(((A/N: Carley reminded me yesterday that it's been SIX MONTHS since I've updated. When I looked at this, I was surprised that I hadn't posted this chapter yet. I was going to wait until I finished writing the entire story, but it's slow going, so I'll post this…maybe that will encourage me to write some more soon. Actually, I dorkily kinda almost inserted the screenname(s) of a FanFiction/DeviantArt user somewhere in this chapter…if anyone figures it out, I'll post another chapter in a week.)))

Awakening:

(((A/N: Hopefully that chapter title has a double-meaning, and it's also an awakening for me to write more.)))

Later that day (seven minutes later, actually,) Carley arrived at the hospital. She just rode over a hill and there it was.

She walked into the hospital and over to the elevator (((A/N: why she didn't ask the receptionist what room to go to is beyond me…I guess I just like plot holes.))) She chose a random floor. She walked past the blood donation clinic, admiring the angels that were giving blood, and the nurses that were tweaking with the process. "There must be like 515 people in there," she thought. Anyways, she went to a random room. Of course you know, the first one she chose was Ryan's room.

Carley sat in a chair next to the bed and turned on her laptop. She opened an instant message window to the Brain. Obviously, he was surprised that she had arrived at the hospital so quickly (((A/N: but I can't think of a funny exchange there.)))

Brain sent a file to use to open a portal to transfer the files on Carley's computer to Ryan's body. (((A/N: This would be a version of the Personality Transdimensionalizer Re-implantation Device, I guess.))) It was an easy-to-use program – just open the program and tell it what file you wanted transferred. Brain had obviously thought this through.

Carley told the program what file she wanted transferred and sat back while the transfer took place (((A/N: there was a black hole and a rainbow or something…use your imagination, because I don't feel like doing so.)))

After about 2.7 minutes, the file was finished transferring.

Then Carley sat and waited. She twiddled her thumbs and stared at a stain on a ceiling tile. Then she realized that after the file transfer, Ryan would still be asleep. She needed to gently wake him up.

So she slapped him in the face.

"WAKE UP, YOU LAZYASS!" she shouted.

Ryan came to, and after taking a moment to become aware of his surroundings, opened his mouth to speak. Certainly, it was going to be something important, considering the situation. Something Earth-shattering. Intelligent. Maybe poetic.

"Purplemunkydishwasher!"

Nothing out of the ordinary there.

"Blagrafgglefragt. Spagt! BANKPRTZ! Andtfrutz."

Alright. Maybe something a bit wrong.

Carley still had her connection to the Brain open, so he heard this exchange.

"Carley, it appears as though Ryan's behavior is quite erratic," he said. "Did you complete the transfer of both files before waking him?"

Carley had a brief look of confusion on her face, followed by realization. "Both files? Oops. Sorry, Brain, I forgot that he transferred in two parts. I'll transfer the other file as soon as I find it."

Good thing Carley couldn't see the Brain at the moment, because he looked pretty peeved. "I have half a mind to hurt you when I next see you, Carley," he said.

"And Ryan only has half a mind, too!" Pinky pointed out.

Brain pointed out, "although that is true, and moderately funny, at least he has half a mind, Pinky."

"Oh…right, Brain." Pinky had no reason to disagree with that statement.

Carley continued to look for the file. "Let's see, it's not in Received Files…not on my desktop…"

It took her five minutes, but she finally found it. For some reason, it was in her music file, with some crappy country songs. Good job of keeping a tidy computer, C.

Carley transferred the second file, and Ryan started speaking coherently (((A/N: relatively speaking.)))

Ryan and Carley agreed that it was weird to meet this way. After C explained to Ryan what happened, they both decided not to waste any time. They needed to go to his house immediately to research what would have caused the leak between the real world and the toon world.

The thing is, neither one had any money for a cab.

Well, at least they had Carley's bike.