Clash of the Elements Part 3: Reality's Game

by mewmaster93

A year after the battles against the forces of darkness, Plit has enjoyed an era of peace. But the arrival of someone both new yet familiar signals the advent of a new threat, one that will twist the very fabric of the world. Can this new protagonist hope to survive this game, or will Plit forever fall into the hands of this unknown being?

47. Extra Chapter and Afterthoughts

Reality's Game Extra Chapter: A Monster Freed Back Into the Universe

"For treason against the Elemental Overlord, genocide of a thousand species across four known galaxies, the forced collapsing of seven suns that thrust hundreds of planets into a lifeless era of cold and death, and other crimes too numerous to list…You, the second-in-command of the Dark King's forces, have been sentenced to be sealed away within an uninhabited planet's core, bound forever by the seven chains of Genesis until your physical body has been lost and your spirit is forever tortured into nothingness by the resounding energy buried within each and every link. We never expect you to repent for your actions, but we are doing whatever we can to make sure you feel the weight of yours crimes."

"Yesss…That's right, that's what they said to me before they sealed me away…." A smile creeps out through the hollow darkness of the planet's core, a hiss slipping between his teeth as he speaks to himself before a raspy laugh follows suit. "How hilarious it was of them to think that these chains could make me feel anything but the delicious agony brought on by the chains burning against my blackened soul…To me, this isn't a prison, but rather a paradise the likes of which only Hell itself would surpass…But still, I do so miss the days upon which I could freely wander about the universe…And I only have the memories of the blood dripping across my claws and the screams echoing against my ears to remind me of the torment I once spread…"

The shadowy being, whose form has long since deteriorated into that of a wavy, jet black specter with only a mouth left of his once beastly corporeal body, nudges himself around a few centimeters as the glowing, seething chains spread across the area keep bound his form in the center of the core. Each chain has a color based on the seven core elements of the Elemental Overlord, with a pure white, ethereal chain punctured through his empty chasm of a heart to make sure that he does not escape once he became a phantom. "How long has it been now? A century, a millennium, a million years?"

The spirit of malice counts off the three measurements of time in a sadistically curious tone of voice before his smile grew ever wider and his eyelids slit open to reveal a devilish yellow glow beneath them. "Oh, what does it matter how long it has been now? If an opportunity does indeed arise for me to be freed, there shall always be some form of life in the universe for me to torment…Even if I have to go to certain lengths to make them immortal so my pleasure can be satiated forevermore… " The spirit expressed an inhuman amount of ecstasy in his voice as he spoke of his inevitable future possibilities, and as a growl of excitement slipped through his mouth he looked up into the black void around him and let out a somewhat angered snarl.

"Still, whatever shall I do for a body? I will need to possess someone in order to do anything, but depending on the length of time since my 'imprisonment' my options can either be vast or limited…I do, after all, want a strong host, since weaklings would simply crack under the pressure of my powers over time and I'd have to waste time finding another host body…Hmm, let me think here…That stupid wench that the Elemental Overlord married should still be around, but those cursed drives of hers make it impossible for me to infiltrate her mind…Hmm, perhaps the Elemental Overlord's old friend will have been freed from his imprisonment by now? No, I'm not thinking grand enough…"

The spirit, hating all of his previous options for being too simplistic in nature, grew a powerful, almost chesire-like smile across his face as a grandiose thought brew inside his wicked mind. "Ahahaha…That's perfect…Why bother with his followers, when I can possess the new Elemental Overlord instead?! Assuming his prophecy has come to pass, I should be able to seek out his new host body and take control of it. After all, the higher-ups have forbid him from deeply interfering in his spirit form, so he cannot stop me when I attempt to take residence in his host body's subconscious. Yesss…I like the sound of that. It shall not only be a grand defiance of the will of light, but it shall make the higher-ups regret ever allowing the Overlord to seal his powers away for further use…"

As the malice meticulously enjoyed the splendor of his future schemes, he noticed something amiss with the chains around him, as their glow began to fizzle out and left him with bound in the loosest sense of the word by normal steel chains. The only one that retained its glow was the white one punctured through his chasm of a heart, and even that appeared weakened by the loss of energy around him. "Hmm? Curious…So much for the claim that these chains would keep me in place forevermore…Hehehe…Now I really have to wonder what is going on in the outside world for my restraints to become so weakened…" As ecstasy once again gripped the beast's sadistic mind, he tried to nudge against the chains around them, and found that they budged more than they did every other time he tried to break them.

"Hehehe…" His chilling laugh, heard by no one but himself as it echoed across the walls of the planet's core and returned to his phantasmal ears, spoke volumes about his overzealous yet malicious joy as he began to shift his spectral form back and forth against the chains in hopes of breaking through. "Oh, I think I understand what has happened here…Someone has messed with the Overlord's precious energy reserves and thus weakened the natural flow of elements across the universe. Of course, this means that my attempts at escaping will only be temporary unless I persist…" With a goal set in mind, the spirit of malice begins to struggle against the chains that bind him, his body withering back and forth to make the links hit one another and break the binding between them.

It was not an easy task for one so ethereal as he was, and even after hours worth of effort he only managed to break off one chain just exactly as the greenish glow had returned to its structure. But as he stated before, time was a non-issue to him, for after an unknown two-thousand years had passed since his imprisonment he was willing to wait a few more days in order to break the chains that bound him. But to his surprise and luck, each subsequent chain broke easily in comparison to the one before it, and his smile grew ever more pleased with his progress until all seven chains laid broken and floating in the void around him.

With his body freed of nearly all restraints, the spirit took great pleasure in drawing his ethereal black claws from his phantasm of a body and splitting them into four other hands that wrap themselves around the chain of light in front of him. Only one thing interrupts him as he tries to break free, and that is the sudden erasure and return of reality that goes by so quickly that he is unable to notice it before he continues using his curved limbs to pull the chain away from his body. The nail that is stuck to his ghostly form is kept in place tightly, much to the beast's annoyance. He can feel the sharp pain throbbing throughout his body even now, but he simply relishes in the moment and keeps pulling to intensify the pain.

"Yesss…Keep going, keep going even if my body threatens to fracture into nothing more than pure darkness in this planet's core!" He thrust his head backwards as the sheer ecstasy of his congenial experience began to reach its rather bravura climax, and with a moan of pure delight followed by a laugh of bewildering madness the demon successfully ripped the chain of light from his body as a ghastly yellow liquid burst out from the now open wound before it became as ethereal as everything else on his body. The tainted chain of light loses its luxurious glow and slips out of the grasp of gravity around it, floating towards the roof of the core as the spirit laughs with his claws held out beside him, delighted at the freedom that he is now able to enjoy once more.

His lucid panting decreases until it becomes vapid due to him calming down and looking forward with the full glow of his demonic yellow eyes. He peered through the darkness and saw the underside of the planet he had been trapped in, and with no words and a meager defiance of gravity around him he thrust forward at speeds he could only manage without a body. Within seconds he phased through the planet, a circular plume of black dust being released out from the center of his body before he escapes the atmosphere-less planet and ventures into the cold yet welcoming depths of space.

He looked out towards the stars around, seeing nothing more than another light waiting to be crushed or blotted out with one grasp of his claw. He held his left claw out, imitating the action he wished to perform with a delighted grin on his face before he realized what he had to do now that he had been freed. "Ah yes…Now to figure out how long it has been since I have been sealed away…" He looks around, trying to find a recognizable star and sensing the decay of darkness in proportion to its exposure to the light from the celestial object. "Two-thousand years…Well, it seems as though coincidence is working in my favor today…The new Elemental Overlord must surely be around by now…."

The ghost sniffed the air after making his observation, for if the Overlord was alive then surely there had to be thin traces of the new Dark King's energy as well on whatever planet he may have been on. The demon knew much about the Overlord's plans for his return, and was now using said information in preparation to defile the new container of his legacy. With one final whiff, the demon growls in intense pleasure as he catches a whiff of his former master's lingering scent and he thrusts his head forward to gaze through the darkness and see a single planet out in the center of his vision where the scent came from. "Foundddd you!" He says in a raspy yet gleeful tone of voice.

Without any further words, the spirit lunges his body forward through the expansive depths of space, his claws retracting into his formless blackness as he closes his eyelids and leaves nothing but a smile on his body. "It shall be a glorious prelude to the prolonged death of everything the higher-ups have tried to keep protected…The Overlord will sense my presence for but a brief moment, only to watch in helpless terror as I latch to his subconscious like a fervent parasite and slowly but surely make my form one with his…Oh, I am truly excited to have another chance to rampage across the near-infinite expanse of the universe!"

As the demon once again expressed ecstasy in what it was about to do, it reached the desired planet's atmosphere and instantly noticed that a pale-blue aura had shrouded the planet whole. Recognizing it immediately, he said to himself "So the new Overlord is already in possession of the Gaia Temporis? A pity that the stone was forcibly programmed to be used by only the Elemental Overlord and his kin, otherwise I would take great pleasure in abusing its powers…" With a focused flight towards a specific point on the planet, the demon without a name makes his way towards the source of elemental energy on the surface.

Eventually making his way above a small abode whose simplicity he paid no attention to, he looked down to witness a scene where one cloaked figure was standing above another unknown figure with a gun in his hand. "Oh, so my host is already mentally unstable? Glorious…Simply glorious! And I can't even sense the Overlord's spirit amidst the child's unconsciousness…Such a shame considering how much I wanted to taunt the bastard over my victory, but it is how it is I suppose." Though he is disappointed by the lack of one factor in his new host body, he chooses to accept what fate has handed him before he swoops down from the air and makes his way towards the vulnerable head of the unaware Overlord.

But mere milliseconds before he enters, the boy suddenly ducks his head downwards, making the spirit let out a hissing "No!" as he slips past the body and flies straight into the head of the unconscious person ahead of him, where it thus became impossible for him to escape and make his way back. He is greeted immediately by the black expanse of the boy's mind, where he then proceeds to open his eyelids and stare into the expanse around him, cursing himself repeatedly before he calms himself down and gets a better feel of the power hidden within this person's body.

"Oh…So this child also bears the power of the Elemental Overlord? I did not even know that the new wielder of his legacy was able to replicate himself…Must be a new feature added to the higher-ups' toy…Oh well, not like I would want to use it at all. Still, with this host body being forced unconscious, I'll just quickly make my way to the center of the mind and-" Before he can move an inch, a blinding light cascades through the area, forcing the demon to close its eyelids shut as it lets out a serpentine hiss and its crawls backwards into a small corner of the mind. "Nooooo…." He bemoans in pain as he struggles to look ahead at the glowing sphere of light at the center of the mind. "T-The Overlord's light energy reserve?! That's impossible…This cursed child became worthy of such a thing?! Impossible…Inexcusable! To think that I would become trapped in such a holy, putrid subconscious!"

As the demonic spirit curled against the corner of the mind, angered beyond belief over the fact that he was now stuck in this situation until the host body dies out, he looks at the illuminating glow of the energy reserve and suddenly yet eerily creaks a smile out from his black void of a body. "Maybe it isn't so hopeless after all…After all, to keep the darkness erasing purity of the energy reserve intact, one has to remain pure in their emotions…Anger, jealousy, lust, pride…If he became too enveloped in those emotions, then the light would weaken long enough for me to slip just a bit of my ethereal body into the deeper regions of the mind to take over the boy…It won't put me back to my full level of strength, but I can slowly work on that as time passes on…And the best of all this?"

"No one besides me shall know about my returned existence or plan until it is far too late to stop it…So sleep well, my host, for one day you will be within the thrall of my darkness…And never again will you awake as yourself."

Reality's Game Extra Chapter: A Monster Freed Back Into the Universe

THE END!

Author's Notes:

Well, now Part 3 is done and out of the way! Got to admit, I wasn't really expecting it to take as long as it did, but there were some delays that I honestly couldn't get around….

Ok fine, I was too busy playing League of Legends too an almost obsessive degree. What can I say, that game is a lot of fun! But still, I should have had Part 3 done by the beginning of the month instead of near the end. A lot of the delay, besides the whole LoL thing above, stems from the fact that unlike the many other parts both past and future…Going into this one, I didn't have all the groundwork laid out for how this Part was going to work out save for who was going to appear, what plot points are going to be setup and/or dealt with, and all the battles that were going to take place. With Part 2 especially, I had a grand idea of what most of the characters were going to say and how other characters were going to react to others actions.

Here, I will honestly admit that everything did feel pretty jumbled up until the chapter where Mew went to the M.S.I.. I feel that everything was back to normal quality-wise from that point onward, but that's for you all to decide. One thing for certain though, I'm never going to do a first-person narrative ever again after this Part…Sure, it was necessary to do so to show what the new main character in CotE was like entirely from his point of view and no one else's (Save for the end chapter, when the perspective was entirely Alex's), but at the same time I also felt limited in the story I was telling. Since it was only from one point of view, it was really hard to express how other character outside the scope of Mew's point of view were reacting to certain events. Basically, save for stories which only have perhaps one or two characters in them, I'm just going to stick with the third-person narrative from here on out.

Which brings me to the next point I want to talk about, since I'm on the subject of how weird Part 3 felt to right. The whole "Midnight Channel" use throughout most of the story. Now, you might be asking yourself "Wait, why isn't the story listed as a Persona 4/Mario crossover then?" There are two reasons for that, honestly. 1. If I listed it as a crossover, that would spoiler that elements from Persona 4 would be appearing in Part 3. Its just like why Part 2 isn't a "Mario/Kingdom Hearts" crossover, because I wanted the Realm of Darkness to be a major surprise. 2. Though Persona 4 elements are used, it only boils down to the 'Midnight Channel' and the P3/P4 Reaper being used in the story…Well, that and the "I'll Face Myself -Reincarnation-" Theme, whose link didn't appear because apparently doesn't accept URLs.

Anyways, now that that tangent is over with, I need to clarify something as far as the "Midnight Channel" usage goes. You see, since I knew Part 3 was coming up, there was still one major issue on my mind. "How am I going to explain just why the heroes are fighting against Mew?" Personally, I didn't want to go for the "Oh, Mr. Realty just uses his powers to brainwash them" route simply because I wanted for there to be some moral ambiguity in this guy in comparison to the other villains thus far, who were either straight up evil or well-intentioned extremists….Which is why Mr. Reality blew up Peach's Castle and killed thousands of people…Hmm, I think my plans got messed up somewhere around that point…Whoops…

Either way, the Midnight Channel was chosen because not only did the introduction of the heroes' Shadows make it so Mew still technically fought the heroes themselves, but it also fit in with the Part's theme about "Truth and Lies". The Shadows were the heroes' true selves, Alex lied to Mew about his identity until the truth came out, a lie ruined Mr. Reality's life while the truth of his actions gave him the clarity to set right what was once wrong, and Mew's ability to see the truth of the game's reoccurring cycle allowed him to keep fighting and be deemed worthy of the light energy reserve. Had he not seen the truth and simply gave up….Well, that's a subject for this Part's What-If story to cover.

On the subject of What-Ifs, actually, I got a good amount of stuff to mention as far as future stories go. With the posting of this Extra Chapter, my next goal in mind is to go back and deal with the What-Ifs for Part 2 and Gemini's Origin Story. I'm not going to put release dates on those, simply because with how things are going to be for me soon, I'm not certain when I'll be able to get around to them. After those are posted…Well you see, originally my plan was post Alpha's Origin Story as a part of Part 3, but seeing as Part 3 really isn't connected to Alpha like Part 2 was to Gemini I decided that "Tales of a Former Goomba" will be a separate story. I don't know how many chapters it will be as of yet, but my plan is to have the story done by the end of the year…After that, Part 4 will begin, and at the end of Alpha's tale I'll explain to you what is going to happen there, especially since…Well, things are going to be a lot different, especially if you've read the Epilogue.

Anyways, this time around I don't really have much to talk about in regards to how characters changed or what I thought about the story overall, since I covered most of that up above, so I'll just focus the remainder of this afterword answering a few questions…In no particular order, that is.

So what the fuck is up with that ending of yours? After all the hero goes through, you make him forget everything?:

Well ok, I'll admit that this one is just a preemptive thing for later on in case this fic ends up becoming more noticed amongst the community, cause I get the feeling the ending of this Part is going to have a lot of backlash.

Yes, I do admit it was a dick move on my part to have the ending basically be "Oh hey, Mew saved all of existence, he is going to go back to Mario's house and fulfill his promise to Dri-NO WAIT ALEX COMES IN, DIABLOS EX MACHINA, HE DOESN'T REMEMBER ANYTHING NOW AND TEMPORARILY LOST HIS LIGHT FORM AND NOW HAS A DEMON RESIDING INSIDE OF HIS MIND WITHOUT HIS KNOWLEDGE OF IT!" Yeah, I guess I do have to admit that the ending was a bit…Eh, a forced downer moment, but from Alex's point of view he really had no clue about Mew's promises until he had already gone too far through the process and at the very least Alex will feel really, REALLY guilty about this action of his for many, many months to come.

So its not like the ending pulled everything back to the status quo, its just that it is only that way for Mew. There's a lot of consequences brought on by Alex's foolish action, and some of them won't come back to bite him or the universe at large until much later on in the story. Really, I'm not going to try and hide the fact that the Light Form is pretty much coming back right at the beginning of Part 4, but in the long run that's not something that really matters too much, I promise. As for the promises…Well…

So what about Driad? Or Mr. Reality? What'll happen to them now that Mew has lost his memories?:

So as you recall, Mew promised Driad that he would make it back safe and sound after defeating Mr. Reality, and at the same time he promised Mr. Reality that he would find a way to remove the Parakali parasite from his subconscious. Well, thankfully, unlike with Alex, since Mew just vanished into nothingness (To their knowledge anyways) Driad will just be confused and…Well, I'm not going to divulge into this one too much, since there will be a little subseries I plan to write detailing what happens to the protagonists in the Mushroom Kingdom after Part 3...Save for Alex, but I plan to get into that in the next question.

As for Mr. Reality, I'm not just going to forget about him…I mean, you really can't just drop a plot point about a reality bending alien with a demonic invisible parasite stuck inside of his head that can make him destroy all of reality at any given notice. But yeah, the fact that Mew won't remember the promise means that someone else is likely to take advantage of Mr. Reality's desire to remove the Parakali parasite from his subconscious in order to get him to work for them for a bit…Though I will admit, it will take a while for me to get to the point where I can write the story that continues Mr. Reality's plot line. Got to establish a proper continuity for the story beforehand, after all.

Where is Alex going now? And what is going on with the Mushroom Kingdom?:

Well, to answer the second question first, tragically, the Mario world and all of its characters are no longer going to have relevance in the main parts of Clash of the Elements. The basic steps have been taken to start Alex and Mew's future journeys, and they no longer need to take part in the affairs of Mario and friend's adventures since no other major evil threat is going to threaten the planet for a long, LONG time…Assumedly. But yeah, I already mentioned the side stories up above, so no need to linger on this issue for quite a while.

As for Alex…Well, we won't be seeing him for a very, very long time. Like I said in the last Part, Alex may have started things off, but he is NOT the definitive main character of Clash of the Elements. That title belongs to Mew…And again, I'd like to point out that I have seriously gone out of way to make sure that Mew is not a self-insert character despite the fact that we have the same names. Really, if anyone is even close to being a self-insert, it would be Gemini…Clarifying now, that doesn't mean that Gemini is actually a self-insert, and I really don't want to- Oh god I'm getting really off-track here now aren't I?

Oh right, Alex. Yeah, he has his own issues to deal with still, but he'll get around to conquering those later down the road. And perhaps he'll have a little help…Remember, Alpha is meant to assist him later on, and that will be covered in a later story. But that won't be his only ally in the long road…Perhaps someone related to that robed lady from the Part 1 Extra Chapter will be there to help…Hmm….Anyways, on the subject of Alpha…

What the Hell is Alpha doing working with that bastard in the F.B.I.?!:

So as you recall, one of the biggest reveals in this part was that Alex was taken by the F.B.I. on Earth an experimented on sadistically to have Saiyan DNA salvaged from the dead corpses of the heroes of DBZ! (Oh god if the fan base gets popular enough I'm going to get as much crap for that decision as I am for killing off all the entire Kingdom Hearts cast…) So yeah…Big what the hell hero moment as far as Alpha is concerned, especially since with how easy it was to break through their systems across worlds, you'd think the Commander would have been able to find some trace of these experiments…Or maybe he already has? Nah, that wouldn't make any sense…Either way, Alpha has an ulterior motive behind everything, but whether it will be beneficial or detrimental to himself and everyone he cares for is something that shall be discovered later on.

Who is the Chronicler Really?:

The Chronicler, a being that exists outside of reality and is omnipresent on all timelines, recording each person's history through every second that they exist in the multiverse without ever having to worry about his own existence, which has the full protection of the higher-ups on his side. But the question has to be asked after a few lines near the end of Part 3...Who was he when he was mortal? He said he hated having to berate Mew, which would suggest that he had a close connection to him when he was still alive…Or perhaps he assumed our young Overlord had a piece of the Overlord's spirit inside of him and hated to berate him. But there is also a matter of the fact that he was able to use the Gaia Temporis with only his voice, which as revealed in the Extra Chapter above is something that only the Overlord and his kin can use.

So is the Chronicler Alex? Mew? Someone from the original Overlord's past? Or someone that has yet to be introduced in the future? There are many theories that you could think about regarding this single enigmatic entity, but in the end only one answer shall be prove correct…I will say nothing more on the matter until the Chronicler returns.

OMG THE MIDNIGHT CHANNEL CAN'T CORRODE AREAS, DERP DERP DERP!:

Ok fine, the Midnight Channel didn't corrode the Nova Cesspool, it was all Mr. Reality's fault. He used his powers to corrode the area so Mew would get there faster. But hey, if you want a hand wave here, Alpha was the one who brought the issue up in the first place, and what the fuck does he know about other video game worlds anyways? So basically, he was wrong, end of discussion there. Speaking of him being wrong…No, Shattered Reality was not creating a Class Z Apocalypse. If he was, that would mean that all of the multiverse was disappearing…The destruction was contained within its own universe, and everyone else kept up the whole "all of existence is being destroyed" act so Mew wouldn't find out about the multiverse existing.

So who is the new guy introduced in this Extra chapter?:

He is the Dark King's second-in-command, I thought the narrative made this clear enough. But in all honesty, I don't want to divulge too much into what this guy is, how he exists, or what his name is. That's all information for later on. What I will say though, is a couple of things…First off, despite what you may be led to believe, he is NOT a Parakali Parasite, since all of those are now gone save for the one in Mr. Reality's head. Second, the guy will be a major player for pretty much the next few parts of the story. He knows a lot of the things about the universe, perhaps even a couple of things that not even the Elemental Overlord and Dark King do. But as for his motivations…Well, he has more on his mind besides chaos and mass murder. You'll just have to wait and see.

Shadow Luigi? What the fuck…:

Yeah, considering everything that happened in Part 2, Luigi really shouldn't have a true self to hide now should he? Well, conquering your other self and accepting it as part of you is not something that can be done right away. Hell, the main cast of Persona 4 still had lingering issues to deal with after accepting their own Shadows. Luigi has made a lot of progress, symbolized by the fact that the Shadow only took over half of his body, its just that he still has a long way to go, that's all.

What Brought Mew to Plit in the First Chapter?:

As you recall, at the very beginning a portal to Plit mysteriously opened up in front of Mew, which ended with him going into E. Gadd's laboratory not long afterwards. Throughout the story, this event in question is never brought up again for the most part, leaving it as a rather important yet unanswered question. So the answer to all of this? Mr. Reality did it. Back when he was on his planet and he manipulated reality to achieve an answer for his boredom, events were set in motion so the Stargadd would malfunction and open a portal for Mew to enter, even though Mr. Reality received a paper that talked about Alex Whiter, though that was to clue Reality in on the Elemental Overlord in the first place.

What is Mr. Reality's real name?:

Not telling you. And I'm not saying this to come off as a jerk or anything, but compared to many other things this is one of the few instances where I hadn't actually thought of an answer for a question. For one, I just feel that not every character needs to have a real name. I mean, you don't see me revealing the Elemental Overlord and the Dark King's names at all, do you? Of course, that's partially because only the two of them know each other's real names, and everyone else just refers to them by their titles out of respect.

Either way, even when I did consider giving Mr. Reality a real name, the first thing that came to mind was "Rey'Al'Ati" which while it does sound like the name an alien would have, it also would sound rather goofy considering that he was named that far before he actually got his reality bending powers. I'm trying to avoid massive, obvious coincidences, especially after I named the successor of the Dark King Joe DARK, or the inner guardian of the wind temple Fujin, even though by all means the Elemental Overlord shouldn't have had any way of knowing about the Japanese pantheon of the gods during his existence…So yeah, Mr. Reality's real name shall be an answer that is dodged around quite often during the course of the story, simple as that.

Hmmm…I guess at this point I don't really have any other questions to answer unless you the viewers want to ask any I may have forgotten, at which point I'll make a separate post for that…So until later, I'll be working on Part 2's What-If, "Confusion from Chaos".