"Gooooood afternoon, contestants!" A peppy voice announced over the P.A. system that had been set up throughout Roseville Park. "Just letting everyone know that submission forms are now closed! You all have just an hour and a half left to carve your ice!"

Kizuna ran up on the impromptu gate entrance, with signs all around it posting rules and warnings about the ice carving. Above the gate was a sign that read, '1ST ANNUAL ROSEVILLE ICE CARVING COMPETITION'. Kizuna entered and found herself on a path between several tents and stalls that housed vendors. Many were local businesses selling their wares, whether it be clothes or food or various other knicknacks. They were enticing (especially the food ones, Kizuna hadn't eaten since lunch), but Kizuna had to remain focused. She was on a mission, and there was no time to spare.

Several signs pointed her in the direction of the information kiosk. A kindly looking cocker spaniel sat talking to a calico next to her. Kizuna nearly slipped on some stray ice walking up and the cocker spaniel took notice. "Careful now, dear." She said, and Kizuna recognized it as the same voice from the P.A. announcement. "There's ice everywhere. Gotta watch your step."

"S-sorry!" Kizuna said, using the kiosk to help right herself. "I was wondering if you could help me find my friends?"

"Of course!" She smiled brightly and pulled out a large binder from underneath the table. "Are they contestants today?"

"I-I think so…" Kizuna said, trying to sift through everything that had happened that day in her mind. "Their names are Mike and Lucy."

The cocker spaniel opened up the binder and went down page after page. After a minute or so, she tapped the page she was on. "Ah, here we go!" The dog slid the binder onto the table top so Kizuna could see it. Kizuna leaned down to get a better look. "Looks like they're in plot twelve G. You're gonna want to head to the back."

"Thank you so much!" Kizuna said, turning to rush off.

"You're very welcome, dear!" The cocker spaniel replied. "And be mindful of the-" Kizuna slipped on some stray ice in her haste. "Ice."

Kizuna hopped up and quickly dusted herself off. "I'm okay! I'm okay! Thanks again!"

The cocker spaniel and her companion waved goodbye to Kizuna, who was already making her way down between the rows of ice sculptures in progress that went on as far as she could see. It was a little chilly now that she was in the thick of it. On both sides of her, contestants chiseled away at their creations. Some even used chainsaws, sending shards of ice flying everywhere. There was so much noise, Kizuna felt like she was in the middle of a bizarre icy construction site.

While Kizuna searched, she ran into Daisy (almost literally, she was so distracted with looking for Mike and Lucy). "Hey, Daisy!" Kizuna said with a wave and a smile.

"Oh, hello." Daisy said, a little distracted herself. She looked like she was looking for someone too.

"Have you seen Mike and Lucy?" Kizuna said. "I have something to tell them. Actually, I have something to tell all of you."

Daisy squinted. "You do? How do you know Mikie and Lucy? Do you live around here?"

Kizuna was flabbergasted. Now Daisy didn't know who she was? "I'm Kizuna… we're friends… we're all friends…"

Daisy laughed anxiously, a little confused and embarrassed that she could forget a friend. Even worse for her, since she knew what it was like to feel forgotten."I'm sorry! I see…"

Paulo showed up with two sno-cones. "Yo Daisy, I'm back!" He said, holding out a yellow colored sno-cone to her. He looked at Kizuna. "Who's this?"

Daisy gladly took it, relieved Paulo had finally found her. "Ah, Paulo! This Kizuna. Remember?"

Paulo squinted at the dog. "Who?"

Kizuna facepalmed. "Nevermind! I'm going to find Mike and Lucy! At least Lucy still knows who I am!" And she stomped off, leaving Daisy and Paulo completely flummoxed.

As the cocker spaniel had said, Mike and Lucy were near the back of the field. Oddly, Mike was stuck frozen from the shoulders down inside a brick of ice. Beside him was Lucy holding a chainsaw, sizing up the ice in front of her. "Quit moving, idiot." She scolded Mike, who was standing quite still, "I don't want to hit you with this!"

"I'm not moving!" The korat retorted. "How can I? Why did I even need to be in this thing?"

"So our sculpture can be more life-like! That's how we're going to win." Lucy said confidently. "Now keep quiet, sculptures can't talk."

"I'm not a sculpture!" Mike yelled, but Lucy revved the chainsaw and it shut him up.

"Lucy! Mike!" Kizuna called out as she came up on their plot. Daisy and Paulo were close behind her, and Kizuna also saw Sue, Amaya, David, and McCain spectating at a safe distance. "There you are! I've been looking all over for you!"

Mike wanted to say something about this weird girl who kept claiming to know them, but he remembered Lucy's warning and thought better of it. He didn't need to say anything, though. Lucy spoke for them. "Hi Kizuna! You look like you've got something to say! Do you?"

Kizuna felt a little ridiculous saying what she had to say. She was an alien? She had to go back to her home planet? Would they even believe her? Not that most of them knew who she was anymore. All eyes were trained on her. With a deep breath, she said. "Yes, I certainly do."

Her friends remained silent, watching her expectantly for what would come next. "I have to go now. My planet needs me." This was it. The moment of truth. She shut her eyes, and thought flighty thoughts. She thought of being weightless, of flying straight up, past the clouds and into space.

And then she felt her feet leave the ground.

Kizuna almost panicked, but held herself together. Surely losing focus would see her plummeting to the ground. The wind rushed through her fur and she looked upwards towards the sky. Were her friends watching? Would Lucy miss her? Kizuna supposed it didn't matter much anymore. She had a new life ahead of her.

Kizuna had flown on a plane before, but this was entirely different. The sound of the wind, the world falling away beneath her, and nothing but clear skies ahead, it was exhilarating in a way Kizuna had never felt before. She felt so… free. So ready to take on anything. Had this power always been inside her? Why hadn't she noticed before? Did her parents know? Her parents… Kenji… she would be with them soon.

The girl soared higher and higher, past the clouds, past all the layers of the atmosphere she couldn't remember the names of, into the darkness of space. She dared to sneak a peek downwards at the world she was leaving behind. The view was breathtaking, Kizuna had never seen anything so incredible. It made her feel a little weak, but she pressed forward, trying not to worry about the world and life she was leaving behind.

The life she was leaving behind… a few tears stung in the corners of her eyes. All her memories, the good and the bad, never to be made again. She would never see her friends again, never come home to that warm, inviting house she grew up in. The quiet hours spent hanging with her friends, getting into drama with them, going on vacation with them. Even if she stayed, they wouldn't know who she was. It was all over now.

Kizuna was picking up speed as she shot upwards. At least, she assumed it was upwards. Out this far, everything was directionless. She had to hope that the stranger on her headphones was right, and she was headed in the right direction. Moreover, she was surprised she wasn't killed in the cold, unforgiving vacuum of space. This gave more credence to the veracity of the strangers claims about her being from another planet. Kizuna wondered what her planet might look like. Would it have tall mountains? Massive oceans? Would the weather be the same as on Earth? Did the others there all look like her?

Far beyond the Moon Kizuna went, past Mars, and out of the solar system. Space seemed to warp around her as she sped on, gaining speed exponentially, putting her faith in the direction she chose. Space was beautiful, and she wished she had a camera with her to capture the radiance of it. Vast nebulas of multicolored lights and dust filled her vision. There were planets and solar systems, galaxies of all kinds peppering the otherwise impossibly inky black horizon.

Looking ahead, Kizuna saw a pinpoint of light. Squinting at it, it looked different from the swathe of lights way out in space. It was moving… and getting closer. This was when something whizzed past her head. Then another. And another.

Whatever the objects were, Kizuna reasoned that getting hit by them would be unpleasant. Perhaps she had come close to the tail of a comet. Upon moving out of the path of the oncoming objects, she found the light changing course, and even more small objects flying in her direction. No matter where she turned, Kizuna couldn't shake it. Whatever it was, it was dead set on hitting its mark, and the mark was her.

The light got closer and closer, and when it got close enough to her, Kizuna could see it was a small spaceship. Sleek in design, but rusted and old. It was firing upon her! The objects were bullets! Kizuna panicked and attempted more evasive maneuvers, but the spaceship remained right on her tail, and gaining ground. If she couldn't fly away from it, she'd go towards it. Maybe she could talk to the pilot and come to an understanding. Was she in a forbidden area? Did she trespass?

Kizuna did a 180 and shot straight toward the craft. The craft responded by readying a rocket and letting loose. It flew straight and true toward Kizuna, who narrowly rolled out of the way. As the girl zoomed by the cockpit, she caught a brief glimpse of the pilot inside. It looked like it could be the same shadowy figure she'd seen at lunch earlier that day… or a few days ago? She'd lost track of time.

'What if that guy I saw… this guy… he's the one I've been talking to!' Kizuna's heart sank. 'What if this was all a trap!'

Whatever it was, Kizuna had to get away to regain her bearings. Not too far away, relatively speaking, was an asteroid field. It was a risky move, but it'd have to do. She was more agile than the spacecraft, this was obvious from how long it took to turn around every time it took a pass at her. Plus, she may be able to hide from it. That was, if the pilot was crazy enough to follow her into it. Kizuna switched gears and headed into the massive grouping of rocks. The spaceship was close behind, firing round after round at her. Kizuna flew in an erratic pattern, making her hard to get locked onto.

There were asteroids of all sizes, some with holes, others solid. Kizuna nearly smacked into the first one she came across as she entered the fray. She didn't have a lot of time to react to the onslaught of rocks as they flew at her and the spaceship behind her. However, the plan had done the trick and the pilot was having a difficult time keeping up. He took to blasting the boulders apart with rockets. Kizuna flew circles around it, popping in and out of view. As her plan worked, she started focusing more on trying to lure the ship into a dead end so she might escape it entirely.

This ended up being her downfall. While looking the other way, a sizable asteroid flew up in front of her and she slammed into it. The girl laid on it, dazed, and this gave the pilot enough time to find her. He loaded another rocket and lined up the shot. The targeting system beeped rapidly to indicate it was locked on, and he pulled the trigger… just as another asteroid shot up and hit his spaceship, sending the rocket off course. It tried to re-correct its trajectory, but met with the surface of the asteroid Kizuna was on instead. It exploded, blowing the asteroid to pieces, and sending a woozy Kizuna off into space.

The pilot's ship was badly damaged in the strike, and by the time he turned off all the blaring danger alarms, Kizuna was long gone. He swore and slammed his fists on the dashboard, sending the alarms back into a frenzy again.

The smack into the asteroid and the following blast had done considerable damage to Kizuna as well. She was now spinning and speeding uncontrollably into deep space. Her consciousness ebbed and flowed, and she tried desperately to cling on. Her vision became blurred, and up ahead she could see a large void of light coming closer and closer as she sped towards it. It was a massive black hole, and Kizuna tried to at least redirect her trajectory before she inevitably blacked out.

However, it was already too late, and Kizuna was grabbed by the intense gravity well. The last thing she saw was her body stretching out unimaginably far in the event horizon, followed by the darkness of the black hole fading into the darkness of unconsciousness.