R.D. stepped out of the room with Hugo, and closed the door behind him before turning to face the others. In doing so, he ended up directly in front of Alasea as she had turned away from her own room.

Both teenagers went red in the face, unable to say anything as last night's memories came back instantly. After a moment, R.D. stepped to the side, and Alasea gratefully accepted the offer and stepped past him so they could head back to the lobby and leave this dimension.

R.D. sighed, running a hand through his hair. Awkward, he grumbled in his mind.

Well, this would end beautifully. For the moment Matt put aside thoughts of R.D.'s encounter with Alasea's twins. He wanted to drop by the pizza parlor before they headed out to thank the Samurai Pizza Cats one last time for their help. (And maybe get a slice for the road.)

They entered the lobby, and Matt swerved up to the front desk to check out. "Thanks for puttin' up with us," he said to Passive Aggressive Giraffe, who clearly looked like she needed ten more hours of sleep. "I'll put out a good word for you."

"Thank you," Passive Aggressive Giraffe said. "Never come back."

Matt winked and clicked his tongue. "Don't worry, you harpy. That's not on my itenirary." And with that personal victory, Matt turned around and strolled towards the hotel doors.

"Are you sure we should be heading to the parlor?" R.D. asked as they stepped outside. "I mean, I know we need to thank them for their help, but really, I'm not too keen on risking getting roped into another disaster. This world is insane."

"I'd hate to leave without telling them," Matt said. "Especially after they helped us out." Walking up to the well-worn tracks of wagon and cart wheels in the earth, Matt pulled out the Firebird and unfolded it. While the old version always landed with a clatter, this one seemed to absorb most of the brunt, just shaking a bit. Maybe Leeron put in some better shocks?

"Did you know, Matt, that you tend to grin like an idiot whenever you look at your new car?" Alasea asked, grinning a bit herself. "Though honestly I can see why you would."

Matt kept his smirk while shrugging, hands open. "Hey, what can I say? It's a fine piece of work."

"I just hope we can keep it together this time," Hugo said. He tapped Helena on the leg, and she bent down to pick him up. "I can keep it tuned up, but if the car gets nearly destroyed again, who knows when we'll find a mechanic as good as Leeron?"

Matt headed over to the driver's side and slid into the welcoming leather seat. "Well, it shouldn't be that bad. This thing's got giant robot armor now."

"Let's just hope we don't have to test out how it holds up," R.D. said, taking the Thunder King cube out of his satchel and tossing it to the ground. He quickly mounted the motorcycle that appeared and checked its compartments to make sure everything was in place. "It might have Ganmen armor, but its no Ganmen itself."

The group charged down the dusty road to the Samurai Pizza Cat Pizza Parlor, parking horizontal to the automatic doors, spaced out so people could still get inside. Matt lead the way inside, whipping up his hand in a wave as soon as Polly darted behind the counter with empty tray in hand.

The Pizza Cat noticed him and smiled. "Hey there!"

"Hi, Polly," Matt said, leaning on the counter. "We just wanted to check in before we headed on out of here."

"Oh, you're leaving?" Polly said. "Where to?"

"Haven't got the slightest idea," Alasea said, lacing her hands together behind her head. "We've got no way of knowing where the Great Serpent's Scale will take us to next."

"The only thing we do know is that when we get there, Matt will be face down in the dirt," R.D. commented. "Actually, Ileyna, did you get what I asked you to?"

"Yep!" she cheered, pulling a pillow out of their supply bag and holding it up over her head with an enthusiastic motion, naturally sending her beret askew once more. She frowned up at it and puffed her cheeks out indignantly, before calling Mass Effect to straighten it out for her.

Edited by RisingDragon on February 3, 2010 at 12:15:24.

"GIVE me thaaaat!" Matt said, yanking the pillow away. "You guys are a bunch of clowning clowns from Clownsville."

Polly smirked. "Just like Guido."

Guido's head peeked out of the back room. "I heard that!" he said. "What's going on?"

"Matt and his friends are about to leave," Polly said. "Come here and say goodbye."

"I'll see you around," Guido said to the group, without budging an inch from the door. "Thanks for helping us out with Komodo."

"I said COME HERE," Polly snapped. She jabbed her finger at the tile next to her feet.

Guido smirked. "I would, but then I'd have to get close to you, and not even Bad Bird deserves THAT kind of punishment." He reared back, about to laugh, when a pan flew in from the back room and smashed against Guido's cheek, knocking him over.

Polly cupped her mouth with a hand. "Thanks, Francine!" she shouted at the back room.

Drops of sweat trailed down each human's head as Francine showed that she was just as deadly with a pan as Polly was. We should probably be grateful Lucille isn't here with us, Alasea thought nervously.

"Anyway, you be careful," Polly said. "Speedy's off delivering a pizza, but I'll tell him you dropped by."

"Thanks," Matt said. He flashed a thumbs up. "Let him know I said he was radical."

"No problem. Just come back soon. I'd like for all of us to go out again."

Helena shot a look at Matt. "Well, Polly...I'm not sure how easy that's going to be. I mean, the Scale takes us where we need to go next, but I don't think we can pick and choose."

Now the humor sank from Polly's face. "...so you might not be coming back?"

Helena managed a thin smile. "Maybe not. We don't know. But hey, I'm really glad I got to meet you. Even if we can't come back, I'm not going to forget what we did here together. All right?"

"Yeah," Polly said. Over Guido's prone form, Francine hung onto the door frame, watching.

Helena spread her arms. "Come here." She reached over the counter and embraced Polly, and the female cat returned the gesture, her tiny arms appearing under Helena's folded wings. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too," Polly said.

Truly an endearing moment! the Narrator boomed. It just goes to show you that even if you're worlds apart, you can make a life-long friend no matter where you go! So touching...I would cry with happiness if they bothered to give me tear ducts!

"Well, that touching scene was quickly destroyed," Matt remarked.

"He should consider himself lucky he doesn't have a neck," R.D. said flatly, looking up to the ceiling. "Otherwise I would throttle it."

Alasea and Ileyna both exchanged farewell hugs with Polly as well, and with that, they were off to find a decent spot to use the Scale.

"Nice of them to give us this pizza free of charge," Alasea said, slipping it into the back seat of the Firebird before getting in with Ileyna and Hugo. "Let's hope the next world is as inviting. And with more tolerable people."

Matt leaned an arm on the roof of the Firebird as he peered into the car, driver's side door flayed open. "Heh, now we know what Helena's going through." He didn't mean it as an insult, but Helena had walked up to the passenger side as he said, so hopefully she didn't catch it.

"I'm gonna ride with R.D. again," Helena said as Matt stood back up straight. "I just hate trying to fit in the car like this."

"All right," Matt said. She could just, you know, bring her wings back in, but Matt understood her goal, so he let it slide.

Hearing Helena's announcement, Alasea frowned a bit and looked away, doing her best to squash down the jealousy that began to rise up in her. She had no right to be upset with the arrangement, she knew Helena was uncomfortable in the car and she hadn't fixed her mistake with R.D. from earlier. Still, she couldn't help feeling a bit envious that Helena could ride with R.D. while she couldn't.

Perhaps he should have asked for a clear spot to do this business in. The gang drove straight ahead trying to find the outskirts of Little Tokyo, but when they found themselves at the beach again, Matt pulled back out and headed for the right, cursing.

"Let's find an alleyway," Hugo said.

"Good idea," Matt said. He lead the group back into the city proper, finally wedging between two of the more expensive buildings. At this rate someone was going to notice them...but wait a minute, why should he care? They fought a giant bird in the middle of the square and collapsed the palace fighting Komodo, and no one batted an eye!

Shifting the Firebird into park, Matt rolled down the window and looked over his shoulder. "Let's just do this here," he called to R.D.. "No one's gonna care."

R.D. pulled up the Thunder King until it was alongside the Firebird and killed the engine. "Alright, if you say so," he said. "Get out and get the car folded up. The portal put us through an oven last time; we don't need to risk destroying the car through something similar."

As he and Helena dismounted, R.D. pulled the Great Serpent's Scale out of the satchel and held it aloft in the middle of the street. In moments, the red beam sliced through the air and spiraled a Gateway into existence, once more kicking up a flurry of dust before it settled.

The others exited the car and Matt folded up the Firebird, tucking the square into his pocket. "You know what?" he said, turning to face R.D.. "I bet you that this time I won't land on my face. And if I win, you have to do anything I want."

"I'd keep that pillow with you just in case," R.D. shot back as he pushed a panel on the Thunder King's chassis. "I didn't have Ileyna purchase it as a joke."

With a flash of light, the Thunder King became a metal cube with angular, glowing blue lines running across its sides, and R.D. snatched it out of the air and stowed both it and the Scale back in his satchel.

"Well, let's get going," he said, turning and striding into the portal. The others quickly followed, and they hurtled through the corridor in time and space.

R.D. was the first to exit the Gateway, his shoed feet striking soft grass, and he skid a foot or two before coming to a halt. Making sure he kept his balance, he stood there for a moment before looking up.

And then he stepped to the side. He didn't want Matt's grand entrance to pummel him face-first into ground too.

First Helena exited the portal, Hugo in her hands. Ileyna and Alasea soon followed.

Then, with a yell that grew increasingly louder, Matt was launched from the portal butt first, spiralling in the air before he landed bottom-first, wedging into the earth, his legs sticking straight up along with his torso and head.

"HA!" he shouted, folding his arms behind his legs. "I win!"

Helena snorted and erupted into laughter.

"Way to let anything hostile know we're here," R.D. said, shaking his head. He held out his hand to help Matt up off the ground. "Come on, get up. We need to figure out where we're at."

"Where" seemed to be the middle of a small forest clearing. Short cliffs ran up around them, with tall, green trees at their edges and beyond, obscuring their view of the surrounding area. Off to the side was a large tree and beyond it, a tunnel bordered by wooden beams. Another pathway ahead of them led deeper into the forest, through another clearing.

"Look at that!" Ileyna exclaimed, pointing down that clearing. Up ahead, past a long, hollowed out tree root, looked like the remains of a massive tree, easily bigger than most buildings. It was cut off short, forming a stump-shaped wall, and trees seemed to be growing within it, their leaves and branches forming a thick canopy over it.

R.D. let out a drawn-out whistle as he observed it. "What is that?" he asked to no one in particular.

Matt squinted at the root while dusting off his bottom, which was now filthy. "Looks like a super tree to me."

"Ileyna, can you go a little higher and see if you can find anything at its base?" R.D. asked. "And see if you can feel any signature coming from it."

"Alright," she replied, lighting up with her power. As hollow notes of music filled the air, she lifted up off the ground, rising up until she was nearly thirty feet into the air, below the forest canopy. She squinted as she tried to get a better look at the giant tree stump.

"There looks like... an entryway leading inside of it!" she called down below. "I'm not feeling any Essence from it, though!"

"Alright, come back down!" R.D. called back. Once she did, he said, "Let's get out of here. There's no Essence signature and I don't feel like traversing some weird tree without knowing what it is."

"All right, let's go that way then," Matt said, pointing at the pathway ahead. He just hoped there was a clear exit to this forest so they wouldn't have to wander around aimlessly.

They proceeded through the tunnel opening past the big tree at the edge of the clearing, going a short distance before coming out.

R.D. stopped dead at what he saw. "Great. More fog?" he growled before starting forward again. They were deeper into the forest now, standing on a small hill that dipped downwards. Light could be seen poking through the canopy cover up above, cutting through the heavy fog here and there.

"Let's hope we don't find more Ganmen," Alasea joked, though her heart wasn't in it. "Do you guys hear that?"

"Yeah, we hear it," R.D. said, looking around. There was a strange, hissing noise pervading the entirety of the forest. R.D. stepped forward cautiously, drawing the sword he acquired in the previous dimension. Carefully, he made his way to the edge of the hill, and stopped. "Wow. That can't be good."

Covering the forest floor was a dense purple mist that was shifting about in waves, and stretched out deep into the fog. "Hugo, can you come scan this stuff?"

Helena set Hugo down, and the Mettaur walked up to the edge. His tiny antenna and dish deployed, spinning about while he scanned. "I don't know what this fog's made of," he said, "but I recognize parts of it. It's poison."

"Maybe you can clear it out with R.D.," Helena said to Matt.

"I think we can try that," R.D. said. "Ileyna, can you keep us protected in case this gets out of control?"

"Sure, I can do that," Ileyna said, activating her powers. She concentrated and spread out her natural shielding until it encompassed all of them. "How's that?" she asked.

"Perfect. You ready, Matt?" R.D. asked as he held up his right hand, gathering up wind energy and condensing it into a sphere.

Matt let his left hand rest on his hip while the armor condensed over his right, gathering wind power. "Let our powers combine!"

R.D. let fly with his attack, sending the maelstrom of wind in his hand far into the forest. "Super Cyclone!"

It exploded outwards, sending zephyrs of wind out in random, spiraling directions. The wind began to pick up and increase in speed, picking up dirt and dust and leaves as it condensed into a large tornado. It quickly began drawing the purple mist into as it grew larger, sucking it up from the ground and giving it an eerie violet color.