Neither man said anything for several agonizing minutes, as the immense weight of their impossible predicament seemed to crush Dustrielle's lungs. He assumed Brio must have felt similarly.

Finally, Brio stuck the pin into the inflated silence.

"...I don't know what we…we…we do…"

He closed his eyes, and Dustrielle could practically see the screws turning in his skull as he pondered their situation. Dustrielle, himself, could only stare at the spot where the interdimensional tear had been mere minutes before, motionless, his mouth dry and his mind foggy with a deep state of panic

Finally, Brio sighed, shaking his head. Not a "resigned to his fate" sigh, but the step just before it.

"I guess…the only thing I c-c-can think of… well… my knowledge of this is limited, but I'm fairly ssssure that even though the hole itself is no longer there, some of its t-trace energy signature might have some remnants left b-b-behind. Probably wouldn't dissipate for a few hours. It would be easier to c-create another tear in that spot, than in a completely new sssspace. If we could get a good amount of concentrated energy right there, we might be able to "ignite" the energy… energy… energy signature and have it fuel another hole. Won't be stable for long, but might j-just be able to get us out of here. Maybe even back to the castle."

Dustrielle felt his heart leap in his chest. It was a chance. A small chance. Nearly insignificant. But anything was better than waiting for hunger or thirst or exposure to kill them in this nowhere land.

Brio furrowed his brows. "But I don't know what we might have that can create that. There's… there's… nothing around here that can help us out…"

He turned to Dustrielle. "I'm gonna empty my p-pockets. You do the same."

Dustrielle clicked his tongue, removing his lab coat entirely. "That's a bigger ask than you think it is."

Brio gave a quizzical look. "What do you mean b-by that?"

Dustrielle sighed. "Gin and I worked on another side project while we were working on my hand."

He held his lab coat out in front of him, turned it upside down, and shook it.

From the ordinary-looking coat pockets, in a scene that would look straight out of a cartoon to the average observer, fell Dustrielle's wallet, keys, phone, a sample of Brio's toxin, a pentacene crystal, a set of crumpled lab gloves, a Burger King coupon, a sample of highly reactive magnesium in a protective case, lab goggles, a chemical reference textbook, a five ring binder, and perhaps most bizarrely, Dustrielle's sledgehammer.

Brio raised his finger. "... Nathan, what the hell did I just see?"

Dustrielle sighed. "Gin and I were swapping stories one night while we were doing initial trials on my prosthetic. I mentioned how small my car was, and how I couldn't bring much with me when I moved in. Then he started talking about how he sometimes has to make multiple trips from his lab to other workshops when he has to bring a lot of tools to other parts of the castle. Apparently, he and Tropy had worked on a portable pocket dimension generator in the past, though they'd yet to actually refine it into a usable tool. Then I made a terrible pun about putting the pocket dimension in pockets. And that got him thinking. He asked if he could borrow one of my lab coats. Three nights later, we had this prototype."

He gestured to the pockets on his lab coat, summoning the driest and snarkiest parody of a television infomercial salesman he could muster. "Behold, the new and improved crimson red coat, now with pocket dimension pockets. Take any item you should wish to carry with you and place it in the pocket. Presto, for all intents and purposes, it's gone. You can put as many items into the pockets as you wish, and the coat will never feel heavier. And if you wish to retrieve something, just stick your hand inside and it'll come out."

Brio blinked, speechless. "And… what… what if you're looking to retrieve a very sp-sp-specific item? Maybe one you put in first, be-before putting in a ton of other things?"

Dustrielle sighed. "Yeah, the items are coming out in reverse order of placement. Gin wanted to iron that bug out, but then this whole Elemental bullshit happened, so this…"

He gestured vaguely to the pile of items on the ground, newly shaken out of their storage unit. "Is the temporary solution for emptying the pockets."

Brio scoffed, looking one third baffled, one third amused, and one third impressed. "And you said G-Gin made that?"

Dustrielle nodded. "Yeah. Not like I'd have ever been able to do that."

Brio narrowed his eyes, opening his mouth, then closing it again, as if wrestling with whether he wanted to say something or not. Evidently, he decided in favor of the former, after a few seconds.

"You're not the ffffffirst person who's asked him about that."

Dustrielle raised an eyebrow. "Beg your pardon?"

Brio's mouth twitched on the edge of a smirk. "Tropy's been trying to get Gin to d-d-do that for years. It was something he thought would be both useful and a fun side… side… side project for the two of them to work together on. Gin always refused. He was aaaalways 'too busy with his own side projects.' Nefarious wouldn't let me h-hear the end of it. He was always a bit… bit… irked at that. He understood and respected the answer, but he was still irked."

"...your point?"

"You made one little joke, and he rrrran with the idea and had a p-p-prototype in no time."

"So?"

Brio exhaled heavily through his nose. "Dustrielle, are you in… in… in denial or do I have to be the one who breaks it to you?"

Dustrielle knew exactly what Brio was hinting at.

"Gin and I have a purely professional relationship, Brio."

Brio cackled with glee. "I never said that you didn't."

"You insinuated it."

"I did n-n-nothing of the sort. That's not what I was implying. Besides, now… now you really sound like you're in denial."

Dustrielle felt the unscarred side of his face start to go flush.

"In terms of creating that energy field, striking that magnesium with the hammer might create some good friction. I've found the fumes from my acid to be capable of creating decent explosive decomposition, provided I can get a spark to hit it. I don't know if it'll be enough, but it might be our best bet."

Brio pondered that suggestion and sighed. "I've got no better iiiiideas. Need any help with the s-setup?"

Dustrielle shook his head. "No, this should be simple."

He fiddled with the protective case of the magnesium, and took the rock out, placing it on the ground, right around where he believed the tear had been.

As he picked up the lab coat, beginning to put most of the items back into the pockets, he watched as Brio shrugged.

"I'm an old dog, Dustrielle, I've seen a lot… lot in life. If we make it back, you owe it to him. Tell him, if you r-r-return his sentiments."

Dustrielle dropped his keys and phone into the pockets, patting them, making sure they wouldn't fall out in any scuffle, and then looked at Brio.

"Dude, if we make it back, I'm kissing the ground before I do anything else."

He paused, squinting. "You said 'if' I return the sentiments. You didn't manage to gauge that one, huh?"

Brio rolled his eyes, smirking. "I just haven't ffffigured out how you express those things yet. I've got everyone else's q-quirks down. Believe me, the second Tropy g-g-got a glimpse of his female counterpart, I knew that he was ssssssmitten."

Dustrielle narrowed his eyes. He'd been given an overview of the tale of the time Tropy most directly worked against Cortex, from Gin. Though he hadn't heard a critical part of the ending.

"What made Tropy come back to work with Cortex after that?"

Brio pursed his lips. "Let's just say Tropy met his match. She tried to murder him two m-m-months after their first scheme. He wouldn't g-give me too many details, but I think it… it… it was a combination of her trying to steal his devices and attempted insurance fraud. Took him a llllong while to swallow his pride. A f-few years. He t-t-tried working solo, but he needed the rest of our ex-expertise to have a chance in hell to execute the ideas he had."

Dustrielle snorted. "Of course. Insurance fraud. Why not?"

He paused, and another question came to mind.

"Brio, why did you come back to work with Cortex?"

The smirk on Brio's face promptly slid off. He lowered his eyes, mumbling his response.

"It's stupid. You'd make… make fun of me."

"Dude, nothing will be more stupid than 'interdimensional attempted insurance fraud murder'."

Brio sighed. "Fair."

He didn't say anything for a few seconds.

"I've known Cortex since we were ch-children. He is my oldest friend and oldest enemy."

He paused.

"I can't say Cortex always… always… always listened to me. Or even listened most of the time. But he always hhhhheard me out. Nearly always let me speak m-m-m-my opinion, even if he didn't c-care about it. And… for a guy with a stutter…"

He sighed.

"That's more than I can say for a lot of people. He's a… a… a… jackass, but he never tried to finish my sssssentences. Or ignore me entirely. Half the reason I kept w-working with him in the first place was because no one else seemed to take me… me… me seriously. Not that he ever did… b-but I felt closer to it with him than with most. And… in an odd sort of way…"

His dismal frown morphed into a small, almost wistful smile.

"I think working against him actually worked out b-better for me. Sure, I was frustrated with him, bitter, wanted to take d-d-down his plans at any cost. I would've… would've thought he'd want me dead after that. And I'm sure he d-did, for a time… but I noticed a change when I rejoined him. He d-d-didn't always listen… but he listened a lot more than he had before. I don't know if it's… it's fear or trying to keep me on my toes… I like to think it's a little respect, though."

He raised an eyebrow. "Make sense?"

Dustrielle pondered what Brio had said. "...yeah. I suppose."

"You got a plan for yyyyourself, if we manage to get back, but this whole job of yours goes b-b-belly up?"

Dustrielle sighed. "I mean… technically no. Well, I probably could get an industry job, or something, but… jeez, it's so weird to say. I like this job. A lot. I guess I'd probably try to get into the scheme making… er, scheme… myself. I don't know if I could do it though… not exactly the creative type."

Brio nodded. "I get it. J-just wanted to gauge where you were at."

Dustrielle snorted as he pressed the all too familiar button on his hammer, and the acid poured onto the ground on and around the magnesium. "Let's make sure we can get back before we talk about my career plans."

Once the acid was drained from the hammer, Dustrielle raised it above his head and behind his shoulders. He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

Easy, Nathan. Bring it down quick. Pretend you're back on Dad's farm. You're holding an ax and that's a block of wood.

If he could will his body to just give in to instinct… happy instinct, not fear instinct… he'd be far less likely to fuck it up.

He swung it down and the clang of the metal hitting the rock rang out. He caught a quick flash from the rock and almost cheered. But the fumes hadn't caught.

"Shit!"

He brought the hammer back up and down, with a roar of fury and force punctuating the blow. The hammer glanced the rock and didn't even spark.

"Come on!"

Once more, he lifted the hammer. He felt the sweat starting to coat his back, even with old redneck strength, he couldn't do this much longer. Each swing was taking a bit out of him.

He took several breaths, closing his eyes, willing his heart rate and blood pressure to calm. He thought about what was at stake. They needed to get home. They needed to take Cortex down a peg.

And he… he had words… that he didn't want to die without saying.

Clang!

Fwoom!

Sparks had flown from the contact, and a quick flash of blue flames shone in front of the two men.

Barely long enough for Dustrielle to process it.

Because behind those flames, he heard an odd crackling, like radio static. Directly after the flame was visible, there was an explosion of bright white light.

Even before he was fully aware that the light was from a tear, he already started to run towards it. He wasn't even thinking, just running, and shouting:

"In! In! Go!"

He barreled through the crack, diving through it, landing on the ground and skidding a few feet forward. He tried to yell as his hand was scraped up from the skid, but he was too busy coughing, wheezing, trying to get air into his lungs. As he patted his chest, he looked over to see Brio, flat on his back, also gasping for air.

But, more importantly, they were surrounded by grey. Not white. The familiar grey stone walls and ground of Tropy's lab. And for all intents and purposes: they were alive.

"Dustrielle! Brio!"

The words came out in a high, wheezing scream, that sounded…oddly muffled.

Dustrielle pricked up his ears, confused, not knowing whose voice it was at first. But once he looked around, he found the source of the noise.

But before he processed the person behind the voice, he gasped when he saw the window. Or rather, the part of the castle where the window had been.

Nearly that entire wall of the castle had been knocked down. Cobblestones were littered around the lab, and the electromagnetic beam devices looked as though they'd been torn apart.

And it was impossible to ignore that, hovering, in the open air behind the torn down wall: Doom Mech 6, piloted, of course, by Gin.

It was built similarly to Doom Mech 2, the one Gin had used to fight Coco Bandicoot on the moon, though slimmer, and without the laser machine guns in its hands. Instead, in its hands was a tightly bound and struggling Doctor Cortex.

Cortex gasped, looking as though he was exhausted, and looked over at Dustrielle. He plastered a smile onto his face, before looking past Dustrielle.

"They're alive, Nefarious, isn't this great?"

Dustrielle turned to look behind him and saw Tropy on his knees, in front of the Slicer console with a screwdriver between his teeth and a tool Dustrielle didn't recognize in his hands. His face was a light purple, and he was drenched in sweat. He looked at Dustrielle and Brio and sighed, a deep and relieved sound, before dropping his tools. They landed on the ground with a loud clang as he stood up and walked towards Brio.

"Are you two alright?"

Dustrielle had almost caught his breath by this point, and managed to wheeze. "I'm fine. Get a Lab Assistant Medic, give us a once over. But I think we're okay."

Tropy nodded and pulled his communicator out of his pocket. "Dr. Tropy. Main Atrium. Medical assistance needed. Send one or two Medics. Urgent but not critical. Over."

He put the communicator back into his pocket, and sighed again, putting his hands to his face. Dustrielle winced, pulling himself to his feet and tried to stumble over to Tropy. He'd seen Tropy vulnerable before, for Christ's sake, just before they'd left he'd been tied up and seemingly mere hours away from certain brainwashing or death. But this was different. It wasn't fear. Or embarrassment. A certain type of relief that revealed emotions, that no villain tended to like revealing to the outside world, even to his closest associates.

Cortex cleared his throat and tilted his head towards Dustrielle and Brio. "There. They're back. They're fine. Now, will you let me go?"

Dustrielle opened his mouth to ask what had happened, but Tropy's eyes narrowed to near closing, and his face went nearly purple again.

"No."

He straightened up and strode over to Cortex, and without warning, punched Cortex in the face.

" No, you're not being let go. This is it, Cortex, I've had enough of this tomfoolery. Your impulsiveness, paranoia, cowardice and sheer and blatant incompetence has reached a new low. No more. I will not have any more of this. Your time as our leader has come to an end"

Cortex spat out blood, shuddering, and glared back at Tropy. "And you plan to address this, how? You surely don't plan to hold me like this forever."

Tropy's lips tightened, before he started speaking again. "Uka Uka has received a report of what went on today. With evidence. When I went to the hall to 'grab more tools', I contacted him."

Cortex's face went nearly white, before he managed to compose himself enough to utter a single word. "Traitor."

Tropy scowled. "Ah yes, coming from someone who just left two of his men to die without a second thought."

"I don't suppose you will enjoy taking my place then?"

Tropy cocked an eyebrow. "What makes you think I'm leading the team?"

"Don't play innocent with me! You were there with all of us! When Uka Uka said that if I screwed up again he had someone else 'on deck' to replace me. Did you honestly not realize he meant you?!"

Tropy glanced aside and then back to Cortex. "It's by no means a foregone conclusion. I won't claim that I didn't wonder. But truly, if I am his intended choice, he didn't inform me of it."

Their bickering was interrupted by a bright flash of light above them, and a loud roar.

"CORTEX!"

Dustrielle felt a shiver go down his spine, and he sank weakly to his knees, feeling almost numb. Even though he wasn't the one in trouble, he still couldn't help but feel fear eat its way around his body. Uka Uka, relatively calm last time he'd seen him, had given him enough of a chill. This seemed like a reckoning of biblical proportions.

Uka Uka appeared above them, and the mask wasted no time in levitating over to Cortex.

"Gin! Drop him!" He bellowed.

Gin made a loud sort of squeak and pressed a button, leaving Cortex tumbling to the ground. Cortex quickly sprang back up to his feet, but Uka Uka immediately got into his face.

"Not only have you failed me, not only have you made reckless decisions, but you have schemed behind my back! Consider yourself officially demoted!"

Cortex grit his teeth.

"Oh? So how is this going to happen then? Am I exiled? Or am I just going to work under the new leader?"

Uka Uka grinned widely and wildly. "You could put it that way. Shall I introduce you to him?"

Cortex glared over to Tropy and back to Uka Uka. "I have the feeling that I already know him."

Uka Uka cackled, the laughter reverberating around the room. Dustrielle could practically hear thunder behind it.

"Oh, you definitely do…"

And within a second, Uka Uka had flown into Cortex's head. He quickly swiveled around, placing himself over Cortex's face. Cortex yelped, lifting his hands up to his face. At first, he tried to pull the mask off, but it seemed as though the more he tried, the more stuck on Uka Uka seemed to be. After a few seconds, Cortex had seemed to give up on that, instead clawing at his own face and neck.

And after a few more seconds, Cortex's arms went completely limp, his face tilted downward.

Then, slowly, his head lifted up again. And the voice that came from him was a sickening blended concoction of his voice's cunning intonations, and Uka Uka's pure destructive fury.

"If you want to get a job done…" Uka Uka said, grinning, eyes glowing as he looked around the room, piloting Cortex's neck and balling Cortex's fists. "You need to do it yourself…"