Note: Hello again! I am pleased to bring you another chapter. Two more and this part of the season will be completed! I will say now that though this section of "A Mending Soul" was not my favorite of them all, it was definitely the deepest. The personality-developing of the characters in this part was wonderful, and I reveled in being able to work on each character so intricately. Now on to replying to some reviews! To Super Vegito: I think I may have squeezed in some "over 9000" jokes in there somewhere. The main reason I have not referenced Dragon Ball Z is because I have only seen a dozen or so episodes of the first season. I need a more extensive understanding before I drop some random beings in the Dragon Ball Z dimension. It will happen sooner or later though. Keep an eye on it! To Salvadorian Moose: Ahhhh... Regal Crescent. The only guy to get immediate fame... And I killed him. Just my luck, right? To madmanwithafork: yes! Clone Troopers would work. They always knew what they were doing. To FocusedStream: I am glad you love Summer, I do , and then there's Lyric. He's cool too. You are the Avatar? I thought I was the Avatar! Well, that is all for now. I hope you enjoy this chapter! It is especially long.
Dimension: Provistorian
Planet: Averthon Magnum
Specific Location: The Tower, Upper Realm
Time: Well over a week after Lyric found Summer
The metallic mantid fired a rocket from its should-mounted rocket-launcher. The red-hot bolt of explosive destruction rocketed forward to snuff out the lives of Gene, Radiance, and Jefferson. However, Gene abruptly shoved a hand out from the pile of dazed bodies and snapped a finger. A wall of earth rose in front of them, and the missile struck it and detonated. The explosion tore the wall apart and sent the beleaguered trio tumbling backwards from the impact of the blast. The mantid screeched again and shot forward with terrible speed. Jefferson managed to scramble to his knees (with one of Radiance's legs still pretty much wrapped around his neck) and hurled a couple throwing knives. One of the blades was shattered into metal shards by a sweeping attack from the mantid, but the other speared a servo that connected one of its bag limbs, causing the metal horror to stumble. It was perfectly timed, for the instant the machine stumbled was the exact moment it fired off another rocket. This one spiraled off and missed Jefferson's head by a centimeter, causing his top hat to blow off. The missile spiraled wildly and then struck a pile of shipping containers. The explosion sent flaming scraps of metal high into the air with trails of dark smoke, and caused the entire tower of containers to sway with ominous creaking.
Despite its stumble, the mantid was nowhere near put out by the damage it had just received. After regaining its balance, the machine rushed forward, covering the gap between itself and Jefferson and his friends in seconds. August was still buried beneath a pile of heavy metal pipes. Jefferson threw another knife, but it was batted out of the way. Then the praying mantis was on top of Jefferson. The mantid struck at the man's face, seeking to tear it off, but Jefferson whipped out a long dagger, blocking the attack. The mantid immediately followed up by swinging its other serrated frontal limb in the other direction, but Gene called upon his Dimensional Traveler powers, causing a nearby pile of metal plating to contort and transform into a tentacle that then proceeded to harshly wrap around the mantid's free tibial spines. This impeded its movement for only a second, for the mantid ripped through the metal with ease, but the iron medium managed to slow the attack just enough for Jefferson to flip his head backwards, dodging the attack. Jefferson then flicked a foot upward. A small steel blade shot from the sole of his shoe, spearing the mantid in its chin. The mantid's eye lights flickered, but kept lit. The attack only managed to make it madder. The rocket launcher turned to shoot Gene, who was struggling to untangle himself from Jefferson and Radiance without hurting them. It fired. With a yell, Gene created an energy bubble around the missile, causing it to detonate within the small shield. The bubble of power cracked and dissolved in the subsequent blast, but it prevented the attack from doing serious damage aside from singing the group's faces. The mantid attempted to slice Jefferson's head off again with its free limb, but Jefferson had pulled out his dirk with his free hand as well and managed to block this attack as well. Jefferson grunted as he dual-wielded his blades, desperately trying to fight off the killer machine. The rocket launcher began to glow as it charged up for another attack. Radiance suddenly jerked up and dashed forward with inhuman speed. She leapt forward and shoved the rocket launcher back, forcing it to look skyward. The missile fired and shot into the air. The explosive projectile shot into the air in a shower of sparks. It rose at least a couple kilometers into the air before exploding in the sky, filling the air with a large firework of flame and sparks. The reddish glow from the blast illuminated the dark surroundings, showing the group their surroundings.
August (or perhaps Blue) was up, and he was firing his Inquisitor Blaster expertly at some shadows that were racing down to consume him. MORE metal praying mantises were on the way to murder them.
The mantid assaulting Jefferson smashed its face into the mercenary's, dazing him. As the man fell back the mantid rushed Radiance, who had prevented it from blowing Gene's face away with a rocket. In a second it had her on her back. It raised both frontal limbs to gut her. Gene (who was now under the mantid, having been trampled by it) took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Then his eyes snapped open and a long stream of fizzling energy exploded from his irises. The twin beams sliced through the metathorax, superheating the armor plating and sending sparks sky-high. With a chittering shriek, the metal mantid collapsed into a pile of useless electronics and metals.
"I know it is too late to say this," groaned Jefferson, rubbing his bruised face, "But you probably should have started with that."
Gene clawed at his eyeballs, which were pouring out stinging smoke. "Heat vision is literally the most stupid power to ever give a human," he replied groggily, "I cannot see at all for about a minute, and then it takes at least five more minutes for my vision to correct itself."
Radiance struggled to her feet and ignored the searing pain in her back as she helped Gene up on her own volition. "We need to move," she breathed.
Jefferson glanced behind him and blanched. Hundreds of those killer praying mantis robots were scrabbling across the piles of abandoned resources to get at them. In a couple minutes they would be overrun and dead. "I cannot agree more. We need to get to the elevator."
Jefferson then turned to where August (who was clearly transformed into Blue now) was tearing the heads off two robot mantids near the base of the giant skeletal tower. "BLUE! ELEVATOR! NOW!"
Blue glanced at them, actually acknowledging a request from his "allies." He shot another assaulting mantid at point-blank range and then dashed over to the elevator. He ripped out the other half of the twin sliding doors that protected the interior of the elevator with ease and stood there like a sentinel. Jefferson scrabbled over to the opening, supporting the wounded Radiance and the momentarily-blind Gene.
"August," gasped Gene, "We need to go up. Hurry!"
"August is gone," stated Blue in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, "You have seen the last of him. But nonetheless, my armor is up there, so I see some use in taking this path."
Gene eyes were burning, and he was in too much pain to reply. All he gave was a strangled sigh. Blue tore out the interior control panel of the elevator and fiddled with the wires. His armored fingers flew across the wires and circuit board. Just as a mantid readied itself to lunge at the huddled group within the elevator a small spark shuddered through the whole structure of the metal box. Then, with a grinding roar of gears, the elevator rocketed upward at ridiculous speeds. Jefferson fell to his knees from the acceleration, but managed to drag his body over to the elevator door. Scrabbling at metallic wall to prevent himself from being sucked out by the air rushing past, Jefferson looked out. To his dismay he saw the metal praying mantises were scaling the building face below with ease, and their rate of ascent matched (or perhaps was even greater) than Jefferson and his friend's rate of ascent.
"Hey! Guys! I think we have a problem!" yelled Jefferson over the wind howling outside, "I may be hallucinating – which could definitely by a completely viable explanation for this, mind you – but I do believe that those giant bugs are gaining on us!"
Blue suddenly produced an Inquisition Grenade from the palm of his hand. "This grenade will most certainly destabilize a section of this tower, but no one will notice I am sure."
"No!" cried Gene. If he could not see anything but big blue dots he would have tried to swipe the weapon away from Blue, but in his current state all he could do was protest. "If you destroy the tower you eliminate the only way for us to get down!"
"Yeeeahhhh… Great plan, Blue. I never knew you were one of those 'one-way-ticket for the win' type of guys!" snorted Jefferson.
Blue looked at the protesting group quietly. "I never was putting my course of action up to debate."
Blue then primed the grenade and tossed it gently out of the elevator. In an instant the planetary gravitation and the air resistance from the rushing wind slowed the relative velocity of the device leaving it far behind in the wake of the elevator. Blue had calculated all of the variables perfectly, and device detonated just as the metal mantids were rushing past its path down in their race to ascend beside the getaway elevator. A bright blast of blue energy rippled outward from the grenade, consuming a huge amount of the attacking robots and a large portion of the support beams that lined the elevator that Blue and his team was riding to the sky above. The rippling bubble of blue light grew to a formidable radius, froze in space for an instant, and then collapsed inward, crushing anything surrounded by its blue aura into a space the size of a proton… this included said support beams. With an ominous groan, the entire skeleton of the building the elevator was scaling began to sway. Jefferson blanched as a mass of twisted metal and wires that fell in an avalanche passed the open doorway of the elevator to shatter into metallic shards on a large pylon below. The skeletal tower swayed once more, contorting the form of its body and causing even more support beams to be destroyed via snapping, breaking, and bending. The rumbling noise that denoted the structural failure of the tower became accompanied by snapping, shattering, twanging, and breaking sounds.
However, none of this was what truly concerned the team (aside from Blue). The true component of this massive disaster that was most prevalent was the fact that the elevator was speeding up even more, forcing everyone to their stomachs, and causing Radiance to black out in her extremely strained state.
"Why… is… the… elevator… still… speeding… uuuuupppppp…?" gasped Jefferson, who could barely be heard over the howling of the wind outside.
Blue (who was still standing straight and tall) looked down at his compatriot. "This transportation device we are currently riding is not just an elevator. It is a rocket-powered slingshot."
At that very moment a distorted, corrupted electronic voice crackled out from the rusty speaker system overhead. It was so grimy and full of static that it could not be determined whether it was a male or female speaking.
"Optimal slingshot velocity reached. Prepare to activate rocket boosters for exiting sequence in three… two… one… go."
Blue calmly reached into the exposed panel beside him and twisted two broken copper wires together. A spark danced along the length of the conjoined wires… and then…
A massive plume of fire and thick smoke erupted from beneath the elevator, causing every single conscious being (aside from Blue) to gasp in pain and then black out. Blue looked carefully out of the opened doors of the "elevator" to see the transportation device he was riding reach the very top of the immensely tall skeletal tower… and then shoot straight out of it. With the velocity it had reached from the rocket boosters, the elevator practically soared from its slot in the tower like a bullet from the barrel of a gun. In less than a second the tower was obscured by a heavy mist. Blue glanced upward, and then cocked his head to one side. His inquisitor intuition was telling him something approached. In an instant he recognized what it was and took a knee, bracing himself. The elevator smashed into something earthy and plowed straight through. Loose dirt and roots tumbled around the open door of the elevator and covered the unconscious bodies of Radiance, Gene, and Jefferson in a fine dust.
Abruptly the sound of gears grinding together emanated from above, and the sound of drilling soon accompanied it. For a whole minute this cacophony echoed in the elevator. Then there was silence. Blue reached up and gently tapped the roof of the elevator. A loud hiss, followed by steam, shot from the roof and the top opened up to reveal a metal ladder that lowered itself to the ground. A little bit of loose dirt tumbled after it.
Blue glanced at his downed friends and then climbed the ladder. In a second he found himself in a beautiful garden… that was floating high in the air. Blue realized what had happened with the elevator. The device he and his teammates had gotten into to escape the robotic mantids was not just an elevator, it was a personnel-transporting rocket. The rocket had used the elevator to accelerate itself to maximum velocity before using rocket fuel to give itself a final boost. The elevator then shot out of the tower like a bullet to smash into the underside of the Power Garden (which, incidentally, was an actual garden). A drill that had been mounted on the topside of the elevator then activated, which then drilled through said underside of the Power Garden until the personnel within the elevator could climb through a hatch and climb onto the top surface of the floating island. The most prominent feature of the Power Garden was a massive tree, easily the width of the Taj Mahal and the height of the Shanghai Tower. Aside from that… there was pretty much nothing aside from crisp, fresh grass stretching in all directions. The only other defining feature was a small elm tree all alone to Blue's right.
Blue quietly looked around, and then froze. His instincts were bothering him again, but this time he felt it was a whole lot worse than an unexpected collision. A metallic mantid exploded from the earth with a screech and attempted to grab Blue's leg. Blue smashed its head in with a foot with ease. As the lightspark died from the robot's eyes, Blue inspected his assailant. This mantid seemed different from the others. Its face was disfigured, and was covered in even more grim, dirt, and rust than those that attacked him far below. Then he realized something: these mantids had been on this garden long before his comrades and he had. They must have been part of the initial invasion force, preparing to attack any defenders of the garden, only to finally get shut down on the last leg of their journey. They must have lain in the very spots they had fallen for untold years, slowly getting buried by the ever-shifting earth, but somewhere along the line of the decomposition they must have reactivated… Ready for a victim for them to kill.
In an instant six more of the disfigured and dismembered metal mantids rose from the earth, screeching their defiance to the skies. Blue quickly smashed the first two with a fist. Blue then flipped high into the air, dodging a rocket blast that had sought to blow a hole in his back. In midair Blue fired his gun, decimating the rocket-firing mantid. Just as he hit the ground three more mantids rushed him with shocking speed. But none was quicker than Blue.
Blue shot one and then grabbed another with alacrity, tearing off its head and one of its frontal limbs before tossing it away. The last mantid shrieked and then fired a rocket. Blue literally caught the rocket and snapped it into two, disarming the explosive package inside. The mantid did not care. With a hiss it rushed Blue. Blue dodged its swinging attacks and then rammed the frontal limb he had ripped from the attacking mantid's fallen comrade into the enemy's chest. The mantid sparked and sputtered and then fell to the ground. It shrieked weakly and turned its rocket launcher slowly towards Blue's face. Blue roughly stomped down on the weapon just as it began to glow. The rocket inside the rocket launcher detonated, blowing the mantid up and detonating the robot itself simultaneously. The result was a humongous explosion that tore through the earth and scorched the grass to nothing. However, the momentary inferno did nothing to faze or harm Blue.
Blue straightened up and looked around. There were no more enemies alive to attack him. Slowly Blue strolled away from the elevator (and the smoking crater that marked the last resting place of that foolish robotic mantid) to find his chest piece and helmet. However, he had only gone a couple steps when someone called out behind him.
"H-hey! Blue! Wait up!"
It was Jefferson. Rubbing his sore head, Jefferson stumbled towards Blue and collapsed on the ground.
"Someone should have told us that that elevator was a freaking rocket ship," he grumbled, "Would it have been too much trouble to simply put up a small warning sign?"
"Go back to your friends," said Blue, "Let me collect my armor."
"Radiance and Gene are fine," replied Jefferson, "Sleeping like babies. Come on Blue, I need to ensure I see this all to journey's end."
"This journey was never yours to begin with," murmured Blue, "In fact, you have never truly dispelled the reason why you chose to accompany us."
Jefferson shook his head. "I am a mercenary! In fact, that is the very reason why I wanted to help. Being a mercenary means I have done some things I am less than proud of… I have done some things I have sworn never to tell my daughter or my wife about… Those regrets tear at me. I want to help alleviate some of those regrets by helping someone rise to fight for the greater good: you."
Blue looked at Jefferson quietly. "I have murdered countless innocents in pursuit of Amethyst's targets, and I have never harbored regrets once. You are weak Jefferson."
Blue turned around and strolled off towards the lone elm tree, standing sentinel above a sea of grass. Jefferson looked down at his feet for a moment, and then followed from a respectful distance. Blue walked up to the tree and strolled around where he found something interesting lying in the grass (just as his instincts had told him): his chest piece, helmet… and a rotting, bisected skeleton.
Jefferson slowly peeked around Blue. "That is a skeleton. Oh my gosh… Could that be the ruler of the Upper Realm?"
Blue gently tapped a finger bone of the skeleton. It crumbled to dust. "Undoubtedly. This is the last resting place of Narvix Cosmospredominate."
Blue then looked at the tree trunk that the head of the long-deceased king was lying on. There were words carved deeply and cleanly into the trunk.
"Power always ends this way. ~Blue."
"I remember this now," whispered Blue, tracing the carving with his armored fingers, "This was a message to myself in case I came back. And what was odd is that I carved that into the tree eons before the Upper Realm Ruler died… I knew Narvix would meet his end here, at the height of his power."
Jefferson reached forward and took the masked helmet of Blue in his hands. He looked at the deep, acute, black T-visor and let out a breath. "So much power…"
Blue turned to Jefferson. "Give me the helmet."
Jefferson turned to reluctantly hand off the piece of equipment… then the ground began to shake. The massive combustion of that last robot mantid has somehow tipped the balance (to borrow the colloquialism) of structural integrity, and now half of the power garden was slowly falling apart. Only seconds had passed, but already massive chunks of earth were breaking away from the floating island and falling far, far, far below. The only thing that was not affected by the destruction was the massive tree in the center of the power garden.
"Oh my God," breathed Jefferson, "The elevator is still stuck on the underside of this thing! If we don't rescue Radiance and Gene from it, it will fall… taking them with it!"
Jefferson dashed forward to without another moment of hesitation to rescue his friends, but he had only gone several meters forward when he tripped… and the earth below his feet gave way. With a startled yell Jefferson tumbled through the yawning hole and was gone.
Blue just stood there, staring at his helmet and his chest armor. All he needed to do was grab it and then go off to the elevator. Though Jefferson was gone, he could still rescue the two "acquaintances" trapped in the elevator after he retrieved his armor. However, just as took a step towards the armor, a massive chasm appeared at his feet, blocking his approach. Blue shrugged; it was large, but he could cross it. But just as he prepared to leap across the void, more rumbling filled the air. Blue glanced behind him and saw another mass of earth and grass begin to buckle downward. That specific strip of land held the elevator, Gene, and Radiance.
Blue looked back at his armor. His helmet alone was clearly more important than those two lives. If they fell, they would die and ascend to a better reality, but if the armor fell… there was no telling where it could go, or whose hands it would end up in. Another ominous rumble, accompanied by the sound of tearing roots, echoed through the air, as if to tell Blue to make his final decision. Blue took a step towards the armor, and then froze.
"My… friends…" came the voice of August, just managing to slip between the lips that were controlled by Blue.
Blue turned around and dashed for the elevator just as the elevator gave way. However, the acceleration of gravity was no match for the acceleration of Blue as he thundered back to the starting point. But just as he reached the spot that the elevator was at, the earth gave way and that portion of the floating island dropped, falling down, down, down where the ground was far below.
Time seemed to slow down as Blue reached down at the last moment (as he entered Freefall at the same time as the elevator) and tore off the earth, the drill, and the roof surrounding the elevator in a single movement. He reached down and snatched the unconscious forms of Radiance and Gene and hoisted them on his back, then he looked upward. He was just in time to see the small elm tree, the skeleton of Narvix Cosmospredominate, and Blue's Helmet and Chest Armor fall through a gaping hole. Light glinted off of the armor as it disappeared below. However, Blue did not hesitate. Looking skywards, Blue crouched just as the elevator reached terminal velocity on its descent… and then jumped off of it. While travelling downward at terminal velocity, there generally is no way to escape the pull earthward… But Blue is an Inquisitor. He defies such laws. Blue shot upward at breakneck speed, heading straight for the massive tree in the epicenter of the (former) Power Garden. He had powered straight forward with such strength, in fact, that Blue had no need for levitation or anti-gravity. The momentum of his leap carried him all the way to the massive exposed roots of the giant tree. With a single movement Blue seized a long strange of root and swung about it, slingshotting himself higher into the roots. With a deft somersault he landed on an extra-large root, clotted with dirt and smaller roots, a perfect natural platform.
Blue stood there for at least five minutes, with Radiance and Gene slung upon his back, staring into the mists below, contemplating the fate of the armor he had traded in for Gene and Radiance. Or… truly… the fate of the armor AUGUST had traded in for Gene and Radiance.
"The boy is strong," Blue murmured, "His love for his friends, no matter how new, is great. I have seen greater… but his is so pure… Interesting."
Blue then flung Radiance and Gene down. This second jolt shocked both unconscious beings into wakefulness.
"WATCH OUT!" yelled Gene as he shot up. Then he realized he was no longer in a careening elevator attempting to break the sound-barrier. He looked around, and then looked at Radiance.
"Radiance," he muttered, "Wake up."
Radiance groaned and sat up. She winced as she sat up and rubbed the soar stubs of her wings. She then looked around as well. "We were in an elevator first," she said slowly, "We are here now… while the Power Garden falls apart… But… That means…"
Gene looked up at Blue, who was silently staring down at them. "The elevator made it to the Power Garden, but it began to fall apart, didn't it? But when that happened… You came for us."
"August made me come for you," replied Blue curtly, "My armor was lost in the process. However, I will not make either of you suffer for something you had no hand in. It is lost, and I must begin searching for it."
"August…" sighed Gene. A small smile crossed his face. He then closed his eyes and lay back. However, suddenly his eyes snapped open again and he shot up. "Where is Jefferson?!"
"He fell to his death," replied Blue briskly, not one to mince words.
"He's… gone…" breathed Radiance, her face the picture of horror. She had never liked him (or any of them, really) but they had travelled together for several days, and she could not help but feel attached to them somewhat. She owed them her life, after all.
"He has probably not even hit the ground yet," added Blue.
"Well, you got that part right!" cried a voice.
Blue pulled out his Inquisition Blaster and whirled around to face the voice. To everyone's surprise (except Blue's), it was Jefferson. He was gliding upon his Tron Hang-Glider, with Blue's Chest Armor and Helmet under one arm.
"Jefferson!" cried Gene and Radiance in unison, both clearly happy. As he landed Gene ran up and patted his back.
"I will admit it… I was worried. It is good to have you back," said Radiance, somewhat begrudgingly.
Gene nodded. "Indeed! How did you survive?"
Jefferson shrugged. "The moment I fell through the earth I activated my glider. I attempted to fly to your guys' aid, but a freaking robot mantis fell from the sky! I swear I will hate bugs for the rest of my life. Anyway, the mantid activated the moment it hit my glider and attempted to tear me to pieces. I dove into the mist and then smashed it against the skeletal tower – which is still intact, by the way – and then proceeded to climb back to the disintegrating Power Garden, dodging blocks of earth all the way. I was just exiting the sky mists when I saw Blue's new armor pieces falling. By some miracle I managed to dive again and grab them! I will admit I was tempted to put them on, and I kinda did… But the robot voice in the helmet rejected my facial scan and DNA scan… Sad. Anyway… Blue… here you go."
Blue slowly reached forward and took the helmet and chest armor. The armor immediately snapped to his chest. Like water it spread, connecting to his shoulder pads and gauntlets, and then flowing downward to form the lower-abdominal armor, leg armor, and foot armor. With a silent click, all the armor snapped into place. The body of August was covered in the full body armor of the Inquisitor. He had also grown. He was at least half a meter taller than Gene, and it was probable that the Inquisitor DNA would cause him to grow even more eventually. The helmet, however, did not leap to cover the face August had once called his own. It just sat in the armored palms of the hand, waiting to be placed on the head.
"All I need now is the wristblade. The most powerful non-angelic weapon in the tri-multiverse," said Blue quietly.
Blue then began to slowly place the helmet on his head, but just as before the masked helmet covered the entirety of his face, Radiance darted forward and landed a light kiss on his right cheek.
"That is for saving me," she said, her eyes still tough and hard to read, "I believe in you August."
The masked helmet fell over August's face. However, as the helmet confirmed his identity as Inquisitor Blue and began to feed him every piece of information a heartless warrior like Blue would need to know about the dimension he was in, a small smile twitched at Blue's lips. August was smiling.
Dimension: Once Upon a Time
Planet: Fairy Tale Earth
Specific Location: Snow White and Prince Charming's Castle
Time: Well over a week after Lyric found Summer
Harold was all alone in the dark hallway. Orion had left, he had gone far, far away. As far away as a Dimensional Lord could possibly go. Orion had fled. Fled because he knew the true extent of Harold's brilliance and power. But Harold was not worried, he did not care. Orion had served a purpose, and Harold would reward that usefulness by not killing him yet. He would save that for later. All that mattered now was Blue and his Inquisitors. Blue… Harold could not remember a time he had not obsessed over that being.
"So… Blue… My old friend… You are back," said Harold, almost gleefully.
The shadows shifted, and corrupted imagination energy began to bubble from the shadows like steam boiling over from a cooking pot.
"But methinks you are not ALL back," continued Harold, talking to himself out loud as if he hadn't a care in the world, "But I do believe that can be remedied. A small test ought to do it. Yes! A small test that threatens the thing he holds dearest… That will most certainly eradicate any bit of August that is left. All I need to do now is wait."
The shadows deepened.
Note: The end is nigh! Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. At this point, I think it would be best that I mention that after this part of the season comes to a close, I will take a hiatus for a bit. I have a lot of stuff, and (probably) a lot of other stories to attend to at this time. I will post the very first chapter of the second part of the season though as a "teaser" for what is to come. Now please review! I cannot express how grateful I am for all of the feedback you all have been giving me. More reviews means more inspiration and energy, and more inspiration and energy means more chapters! If you review, I shall give you a to-scale chair, desk, and desktop computer all made out of snow. I made one just recently, and I am sure that my magical abilities (that I wish I had) will allow me to mass-produce them and give them to you!