Argh! This is the last one where the two numbers will be the same  Oh, well, it was fun while it lasted…

EPISODE 4-4

"So, then," Merlon continued, "if you don't believe in prophecies anymore, then why are you keeping your own Prognosticus?"

"It's not a Prognosticus," said Bleck. "Well, I called it that, because that would tie it to the Light and Dark Prognosticus. But it isn't a prophecy. I'm not a prophet, anyway."

"Why don't you believe in prophecies?"

"After what I've seen, how could I?" Count Bleck pulled his hat down as he thought for a moment- again, pulling himself into his own little world inside his head, eliminating all outside distractions. "The Dark Prognosticus was the one written initially, for the point of predicting the future. Specifically, the End of All Worlds. The Light Prognosticus was written to counteract the Dark one, so it wasn't a prophecy, am I correct in saying that?"

"In a way," Merlon said. "We make our own destinies, after all."

"Indeed. But really, the prophecy that was foretold did not come to pass, and the prophecy that wasn't an actual prediction turned out to be true. I came to wonder if the Light Prognosticus was simply so versatile that it could be applied in any way. I started keeping a record of what we're doing, in the Beige Prognosticus, because I believe that if the future generations need answers, they need only look to the past. The answers can't come from a prophecy."

Merlon considered this carefully. "That's a fascinating viewpoint," he said. "I'm impressed you've thought it out so far."

"Thank you," said Count Bleck. "I'm still not sure what it means."

They laughed.

"Merlon," said Tippi, "What happens to the Dark and Light Prognosticuses right now?"

"Since there hopefully will always be a future, the books will always be relevant- that is, since their only purpose is to predict the future," Merlon explained. "I will keep the Light Prognosticus close, and you… you must find a way to keep the Dark Prognosticus from finding it's way into evil's hands."

"The book should be destroyed," said Tippi harshly.

"A book such as that surely should be vanquished, but even without it the power of chaos would live," said Merlon. "It would be unwise to experiment with the dark powers, even for the purpose of annihilating it."

Count Bleck shook his head. "This is too deep for me," he said. "I think I'm getting in over my head. I'm going to go now, and take care of our mission. Thank you, Merlon, for everything."

"Anytime," said Merlon. "Please, feel free to come visit me any time you need an answer."

Count Bleck turned around to open the door, but it suddenly flew open in front of him. He stumbled back a few paces as Dimentio, a giant sheet, and a Koopatrol barreled into the room.

"We messed up bad, Count!" the Koopatrol squawked, in Mimi's voice. Count Bleck realized she had been doing some shape shifting and hadn't had a chance to change back.

"We did not," said Dimentio. "All is well with the sky."

"It has been returned?"

"Yeah," said Mimi, still out of breath. "But we're still in trouble. Bowser and his cronies are real mad at us, Count. They were on our tail for three dimensions!"

"Please don't exaggerate, you silly girl," said Dimentio. "We changed dimensions only once, after the sky was returned, and they cannot follow us here to Flipside. There is no need to panic."

"Yeh saw the rage in 'is eyes," O'Chunks said, panting. He threw the sheet off of himself. "I thought I 'ad 'im, but 'e pulled a dirty trick on me. Couldn't take me in a fair fight!"

"Oh, my," said Tippi. "What happened?"

"It's a long story," Mimi said.

"I'm sure it is," said Count Bleck. "Why don't we return to Castle Bleck and you can tell me all about it."

"Oh, please don't," said Merlon with a grin. "I don't want to miss this."

Count Bleck eyed Merlon, then turned to his minions. "All right," he said. "Explain the situation to me. What happened after you left for Bowser's Castle?"

"Weeeelll…" Mimi began, "We snuck into his vault where he was keeping the sky, but Bowser and his Magikoopa hag were already there. Then he and O'Chunks got into a fight while we were hiding, and Dimentio and me jumped out to help him 'cause we thought it wasn't going well—"

"And yeh were wrong," O'Chunks cut in. "I coulda taken ten o' those donkeys on an empty stomach!"

"O'Chunks, please don't interrupt," said Count Bleck.

"Yeah, O'Chunks," Mimi gloated.

"Mimi, don't rub it in."

"Yeah, Mimi!"

Count Bleck crossed his arms pointed a finger at one, than the other. "Do I have to separate you two?"

"No, Count," they muttered.

"If I may," Dimentio piped up. "We were doing very well in the fight. So well, in fact, that the king was forced to call for reinforcements. We were up against at least half of the Koopa Kingdom. We had no choice but to hightail it out of there. Fortunately, we filled our arms and were able to haul all of the missing sky pieces out with us."

"Wonderful, exclaimed Count Bleck! I'm quite delighted in this. You were successful even without me."

"Yeah," said Mimi, grinning ear to ear now. "We ran and ran and ran until we were far away from them and they had to stop chasing. Then we brought the sky back to Shy Guy Toybox."

Count Bleck blinked. Then, he said, "Did you? Well, that's just wonderful. Really, you did a top-noch job. Count Bleck is very proud of you."

"Golly, thanks, Count!" Mimi squealed.

"May I ask a question, though?"

"Yeah?"

"Didn't the Shy Guys steal the sky from the sky in the first place?"

Dead silence. The three minions stood there, slack-jawed and struck dumb. Tippi was trying her hardest not to laugh, but you could hear her snickers all around the room. Merlon shook his head and sighed.

At last, Mimi said, "Ohhhhh… right."

Count Bleck turned to Merlon. "See, this is why I wanted to come with them."

"I understand now," said Merlon. "What are you going to do, then?"

Count Bleck picked up his staff and tapped the floor three times. "Come on," he said. "Let's go. Were going to put the sky back for good this time."

It was dark when they all finally returned to Castle Bleck. Actually, I should say it was night, at a time when the sun would be down, but still early enough to not be bedtime. It's harder to describe in a dimension that's all black.

As soon as they opened the door, Félicie bounded down the hall and jumped up on Mimi, yipping excitedly.

"Hi, girl!" cooed Mimi. "Didja miss me? Oh, who's a good girl? Who's a good girl!"

"I hope you all took the time to learn something from this experience," said Count Bleck.

"Aye, that I did, Count," said O'Chunks. "There be a time for chunkin' and a time for holdin' back. And when yeh got a army on yer back, then chunkin ain't an option."

"Something like that." Count Bleck shook his head. "You have to remember not to be so careless. Last time, in Rogueport, the whole mission fell apart from simple, careless mistakes. And this time, we could have finished hours ago if you hadn't been careless again."

"It was foolish of us, Count," said Dimentio. "I can assure you, it won't happen again."

Count Bleck shook his head. "I don't want your assurances, Dimentio. Especially not yours—but I don't want any of you to say you'll do better. I want you to do better. Show me."

"Gotchya," said Mimi.

They left the main entry hall and were about to split up to go their own separate ways when they met Nastasia. She turned a corner and was surprised to see them.

"Oh! Um, hey, Count, there's an issue that needs your attention," she said. "Yeah, hang on a second." She leaned around the corner and said, "Hey, uh, guys? Yeah, I found them. Come here."

"What is it?" asked Count Bleck?

"Remember those two X-Nauts we interviewed recently?" she asked?

Just then, Sherwood and Gary, the two X-Naut troops, came around the corner. They were identical to each other, as they were to every other X-Naut, with red and gray uniforms that had a black X prominently on the front. Both of them had the same pair of goggles, the same scruffy color, the same ears, the same gloves and boots, the same look. Except for subtle human differences, they would be undistinguishable. But people, no matter how identical visibly, are never two copies of the same person, and there was something about those two that made it noticeable which one was Sherwood and which one was Gary.

"Uh, hi?" Mimi said, bewildered. "What's this about an interview?"

"Count Bleck seeks to expand our organization," said Count Bleck. "These two were willing to come and work for us, instead of the X-Naut army."

Sherwood waved. "Hi," he said. "Pleased to meetchya. I'm Sherwood, and this is my pal Gary."

Gary waved.

"Gary doesn't talk," Sherwood explained.

"There will be time for introductions tomorrow," said Count Bleck. "I think we're all a little tired from our work today. Minions, why don't you go to sleep? Mimi, take a shower. We will begin introductions in the morning. Sherwood, Gary, come with me. I'll show you where you'll be staying."

"Hey, uh, Count," said Mimi cautiously. "Why didn't you mention any of this happening before?"

Count Bleck was taken by surprise. "Oh…" he said. "It seems to have slipped my mind, with all of the excitement in the castle these past few days. I didn't think to mention it."

"That was pretty careless of you," said Dimentio.

"I suppose it was." Count Bleck chuckled weakly. "Bleh heh heh… I suppose even the best of us aren't above mistakes. We'll all need to work on it, won't we?"

"I suppose we will," said Dimentio.

Count Bleck motioned for the X-Nauts to follow to follow, and then they left down another corridor- Bleck, Sherwood, Gary, and Nastasia.

"Wait, but what about the--" Dimentio started, but Count Bleck was already gone. Dimentio glared at the other two and said with disdain, "Even when I win, he wins."

THE END

I had another version of this story that actually contained the fight between Bowser and O'Chunks, and where they met with the Shy Guys again, but both of them seemed a little redundant and the story played better this way. I've filed them away, but if you're disappointed with how this turned out and you'd like to see the other things, I might post them as a chapter 5 "Bonus Feature" section or something. I liked the scenes- they just didn't make the final cut.