The flight to Korea only took a few hours. From the airport, they walked to the nearest secluded park they could find. Then there was a medley of battle cries:

　　"Coi, Awesome!" "Coi, Magnolia!" "Coi, Cyan!" "Coi, Xanadu!" "Coi, Onyx!" Rainbow sparkles flashed brilliantly throughout the grove of trees, and team Choice Givers stepped forward in their magical garb. Aiko, of course, was already wearing Bubbles.

　　"Everyone, good work last week. Let's keep up this pace. Protect yourself first, protect each other next, and worry about defeating your target last. Are we ready?"

　　"Yes sir!" The five girls saluted their commander. Masanori picked up Aiko, Rei picked up Shiori, and Kotone picked up Chiharu to fly the rest of the way to the remote mountain laboratory. Aiko's telepathic link had mind read not only Cho Kai's location, but also lifted from his mind the layout of the guards and checkpoints surrounding all approaches to his facility. The solution they had all come to was simple, fly high in the sky until they were directly overhead their target, shoot a hole through the roof, dive directly down the hole, neutralize Cho Kai, then fly away before anyone could respond. Fighting Dead Enders was one thing, but no one wanted to get involved in a fight with normal soldiers. This would be a strictly surgical operation. In and out in less than five minutes. After another half hour of pleasant and uneventful flying, this time by magic instead of by plane, they hovered directly over their target. Aiko confirmed the shot telepathically one more time, and waved an okay sign to Rei.

　　"Everything should just return to zero," Rei Rin chanted, her butterfly wings throwing off darker and darker waves behind her.

　　"Amplify," Cyan's blue light started pulsing in sync with Onyx's black.

　　"Eclipse!" Rei pointed her finger and a black beam shot forward ahead of it, erasing the steel and concrete of the ceiling and every floor of the facility, as well as a good deal of the bedrock underneath.

　　"Before any reinforcements come, let's hurry." Masanori snapped, and the three flyers swept down the newly constructed passageway, each carrying their own non-flying girl.

　　"Stop! This floor, take a left. Can you see him yet? The one with the fancy desk." Aiko guided the team. When they were only a meter off the ground, Masanori dropped Aiko, Rei dropped Shiori, and Kotone dropped Chiharu to the floor. Everyone turned to face off against their new opponent. No ambushes this time. It looked like the dark wyrds didn't have the manpower to marshal that many forces every fight.

　　"Cho Kai, prepare yourself! We're team Choice Givers, and in the name of Choices, we will punish you!" Kotone pointed her left hand's index finger and pinky at her target while crossing it over her right forearm.

　　Everyone stared up at Kotone in disbelief.

　　Kotone stuck out her tongue and bit it apologetically to her teammates standing below her. "I just always wanted to say that."

　　Shiori shook her head, ridding it of cobwebs. "You heard Kotone. We know all about your scheme to make an ethno-bomb. We have you outnumbered six to one. If you know what's best for you, surrender!"

　　"What would you girls know of the wonders of science?" Cho Kai glared at the girls who had crashed through his precious lab's roof. His assistants were scattering in every direction for their lives.

　　"And as to being outnumbered, I wonder who really has the upper hand here -- Coi, Ube!" Sparkles surrounded their target, and his outfit changed from a labcoat to -- a labcoat. But this one had a purple gem over his right breast radiating light. He was also carrying a wicked looking laser pointer.

　　"Everyone, be careful, his magic is to change one life form into another." Aiko shouted across the room.

　　"Really?" Rei asked excitedly.

　　"A surveillance type, huh? How clever of you, Choice Givers. Every day in the lab, I use my magic to switch a gene here and a gene there, then try again. Failure after failure, failure after failure, every day I change the samples and try again. But it's all worth it. In exchange for making their bomb, they've given me money, assistants, authority, and the lab of my dreams. You may have figured out my secret project and my secret power, but did you know my magic can do something like this?" Cho Kai swept his magical lab-coat equipped arm upwards dramatically:

　　"Gigaaaaaaaaaaaaaa---Gigantorrrrrrrrrrrrr---Victoryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" With each word Cho Kai became less himself, and more something else. Sparkles surrounded his body as it started expanding and growing taller and taller, until his head smashed through the roof of the building and kept growing further still.

　　"Aaaghh!" Kotone flitted back and forth on her rainbow wings, dodging the falling rubble.

　　"Everyone, gather together!" Masanori ordered. He was already slicing his sword in a circle over his head. Everyone jumped to the center of the room.

　　"Behold my perfect form!" Cho Kai boomed. He was no longer a labcoat suited scientist. He was a giant robot. The body was mainly painted white, but it had red wings, yellow eyes, and a dizzying pattern of blue stripes and rectangles. There was a purple glowing furnace in his chest, and more distressingly, lots and lots of missiles poking out of various compartments. That, and he was carrying a laser gun larger than a bus.

　　"GIGANTOR BEAMMMMMMMMMMMM!" Gigantor Kai leveled his cannon at his foes and pulled the trigger.

　　"Angle Exile." Masanori invoked. The cut circle rotated into a haze of empty space, and the blinding bolt of energy disappeared above them into the great unknown.

　　"Chiharu, aim for the legs!" Shiori shouted.

　　"Roger!" Chiharu said, crouched beneath their angle shield as she started charging her own laser gun for a return shot.

　　"Rapid fire." Shiori said, and jets of flame appeared on her boots.

　　"EVERYONE STOP!" Rei shouted at the top of her voice.

　　First all of her friends turned to look at her, confused.

　　Then Gigantor Kai stopped to look in confusion as well.

　　"However much money they're giving you, I'll give you more, so please just stop making bombs!" Rei Rin pleaded upwards at Gigantor Kai at the top of her voice.

　　"HO HO HO HO HO." Gigantor Kai laughed "AND CAN YOU PROVIDE ME WITH ONE HUNDRED TRILLION WON, LITTLE GIRL?"

　　"Done!" Rei Rin shouted back.

　　"Ehhhhhh?" Kotone turned to stare at her friend. "That's almost ten trillion yen you know!"

　　"I'm sorry!" Rei put out her hand vertically in front of her face to Kotone. "I'll pay you back somehow, I promise! I'll quit college and get a job!"

　　"Ehhhhhhhhh?" Kotone was smiling awkwardly. "Even if you say that. . ."

　　"Rei, I'm rich, but that's more mining than the entire world economy can consume in a year, no matter how much I dig up. . .and I don't even know how long it would take to mine that much. . .wouldn't it be better to just beat the robot? For my sake?" Masanori gave Rei a hopeful look.

　　"You can't! I need Cho Kai to marry Onyx!" Rei started blushing furiously.

　　"Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?" Now Kotone, Magnolia, Chiharu, Cyan, Shiori, Awesome, Masanori and Xanadu all responded in shocked unison.

　　"WHICH IS IT, CHOICE GIVERS? DO YOU HAVE MY MONEY OR NOT?" Gigantor Kai shouted.

　　Rei bowed to Masanori, then turned her face upwards to give him her widest puppy dog eyes. She looked ready to cry if he said anything more.

　　"Umm," Masanori rubbed the back of his head, unable to resist Rei any longer. Turning, he shouted up to the robot in the sky. "Can you accept payment in installments?"

　　Gigantor Kai rubbed his robo chin with his left, non-gun-carrying robo arm. "IF I COULD BUILD A TELESCOPE TEN TIMES THE SIZE OF THE HUBBLE. . ."

　　"You could, you could!" Rei shouted encouragingly.

　　"AND A PARTICLE ACCELERATOR TEN TIMES THE SIZE OF THE LHC. . ." Gigantor Kai mused.

　　"You could, you could!" Rei nodded vigorously.

　　"THEN. . ." Gigantor Kai turned into a blizzard of sparkles, and his form started shrinking again, gradually turning from a series of metallic rectangles back into curved human flesh. "I guess we have a deal. I never liked working for the government anyway. It's just a distraction from experiments of real worth, if you ask me."

　　"Yataaaa!" Rei shouted, flying into the Korean's arms for a giant hug.

　　"I guess this counts as Rei's conversion." Shiori smiled proudly, looking at her twin sister, who wore the happiest face Shiori had ever seen.

　　"What are you talking about?" Kotone scoffed in indignation. "This totally counts as Masanori's! She's spending his money!"

　　"I think you've picked up the wrong impression somewhere. It's not like we're all required to convert at least one world menace.. ." Chiharu reminded her friends.

　　"Then, half and half?" Shiori smiled and held out her hand to Kotone.

　　"Half and half." Kotone shook Shiori's hand. Both of them looked ridiculously pleased with their negotiating skills.

　　"I wonder who Isao will convert?" Shiori asked.

　　"That's a tough one." Kotone agreed, tapping her lips with her index finger. "He doesn't exactly talk much to his opponents, what with the stabbing out of nowhere and all."

　　"Umm, guys, you've got it all wrong. . ." Chiharu started, and then she shook her head and turned away. "Forget it. . .No one listens to me anymore." Chiharu sighed. Shiori and Kotone laughed and tackled her in a three way hug to console her.

　　That's two down, Aiko thought happily. And one more to go.

* * *

　　Their return flight had one more person than their original. It was readily agreed that Cho Kai would live in Kotone's mansion for now. There were enough guest rooms that it wasn't a burden in the least, and the Choice Givers wanted him nearby to make sure he was abiding by his half of the bargain.

　　"Listen," Rei Rin sat down across from Cho Kai. "I need a super convenient magic on your part. Can you make the wyrds into some sort of hybrid species? I want them to keep their ability to use magic, especially scrying, because no wyrd would go without that sense for an instant, but to also have a fully functional human form. Plus, when I say, "Coi, Onyx," I still need that human form to transform into a proper wyrd gem for my suit. Also, the wyrd still has to obey me like before. Don't change that! Basically keep everything the same but make him human too. So human we can have kids together. If you can turn into a giant robo, this should be easy, right?"

　　"The key is imagination. If it can be imagined clearly, it can be done. If I don't understand how it could possibly work, it can't be done. If I could just generate a life form based on people's wishes, I could have finished an ethno-bomb long ago." Cho Kai shrugged, unwilling to promise anything.

　　"But it can be done? If you studied the problem?" Rei asked encouragingly.

　　"There's nothing I can't do if I study the problem." Cho Kai adjusted his glasses. "But I'm saying humans don't really understand what makes a wyrd a wyrd. They don't have DNA, so how could I preserve a wyrd's abilities if they were human? How could I code into DNA the ability to revert into a miniature magical being at will? It sounds like a paradox."

　　"We're Choice Givers. We use magic. There's no such thing as impossible in this world." Rei Rin stressed, squeezing her hands together worriedly. "This is one hundred trillion won we're talking about. And this research doesn't end up killing the world. Please? If you want, you could start on me. . .like, turn me into a wyrd and back. . .instead of Onyx into a human and back. I'll be your test subject."

　　"I. . .doubt that would help." Cho Kai looked at the short, long haired girl again, still amazed she was nineteen. But he couldn't hide the admiration from his voice. She wasn't pursuing her goal half-heartedly. She was fighting for it like a lion. A spirit like that deserved some sort of response. "But I'll certainly call you if the need arises."

　　"Then, you'll do it? It would be so much help to everyone." Rei smiled joyously, thinking of the prospects. "I know Awesome and Magnolia would like to be together, and Cyan's already proposed to Chiharu. . ."

　　"Hey! Don't spread weird ideas." Chiharu interrupted Rei. "I never said yes to Cyan. He doesn't have a graduate degree or a good job."

　　"But Chiharu," Rei gave her a crooning voice. "You know he could do that easily once he's human. Cyan's brilliant, and he's always serious. He's an alien from a higher civilization. How hard could our math and such really be for the likes of him?"

　　"Well, who knows? The point is we aren't betrothed, and we won't be until he proves himself, just like anyone else." Chiharu said.

　　"You don't have to be so reserved." Rei replied. "You can be happy about this too. You two were made for each other. Isn't that obvious? Wasn't that obvious from the day you met Cyan? It was obvious from the day I met Onyx."

　　"Yes, well." Chiharu looked sideways, starting to blush. "Just don't go marrying people on your own. Cyan will start getting ideas. . .I won't lower my standards just because I love him. . .that is, just because I've known him for a long time, and he took advantage of my girlish innocence when I didn't know how to say no. . ."

　　"Honestly. Like you were ever innocent." Rei scowled.

　　"Says the girl who tried to destroy the world." Chiharu scowled back.

　　"Well sorry for that." Rei Rin glared.

　　Chiharu looked stricken, realizing what she had just said. "Oh, I'm so sorry Rei. I didn't mean it."

　　Rei shook her head, immediately tossing away her assumed pique. "It's okay, you know. It's been six years. I don't need coddling forever. Actually, it hurts more that no one ever teases me. I'm always that half step further away as a friend than you three are to each other, because you're so worried about hurting me. Tease me as much as you like. It doesn't hurt anymore. You did a great job of making it not hurt anymore. All of you."

　　"So, umm, Cyan, are you listening?" Chiharu was suddenly nervous that they had been sleeping together every night.

　　"Yes." Cyan's blue light flashed out of her necklace that always lay just under her shirt.

　　"Would you like to become human?" Chiharu asked.

　　"Yes." Cyan replied.

　　"And, would you like to go to graduate school? And get a good job? Like, say, an accountant or a lawyer? You'd make a great lawyer, don't you think?" Chiharu asked.

　　"I think I could handle that." Cyan said.

　　"And. . .you still haven't changed your mind about marriage?" Chiharu asked nervously.

　　"Honestly, I never proposed in the first place." Cyan sighed. "But I suppose I haven't changed my mind. You're the most beautiful girl in the world to me. There's nowhere else I want to be than by your side, for as long as I live. Now that the prospect has emerged, yes, I want to marry you."

　　"No fair." Rei turned on her wyrd. "Onyx, you haven't even said that to me yet!"

　　"There's nowhere else I want to be than at your side, great mistress." Onyx flashed waves of darkness.

　　"It's too late for that!" Rei hmphed and turned her head away. Even so, Cho could see her cheeks coloring.

　　Cho Kai didn't understand what he was watching. These young girls were enjoying their lives, but they didn't know the answer to a single important question. It was a contradiction. How could anyone be happy without knowing whether string theory or quantum foam theory was the correct model of the universe? There was something wrong with these people. Who imagined having a romance with your wyrd? Ube was a tool. A data device. What else could he be? Did girls think of nothing but marriage no matter who they met? And why did he have to work for such a childish dream? He was the greatest scientist on Earth. He should be researching something great. Not how to make a girl happy. Even if she hugged me for it. Even if that's the first time I've ever made anyone happy. It's all nonsense.

　　Cho Kai decided to break the project down into pieces. If a wyrd's structure could be digitized, like he digitized his own brain for Gigantor Kai, then that digital blueprint could then be transferred into a DNA code, just like Gigantor Kai was reverted to Cho Kai. If you think about it that way, a transformation wasn't impossible. All information could be contained in binary code. Whether it was condensed magical essence or carbon, there was a digital translation. They key was extracting all the necessary data, so that nothing was left out from the original. Once the brains were completed, bodies were easy. He had long since been able to construct working cells out of base elements. And magic made up for the mass-energy conversion issues easily. A drop of magic from the etheric plane was worth an ocean of energy in this plane, due to their fractal relationship. The bodies could be as healthy and attractive as the girls liked. There was nothing mystical about fertility. It was all just stem cells. He understood stem cells.

　　The question was how to digitize the information inside a wyrd's magical chemistry. Plus, the conduit had to be upkept. If the tube was severed, he doubted it could be reconnected. How could DNA be tuned to still be able to wield magic? It wouldn't work for non-wyrds, because they didn't have conduits to the the etheric plane to tap. It would be like having the nerves to move a hand but no hand in the first place. But it just might work for a wyrd. . .

　　Cho Kai got out a pen and started scribbling onto his notepad. He didn't care anymore about the consequences. He just wanted to know how it could be done. Knowing was happiness.

* * *

　　Rei Rin opened the unlocked door to their house. The flight to Korea was faster than most, so it was Saturday night instead of Sunday night. She was still exhausted, for various reasons that had little to do with how long she'd been awake. Feelings kept rushing through her, and the runaway stampede had never stopped. Hope and fear. Worry about her new, ten trillion yen debt to her friend, and wondering if Masanori would be okay paying for it all. Hoping Cho Kai wasn't really a bad person, knowing she had taken a huge risk leaving him alive and free to study whatever he pleased again. Her thoughts went round and round. And then there was the knowledge that she would soon be a bride. She had never even gone on a first date with a boy, and she would be married soon.

　　"I'm home." Rei Rin called out, slipping off her outdoor shoes.

　　"Welcome home." Daddy called out from the living room, watching the news as he was accustomed to do. "Did you have a fun trip?"

　　"Yes, Daddy." Rei slipped into her indoor slippers and walked over to the TV, leaning down over the couch and hugging her arms around his chest from behind.

　　"What's this?" Daddy looked at Rei curiously.

　　"Nothing. I just might be moving out soon. And I might be introducing you to a boy I like soon. And I'm going to miss this. I'm going to miss my life here so much." Rei fought back her tears. Today was a happy day. It was the day her dreams had come true. There was no point feeling melancholy about it!

　　"In other news," The TV anchorwoman spoke, "A giant robot was seen over a remote branch of Seoul National University's research wing. After firing what seemed to be a laser cannon, which left enormous structural damage to the building and even a giant hole in the rock beneath, it appears to have. . .flown away to places unknown. Tell me, Mr. Nakamura, how much energy would it take for a laser to vaporize this much rock?"

　　"It's a truly astounding weapon. If I hadn't seen the damage myself, I would have imagined it was another trick of the notorious hackers from six years ago. But now I think Korea has questions to answer. What weapons has it been developing, and why? Where did this giant robot go, and why won't they admit they're the ones behind it?" Mr. Nakamura wondered aloud.

　　"The United Nations has already called for a comprehensive diplomatic rapprochement between all concerned parties. Worries that China might respond with a giant robot of their own aren't unwarranted. Isn't it time that the free world either guaranteed the safety of Korea or demanded free and fair elections in China, the last despotism in East Asia?" The TV anchorwoman asked.

　　"I think that's a question we have to be asking ourselves. The United States in particular, with their long history of friendship with South Korea, needs to reaffirm their commitment to defending United Korea as well. Simply picking up their troops and going home when North Korea fell has obviously caused an unnecessary panic in the Korean government, or a secret weapons program like this giant robot never would have been designed." Mr. Nakamura agreed sagely.

　　"In unrelated news, Seoul National University's leading scientist has announced his resignation, and has been hired by Angle Corporation to begin working on a space telescope, he says, will be ten times as large as the Hubble space telescope. Mr. Nakamura, can you hypothesize on why Angle Corporation would be seeking a telescope at this time?"

　　"It can only mean their mineral rights are running low. Rather than seeking new leases in the competitive field of terrestial mining, Angle corporation must want to find particularly rich asteroids to mine from outer space. If, for instance, they could spot an asteroid with an orbit that crosses near the Earth, it's conceivable that with just a few pushes, or even by shining a laser on the asteroid, it could be guided into a safe location in the Australian desert. A mining interest could make great use of a space telescope that precise. A single asteroid could supply the whole world for years when it comes to any number of metals. . ."

　　Rei and Shiori looked at each other in astonishment, and then they started giggling. Rei reminded herself to never trust the news again.