Chapter 20

Nut 2 tried to sound as official as possible. "Excuse me, Sergeant, Dr. Moronicus and I are here to inspect the reactor core."

"I wasn't aware there was an inspection coming," replied the guard as Dr. Ingerman fought to refrain from shouting indignantly at the android.

"The Supreme Leader schedules what he pleases," said Nut 2 stiffly, "Now, step aside!"

"Do you have a Security Pass?"

As a matter of fact Nut 2 did, from his interrogation days. It had never been confiscated after he had fallen from favor. He produced it with a dramatic flourish. The guard took a look and raised his eyebrows.

"This picture doesn't look like you." He held up the Pass and Nut 2 saw, to his horror, that it was Nut 1 on the photo. He must have grabbed the wrong Pass at some point.

Now, he could have acknowledged this fact and tried something else, but Nut 2 was not one to take the most logical option. So instead he replied, still stiff and official sounding, "Yes it does."

"No it doesn't."

"I think you'll find it does."

"But it doesn't!"

"Hold it up to the light and you'll—"

"Sir, this photo doesn't look like you!"

"—and it doesn't look like you either, scalawag!"

"This is a woman's face!"

"It…it was accurate at the time. Don't you dare question my life's choices!"

"The hair's different!"

"I am allowed to go to the barber, am I not?"

"Look at that nose!"

Nut 2 pointed to the Doctor. "Look at that nose!"

"Vhat!" the owner of said nose exclaimed.

"Sir—ma'am—whatever you are—this picture is not you! I cannot let you enter the reactor core." The guard said firmly.

Dr. Ingerman pulled Nut 2 aside. "Now look, you—trike-sey is-hey ead-hey und nock-key im-hey un-oncious-cey."

Nut 2 thought a moment, nodded in understanding, and started pulling his pants off.

"What are you doing?" The Doctor shrieked.

"Exactly what you wanted!"

"No I didn't!"

Nut 2 paused. "You didn't tell me to do a striptease in front of him while you injected Novocain up his ear?"

The Doctor, clenching his hair, turned to the bewildered guard. "Could you please shoot me and put me out of mein misery?"

.

Snot picked himself out of the cheese, cursing. He looked up and saw a pair of boots before him. He looked further up and saw a very large man—the same man who had been sitting on him earlier. A very large and a very fierce looking man who looked delighted to get his hands on the traitor again.

"Um…" Snot began nervously.

"Payback time, 'My Lord'," the man said with an ugly grin.

"I was just posing!" Snot squeaked. "I was pretending to be Viggo's stooge so I could spy on him! Yeah, that's right! I'm a double agent! A double agent! Or would it be a triple agent? Whatever it is, it's what I am! I'm on your side!"

Princess Astrid had joined them by now and snorted.

"Shall I kill him, your highness?" Snot's captor asked.

"NO!" Snot shrieked. It was almost comical to see the way he squirmed like a fish. The Princess almost felt sorry for him.

The key word there was 'almost'. She shook her head. "Lock him up somewhere secure. We'll have a proper trial later, when this is over. And if we lose, I'm sure Viggo will have him executed for being useless and cowardly."

"Face it, Ast, you'd feel incomplete if I was gone," Snot said, suddenly dreamy.

Astrid almost countermanded her order. Instead she said, "Gag him tightly and don't take it off for any reason."

Snot's captor grinned. "Gladly."

"MMPIHPHSPHPHM!" Snot tried to shout as he was unceremoniously tossed into an empty ammunition crate.

.

Exactly where the Tank was going now or why it was still in motion was anyone's guess, but the driver had never been told to stop or change direction, so the Red Death continued hurtling across the cheesy landscape, even if both combatants were on top of it now, which made it pretty useless for fighting purposes. No doubt the Don hoped that Trio would fall off and get run over, and to make this happen he fired lighting at the boy.

"I thought I said 'A weapon of choice'." Trio retorted as he deflected the bolts with his flaming sword.

"I have changed my mind. I choose the Torque now as my weapon."

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you didn't keep your word."

"Oh I gave you no word to keep," the Supreme Leader replied with a nasty smile. Trio picked him up and flung him against the Tank's roof. The Supreme Leader kicked him in the leg, but unfortunately for him he kicked the metal one, and he doubled up in pain instead of Trio. Trio raised his weapon of choice to finish him, but the Supreme Leader had the sense of mind to roll over and dodge it, though in doing so he nearly rolled off the speeding Tank.

.

After sneaking around and helping himself to some of the Shattermaster's food (strictly from Viggo's quarters, for the rest of the food on the Shattermaster was of the quality that could give a man stomach cancer) Alvin the Glut had made up his mind. He did not really care now who won the fight, and he rather hoped both sides annihilated each other. But his beloved Centennial Condor was down on that moon. The solution was quite simple: he would go down to the surface, take back his ship, and leave.

The Shattermaster was starting to run out of shuttles, but with the fight going on at least there was no security to worry about. In the chaos nobody paid him any attention, and he made it down to the surface without trouble.

He saw the Don and that runt Hiccup fighting some ways off. For a moment he stopped to watch, relishing the sight of the boy in trouble, yet also a bit impressed that he was doing so well against a Tank. Perhaps the boy wasn't so useless after all.

He shrugged and headed for the Condor. He smiled as he had not in months. Here was his wonderful ship, his once again.

Then he saw 2TH-LS on the gangplank.

"Going somewhere?"

"You know I can't understand that robot gobbly-gook." Alvin snapped. "Now get on the ship and get her started, you overgrown volleyball."

2TH responded by pulling out his zapper and zapping Alvin in the leg.

"OUCH! You little menace, you—I'll teach you to zap me!"

"That won't be necessary. I already know how to." The robot did it again, and this time with such a charge of electricity that Alvin's skeleton become visible for a second.

"Now jest for that I'm gonna tear ya to pieces!"

But at that moment Alvin felt powerful hands grab his head and twist it around. Half gagged he saw General Vast.

"What did you do with my son?" the General demanded. He had to loosen his grip a little so Alvin could speak.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he grinned. He was rewarded with a blow to the face from Valka Vast, who had joined them. "Argh! Why does everyone enjoy causing me pain? It's supposed to be the other way around!"

"Tell us right now: what did you do with Hal?" Valka Vast shouted.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I'm afraid I can't do that." Alvin was rewarded with another blow, but he blew this one off with a laugh. "Where'd you even come up with a name like 'Hal' anyway?"

"It's a dignified name for a dignified warrior," General Vast snapped.

"It was a nickname for King Henry V of England, a strange little country on a planet called 'Earth', located in the Milky Way Galaxy in the—" 2TH stopped when he realized nobody was listening to his trivia. He was deeply offended and decided the homo-sapiens were not worthy of his attention. General Vast, unaware of what the robot was thinking, struck Alvin and tightened his grip on the man's throat.

Alvin wheezed, "All right, all right…I'm a good man of business….here's the deal…you let me go off with the Condor, and I'll tell you where he is. Deal?"

"No." 2TH said flatly. He was ignored again.

"Deal," General Vast said, "Tell me where he is and I'll let you go."

"Of course. You just let me go and I'll tell you where he is."

"No, you tell me where he is and then I'll let you go."

"No, no, no, you will let me go first, and then I'll tell you."

"So what are we arguing about?" General Vast demanded.

"Because you won't let me go unless I tell you, and I won't tell you unless you let me go! So let me go and I'll tell you!" Alvin yelled.

"You think I'm gonna let you go so you can escape without telling me anything?"

"You think I'm gonna tell you so you can kill me without letting go?"

"You Tell Me Where He Is Now!"

"You Let Me Go First!"

"YOU TELL ME WHERE HE IS!"

"NOT UNTIL YOU LET ME GO!"

"NOT UNTIL YOU TELL ME!"

"No!"

"Then no!"

"NO!" They both shouted in each other's faces.

2TH sighed. "This could go on for a while…"

.

The Shattermaster's chief Chemist held a test tube above another. "All set?"

"Ready sir,"

All the chemists were covered in bandages to the point where they resembled upright mummies. A few had crutches, others were wearing splints. It was ridiculous that they should be carrying out an experiment in such condition, but the Supreme Leader wanted this formula perfected immediately.

"Right…steady now. Let's not have a repeat of what happened last time…"

They all nodded earnestly. The Chemist very slowly tilted the tube and very slowly let a drop slide out.

"Good…just a little more…careful…"

The door suddenly burst opened. The startled chemists jumped.

"WHERE'S GENERAL ERET?" Nut 1 shouted eagerly.

.

Dr. Ingerman and Nut 2 looked up from their work at the sudden noise. "Mein Himmel! What vas that?"

Nut 2 grinned. "Sounded like something went 'Boom'! Nice! But our 'Boom' is going to be even better!"

Dr. Ingerman gulped and continued to read from him D.U.M.B phone. "Now take out the electromagnetic fuse—slowly."

Nut 2 began removing the fuse at the rate of 1 millimeter a minute.

"Not that slowly. Just don't mess it up." The Doctor snapped. "You know, I can't believe you couldn't understand Pig Latin."

"Hey, I distracted the guy, didn't I?"

"Yes—and a blow to the head would've distracted him even more so."

Nut 2 snorted and mumbled something about "No Artistic Vision".

"Pay attention to what you're doing! Do you want that thing to go off and blow us into the afterlife?"

Nut 2 muttered something unprintable. Then with a scowl he added, "Pay attention. Pay attention! And you were saying earlier that you didn't know any of this. What exactly are you a doctor of anyway?"

"Liberal Studies." The Doctor said softly.

Nut 2 nearly dropped the reactor. "Liberal Studies!"

"Watch what you're doing!" The Doctor looked over the directions again. "Now, before the fuse is removed more than halfway, make sure you disconnect the trigger."

"Huh?"

"I said make sure you disconnect the trigger."

"The what?"

"The trigger! Make sure it's disconnected before the fuse is half removed, because once it's half removed a connected trigger will automatically start the self-destruct countdown!"

Nut 2 looked down at the machinery he was holding. "Oh."

Dr. Ingerman looked at the machinery too, and his eyes bulged. "Oh."

The reactor in Nut 2's hands started steaming.

"That thing's gonna blow!" The Doctor shrieked.

"Cool! Let's get out of here!" Nut 2 shouted.

"You two aren't going anywhere! Security Officer Savage—that's me—has caught you!" The Officer who appeared was flanked by numerous soldiers, all of whom had ray guns pointed at them. "Caught like fish in a barrel! Say, android, what's that thing you're holding?"

Nut 2 tossed it to him. "Catch!" He ran off as fast as his legs could carry him, and the Doctor was right behind. They ran unimpeded because the soldiers had realized what their officer was holding and were running away too. Security Officer Savage looked down at the reactor in his hands for a moment, then threw it away and ran like all the rest. Each and every runner was screaming like a little girl.

"Find a place of security!"

.

While the Shattermaster had been travelling to Eren'dor, General Eret had been off-duty. He had opted to go spend a few hours relaxing in the Jacuzzi in the Officer's Club, with a cigar in his mouth and a martini in his hand. It was one of the few perks of being an Officer in the Federation. He had been there whilst Trio and the Supreme Leader had exchanged threats over the intercoms. A little while later the alarm system went off, calling all hands to their posts. The General had been reluctant to leave the soothing warm pool, but he knew he could get in trouble for not being present during a battle. Still, he took his sweet time getting out and drying off.

Suddenly the doors opened. Eret dully turned around to see who had arrived, and the cigar dropped from his mouth.

"Oh no…"

Nut 1 rejoiced. "I've found you! Oh, kiss me, my amazingly handsome god-in-human-form human!"

General Eret suddenly became very aware he was wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. Nut 1 also became suddenly aware of the fact and her eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. To the General's shock she leapt right over the Jacuzzi (she was an android, remember), graceful as a gazelle, and flung her arms around him.

"Get off me!"

"Oh my wondrous Adonis, ignite me like a firework!"

"Leggo!"

"Yes, I love Legos too—no copyright infringement intended—but I love you even more!"

They jostled a moment. And then suddenly the ship lurched and they both fell into the hot tub, which Nut 1 enjoyed a whole lot more than Eret did, partly because as he fell he inadvertently dropped his towel.

.

In the Shattermaster's command deck the fighting had been monitored closely, when suddenly the lights flickered.

"What's going on, Mr. Larsen?" General So's asked.

"We're losing power, sir! Something seems to be wrong with the main reactor."

"Impossible! Nothing can get through our—"

But then people began shouting at the same time:

"The thrusters are dying!"

"The computers are switching off!"

"The ice cream maker is spewing out yogurt!"

The ship suddenly lurched and ominously began tilting.

"Sir! We've developed a severe list!" Mr. Larsen shouted.

"You don't say!" General So's retorted.

The lights went out.

"And we've lost power." Mr. Larsen added.

"You don't say!"

The ship shuddered from lasers fired by the Separatists. Several sections of the hull exploded.

"And the shields are down!"

"You don't say!"

The ship began to point directly downwards towards the moon's surface.

"And we're going to crash!"

"You don't say!"

.

Trio landed a blow on the Supreme Leader's thigh with his sword. With a cry he stumbled and nearly fell off the Tank. Hanging over the edge partway, he looked down into one of the turret targeting windows. The man operating the turret waved.

"How are you, sir?"

"I'll have your job for that." The Don growled. Overly anxious to get into a better position, he instead slipped and ended up clinging for dear life to the turret.

Trio was already there, and he drove his sword into the turret, cutting through the metal viciously.

"What is that thing made of?" the Supreme Leader could not help but ask.

"Built it myself," Trio answered smugly. He nearly had the turret severed, but the Supreme Leader used the Torque to push himself into the air, and he landed gracefully on the Tank directly behind Trio.

The Supreme Leader smiled at Trio's amazed look. "If you only knew the extent of my power…I wish you did: it might kill you!"

"I think the God Jupiter did that to a woman once," Trio remarked.

"Hah! It is fitting—for I am practically a God! Or I will be, in a minute, once I have that Stone! And with it I shall have—"

Trio spoke with forced horror. "Complete Power! An empire built on the bones of your enemies! Eternal Youth! Future knowledge! The planets orbiting at your bidding! The master race of super-beings! Endless lumps of pudding, soap operas playing 24/7, no movies but sequels and remakes, and a ban on all journalism etc. etc. etc.! Yes, we get it, we get it!"

"Don't mock me, fop!" He smiled nastily once his anger abated, "Alvin the Glut never did tell you what happened your father!"

"He told me enough and too much and not enough all at the same time. Impressive, isn't it?" He eyed Viggo suspiciously, "Wait a minute. If you're about to tell me you're my father, I'm seriously going to throw up all over your polished black boots."

Suddenly the Tank stopped, nearly throwing the two men off it.

"What just happened?" Trio asked, looking around in confusion.

The Supreme Leader groaned. "Are we out?"

"Yes sir," said one of the crewmen.

The Supreme Leader began inspecting his pockets. He scowled. "Anyone have a quarter?"

"Wait a minute. You mean this Tank operates like a kiddie ride?" Trio exclaimed.

"We didn't have the budget for a better engine system." Don Viggo said bitterly. "25 cents pays for 25 minutes of operations."

Trio held out a coin. "Here."

"Thanks." He tossed it to the crewmen. They heard the sound of a coin being inserted, and then the Tank roared to life again. The fighting resumed as if nothing had happened.

.

"Tell me where my son is!" General Vast roared.

"Let me go!" Alvin the Glut roared back.

"Seven minutes and sixteen seconds…seven minutes and seventeen seconds…" The Robot muttered.

With a cry Valka Vast suddenly and frantically pointed upwards. The Shattermaster was plummeting like a stone towards the moon, and it looked like it would land right on top of them!

Without a word the Vast's and the Robot ran for it. Freed from the chokehold, Alvin the Glut staggered backwards, oblivious as to why they had fled.

"HA! Yeah, go on and run, ya bunch of pansies! Go and never mess with Alvin the Glut again!" He paused. "Why do I get the feeling something's wrong?"

He looked up and saw the Shattermaster was coming down directly above him. His mouth would have dropped a dozen floors it had been capable.

The Shattermaster crashed stern first. The heat of the failing engines caused some cheese to melt and so the stern became imbedded even further in the soft ground. The squelching sound was like a Whoopee Cushion being pressed slowly. For a few seconds the ship rested at a near 45 degree tilt, with the bow pointed towards the sky, and then gravity pulled it downwards.

Alvin squeezed his eyes shut. But nothing happened. He opened an eye timidly, and then he saw the tip of the Shattermaster's bow was less than an inch in front of him. Weak with relief, he laughed. "HA! It'll take more than that to kill Alvin the Glut!"

Some Terrible Terrors came over to investigate.

"Ooooooh! Big Indestructible Ship and Big Indestructible Fat Guy!"

Alvin turned around at the noise. "Hey, shut up you little pests! Scram!" He aimed a kick but they scurried out of range, shocked at the treatment. "Yeah, that's right. Clear off or I'll turn you into belts!"

"Did you hear that?" the Terrors said indignantly to one another.

"Belts!"

They opened their mouths and in an instant flames engulfed Alvin the Glut.

They are called Terrible Terrors, after all!

.

On board the Shattermaster, which despite its crash landing was still in a fairly salvageable condition, the Doctor's heart slowly began to resume its normal rate and he cautiously emerged from the crate he was hiding behind. He saw others shakily getting to their feet and still others abandoning ship before something else happened. He felt greatly relieved to find he was still alive. But then Nut 2 struck him.

"You call that an explosion?"

"Hey!"

"You promised me a big explosion! That was like a -.01 on the Richter Scale!"

"It was big enough for me!" The reactor core had, bizarrely, not really blown up so much as deflated. The power loss to the ship had been complete, true, but the only real damaged sustained had been from the landing, and even that had not been as destructive as it might have been. Nut 2 was fully aware of this and downright furious.

"You maniac! We didn't blow it up! It was supposed to be the most amazing mother of explosions, not a…a…!" He was so angry he was lost for words, but he kept hitting the Doctor in the stomach. "It was supposed to be Ragnarök!"

Nobody but Nut 2 regretted this. Even Nut 1 hardly cared, for she had her beloved and that was compensation enough.

.

The fight on top of the Red Death had turned into a melee battle, with the Supreme Leader getting the worst of it, mainly because Trio had a metal leg and a metal hilt. The Supreme Leader tried many times to use the Torque against his foe, but for some reason his powers were not working as swiftly as usual, which gave Trio plenty of time to avoid the attacks or stop them.

Yet for all of this, one had to admire the Supreme Leader's refusal to give up even after losing several teeth and gaining a black eye and broken nose.

But Trio was not infallible. He swung too widely, and the Supreme Leader managed to shoot lighting at his arm. It was a feeble blow, but it was still a blow, and Trio fell on his side. From there he looked ahead and saw a very large ravine a short distance from them.

Trio groaned. "Why do these fights always end up leading towards a giant cliff? Hey down below? Can't you guys see the cliff coming? Change the direction!"

"Can't!" cried the driver. "The steering's jammed!"

Trio turned to Viggo, "Temporary Truce?"

"In your dreams, boy."

"You'll all likely die if we drive off that ledge, you know."

"I'm too powerful to die."

"And your crew?"

"Collateral damage."

Upon hearing those words, unbeknownst to them, the Tank crew promptly pulled an emergency lever and abandoned the vehicle.

Trio gave his foe a slight salute. "Suit yourself. I think I'll activate mine." He reached for a chord on his jacket, but the Supreme Leader grabbed his hand.

"Oh no you don't!"

"Lemme go!"

"This will not be my end, but it will be yours!"

Trio punched the Supreme Leader and threw him onto the Tank's roof. Viggo grabbed him again and pulled. Trio kicked and propelled himself backwards, so that he tumbled right into and over Viggo. Viggo did not lose his grip and it saved his life, for Trio had pushed so hard he rolled off the Red Death and Viggo came rolling with him. As they collected themselves and sorted out which limb belonged to which body they watched the Tank drive right off the cliff and go careening into the gully below.

"Now how does one describe the sound of iron crashing into cheese?" Trio mused. He gave the Supreme Leader a kick in the head and rolled away from him. Standing up, he thrust a hand into his pocket. His heart nearly stopped. The Stone was not in it!

"What?" he looked around frantically. To his relief, the Stone was lying just a few meters away. And Don Viggo de Cappuccino was already dragging himself towards it, a hand eagerly extended.

Trio whipped out his fire sword and threw it right in front of Viggo's hand. "Oh no you don't!"

"Oh yes I do!" Viggo lunged for the Stone but Trio had already gotten it. "NO! IT'S MINE! MINE! GIVE IT TO ME! IT'S MINE! MY OWN! AND I WANT IT!"

"No thanks." Trio retorted.

"You don't even know how to use it!"

"As a matter of fact—"

"You don't! You'd need a teacher!" a gleam came to Viggo's eye. "Say! I could show you the ways of the Torque!"

"The Torque?" Trio repeated to himself.

"We could rule the galaxy together!"

Trio ignored him. He looked down at the Stone. "All the power in the Universe, eh? All right then, let's find out!" He held the Stone in both hands and closed his eyes. Blue smoke began wafting out of it. Sparks burst from its edges. Trio felt his ribcage vibrate but he did not let go.

And when he opened his eyes he saw a black and white cow standing where the Supreme Leader had been.

"Whoa."

The cow looked at him in confusion. Then it looked down, discovered it had hooves and an udder, and gave the cow equivalent of a scream. Trio nearly doubled over with laughter as the cow looked ready to have a panic attack.

"The Cattle-Driver turned into cattle! Ha!" Trio looked at the Stone again. "Say, what else can I turn him into?"

This time he did not close his eyes. Blue smoke swiftly surrounded the cow, vanishing almost as swiftly, revealing a bright red parrot.

"Brack! Dancing worms! Dancing worms!" the bird squawked in a falsetto voice.

"Dancing worms?" Trio repeated, bemused "Do you want me to turn you into that?"

"Ack! I'm a Devil, I'm a Devil! Kill them all! Kill them all!"

"Now that's not very nice—"

But the parrot swooped over to him and pecked at his face. Waving his arms instinctively Trio saw smoke surround them both. They heard a loud 'POOF!' sound. When the smoke cleared they found themselves in the middle of a muddy field.

"Yuck," Trio said. He closed his eyes, not caring if the parrot came with him or not. Smoke surrounded him again and he heard that POOF! sound again.

He opened his eyes. He and the Parrot were in a very elegant round room. A dozen men in suits stared at them.

One of them whipped out a walkie-talkie and yelled into it, "Intruders in the Oval Office!"

"What place is this?" Trio wondered out loud.

"Kill them all! I'm a Devil! I'm a Devil!" the parrot announced.

"They're hostile!" another man shouted. A dozen guns were raised and pointed at them.

"Nice going, birdbrain!" Trio snapped as he concentrated on the Stone. The parrot clung to him.

POOF!

They were in a pet store. A man stood before a counter, a bird cage in his hand. He turned to the man behind the counter.

"I thought you said you were all out of parrots. And that one, at least, is clearly still alive."

"Oh yeah. Remarkable bird, isn't it? Beautiful plumage—" the cashier said quickly.

Trio grabbed Viggo and held him up. "You want him? He's not worth much but I'm sure he'll be—"

But the bird grabbed the Stone from Trio with its beak and the smoke surrounded them once more.

POOF!

Viggo was back in his human form, and still clinging to Trio. They were hurtling through space towards a very large planet with creamy orange clouds that swirled around it at high speeds. A massive red cloud, moving like a thousand hurricanes, was visible in the lower hemisphere. It was towards this storm that they were speeding.

Without any spacesuits on.

Trio and Viggo tried to fight over the Stone in zero gravity, but quickly (and silently) agreed to settle this somewhere where there was oxygen.

POOF!

They were standing amidst long grass.

"Well, that's an improvement over Outer Space." Trio said, brushing his clothes off.

Viggo struck an attacking pose. "Right, where were we?"

Trio did the same. "You were about to surrender."

"No, I was going to—"

Suddenly a squad of cavalry rode towards them. To their astonishment they saw the horsemen were armored apes.

The creatures shrieked, "Humans! Dirty humans! Kill them!"

Viggo grabbed Trio's arm, and Trio got the Stone to work seconds before being impaled by a spear.

POOF!

They were standing in a strange room. A man in a gold shirt pointed at them and shouted into a microphone.

"Scotty, you've beamed up the wrong people!"

Viggo turned to Trio, "Would you please just take us back to Eren'dor?"

"Hey, I'm still new to this stuff!"

"If you just gave me the Stone our troubles would be over!"

"Hah! Like you could do any better!"

"Listen, boy—"

"You wanna be a cow again?"

A man with pointed ears turned to the man in the gold shirt. "A man as a cow? That is not logical."

The man in the gold shirt approached them. "Excuse me, but what is—"

"You stay out of this!" Viggo snapped.

"Don't mind us," Trio added, not even looking at who he was talking to, "It's been a very long day."

"That is not logical either, for a day, such as you humans define it, can only have a length of—"

They never found out. Trio activated the Stone once again and this time they safely landed on Eren'dor—several miles away from their starting point.

"Whew!" Trio said, wiping his forehead.

"'Whew' indeed." The Supreme Leader agreed. "Now GIVE ME THAT STONE!"

"Fine," Trio replied. Clutching the Stone in his fist he slammed it into Viggo's open mouth. Then he activated the Stone again and Viggo, once more, was surrounded by smoke. When it cleared, a brick lay where Viggo had been standing. Trio picked it up.

"How about we use you as a doorstop?" he chuckled.

And with that he used the Stone one more time.

POOF!

He found himself right next to Astrid, who nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Did you miss me?" he asked cheekily.

She might have emotionally, but her fists did not.