King of Time Gaiden Part 2

"What's goin' on?"

"What do you mean, what's going on?!" cried Evolto. "I should be asking you that! Didn't I just run you over in a Void Jumper and turn you and the rest of the band into milkshake?!"

"The hell are you on about?" Russ sounded equally as confused. "Where are you? Why's Queen playin' in the background?"

"I'm at the Spirit House!" A sudden urge came over Evolto. He grabbed his shorts and began to hurriedly put them on. But he was still feeling somewhat dazed from the Superfast Jellyfish, and fell over with a yelp and a thump.

"Well, we ain't there, man. We're at Lake Como, Italy. Murdoc bought tickets as an apology for the whole truth serum thing. We've been filmin' for our next single, and Noods and Steph are havin' a blast on the new boats. Also, Stu thinks he saw a lake monster, but I think he's just gone aquaphobic after Plastic Beach."

From the prone position, Evolto finally wiggled into the shorts.

"So I didn't just liquefy you?" he asked.

"No, but can you explain why somebody just bought pizzas on my company card?"

Oh, dear. Russel's voice had gone low. That was when he was most dangerous. Rusell Hobbs very rarely raised his voice, and that was only the second scariest thing about him. When it became even more of a growl than usual, you had to pick your words carefully or risk any number of injury, comical or otherwise. Evolto stared at the phone with a mixture of nervous tension and confusion.

"Wasn't me, man. I just spent the last hour or so eating expired snacks and playing Tekken. And cleaning up the mess," he added, hurridely.

Russ snorted. "Okay, first off, no way that's true. You're shit at Tekken."

"Am not!" Evolto threw a middle finger at his phone.

"Secondly," Russel insisted, "somebody just ordered pizzas. Three of 'em, to be exact. I'm lookin' at the delivery email... one Meat Feast, one anchovy and pineapple - eurgh, Muds' favourite - and one pepperoni with BBQ sauce. You wouldn't know anythin' about that, right?"

"Are you kidding?" cried Evolto as he wrestled the t-shirt over his head. "Last time I borrowed somebody's card, I had to go work as a hotel maid until I could pay it all back! I ain't goin' back to that life, man! Even if the outfit does look good on me!"

"Well, somebody just did. And if I gotta freeze my card because of- Oh, hold on a second, Stu just fell in the lake. I'll call you back, 'kay?"

The phone went silent. But Evolto's mind was racing. The facts didn't add up. Not only were Gorillaz alive, they hadn't even been in the house. They'd been elsewhere all this time, and also somebody - not him - had been ordering pizzas on their dime. So if he hadn't just killed one of the most influential bands of the mid Two-Thousands, then who's slurry did he just send Kouta out to reconstitute into...?

He walked back into the dining room.

The goo had been trying to stand up. It had faded to corpse white in colour, sprouted too many eyes and jutting fangs and tried to pull itself into a coherant shape. But there wasn't enough of it left for that anymore, too much of it obliterated by cosmic forces. Evolto arrived just in time to see it finally evaporate with a hiss and the stench of rotten eggs and dead fish.

A memory struck him like a speeding truck.

"Oh, shit."

-------

Kouta Tokiwa had done a lot of things for someone his age. He'd run from time travelling police officers who wanted him arrested for atrocities he hadn't yet comitted. He'd put on a belt that let him transform into a Kamen Rider, and then fought corrupted versions of past Riders to save the timeline. He'd had his ear talked off by an android, shrugged off by a man who ran a school for superhumans and been mocked for his crush on somebody in history class.

But he'd never sat at a bar drinking something that vaguely tasted of strawberries on an alien planet. And the realization hit him the instant he put the cup down.

"Good stuff, dear?" Blue, next to him, smiled easily at him as he put his own glass down. "It's a family recipe. Well, as much of a family recipe as it can be when half the family only meets up once a year."

Kouta nodded. "Yeah. Sorry, it's just... I can't believe I'm doing all of this."

The moth-person tilted his head. "All of what?"

"Asking a moth-person to use his giant worm wife to clone a band I killed by accident because a drunken Martian told me to."

Blue considered the statement, antennae twitching. "Yes. When you put it like that, it does seem strange. Although I prefer the term 'Lepidan', dear. It's our species name."

Kouta nodded again. "Right. Fair."

There as a pause as the two drank together. Silence filled the bar.

They were lucky it was empty. Blue had deduced what Kouta was the moment he saw the belt. If there had been anyone else in the building, there might have been trouble, but the bar had been closed for the night. And Blue had swore up and down that he wouldn't tell a soul. Who would believe, he'd pointed out, that a scrawny human kid was destined to rule over time and space? To which Kouta had conceded that yes, that did sound ridiculous on the face of it.

Then Kouta put the his drink down and turned to the Lepidan.

"So, how do you know Evolto, anyway?"

Blue took a sip of his own, darker drink. "Long story. He was with this group at the time - Faust, I think? He'd gotten into some bad trouble with them, and needed a way out. So I provided some eggs for him, free of charge. Never found out what he did with them, though. But he still owes me for that. I don't just give them away unless I can trust they're going to loving families. That's not what me and the wife are for!"

The name 'Faust' conjured up stories in Kouta's mind. Stories from Vent, of the things they did to living animals. He shuddered.

"I don't think those ones did," he said, trying to sound casual.

"No, I suspected not," Blue sighed. "But then again, that's our curse, isn't it? For years we struggle to get off our planet because we must needs tend to our wives, who could destroy a city if one of us puts a foot wrong. Then we finally get out there, and what happens? The rest of the galaxy sees us either as sexual deviants or as walking egg factories. Never mind the fact our gene pool is rotting, no, let's make the funny naked bug people clone dead celebrities for a giggle."

"Honestly, I'm starting to count my blessings right now." Kouta took another sip. "Time terrorists and knockoff superheroes sound like a walk in the park."

"Perhaps not. But this isn't a dick measuring competition. Pardon my English, of course," Blue added upon seein the quirked eyebrow.

"No, it's fine. Just..."

Kouta sighed, and put the mug down.

"I thought being a Kamen Rider was stressful enough. Hey, bunch of bad guys from the future wanna screw with the past, gotta wear the belt and punch the monsters. And that comes with the whole 'secret identity' and 'family in danger' bits. But then there's the part they don't mention, where you end up rubbing shoulders with complete whackos who've done it before and better. And when they throw you in the deep end and expect you to float immediately, how do you not just... sink? Or go crazy at the sight of all the sharks just below you?"

There was a pause as Blue finished his drink. More awkward silence reigned.

Then the Lepidan turned in his stool to face Kouta.

"If it's any consolation, dear," he said, "I think you're handling it magnificently."

Kouta looked up at him. "You think so?"

"Well, I don't see any sharks yet, so that's a start."

The two shared a laugh. It was oddly relaxing to Kouta. A litte bit of familiarity on a world that wasn't his own.

"But honestly," Blue went on. "You're nineteen. Still in school, still with life ahead of you and still with a lot of harsh reality to hit you. I think anyone else under your circumstances, faced with all this, would have gone completely mad. It's okay to be afraid and freak out sometimes - and I don't blame you. Anyone would. But if you've managed to get this far and still come out a mostly reasonable human being, then I say that's a success, right?"

Kouta nodded, letting the words sink in. "Yeah... yeah, I guess you're right."

"Trust me, dear, I know a lot of people who couldn't do half the stuff you're doing." Blue leaned forward and smiled. "You're stronger than you think you are. You just need to remember that, even in moments like this.

Kouta smiled back.

Then, without really thinking what he was doing, he leaned forward, and he and Blue wrapped each other up in a hug. The Lepidan had shed his toga, so Kouta could feel his oddly cool skin against his own. The silver markings glowed as they embraced, the light comforting and soothing to the youth. They sat there for a moment, just taking it in, and Kouta didn't really know why he was doing this, but it felt like something he needed to do.

There was a thump on the counter. Kouta turned his head and saw a large paper bag in front of him. It was being clutched in the trotters of another alien, a short and stumpy one that looked like a warthog had tried to fight a speeding truck and lost. Tiny eyes glared at him from behind too many lumps and knobbles to count.

"Your delivery," it grunted.

"Thank you, Doris," hummed Blue without looking. "Leave it on the counter, there's a dear." Doris grunted, turned and ambled away into the back room, hooves clicking on the tiles.

"Doris works the bar when I'm not around," came the explanation. "Not the most talkative. But she's loyal as a dog - or pig, to be exact. And she's not one to be messed with either. I saw her throw an Ice Warrior out of the bar once - just picked him up over her head and tossed him straight through the door. Can you imagine it?"

Kouta tried, and it made him giggle. Then he broke the embrace and straightened up, smiling. There was a warm tingle in his belly that he hadn't felt before, and he wished it would linger just a bit longer.

"Thanks," he said. "I needed that."

Blue smiled back. "Don't mention it. I get people coming in here all the time looking for advice. You get used to it after a while."

Kouta nodded, then a though suddenly struck him. He went red in the face.

"Erm... you said that your species... absorbs DNA through the skin, right? I, uhm... I didn't just-"

"Knock me up?" Blue laughed as Kouta went even redder. "Bless you, no! I'm no clumsy grubling with no sense of self-control, dear. It's a big deal for us, the Taking and Giving. We have to be in the right frame of mind to do it, to want to do it enough that our bodies do the rest. Although," and here, it seemed the Lepidan couldn't resist a wink, "I wouldn't mind even if you had. You'd make a pretty cute Light-Mate~"

Feeling a bizzare mixture of relief and embarrasment, Kouta stood up and picked up the bag. "I gotta go, Evolto will probably be waiting."

"Come back anytime, dear! We're always open for a friend!"

With only a smile as a reply, Kouta hit the button on the Sifter.

VROP.

-------

To his surprise, Kouta appeared not in the dining room, but in the conservatory.

It was a new addition ot the Spirit House. Tired of being stuck indoors all the time, Murdoc had installed it with the intention of at least bringing a little air to the place. But like all of Murdoc's hare-brained ideas, it had gone wrong and only served to turn the place into even more of a greenhouse during the summer. This meant it was ill-used and poorly furbished, with only a table and a few deckchairs to give it any colour or function. And, as always, it stank of weed and whiskey.

Kouta blinked, and looked at the paper bag. Then he looked away again. Whatever was inside it was moving, and he didn't fancy losing his lunch any more. Setting it down on the nearest deckchair, he made for the door and pushed his way into the living room.

Evolto was already there when he came in. The Martian was pacing back and forth, looking somewhat preturbed. He jumped when Kouta appeared, but seemed to relax upon seeing who it was.

"Ah, there you are," he said. "So, ah... you did get the eggs?"

"Yep," Kouta nodded. "Now, what's next? You said we'd take care of it together, and I don't want to accidentally end up-"

He stopped as he saw Evolto's expression. It was not the one he wanted to see. It looked nervous, as though he was trying to think of how to best explain something awkward to somebody. And the next sentence that came out of his mouth didn't help matters.

"I have... good news and bad news."

Of all the sentences Kouta had ever wanted to hear in his life, this was not one of them. His expression fell like a stone.

"...what?" he asked.

"The good news," Evolto went on, brushing Dorito dust off his face, "is that we didn't kill Gorillaz. We killed a bunch of Changelings that had taken the form of Gorillaz by absorbing DNA samples from around the house."

"...again, what?"

"Protoplasmic beings from another dimension. My dimension, actually. Very dangerous - well, they would be, being incredibly intelligent shapeshifters. My guess is this bunch was trying to impersonate Gorillaz to insert themselves into the music industry and release some kind of inflammatory or hypnotic album, kickstarting a civil war that ends in nuclear holocaust and allows their species to populate the radioactive wasteland that's left of this planet."

Kouta blinked.

"...I know," Evolto shrugged. "Not a very good guess. But Changelings love their complicated schemes. And if I was a Changeling - which I'm not - that's how I'd do it."

"I have... several questions," Kouta replied. "But the first one is, how is that the good news?"

Evolto sucked in a deep breath, looking guilty as all hell.

"Because," he said, slowly, "I only figured this out after I sent you to another dimension to make clones of them."

There was a wet cracking noise from the conservatory.

"And Lepidan eggs tend to hatch in direct sunlight."

Some more cracks, followed by hollow, gasping breaths.

Kouta now understood what Blue had meant by 'more than five people'. With a horrible icy cold in his chest, he turned and ran to the door of the conservatory, Evolto close behind him.

The door opened before he could reach it.

The things that stumbled out only vaguely looked like the members of Gorillaz. They were sickly, pale, corpse-like things with rubbery skin, too many eyes and shark's teeth. Tongues too long for their mouths lolled limply from their jaws as they shuffled forward, growling wetly in their throats. Egg white still dripped thickly from their limbs and matted their hair. But as Kouta backed away, hands already reaching for the watches, he noticed something else off about them.

The forked tongues, patches of red scales and slit pupils.

"We... remember... what you did!" hissed the Not-Murdoc, pointing a limp finger at Kouta. The voice was a grating, mismatched blend of the bassist's London tones and whatever the hell Evolto's accent was. The schoolkid felt an awful chill going down his spine.

He turned to Evolto. "Explain."

"Ah. Yes. Hmm." Evolto licked his lips. "Word of advice, kid. Don't clean DNA vials with your own spit. It's never as sterile as you think it is."

Kouta would have liked to say a lot at that moment. But then the hybrid Changelings shrieked and charged, and the chance to call him out was gone.

-------

The postman thought this was going to be a completely normal day.

He had come to the Spirit House for a delivery. Somebody living there had ordered an air conditioning unit, and had taken great pains to put it on first class delivery. Nobody was inclined to question it, since they'd paid quite handsomely, and people ordering air conditioning wasn't anything new. True, the account holder had apparently paid through a company card instead of his usual payment details, but that was minor in the grand scheme of things. So at first the man didn't have any reason to think anything was off.

That all changed when he got out of the van.

TIME BREAK!

He never got to the door before it exploded, and something that didn't look very much like Murdoc flew out and landed in a heap. It hissed and writhed, boneless limbs trying to find purchase on the ground.

GET READY TO GET FUCKED UP!

It was swiftly followed by the entire front of the house detonating and spitting out four more figures, each one as misshapen, pale and slimy-looking as the first. They all landed on top of the not-Murdoc, resulting in a heap of limbs that struggled to right itself. A lot of irritated snarls and growls came from it.

And then two armoured figures leaped out of the doorway, one of then clutching some kind of sword, and made a beeline right for the monsters. Which, in the space of time this had taken, had gotten to their feet with the swiftness of snakes on a particular drug and turned to meet them.


Under the circumstances, there was only one thing to do.

"Goodbye," said Patman Post, and walked off.

-------

"So, who's getting the blame for this one?!" hollered Kamen Rider Zi-O as he swung the Edge of Time at the Not-Murdoc. It ducked underneath, the blade hissing through its scraggly hair, and threw an elbow at his gut which he barely blocked.

"Oh, come on!" snapped Kamen Rider Evol as he kicked the Not-Russel away and parried a swipe from the hissing Not-Noodle. "We both know Dawn's lumping all of it on me!"

"Even the part where I crashed the ship to begin with?!" Kouta turned just in time for the Not-Stephen to leap at him, jaws agape, and rammed his sword between its teeth. The weight of the monster bore him down to the grass, the monster on top, and the younger Rider shoved as hard as he could to keep the flailing claws from reaching his neck.

"She's never liked me!" Evolto backhanded the Not-2-D in the face, then ducked so that the wild swings from both the Not-Russel and Not-Noodle crunched into its head and sent it staggering. "Just because I mucked up her plans to kill my evil boss one time! And suddenly I'm the problem?!"

Kouta lifted his feet and kicked the Not-Stephen away. "From what she tells me, you've got more than one problem!"

"Nah, she's just jealous that I don't conform to societal expectations- YIKE!"

That reaction had come as the Not-Noodle hocked up something green and foul-smelling. Evol ducked, and it splattered, hissing, to the grass.

"Watch out, kid!" the red Rider cried as he rose, delivering a savage uppercut to the thing's jaw. "I think they got my venom out of that little cloning deal!"

"Oh, perfect!" Kouta elbowed Not-Murdoc in the face, flipped the Edge of Time to Gun Mode and shot the Not-Stephen as it came for him. "What's next?! Freaky tendrils or Nebula Gas?!"

"Call me a kinky bitch, but I'm hoping for the former- HEY! LET GO!"

The Not-Russel had come up behind Evolto as he was talking, scooping up in its tree-trunk arms. This was a clear signal to the Not-Noodle, which spat at him again, the foul-smelling slime splattering across his belt and armour. Then it ran up, and the red Rider couldn't bring his arms around to stop the blows that rained down upon him.

"NOT THE FACE!" he howled as the claws lashed across him.

“HOLD ON!” cried Kouta, turning. But that was a mistake. The Not-Murdoc saw that his back was turned and gave him a trio of sharp blow to the head that sent him staggering. This was then followed by a heavy kick from the Not-Stephen, the Edge of Time flying from his hands as he sprawled to the grass. He heard more yelps from Evolto, but his head was ringing badly and the concept of “direction” seemed to have fled from his mind.

Hissing with pain, Kouta struggled to all fours. Where was anything? What was-?

“OOF!”

His answer came as the Martian collided him, thrown by the Not-Russel. The two tumbled over, and in his peripheral hearing the youth thought he heard a noise like the loose gears of a clock. He reached out with both hands, managing to catch himself before he did another cartwheel, back on all fours where he began. The world was spinning even crazier now - the blows to his head were not helping.

Then things got worse.

"Shit!"

Kouta snapped his head around, and saw the problem instantly. Evolto - Not Evol, Evolto - was sitting in front of him. And he was holding a steaming, half-melted belt in one hand.

"They bust my belt!" The Martian sounded like he was about to start bawling. "They broke my baby boy belt! I can't do the cool transform-kick-pow-pow shit!"

Kouta was about to say something, but a noise made him look up. The Changelings had regrouped, and were advancing on them slowly and steadily. Then he realized their glares were fixed not on the point-of-weeping Evolto, but on him. And they were very meaningful glares, full of sadistic triumph and intent. He immediately began to regret making that realization.

"The Martian in us knows you, Child of Time," growled the Not-Russel. "We see the King's Belt. We know what you become."

Kouta rolled his eyes. "Who doesn't?"

"You are not worthy of it!" hissed the Not-2-D. Oh, great, another monologue. "The power of Zi-O is wasted on you, stripling! Once we kill you, we shall claim that belt for ourselves! We shall rewrite the future, place ourselves in the throne you have usurped and populate this planet with our perfection! Our kind shall rule, and you shall be husks in the irridated ruins of your cities!"

"Or perhaps," the Not-Noodle slavered, "we shall keep some of you alive. Preserve your genetics for our own perfection. You shall be naught but cattle to us."

But Kouta's mind had been racing the entire time this speech was going on. Classic villain mistake. He looked over to Evolto, who was still looking teary-eyed, then down to the watches on his arms. Let's see, he had Build and Ex-Aid... but he didn't think those were going to be enough. It took an actual cosmic force to utterly demolish the original Changelings, and nothing here could-

Wait.

He looked to the blank watches.

Cosmic.

Without really considering it, he pulled off one of the blank watches and held it over the wrecked Evol Driver. Evolto blinked, confused.


"Whuzzat?" he asked. "Is that some... some kinda giant liqourice allsort?"

"Cobra," said Kouta.

The watch began to tick.

"What do you hope to accomplish, stripling?" sneered the Not-Stephen. "The Martian's belt is broken! He is powerless!"

"Nebula Gas."

The ticking sped up.

"Kid, they're still coming, quit messing around and-"

"Mars."

Light burst from the watch. The intensity of it caused Kouta and Evolto to flinch, but it was worse for the Changelings. Shrieking, clawing at their too-many eyes, they backed away, their chance to retaliate lost. Red and gold liquid orbited around the item in the youth's hand, and the ticking sped up until it sounded more like a clockwork heartbeat.

"Hailing from another world! The mysterious Red Rider from Mars is..."

 The ticking slowed and stopped. The light died.

"EVOL!"

Evolto stared. "Huh. Neat."

Kouta straightened up and faced the Changelings as they recovered from their near blinding. They growled, unnerved and confused by what had just happened.

"Here’s a reality check," announced Kouta as he stood firm. "Imitating a band to try and use the music industry to kickstart nuclear war? The worst plan ever. I mean, did you take lessons in stupid from Cobra Commander? You think people aren’t going to notice something’s off with a crazy-popular band when they get replaced by aliens? For fuck’s sake, you don’t even look like them now! You like like lizards cosplaying bad anime!"

"Be silent, stripling!" the Not-Murdoc snapped. "Our perfection and genius is beyond your-"

"Yeah, not buying it. If you’re so perfect, why do you gotta steal people’s face? Why do you gotta skulk and hide and plan instead of being direct about it? You think you’re geniuses? You’re no better than the fucking Time Jackers were, and at least they had some style. You’re just walking bags of soup who spend twenty dollars on a scheme when five will do."

Kouta twisted the bezel and clicked the top of the watch.

EVOL!

“But the biggest flaw in your plan? You picked a fight with me. Kamen Rider Zi-O. The guy who uses past Riders as his powerups. And you think you can just take my belt and rule the world with it.”

Kouta slotted the new watch in and hit the button on top of the belt. The ominous ticking started up, and the Changelings crouched down, suddenly very concerned by what was happening. Evolto started, still not quite comprehending what was going on.

Behind the mask, Kouta grinned.

"For having so many eyes, you’re short-sighted as fuck.

"HENSHIN!"

He span the belt. But as the brightly-coloured red, gold and blue armour, with the Evol Bottles jutting out of its shoulders, materialized into view, the sound he got was yet another surprise in a long line of them today.

HEY, DJ, START THE MUSIC!

The schoolboy frowned. "That’s not what-"

He yelped as, ignoring his protests, the armour snapped onto his body.

EVOLUTION! EVO-OOOOOL!



"...I think the jellyfish is kicking in again," Evolto complained as he continued to stare.

Bedecked in the Evol Armour, Zi-O examined himself. He extended one arm and flexed his fingers, admiring the look of the golden arm guards. Bluish-purple smoke played off of his fingers as he moved them. Then he looked up, the sunlight glinting off of his visor, at the Changelings as they glared in incomprehending fury.

"Okay," he said, calmly. "I've been through a lot of shit today, so I'm not going to do any more fighting today. This is how it's going to go down. You five are going to-"

The Changelings, as one, shrieked and charged.

"Nope."

Kouta snapped his fingers, then dashed forward to meet them.

It happened almost too quickly to comprehend. Not-Russel, at the head of the pack, got an immediate fist to the face. Bluish gas enveloped him, and he clawed at his eyes screaming before a spinning kick brought him down. Not-2-D got a flurry of blows to the chest, followed by a knee to the chin that sent him staggering. Not-Stephen and Not-Noodle tried to jump him from each side, and wereslammed into each other before being tossed to the grass. And when Not-Murdoc went for his throat, he responded with a backhand that spun his head around, then kicked him through the air.

"WHOOOO!" hollered Evolto. "PACKERS WON THE SUPERBOOOOOWL!"

The Changelings snarled and tried again. Not-Noodle lashed out with a kick-

-that hit nothing but blue smoke. And then Kouta appeared behind her, hitting her in the back with another kick that sent her sprawling. Not-2-D tripped over her and fell flat on his face, to be trampled by Not-Russel as the brute swung a fist that Kouta caught.

"God," he groaned, "can you people not take a hint?"

Then he heaved, and Not-Russel was swung like a club, smashing both Not-Murdoc and Not-Stephen flying before being slammed down into Not-2D and Not-Noodle. Then Zi-O dissolved into more smoke, to reappear behind the last two Changelings and doing a drop-kick that flung them into their companions. The Changelings writhed in a heap, snarling, desperate to get back to their feet and deliver swift retribution.

But Kouta was already approaching, hammering buttons and spinning the belt once again.

"Lamest cover band ever," he quipped as he took a stance.

FINISH TIME! EVOL!

EVOLTECH... TIME BREAK! YEEAA-UH!

Kouta held out both hands as Nebula Gas gathered in them. And then something happened to gravity in that moment. The grass and leaves bent, as if being drawn towards a single point in space. Dust flew up in clouds. The air darkened. A point of light gathered in front of Kouta, expanding outwards as a ring of light around a dark, swirling circle that made a noise like a hurricane screaming in agony. Purple lightning danced along the surface of it.

There was only one thing Evolto could say as the Changelings were yanked, screaming, into the miniature black hole.

"Oh, my God, I’M COMING DOOOOOWN-"

And then Kouta punched it.

There was a sound of thunder.

-------

"In followup news, Big Bobby has proclaimed that his pet project, Kobberland, is on schedule to be open by- Stew?!"

"Huh?"

"Was that you? I know you had the bean burrito for lunch!"

"Hell naw, man! I ain't that gassy even on my worst days!"

"...ahem. As I was saying..."

-------

As the light died down, Kouta retracted his fist and stood up. He let out a shaky breath that he didn't know he'd been holding, then yanked both watches from his belt, letting his Zi-O form fade away. He opened his eyes, and saw nothing but faint traces of slime on the grass. The only remaining evidence that the Changelings had existed.

"Whoo, that was crazy. So, did you actually eat them, or was that the jellyfish?"

Evolto hadn't moved from where he sat on the grass. But his eyes weren't glazed anymore, and he had a stupid grin on his face. Kouta turned to him, and in doing so saw the rather substatial hole that had been made in the side of the Spirit House. The back end of the Void Jumper was still sticking out of it like a poorly-hidden beer can in a rhododendron bush. Smoke and ozone-smell still oozed from the exhaust.

There was a decided pause.

"Not telling Dawn," said Kouta, very quickly.

"Oh, fuck off!"

"Hey, with any luck, she'll let you off lightly for this."

-------

~MUCH LATER~

"I'M GOING TO FIX THE HOUSE. GET IN DONKEY KONG'S CHAMBERS. GET CLEANING. BE THANKFUL HE'S BEEN OUT FOR A WHILE!"

Evolto stared after Dawn as she marched off. He looked at the mop and bucket in his hands. And then he looked at the door that lead to the room where the ape had taken residence. Even from here, the smell of expired banana peels and old straw was potent.

"...this is lightly?!"

~THE END~