"Oh great, and now it's raining too…" I mumbled under my breath as I held out my hand and felt another small droplet hit my palm. It was barely a drizzle, but considering how dark the clouds were before the sun went down, I had a feeling it was going to get worse, so I hastened my steps on the sidewalk.

I could've certainly Phased over to my destination if the weather truly turned for the worse, but for now, I decided to walk. Mainly because I was already feeling the side-effects of manipulating the magical substratum setting in, and I was afraid that taking the shortcut might make them worse, but also because I've eaten one gyro too many in the company of Mountain Girl, and moving like this helped my digestion. It wasn't like I was late from anywhere anyway, and the open air never hurt anyone. Well, except those silly aliens from War of the Words, but that's beside the point.

It had been just about a quarter of an hour since I finally managed to separate myself from my temporary hunting partner, which was unusually tiresome this time around, as she was quite insistent about inviting me to another hunting trip, this time to the Congo to find something called a 'mokele-mbembe'. I naturally declined her offers just as insistently, and she gave up after her second super-sized gyros. As for the rest of our time in the restaurant, we only talked about small, inconsequential things, like the weather, or the food, or how to clean blood stains out of fabrics. In the end, we said our farewells on amicable terms, and only then did I realize that I completely forgot to unambiguously tell her about how I was already in a relationship and that she should look for greener pastures.

Oh well. I'd do it next time, I figured. Or better yet, I'll avoid her until she leaves the island, so there won't be a next time. That would probably work too, and it would be definitely less awkward. Hurray for procrastination!

While I was considering all that, I continued walking until I unceremoniously arrived back at the spot where I left the body of the disabled Chimera. The place was still a mess, with the fallen tree and the bloodstains and everything, but the creature was nowhere to be found. Good. Brang and co. were really efficient as usual.

"[Did the disposal of the lifeless meat proceed without any unforeseen circumstances?]"

It might have looked like I was only growling to myself, but after a long second the dirt next to me was kicked up by the impact of a heavy body. When I glanced over, I was met with the cloaked, bowing figure of Karukk. I had no idea why he was sitting on a tree branch until I called out to him, but it wasn't exactly important in the grand scheme of things. I waited for him to finish saluting, but when he kept his head down, I prompted him by lightly clearing my throat and uttering a subtle "[So?]"

"[Oh, excuse me, my lord,]" he sputtered in a hurry as he straightened his back. "[Yes, sir. We've taken the carcass of the Chimera to the base, as per your instructions.]"

"[Good man.]"

"[Thank you, my lord. Your kind words are wasted on me.]"

The Faun kept beaming at me even under the scrutiny of my most skeptical look, and in the end I was forced to stifle a groan and turn in place to face him.

"... Okay, time out," I said as I switched to normal speech. "What's the deal?"

"[What could you possibly mean?]"

Karukk's ears swiveled around in the way I've long since learned to associate with embarrassment. It was an amusing little tic all the Fauns shared, but seeing it in this context only made me even more confused.

"I'm talking about how polite and courteous you're acting right now. It's creeping me out a little."

"[My apologies, my lord. It was not my intention to make you uneasy.]" At this point he finally noticed how I was frowning at him, so he hastily added, "[I-I mean… Seeing your battle with the Chimera finally opened my eyes. I apologize that it took so long.]"

"… Come again?"

"[The way you've slain the Chimera with a single strike; it opened my eyes and I realized that the general was right about you all along.] Karukk paused for a long moment, then he lowered his head and added, in a much quieter voice, "[Please forgive the disrespectful ways I've addressed you in the past.]

This was yet another one of those head-scratching moments, where it took me a long time to figure out just what the heck was going on, but then I finally managed to put together a working hypothesis.

It was easy to forget about it, due to how friendly and goofy they acted lately, but the Fauns were something of a magically engineered super-soldier race with a warrior culture ethos built into them. They've been following my lead mostly due to Brang vouching for me and because I was acknowledged as Snowy's brother (and regent, for some reason that was still entirely unclear to me). If my hunch was right, seeing me actually 'defeat' a Chimera might've made Karukk re-evaluate me, and then the whole 'honor-bound-retainer' thing kicked in, and so he started creeping me out. Quite elementary, and annoying, my dear Watson.

Now, there was only one question remaining: how do I nip this in the bud before it spreads to the others?

"For the record, I didn't actually 'slay' the Chimera," I noted as I pointedly faced the blood-stained walkway again.

"[I'm sorry, my lord, but don't understand.]"

I glanced back at him and stated, "I mean that I couldn't slay the Chimera because it was not really alive to begin with. It was just an empty body puppeteered by magic."

"[Are you certain, my lord? I don't think that should be possible.]"

"Well, it is," I grumbled as my brows furrowed once again. "I simply turned off the magic, and the Chimera with it. It wasn't nearly as impressive as it might've looked like from the outside."

Karukk stayed silent for a long while, and for a moment I almost thought I got through to him, but then he shook his head.

"[So you've accurately grasped the weakness of the creature and neutralized it without suffering any injuries in the process. I fail to see how that is any less impressive, my lord.]"

"Oh, come on. Please don't twist things like that."

"[I'm not twisting anything, my lord,]" he answered, accompanied by a genuine smile. "[If anything, your modesty makes me admire you even more.]"

I sent the friendly Faun a flat look, but he was entirely serious, so in the end I let out a sigh and asked, "So, for the record, does that mean that you fully acknowledge me right now?"

"[Yes, my lord.]"

"So if I gave you an order right now, you would follow it?"

"[Certainly, my lord.]" He responded without hesitation.

"Without any question?" Karukk gave me a determined nod, so I firmly told him, "In that case, I order you to stop being polite with me. Oh, and also, stop tagging 'my lord' at the end of your sentences. It's annoying."

"[But…]"

Whatever protests he might have had, he immediately swallowed them back after noticing my glare.

"[If that is you wish, then…]" I lowered my brows even further at his words, so he hastily corrected himself. "[I mean, sure, my…. um... boss?]"

I kept staring daggers at him for just a little longer, but at last I eased it up and commented, "I give that a passing grade." He was entirely too relieved by my words, so I shook my head and kept the conversation rolling by asking, "When I said that the Chimera was controlled by magic, you said it was impossible. Why do you think so?"

The Faun was seemingly taken aback by my sudden question, and it took him a fairly long time to formulate an answer.

"[Chimera are very resistant to the mystic arts.]" That was something I already knew, so I gestured for him to elaborate. "[As far as I know, trying to forcefully wrest control away from one's master would be impossible even for a Lord of the Abyss.]"

"What if the thing was already dead, and a complex enchantment was operating the body?"

There was another long beat, and then Karukk told me, in an unsure tone, "[I'm sorry boss, but I'm not an expert when it comes to Chimeras or mystic arts. I have no idea.]"

"Don't worry. I already have a theory about what's going on, I was just curious if you could give me another clue." While we talked, the weather was getting even worse, so I ultimately told him, "I think I should get going soon. Make sure the Chimera arrives at the secret base in one piece. I'll head over later to examine it. Until then, keep an eye on it."

Instead of answering, Karukk only gave me a quick salute, and then he immediately dashed away. He probably found the whole discussion about as awkward as I did, so I didn't blame him. As for the Chimera, I wasn't really worried about it getting up any time soon the same way I wasn't worried that a car with its ignition cables cut would start up on its own. I also made sure to disable any tracking or surveillance magic I found inside its magical operation system, so I wasn't worried about someone following the Fauns back to the base either, but taking another look at the enchantment inside it couldn't hurt anyone. Well, except my head, but that was unavoidable.

That said, the drizzle was getting thicker by the minute, so I hastily buttoned up my coat and left the scene of the battle while trying my best to ignore my throbbing head. Because I had to concentrate on that, I walked slower than usual, and it took me a solid twenty minutes to get home. It was already dark outside, and the weather went from 'the air is a little wet' to 'it's going to start pouring down at any moment so hard that even Noah would be freaked out'. Because of this, and since I could see the light in the living room from the outside, I opened my front door without even bothering with the keys.

"I'm home," I announced my arrival by reflex, only to freeze in my tracks because of the rumbling noise of multiple people rushing towards me. I glanced in the direction of the sound, and I was met with the bewildered faces of the entire gang staring at me from the other side of the door leading into the living room, all of them looking as if they just saw a ghost. After a long beat, I closed the door behind me and uttered a supremely confused "What?"

That single word seemed to have drained all the tension out of their air, and my friends let out a collective sigh of relief at my expense, followed by Angie slapping Josh on the shoulder and declaring, "You owe me five Jen now!"

"We didn't actually bet!" my friend objected, only to be literally swept aside as a blonde missile sailed past him, with its targeting reticule firmly set on me.

My otherwise well-honed girl-catching reflexes may have gotten a little rusty due to the rain, as the princess's charge completely blindsided me.

"You see? I told you he would be all right!" my girlfriend declared as she glomped me, and then followed it up by a ribcage-creaking hug that pushed all the air right out of my lungs.

"Elly, I just came in from the rain," I tried to warn her, but she completely ignored me and continued to bury her face into my chest with extra vigor.

"I knew you didn't explode!"

"What? Explode? What exactly is-" 'going on?', I wanted to ask, but I swallowed the end of the sentence down as I noticed Judy also coming my way.

Her approach was less bombastic than the princess's, but her expression, which was even harder to read than usual, immediately put me on edge.

"Um… hi, Dormouse? How's it going?"

"Hush, Chief," my deadpan girlfriend chided me while maintaining her inscrutable expression. "I'm currently contemplating whether I should hug you because you're all right, or kick you because you made us worry."

"... Normally I would prefer the former, but as I was just saying—"

I got exactly that far before my dear assistant came to a conclusion and she stepped forth to embrace me by the waist. Well, so much for my unheeded warning about my coat being drenched to the point I felt like I was wearing a small lake. Oh well, I tried. Let's look on the bright side of things; at least she didn't kick me… though considering her track record, I doubt it would've been more than a tickle anyway.

While my girlfriends indulged themselves in holding onto me as if they were afraid I'd run away, I turned my attention towards the rest of our group still clustered around the doorway leading into my living room. On a cursory glance, they appeared fine enough. They were still wearing their school uniforms, with only a few small scrapes here and there they probably deemed too minor to bother Angie about. Speaking of our resident Celestial, she was gazing at us with affectionate eyes, but with a smile that told me that if she had a bowl of popcorn, she'd be chomping down on it like she was in the cinema.

Aside from her, there was a slightly annoyed Josh shaking his head at the sight (I would've bet my left kidney that he was jealous of my current situation, like the self-awareness deficient nincompoop he was), a considerably more annoyed class rep (she was even doing her menacing thing with her glasses), and my relieved sister, whose expression told me she also wanted to come over and hug me, but considered the situation too crowded already. Note to self: give her a suitably brotherly head pat once I was free, for being such a considerate little sister.

Once I completed my observations, it was time to address the elephant in the room.

"For the record, I still don't understand what's going on. Could you please tell me why you guys are so worked up right now?"

"We're not 'worked up', we're just relieved because we thought you were dead."

Ammy's answer was surprising enough, but the way the rest of my friends nodded along with her words only made me more apprehensive.

"Why would I be...?" I began, only to stop and then change my original question into, "You know what? How about we discuss this once you let me sit down first? I'm wet, tired, and my head hurts."

"Sure," Josh stepped back and gestured for me to come into my own house, but before I could take the first step, Judy also put some distance between us and began to deftly unbutton my coat. Once she realized what she was doing Elly immediately let go as well and stood behind me to help me out of my outerwear. I was thankful for their attentiveness, but the moment my wet coat was off, my dear assistant began to pat me down from head to toe. She completely disregarded my wryest of looks, and once she touched every PG-13 nook and cranny of my body, she stepped back and declared, "He's uninjured."

Elly and Snowy let out a relieved breath in unison, but I ignored them, and instead I deftly slipped by my girlfriends, kicked off my shoes, and entered the living room without any further incidents. I walked over to my usual comfy chair and unceremoniously plopped down onto it. The rest of the group followed my example, though not by literally sitting on my chair. That would've been just plain weird.

"It's a little narrow here..." Elly stated on my left as she tried her best to sit on my armrest.

"It can't be helped," Judy added on my right, almost losing her balance and falling into my lap in the process.

I've spoken too soon, haven't I? Well, at least the rest of the group was slightly more reasonable, as they picked the couch instead. It wasn't designed for four people, so it was a little crowded over there, but they didn't seem to mind it too much.

Once my girlfriends finished their balancing act and everyone settled down, I took a deep breath and decided on a blunt approach.

"Okay, so as far as I can gather, you guys thought I exploded or something. Care to explain what you mean by that?"

"Precisely what it sounds like," Ammy huffed while crossing her arms.

"And I'm asking you to please elaborate a little on that already. I still have no idea what you are talking about."

The peanut gallery shared a look between each other, and at the end of the day, it was Josh who proverbially stepped forth.

"Before the battle with Doctor Robatto, he claimed that you were also with us. He called you out." He paused for a moment, so I gestured for him to proceed, as so far I haven't heard anything new. "We thought he was bluffing, but then the woman with him pointed her hand at a building and the whole street corner exploded with a 'KABOOM!'"

"Personally I think it was more of a 'KRAKADOOM!'" Angie chimed in, only to be summarily ignored.

"Oh, right. That happened," I noted with a belated realization. "But I told you I would be off Chimera hunting, so why did you make such a fuss about it?"

"We didn't at the time," Ammy cut in with a frown, "But then after the battle, we found your spear at the scene."

"Oh, I get it now! Because it was there, you thought I was also at the scene and got vaporized!"

"Don't smile while you say that," Judy chided me while simultaneously pinching my shoulder.

"Right!" my other girlfriend seconded as she pointed a nostalgic accusatory finger at my nose. "We were really scared when we found it in pieces between the rubble, you know!"

"What? It's broken?" I clicked my tongue and whispered, "Damn, it was a perfectly good spear. I didn't even get to properly try it out yet..."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but could we stay on topic?" Ammy interjected again, her fingers already playing with the frame of her glasses. "Were you really in the Restricted Space with us?"

"No, of course not," I replied with the utmost sincerity. I mean, I wasn't lying, as I only dropped by for a moment, so statistically speaking, I really wasn't. She was still giving me a critical glare, so I took a deep breath and began to explain myself.

"I had one of the Faun act as a lookout in the area. Labcoat Guy thinks that I can use illusions, so when they detected someone there with Snowy's Sigil hiding them, they thought it was me."

"And why was he holding your spear?" came the next logical question from the class rep.

"Due to a long string of inexplicable coincidences," I vaguely told her with a toothy grin, much to her frustration.

"Is he all right?" Snowy inquired in a low voice while Ammy was busy silently glaring at me, so I sent her a considerably more natural smile and nodded.

"Yeah, Vurrok's fine. Don't worry."

My sister let out a relieved breath, but before she could add anything else to the conversation, Ammy cut in with the words, "And how exactly do you know all that?" I sent her a small smirk in return, telling her to figure it out on her own, and then a second later I could see the proverbial light bulb light up over her head. "Oh, right. That was a silly question."

I wanted to tell her that it indeed was, using my most mysterious and inscrutable voice, but I was beaten to the punch by Angie suddenly raising a hand high. I turned my attention to her, but she kept trying to raise it even higher. I figured she was waiting for me to give her the green light, which I did with a small gesture, earning me an impish grin in return.

"Question: does that mean that you went Chimera-hunting without a weapon?"

I let out a small groan and responded in a flat voice.

"Yes, Angie. It means I did just that."

"And? How did it go?" the Celestial girl pressed on with sparkling eyes, and while the others were less blatant about it, they also seemed just as curious.

"Fairly well. The Chimera showed up on schedule, and it went down with only minor collateral damage. A tree got cut down by accident, but hopefully it won't make the news."

"Collateral damage?" Josh asked while demonstrating his mastery of single-eyebrow-raise-fu. "Didn't you fight it in a Restricted Space?"

"Things kind of developed too quickly for that…" I answered just a touch sheepishly, yet it was enough to satisfy his curiosity.

"What about the hunter woman?" Judy inquired as she clumsily entwined her arm around mine, probably to stabilize herself on the armrest. When Elly realized this was an option, she hurriedly followed suit as well, so I waited for them to finish fidgeting before I gave them my answer.

"Well, there's nothing to hunt here anymore, so with some luck, she should be leaving soon to the Congo."

"Good. That means no more moonlit dates with her, I presume."

"They weren't dates to begin with, but yes, you are correct."

My ever so slightly exasperated tone fell on deaf ears, as Judy and Elly glanced at each other with a knowing look. I had a feeling I was left out of some kind of inside joke, but before I could ask, my attention was drawn to my dour best friend crossing his arms on the couch.

"So at least you managed to achieve your goals, huh? I suppose that means this day wasn't a complete bust after all."

Josh's grumbles made me raise a confused brow, but then a realization suddenly hit me like a runaway bullet train. The gang was a little down even after they learned that I was fine (except for Angie, but she was Angie, so it meant nothing), but I wrote that off as just combat fatigue. However, if I had interpreted his word's right…

"Please don't tell me Labcoat Guy got away."

The frustrated groan escaping Josh's mouth was answer enough, but I still waited for him to spell it out.

"He did." There was a long beat of downcast silence after his declaration, and only then did he explain what exactly happened. "Pascal and I got him cornered for most of the battle."

I already knew that, but I figured it would've been rude (and suspicious) to tell them that, so I waited for Josh to continue. Unexpectedly enough, it was Elly who chimed in instead.

"I took care of the big one and the small ones."

Based on the combination of the proud grin and the expectant eyes, I figured she was fishing for compliments, so I didn't let her wait for long.

"That sounds amazing. You did well."

Her proud smile immediately turned into a smug one (it was a small yet very profound difference) and she snuggled even closer to me. Well, at least no one could say she was hard to please.

"I took care of the anchor point as planned," Ammy cut in with a tired voice, and when I faced her, the Celestial girl by her side also spoke up.

"I was there too! And Lili also helped when that Galatea woman showed up! We flew all around the buildings and stuff!"

"I… I did my best," Snowy concurred, so I had no choice but to praise them too.

"So it was a team effort. Good job."

"So, as I was saying…" This time it was Josh who raised his voice to get the reins of the conversation back in his hands, and once everyone calmed down, he continued with, "We had him on the ropes for a while. We climbed to the top of this nearby building, and then…"

Josh continued to explain what I've already seen with my own ethereal eyes, and a few small details notwithstanding, he did a pretty good job. The only thing that made me raise a brow was when he described the top half of the office building crumbling down as 'We also had some minor collateral damage', but I didn't call him out on it.

"… and then, when it looked like we finally got him for good, he fused with the big thing."

"The Biomechanical Gigant," Judy noted on the side.

"Yes, that," Josh acknowledged with a nod.

"Please elaborate," I requested, as this was the part where I wasn't present anymore.

"Right. What happened was that he flew into the air and then he merged into the big thing's chest."

"Wait, that's not right," Elly cut in with a frown. "He didn't 'merge', the chest part opened up and he just flew in."

"Yes, but the inside was filled with this transparent goo or what have you," Josh countered.

"I thought that was just a force field and the inside was empty," my sister added her five cents, and Josh immediately snapped his head to her.

"Was it?"

"I think so too," Angie further agreed. "At least that's what it looked like from the air."

"Well, maybe, but…"

"Can we get to the important bits?" I asked in a low voice, and they all seemed to agree.

"You're right. Either way, Doctor Robatto entered into the thing—" Josh began to explain; only to get cut off by my assistant pointedly clearing her throat, so he quickly corrected himself. "The Gigant. He flew into the Gigant, and then it transformed."

"… I'm afraid to ask, but what exactly did it transform into?"

"It was weird!" Angie cut in again as she began to wildly gesticulate while trying to illustrate her description. "It grew even bigger, and it somehow grew a lot of these blocky metal plates all around!"

"Those looked kind of like Robatto's armor, didn't they?" Josh spoke up again, and her childhood friend readily nodded.

"They sure did! And then the arms grew together and even those got a lot of blocky plating!"

"It looked like if a giant was wearing a costume made of cardboard boxes," Ammy noted, only to get literally booed by the enthusiastic Celestial.

"Boo! It didn't look like that at all! It was much cooler!"

"To be fair, it looked and moved like it was too bulky," my sister supplementary the description next, much to Angie's shock and horror.

"You too, Lili!? I thought we agreed that it looked really neat!"

"I-It looked neat, but… Maybe not 'really' neat?" Snowy floundered for a moment, so I decided it was a good moment to cut in myself.

"So the Biomechanical Whatchamacallit turned into a blocky metal monster and it was medium level neat. Got it. What happened after that?"

"After that, the robot woman with the big breasts came flying back." That comment made his entire entourage send him some pointed glances, so he immediately went on the defensive and added, "What? That's what she is! She is a robot, a woman, and she has big—"

"So, before you dig yourself even deeper," I interrupted with a sigh, "What did she do?"

"She flew to the top of the blocky Gigant," Snowy answered in a hurry, trying her best to move the conversation away from the previous tangent.

"You know how those things don't have heads?" came the entirely rhetorical question from Angie, and I promptly nodded in the affirmative. "So, she flew to where the head was supposed to be, and then a bunch of metal plates grew around her, and then there was suddenly a head! A robot head, with a big helmet! With a huge gem in the middle, and horns!"

"Wait, hold on for a moment," I requested as something finally dawned on me. A huge, blocky robot, with bulky limbs and an inexplicable horned helmet. That… sounded entirely too familiar. "I know this might sound dumb, but did any of you take a picture?"

The whole group shook their heads, but then Snowy weakly raised her hand and proposed, "I could try drawing it for you."

"You could?"

"Didn't you know?" Josh gave me an odd look and explained, "Lili's drawing skills are amazing. Her sketches alone are ten times better than the best thing I can make."

"First time I've heard about it," I admitted without any reservations and sent a questioning look at my sister in turn.

"I-I'm not that amazing. I just… had a lot of practice because of my Sigils."

"Come on Lili, don't sell yourself short!" Angie encouraged her even further, and I couldn't help but notice the way she was addressing her. Calling her 'Lili' once could be a fluke, twice a mistake, but three times in a row?

Anyhow, while I pondered whether or not this was significant, the childhood friend duo successfully convinced my sister and she left the room to get a pencil and some paper. My girlfriends also let go of me and headed for the kitchen (which they already treated as their own territory) to get some drinks, while Ammy left for the toilet, and the childhood friends began bickering about whether the color scheme of the big robot was lame or not.

Using this impromptu break in the conversation, I decided to collect myself a little. First and foremost, I closed my eyes as I leaned back in my chair and began to gently massage my temples. The headache from before was still getting worse, but for the moment it was still manageable. It wasn't like I could do much about it, so I moved on to the next point on the agenda: Labcoat Guy.

Considering that I just got the opportunity handed to me on a silver platter, I decided to capitalize on it by using Far Sight on him, knowing full well that doing so in my current state would only make the pounding in my head even worse. I took a deep breath, and a moment later the darkness of my closed eyelids disappeared as I found myself staring at the familiar ceiling of the commons room inside Labcoat Guy's secret headquarters.

"… and we have to do it now!"

If I could, I would've blinked in surprise at the sudden outburst near me, and so I quickly reoriented my field of view and found the three people I was expecting. The escapee of the day was in the process of power-pacing up and down in front of the large aquarium, while Peabody and the, at the moment casually dressed, fembot were both sitting on the large beanbag chairs nearby.

"Please calm down, Friedrich. You shouldn't jump to conclusions like that," the portly nurse attempted to chide his nephew, but his words fell on deaf ears.

"I'm perfectly calm!" he exclaimed from to top of his lungs before coming to a halt and stomping his feet. "I tell you, we were deceived by the Arch-mage! They set a trap for us!"

"I still think it was a great big misunderstanding…" Peabody whispered, prompting Labcoat Guy to shake his head.

"Impossible! Think about it, uncle! Leonard Dunning knew about things only the Arch-mage could've told him about, and Pascal was there too! They must have conspired to entrap us!"

"The probability of that is less than twenty percent," the android spoke up, only to be dismissed right away.

"I don't want to hear any more probabilities from you after what happened today, Galatea!" The Fembot averted her gaze with a very human 'Hmpf.', following which Labcoat Guy began pacing again.

"I tell you, we have to cut our losses and leave while we still can! They already know about this place, so first we have to move to the backup workshop in the docks!"

"If you think it's necessary…" Peabody mumbled in a disheartened tone that didn't escape the mad scientist's notice.

"Yes, I think so, and we have to do it ASAP!" he snapped, and then pointed a finger at the fembot and ordered, "Galatea, go and have the Mk-III Sprockets pack everything that can be moved! Also…" At this point he paused for a while as he deeply considered something, then he concluded with, "Make sure our guest is also ready for transport."

Now, I didn't need to be a genius to figure out the implications of that line, but before I could further look into it, my break time was cut short by someone grabbing my arm again. I opened my eyes, which also cut off my Far Sight, and looked at the princess awkwardly trying to sit on the armrest again, an endeavor made considerably more difficult by the fact that she was holding onto a steaming mug with one hand while doing so.

Without further ado, I reached out to take it from her before she would accidentally scald both of us, and only then did I realize that it was my mug. I directed a questioning glance at my blissfully grinning girlfriend, and she readily told me, "It was my turn to make your tea. Go ahead, give it a try!"

She didn't need to say twice, as I was just starting to get a little parched anyway, and I took a sip. It was slightly different from the tea I would make, and slightly sub-par compared to Judy's Annoying Butler™ blend, but it wasn't bad by any means of the imagination. I sincerely thanked her and took another gulp, only to pause when my eyes swept over the table and noticed the sketch Snowy was making under the questionably constructive oversight of the childhood friend trio.

I blinked once, just to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me, then I calmly swallowed the warm drink in my mouth, because I would sooner die than to do something as clichéd as a spit-take. Then, and only then, I let out a long sigh and calmly noted, "Goddammit, it really was a Megazord after all, wasn't it…?"