To recap:

It's still the middle of the night.

Nawrocki is building an army of Machine Mades to fill the world with weapons, which he will then rule.

Tippi, Nastasia, and Mimi have teamed up with Merlon and are planning to overthrow Nawrocki from the outside.

Mr. L isn't happy about being a pushover, so he's decided to save the day somehow.

Dimentio isn't sure what he's going to do, but he does feel like doing something.

Count Bleck has pulled out the Dark Prognosticus for more than research. There's a possibility he's lost his marbles.

And where's O'Chunks during all of this?

He's sleeping. Well, it's the middle of the night.

Count Bleck was flipping through the pages of dark prophecies, looking for the passage he'd seen earlier. Dimentio was hovering behind him idly, making a token effort to talk him out of it.

"The noble Count Bleck
Is certainly quick to turn
Back to his old ways," said Dimentio.

"Don't judge me with haikus," said Count Bleck. "This book of prophecies goes on forever. The end of the book was when I created the void, and now that's only in the middle. It seems Nawrocki is fated to be striken by his own hand, as long as a gloved fist crashes down. 'Take, then, the spell of Chaos, that you may increase your power a hundred fold, and use it to do the bidding of the Dark Prognosticus.'"

"Ah, yes, a superb idea. Do the bidding of the book that's already screwed you over once."

"I'm not doing it's bidding," said Count Bleck. "It is a book. It cannot rule me as long as I don't let it."

"It's not a book. It's a tome filled with evil. In fact, you've got some evil on your hands."

"I do not!" Count Bleck was already wiping his hands on his cape. "This book holds dark secrets that many can't handle. I may be the ony one capable of working it's magic. After all, I've been in the heart of the void. Who better to cure a snakebite than one who's survived it?"

"Flawed analogies aside," said Dimentio, "I shall no longer take part in this. And thus I am gone, like the sale price after a festive holiday season."

Count Bleck shrugged it off and continued looking through the book. "Yes, yes," he said out loud. "Carry the seven... and map it to there..."

Back in Flipside, Merlon was greeting the women as they returned to the house.

"Did you arrive at Dimension Bleck safely?" Merlon asked.

Nastasia hung her coat up on an old-fashioned coathook. "Yeah, it was 100% successful. Tippi reports that Nawrocki has increased his army exponentially, and Mimi's gotten us some supplies we can use to attack the fortress."

"Great," said Merlon. Mimi handed him the strange box Dimentio had given her. Merlon turned it over hin his hands a few times, nodding wisely. Then he put his fingers on the edge and tried to pry it open. He frowned and examined it.

"Here, let me," said Nastasia. She took the box and began to turn it around as Dimentio had until it was a cube, and then she opened the top. "We're not all masters of dimensions," she said. "It took me weeks to get the hang of it."

"One of Dimentio's inventions?"

"Yeah."

Merlon looked inside and let out a long, low whistle.

Tippi landed on Merlon's hat and looked in, too. "Oh, wow!" she yelped.

"Good," said Merlon. "That at least begins to even the playing field... that combined with the great powers of the others, and you should stand a chance."

He opened a large, thick tome of his, A Brief History of Mechanics. He opened the book and pointed to a model of a strange heap of iron that looked somewhat like an evil stick figure. The girls leaned in and looked curiously.

"This is a very early machine made," said Merlon. "I've been studying them to give you an advantage should the need to fight arise... but my relm is in magic, not machines. I must confess I know very little of these things. I can't even program my VCR to record Flint Cragley."

"Most magic people don't know much about technology, do they, Mr. Merlon?" asked Mimi.

"No, I'm afraid not. They're both very different areas of study, so that anyone who specializes won't find many fields where they overlap. For example, you don't find many lawyers who are also accomplished pastry chefs, or ninjas who design circutboards."

"Then why does Nawrocki do both?"

Merlon's eyes lit up. "He does, doesn't he? You told me he was a potion mixer."

"Yeah?"

"Well, potions are something I know a thing or two about. And I'm betting Nawrocki does, too. Hand me that red book, will you? Basic Potions, third shelf."

Mimi stood on her tippy toes to reach the book on the third shelf. She firmly placed her hands on both sides of the enormous book and tilted it gently towards her. The weight of the book shifted her center of gravity and she toppled backwards landing under the book.

Merlon picked it up. "Thank you," he said.

"No problem," she replied, jumping to her feet. She smoothed out her dress.

Merlon put the book on his bookstand and began to read out loud, tracing along with his finger.

Count Bleck was aware he was dreaming, even before he realized what he was dreaming about.

In the dream, he was hovering over the book (hovering in the figurative sense, but also in the literal sense, as it was a dream.) Nawrocki was in the background with two of his Yardivars (the name was processing strangely in his dream.)

"They're all already dead," said Nawrocki.

"I know," said Count Bleck. He was aware that the rest of the world had ceased to exist outside his dimension. The book and table were gone, because now he was facing Nawrocki.

"Let's go take them out," said Nawrocki. He tugged on the arm of one of the Yardivars.

Dimentio was standing next to Nawrocki. He said, "Yes, let's. Send them out and we'll be done with them."

"We've got to get rid of all of these things now that they're useless."

"They're not useless," said Count Bleck. "You need them to take over the world."

"World's gone," said Nawrocki.

"I know," said Count Bleck.

"So we need to throw these guys out."

"Oh."

Dimentio opened the Dark Prognosticus.

"Don't do that!" Count Bleck yelled. He jumped and tried to grab the book from Dimentio, and even though it felt like he should have succeeded, he missed. "Put it down!"

"It can't do any harm," said Dimentio. "You already sucked up the whole world."

Count Bleck looked out the window and saw the rest of the universe after Dimension Bleck, but as vast expanse of white. It dawned on him that he had caused the world to be sucked up into the void while he was using the book to stop Nawrocki.

"Even her?" he asked.

"Yep, even her," said Nawrocki.

"You're such a flipping fool," said Dimentio.

Count Bleck leaned out the window. Then all of a sudden he fell backwards and hit the floor with a thud, causing his body in real life to jerk and wake up.

He looked around. He'd fallen asleep on the table with his face in the book. Count Bleck chuckled nervously and closed the book. "That's the last time I fall asleep with my face in a tome of evil," he said.

Suddenly the door flew open and hit the wall with a bang. It bounced back and closed itself, only to be slammed open with a bit less force.

"Bleck!" Nawrocki hollered. "Get going!... It's time to start... sending out the first wave!"

"What?" Count Bleck checked his pocketwatch. If there were dawn in this dimension, it wouldn't crack for another hour or so. "Why so early?"

"Because we're under attack!"