Episode 73: Not So Brave New World

It's night, and Professor Pine stands before a group of campers, including Ash, Brock, Brenda, Braydon, and James dressed in civilian clothing. On either side of them are two cylindrical, space-age-looking buildings. Professor Pine's Astro Camp is in full swing. Already our heroes have learned what it's like to actually go into space, so who can say what adventures await them on day two?

Professor Pine announces, "Welcome, campers, to Habitat One and Habitat Two. The buildings are designed as replicas of the habitat modules that are currently being planned for use for the colonization of other worlds. Astro Camp may not be the type of camp that's about 'roughing it,' but these habitats provide unique conditions of their own. Habitat One, on my left, is where the boys will sleep, and Habitat Two is where the girls will. You had all better consider getting to sleep soon, because we have a bright and early morning ahead of us tomorrow. Goodnight, campers."

Brenda turns to Ash and Brock and says, "Well, I guess this is bye for now. See you in the morning."

Ash nods. "After all that happened today, I'm going to sleep great. Won't you, Elgyem?"

Elgyem, though it doesn't teleport away this time, still cowers away from giving an answer.

Brock bids, "Goodnight, Brenda."

"Goodnight, Brock." They go their separate ways.

Brenda steps into the room she's been assigned to and looks around in awe. The room may be absolutely tiny, considering how many beds are in it, but it is quite a sight at the same time. As opposed to traditional bunk beds, the beds are actually inlets in the walls. The entire room is metallic, giving it a futuristic look.

One camper is already in her bed. She sees Brenda and jumps down. "Well, if it isn't Brenda. I was wondering if I was going to see you." It's Michelle. She holds a Cleffa in her arms, her space partner.

Brenda smiles. "Michelle! I'm glad you could make it."

Michelle smiles back and gives Brenda a hug. "I would never miss Astro Camp, you know that."

Brenda hugs her back. "Of course. Things just get so busy when you're a coordinator, there's no knowing whether you could make it back or not."

"I have my priorities, just as you do yours." There seems to be some sort of hidden context in what she said.

Brenda tilts her head. "What do you mean by that?"

Michelle puts a smile back on. "Oh, it's nothing to worry about. Come on, let's catch up. How's that cutie Will doing?"

Brenda blushes. "I don't know…I haven't seen him since the Horizoport Contest."

Michelle nods. "Yup, and you two were pretty close there."

Brenda's blush gets worse. "We were just partners…that's all."

Michelle nudges Brenda with her elbow. "I'm just giving you a hard time, you know that. Now come, I'm sure you've got a lot of stories to tell. Lay them on me. What's the gossip?"

Ash is dressed in his sleeping wear, and steps out a door. The door leads him to the roof of the habitat. There he finds Elgyem laying out and staring at the stars, just like it did on the shuttle in outer space. He grins. Careful to sound as calm and unthreatening as possible, he says, "I thought I might find you up here."

Elgyem looks to him with surprise, and contemplates for a moment whether or not to flee.

"Hey, no need to worry about me. I'm your friend, remember?" He then gets an idea. "Hey, I remember how much you liked Dashilisk." He pulls out a Pokéball and sends Dashilisk out.

"Dashi dashilisk!" It dances around in its signature fashion, much to Elgyem's amusement.

Elgyem claps happily. "Elgyem, elgyem!"

Ash now approaches Elgyem and asks, "Do you mind if Dashilisk, Pikachu, and I join you?"

In a much better mood now, Elgyem nods. "Elgyem."

Ash smiles and sits down next to Elgyem. Dashilisk sits down on the other side of it. They all take a moment to look up at the stars. A streak of light appears in the sky. Ash exclaims, "Look! It's a shooting star!" They all watch as it passes by. After a couple more moments of silently looking up to the stars, Ash says with awe, "They're just amazing, aren't they? All those stars, each of them their own sun, with their own planets, but to us, they just look like a thousand points beautiful light."

Elgyem nods in agreement. "Gyem."

"Hey Elgyem, do you come from one of stars? Is one of them your home?"

Elgyem is caught off-guard by the question. For several moments it is unsure of how to answer. After the pause, it points up to a bright red star. "Elgyem."

"Really? That's where you come from?"

Elgyem contemplates something else for a moment, and then holds one of its hands to Ash's head. The three lights on its hands begin to blink rapidly. The next thing Ash knows, he's seeing some sort of vision. He's in some sort of lush field full of vegetation that's strange even by Pokémon standards. The sky is lit by a large red sun. The vision quickly ends.

Ash looks to Elgyem with curiosity. "Was that your home, Elgyem? Did you just show me your home with your psychic powers?"

Elgyem nods. "Elgyem."

Ash smiles widely. "Wow Elgyem, thank you so much. I have one question, though. If you loved it there so much, and hate it here so much, why did you leave in the first place?"

Elgyem immediately freezes up upon hearing the question. It then frantically shakes its head. "Elgyem, elgyem, elgyem!" It then teleports away, hiding behind the base of an antenna.

Ash asks himself, "What did I say?" He looks to Pikachu and Dashilisk, but both of them just shrug, unable to give him a response. Ash gets up and says in the direction of Elgyem, "I'm sorry for whatever I said, Elgyem. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. Look, I'm going to go to bed right now. Stay out here for as long as you want, okay?"

Elgyem doesn't give a response. Ash sighs. He then beckons for Pikachu and Dashilisk to follow him.

Elgyem is left alone now. It looks back up to stars, regaining some of its composure, but not all. It has a flashback, it's the same field it showed Ash, but it's now been set ablaze. Elgyem bursts out crying. "Elgyem!"

It's the next day, and all of the campers are exiting a bus. Professor Pine has driven them out to some sort of arid desert. Pine declares, "Welcome to our next activity. Today we will be combining the more traditional summer camp activities of orienteering and a scavenger hunt with an Astro Camp twist. This desert is so dry that it is almost entirely devoid of any life. In that and many other respects, this desert is extremely similar to environments you might find on seemingly dead planets. Of course, it is our mission as scientists to investigate whether said planets are actually dead or not. Today you all will play the role of astronaut explorers on another planet, searching for any signs of life. To make things more interesting, we'll turn this into a competition. You'll all split into teams of two, and each team will be given a checklist of items to look for, as well as some equipment to help them collect the items. Whoever can find the most items, wins a prize. I'll be keeping track over all of you from this bus' mobile command center, that way none of you will get lost. Before you split into groups, let me give you one hint. The winners of this game will be the ones who can find the greatest treasure of all. Now split into groups."

Jessie and Meowth are watching from behind a nearby rock formation. Meowth asks, "Did you hear that? This desert is hiding the greatest treasure of all."

Jessie smiles blissfully. "Oh, maybe it's a chest full of diamonds, a girl's best friend." She fantasizes of herself lounging over a giant pile of diamonds, adorned in many of them as well.

Meowth suggests, "Maybe it'll be gold, stretching as far as the eye can see." He thinks of himself running joyously amongst hills made of gold.

Jessie declares, "That settles it, it's time to break our promise to James."

Meowth asks snidely, "What promise?"

Who's That Pokémon!?

This Pokémon lives in arid locations such as deserts. It releases a strong aroma from its flower to attract prey. When prey comes near, this Pokémon shoots sharp thorns from its body to bring the victim down.

The campers have now all broken into pairs. Ash is with Braydon, Brenda is with Michelle, and Brock is with James. Each pair has been given a backpack full of supplies, a paper with instructions, and a radio for communication. Everyone is talking strategy. Brock suggests, "I say we should look for signs of water, and that might lead us to even more hints of life."

James nods in agreement. "Indeed. That would seem like the most logical course of action."

Michelle says to Brenda, "I think we should find a nice shady area, and then start digging into the ground and see if we find anything in the relative cool."

Brenda agrees, "I think that could work."

Michelle asks in an almost passive-aggressive tone, "You sure you're okay with that? It would require you getting your hands dirty and doing some hard work."

Brenda is caught off-guard by that statement. "What do you mean? Of course I'm okay with that."

Michelle downplays what she just said. "Never mind, pretend I didn't say that."

Braydon declares confidently to Ash, "There's no way you and I are going to lose. We have this in the bag."

Ash proclaims in agreement, "I'm sure not going to let us lose."

Pine announces to everyone, "Alright everybody, the clock starts now! Go out there and find some life!"

All the pairs run off in different directions. However, Ash quickly stops when he realizes that Elgyem isn't following him. "Elgyem, what's the matter now?"

He looks back to see Elgyem staring out towards the desert. It seems to be frozen in fear. It has sudden flashback to scene that looks almost identical to this one, but with various scattered fires burning all around. The desert is reminding it of something from its past.

Ash approaches it. "Come on, Elgyem, we've got to get going." Elgyem doesn't respond.

Braydon shouts, "Come on, Ash, we're falling behind!"

Protostar adds, "Proto!"

Ash shouts back, "Give me a second! I can't leave without Elgyem!" He turns back to Elgyem. "Please Elgyem, what's wrong?"

Still no response. Elgyem continues to cower in fear. Ash bends over to look Elgyem in the eyes, and is suddenly assaulted by a telepathic image sent from Elgyem, probably by accident. It's the same sight that Elgyem was seeing before. "Woah…what's that, Elgyem?"

Elgyem still won't give a response.

On its own accord, Dashilisk appears from its Pokéball. It beckons towards Elgyem. "Dashilisk!"

Elgyem's trust in Dashilisk seems to be enough to get its attention. It timidly says, "Elgyem…" It still seems frightened of something.

Dashilisk encourages, "Dashi dahsi!" It does a small, but goofy dance. This cheers Elgyem up just enough to convince it move. It hovers towards Ash timidly.

"Great job, Dashilisk. Come on, let's go!" He, Elgyem, and Dashilisk run to catch up with Braydon.

Braydon urges, "Now we need to hurry to pick up ground. What should we do first?"

Ash suggests, "I don't know much about potential alien life, but I do know a lot about Pokémon. How about we look for a place that we think a Pokémon could live? After all, if a Pokémon's living there, there's got to be something right about the area."

Braydon nods. "Yeah, I like it. Let's do that." They head off on their search.

It's Cacnea!

Professor Pine and Muttnik sit inside the bus at the very back, where an operations center has been set up. Pine turns some dials and then says, "Team Three, report in."

The voice of a girl responds, "Team Three here. We're doing fine."

Another voice, this one of a boy, comes in over the radio. "Professor Pine, I think we're lost."

Pine looks at a monitor and asks, "You're part of Team Seven, right? I see your position right now. Don't worry. If you just head away from that giant rock in front of you, you'll find your way back here."

The boy responds, "Thanks, Professor."

Before anything else comes up, Muttnik barks in warning. "Mutt!"

Pine asks, "What is it boy?" as he turns to face it.

Muttnik is looking up at the roof. It barks again. "Mutt! Mutt!"

"Is there something on the roof?"

Muttnik nods, and then barks again. "Mutt!"

Pine looks interested. "I wonder what it could be? Not a Pokémon, surely."

To answer his question, a portion of the roof suddenly dissolves due to acid from an Acid attack. Jessie, Meowth, and Repiv leap down through the hole.

Pine demands, "What is this!?"

Jessie cackles. "Prepare for trouble, we're breaking an oath!"

Meowth, taking over for James, adds, "Make it double, my part has had growth!"

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"Meowth!"

"Team rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

Pretending to be Meowth, Wobbuffet appears and declares, "Wobbuffet, wobba!" in the same way as Meowth would normally deliver his line.

Pine demands, "What do you crooks think you're doing!?"

Jessie grins. "We're here for that ultimate treasure you're hiding. I'll have you know that you can't keep a girl away from diamonds."

Meowth adds, "Or a cat from gold."

Pine is baffled. "Diamonds? Gold? What do you mean?"

Jessie asserts, "You know exactly what we mean. Repiv, convince him that he should comply with Poison Sting!"

"Repiiiiiiiiv!" Repiv launches a volley of poisonous stingers at Pine and Muttnik. They both dive out of the way in an attempt to avoid the attack. The attack now hits Pine's equipment.

Jessie relentlessly commands, "Poison Fang!"

Pine declares, "If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get! Muttnik, use Psychic and get rid of them!"

"Mutt!" Muttnik's eyes glow blue, and Team Rocket is lifted off the ground and flung into the air.

They shout, "We're blasting off again!"

Pine breathes a sigh of relief. "What was that about?" Muttnik seems just about as confused as he is. Pine shrugs. "Oh, well. Better check in on everyone now." He turns to see that his equipment has been destroyed by Repiv's attack. Pine is mortified. "This is not good. This is not good at all."

Ash, Braydon, and their Pokémon trek forward through the desert. Elgyem is following behind Dashilisk. While it may look calmed by Dashilisk's presence, it still seems anxious about something, and it seems to be doing its best to ignore the surroundings. Ash asks, "Hey Braydon, the other day, up on the space shuttle, you were talking about a trainer who you want to beat. What's the guy like?"

Braydon chuckles. "Him? How would I even describe him? He and I have been friends and rivals ever since he moved into Launch Town over five years ago. We both got our first Pokémon and set off on our journey on the same day. At the time I just took it for granted that I would be the better of the two of us, but time after time he defeated me. But those defeats taught me lessons. I learned from each and every one of them, and with each of them my desire to defeat him grew. I guess if I had to describe him, I'd call him a teacher, as he both gives lessons and inspires. There's a complex aspect about him that's really hard to gauge. He wants to do what's right, but he regrets having to be the one to do so. He has natural talent abound, but he finds himself to be nothing special."

"That's odd. What do you mean?"

"Well, for example, he was the victor at last year's Tenno League, but he has yet to issue an official challenge to Tenno's Champion League in order to attempt to earn the title of Tenno Champion. He claims that he's training because he doesn't think he's ready, but I know him better than that. He's actually afraid of issuing the challenge because he doesn't see himself as a trainer worthy of doing so."

Ash nods. "I see. Well, this guy certainly sounds interesting. I hope that I get the chance to meet him some day."

"If you're on the road to the Tenno League, I'm sure your paths will cross. That's just the way things work with trainers of a certain caliber, and I'm sure you are one of those."

Ash smiles. "Thanks."

Braydon suddenly stops and points ahead. "Hey, look at that!"

"It's a cave!"

"Yeah, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Ash nods. "Yeah, that it would be the perfect place for a Pokémon to avoid the desert's heat."

"Exactly. Let's go check it out." They run off towards the cave.

Brenda and Michelle have found their area of shade underneath a rocky outcropping and are digging down into the ground with shovels provided by Professor Pine. Brenda looks around and assesses, "Wow, there really is nothing out here. How could anything possibly live out here?"

Michelle retorts, "Obviously there has to be something out here. The professor wouldn't send on us a fool's errand."

"I guess so, but what are we supposed to do if we can't find anything?"

"We keep on looking. You said that you were okay with putting some hard work in, so do it."

Brenda questions, "But if nothing comes out of that hard work, then what's the point?"

"Hard work will always yield a reward." She adds, "I guess it shouldn't surprise me that you think that way?"

Brenda stands up and puts her hands to her hips in an angry fashion. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, just forget I said it."

Brenda shakes her head. "No, you've been making remarks like that ever since last night. What's up? If you're trying to tell me something, just say it directly."

"I told you, it's nothing. I shouldn't have said it."

"But you did."

Michelle looks up at Brenda with annoyance, "Look, just forget about it. I'm sorry I said it, it doesn't matter. Now come on, if we're going to ever find something, we have to keep on digging."

"No, I'm not doing any more work until you tell me what's going on. What's the matter, Michelle?"

Michelle, almost shouting, asserts, "I have nothing I need to say to you on the topic! This discussion is over! Now are you going to actually do some work and help me dig, or are you just going to keep on complaining?"

Brenda huffs, "Fine, I'll dig, but we're having a talk later."

Minior and Cleffa have been watching this entire exchange from the side. Minior questions, "Mini?"

Cleffa shrugs. "Cleffa clef."

Ash and Braydon take a peek into the cave. Ash observes, "I don't see any obvious evidence of Pokémon, but I still think this cave is promising enough to take a look into."

Braydon nods. "Alright, let's go then." He takes a step in and Ash and Dashilisk follow. Elgyem, however, remains outside, paralyzed in fear.

Ash realizes this and turns to it. "Come on, Elgyem, you've got to stay with us."

Dashilisk beckons for it too. "Dashilisk!"

Elgyem fervently shakes its head rapidly and denies, "Elgyem, elgyem!"

Ash comments, "Wow, not even Dashilisk can convince it." He then walks over to Elgyem, bends down to its level, and asks, "What's the matter, Elgyem? You've been acting very strange since we've gotten to this desert, and now even more at this cave. We're friends, remember? You have to tell me what's wrong."

Elgyem sighs. It then lifts its arm and transmits an image into Ash's mind telepathically. Ash is shown a first-person view from the inside of a very similar cave, looking out towards a sea of fire.

Ash nods. "I see. You've had a traumatic experience with a very similar cave, haven't you?"

Elgyem slowly nods. "Elgyem…"

Ash nods in understanding. "Alright, I won't make you come in with us then, but we still need to go in, so you'll have to wait out here." He looks over to Dashilisk. "Hey Dashilisk, would you mind staying out here with Elgyem to keep it company?"

Dashilisk happily nods. "Dash dashilisk!"

Ash gets back up, and walks back into the cave. Braydon follows. Ash sighs. "I wish Elgyem would open up a little more. Obviously there's something bothering it, but it's so difficult to get it to share anything."

Braydon suggests, "Just give it time. There's no rush. Elgyem will open up when the time is right."

"I sure hope so." Refocusing on the task at hand, Ash asks, "So what exactly should we be looking for?"

"Anything that might be evidence that Pokémon lives here. That's all the proof we need that life exists here. Try looking for stuff like a place that it might sleep, or even a source of water."

Ash asks, "How about a supply of food?" He points to what seems to be a pile of berries sitting against a wall.

"Perfect! Those berries wouldn't grow anywhere in the desert, so obviously they must have been recently gathered by a Pokémon and brought here!"

The two of them run over to the berry stockpile and look over it. Ash nods. "This proves that there has to be a Pokémon here, we'll win this contest for sure." He picks up a Chesto Berry and looks it over.

Within moments, a low rumbling voice is heard saying, "Rhy…"

Without looking behind them towards the source of the noise, Braydon and Ash slowly look towards each other with fear. Ash asks, "Braydon…what was that…?"

Braydon responds, "I think I know…but I'm too afraid to look…"

They both slowly turn their heads behind them to find a hulking Rhyperior standing behind them. It snorts angrily, "Rhyperior." Then roars with rage, "Rhy!" and charges towards the two of them.

Ash and Braydon both dive to the side, narrowly dodging Rhyperior's charge. The enraged Pokémon quickly turns around and charges at them again with its sharp horn.

Ash shouts, "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu attempts to stop it with its electric attack. "Pikaaaa chuuuuuuu!" The attack does absolutely nothing to the Ground-Type Pokémon.

Braydon tries, "Protostar, do a Heatwave!" Protostar attacks with a scorching wind, but the attack does little to stop the charging Rhyperior. Seeing that attacks aren't going to work, they all keep on running. The direction Rhyperior is chasing them is away from the entrance.

Ash shouts, "Dashilisk, we need your help!"

Back outside, Dashilisk hears this and turns to enter the cave. Elgyem grabs it by the arm and pleads for it to stay. "Elgyem."

Dashilisk shakes its head and points into the cave. "Dashilisk. Dashi dash!" Elgyem reluctantly lets go, and Dashilisk runs in. Elgyem watches with envy, seeing how brave Dashilisk is.

Once Dashilisk is behind Rhyperior, Ash shouts, "Dashilisk, use Scald!"

"Dashilisk!" Dashilisk attacks with a stream of heated water. The attack hits Rhyperior on the back. However, the attack seems to do little but aggravate it.

Rhyperior turns arounds and roars. "Rhyperior!" It than launches a massive rock from the cannons on its palms at Dashilisk. Dashilisk attempts to dodge out of the way, but the attack makes contact before it can, and knocks Dashilisk back against a wall. It's knocked out.

Elgyem cries out in concern, "Elgyem!"

The Rhyperior turns back towards Ash and Braydon. It now has them cornered. Ash pulls out the radio and says into it, "Professor Pine, we're having a bit of a problem and could use your help." The only response is static.

Braydon says nervously, "I don't like this, I don't think he's there."

"But why wouldn't he? He said he'd be listening on the radio, just in case an emergency like this happened."

Braydon points out, "I think we have more pressing issues to deal with before we worry about that question." He points to the Rhyperior that continues to approach them. Braydon gulps nervously.

Ash notices Elgyem at the entrance to the cave, looking absolutely terrified, while also trying to see if Dashilisk is okay. Ash calls out, "Elgyem, you need to help us! You can teleport us out of here! You're the only one that can help us now!"

Elgyem nervously shakes its head in panic. "Elgyem, elgyem, elgyem!" The lights on its fingers begin to blink rapidly.

Ash is given another telepathic vision from Elgyem. This shows Elgyem playing in vast grassy field, the same that it showed Ash before, one moment, and then the next its running towards a cave for cover as everything around it burns.

Ash gasps. "Elgyem…is that what happened to you? Your home was destroyed? You had to seek shelter in a cave like this one until all the fires went out, leaving your home as a wasteland like this desert?"

Elgyem slowly nods. "Elgyem…"

Ash looks over towards the Rhyperior and sees that they have almost no time at all left until it attacks. "Elgyem, I'm so sorry for what you've been through! I can't imagine how awful it must have been to lose your home like that! But our planet is your home now! You may have lost your old friends, but that doesn't mean you can't have new ones! We're your friends, Elgyem, and we need your help! Don't lose us too!"

These words resonate with Elgyem. "Elgyem?" It takes a looks from the Rhyperior, to Ash, and then to Dashilisk. Elgyem clenches its eyes and musters up all of the willpower it can. It then teleports away, reappearing in between Ash and Braydon. Then it teleports away with them and their Pokémon, reappearing next to Dashilisk, and then teleporting them all away again to a safe distance away from the cave.

Ash and Braydon breathe a sigh of relief. Ash says, "Thanks, Elgyem." Expecting it to shrink away in fear, Ash reaches out to pat Elgyem on the head. To his surprise, Elgyem doesn't. Ash grins.

Dashilisk begins to regain consciousness. It looks up to Elgyem and grins. It says in a congratulatory manor, "Dashi."

Then, over the radio, Professor Pine's voice announces, "Attention all campers, are you all alright? I've been having technical difficulties, but finally have the radio working again."

Ash chuckles, pulls out the radio, and responds, "We're all good here, Professor. It's good to hear from you."

Everyone has gathered back at base camp. Ash is explaining in front of the group, "Everything seemed lost, but then Elgyem here rescued us with its Teleport."

With newfound confidence, Elgyem proudly adds, "Elgyem."

Pine responds, "While I am glad to hear that you and Elgyem have finally begun working well together, I'm afraid that your experience doesn't help you to win this competition, as you brought back nothing but a story. Real science requires evidence. Astronauts can tell all the stories they want about alien life, but it doesn't mean a thing without proof."

Braydon asks with disbelief, "You're joking, right? You asked us to find life, and that's what we did. We obviously won this task."

Pine shakes his head. "No, I asked for evidence of life. Sorry." He looks around. "Did anyone else find anything?"

Brock raises his hand. "We did, Professor." He and James step forward.

James pulls out a small baggy with some white granules in it. He explains, "We did exactly what any scientist traveling to an alien planet would, we took samples of the ground in various areas, and we found this."

Brock explains, "Those are grains of salt, likely the result of an ancient seabed that dried, leaving this behind."

James continues, "This salt means that there is a high probability that there was once water here, and if there was once water, there could have once been life."

Pine nods. He looks pleased. "Very good. Very good. Remember what I said about finding the ultimate treasure before? What I meant is that if you could find water, you would find evidence of life. Water is the ultimate treasure, as it is something that any form of life would need. The team of Brock and Jim is our winner! Congratulations."

Brock grins and looks at his Staryu. "This is all thanks to you finding that salt bed." Staryu blinks in response.

James declares in joy, "Oh, Nanny and Pop-Pop would be so proud of me right now!"

Braydon grumbles, "How could we possibly lose after what we've been through?"

Ash pats him on the pack, "Oh well, you win some, you lose some. And hey, at least we've had one victory. I think that Elgyem is finally past being so timid."

Elgyem happily agrees, "Elgyem!"

And so another day at Professor Pine's Astro Camp has come to a close, and our heroes have met with another great adventure. And now that Elgyem has learned that just because it lost one home, doesn't mean it can't have another, I have a sneaking suspicion that things are going to be a whole better for it from now on, as the journey continues.

To Be Continued…