbike that you made me promise to repair, this just seemed small in comparison."

"A thi-" Virto said, now going from concern to frustrated. "Of course, it's not just a 'thing', I'm talking about if I want to stay a man or not doofus. I thought you of all people would understand that," Virto said louder as Lao grunted, getting upset as well. He started to pace around, trying to walk his thoughts back in order. "I showed you my suitcase! I told you how I was feeling and your advice is just more jeans? That's stupid!"

"Well I'm sorry if you want to stop hanging out with me over something so big, small, whatever! You want my opinion? No, I don't think you need to change. Stay a man for all I care!" Lao said, making Virto freeze in his tracks. He slowly turned to him, his pupils seeming to shrink with unease. Lao felt the atmosphere around him turn foreboding, leaving him lost on if he had just struck a nail that went into drywall instead of a stud.

"And what's so small and trivial about that Lao?" Virto asked with a quiet break in his words.

"I...ah-I didn't mean it like that," Lao said, moving from the door to go to him. Virto stepped back, choosing to look at the door rather than him. "I swear, I-"

"Let's just go," Virto said. His voice was as cold as a frozen lake as he left the room. Lao followed out, staying close behind trying to urge him back. "Virto, come on man maybe you're taking it the wrong way, the words just came out weirdly or-"

"You said enough, alright?" Virto snapped, turning around with tears in his eyes. "I get it, it was too soon or...some stupid shit, I won't mention it again. Let's just go home." Lao reached out a hand one last time, but Virto smacked it away.

"Ow-Alright, alright," Lao muttered, following him in silence. The two went to the portal, seeing Isuka relaxed out on a beanbag chair with a book. A small flamed hovered over the pages, disappearing when she heard their two sets of footsteps, sitting up while simultaneously sinking into the chair further. "Are you both prepared?" she asked.

"Yeah," they both whispered at slightly different times, looking at anywhere but each other.

"Wow, you two look like you were fighting demons in a past era," Isuka remarked. "Well then, just step closer and you both will be home in a jiffy! Get it? I was learning your world's slang in case I-"

"We get it," they said, as emotionless as a drone.

"Fine, what a sour bunch. It's like you both were raised from the dead." Isuka ushered them inside the circle, the two of them bracing as Isuka pressed the first button.

All over the realm, the screws they made for the children started glowing. Anyone having fun with them initially let go but discovered after touching again that they still felt safe to grab and play with. The glow started to disappear, beginning at the very top of the contraption and fading away slower than it appeared until the final embers of the glow resided in the ground. Bundles of coiled wire laid below, leading to more, larger wires that ran all the way back to the library underground. The wires in the portal were connected to the storage of power that had secretly preserved every turn of screws as power.

"Here we go!" Isuka crossed her fingers as she hit the second button. The portal heated up as the power all rushed in at once, causing lightning to jump inside the ring until POW, a powerful pop was exuded from the portal. Outspread a pink portal, expanding like an explosion, up, down, left, and right to the inner perimeter of the portal's ring. Virto and Lao had to shield their eyes from the initial explosion, until making a little slit through their fingers to peer into the swirly pink mess of the portal.

"The chalk must have rubbed off on the portal," Isuka said. "It's a lighter purple than expected."

"Well, then this is it then," Lao said, nudging Virto's arm. "We really owned this world, didn't we right?" Virto rubbed his arm and turned away.

"Right…." Lao sighed. "Can you at least grab my body while I peer in?" Virto shrugged and held Lao's waist while he put his head through. He took it out after his looksie, looking at Isuka with a confused look.

"What?" Isuka asked.

"There's nothing." No sooner than Lao said that did the portal convulse one more time, tossing Lao and Virto off like riders off a bull. Lao landed first, catching Virto before he could hit the ground hard. The portal imploded on itself, followed by the entire machine collapsing on itself in a messy pile of metal and Mananodium.

"And I didn't even get to press the third button," Isuka said blowing air. She went over to help Virto and Lao, poofing a duster to get the contaminants off them. "Now what did you mean by nothing?"

"I couldn't see a thing!" Lao exclaimed. "It was just pitch-darkness."

"There must have not been enough power to re-establish the connection to Earth," Virto said, taking his schematics out of his lab coat pocket. Isuka plucked them out of his grasp, holding them high while she quickly skimmed through them.

"Isuka what are you doing?" Virto asked annoyed.

"Well, here's your problem," Isuka said, pushing back to Virto. "This is too human-y. There's too much of your tech and not enough magic, as usual.

"Why I oughta-" She ignored him and poofed a book into her hands, labeled Mythical and Natural Mana Phenomenon. "A magical need for power needs a magical answer, not a simple mineral."

"Why didn't you say anything before then?" Lao said, going over to peer inside the book. Isuka panned over to Virto, who narrowed his eyes and growled. "Pride Lao, pride," Isuka said, chuckling as she closed the book. "I know of a tornado that could bring you the power and form you need."

"Great, you, Virto, and I can go get it right?"

"Wrong," Virto said. "You stay here. This is a two-person job."

"Virto come on," Lao said. "You're letting your feelings get in the way. You always said-"

"Maybe I was wrong alright? Apparently, that's what you think about what I'm feeling too," Virto said. "Come on Isuka, teleport us out of here." The mage looked back at Lao, seeing him mouth something to her.

"Sorry," she whispered apologetically, raising her hand as a staff appeared. She hit the staff against the floor, and the two of them disappeared before the knight could even blink.

"Arg, god damnit!" He yelled and kicked the pile of metal in frustration, sending one of the pieces flying off somewhere. He felt his foot throbbing in pain, but it still couldn't distract him from the betrayed face that refused to acknowledge him anymore. He went outside frustrated, trying to figure out what he said that was so wrong.

"So where is this tornado thing?" Virto asked. He and Isuka were teleported to an empty beach that was barren of even coastal wind. The majority of the sand they walked across was packed and felt like clay. There was no sign of ocean for miles, but the lines further down the sand left clues of a shoreline that used to be here long ago. It creeped Virto out, seeing how the sand just seemed to descend an imaginary body of water, but Isuka seemed completely fine with it.

"It typically forms around here," Isuka said, checking her map of Zipangu. "There used to be a civilization here, but now it's all just sand. We could be stepping on history Virto, and right below us could be artifacts that could shed light on a whole new time!"

"Yeah…." Virto said skeptically, picking up some sand in his hand to rub it around. Isuka thought it was weird how much he seemed uninterested, and she hugged Virto from behind to try to get more of his attention. "What's wrong?" Isuka asked. "You usually are gushing to learn more archeology."

"Have you ever had anyone that didn't seem to understand and it just pissed you off?" He asked her through semi-clenched teeth, sitting down on the firm sand. Isuka sat with him, setting her staff down on the ground. "Not necessarily…"

"I mean, what right does he have to just, toss my feeling aside like that? He was my best friend, and he was so close, like how could he just say something like that?" Virto tried kicking the sand for emphasis, but with how weird the ground was he could barely dig his feet into the ground.

"This is a bad time but, is this about the knight fellow you hang out with?" she asked. Virto nodded once, but already interrupted by the question he didn't bother to pick back up.

"Well, I don't know how my issues would translate with your issue, but I have this long-time acquaintanceship with a dark elf," Isuka said. She took a picture out from her hat, showing the elf to Virto.

"She pretty," he commented. "Headen?"

"Mmmm! Now, up until recently, I absolutely loathed being a Dark Mage. Every day I would swear to the gods that I would find Druella and make her pay for what she did to me, and when I wasn't doing that, I would search endlessly for ways to turn myself back." She tugged at her robes, looking at her shoes before pushing the dress back down. "I found it easier to just hide myself away than have to look at this body one more time."

"What does this have to do with dark elves?"

"I'm getting there," she assured. "Well, my dark elf friend wasn't very appreciative of my efforts. She was always a mamono, and would always tell me that this was supposed to be the best thing in my life that happened to me." She rolled her staff around, pressing the staff further into the sand the further she recollected. "We ended up having a fight, and in typical monster fashion, it happened after yet another town was hurt by what I have become. It was...the worst fight of my life, but it finally made her realize after a bit that she was wrong to try to force me to like being a mage. At least, after I ignored her pigeon mail and she finally came over to the library."

She fiddled with the picture a bit, unfolding it to reveal a human leaning on the elf's shoulder. Virto couldn't tell who it was, seeing the wild, unbrushed brown and bulky glasses that hid her eyes. She had a satchel, and they both seemed to hold a book where the fold was on the photo. Her clothes look more like what an adventurer would wear, with baggy pants that were tucked under the socks and a vest with more pockets than one person needed. "Yes, that is me Virto, before the change."

"You looked way nerdier back then," Virto said with a half-hearted chuckle, leaning forwards so he could make the connection more. Isuka yanked the photo back, stuffing it back in her hat. "What I mean is that you were probably weren't looking for someone to do the soul-searching for you, but they did, and you feel as if your Ignis was doused over with an ice spell." He nodded in agreement sighing.

"So should I make up with Lao or not?"

"I don't know honestly. Anything you two were arguing about is probably something I am completely in the dark of. Besides, I think you would want to make a decision like that on your own," Isuka told Virto. She pointed out to the distance, seeing a purple whirl spinning up the sand. "Look onward, scientist. That's the tornado we are looking for. It's a perfect time to sit on it, as one would say. Besides, once you cough admit magic is better cough, you would be surprised at what you could transform into with a little mana."

"Right, transform…." Virto said getting up. Nanites started covering his body, forming into a thin mesh around his skin while waiting for instructions on what to turn into. "What do we do then?"

"The book of mythos explained that pieces of tornadoes can be harnessed with a special mesh," Isuka said, seeing the tornado tear a bit more sideways before slowly stopping it's movement. Instead, it only seemed to just grow bigger in a standstill. "Weird, the tornado stopped."

"That thing did not stop," Virto said with a sudden dread.

"But there's no mana for miles!" Isuka exclaimed, before looking at her own hands. "Oh, it must have sensed us."

"You said a mesh right!?" Virto said, clutching Isuka's robes for an answer.

"Yes yes, just make a big, erm, Papillon net."

"A what?" Virto said, his lab coat beginning to feel blown around. "Speak in normal words!"

"Does butterfly girl make it any clearer?" Isuka said, drawing a set of runes in the air.

"You could have just said a butterfly net!" Virto said. The nanites on his body collected out of his hands, forming the giant net in the sand. Isuka pushed her bunch of symbols into the net. "Alright, now what?" Virto asked in a hurry, seeing Isuka start on her next set of runes.

"Isuka!"

"Isn't it obvious?" Isuka asked dismissively. "We are going to bait the tornado here."

"With ourselves?" Virto said, seeing that the tornado looked about a football field away now. It felt faster the closer it was, googles forming over Virto's eyes so he wasn't blinded by the sand that was getting whisked up into the air. Danger was looming upon them, yet while he felt like a deer in headlights, Isuka just drew away in the air, seeming to copy from a book that floated beside her.

"Isuka!" he screamed as they were about to be swallowed by the tornado. She sighed and closed her book. Pushing the runes in front of them both. They glowed white one by one, before reforming into a shield that stopped the tornado momentarily in front of them. Virto had fallen back on his ass, covering his eyes before he could see the shield safe them both. "Get up." Isuka said calmly, stretching the shield over them in a dome. "Make a shield under my spell. The fortification should help the spell hold."

"Oh, right!" he said. The last thing he said before his own nanite shield went up was the sheer darkness of it all. He could still see the pink hue. But the whirlwind of sand and sparse mana had turned a bright to chaotic near darkness. He heard scratches against his nanites and zaps as the tornado pushed against the spell. "Is the net alright?"

"No, but that's exactly what we want." Virto was confused but waited alongside Isuka. He couldn't tell time in complete darkness, feeling completely hopeless as the onslaught continued from all sides of the dual-barrier. He lost count of seconds once the scratches completely disappeared, hearing one last zap louder than the rest. "It's done," Isuka said. "Put down the dome."

Virto pushed it back down, seeing the partly cloudy day come back to vision. The tornado that looked to swallow them had disappeared right over their heads. The mesh was now filled with a purple swirl, contained within the loose ring that threading was connected by. "There it is, your new portal!" Isuka said, picking up the portal mesh from the ground. It didn't crackle and violently shake the way their man-made portal did, seeming as calm as a pond in a zen garden being gently swished around. "Harnessing labor is great and all, but if you're ever in need of truly scalable power, nature is always the best option."

"I did try to use nature," Virto called out. "But thanks for helping."

"No problem! Are you willing to consider becoming an alchemist?"

"Not a chance," Virto said, lifting the other side of the mesh. It wasn't a straight circle, but the mesh remained perfectly horizontal, not drooping down as if an actual butterfly was caught. It's like carrying a weird table, Virto thought, surprised at how lightweight it was.

"Well, it is always nice to see your process of consideration. Although we can continue this process later."

"Didn't the tornado already disappear?" Virto asked.

"Yes, but getting out is usually the hard part. For you see, most of the accounts found astray in this place aren't from travelers who struggled to get in…." Virto suddenly heard more wind, looking behind him to see a number of tornados forming ominously on the horizon.

"Alright, teleport now!"

"Impossible," Isuka said. "We are going to have to do the old fashion way, as you say."

"We have to run?" he asked flabbergasted.

"Oh no, I would have never brought us here if either of us had to do exercise." Isuka started levitating, urging Virto to put some rockets under his feet. "We're flying out of here!"

In the meantime, Lao was explaining his situation for the third time to the hellhound mom, who was busying herself with cutting up the fish she caught. Her limbs had casts of sorts on them and her neck was still wrapped in bandages, but she insisted to Lao that she could handle some travels for river-side fishing.

"Alright, now that I have explained it differently, does it make sense now?" Lao asked reclining forward on the motorcycle. The hellhound mom rolled her eyes as she slashed through her umpteenth fish. "Still no, orderite. You just sound more of an asshole now than you did before."

"Was I really that bad?" Lao said. "I didn't intend to hurt his feelings, I just, told it as it was right?"

"As it was to you," the hellhound pointed out. "It's like as you explain, you get more and more defensive instead of just admitting that you were wrong, which you are, your angle is wrong." She waved around her hands for emphasis, Lao leaning back to avoid any stray drops of fish gut reaching him.

"What are you, my therapist?"

"I read a lot of ancient Metacaronean philosophy while stuck in the weird chair of yours," she said. "It is weird what not being able to hunt down humans would do to you."

"Whatever...so I'm not just a smig right?"

"That's not the point, god damn you!" She said, pointy a claw covered in fish at Lao. "Your friend didn't ask you to do the choice-making for them. They asked for you to show trust and support. It's like telling your sister that you have been staking out a man for weeks, only for her to judge your prey and talking about how weak it looked when he obviously was the strongest one there!"

"...is there something you want to talk about?" Lao asked. Smoke came out of the hellhound's nose, but she furrowed her brow and went back to cutting up the fish. "Nothing, I got away from that part of my family long ago. Just makeup with your friend, before he does the same thing I did with you. And if you explain that story over a fourth time-"

"But how?" Lao asked. "He is barely even talking to me."

"Well, if I wanted my sister to make up with me, I know I would love a biiiig gesture. I read that big gestures appeal to the heart and help break the ice for whatever you wish to speak of. Like a large mattress for my children to sleep in, or a honeymoon while my kids were babysat. Or she could storm that annoying knight's house, steal all his gold..." The hellhound started pondering on about her own dilemma, conjuring up all the dreamy ways she could see her relative come groveling back to her.

"Big gestures…" Lao turned the throttle grips thinking, until he got a good idea. "I got it! Thanks hellhound!"

"Call me Alana! I have a name you know, I'm not just some dog!" She yelled to no avail. Lao closed the library door behind him, leaving her outside with the fish. "Well, I tried. I told him that last tip from a romance novel though." She went back to the fish, wondering what crazy idea that man had cooked up...

"Do you think you're calm now?" Isuka asked Virto. They had finally made it back to the front of the library, with both their hair looking like they went through a literal tornado. They put down the portal mesh and went to the door, Virto shaking his wrists loose as he started at the doorknob. He nodded wait went to open the door, being stopped by Isuka. "Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"I'm going to set up the portal in the backyard, so don't worry a thing about it. Just talk to him." They nodded to each other and Isuka was off, using levitation magic to float the mesh around the side of the building. Virto took a deep breath and walked in. He poked around the shelves then the backrooms, seeing one light on in one of the study rooms. "What is he doing there?" he asked himself, going up in front of the room. He caught Lao inside, waiting in the same sundress that he had shown him earlier. He anxiously tapped his feet, taking a glance at the window and looking back down before realizing Virto had come back. "You're here?" Lao said, getting a good long look at the shock on Virto's face. His mouth was stuck open and his eyes open even wider.

"Alright, I didn't know what to but I just need your attention for one quick second," Lao said, holding his hands up as her hurried over to the door. He held the sleeves on his clothes up so they didn't fall off his shoulders, turning open the door. "May you please come in?" He got uneasy the more Virto stared, his heart starting to beat again once Virto finally came inside the room. Lao closed the door behind him, peeking through the window for any others. "No one followed you right?"

"This outta be good," Virto said confounded. Praying that there were no other people coming, Lao sat back down, adjusting the dress on him since it road up his behind after he sat. "I wanted to say sorry, that's it. But I knew you might have not listened so….I may have touched your suitcase."

"And put on my clothes?" Virto said. Lao nodded silently, looking to see if Virto had softened up for him. He still had that stern look on his face, folding his arms like a teacher that was waiting for a student to admit wrongdoing.

"If it makes you feel any better, I haven't felt this embarrassed since that school talent show," Lao said. Virto raised his watch slowly, his eyes never leaving Lao's. The knight just waited and waited, the guilt compounding inside him until a camera flash sounded from Virto. "Are you taking a picture of this?!" Lao said, covering his chest.

"I have a feeling that this is a keeper," Virto said, covering the smirk growing on his face by pulling his collar over his mouth and nose. "So this is your way of apologizing hmm?"

"No, I was just told I needed something to get your attention," Lao said, laughing nervously. "Virto, I should have just given you my trust and support, instead of trying to solve your problem for you. I understand that now, and I am just going to zip it from now on."

"Ancient Metacaronean philosophy?" Virto asked, getting a perplexed look from Lao.

"How did you know?"

"Isuka gives everyone that breaks a limb that book. She said it is one of those things you never touch unless you are practically forced to. She wasn't wrong," Virto explained. "I'm guessing the Hellhound helped you then."

"As smart as always," Lao said. He had laid his cards now and waited for Virto to say anything more, but each time he looked at him, it was him that would be the one to be looking down in thought. He at least got him to smile out of spite for a bit, but now it was back to that distant gaze away from him that worried Lao so much. He adjusted his seat and then got up when he couldn't take the silence anymore. "I'll let you be alone and shit," he said, putting his chair back and moving towards the door.

"Wait," Virto said. Lao stopped and stared at the door handle. "Yeah?"

"I'm still mad at you, but….I accept your apology," Virto said, his eyes still trained on the ground. Lao could feel his chest untightening. He briefly leaned his torso out the door to a celebratory fist pump, before fully coming back inside to sit back down. "I'm really glad then."

"Besides, if we do ever come back there is enough transformation magic to look however I want. I can look like anything! now that I think about it."

"Well that's pretty convenient."

"Yep, I don't know why I didn't try magic earlier, actually."

"Yeah, haha." Lao nodded and had a quick laugh, readjusting the shoulder strap. "So….."

"Yeah, you can leave now," Virto told him again. Lao nodded along and got up, pausing once more to look back at first.

"Arrrrr, what?" Virto asked

"Oh, nothing, it's just that I heard a camera being used, and not that there's anything wrong with wearing this, but it would be quite uh…"

"Quite the hoot."

"If it got out, right."

"Oh you're not wrong," Virto said, looking lovingly at his watch. "So much blackmail that could be possible, although it only evens out right? After all, it only takes four and a half inches to cause quite a giggle as well~"

"I-"

"That's right, I know what you did," Virto said, his face fully turning towards an evil grin. "Now then, how about we both just let bygones be bygones? I'm sure this will hurt you a lot more than it will hurt me~"

Lao hurried up to the second floor, tossing the dress aside and changing into his normal, bounty hunting clothing. He leaped down from the balcony and into a superman landing on the ground, hurrying outside to see Isuka straightening out the portal along the ground. A barrier of runes kept the children from getting too close, leaving them to watch in all as Isuka slowly made a perfect circle (oval?) out of the mesh. "This looks a lot better than our portal," Lao said, feeling the glow on his skin and clothing as he came up close to it. He could hear the complaining of children that he was able to walk through the barrier like it was nothing, but he wasn't listening at all. "Could this really take us back home?" Lao asked.

"Only one way to find out," Isuka said. "No rush, to be frank, we could always make another one if this one fails. Today, even." Virto and Lao looked at each other, grabbing each other's hand. "Ready man?" Lao asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be, and thanks for everything." They hopped off the edge, the portal swallowing them like a lake of goop. In an instant they were launched into darkness, reemerging into the dim emergency lights of the basement lab flying. They landed roughly on the floor, Virto hitting his knees and elbows on the ground while Lalu landed belly first and hit his chin.

"Muy mouth," Lalu said holding his jaw. "I think I bithmy thongue…."

"I should have left a mattress down here…" Virto groaned. He got up and limped to a flashlight, shining it around them. The portal was gone, but months of it being on had left the wall it was in front of torched and charred. The chair Lao used had long fizzled out along with anything else that had to be used in the room. "Waith, shine the lighth back on me," Lalu said. Virto aimed towards him, hearing him gasp with glee. "My hanths!" He said excitedly, seeing his normal dark-skin complexion back on him. "I have never been so happy tho be black again."

"I don't know, I kind of gotten used to your other body," Virto said, pointing the flashlight at his own hands. They looked as lifeless and as lacking in Vitamin D as before. "And mine it seems, I need to go back outside."

"Weird, it look a bith better to me," Lalu said. "Maybe it's just your pershonalithy." Virto agree, he felt weaker, but at the same time...stronger? "Wait, didn't I leave an experiment loose before going through the portal?" Lalu shrugged while getting up. "I don't know. Everything seemed all good last time I was here."

SCREEEEEEEE

"Oh, right, did you have a monsther down here or something?"

"The alien!" Virto said snapping his fingers. The halls rang with the creatures' screams and steps. It now had a sound to follow, and it was going to track it down until whatever it finds is dead or worse. Virto quickly explored the room, coming back with a special-looking gun for himself and two for Lao. "Shcore!" Lao said, catching them in his arms. "Are we going to kill the basthard?"

"No, the first one is to heal your tongue. Killing aliens is what the second one is for." Lao hit himself with the first one, feeling a weird warmth shoot through his mouth. "Hey, that felt pretty good," Lao said, tugging on his jaw. "Ah- aye!"

"Yep, now are you ready for one last adventure?" Virto said, holding out his free hand to Lao. He grabbed it and pulled himself up, cocking the second gun in his hand. "Ready as I'll ever be Virt."

"And I wouldn't have it any other way."