PLDF Chapter 3

> Chapter 3: He Has Become Legend (Sub-Entries 21-30)
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## Sub-Entry 021: Archangel Pit "Kid Icarus"

Leaving the lab, Azzy had a bit to ponder.  He felt as though Vi's explanation was thorough...yet logic and science hadn't always been the definitive answer in the past.  Somehow Asriel felt there was something sleeping in his soul.  Quantum code core or none...there were still remnants imbued upon his very existence.  Proof that it did once exist.

The question he kept asking himself was...why did it suddenly disappear?  What DID he do to break his own code and lose the power of reset...among other abilities.

This was a question, all of us could answer.

And yet it was a question that none of us could answer.  Not as long as the promise stands.

I said to myself time and time again...we would not decide when to reveal the truth.  I wouldn't decide when to reveal the truth.  Asriel would.  And yet one has to ask how he would decide when he didn't know how he'd know he was ready, let alone how we'd know.  How do you ask a question that you don't know what the question you want to ask even is?

There were nights I kept myself up, knowing the exact question he'd ask.

After all.  He had already asked it once...  Well...technically ALMOST asked.

But that was the question, wasn't it?  Only one of two who lived their destiny would remember.   Knowing that much, I'd have rare moments when...I'd wonder if...if they still remembered...?

"What's next?  What do I have to get done before this day comes to a--"

Azzy snapped his fingers.

"Of course!"

Asriel hurried to the spot, high up in the bell tower of one of Miranda's largest churches.  Once he located the precise spot, being careful that he arrived at a point between bell chimes.  He didn't want to have to hold his ears in pain while he was making the preparations.

He unrolled the ancient scroll and read the instructions before taking out the chalk that he had Alistair De Rosen consecrate.  Asriel drew the runic circle and the proper symbols as shown.

And low and behold the circle lit up as a bright shaft of light pierced from the heavens and landed upon it.

"This is a huge honor.  I won't take this for granted, my friend."  Asriel stepped in and ascended upward through the light...

...and when he looked again he was descending slowly, hovering down to a similar spot before the giant gates aboard the main island in a sea of clouds.

He could make out the temples and colosseums, arches, and whatnot among the clouds...as well as the giant statue of the light goddess herself.

"As magnificent as ever, Lady Palutena."  He smiled.

Had an invitation EVER been extended to a mortal before?

The gates suddenly opened as a detail of Centurions stood at attention, in wait for their guest to arrive.

"Uh...howdy!"

They remained silent.

"Oh!  I get it.  Like the Royal Guards at Buckingham Palace in that England place on Earth, right?"

No answer.

From what he could tell, they were here to escort Asriel to the Chamber of the Gods.

"Right.  Lead the way--"  Asriel started to say before something streaked out of the clouds, leaving trails of lightning.

"Oh no..."  Asriel heard one of them mutter under his breath.

"The Commander's cousin..." Another one whispered.

Asriel blinked for a moment before it hit him.

"Ambrosia...!"  He uttered moments before the lightning charged unicorns skidded to a stop, searing black marks into the ground from their sheer power.  And behind them was the Lightning Chariot--the vehicle Pit made use of during the Third Uprising.  The vehicle he needed to smash through the barrier around the Sky Palace while Goddess Palutena was under the control of the Chaos Kin; the entity that escaped the moon prison.

"Hi ya, Goat Mortal!"

"Uh...hey, Ambrosia.  Eh...why are you--"

"C'mon.  You really want to march to the palace with some boring old Centurion guards or would you rather ride their in STYLE!"

Yup.  Still a tomboy of a firecracker after all these years.  Candy apple red haired and just as much of spit-fire as Violet.

"Well, I--"

"Glad to hear it!"  Ambrosia yanked him aboard.

"Wait!  I--"

"Hold on to your potatoes...or whatever food expression they use in the mortal overworld.  HEEYAH!"

And before Asriel could blink he was traveling at speed even Sally would sell her entire trophy collection to experience.

"GEEEEEEE-FORRRRRCES....ON MY...FAAAAAAACE....!"

"Yeah!  Great, isn't it!?"

"Poor guy."

"Pretty sure Zeus is going to rain down thunder when the guest of honor arrives as a skeleton and rags after the speed of the Lightning Chariot tears him to pieces."

"How many generations of mortals will come and go before Ambrosia gets ungrounded this time?"

And so...

The carbon-scoring of Ambrosia's...ahem..."sick burnout" as she landed the Chariot before the largest temple in the entire sky realm was...both admirable and terrifying.

"Uuuuughll....I used to be able to withstand things like this without breaking a sweat..."

"Mortals really are babies about age, aren't they?"

"Try it some time..."  Asriel wrinkled his snoot as a he shakily stumbled out of the chariot.

"Nah.  Don't think I will, because I don't think I can."

Someone had a long conversation with Violet.

Asriel composed himself.  Somewhere in the back of his mind he was assuring himself, that Zeus would certainly exercise his prerogative of correctional dispensation.  Which was a fancy way of saying he was going to lay down the law over nearly killing the guest of honor.

"So.  This is the place."  Asriel looked up and up and up and up even further at the impossibly towering gates.  Ancient legends said that at one time before the time of the Gods, this realm was ruled by the Titans...and not the ones living in the giant T-shaped building in Jump City.

"By Chronos' appetite for boulders..."  Asriel muttered, referencing how Zeus escaped being devoured.

"I'm intimidated.  Very intimidated."

"Ah, you'll be fine.  C'mon, let's rub elbows with some important people.

The doors creaked open, light pouring out from inside.

Asriel shielded his eyes as he stepped into the light.

"Holy schnikees..."  He uttered.

It was...way beyond what he was prepared for.  Everything was larger than life and twice as lavish.  This was TRULY a chamber of the Gods...and this was only the foyer.

The detail of Centurions lined the hallway in wait, saluting as Asriel drew near.

Asriel was only caught up in it for a moment before realizing this was for someone else.  Someone familiar.  Someone like...!

"..."

There he was.  Surprisingly solemn as he entered the room and approached Asriel, while maintaining a salute of his own.

He reached the end of the rows of Centurions, turned and lowered his salute, signaling for his troops to be at ease.

A moment of inspecting the troops before turning back to Asriel.

"Asriel!"  He suddenly turned cheerful.  "You made it!"  He spread his arms out and quickly embraced Asriel.  The height difference was more obvious than ever.

Asriel knelt down slightly to return the affection.

"You're not worried this is a bit irregular...?"

"You are my friend.  Let the troops question it if they may.  But let them be warned, making light of it will carry consequences in tomorrow's training drills."

"Eheheh...you sound like Sarge."

"The Commander of Palutena's Icarus Army cannot be lenient, lest we be unprepared for another uprising."

"Now I'm having an easier time believe you're leader of the Light Goddess' army.  That said...how have you been, old friend?"

"All has been well."

"It does take me back to when we first met.  If you don't mind me bringing up such an old story--"

"Mind?  You honor me, my friend.  There is no shame remembering fondly the ties that bind."

The way Pit spoke sometimes reminded Asriel of Koriand'r of Tamuran A.K.A. Starfire of the Teen Titans A.K.A. Kori Anders in civilian guise.  Innocent but polite.  A little flowery and formal but there was a sort of gracefulness which was easily respectable.

But every so often there were aspects of Pit that stood out as being similar to Gadget.  It was because of that innocence that he tended to be lost in situations where mortal ways confused him.  Where it did bother him that he was a stranger in a strange land.

While he had grown a thicker skin over the years, it still bugged him that he felt like an outsider.  Much more so than being of diminutive size compared to his fellow UCIAT teammates.  He'd learned that lesson a long while back and now appreciated that being small was nothing to be ashamed of.  Plus it came with the added advantage of being quick, nimble, and a harder target to catch or hit.

Yet, there was still one aspect of his very earnest personality that his cousin just had to insist on calling him out on...

"C'mon, put some spice in your life, Cousin!  You're too vanilla.  Life a little.  You know, like the Stan Bush song goes:  "DARE!  Dare to believe you can survive--"

That of course was a reference that Pit had heard a lot of times from Violet.  And in turn the irony of the scene from the movie in question drew his attention to something that Ambrosia was more than likely guilty of.

"Ambrosia."  Pit put his knuckles to his hips.  "How many speed laws did you break getting the guest of honor here."

Suddenly Pit was a lot less naive than he let on.

"Eheheh..."

Just call her "Hot Rod-ess". Turbo-revvin' young punk. Zeus will straighten her out yet.

"Behave yourself.  For both our sakes."

"Jeeze, Cousin.  You were more fun when you were an a-dork-able goofball who was too easy to riff on."

"We all have to grow up some time, Ambrosia.  When are you going to start?"

"Ouch."

"I'm serious.  The Elder Gods aren't going to take you seriously if you don't straighten up and--"

"Fly right?"

"....that's not funny."  Pit pouted in a huff. It hurt sometimes being reminded you can't even fly in your home world without the Light Goddess granting you the power of flight. So why was it his wings worked on VGM-098 and other worlds but not this one?

"There's the a-dork-able cousin I know."

"C'mon...it's bad enough when Lady Palutena has fun at my expense, worse when Viridi makes snide comments, and Dark Pit insults me mercilessly.  Do I have to take it from family, too?"

"You know you love it."

Asriel sweat dropped.  He'd heard those name-drops before.

"Well have your fun while you can.  For tomorrow, your community service starts under Uncle Methusalus' watch."

"Piiiit!  That was supposed to be on the down low."

"Maybe next time you'll think about that before using Hephaestus' forge for mischief."

"No one has a sense of humor these days."

"Uh...what did she--"  Asriel started before Pit pointed out through the columns at what looked like the Greek God version of the mountain-side monument of the successive generations of Hogake in the Hidden Leaf Village.....and Asriel IMMEDIATELY spotted what appeared to be ironwork welded onto several of the heads in the form of various practical joke gags including the "Groucho Marx" moustache-glasses-and-cigar, the arrow-through-the-head headband, X-Ray Glasses, giant-wax-lips, and google-eyes-on-springs.

"Retracted."  Asriel closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.  "Your Cousin is like Aunt Violet, isn't she?"

"I always felt Miss Violet was overly familiar whenever I came to the Mortal World."

What Pit said confirmed that his memories and personality were "muted" or sealed away by the decree of the Gods for some unknown reason.

"Ehehe...well...maybe we should get back to the task on hand.  No offense but if I may be so blunt to ask...why am I here, Pit?"

"You mean you haven't been told?"

"Told what?"

"You're being honored."

"Honored...?"  Asriel blinked.

## Sub-Entry 022: "Blessing From the Gods?  Their Reasons Withheld":

"...we, the Elder Gods of Videoland hereby acknowledge your accomplishments and thank you for your service to our worlds.  It is truly an honor that a rare mortal such as yourself has proven himself as capable as the most elite of demi-gods and even our lesser gods.  We are grateful."

Asriel almost asked for Zeus to repeat himself but...he felt that could be interpreted as a slight.  Plus there was no sense in asking ANYTHING of the king of all Videoland Gods.

And wow! What a feast in his honor. Holy cow, Jon would never leave herr if he saw the spread.

"The uh...honor is mine.  Being acknowledged by the deities of so many worlds."  Asriel flushed bright red at the overwhelming flattery.

"But...I'm just not clear on one thing..  Why...am I receiving the Elder Gods' praise?  I...don't feel like I've done anything to merit this much acclaim.  I'm just me, doing my part back home."

Zeus' praise was magnanimous...but vague. At no point did anyone even give any specific examples of Goat Son's deeds to earn this recognition. And something about the situation made Asriel feel it would be...awkward to ask. But ask he did.

"So modest!  You sure you're not at least demi-god?"  Ambrosia might have been flirting a little.

"AHEM."  Zeus scolded.

"...he's never going to let me live down accidentally scattering my cousin's weapon crystals all over the mortal world--"

And down came the thunderbolt of Zeus.

"Word of advise, dear cousin....the king of gods has very good ears.  Please don't make your punishments worse."  Pit sweat dropped.

"I'm sure she found his wisdom enlightening."

Asriel tried to cover up a chuckle.  Even now he still found those lame puns funny.

"Is it really the best time for levity, Lady Palutena?"  Pit sweat dropped.

Raiden chuckled.  "Perhaps the best humor writes itself.  In the time I've been among the Elders, I have had no situation more humorous than when Johnny Cage embarrasses himself.  Human arrogance can be fascinating when it's one's own foil."

Violet probably would kill for Asriel to tell her "Which Raiden? Ricahard "Section 9's Batou" Epcar or Christopher Lambert in all his chain-smoking glory?" Then Bunnie would thwap her.

Amaterasu let out a bark as the wolf god had finished his meal.  Asriel did admit it was weird seeing a four-legged god be seated at the table in one of the throne-like chairs.  Though he certainly didn't object to treating an animal like a human.

Asriel was still taking a headcount of just how many deities representing different lore and religions were at the table.

And at the same time, he was also noting the other iterations of angels and servitors with the collection of elder gods.

He was sure he caught sight of Wiess and a very grumpy Beerus complain about the food.

And...was that this...Selene person that kept being brought up by the McDuck family in Duckburg?  Asriel had always figured whenever the mentioned the "Spear of Selene" it was code for a rocket or something...which it was, but...to see the feathered namesake?

Proteus.  Wasn't that the primordial god that once paid a visit to the Ghostbusters' universe and it was up to Janine to save the day?

Azzy was starting to lose count by this point.

"I would like to know.  Why am I being honored like this?"

"You must have faith in the gods."  Hera spoke up before Zeus could answer.

"The reasons may not be clear at first."  The projection of Cybertronian god, Primus flickered briefly.

"But we do have our reasons."  Odin assured.

"It is for those reasons that we have decreed that we cannot reveal those reasons.  Not yet."  Tempus again turned his hour glass over...before Kronika flipped her own hourglass over...almost as a taunt to her rival god.  It did cross Asriel's mind as to what worlds, galaxies, or universes the two of them were tampering with at that moment.  It also occurred that one might have just reversed whatever the first did.

But that was second to what was really on Azzy's mind.

"So...it's a matter of...I'm not ready to know...?"

"We cannot confirm or deny that." Helios spoke before Pyrrhon could answer with his flamboyant glory. Oh boy, Pit could tell stories about him. Wait...which of of them was the real sun god again?

Goat Son looked da little frustrated at that.

He continued trying to pick out familiar faces from the hordes and hordes of gods and demi-gods.

One he was surprised to see was "Chip" Light Gaia.  Hadn't I told him previously that ACM-001 and ACM-002 no longer existed?  Perhaps one of the balancing forces of Mobius existed in the recent IDW-001 universe?  Either way he was enjoying a pretty sizeable chocolate-chip ice cream cone with all the trimmings.

"Do not question our wisdom."  Shiva crossed all of her arms.

"Such disrespect will not be tolerated."  Anubis warned.

A dirty look from Kali made Asriel only wish that Dr. Jones was here with his trademark whip and hat.  And then Violet would waste no time making light of ripping out a guy's heart.

"I don't question it...I just...seek to understand."

"You will.  In time."  Palutena assured.

"So stop whining about it!"  Goddess Viridi snapped.

"Perhaps you should be a little more tactful, Lady Viridi."

"Perhaps YOU should mind your own business."  Dark Pit sniped.

"Not this again..."  Pit moaned.

The fact that they WERE withholding information was every indication that Goat Son did not know everything that he thought he knew.  The question is...why wouldn't he?

The answer had stared him in the face many times he saw me use that Neurolizer...but he refused to believe I'd ever do something like that to him so...the thought never crossed his mind.  He refused to even consider that as a possibility.

The truth was more complicated.  And I couldn't tell him.

I knew from the beginning that erasing these memories of his would cause these very problems...this very confusion he was having now.   It was overwhelming...being hailed as some kind of prophesied hero...some kind of savior and not knowing why.  Not knowing what you did to earn this distinction.

"We should not punish our guest for seeking knowledge and understanding.  At one time many of us were ignorant to the truth and in our impatience sought to rectify that."  Ganesha advised, after getting everyone's attention by trumpeting his elephant trunk.

Din, Nayru, and Farore all nodded in agreement.

"For now just continue to do as you have been.  Be as true now as you were then, and the wisdom will impart on you as needed."

"You have shown tremendous courage in the face of adversity.  That is commendable in itself for one who has risen from darkness as you have."

"You have the power to shape your own destiny.  Go forth and make it so."

What they had said about rising from darkness...it was a tale that Asriel had all but forgotten.  The time in the Void of Gaster's dimension-between-dimensions within the CORE.  Heck, even the name Gaster was all but dust in his own memory.  Had he really ceased to exist from his sacrifice?  And even if he hadn't, it's not like Goat Son would even know that it had happened or how.  That fateful day between seven dimensions...

"I understand."  Asriel had no choice but to accept it.  But...that nagging feeling was going to be dormant in the back of his mind.  Nothing could change that.  Nothing until the day...the day I knew was coming.

I just didn't know when.  And he obviously didn't either.

Asriel looked briefly at what he presumed was a Chozodian deity before shifting his eyes to the form of Arceus, the Pokémon god.  Then again to the stony form of Le Mu, the God of EM Waves from the Mega Man Star Force universe.    And he was being flanked by the three AM Administrators--the gods Leo, Dragon, and Pegasus.  It seemed the criterion for being a god was all over the map in this nexus realm above all realms.

But despite the large gathering of gods and goddesses... there were two deities that Asriel did NOT see.

Lady Destiny and Madam Fate.

Violet would suggest maybe they thought themselves too good to attend a gathering.  Maybe there was another reason.

Whatever the case...Asriel felt it would be overstepping his bounds to ask about them.  So he held his tongue.

"Is your mind not swimming with questions?  I wonder what can be done to quell your unrest."  Demetria of Inquiris spoke from inside the familiar Zordonian plasma tube.  Okay, so there was representation from Power Ranger territory.

"Do not despair, young warrior."  Hippolyta assured.  Wait...Wonder Woman's mother was here, too?  Just how many universes sent representatives to this part of Pit's home realm?

"Young Asriel.  You should be happy.  This is your time.  This is your moment.  Seize this moment and embrace it."  Zeus finally decided to have the last say.

Asriel's eyes were obscured by the shadow of his bangs before he rose to his feet.

"Well...I suppose there is no other path.  What have I to be out of sorts over?  Life is good and I am thankful for it.  By your decree, I will continue to do as must to make this universe...all universes a better place....even it is only in these small, paltry daily deeds."

"Then you will join us for the festivities and be our guest of honor."

"I suppose there are worse fates, Lord Zeus."

What could it hurt to party with the gods for a bit?

## Sub-Entry 023: "Back Home to Miranda":

How much time had gone by?  Whatever the case was, Asriel was somehow en route back to his point of origin, not even seconds after he left.

"Oh boy...I don't think I could take partying with or like the gods for much longer.  Ambrosia's kind of partying-down is going to leave me sore tomorrow morning."  Asriel rubbed his shoulders, arms, and legs.

"Let's hope I don't have to do any more dancing any time soon."

Ohhhhhh boy.  Not to foreshadow but you just jinxed it, Goat Son.

Asriel looked up out of the bell tower into the sky at the clouds.

A heavy sigh.

It was okay.  Pit would be back among the mortals here in Miranda before Goat Son knew it.

What Asriel now had was a short reprieve before the next item on his agenda.

He quickly thanked the holy man for allowing him access to the roof and headed out.

"A slow stroll through Miranda might be just the ticket to get my wind back.  And maybe give me a chance to stop and smell the roses."

It also gave him a chance to pick out familiar sites and sights.

There was Rainbow Wing.  They had...improved a lot since...events.  Still sources of levity, sure...but some of the wyrmling’s had changed for the better.  In particular, the black wyrmling; now commonly known by the name, Tiemtiaren was certainly making an effort.  As the only one of them that could speak common it fell on him to make the strongest effort.

There was Marcel Gilneas with Jacquinette Arstanna Vannhaim--a Possessed sword with an undead body.  Formerly the youngest of four sisters during the Sorceress War, the sword known as Jacquinette was also known as both a powerful Daemon Weapon and associate of Marcel. With the ability to wield herself alone, or with the help of a body she could manifest, Jacquinette was capable of manifesting powerful magic through her blade and could cast spells even while a sword.

"Hmm."  Asriel smiled.  Josquin, Marcel's Drakslime hovered down in front of him.

"In the mood for music?"

Asriel decompressed his guitar and plugged in his Bluetooth dongle and deployed the portable amp speakers on his NX Pro Controller belt after summoning it through the V.E.H.I.C.L.E. system.

Asriel soon put on a small performance of Josquin to dance to until Marcel took notice, seeing it as a bit of a challenge.

"Trying to win favor with my familiar?  I thought you knew better."  It was a rare thing for Goat Son to hear Marcel exercise some levity as Marcel was usually very direct and mission-oriented.  He tended to get his priorities straight as a leader and wasn't the type to put up with BS during dangerous times.

But these weren't dangerous times.

Marcel picked up his accordion and considered this a duel between musicians.

And so a back-and-forth between Goat Son and De Midian's favorite thief-turned-necromancer.

"Heh.  You've gotten pretty good."

"Right back at you."

I never saw the merit in competition.  While on paper, competition inspires people to do their best and exceed their limits it was often a catalyst for the ego and when competitors took things to far it got ugly.  Maybe I did play it safe embracing cooperation over competition.  Though it always seem like Asriel know just the right balance of both and when to switch from one to the other.  I envied that about him.

Sure Azzy was trying his darndest to outdo Marcel and vice-versa.  But the real winner of this?  Josquin.  He got the best concert of  his life out of it.

Finally when both were too spent to continue their duel of the music instruments.

"Draw?"

"If it helps you sleep at night."  Marcel smirked.

Wow.  That brought back memories.  In that moment Asriel recalled a bull-headed knight from another realm.  A realm he no longer remembered was an Undertale A.U.  To this day I still codenamed it SOF-011 while the brother and sister duo that came from there knew it as "Seed of Flowey".

Frankly...it had been a long time since I'd thought about it and I was always wondering how much time passed in that universe, relative to our own.  An hour?  A day?  A week?  A month?  A year?  Decades?  Centuries?  Maybe none at all.   I suppose it would have been in that moment I'd realize it wouldn't matter to time-travelers.  Likely, just about any point in their history that wasn't "red band" was a viable entry point for us if we ever dropped in on their world.  Red band as in the time before Frisk fell into the Underground, mind you.  Not red band as an R-rated movie trailer.

I'm getting off on a tangent.

"Well.  I can't stick around long.  Got a schedule to keep or I'll never hear the end of it from the people depending on me."

"I'm going to call that a strategic retreat."

"If it helps you sleep at night."  Azzy prodded back.

Seeing Marcel this candid was a rarity during our days of war and battle.  But...not so rare that he wouldn't be happy to bring up when he stole Hyperion's police cruiser and took it for a joy-ride.   Heheheheh.

A quick-drop in on Hestia for her new butterscotch-cinnamon cupcakes; a swing-by the Mage Academy to see if he could get a rare glimpse of Kid the Cat; and a drop in on Red Stokes and the family as his now-retired NULL armor was being donated to the museum...but only a mach-up of it.  BSW-NULL itself was spending more days in Nikita's diagnostics lab than making any actual appearances much less combat.

It seemed that Asriel was running the gambit.

"Hey."  Chameleon's voice spoke up.

"Hey."  Asriel approached, rather unphased.

"Keeping out of trouble."

"At my age you stop looking for it and hopefully it stops looking for you."

"Interesting thing for a 25-year-old to say."

"One-hundred-twenty-five."  Asriel corrected.

"Aren't you the clever one."

"Goat Son has treats?"

"You know I'd never forget my favorite pseudo.  With your Master's blessing."

"Hmph.  Don't say that like I ration his rewards like that miser in Duckburg that fills a bin with three cubic acres of gold coins and paper money."  Chameleon wasn't that serious but he was making a point to be mindful of respecting Miranda's surliest bounty hunter.

"I know, I know.  Really, you got to stop thinking of me in the same context as Aunt Vi.  She was just my teacher.  I know better than to adopt her attitude much less around you."

Asriel set down the candy treats which Tithius graciously scooped up and quickly unwrapped and enjoyed.

"It's looking like that praise of you being the smart one is actually well-earned."  Probably the closest to a compliment Azzy could hope for.  Chameleon was always one to spare the rod, spoil the child.  He knew very well Azzy stood on his own two feet and never asked for handouts.

"As long as your "teacher" minds her boundaries and stays in line then we won't have to have a discussion."

"So am I to assume you're a proponent of...bun-control?"  Asriel asked slyly.

The briefest of toothy grins.

"Careful there.  That's an issue that's certainly rab-bit many in the behind."

"I guess I'm not in the know yet.  My social media apps must be experiencing lag-omorph."

"Another pun like that might get your head lop-lopped off."

"Let's not be splitting hares over this matter."

A back and forth of rabbit puns that I'm sure Violet was watching; likely Chameleon most certainly made sure she was.   Who needs  cold war when you've got a shots fired from pun guns?

"Well if when it comes to what's popular with Aunt Vi, I guess I do not care-rot."

"Well then.  Keep your nose clean."

"I guarantee I'll be sneezing dish-washing detergent."  Asriel drew an X over his heart.

Azzy had come a long way from being scared out of his wits around Chameleon.  He'd come to respect the lizardman and would gladly trust him to have his back if the two of them ever ended up on a UCIAT mission.

After pretty much interacting with everyone under the sun in town, somehow he made it to UCIAT Headquarters on time to take care of his errands.

A visit to the lab to drop off schematics to Nikita's sub-lab...and a brief visit to Neo Lemuranopia...or...whatever Nikita called her giant golden city somewhere deep within the planet, presumably directly under Miranda itself.

It still kind of irked Dr. Lynx's nerves how casually he came and went from her city; population of one, mind you.  But honestly she sometimes needed better company than her robots and support units.

A quick drop-off of items in his quarters on the residential floors of the building led to Asriel heading back out again...but not before running into some familiar faces, yet again.

"Hey, trouble.  Want to make it double?"

"Hello, Asriel."

## Sub-Entry 024: "Willie and Honey"

History repeating.  The first time Asriel met Willie and Honey, they were on their way to the indoor pool of the UCIAT building's residential floors.  Here we were again with Honey getting on her bestie's nerves and getting flip-flop sandals thrown at her.

"I feel like I lived this before."  Asriel rubbed the back of his head.

"Hey!"

"Uh.  Hey."

It wasn't that Asriel was trying to go unnoticed...it was more like he didn't want to get roped into something awkward.  Well.  Too late for that.

"Uh...hey, girls.  Uh...long time no see."  Azzy kept his distance...for all but one and a half seconds before Honey zipped over and pulled him into smothering hug, having dropped her beach towel.

"Oh, don't give me that!  C'mere you!"

"Mmmph!"

And many of us complained that Felicia was shameless when it came to decency?

In this  case, it was a pretty good bet that Honey was not actually ignorant to the fact that she was being a little lewd.

"Honey..."  Willamina walked over, anime vein throbbing in her forehead.

"What?  I'm just saying hi!  You know it wouldn't kill you to be a little social, Willie."

"And it wouldn't kill you to show some modesty."  Willamina dropped the towel over her head.

"Hey!"

"I apologize for that, Asriel.  She can be a bit much."

"That's...quite alright..."  Goat Son's eyes were hidden under the shadow of his bangs while his face was flushing a deep shade of red and steam was practically hissing out of his ears...from embarrassment.

"The heck it is.  Honey, cover yourself, already.  We're practically family.  I swear, you keep this up and you're going to be banned from hanging out with Violet."

"Okay, okay!  I'm still wearing a swim-suit.  Jeeze.  It's not like I'm completely naked.  Although--"

"Stop."  Willamina flicked her in the cat ear.

"Umm...so....how are things?"  Willie asked.

"Good.  Life is good."  Asriel took a moment to simmer down...or try to.

"College life?"

"Running me ragged.  But I do like a challenge."

"Bet those science chicks really dig that cranium of yours."  Honey grinned as she noogied the goat son.

"D-don't noogie the goat son."  Asriel winced.  "Well, actually--"

"No, don't tell me.  Actually, they're more interested in your epi--"  Willie whapped Honey before she could finish.

"Get your mind out of the gutter."

Well there was almost a Ghostbusters II reference that was NSFW.  I am so going to pinch Violet...and maybe consider banning her and Honey from hanging out.

Willie pulled Asriel out of Honey's grasp with a slight growl before dusting him off and fixing his attire.

"Sorry about that.  Anyway...you look a bit under stress and not necessarily from Honey's shameless lack of tact."

"She is kind of touching on a sensitive subject."

"Ohhhhh!  Girl troubles?  Dish, dish, dish, dish, diiiiiiiiiiiiiish!  Dish it up, baby!"

"You know you don't have to share if you don't--"

Asriel sighed.  "She's just going to drag it out of me, regardless.  Well...it's like this.  I'm over-popular to put it simply.  But to be specific, every day I get chased home by a mob of fellow colleagues of the female persuasion who are only after me for bragging rights.  It's no fun being this undeservedly popular.  I mean...I can't possibly be the...ahem..."hottest guy on campus"...can I?"

"You're--"

"Going to stop you there."  Asriel cut in.  "And no.  It's just that I haven't met the right girl.  One who's interesting in me for me.  Not me for my reputation."

He was definitely quick to put that question to bed.

"Honey, if you would stop being a furball for a moment, maybe we could actually help him with this rather than turning this into gossip."

"I'd appreciate that, Willamina.  But I don't know how you can help.  It's just something I have to deal with, I guess, until I do meet that one lucky person.  And then the rest can finally take a hint."  Asriel crossed his arms.

A bit of a silence.

"If you don't mind, terribly, if I stop talking about myself and ask how the two of you are?  I mean...how've you been?  What have you been up to?"

"Sly.  Changing the subject like that--"  Honey started before Willie elbowed her into the ribs.

"Well."  Willamina Mongoose adjusted her towel a bit to keep it from slipping down.  "I've still got a great music career going.  Y'know, the pop idol of Technopolis.  It's no big thing."

Willie was downplaying it but she was secretly pround.  Just not as vocal about her pride as say--

"And you know me!"  Honey cut in.  "C.E.O. and founder of my own fashion empire!  Just like our slogan goes: If you don't look sweet, you're not wearing Honey!"  Honey draped an arm around Willie, practically hanging onto her in a "loitering" pose.

Willamina scoffed before yanking Honey's hand and arm off of her.

"How 'bout a little social distancing, Hon?"

"Aunt Sally seems like she's well-to-do as well."

"That's our Team Leader."  Honey grinned.

"Sally's been doing some promos for haptic VR suits and donating the proceeds to charity in between races."

"Overachieving runs in the family."  Asriel shrugged with a smile, starting to mellow a bit...moments before Honey pulled him into a one-arm hug again.

"So.  Back to the issue at hand."

"Uh...it's not really--"  Asriel stammered.

"I know what you need.  Dating advice!"

"D-Dating advice?"

Somewhere across time and space, I'm sure the echo of Papyrus' own dating experience along with Alphys' role-play date practice was somehow finding their way to our world only to reverberate in Asriel's nervous soul at that moment.

"You just need to sweep a girl off her feet.  And I know just the way.  It's time I got you a crash course in dancing to win a girlfriend over!"

## Sub-Entry 025: "Where's the Fire?  Unexpected Dating Advice From a Feline Spitfire":

"...Wait!  Honey...!"  Asriel wasn't even able to protest as the cat was already dragging him full speed to the nearest disco-tech.

"She always was a take-charge kind of person whenever she got 'brilliant ideas'..."  Willamina shook her head.

She ran her fingers through her purple hair for a moment.  "I better go catch up to them and keep him out of trouble from Honey's overzealousness."

Inside the disco tech.

"Look, I appreciate you trying to help but I'd rather ease into dating at my own pace--"

"At your own pace?  If you go at your own pace, you're going to be an old billy goat before you get a girl.  C'mon.  It'll be fine!"

"She never listens..."  Willie watched from the doorway.  "At this point, it's best to just let her do her thing and grin and bear it.  You could always ignore her advice later and just nod your head and grin next time she asks how it's going."

I'm sure Goat Son would have wanted to hear that over the noise.

"First thing you need to do is quick-change into something more liiiiiiike..."

And before he could protest, Willie sped around him in several fiery neon red ring light contrails as her hands worked too fast for him to see.  When she was done he had gotten a wardrobe overhaul.

"Uhh...!"

"Don't worry.  I left the sandals."

Yeah...small compensation.  No doubt Violet put her up to that.

"I feel like the Big Lebowski doing Saturday Night fever."

"I know you feel kind of funky, but you look kind of fun-kaaaaaaay!"  Honey grinned with a thumbs up.  "Trust a gal who has her own clothing line back home in Technopolis."

"If you say so.  But--"

"Give me a sec.  And word of advice: never point out to a lady how long it takes her to get ready for a date."

Honey snapped her fingers as her hybrid abilities flared up and a ring of fire started around her feet and swept up in a hollow fire pillar before it snuffed out from toes to ear-tips.

It was then Asriel's jaw almost dropped at the incredibly sexy, sparkling red dress and strappy high-heel sandals she was now wearing.  There were shades of Xingese female dress laced throughout it and plenty of ruby, orange, and yellow highlights overlaid on top of it in a blazing sheen.  Was this from Honey's own clothing line?

"Hey, D.J.!  Hit my theme music!  This one's going out to a special goat!"

"Honey, come on...don't!"  Asriel flushed red as all eyes were on the two of them.

The disc jockey selected a vinyl and slipped it on the turntable.

"You heard it here, folks!  This one's coming out to you from Technpolis' own fiery third of Team Acorn!  Honey T. Cat is requesting her theme music and still number 3 on the charts!  We're getttin' down to Tim Feehan, and this is "Where's the Fire"!

And Honey's favorite theme song from Sally's favorite 80's movie about a Dodge M4S "Turbo Interceptor" and its vengeful driver out on a mission to avenge the deadly races of an unruly street gang that's now bullying the younger brother of the man they murdered.

"Just follow my lead and you'll do just fine."  Honey grabbed hold of Asriel's hand and then proceeded to teach him how to tear up the dance floor.

It wasn't that Asriel didn't know how to dance.  Quite the contrary, he was actually pretty impressive, even as far back as when he and I did our number to Billy Joel's "Why Should I Worry" some time in a surprisingly warm and snow-free January some 15 years ago.

It was...once again...his nervousness around girls.  He just wanted his first date to be special...er...when it actually happened some day.  And really...was taking Honey's advice really the best move?

Azzy didn't have time to ponder it further for the song had already started and the vocals kicked in at that moment.

***"It don't take a lot to keep me movin'.***

***It's gonna take a lot to make me stop.***

***I'm racing to a five-alarmer.***

***Should slow down, but I just can't stop.***

Was it just Asriel's imagination or had Honey's fiery red dress actually gotten redder and more fiery?  Wait a minute...was she using her hybrid power to enhance her natural aura just to draw attention to..!

Asriel found himself having to rely on his own solar hybrid ability to turn down the heat he was feeling from her aura...which I'm sure gave Honey a little more to sweat over...literally.

***Move over if you see me comin'.***

***I've got the fighter's touch.***

***I feel the heat inside me.***

***It's not enough but it's a little too much.***

The crowd parted and stepped back off of the disco dance floor, making Honey and Asriel the only two showing off.  Which only added to Asriel's discomfort.  This many people surrounding him and watching his every move?  No pressure. Nooooooooone indeeeeeeeed......oh boy.

***There's something out there I can hear it callin'***

***I wanna hold it but I'm movin' too fast!***

It did seem like Honey was picking up speed and her movements were leaving neon red light contrails and after-images.  Asriel was starting to notice he was leaving sun yellow contrails and after images as well.  She had this planned out!

***WHERE'S THE FIIIIIIIIRE!?***

***Everybody's always asking me: 'Where is it, baby?'***

***DOESN'T ANYBODY KNOW?***

***WHERE'S THE FIIIIIIIIRE!?***

***It's burning up inside of me.  'Where is it, baby?'***

***Open up the door and let me go!***

Honey's strappy sandal-clad feet ignited, leaving footprints of flame that didn't seem to be damaging the dance floor. Sparkling, twinkling ruby embers flickered off of them before drifting out of existence.  Somehow Honey's footwear wasn't affected either when it should have burned to a cinder, leaving her barefoot.

The reaction from the crowd was instant as the cheers and hollers intensified.

Feeling on the spot, Asriel tried to follow her lead and do the same with neon yellow sandal-prints on the dance floor.  And sure enough he was able to copy the ember effect.

***"I got a method do this madness.***

***I learned it on the street.***

***There's someone right behind you.***

***He's grabbin' at your feet!"***

Bunnie happened to be in attendance, as Violet had coaxed her to attend.  Which only proved that Honey and Violet set this whole thing up together.

Vi peeked out from under the buffet table, crawling out briefly to get a look at her handywork...moments before Bunnie stomped her foot down on Vi's hand at the moment the lyrics mentioned feet.  Vi's yelp was covered up by the music.

***"I've got no time for talking.***

***I've got no time to kill.***

***Some say I'm goin' nowhere.***

***But it's better than standin' still."***

Asriel was starting to get the hang of it.  This was still highly irregular but...he was starting to loosen up a bit.  He didn't want to admit it but...he was starting to have fun.

"***There's something out there; I can feel it, baby.***

***It's getting closer but I'm moving away!"***

Honey coaxed Asriel to let go as she twirled backward in a perfectly balanced spin that would have made Dr. Wily's Top Man robot master scoff with jealousy.

***"WHERE'S THE FIIIIIIIIRE!?***

***Everybody's always asking me: 'Where is it, baby?'***

***DOESN'T ANYBODY KNOW?***

***WHERE'S THE FIIIIIIIIRE!?***

***It's burning up inside of me.  'Where is it, baby?'***

***Open up the door and let me go!"***

Azzy had started to improvise a little at Honey's urging.  He was almost unprepared for when she took a running jump and swan dive toward him.

Asriel about freaked, afraid of dropping her but he managed to grab her around the waist and hoist her up as she spread her arms.

***"It don't take a lot to keep me movin'.***

***It's gonna take a lot to make me stop.***

***I'm racing to a five-alarmer.***

***Should slow down, but I just can't stop."***

It was hard to say how many styles the two of them were bringing together.  Violet would have joked they'd be a shoe-in to win Dancing With the Stars at this point.

He'd gone from twirling her to dipping her to holding on as she dove between his legs and back to her feet in a smooth motion.  All of the dance moves out of the 50's were somehow coming back to music from the 80's while making a statement in the 2020's.

***"There's something out there I can hear it callin'***

***I wanna hold it but I'm movin' too fast!"***

Everything was kind of a chaotic blur and Azzy's adrenaline was through the roof.  If this was what he had to do to impress a girl, then what did he have to worry about?

But Asriel concluded this was just flash and bluster.  If he really wanted to impress, then he'd just be himself...right?  He reasoned that should be enough.

***"WHERE'S THE FIIIIIIIIRE!?***

***Everybody's always asking me: 'Where is it, baby?'***

***DOESN'T ANYBODY KNOW?***

***WHERE'S THE FIIIIIIIIRE!?***

***It's burning up inside of me.  'Where is it, baby?'***

***Open up the door and let me go!***

And Honey made sure they ended on a big finish as she managed to pull off a one-handed handstand straight up as Asriel lifted her up with one hand.

The crowd went wild.

"There's your late birthday present, Azzy.  You've been immortalized.  You're welcome."  Honey looked downward as he looked up, sweating bullets.  He was so afraid that he'd end up dropping her--

And Honey gave him a last moment shock by backflipping off his hand, tumbling and landing on her feet.

"Cat, remember?  We always land on our feet."

This whole performance was a chance for her to show off her powers.

Had I been there it would have been easy to compare her to Blaze the Cat from the other Sonic universes I'd observed.  Even the IDW one.  A cat with flame powers and a fiery attitude.

In all honesty though if our Honey went head-to-head with any iteration of Blaze in a contest of pyrokinesis?  Honey would most certainly be woefully outclassed.  No matter how you sliced it, Blaze was a fire demi-goddess.  Honey's flame was mostly show.  Even on missions.  Not to say it wasn't real fire...but it wasn't 'real' fire if you catch my drift.

"No offense, but I kind of need to wrap this up.  I still have an itinerary for the day and I can't afford to be late."

"Stay for one last round of applause.  Take a bow, man."

By some miracle Asriel eventually did get out of there and onto his next stop.  But not before Willamina apologized to him for that ordeal.

Azzy assured her it was okay.

I wonder though...was this a good experience for him?

If this didn't tire him out, it wasn't long before Asriel T. Arcade would have to run the gauntlet.  And people needing his help would definitely not be in short supply...

## Sub-Entry 026: "Globetrotting Gauntlet.  Rejoining Old Friends on the Road to Day's End":

"...you are now arriving at Plumber Base.  Barf Bags are on your right.  Any lingering dizziness is perfectly normal."

"Famous last words."  Asriel mused.  "But seriously, I've certainly never had a problem with that."  Asriel shrugged as the green teleportation haze faded.

Asriel noted the serious gathering of political powers aboard.

"Something must be up."  Asriel mused.  "I usually only see this kind of brouhaha during a state of the union is being televised."

That was when Asriel heard a familiar voice point out the "guy from the HappySnax commercial".  But no...the voice was too young...and sounded like Robin's TTG dimension counterpart.

Then again...Asriel was starting to notice a lot of voices of people he'd met weren't as unique as he once thought.   That party dude son of Master Splinter sure sounded a lot like Beast Boy and Drake Mallard's daughter seemed awfully familiar when compared to Bunnie's ACM-001 counterpart from my archive tapes.  Take away Antoine's accent as Asriel could swear he heard Yakko Warner of the WB studio lot as well as Steelbeak from F.O.W.L.  Aunt Sally sure sounded like an older version of Kitty Pride from that other X-Men universe...where Wolverine sounded more Australian than Canadian.  But really...even Master Splinter himself sounded like a nice guy version of that Master Blaster from the Flip Side.

But coincidences aside...

"Ken."  Azzy smiled and sure enough turned around to see the Tennyson family make their entrance.

Ben Ten-Thousand, wife and son were there leading one Dr. Animo (in stasis cuffs) to be escorted to a prison cell.

"I'll never get used to seeing that facial hair.  He really buffed up since his teenage years."  Azzy recognized his old friend.

"I wonder what Rex looks like...?"  He pondered, realizing he hadn't met up with Rex Salazar or Zak Saturday in ages.

And approaching them was.

"Rook Blanco."  Asriel was delighted.  Everyone had grown up and achieved their dreams.  A quick listen in on the conversation revealed that Rook was now taking over the position of Magistratrus from--

"Holy schnikees.  Is that--"

"Finally retiring, Maxwell?"  Animo questioned with a sadness in his voice.  Weird coming from a super-villain.  "This place won't be the same without you."

"it is Maxwell Tennyson.   Wow...even at his age and the bionic arm, Grandpa Max looks surprisingly good."  Asriel was making up his mind to join the conversation and make his presence known.

"We've kept your room just like you left it."  Max led the prisoner away with a detail of other plumbers.

"Well better do so before--"  Was all Asriel got out before someone ELSE familiar showed up.

"Tennyson."  Came the gruff voice of the man in black, bearing a crisscross scar on his chin, in the company of a red-headed, short-haired, green-eyed woman in blue and periwinkle.

"Levin."  Future Ben growled back as they approached each other with a surly demeanor paused...then shared a friendly exchange of fist-bumps.

"Huh."  Asriel shrugged, feeling like the conversation was about to take a different turn.  But that would have been absurd.  The two of them had been friends for years.  Sure they had clashed as enemies in the past...but that was far, far behind, right?

Seemed that Kevin Levin was now taking over Rook's old job.  As he said "somebody has to keep the rooters in line".

"Gwendolyn!"  Asriel noticed his wife, Ben's cousin.   Seemed that she had finally completed a second doctorate; delayed by a year on account of being named High Magus.

"This seems all well and good but I'm going to say something before someone ELSE familiar walks in the room and steals my chance to say hi!"

"Asriel!"

"Hey, Ben.  Long time no see."  Asriel approached.

"Look what the goat dragged in.  An actual goat.  Finally grew yourself a respectable set of horns, huh?"  Kevin mused.

"Jealous?"

"Of something that'd just get in the way?"  Kevin crossed his arms.

"Good point."  Asriel retracted his horns. "I find it better to keep my boyish good looks."  Asriel resisted the urge to make a comment about "taking it on the chin".  Riffing on the scar would be a of a Violet move and that was so not him.  Besides.  The horn taunt was plenty a retort.

"Well don't you have an answer for everything."

"If I did then I'd put Asmyth out of a job."

That earned a snicker from Ben.

"Banter aside, it's great to see everyone again.  I was kind of surprised Plumber HQ sent me an invitation.  I'm not exactly a member, you know."

"Nonsense.  You're practically family as it is."  Maxwell assured, having returned.  He was quick for a guy his age.  But I guess with retirement came reduction in duties.

"But really...this seems a bit much around here for a social call.  Really, what's the occasion?"

"You're just in time..."  Kevin looked rolled his eyes.  "The President of the Earth is arriving."

"President of EARTH?"  Asriel raised an eyebrow.  "In all my years I've actually never met a president who represented a whole planet.  You'd think I would have by this point but--"  Asriel suddenly noticed the expression.

"Is...there something I should know--"  He started before Ben and company headed toward the commotion.

"THIS I got to see..."  He said, rather amused.

"Uh-oh....."  Asriel looked concerned as he started to follow.

A familiar face was already on scene reporting...or rather ATTEMPTING to report on the scene opening up as his camera man forgot to install a SIM card.

"Ooooh boy.  So tempting to make a "get me pictures of Spider-Man" jokes after J. Jonah Jones chastised the camera operator.

And the elevator doors opened as a detail of heavily orange-armored guards exited and parted to reveal the President.

"HIM!?"  Asriel almost blurted out loud.

"Greetings, Fellow Earth-Dwellers!"

Indeed.  It was in fact Ardgit. That diminutive porcupine-like alien that had always been an untrustworthy partner in crime during Kevin Levin’s unruly days.  How was it that Kevin put it?  Ardjit had burned him on so many deals gone sour, that he needed a lifetime supply of aloe vera lotion?

"Wipe that grin off your face, horn-head."  Kevin scowled at Azzy.

"I didn't say anything."

A long-winded speech entailed.  But what Asriel wasn't expecting was for President Ardjit to address him.

All eyes were on Asriel.

"Uh..." Asriel felt on the spot as he knelt down to shake the president's hand and pose for a selfie.  The applause aboard grew ever more louder.

"This is going to drive my approval rating through the roof."  Ardgit muttered to Azzy when the cameras were off.  "I owe totally owe you for this, any favor you want, just ask.  No questions asked."

"Well, actually--"

A sigh followed by.  "Is it more than six-figures?"

What happened to no questions asked?

Asriel rubbed the back of his head.

After he was able to slip away and leave Mr. President to his what-not.

"Why...am I this popular around here, Ben?  I mean...I haven't really done anything that special in Bellwood, Earth in general, or the galaxy.  I might have teamed up with you a few times but...nothing that would get this kind of acclaim.  And really. What was that thing about adding to Argit's approval rating?"

"Well, you know...it's a whole new era these days.  The whole Area 51 controversy is all ancient history and aliens are coming together for galactic peace and prosperity with Earth as the main diplomatic hub.   We're always willing to extend hospitality to another alien race."

"Ben...I don't mean to sound accusing or anything but I'd like to think I have a grasp on when someone isn't telling me the whole truth.  Really...is there something you guys are keeping from me?"

Ben was about to speak when Gwen cut in.

"I can vouch for my cousin.  There's no lines to read between."

"Well...I know you wouldn't lie to me, Gwen but...I just feel like I'm getting undeserved praise."

"Asriel.  What was it you used to tell me about the word "deserve" in the past?  Back when I was a bit of a glory hog?"

".........right as always."

"Well then, I'm glad I can take part in--"

That was when Asriel's bracer went off with a series of familiar tones.

"The Power Ranger alert...?"  Asriel practically sounded out the words "Go Go, Power Rangers" in rhythm to the beeps.

"But...why am I getting a message through the Morphin Grid...?  I'm not a--"  Asriel started before he heard the voice come through.

"The Grid has the power to connect all Power Rangers...so I hope you can hear me!  There are Rangers that need our help."

That was Devon's voice.  Asriel recognized it.  But where was it coming from?  Within the Morphin Grid?

That was when a surge of energy fluxuated through Asriel's bracer, momentarily activating its holo-projector and displaying a brief image.

"What the--!"  Asriel noticed the sudden appearance of--

"A Power Coin?"  Asriel blinked.   Wait a minute...wasn't the thing with all known Ranger iterations resolved during the Crossover Wars?  Thrax was destroyed and sometime afterward Volt reported that Lord Drakkon had been defeated.

But wait...there were loose threads that hadn't been tied up.  Violet had always seemed like she had realized something about EVOX during her encounters with him.  Something about when she brought up Venjix's name seemed to...resonate for unknown reasons.  By this point...why WASN'T it reported in my backlogs of what happened during Grid Battleforce's final battles with Evox?  After all this time...wouldn't it have been resolved?

"No."  Asriel realized.  Alternate universe timelines, when it came to crossovers, were never necessarily set in stone.  Sometimes...events wouldn't come back to haunt us until later.  Somehow that point in their timeline; ancient history for some universes now; was just now coming back to us like a boomerang.

No doubt about it.  I had reported on this exact moment five years ago when we had resolved the matter with Thrax and Asriel had used the Master Morpher briefly.  This was something Destiny had been letting lay dormant for all this time.  And Asriel was on hand to resolve it.

"Sounds like they need you."  Gwen observed

"Looks like a hero's work is never done--"  Ben 10K started before an explosion rocked Plumber HQ.

"AHHH!" Many were knocked off their feet.

"...if I didn't know better, I'd say Madam Fate was waking up from her rage-quit."  Asriel complained, barely standing up.

He helped Ben to his feet.

"There's trouble here!"

"What else is new?"  Kevin wrinkled his nose.

"This feels like a choice."  Asriel suddenly looked divided between two worlds that needed help.

"I'll make this easy.  Go.  We got this."

"But, Ben--"

"C'mon.  Have some faith in the Tennyson Family.  Besides...you remember what Volt used to tell you."

Asriel sighed.

"Yeah.  We can't be everyone's magic wand.  Just guidance and the occasional trump card.  We can't solve heroes' problems for them.  Just be there when they need us."

"Right.  Now go on.  We got this."

Asriel sighed as the Morphin Grid opened a portal.

"Alright...but you better come back alive, old friend."

"Ah, get out of here, you barn animal."

"A barn animal that still managed to smell better than certain company."  Asriel grinned before spreading his arms out and falling back through the portal.

"........."  Kevin lifted his arm and sniffed under his pit.

"Wipe that smirk off your face, Tennyson."  Kevin growled.

In the dusty, desert wasteland...

"AT LAST!  THE POWER RANGERS HAVE COME TO MEET THEIR END!"

"So you're Goldar Maximus, huh?"  Jason Lee Scott.  He'd aged but he was definitely the same Red Mighty Morphin Ranger.  And he was in the company of other fellow rangers from across time and space; some still morphed, some not.

"I hope you're a lot tougher than the last one we defeated."

"OH, I AM!  AND I BROUGHT AN ARMY, TOO!"

Jason looked amused at the gold-armored, winged griffin-beast, enhanced by Scrozzle's reanimator and enhanced with a mound of diamonds.

"An Army?  That's not an army..."  I'm sure had Azzy been there at that EXACT moment, he would have relished the callback to a certain Australian in New York being confronted by mugger with a knife before showing him what a REAL knife is.......somewhere Chara is smirking, too at my choice of words.  Oy-oy-oy...

Jason pulled out the power coin and made sure Goldar Maximus got a gooooood look.

"WHAT!?  A POWER COIN!?"

A flip of the coin, straight up.  As it reached the peak where gravity took over, a release of morphin energy spread out with a mighty T-Rex roar before plummeting back down into his palm.

That was the moment went two dimensional portals opened up.........followed by a third.

"WHAT IS THAT!?"

And lo and behold, there came...fully morphed, Blue Ranger, Billy Cranston; Pink Ranger Kimberly Anne Hart;  Black Ranger, Zack Taylor;  and Yellow Ranger, Trini Kwan out of one.  The other four of the original Mighty Morphin 5.

Then out of the other came, also fully morphed,  Triassic Red, Conner Knight; Triassic Yellow Kira Ford; and Triassic Blue, Ethan James of the Dino Thunder team.

And finally out of the third came, unmorphed though, came Asriel Tobias Arcade, April O'Neill, and the four turtle brothers; Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael.

All of them quickly ran up and joined Jason in a line formation.

"Now this....THIS IS AN ARMY!"  He spread his arms out, confidently.

"IT WON'T BE WHEN WE'RE DONE, JASON!"

I'm SO gonna enjoy this..."  Raphael grit his teeth.

"AND JUST WHO ARE YOU!?"

"Oh, nobody special.  Just a goat, four turtles, and a human."

"And you think you're gonna step to us, ugly?"  Raph cut in.  "Rookie mistake, 'hoss."

"And if you step to my friends for steppin' to you...f...for steppin' to me?  You gonna have to step to me.  M'kay?"  Asriel tried to follow up.

Okay...so Goat Son wasn't always at top form on the spot.  This was...not one of his better heroic moments.

Nobody's perfect.

"What are you talking about?"  April looked at Asriel with a confused and dubious look.

Leo facepalmed as Donnie pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Uh...never mind.  Prepare to face off against the uh...Hyper Force Rangers!"

Oh boy...should I tell him or let Jenn Scotts be the one to inform him...?  I hope Rangers don't sue other Rangers.  Seriously.

An awkward silence.

"Nice save.  I think he bought it!"  Mikey gave twin thumbs up moments before Raph whapped him over the head.

"Smooth."  Raph smoldered.

Asriel looked to Jason to save this unbearable moment with something inspiring.

Jason stepped forward, stood his ground and confidently shouted those immortal words:

"IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!"

"I haven't heard those words in a loooong time.  Music to my floppy ears."  Asriel suddenly flipped something over on his Bracer, revealing the Morpher modification he'd never had uninstalled, followed by the stylized USB Pen Drive with the Morphex activator key that quickly extended out of it.

"UNLEASH THE POWER!"  The unmorphed Dino Charge Rangers made the morph first.

"TURTLE POWER!"  Leonardo and brothers said in unison before pulling out the morphers I THOUGHT they had relinquished after the Crossover Wars.  I think Splinter and I were going to have to have a sit-down with his sons...and April, too.

It looked like Donnie had made a few modifications and upgrades to make them less dino and more turtle.

April took on the Pink Ranger powers while Asriel made the morph to...wait, that wasn't his usual Green Goat powers...this was...!

"GREEN TITANUS RANGER!"  Sure enough Asriel had heavily modified his ranger powers to tap into the Mighty Morphin Zord, Titanus--the carrier that made the Ultrazord combination possible.  And it was sporting a green, yellow, and white combination that paid homage to Flowey.

Together came the epic pose followed by a MASSIVE array of colored smoke explosions and fireworks.

And the battle erupted, fierce and ferocious.  When it was morphing time, things were certainly about to get wild.

Goldar Maximus did in fact have an army of familiar headaches from Putties to Snyde himself.  But history had a way of foretelling things like this.  While the outcome wasn't that hard to see coming, there would be a few surprises up Asriel's sleeve that no one was prepared for.

"You know I'm thinking a change of clothes is in order.  WHITE SABA RANGER!"

It looked like Asriel had managed to reverse-engineer the Master Morpher some time ago and had made a set of powers based on the White Mighty Morphin's tiger sabre, Saba.  While not quite the same as the original White Tiger Zord, the resemblance was most certainly there.

And still not to be outdone...

"And now the finisher: GOLD PYRAMIDUS RANGER!

And he even found a way to integrate Trey of Triforia's Zeo Zord into the mix?  Kudos to you, Goat Son.

And eventually...the battle finally ended with Goldar Maximus taking a dirt nap.  But there was still trouble as Evox had succeeded in creating his evil Chimera Zord...

"Okay...no sweat...I don't have my Perseverance ability to summon mechs anymore and even I couldn't build a Zord from scratch, let alone a Megazord..."  Asriel acknowledged his limits.   "But I'll still stand and fight--"

His STC bracer went off again.

"Oh no...not in the middle of battle."

"Go on!  They need you more!  We can handle this!"  Jason assured.

"I hate running off and leaving my friends in a tight spot."

"Have faith in us, Asriel."  Trini followed up.

"We got this."  Kimberly gave a thumbs-up.

"You'd tell us the same if we had to leave."

"Don't worry about us.  We can handle it."

"Besides...it's not like you left us completely on our own."  Jason reminded that the Turtles and April were still fighting.

Asriel nodded and jumped through the next portal.  A portal which lead him to...

"............oh boy.  I can't wait to explain this to Volt..."  Asriel noticed that abundance of Autobots...and My Little Ponies together on the battlefield?

"Hey, no biggie but...?"  Rainbow Dash suddenly zipped in front him as Optimus Prime turned toward him.

"We find ourselves in strange times relying on the most unexpected with allies."  He acknowledged.

"Ohhhh boy..."  Asriel charged in.

And some time later...

"What?  Another one!?"

Asriel could see the TTG Teen Titans in a heated disagreement and scuffle with another universe's iteration of the Thundercats.  Eheheheh...

"I'm going to need more than a tape of the Night Begins to Shine for this one..."  Asriel rolled up his sleeves.  "Alright, break it up you guys and gals."

Later still...

"...bye!  Take care."  Asriel waved and exited the portal.  "Well.  This morning the last thing I expected was to see a giant Lion-O...who sounds a lot like famous voice actor Larry Kenny, mind you...use the phrases "poop mouth" and "poop opinions".   Yikes...never going to tell Aunt Vi about this one."

Asriel shook his head.  "Come on.  I'll take you both back to your respective dimensions.

"Finally!  Someone does care about Snaaaarf!"

The "modern" Lion-O from the other Thundercats dimension shrugged.

Once he got back from that Lion-O's respective Third Earth...

"Just a moment to catch my--"

Another STC alert.

"Oh COME ONNNNNNNN!"  Asriel complained with a sweat drop.  "No rest for the weary..."

The next one had him headed to St. Canard where the McDuck Family was up to their eyeballs in trouble.  Time to call D.W.?  Yup.

But even he wasn't prepared for Violet to insist on popping up just to make a meme out of a situation.

"Soooo, Scroogie-baby.  \*pause with a grin\*  A sea monster ate your ice cream, huh?"

If ducks had teeth, Scrooge McDuck would most certainly be grinding his.  Asriel could see his head flush about three shades of progressive red by the time Violet had launched into a tirade.

"A SEA MONSTER...!..ATE YOUR ICE CREEEEEEEEEEAM!  A SEA MONSTER...!  ATE YOUR ICE CREEEEEEEEAM!  A SEA MONSTER...!...ATE YOUR ICE CREAM--"

That was about the point Asriel grabbed her by the lips (in homage to DWD shutting up his adopted daughter, Gosalynn in a different dimensional iteration...).

"Ehehe...we'll be going now.  I apologize for Aunt Vi being a dingle.  No hard feelings?  Pleeeeeeease?"

A roll of the eyes and scoff and a gesture to get going while he still had a nerve left to step on.

Azzy found himself pulling double duty going across town multiple times to assist Gizmo Duck and then again to help Darkwing Duck and Launchpad deal with a team up of supervillain under one Dr. Taurus Bulba and a dangerous invention codenamed the "Ramrod".

"Okay.  Timeout."  Asriel had a seat.  "Maybe...it's not that hard to believe everyone holds me in high regard.  I mean...have I really lost track of how thin I've spread myself out among these other worlds and such?  I mean...I'm doing way more than one person my age SHOULD be doing.  This is definitely above and beyond but..."

And yet that explanation still didn't sit right.  Blessings from the gods?  Honored by the Plumbers?  Asked to help through the Morphin Grid?  And so on.  While all that seemed well above and beyond...did it really merit people practically hailing him as a savior?  It was too much.  He was helping out but it wasn't like he saved the world or the universe or all of space and time...

Oh what you didn't know, goat son.  What you didn't know.

Once the calls stopped coming in...

"Well.  I wish I could rest on my laurels but today's the day I finally get the last part of the story.   And quite frankly...I feel ready to believe them..."

## Sub-Entry 027: "Off to New York For the  Tale of the Third Apocalypse.":

Peter Venkman had promised a final story in the epic trilogy in the lives of the Superstars of the Supernatural.  The Professional Paranormal Investigators and Eliminators I called some of my many mentors over the years did in fact have a last story to tell, some two years after the battle with Vigo the Carpathian.

Some would ask why I would not place tell this story sooner.  Why didn't I include it in the last update to these logs when the timing would be more appropriate for the All Hallows Eve season?

Well...if anything the timing was better this time around.  After all, this tale in "slime and space" happened during the Thanksgiving season in 1991 of their world, so...it actually fits.

By now Asriel was old enough to take himself off world and even borrow a set of wheels more appropriate to do so.

Ecto-1A was fortunate enough to survive the destruction of the X-Vault.  Now it was occupying the new Z-Vault.  (KOMMAND's name, btw.  I think she was on a binge of that Power Puff Girls anime, at that...)

Azzy didn't even have to ask to borrow the keys by this point.  What's mine was his and vice-versa.

"Still a little top-heavy but I'm sure the New Yorkers will appreciate the nostalgia."

Ecto 1B was still the company car.  Ectotron was now back with the Autobots on a permanent basis...but we'd discover, sooner than later, that he wasn't out of our lives for good.  And little did we know it would be setup for the most obvious of crossovers and yet the LEAST expected on my list of ones possible.

Asriel loaded up and engaged the gateway to the Big Apple.  As a last checkmark on the list he fired up the Unitrix and donned his human disguise.

"...wonder if the manly ponytail is a bit much...I feel Aunt Vi's fashion sense is really seedy.  I should bite the bullet and ask Asmyth if he can modify the DNA archetype and make a profile more me and less shady Hollywood agent.............assuming he and Volt will ever be on speaking terms again."

Azzy had reservations of just simply taking a pair of scissors to it.  Was there any danger to physically modifying a DNA archetype?  I mean after that story Ben once told about Humungosaur scraping up his knee and the injury still being on Ben when he transformed back to human.

But on a serious note...Asriel had also long stopped associating this human form with my former protegee.  We had both formed and unofficial pact to simply forget Adonis after...well...after he invited it upon himself.   We both found ourselves wishing Dr. Gaster and Evil-Chara didn't have to make such a sacrifice to contain him.

Yet...Evil-Chara's time was up.  He was already dead.  And honestly he burned too many bridges to be given another chance.   Sometimes there really were permanent consequences.  While Soul Reaper Chara was given an opportunity to change for the better...there was none waiting for him.  And I think he accepted that in the end.

Gaster on the other hand?  His research hit too many dead ends.  I think he hovered before us, a broken man...er...monster.  Despite all his brilliance...he couldn't save himself.  In the end...he WOULDN'T save himself.  This was the way.  This was his only option to redeem himself.  I wish to whatever greater power than the Goddesses there might be that it wasn't true.  As things were now...Asriel, in all likelihood, probably didn't remember Gaster...but probably couldn't.

It was amazing that I still could.  Was this a sign that he still technically existed?

I digress...back to Asriel's lament over his current human form's appearance.

"I mean...what if I end up cutting off an ear...?"  This was part of the reason he left those long trailing tresses extend down over his shoulders and collarbone.

I was hoping Asriel wouldn't pick up my tendencies to worry.  But I guess another way to look at it was...I ended up giving him all my worries.  Retirement had made me bit...well...lax.

"The goatee is still an amusing touch."  Asriel appreciated the pun-y irony.  You'd think that joke would be too easy.  Not so for Asriel.  Not so.

I think in a way it also reminding him of the file he glanced over about the one of the other Ghostbusters dimensions.  The "Extreme" one to be precise.  Eduardo Riviera certainly sported a grungy goatee that Azzy's human form was paying homage to.  Coincidence or conspiracy?  I'd let Rotor be the judge some day.  I'd come to accept that the timeline would diverge at some point in this world's near future and that would be the origin point of the other iterations of the "Real" Ghostbusters.

But I still wasn't sure what dimensional iteration the mentors I knew actually were so...there's that.

It was strange.  A drive in a vehicle like this on other worlds would attract a lot of attention and stares.  The stint in the "Filmation Ghost Busters" universe was proof.

But even with Ecto-1A, on this world...it was still largely seen as pretty standard faire.  The GB's had made themselves a household name and exterminating ghosts was now just accepted as normal...or as close to it as this world got.

"It'll be good getting back to the firehouse."

I think to Goat Son it felt like an old song travelling down this bridge, across the island of Manhattan.  Headed to that place...

Hook & Ladder 8.  Formerly a fire department in the 50's and once upon a time declared a national landmark thanks to some heroic firefighters... (and some unintended time-travel due to Peter yanking the power cord out of a ghost trap that was being de-ionized without safely disconnecting it.  Also...Ray with a flat top?  There's one for the books.)...saved the city from a huge ghost attack.

Yup.  The headquarters of my mentors.  And there was the classic No-Ghost sign out front.  The "We're Back" sign had long been taken down and put in a storage closet along with Ecto-1A's doors and other emblems..................technically making Asriel's Ecto-1A kind of a paradox.

I'd advise him not to try to bring one in contact with the other.  Just in case the Time Cop rule did apply here.

Asriel clicked on the C.B. and picked up the mic.

"Ecto 1A calling Spook Central.  I'm reaching out to a beautiful, underpaid, underappreciated secretary.  One whose bosses would be in a load of trouble if they had to survive without her.  Hope I'm not laying it on too thick?"

A bit of static before...

"You had me had me at "calling Spook Central"."

"Okay--"

"But I didn't say you could stop with the flattery."

"Now, now.  Let's not get greedy with the praise."

A giggle.

"Opening the auxiliary gate."

The building next door opened its garage and Asriel drove on in and parked.  Quickly, he headed through the connector hall to the Firehouse's access doorway.

"You don't write, you don't call...and then you should up with the best flattery I've heard in ages.  So.  I can't wait to hear your explanation..."  Janine's voice was smug as the faint sound of nails being filed suddenly stopped as she looked up over the computer monitor.

"...Prince Asriel Tobias Dreemurr-Arcade."

"Aww, don't get formal!  Asriel or Azzy to my friends!"  Asriel switched off the disguise and spread his arms out for a hug.  Shades of Fluffybuns, right there.

Janine got up and gladly obliged.  Like a young aunt.

"You've gotten so big!  Look at the size of your horns!"

"Well...they get in the way sometimes so I retract them when I can.  They're kind of like Volt's claws."

"So you can do that bunny rabbit impression all the time?"

"Festival of the Rabbit is still a favorite holiday back home.  I think you call it Easter, here on Earth."

Janine nodded.

"Well. I don't mean to keep you from your work."

"Don't apologize.  I could use a coffee break."

"And don't tell Venkman?"

"You better believe it, buster."

By reflex, Asriel wanted to point out the Jessica Rabbit quote.  Buuuut...all things in moderation.  Sometimes even Violet needed to learn when to dial it back so...we should lead by example.

"Speaking of.  I believe I had a play date with our men in the jump suits and firefighter boots?"

"They're waiting for you upstairs in the TV room.  I'd join you but I'm sure Dr. Venkman would find a way to take it out of my pay."

Asriel rubbed his chin.  "I could always threaten to tell Slimer to check his socks for a lollypop.  That worked so well that one Halloween, according to Dr. Spengler."

"Hold that thought."  Janine said as a certain green, potato-shaped gaseous entity drifted out from the ceiling and left a thick, sticky, translucent green patch of goo behind.

"We lose more cleaning service clients when we have to explain things like that..."  She muttered.

"Slimer!  I missed you!"

"Asriel, wait!  He's going to--"

And there dove the onion head for a pretty sizeable splat!

The messiest of hugs.

"Eheh...have one me.  I think you're good for it."  Asriel pulled out the take-out box containing some pizza slices.  "Go to town, big guy."

And like that Slimer was speeding upstairs with his snack in grasp.

"Azzy, why would you agree to that?  Now you're all a mess!  Huh...?"

Asriel reached up and pulled at something before splitting it apart and pulling that something transparent down and around himself before stepping out of it.

"Have protective anti-slime measure, will travel."  Asriel wadded up the slimy outer film and tossed it in the trash.  "Slime me once, shame on you.  Slime me twice, shame on me.  Slime me any times beyond that and I should probably have my I.Q. re-tested."

"You've certainly gotten charming.  And clever."

"You'd be surprised what an all-nighter in the lab can do.  I'll show myself up."  Asriel began before his eyes wandered to the staircase leading down.

"..."

"Do you...need to see...?"

Asriel took a deep breath and walked his way down the staircase and cracked the doorway open.  The hum of big, red and metal was overly familiar.  The E.C.U. hadn't changed or moved an inch.   Why would it?  It was a dimensional prison for ghosts.

The temptation was stronger than it had ever been.  But...

KA-CLICK.

Asriel closed the door and walked away.

"Forgotten means FORGOTTEN."  He said in a low voice.  It was the closest he'd come to his nemesis gaining an inch back from him.

"That was almost a mistake, Janine.  Never again."

Janine looked at him, worried as he ascended the staircase.

"I'm fine.  Really.  Don't worry.  Just think of it as needing to pass a pop-quiz."

She decided to let it go.

Upstairs...

"And there's the man of the hour."

"I prefer G to the O to the A to the T.  Goat.  As in Greatest Of All Time."  Asriel was kidding but he wanted to put Venkman's ego to the test.

"Listen to you brag!  I bet you got those ladies wrapped around your finger."

Oooh.  Game set and match.  You win this round, Peter Venkman.

\*ahem\*  Egon, cleared his throat.

"You can stop busting his chops any time, Peter."  Ray followed up.

"What's up, Double-A?"  Winston offered a high five.

A grin and a returned high-five with a down low, followed up by a complicated handshake.  Oh yeah.  Goat Son knew how to be coooool.

"Just being me, Winston my man.  Just being me."  He turned to Ray next.

"How's the Heart of the Ghostbusters?"

"I was kind of hoping for something exiting to happen lately.  You dropping in on us was the best thing that could have happened!"

"Oh stop."  Asriel waved it off.  "But uh...thanks for the vote of confidence, Ray.

Finally,  he addressed Egon.

"Dr. Spengler. Egon.  Volt wishes you well."

"Always at the top of his class.  You've certainly proven yourself as capable and talented."

"I wrote a dissertation on the positronic entanglement you might want to read.  I'll bring you the research some time."

"Fascinating."

"Okay, okay.  Enough small talk.  We got a story to tell.  And we're doing it right!  The story of how we saved New York and the world for a third time!"

"Lay it on thicker, Dr. Venkman.  Please."  Janine leaned up against the wall, arms crossed.

## Sub-Entry 028: "The Rise and Fall of Ivo Shandor":

"Our story starts, as all story starts with a beautiful young woman in trouble--"

"I warn you not to say anything that Dana Barret will hold against you for."

"...hmph.  Haven't you gotten shrewd in all the years you've been gone."

"Telling it like it is, Dr. Venkman."

"Hey, how come you call everyone else by their first names?"

Asriel just smirked.

Peter rolled his eyes and got back to it.

"At the Museum, not the same one my ex worked at mind you, they had just brought in the new Gozer exhibit, when our lovely lady in question was in a hurry to find a dashing hero with a strong jawline who could--"

"We didn't know at the time but the head researcher of the Gozer exhibit had unknowingly triggered a massive psychokinetic event."  Egon cut in.

"Arcing, according to paranormal nomenclature."  Ray pointed out before Venkman could protest being interrupted.

"At the same time our recently hired rookie was in the process of helping us test our new experimental equipment.  Upgrades to our proton packs and such."

Asriel nodded as he was already familiar with them.  Years ago I had used those upgrades to smack the snot out the Chara-Wraith and used them to split Chara from the Wraith.

"Better for the rookie to undertake such a dangerous task.   As tempting as it was for Ray to try them out, our mortgage is in his name."  Peter mused.

"Well thanks."  Ray wrinkled his nose and crossed his arms over Pete's lack of concern.

"The shockwave spread throughout the whole island and even reached us."  Egon looked grim.  "A psychic turbulence strong enough to affect our equipment and..."

"AND release a certain spud from containment."  Peter glared at the slimy wet spot on the floor.  As if on cure, Slimer's cackle echoed  inside the floorboards.

"It was weird.  Slimer never acted that way before.  He'd been acting weird since the Gozer exhibit came to town so Egon and I thought it best to contain him until we could run tests on him."

"Unfortunately his confines breached and he found himself drawn to our Containment Unit.  He seemed...interested in the viewing window we'd installed recently."

In attempting to recapture our escaped spectral subject, the Rookie accidentally hit the Containment Unit and caused a momentary breach, releasing one of the imprisoned."

"We managed to trap the escapee but Slimer suddenly fled the firehouse back to his old stomping grounds at--"  Ray started before Asriel followed up.

"The Sedgewick Hotel."  Asriel furrowed his brow.

"Who's telling this story?"  Peter sulked that his partners had overtaken him and now goat son was interrupting with interjections.

"So.   I take it the hotel owner wasn't happy to see you?"

"Your powers of perception continue to amaze."  Egon raised an eyebrow.

"He demanded a full refund.  The nerve!"  Peter snorted.

"If he checked the fine print of his invoice, he didn't spring for the extended ghost insurance for repeat hauntings."  Ray clarified.

"We had to walk the rookie through the ground rules.  You know...new restrictions under the new mayor under his pro-Ghostbusters campaign.  A happy New York is an un-haunted New York."  Ray followed up.

"By any chance...?"

"It satisfied the restraining order the maid had put on us."  Ray looked kind of embarrassed.

"The people in this city.  You fire a concentrated beam of protons and people get all sue-happy.  We didn’t' even hit her.  There was redness.  Just a little redness!"  Peter whined.

"At the time we didn't think of it but we briefly crossed paths with the source of the psychic turbulence vent.  Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn briefly passed by us--"

"After shooting Peter down."  Ray snickered.

"Couldn't leave that out, could you, Ray?"  Peter smoldered.

Asriel sweat dropped.

"I can follow where this went.  On-the-job training, hunting down the little spud and putting him in a time-out box."

"Pretty much.  Save for the detail about ruining the bar mitzvah in the ruby ballroom..."  Ray poked his index fingers together in that childish manner.

Asriel shrugged.  "But the rookie did perform."  The question on his mind he'd save for later was obviously "where was the rookie, now?".

"So fast-forwarding ahead where did the complication arise?"

"That some previously un-detected ghosts we missed in 1984 began to manifest."  Egon narrowed his eyes.  "The spirit of Sargossi, a noted chef and namesake of the seafood restaurant within the hotel."

"Wait...there was a seafood restaurant in the Sedgewick?  Huh..."  Asriel scratched his temple.  "Huh...well...continue."

"Not much to say.  Standard capture and containment...riiiiiight up to a point when the night got a bit more...complicated."

"Uh...how complicated?"

"Well.  It's big.  It's white.  It goes great with a giant mug of hot cocoa."

"...."  Asriel pointed downward toward the Containment Unit in the basement.

"Again, you followed very well."  Egon nodded.

"You're saying Gozer came back in his Stay-Puft Destructor form?"

"Yeah but....something seemed...different."

"Asriel turned to Winston who already had an answer to give.

"My night off at the opera got cut short.  That's why the story was down a man."

"Oh."

A nod.

"So...Stay-Puft on a rampage?"

"And looking for someone--"

"...someone like the young woman who rejected Peter's flirting?"  Asriel smirked with a smug expression.

"I'm starting not to like this story."  Peter complained.

"And that's where you had a rematch, right?"  Asriel did a finger-point right out of Phoenix Wright.

"Rookie really earned his stripes."

"So what happened next?"

"A return back to the firehouse led us to an...unpleasant reunion."

Asriel clutched his forehead, covering his eyes.  "Not the some-kind-of-rodent-but-I-don't-know-what"..."

"Walter J. Peck.  And apparently our new supervisor."

"This was that peacock thing you didn't want to talk about with Volt, wasn't it, Egon?"

Egon nodded with a dour look.

"So...what was his deal?  Getting back at you for getting him canned from the Environmental Protection Agency?"  Azzy shrugged.

"Mayor's idea.  A way to curb our collateral damage and remove the city from liability."  Janine smoldered.

"Wait...any damages you do on the job would come out of his pocket?  Oh that's rich."  Asriel mused.

"But it wasn't all fun and games.  This guy put me in jail just for being there."

"Real team player, Winston.   Way to think of the company synergy."  Peter jabbed.

"So his brilliant idea was to partner sworn enemies together to solve this new Gozer problem?"

"For me to say any more would be getting ahead of ourselves.  We decided to conduct an investigation.  And it took us to some very familiar territory."

"If I've followed your careers right...you can only mean the New York Public Library.  Your first case!  And if I'm following the pattern right, your next familiar face was the Grey Lady!"

"Listen to you go!  Sh'yeah.  You got a real career here if you want to give up the whole STC and UCIAT agent bit."

"Nothin' doing.  I'm right where I need to be."  Asriel put his knuckles to his hips.

"So...back on your first paranormal investigation case."

"But it seemed that our investigation took us deeper down the rabbit hole."

"Don't say that around Aunt Vi."

"During our hunt for the Grey Lady, now known by the name Eleanor Twitty; a head librarian once-upon-a-time, we happened upon an ancient tomb known as the Gozerian Codex."

Asriel swallowed hard, knowing where this was going.  It was the first real mention of Gozer's name other than bringing up Stay-Puft's form.

"Our attempt to help the Grey Lady crossover only resulted in her crossing right back where she came from."  Egon lowered an eyebrow.

"Had a bit of pent up aggression from being shushed the whole adventure."

"Man, I still can't believe I missed out on all your weird adventures."

"Bound to happen, Zee, when you get pulled into an interdimensional portal into a Gozerian configuration plane of existence.  Ray shrugged it off.

"So if Grey Lady wasn't the big bad, who was?"

"I checked the old newspaper records and found something very interesting."  Winston explained.  "Seemed our grey ghost was the victim of a gruesome murder by a ruthless guy by the alias of the Collector.  Seems he really had a thing for ancient tombs and rare books.  And he seduced Eleanor Twitty before luring her to her death."

"When he was tried for her murder and passed sentenced to death row he vowed to return again as Atlazaar, some...god of knowledge or something like that."  Peter finally snuck in an explanation.  "Dude had some issues."

"And that's who you busted before moving onto the next case?"

"Correct.  But not before making one final discovery.  A rune on the wall that suddenly dimmed after we destroyed the Collector.  Further research determined it to be identified as a node in a greater mechanism."

Egon explained.

"Our stunt kind of pissed Peck off and he ordered us not to come within 100 feet of the Mayor while at the opening of the Gozerian exhibit.  Huge obelisk at the center of it all." Ray followed up.

"Should we cut to the part where your investigation suddenly went to Heck in a handbasket?"  Asriel cut in before Peter could comment about his role in this as Illysa's guest much to Peck's chagrin.

"What have you got against me, cutting me out of my own story?"

Everyone else gave a resounding “ahem”.

"......right...OUR story..."  Peter wrinkled his nose.

"Just keeping your ego in check."  Asriel muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing.  So...supernatural hijinks tied to Ivo Shandor, per chance?"

"I'm certainly glad I lent you a copy of Toban's Spirit Guide.  You've obviously memorized its contents quite well."  Egon seemed pleased.

"Ray's mention of the obelisk tied it together.  I know Shandor was a fan of building conduits to draw in and concentrate spiritual turbulence." Asriel reasoned.

"Well, you explanation left out the part of the possessor ghosts wearing the guests like suits."

Azzy grinned.  "I wish you could have saved video of Walter Peck speaking in tongues and floating around.  That would have been hilarious to watch on replay."

"See?  Why couldn't we agree on something like this?"  Peter shrugged.

"Annnnnnd it didn't go well with the Mayor and Peck afterward?"

"Nope.  Peck pretty much threatened to shut down our Protective Grid...again."

"But this just led to a huge discovery about Shandor's followers and a huge connection to the Vigo incident."

"All that's missing is the mention of black slime.  And there was black slime, wasn't there?"

"On top of things as always.  You're a star pupil, Azzy!"  Ray was excited.

"Toxic to body and soul.  No protection exists to shield against its negative effects.  Or as Winston would put it...the stains never come out."

Winston gave finger-gun points in confirmation.

"So...we have mood slime being pumped into the city, ghosts of Shandor's old cult rising to power from the dead...old headaches dropping in on you guys..."  Asriel paced.  "Something feels incomplete about this.  By any chance other nodes?"

"Yeah...they formed a pattern like..."

"Let me guess.  A mandala!  Volt brought up that term years ago and it just now made sense.  Your story is all coming together in ways that have been keeping me puzzled for years."  Asriel wagged his tail, instinctively.  "And yet something still feels unfinished...two nodes...each at a familiar place......picking up on the pattern...this takes us back to the Sedgewick, doesn't it?  It's the only old stomping ground that you didn't mention a "node" present."

"Maybe YOU should have been our rookie, Asriel."  Janine mused.

"So...this much out of the way...I take it the Sedgewick wasn't that hot to trot to let you back in after a SECOND incident?"

"Closed by order of the city.  Entrance is strictly prohibited.  Especially the Ghostbusters."

"P.C.O.C."  Asriel crossed his arms with a scowl.  "Peck really knows how to stick it to you."

"Our investigation led to discovering the Manager was still locked inside and paranormal activity was exponentially increasing."  Egon looked uneasy.

"I can sense when this becomes a near solo-mission.  You and the Rookie?"

"Turns out the hotel had a history of unsolved mysteries.  The so-called Spider-Witch widow had terrorized the hotel in the era after--"

"Wait.  Shandor was an architect by trade besides being a doctor who performed unnecessary surgery, right?"  Azzy asked.

"And he did a lot of renovations on the city in the 20's after he decided society was too sick to survive."  Egon reminded.

"Following World War 1.  Gotcha.  And let me guess.  Library, Museum, and Sedgewick Hotel?"

"All nodes on the Mandala, Azzy."  Ray confirmed.

Asriel had picked up on Egon's uneasiness at the mention of the Spider Witch.  It pretty much confirmed what I had told him ages ago about mentor really hating spiders.   For a guy who had no problems collecting spores, molds, and fungus, I found it unusual that arachnids would rattle him.

"So.  You shut that mandala note down.  But I’m guessing there was one last one in the spiral...?"

"In the middle of the Hudson River."  Winston suddenly spoke up.

Asriel was silent for a moment before his research into paranormal cases gave him insight.  He snapped his fingers in an "ah-hah" moment.

"A sunken island that just happens to rise out of the river?"

"You're...bordering on psychic now."  Ray sweat dropped.

"No.  Just picking up on the pattern.  But...uh...mom IS psychic if that counts."  Asriel turned grim.

"But in all seriousness...an infiltration into the belly of the beast?  Yeah...danger, danger, DANGER."  Asriel channeled a little of the late Steve Irwin, even down to a little Aussie accent to emphasize.  None of the guys or Janine got the reference, obviously.

"So...what was the boss there?"

Egon and Ray looked at each other.

"Are you familiar with the term, Giant Slorr?"

"Oh, from Vins Clortho's explanatiooooooon..ohhhhhhhhhhhhh..."  Asriel blanched recalling Toban's Spirt Guide's explanation and sketch.

"Shutting down that last node closed the Mandala and likely caused the island to sink."

"Man...all those samples gone to waste..."  Ray was practically sniffling from so many missed opportunities.

"While that SHOULD have saved the day, sometimes things just don't go the way you planned..."  Peter admitted.

"Okay...going out on a limb and following the most logical strategic counterattack and I'd say...stepping on your enemy's turf practically invites him to step onto yours.  And since you shut down the mandala, there goes the Gozer Worshipper's steady source of spiritual turbulence.

And like you said Egon...that much spiritual energy can only be harnessed for one purpose: to open a portal into another realm."

"It seems that it had an alternative purpose.  It takes a large amount of psychic energy and a blood sacrifice to achieve the Destructor Form."

"Wait....blood sacrifice......the missing piece of how Dr. Illysa fits into this."  Asriel looked over all the paperwork that Ray had laid out before it hit him.

"She's a SHANDOR."

"Now that's just a shot in the dark."  Peter wrinkled his lip in a dubious Elvis-type expression.

"And you were the one to figure it out.  Congrats, Dr. Venkman."

Peter took a bow.

"No mandala...no problem.  It forced the mastermind behind all this to turn to an alternative power source....your Containment Unit."

A grim set of looks pretty much confirmed it.

"Every ghost you ever caught used to fuel this ritual.  That really sucks."

"It was about to get worse.  It all culminated in Central Park...where apparently there was an ancient cemetery buried beneath."  Egon's voice lowered to match how grim things were looking.

"So.  One last ride to save the city?"

"Oh yeah."  Ray fist-pumped.

"Now this sounds like the overtime of a lifetime.  All the way to the center gates, right?"

"If we may be so bold to cut through the details.  Yes. Even despite Ecto-1B getting fried in the process...we made it."

"As much as I want to blame him...this photo right here pretty tells a tale.  And that tale is that villains generally don't tie themselves up.  With Dr.Illysa as a sacrifice and Peck serving his unsuspecting purpose?"

"You figured out that Peck was a pawn all along?"  Ray asked.

"Not hard to figure out.  He's a jerk but everything points to him being used.  And I can only think of one person who'd benefit.  Mr. Mayor...or rather...someone wearing the mayor like a suit.  Someone like Ivo Shandor?"

"Correct."  Egon nodded.

"But I don't get it.  I thought he orchestrated all this for Gozer!"

"But Gozer failed him twice by this point."  Egon narrowed his eyes.

"So in his twisted genius, our supervillain decided why worship a god when you can become one."  there was a delicious irony to Winston commenting about being a or becoming a god.  Maybe it was meant to be a jab at Ray for choosing the Stay Puft Marshmallow man as Gozer's destructor form in 1984.

"Well.  I can see where this is going.  A final battle against Shandor.  Even after he chooses his Destructor Form. as the "Architect", right?"

"Man, we battled like there was no tomorrow.  Cause' what we were looking at was a chance that there really wouldn't be."

"But uh...I know you guys too well.  You eat gods for breakfast.  And I agree with Ray.  Definitely not too much.  I like it.  Very quotable, Egon."

Egon cracked a brief smile.

"So.  Day saved.  Hero gets the girl.  Gift wrapped and--"  Peter started to pose atop the recliner when Janine subtly signaled to Slimer who adjusted the lever on the side...and sent Peter flailing and falling flat on the floor.

".......not funny..." He pouted.

"So.  I guess things quieted down afterward.  Mayor was no longer walking around with an evil ghost in his body.  The Rookie graduated with flying colors.  Peck was out of a job again and vowing you wouldn't see the last of him."

"Every aye dotted, every tee crossed.  Way to go, Asriel."

"So...with things quieted down...what happened to the Rookie?"

"We offered him a job as his own boss as one of the new franchises in a city of his choice."  Winston gave a thumbs up.

"And that's the story of the Third Apocalypse and the Rise and Fall of Shandor?"

"We can finally put the past behind us."  Egon nodded, arms crossed, eyes closed.

Something about that however...would stick in my mind after reading Asriel's report.  The more I thought about it, the more I wondered about Summerville, Oklahoma.  What were you planning, Mentor?  What was it you suspected in your hometown?

For the longest time I'd always thought Egon was from somewhere in Ohio but.....you think you know your teacher.  That said...

"Well.  That was some story.  And I guess I know the Ghostbusters lore from start to finish.  I'd love to stick around but...I really do have to get going.  I have to stay on schedule."  Asriel put his reading glasses away after reading through the last of Egon's and Ray's reports.

"Come back any time, Azzy."

"I will.  And if you have a story to tell, I'll be ready to believe you."

"You won't find it scary?"  Louis had spoken up after being completely quiet the whole time.

"Why would I?"  Asriel mused as he turned and walked down he staircase.  "After all...I ain't afraid o' no ghost."

## Sub-Entry 029: "Happy Birthday to You, My Dear Best Friend":

Back in town again.

"Running a little short on time, but I can make this work.  That said, there's still no time to lose!"  Asriel hurried toward his destination.

He swung open the door to Rock-Afire Pizzeria.

"Is it ready!?"

"Calm down.  Take a deep breath, Asriel.  Everything's going to be fine."

"I just don't want to ruin this for him."

"Azzy...you know you could never do that.  Even if something went wrong, he'd forgive you.  You're only Hybrid."

"Yeah...yeah."  A moment to ponder that.  "When did I become so frazzled about things like this?  Five years ago, I was diving headfirst into stuff and I didn't sweat the small stuff."

"You got to be too much like the Commander.  And he got to be too much like you.  Ironic, isn't it?"

"That's one way to put it.  But seriously--"

"All is in order, Asriel.  Just the way he likes it every year."

A sigh of relief.

"I can see what you mean about spreading yourself thin.  How many planets and worlds have you been to within the last 24 hours?"

"Too many."

"Not exactly a straight answer but I can tell you know your limits.  Anyway.  The others are on the way."

"Then let me help with the last minute details."

"Don't run yourself ragged."

"I know, I know.  Vi would say I'm getting to be like that episode of the Justice Friends when Major Glory was trying to make everything perfect for his Uncle Sam.  Until he drove Val Halen and Infraggable Krunk nuts and they rebelled against him; turned everything upside-down."

"And you know what the pay-off was.  U.S. didn't even care."

"Doctor's orders indeed."  Asriel shrugged.  "Okay, I read you.  If I get too cagey, bring me back down to Earth...or...whatever planet we live on."

Are you testing the limits of the fourth wall, Azzy?  Oh boy.  We were such terrible influences.  Violet especially.

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

Some of us were more perceptible to that fourth wall the Goddesses liked to dangle before us than others.  But that levity aside...

"There.  Done."  Mitzi looked over her work.

"I got to hand it to you, Mitzi.  Only you could create a flawless multi-layer Boston Creme Pie cake."

"And he'll flip when he discovers every I've made it with layers pf  chocolate cake and yellow cake with alternating vanilla pudding and chocolate pudding in combination for one chocolate-chocolate, one vanilla-vanilla, and a vanilla-chocolate and chocolate vanilla combo.  Four different sets for the ultimate experience and all frosted with the best milk chocolate icing I could mix up.  And finally topped with heavy whipped creme, chocolate chips, and drizzles of hot fudge and chocolate syrup."

"My teeth are vibrating just thinking about that.  No way would I keep Chara even 100 feet away from this back in the day."

While there were many things that Asriel forgot about his old life...he'd never forget his first best friend any more than he'd forget his current one.

Granted I had no idea what they were planning but if I'd given it enough thought I probably would have figured out it was a throw-back to the "surprise" party we gave him on his 18th (118th, mind you) birthday.

"As a time-traveler he has pretty much every resource to see this coming.  So...no big loss if he does figure it out before he gets here."  Asriel assured.  "But....it would be nice to catch him by surprise for once.   Sheesh...I'd had such a busy day all day today I was afraid I was going to be "that guy" and forget in a stack of responsibilities...which would pretty much have me hating myself all day for being a lousy friend."

"Azzy...really.  You'll never be a lousy friend.  If that did happen...he'd get it.  He knows how overworked you are--"

"Yeah...the good times weren't made to last."

"C'mon.  They're not ending.  Just changing...maturing.  If anything you're taken over a lot of his old duties pretty well."  Vi was doing her best to be supportive...and succeeding for once.

"So...Miles is grooming me to be the next UCIAT leader?"

"Think of it more like keeping his options open when his time comes to pass the torch.  As for S.T.C.  I cannot speak on their behalf."  Bunnie wisped into existence.

Asriel sighed.

"This day is all about Volt but...I keep bringing up my issues."

"C'mon.  You know you can lean on us when you're under stress.  We get it.  We all get it."  Mitzi assured.

"You're going to do just great!  Big Brother is going to love it!"  Gadget tackle hugged Asriel.

"Yeah...yeah he is.  Y'know...I guess all I really needed right now was a little boost to get me through the day.   Now c'mon.  Let's make his day amazing.  You with me?"

"And how!"  Everyone else said in unison.

If I knew how much effort they were all putting into this even this early on...  I really did have the best friends and family an ageless werewolf could ask for.

So, where was I at the time?  Taking my time.  By this point I had an uncanny sense for being at the right place at the right time.  Retirement had done wonders for my sense of time and space and no longer being high strung meant that I was in tune with my instincts--human and animal...and immortal time-walker.  If that made sense, mind you.

"Hmm..."  I paused to look in the music store window at of all things a saxophone.

"Never saw a saxophone in black metal before.  I'd say that's the most Viking death-metal horn I've ever seen.  And at the same time it reminds me of the one used by Sunny Bridges back in the Class of 3000."

Now there was a reference.  A music star named Sunny Bridges who...looked suspiciously like Andre 3000.  Have to admit...those were strange but amazingly chill times in my S.T.C. career.  Wonder what ever happened to those kids?  I was going to have "Oh, Peanut.  We Love You, Baby" stuck in my head the rest of the day.

"Hmm."

I smiled as I put my hands in my pockets after adjusting my muffler scarf...the very same one I'd worn in Snowdin.  It was a little faded; a little from going through the wash, a little from tachyon decay...a possible side-effect from the many forces at work during the clash of the Seven Absolute Gods of the unstable Undertale Timelines that Adonis had ripped open and spilled into the nexus within the Barrier chamber of UTPR-3235.

I strolled my way down the street, slipping in and out of crowds rather effortlessly.  Obstacles seemed to clear the out of the way just before I reached them.  It was kind of surreal to have this kind of timing...and yet didn't feel inclined to question it.  I just went with it.

In all honestly, I hadn't forgotten it was my birthday this day but...I also wasn't going to act like the world revolved around me.  C'mon, I was too humble to ever be THAT guy.   Honestly, for an immortal...age was just a number.  A meaningless number and I'd long since stopped keeping track of it when it was too big to even keep track of by human or supercomputer standards.  Opening the Genie's Lamp and Pandora's Box had made age almost completely irrelevant.  I'd been crisscrossing space, time, and dimension so long--going back and forth that it was no wonder others on S.T.C.'s payroll had trouble even remembering where and when they originally came from.  By the Council's degree...that was the idea.  To have no past.  To be a blank slate.  To be their clay to mold.

The Council was now out...downgraded to a formality since Daimyou had upgraded me to Vice-Emperor of Space and Time.

I accepted the position because it meant I was her subordinate.  Not the other way around as it was in these days...the UCIAT days.  I was happy to be second fiddle.  I was a follower at heart even though I was a leader in position.  It suited me as it had suited Daimyou when she was still Bunnie Rabbotou in name and reputation.  As far as the Council STILL knew...Bunnie Rabbotou had died untold millennia ago and was just a note in history.  If they only know.

"Huh...I'm getting on a weird tangent."  I realized my thoughts had wondered quite a bit since I started my journey from home after letting Lisa and my daughters know I'd meet them at Rock-Afire Pizzeria later.

"Fascinating."  I commented, realizing this paralleled a day in the life of Dad...Garfield way back when.   When it was his birthday decades ago (relative to the time period I was in, now on VGM-089 but who knows how long relative to my STC career).

Once upon a time he set out from his house.  No one really to bid goodbye to as he was still dating Sarge.......Hell, he was still doing that now, technically.   Bachelor, baby.  And yet all ten of the UCIAT Founders were legally my guardians/parents despite none of them being married, per se.

The way I was daydreaming and pondering things echoed the same that he did as he could see his goal--a birthday with a lasagna dinner with his family and friends--in sight the same way I saw mine--a birthday with a pizza dinner with my family and friends.  Especially my best friend.  I knew he was up to something good...I just didn't know what.

"Here we are."  I looked up at Rock-Afire Pizza's familiar neon sign that adopted the old Showbiz Pizza Place logo.

"Here's to the first day of the rest of infinity."  I grabbed hold of the door and pulled it open with that "Showbiz Pizza...where a kid can be a kid" jingle played on the electronic doorbell.

"SURPRISE!"

Okay...I actually WAS surprised.

"Happy birthday, best friend."  Asriel said, holding a sizeable pepperoni pizza with extra sauce.

"It most certainly is.  It most certainly is."  I smiled.

This day was mine because Asriel and everyone else gift-wrapped it for me.  I'd never be more grateful than I was at that moment.

"You outdid yourself, Asriel.  I can see all the attention to the details."

"Thanks."

"No.  Thank-you."

An exchange of pleasant smiles.

"Well.  Let's set this down and share it together.  What do you say?"  I asked.

Asriel held up the pizza cutter.  A regular one not the construct he used to use, mind you.

"Sounds good to me."

And from there on out it was an amazing birthday.  And while I'd go home happy, relaxed, and feeling blessed.  My best friend would go home happy, relaxed, feeling content......and dead tired.

## Sub-Entry 030:  "So Ends a Day in the Life of Asriel":

Azzy was dead on his feet by the time his NX Board Pro got him to the front door of his parents' house.  He wasn't ready to head back to his dorm on campus.  He needed to get some T.L.C. from home.

The bags under his eyes had been growing heavier and heavier with each passing moment.

Scott and Callista had left the party a long time ago to head back home at a decent hour.  But Azzy and I spent it until it was pretty late without it becoming pretty early the next day.

"Welcome home, dear.  Have a good time out after we left?"

"Yeah.  The best time."

Asriel hugged Callie longingly.

"Oh dear...you seem exhausted.  And to be blunt, you could use a shower."

"I really need one after a day like today."

"You've been running ragged.  Are you okay?"

"I'll live, mom.  I'll live.  Steel sharpens steel and you and dad didn't raise me to be soft.  Discipline.  Right, Dad?"

"That's my little soldier.  As you were."

A low and winded chuckle.

"If I may overstep my bounds and dismiss myself?"

"I'll do my best to look past the \*chuckle\* insubordination.  Go to it, private.  You've earned your rest."

Asriel trudged off to the bathroom.

A nice long hot shower and a change into casual clothes later.  He still had some reports to finish up for school and that extra credit he had gotten from the professor.

Once that was all squared away he quickly checked in with Scott and Callie.

"I'm going to practice for a bit and wind down."

"You do you, my humble bundle."

"I always do."  Asriel's eyes turned blue.  Integrity.

If you're wondering why Callista and Scott didn't tell him to keep it down at this time of night...

Asriel entered his room, closed the door and touched the piezoelectric panel next to the light switch.

"Sound-proofing encapsulation system activated."  The computer voice spoke up as faint, hazy neon hexagonal panels formed a barrier around the surface of his entire room.

"Not bad for a mid-term design project.  Just the thing to cut my teeth on before I started work on the V.E.H.I.C.L.E."  Asriel mused, only briefly putting on his reading glasses to sort through his sheet music.

He looked it over for all but a couple seconds before committing it to memory.

"I might as well start off light."  He said as he put the page marked "Power Control Center" from Rockman X D.i.V.E. on top of the stack moments before putting it away in his drawer.

Volt Catfish's theme was light?   Heh...you still amaze me, Goat Son.

Asriel adjusted his amplifier system accordingly.  He had the insight to not build it as big as Dr. Brown's behemoth with the giant speaker that towered over everyone.  And the common sense not to turn the primary driver and overdrive up to maximum while raising the volume to its maximum intensity.

But rest assured he was going to rock this night.

He slipped his ear protection filters in under his floppy ears.  He wanted to be able to hear it but he wasn't crazy about going deaf.  But if he couldn't feel the vibrations of his own jams, then it wasn't real music.  Contradictions were such a slippery slope.  And yet he managed to tread them pretty well without slipping.

After about a 5 minute loop, he was satisfied.

"Okay.  Now time to get serious."

Asriel's next song of choice?  The theme to Black Knight: Sword of Rage.  One of his and Sally's all-time favorite modern pinball machines with a metal soundtrack he couldn't get out of his head if he wanted to.

"I am thee Black Knight..."  He sneered with a crazed tone before absolutely RIPPING, SHREDDING, and TEARING AXE!

Before long he was improving some serious solos while showing off to no one but himself.  At one point he switched out the hard-wire jack for a wireless link to his amp, allowing him complete and total freedom to jam out like a rock-star.

He emphasized it by hoisting his guitar and spinning it like a helicopter rotor before continuing to play behind his head.  He duck-walked a bit, did a 1080 spin in the air and countless other tricks and twists, that came close to knocking things over in his room or breaking stuff.  Close...but no cigar.

All the while outside of his room?

Dead silence.

Asriel continuing his personal rock concert for no one but himself; all for the purpose of keeping his skills sharp as ever.

"You've got the power!  (Hahahahahahah!)  You've got the might!  (No way!)  Get ready for battle!  (GIVE ME YOUR MONEY!)  Defeat the Black Knight!"  Asriel gave his best death metal guttural vocalizations.

"You've got the power!  (Hahahahahah!)  You've got to might!  (NO WAY!)  Get ready for battle!  (GIVE ME YOUR MONEYYYY!)  Defeat the Black Knight! (HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!)"

Asriel gave one final power chord, landing in an epic pose.  He panted, heavily out of breath.  But he hadn't felt this alive in a while.

"I still got it."  He mused.

A few more metal sessions, going through the stack of music--from "Sword d of Justice" from Devil's Crush to "Thunderhorse" by Dethklok--Goat Son had embraced the image of a goat being a natural fit for heavy metal electric guitar despite my attempts to convince him not to perpetuate Violet's devil-imagery stereotypes.

But that aside...his talent was immeasurable by this point.  He'd long since surpassed Jon's ability and was continuing to surpass his own limits.

He'd gotten this out of his system and put himself into a nice relaxed mood.

It was at this point his energy for the day was finally giving out.

A yawn and a stretch.

"Yeah...you overdid it.  It's time to pack it in."

Asriel was too tired to put on proper pajamas  He left his undershirt and pants on and had a seat at the bed....before noticing the holder on his dresser table...containing Chara's gold, heart-shaped locket with the music box inside and the inscription "Best Friends, Forever".

He reached under his  shirt and pulled out his gold heart-shaped locket.  Grasping it between his fingers for a bit he looked at it longingly before slipping it off his neck, getting up out of the bed and bringing the locket to its display holder on his dresser.

"Chara..."

He held the locket to his chest for a moment before putting it in the empty holder next to the one that held Chara's locket.

"Hey, best friend.  It's me.  Asriel.  Are you still watching over me?  Heh.  I'm still thinking of you.  It's...been a long time since we...had a talk.  Sorry about that."  Asriel looked to the side.

"Being a little busy is no excuse.  Ha...ha...I feel like I'm confessing to something.  You'd probably tease me about that, wouldn't you?"

Asriel's gaze dropped.

"I'm...not unhappy...just......it sometimes gets...tiring.  Why didn't you tell me that growing up would mean so many girls would be...flirting with me?!  It's overwhelming!  But...it's not just that...

I feel like I'm stretching myself thin.  I feel like I got to a point where I started wanting it all--learning the martial arts and meditating with Bunnie, video games and cosplay and being a huge dork with Violet, racing Sally and challenging her at D.J.-ing, tending to the flowers in Lupe's garden, working with Rotor and Skeeter on sinks and showers and...toilets not so much.

And anything that Volt's up for...when we actually have time in between my studies and responsibilities.

It's just that...there's only one of me and all of them...how do I keep up?  I'm...not getting old...at least not yet.  I have another half century before I have any right to start complaining about age...though they say with Hybrids 125 is the new 25.  But...do I even really count my time in the Void?  So I guess I wouldn't be complaining until I'm 225."

Asriel shook his head.  "All this talk about age is depressing.  Even this early on in my life.  I keep having to remind myself...I'm a Hybrid.  I got a long, long road ahead.  Subtracting those...before times, I have easily another century and a half before I start running out of time."

Not to foreshadow but Asriel was destined for a life longer than he was expecting...at least...that was what I was hoping.  At this point I couldn't prove it and if Daimyou had any idea she wasn't sharing it.  So really...not so much as a foreshadow as more of a.......a wish.  Yeah. That was what I wished.

It had been my experience that wishes did come true.

But one thing had been on my mind for fifteen years...if this was my wish...what was Asriel's wish?  What did Goat Son wish after all this time?

He had hope.  And hope never walked alone.  He had dreams.  And dreams were forever.  So in this phase of his life...he had to wish for something, right?  I knew him better than anybody and while it should be obvious...I really didn't know.  What was his fondest wish?  Maybe...maybe it was something Chara might know?

"I'm sorry but...I'm...going to have to bring our talk to a close, my sibling.......I just don't have anything lift."  Asriel's eyes were starting to close as much as he fought to keep them open.  Just a little more.

He kept awake long enough to gaze longingly at the paired gold, heart-shaped lockets with the music boxes inside....bearing the  'Best Friends Forever' inscription before finally setting the holder back down on his dresser.

Asriel could see the fresh set of pajamas and bathrobe laid out for him on his chair but...it looks like he wouldn’t be able to make use of them tonight.

His strength gave out as he lurched forward and came crashing down on his bed with a moaning grunt.

There wasn't even time to take off his reading glasses that he forgot to take off after his music practice.

He'd left the sound-proofing on so other than a slight creaking of the floorboards nothing really was really audible from his first floor room.  And even that would have probably only been barely perceptible from the basement.

A single blink of the eyes...and he was out as his eyelids closed for the last time and he left the conscious world.

Little goat man...you had a biiiiiiiiiiiiig day.

Meanwhile...outside his window.

Again a cloaked figure watched, placing his hand on the window for a moment his tiny claws barely clicking before drawing it away.

The figure turned and drifted out of existence, whisping away like dissolving ash.

Tomorrow would be another day, Goat Son.  Tomorrow would be another day.

## Sub-Entry XXX: "Thanksgiving Continues To Be a Timeless Celebration"

It was less than a week after my big day; that day in fact.  A day that Jon Talbain considered his second favorite.  Second only to Halloween, because Halloween was also his birthday.

On that note, TO this day...I'd never explained why we even had a Thanksgiving on VGM-098...and I wasn't about to start now.  You'll just have to speculate.  That said...

"It is to you, Goat Son, I bestow the annual tradition of carving the turkey."

"But not yet ready to cook it, right?"

"You've still got a few cooking lessons with Mitzi and myself before you're ready."

"Fair enough.  I mean I get the reason for brining or injecting with moisture.  After Violet's movie night feature was National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, I don't think I'm going to ever STOP seeing the nightmare of dry and crispy turkey in my dreams any time soon.  Bleeeech."

"They still haunt mine to this day.  Sometimes NOT speaking from experience is worse than speaking from experience, gov'nah."

"Because the imagination often comes up with something far worse, right?"

"Exactly right."

"Well that's one tradition we got on lock."

"You'll already dreading it, aren't you?"  Jon grinned a toothy grin.

"Violet just has to make it a yearly thing to watch a movie that was only rated R because of 18 uses of the naughtiest word in the book of swears."

"But what a rant."  Jon wagged his tail.

"You would take her side."  Asriel lowered an eyebrow.  "Oh well...it's not like that's going to prompt me un-retire the swear jar.  College is paid for and I've heard stronger stuff since those days.  Stuff you couldn't pay me or threaten me to repeat."

"But it would be hilarious for you to do so."

"You guys and gals..."  Asriel was already wondering what Honey would say in this situation.  He wouldn't have to wonder for long, though as she'd be among the guest list.  But I promised I'd omit those things from my logs.

"That said, any other traditions?"

"Well...been giving a lot of thought to the Thanksgiving speech.  It's never been hard to come up with something to say but...it's definitely taking more thought these days to put it into words.  I've never had a shortage of things to be thankful for and I'm pretty sure I'll never have that problem for as long as I live."

"Bless your heart."  Jonathan patted Azzy on the head, being mindful of the horns.

"You know, this is one of a couple holidays that manage to bring us all together.  In these busy times, it seems each of us has his or her own agenda to take care of and...we don't get together like we used to."

"Yeah...that's life, huh?"  Jon's ears drooped.

"It's a shame.  But at the same time...it also makes the time we are together all the more precious.  All the more special."  Asriel’s eyes flickered between yellow and green.   He did feel it was an injustice that life got in the way of togetherness.  But he was kind enough to know that there was a silver lining to it.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Mitzi interrupted the moment.

"Okay!  I got my famous raisin stuffing ready to go.  Look how fluffy that is!"

"Pinch me, Azzy!  I think I'm dreaming!"

"With these claws?  On that note; nah, you're not dreaming.  I have to admit, Mitzi.  There's something very unique about substituting raisins in place of celery."

"Indeed.  Certain parties were picky about vegetables growing up.  Nermal and I could tell stories, y'know."

"I’ll try not to name names but I think I know who."   Asriel mused with a sassy grin.

"While I got you here, could I beg you to check on the mashed potatoes?"

"You most certainly can but you don't have to beg.  I'm on it."

The kitchen had been a flurry of prep all day and it showed by this point.  For a pizzeria, Mitzi's kitchen was up to standards that Gordon Ramsey would give his approval on.  Though Violet would still hope for one of his NSFW rants just because she was Vi.

"Admittedly this year wasn't the greatest but it's the small moments like these that made it salvageable." Asriel observed.

"Always so sentimental.  I've always liked that about you."  Mitzi checked over the rest of the spread; vegetables, cranberry sauce, and other additions.

"I'm a softie and proud of it."

"Now, we all agree.  During the feast no trigger topics, no rants, no discussing religion or politics, or anything else that will turn into arguments and kill the mood.  We good?"

"We're good." Jon nodded.

"You have no objections from me but we should really be making the mischievous parties swear to this."

"Oh, Aunt Vi will most certainly agree to the terms unless she wants sensei.....tch...Bunnie to thwap her until she's seeing double.  Still can't stop calling her sensei.  I'm going to have to get used to this Grand Master thing."

"You'll have it in the bag."  Jon licked his lips, resisting the urge to taste-test.  "Compared to eventual leadership of the team, it'll be a cakewalk when it all clicks."

Jon had only recently started making progress on his own belt ranks after being stuck at yellow for so long.

Mitzi smiled.  "I have no doubts you're going to be a fine leader when you're ready to be a UCIAT commander some day."

"Oh stop it!  You're making me blush!"

After the kitchen work was well in hand...

"Ah.  The obligatory sports-watching on the sofa."  Asriel had gone upstairs to Mitzi's living quarters.  The upstairs floors  were far bigger than most would expect from a pizzeria made out of a former dry-cleaning business.  Big enough to divide into other rooms including TV room, bed, bathroom, storage space, and other lesser rooms.

"Enjoy the scene while you can, Goat Son.  It's the only time you'll catch me loafing on resting furniture.  These feet don't like being off the ground for long."  Sally wiggled her toes, having slipped off her Overdrive Sandals and quick-changed into casual.

"Idle hands...and feet are the road to sloth."  Goat Son's eyes flickered to red briefly.

"Good man."  Sally shared a fist pump.

"So.   Hyperball?"

"With a little bit of Light Cycle Racing and Disc Wars on the side."  Sally had the TV in three-way split screen mode.  She could multi-task with eyes that fast.

"No one appreciates sports like you do."

"And don't you forget it."

"Still my favorite IRL superhero after all this time."  Asriel joined her on the couch.

"Heh.  If you want I'll sign my trading card for you."

"I'll take you up on that offer after dinner."

Gadget and Pit on the other hand occupied themselves with a board game, nearby.  Ironically...they chose of all games, Mouse Trap.

Despite how Gadget should consider it a morbid concept, she just couldn't get over how much she loved building chain-reaction contraptions out of odds and ends.  And this game was classic; what with the gears, the bathtub, the zig-zag chute, a see-saw, and a barrel wash-tub.

Azzy looked over long enough to watch the trap be sprung and for Gadget to claim victory.

"Dinner will be ready shortly.  The rest of the guests should be arriving at any time.

"Perfect timing.  All the games are wrapping up."

"This one, too!"  Gadget waved joyfully.  Pit rubbed the back of his head with a blushing smile.

"I'd better check on Aunt Vi and make sure she's not up to anything we'll live to regret."  Asriel headed up as the final scores wrapped up on the TV.

"You know you've earned the right to bop her on the head for being raunchy."  Sally reminded.

"I could never do that, Sally."  Asriel smiled...then did his best impression of Chara's creepy face.  "I'll let Bunnie do it instead."

That earned laughter all around.

In Rock-Afire Pizzeria’s basement.

"Who knew the laundry room had the best WI-FI spot in the building."  Violet mused as she worked at her laptop setup.  A couple of desktop towers wired into a main laptop rigged to a triple HD monitor system behind it.

"And you're splitting the electric bill with Mitzi after you end up driving it through the roof."  Bunnie said, not opening her eyes from her meditation session.

"Hey, I thought you were--"

"I'm not asleep, Vi.  You'd understand that if you actually learned how to meditate.  A ninja is always aware of her surroundings even at periods of rest and mental focus--"

And suddenly out from Vi's oversized speakers blared "Tequila" by the Champs.

"Heheheh...what a throw-back."  Asriel mused as he reached the bottom of the staircase.

"Well, it's KINDA like meditating."  Vi spun in her swivel chair.

"Ancestors stay my hand..."

"Hey ya, Cinnamon Roll.  What's the haps?"

"Just updating you on Dinner progress.  It'll be ready soon and the guests are due to arrive any time.   We'll probably be packing the restaurant to capacity this time."

"Rock onnnnn!"  Violet gave devil horns.

"You have certainly undertaken quite a responsibility this year."

"You might say I took it by the horns?"  Asriel had retracted his horns, previously but now felt he could let them out again.

"Clever."

"Anyway.  I can tell you're meditating.  What's Aunt Vi up to?  And are we going to have to thwap her for it."

"Well...."

"Take a look for yourself."  Violet grinned as her laptop switched the security footage...of Al Dente in a bad spot.  Bound and gagged and hanging from a rope.

"What did he do this time?"

"Something even I don't want to repeat."  Violet crossed her arms in a huff.

"Ouch.  Well.  Live and learn, Dente."  Asriel spoke into the microphone.

He was answered with muffled whines.

"I'm sure there's a lesson about scaling the punishment to the crime but...I don't think we can ever give him a punishment strong enough to fit his misdeeds."  Asriel walked away from the computer and headed back upstairs.

"Don't spend all your time torturing him."

"Nah.  I got this running in the background.  THIS is the main event."  Violet's monitors all switched to a game of Among Us.

"Nice."

And so the hour finally arrived and it was just as Goat Son described.  Every seat filled.

The blessing came and the giving of thanks.

"By now we all know what we're thankful for by heart so...don't hold back."

Starting with Bunnie...

"For heritage.  Eighteen generations of honor and pride; every family tradition and practice handed down for the next offspring to cultivate and stack cumulatively until it's become a long and vibrant tapestry of our rises, falls, and everything in between.  Clan Rabbotou may not live on in bloodline, but we will live on through our students and disciples."

Moving on with Violet...

"For fun times ahead, baby!  I've had a wild ride for all my life and this coaster ain't stopping' for nobody.  I'm gonna keep takin' life by the lips and YANKING AS HARD AS I CAN!  This party's just getting started and it's gonna have the Tokugawa seal of approval."

Going on to Mitzi...

"For opportunity.  I've watched my career be its own rollercoaster.  Ups and downs.  Every chance I saw I took to prove and improve myself.  The success I have now is worth every second of blood, sweat, and tears I put into it.  And I'm so thankful to live in a world that will give you a chance to seize that golden ring and become a success.  Here and now, anything is possible if you want it and work for it until you have it.

Sally...

"For the challenge!  I didn't get to this moment in time by being lazy. Steel sharpens steel and I'm going to keep grinding at it and get better and better, faster and faster, and it's all going to be absolutely nova!  I don't want an easy life, just one where I have a mountain to climb and beyond that an even bigger mountain.  Hoo-yeah!  I'm competitive and that's the credo that's made this life worth living.  I can't want to see what race is next; whether on the track or the battlefield.  Bring it on!  I'll out-speed anything the future will have on my tail."

On to Gadget...

"For joy!  Even when times are tough I've always come out of it wearing a smile!  I'm just so happy to be here with you all this day...with friends, with big brother...with all of my family.  Golly, I just feel so warm all over and I want it to last!  Everyone should have the chance to be happy and I want to make this world even happier.  Whether though my inventions or just doing the right thing!"

And Pit...

"For peace.  My old partner Rock was always fighting for everlasting peace until all destructive forces were defeated.  I've always followed the guidance of Lady Palutena and the Elder Gods.  I've done as I was told, stayed in line, and been the best Commander of the Army of Light that I could be.  And I've watched it all be worth it in the end when the bad times end and the good times return.  A period that each of us has earned for our sacrifices where we don't have to live in fear of what instigated war and strife.  I see these times as its own Golden Era and vow never to take it for granted."

Jon?

"For security.  Finally I can rest on my laurels in a place I can feel safe in.  That I can raise a family in and not have to be scared out of my skull for their safety and mine.  That as long as Queen Brooke rules over this kingdom, any who dare threaten our peaceful way of life will know no Hell greater than the punishments Miranda will reserve for them.  This is our time and our home and I can be bloody sure I'll stand side-by-side with all those who will defend it.  For Queen and Country I can truly feel safe and leave my past life's baggage behind."

Antoine...

"For courage.  Asriel 'as often told me I am zee bravest of all.  At first I was not believing 'im.  I had always been a nervous wreck and was always prone to retreating when zee times were tough.  But he told me that it takes a lot of courage just to be me.  I 'ave been true to myself for as long as I 'ave lived and finally I can feel no regrets.  I am in zee bet-taire place with a career zat its se magnifique.  I am think-eeng zat I can finally move on and face zee future with a brave face and an unyielding stance.  Viva Antoine D'Cooliette!"

Rotor...

"For stability.  My bro and I have...had a really uncertain life while escaping Vorostov.   At times I didn't know if I'd wake up in chains in a Vortex Lab cell...a fate my friends know all too well.  The things we had to do to survive and escape the Vortex Security Teams......not for the faint of heart.  It was a life with a questionable future.  Yet we made it to South Plumbington and...I left my hopes and dreams behind to find a reliable source of work and income.  I thought that it was a step down but...it was really a step in the right direction.  And from that time I had no doubts about our family being on firm ground.  And from the moment we came to Miranda, there's been no question that we’re in stable times with stable income and a stable life.  No having to watch over our shoulders or sleep with one eye open.  It's the life I may not have dreamed of but it's the life that now I know we always wanted."

And it went down the list.  From Willamina to Megami (with Nikita translating) to Beach Bear to Miyamoto Usagi (despite Violet flirting with him to make him blush).  Everyone in attendance had their say.  Including me.

"For unity.  The many are one.  And the one are many.  We're one big, happy, extended family.  We've got each other's backs.  We support each other through hard times.  Many have come and gone trying to break us apart.  They've failed time and time again which only proves our bonds with one another are unbreakable.  I have watched and learned, loved and empathized with every person I've ever met--everyone in this room...everyone in this city...everyone across time and space who can't be here right now.  I don't regret a single meeting, I don't regret a single relationship, and I don't regret the path that each one steered me down.  Right now I feel more connected to every soul I've ever encountered and I am proud to call you friend and family.  Thank you all for this togetherness I feel at this moment in time.  It is the honest proof that my relationships...everything I've ever done was not in vain.  You are proof that even as an immortal agent of STC, I have a past, a present, and a future.  And I'm never taking it for granted and never giving it up.  Let any malevolent aggressor try to pry all of what I have now from my hands.  I promise we will stand as one while you fall as none.  This is our unity."

And finally...it came down to Asriel.

He'd thought long and hard on it.  Now he was ready to speak.

"For fifteen years now...I have lived here.  Before that time I was a lost soul who lost his past and had no future.  I only knew what it was like to be alone.  Truly alone.  Even now the memories of those before times are fading.   Maybe I had a destiny...maybe I didn't.   It didn't matter then.  All I could do was exist.  For a time I called for help...but no one came.  Then...I stopped calling out.  I was ready to accept that there was no place for me in existence.  I prayed for death but death wouldn't come.  Then I stopped doing anything at all.  All...except crying.

Then...then finally someone heard me.  It was a gift from Lady Destiny.  It was her choice to change my fate.  She sent a messenger.  Not quite man...not quite monster.  Somewhere in between.  Both...and neither.  Someone who the rules of the world I came from didn't apply to.  Someone who could save me.  And save me he did.  But...I was not ready to be saved...or so I thought.

I had a climb.  A long climb up a ladder toward an unknown future.  At every rung there was someone new.  A teacher.  A care-giver.  A sage.  A superhero.  A reliable average-Joe.  A holy guardian.  A little big sister.  A life empath.  A \*chuckle\* firecracker.  A big (not-so-bad) wolf.  A soldier.  And an army veteran and a psychic doctor...the best parents I could ever ask for.

With them came a lot of other new faces.  A gentleman thief.  The surliest mercenary in Miranda.  A cat that wrote his own laws of physics.  An alchemist.  A vampire.  An R-Series.  Gargoyles, kitsune, constructs, undead, a possessed sword, an Echidna-series, a frosty king, a fiendish queen, a host of wyrmling’s, a spritely witch, and too many other people to name in one go.   A whole town of humans and non-humans living together.  Like some kind of dream I never even knew I had.  Yet it was all real.

And during that first year...I began a long process of change.  Of evolution.  Of coming out of my shell and opening up to people.  I...was like a flower that was starting to blossom.  Suddenly my world was filled with endless possibility.  I was free.  I was alive.  And I was happy.

But...there were those who didn't want me to be.  There were those who tried to claw me back to darkness.  There were those who wouldn't let me have a new best friend.  Despite being scared...I found the courage to fight them.  To overcome them.  To rise.

I stand before you now a product of all your hopes and dreams combined with the product of my own hopes and dreams.  I cannot remember much about where I came from...but I know where I've been.  I know where I belong.  I know where I'm going.

All my hopes.  All my dreams.  They're right here in this room and moving forward with me.   I am Asriel Tobias Arcade.  And I am thankful for everything.  I will not take a single thing for granted.  I will not relinquish an inch without a fight to the death.  What is mine was truly earned; by being me.  By being true to me.  By living, working, playing, eating, breathing, sleeping, doing, co-existing, helping, defending, nurturing and mending.

It is this message that I am sending to all who may one day know my words, understand their meaning and feel what I am feeling.   On this day of thanks...I give my all to all who gave their all to me.  To each and every one of you, whether you are in attendance or not...for each an everyone out there and in here with me....I love you all...I love you with all my heart and my soul...every fiber of my being loves you from past to present to eternity.  Now and forever.  This is proof that wishes do come true."

From that moment...there a dead silence as we all were stunned...in awe.  Just when it seemed like Asriel could never top his last Thanksgiving Day blessing...he had to go and do this.

Wow.

Just wow.

No words could ever do this speech justice.  He had surpassed Asgore's knack for public speaking by leaps and bounds.

The next several minutes, Asriel was given a standing ovation.  And applause that could easily be heard outside of the Pizzeria.  I think it even managed to draw a crowd who had stopped to listen in.  That's how good it was.  That's how epic he made it.

I couldn't even compliment him...I was so moved and streaming tears.

"Hey.  What do you say we enjoy this fabulous feast?"

"I think that's a wonderful idea."  I said as Asriel proceeded to carve the turkey.

> HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
>
>

Chapter 4

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