“Ah, finally,” Twilight said, stepping off the boat onto the sandy shore. “I never thought I’d be so happy to touch sand.”
Pikachu hopped off the boat next to her, making a small thud in the sand, and happily shifted his foot around, digging it in a bit. “Pi-pikachu.”
Twilight took a moment to stretch her body before surveying the surrounding area. They had landed on a small, secluded beach with a moderately thick forest in front of them. This, coupled with the island she’d seen earlier, had her all but convinced they were on the eastern Equestrian coastline.
“Alright, Pikachu,” she said, looking down at him with a large smile, “if we’re where I think we are, it should only take us about two hours’ worth of time to make it back to Ponyville, assuming we keep moving, and nothing unexpected gets in our way.”
Pikachu smiled back briefly, then frowned as he turned back to stare out at the vast ocean they’d just sailed on. “Pika-pikachu, pi-pika-pi.”
Twilight followed his gaze. Though she saw nothing, she had a strong feeling Pikachu was referring to whatever they’d seen flying from the mainland into the ocean earlier. She hadn’t gotten a good look at it, but Twilight was fairly certain that it was a living creature, which left her both curious, as well as frightened about the group’s status.
“Whatever that thing was, we’ll find out from everyone when we get back,” she said, turning to face inland again. “Well, let’s get going then.”
Pikachu nodded, and turned to face inland as well. The two began walking steadily across the sand, but didn’t take more than a dozen steps before Aza suddenly spoke up.
”I’m impressed with you, Twilight. You too, Pikachu. I didn’t think you’d make it out of that predicament quite so fast, much less with all of your body parts intact.”
Twilight held back the urge to scream out a sleuth of profanity at Aza, instead growling under her breath for a moment before replying with, “Don’t speak to us.”
“Pika-pikachu!” Pikachu exclaimed, glaring daggers up at the sky while electricity crackled in his cheeks.
”Yeah, I didn’t think you’d be so forgiving of me for that little surprise,” Aza replied, sounding not the least bit sorry. ”Anyhoo, I’d rather not watch the two of you trudging across Equestria, so allow me to make things easier for both of us.”
A green light briefly flashed a few paces in front of Twilight and Pikachu. Twilight’s eyes grew wide as she recognized this as what happened when she and Pikachu were transported onto the boat from Ponyville.
”Just step into the teleporter and you’ll find yourself on the outskirts of Ponyville,” Aza explained. ”With this in place, any one of you can freely travel between Ponyville and the beach at your leisure. I’ll also leave the Orca where it is, in case your sea legs start acting up.”
Pikachu tilted his head. “Pika?”
“Sure, whatever, thanks,” Twilight said quickly, practically seething. “C’mon Pikachu, let’s get going.”
Pikachu nodded, and followed behind Twilight as she stepped forward. The green light flashed as both of them stepped into it, leaving the beach completely deserted, save for the Orca boat, once more.
After taking a moment to pick himself up and brush off some dirt from his suit, James went to fetch his gun from where he’d thrown it. Upon doing so, he took the three step journey back to Ponyville, careful to avoid stepping on anything, and knelt down in front of the library where everyone was waiting.
“Sorry it took so long,” he whispered, his voice coming out as normal to them, “but time doesn’t fly when you’re battling a giant, atomic-breathing lizard.” He chuckled.
No one else did. Instead, James noticed all of their faces adopt expressions ranging from concern to fear.
“Is something wrong?” he asked, frowning.
Everyone suddenly became interested in the balcony underneath them. “If there’s something you need to tell me,” James said, a little more sternly, “then tell me, right now.”
After another moment of uncomfortable silence, Celestia stepped forward. “We realized something of particular concern during the battle,” she began. “As I’m sure you remember, it was discovered, thanks to Ryuk, that any attempt of ours to eat food or drink will be met with indigestion, due to the absence of time’s flow here.”
James nodded. “Yes, I remember,” he said.
“You had to eat that Monster Blood in order to grow big,” Ryuk spoke up. “But, you don’t look like you’ve got indigestion.”
“That’s because I don’t,” James said. “But, I understand the point you’re trying to make, and I agree that it is of great concern.”
“It ain’t the only one,” Sandy said through gritted teeth.
James turned his gaze to her, and grimaced upon seeing Sandy clutching her ankle. “Are you okay, Ms. Cheeks?” he asked.
“Eh, just a little sprain I got when y’all were slammin’ each other around.” Sandy gave him a dismissive wave. “Don’t think it’s yer fault or nothin’.”
“Can you walk?”
Sandy tried standing up, only to cringe in pain and sit back down after only a second.
“I see,” James said. He appeared to stare into space for a moment before speaking again. “Well, let’s worry about one thing at a time.” He looked skyward. “I trust you have a method of turning me back to normal?”
”Well, I was going to refrain from telling you that I don’t know whether that version of Monster Blood will wear off, but then I found something which makes that question irrelevant.”
A pair of sticks materialized two feet in the air above the balcony, in front of everyone, and clattered to the ground unceremoniously. Looking down at them, everyone noticed it was a pair of gold chopsticks with ornamented ends. Celestia used her magic to levitate them in front of her face, inspecting them for any peculiarities. Finding none, she looked skyward and spoke.
“What is this?”
"Those are the Changing Chopsticks, princess,” Aza answered. ”All you have to do is point them at James and call their name, and voila, he’s back to his normal size.”
Celestia looked back down at the chopsticks in her magic grip. She then looked around to everyone else, silently asking if there were any concerns they wanted to voice.
“Go ahead and do it, Celestia,” James said, nodding. “I won’t blame you if anything unsavory happens.”
Celestia remained silent for a moment, her thoughts becoming pre-occupied with something else, before she looked back up to James.
“Very well,” she said. She positioned the chopsticks so the eating ends were pointed at him. “Changing Chopsticks!”
No sooner did she speak the object’s name than a beam of yellow light shot out from the eating ends. The beam struck James center-face, causing him to flinch slightly in response, and began working its power on him.
Everyone watched, with varying levels of excitement and awe on their faces, as James’ body began shrinking back to its original size. Thankfully for him, James didn’t shrink down in mid-air, keeping his feet on the ground all throughout the transformation. The Changing Chopsticks were quick to finish, and James breathed a huge sigh of relief upon noticing he was unscathed. Looking up at the group, he flashed a thumbs-up at them.
”Now to clean this mess up.”
Everyone then watched as, in an eye’s blink, all the zombie corpses which had been littering the streets of Ponyville for the past day disappeared without a trace. The Changing Chopsticks also disappeared from Celestia’s magic grip, and the princess, along with everyone else, shifted their collective attention to the sky again.
”Well, now that you’ve defea-”
“Where’s Twilight!?” Celestia interrupted, a scowl crossing her muzzle.
”Oh relax, Celestia,” Aza said, not sounding remorseful in the least. ”She’s perfectly fine. A bit shaken after going through a life-threatening ordeal, but fine nonetheless.”
“Where. Is. She?” Celestia ground out. Everyone turned with wide-eyed stares at her, instinctively taking a step away, except for Sandy, who crab-walked instead.
“Hello!? Everyone!?”
“Pikachu!?”
Celestia’s ears flicked, and she went wide-eyed herself. Settling down, she turned in the familiar voices’ direction.
“Twilight!?” she called. “Where are you!?”
“Princess Celestia!? We’re in Town Square!”
“Hang on, I’m coming!”
Celestia was airborne an instant later, and everyone watched as she proceeded to zip off the balcony over some buildings. After a moment of searching the ground, she quickly spotted her student with the yellow creature by the fountain, both waving up at her with smiles on their faces.
Celestia beamed, and dashed down toward Twilight. The solar alicorn practically dive-bombed her student, throwing her fore legs around Twilight in a massive hug. Twilight, for her part, stayed composed, and even returned the hug with a smile.
A few tears trickled down Celestia’s cheek. “Thank goodness you’re all right,” she whispered.
“I almost wasn’t,” Twilight replied, to which Celestia gripped her tighter. “I’m so sorry for causing you so much trouble.”
A soft chuckle escaped Celestia’s mouth. She held Twilight in front of her, affording the lavender mare a look at her mentor’s tearful, relieved expression, and replied between sniffs.
“Never change, Twilight,” Celestia said, choking back a sob.
“You too, princess,” she replied, softly. The two mares began nuzzling each other.
Pikachu watched the entire exchange with a smile, happy to see such a warm union be reunited, thanks in no small part to him. Then his ears flicked in response to something approaching. Remembering there were more people present than just him and the two ponies, Pikachu calmly turned around to see the rest of the group closing the distance between them. He was confused to see Sandy being helped along by Samus, the former draping an arm over the latter’s shoulder while one of her legs limped along. Yugi also appeared to have a slight limp, but was still able to walk just fine.
All five of them, however, had their attention fixated on the trio, but was split between watching Twilight and Celestia sharing a moment, and Pikachu, who they’d still yet to be introduced to. The five of them stopped a few feet away from the group, and began waiting for Twilight and Celestia to finish. Every now and then they’d give Pikachu a curious glance, or a friendly smile, to which he’d always respond with a friendly smile himself and a little wave.
Finally, Twilight and Celestia broke from their embrace, and the two of them, along with Pikachu, congregated with the group of five.
“Oh boy,” Twilight said, taking a deep breath, “have we got a story for you all.”
“I doubt it could be any more absurd than the one we’ve got,” Samus replied.
“Yeah, I had a feeling that giant⋯ whatever, didn’t fall into the ocean by accident,” Twilight replied back.
Ryuk chuckled. “Wait until you hear how it ended up there.”
“Let’s exchange stories back at the library,” Celestia said. “Then when we’re done, I have something I wish to discuss with everyone.”
Everyone nodded their agreement, and they began heading back to Golden Oaks.
”♪Takin’ out the trash!♪ ♪Takin’ out the trash!♪”
”⋯ Okay, now that that’s done, how’re the specimens doing?”
“-and that’s when we went through the teleporter, which, thankfully, brought us here.”
The group of eight sat around the main room in Golden Oaks. Twilight and Celestia shared the couch while everyone else either sat in an armchair, or stood leaned against a wall, except for Pikachu, who sat on the couch’s armrest next to Twilight.
Everyone was rapt with attention throughout Twilight’s story, listening to every word she spoke with their total, undivided attention. During the more intense parts, Celestia would tighten her wing’s grip subconsciously, only easing it when Twilight stopped speaking and stared at her.
The more Twilight spoke, and everyone heard about Pikachu’s role in everything that transpired, the more fascinated they became in the electric yellow mouse. A few times they cast awed glances toward him, to which Pikachu would stand tall and proud, soaking in their admiration.
“Sounds like you two had quite the scare,” Ryuk said once she finished.
“Believe me, Ryuk, ‘scare’ is more than just an understatement,” Twilight replied, leaning back against the couch with a heavy sigh. “Even with all the adventures I’ve been on with my friends, no terror I’ve ever felt before can hold a candle to what I experienced today.” She took a moment to press both fore legs up against her face, covering her eyes as if trying to purge them of some unspeakable terror, before leaning forward again and finishing up with, “I didn’t think before it was scientifically possible to be ‘scared to death’, but now I’m not so sure.”
“I’ve seen it done a few times,” Ryuk stated, earning him deadpanned stares from everyone else, which he ignored and finished with, “Anyway, it sounds like you had quite a thrill ride; wish I could’ve been there.”
“From what you already told me, it sounds like things were ten times more dangerous here,” Twilight noted, turning to Sandy. “Are you sure you’ll be okay with that leg?”
“It hurts somethin’ fierce, but Ah reckon I’ll be just fine,” Sandy replied. She rubbed her sprained ankle a bit, while looking down at it solemnly.
“And you—” she turned to James, “—I can’t believe you’d risk your life to combat a giant lizard monster, let alone do it by eating that—” she made a wretched face as she looked to where the tin sat on the center table, lid shut firmly, with its label on full-display for her to read, “—Monster Blood.”
James smiled and shrugged. “Someone had to do it, and no one else was volunteering. Besides—” his tone took on a more wistful edge, “—it was a nice change of pace from what I’m used to dealing with.”
“And we’re all grateful to you for taking that chance, James,” Celestia spoke up. “In hindsight, I admonish myself for being so fearful.”
“Yeah, I was more scared than I should’ve been,” Samus said, looking idly down at her arm cannon. “I would’ve stood a much safer chance against Gojira, but I didn’t volunteer because I feared my suit would be destroyed, and I can’t do much of anything without it.”
“I think us being scared for any reason is perfectly justifiable, given our situation,” Yugi said, looking around to everyone. “Still, I also have regrets about not stepping up to the plate.”
“Well, the important thing is we’re all safe,” Twilight said, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “Also, now that we’re together again, we’re at our strongest efficiency.”
“About that,” Celestia spoke up, earning her everyone’s collective attention, “there’s a few things I’d like to discuss regarding our future course of action.”
Everyone gave Celestia both a nod of agreement and their full attention. The princess took a moment to clear her throat before speaking.
“First of all, before I forget,” she turned to Pikachu, “from the bottom of my heart, thank you for saving Twilight’s life, Pikachu.”
“Pika-pikachu,” Pikachu said with a dismissive wave and smile.
“Second,” lighting up her horn, Celestia summoned the Element of Generosity in front of her, the last Element to be given a bearer, “is the matter of this.”
Turning to face James, Celestia levitated the necklace over to him. James grabbed it out of the air with both hands, and stared at it, confused, before lifting his gaze to Celestia, who urged him to put it on.
Everyone watched with fascination as James lifted the golden jewelry up and over his head, wrapping it around his neck, and waiting. A few seconds passed with nothing happening, then a faint glow began emanating from the Element, which steadily increased in prominence until eventually becoming bright enough that James was forced to shield his eyes as he looked down upon it.
Eventually, the glow dissipated, and the necklace sat wrapped around James’ neck, just like all the others in the room on their respective bearers.
“And with that, the Elements are complete,” Celestia announced.
James raised a hand and gently rubbed the golden material which made up the necklace, noting how it felt especially warm to his touch. It had a particularly odd texture, but he failed to find a suitable comparison for it, to which he just shrugged and gave Celestia a pointedly curious stare.
“I wouldn’t have thought I’d be considered generous enough to wield this Element,” he confessed. “Was volunteering to take that Monster Blood really enough to convince this thing that I am?”
Celestia shook her head. “Like I’ve said before, an Element of Harmony can only be used by a person who embodies the designated trait to a significant degree,” she explained.
Celestia nodded her head to each of the other bearers in the room, including herself, and continued. “This is the case for everyone who’s currently wielding one, proven by the Elements’ acceptance of them as their respective bearers. Over the course of our time together, I’ve come to notice these traits being exhibited by you all, which is why I had you all put on an Element to see if it would accept you. It’s extremely fortunate that they did, and now that we have a full set of bearers, working in perfect harmony, we’re that much better prepared for anything thrown our way.”
”Provided, of course, that I don’t take them away from you,” Aza spoke up.
Everyone instinctively turned their collective gaze upward. Celestia adopted a wry expression, and was about to respond when she was interrupted by something materializing above the room’s center table, just above the wooden equine bust. It came together to form Aza’s puppet, looking just the same as before, and silently floated in place while it’s creator continued speaking.
”I’ve decided to keep my puppet here at all times, so you have something to direct your conversation towards,” Aza explained. ”Don’t expect it to change appearance, however, for I quite like how it looks.”
Everyone stared blankly at it, saying nothing, unsure how to react.
”Well?” The puppet crossed its white and black spheres together in front of the blue one.
Celestia cleared her throat, and focused her attention on the puppet. “Like I said before at Tribal Council, Aza, you brought the Elements here along with this Equestria. If you didn’t want us to use them, you would’ve left them behind.” She adopted a neutral expression while continuing. “If you want to take them away, there’s nothing stopping you, but doing so would be an admission of carelessness on your part.” She shrugged. “Just saying.”
Everyone gave Celestia incredulous stares for her brazen declaration, especially Twilight, who looked utterly stupefied at her mentor’s apparent reckless abandon. Aza was silent in response, and the puppet offered no way of reading its mood, lacking any facial features whatsoever.
When Aza did speak, it was in a calm, measured tone of voice.
”It doesn’t matter whether I let you keep them or not, because no matter how strong you all become, there will always be something in existence which even your combined might cannot overcome.”
Celestia held her neutral expression. “Perhaps, but it won’t matter until you find that certain something.”
Which I will, eventually,” Aza replied. ”But for now, I’ve decided to change how things will proceed from now on.”
Everyone gave the puppet a collective dubious stare. “What do you mean?” Yugi asked.
”For starters, there won’t be any more Tribal Councils, but I’ll still allow certain people to go home through a new method that I won’t disclose here for the sake of surprise.” The puppet seemed to make a shrugging motion with its white and black spheres. ”Originally, I was going to conduct a yarn-themed council tonight, but now I’ve grown bored of them, so I’ve opted for a method of elimination that’s more exciting for me to watch.”
Of course it’d be for you, everyone thought simultaneously.
”There’s one more change that I’ll be making, but I’ll reveal that tomorrow morning. Right now, however, I’ll let you all decide who to oust, as a group.” The puppet brought its black sphere forward momentarily before retracting. ”You may proceed.”
Everyone stared blankly for a moment at the puppet, everything Aza had said slowly registering in their minds, to which they weren’t sure whether to be afraid or scared of what it might mean moving forward. Eventually, they turned to face each other, and waited for someone else to speak.
Eventually, Sandy did so, preceded with a heavy sigh. “Guys, Ah think it’d be best if’n y’all let me go.”
Everyone turned their attention to her, with expressions ranging from surprise, to shock, to understanding.
“Is it because of your leg?” Celestia asked. “I admit to being no doctor, but I’m fairly confident a sprain like yours will heal relatively soon.”
Sandy shook her head. “That’s only part of my reasoning,” she replied. She then looked around the room to everyone else, giving them an apologetic look, like she figured they were all upset with her right then. “Seeing Spongebob and Frank leave really got to me emotionally, ya know? Don’t get me wrong, Ah think y’all’re great people, but Spongebob is a near and dear friend o’ mine, and Frank was somebody I found a lot of common ground with. Not having them around anymore just makes me feel emptier inside, and that’s not going to help us when up against tough obstacles. Plus, it makes sense to keep everyone with an Element together, and between me an’ Pikachu, Ah figure he’s the more useful, if’n yer story is anything to go by, Twilight.”
Pikachu didn’t respond verbally, merely giving Sandy a wistful smile, while Twilight looked to Celestia. “Princess?”
“Her logic is sound,” Celestia said. She turned to everyone else. “What do you all think? Should we oust Sandy?”
Everyone nodded their agreement.
”Well, then it’s settled,” Aza said. ”Is there anything you wish to say before leaving, Ms. Cheeks?”
Sandy made to shake her head as if to say ‘no’, but then stopped, taking a moment to think.
“Yeah, actually,” she said. “Twilight, could ya come over here fer a sec’?”
Twilight nodded, and quickly made her way to Sandy. Everyone watched as Sandy knelt down to Twilight’s eye level, and leaned forward to whisper in her ear.
“Don’t y’all be afraid of what might happen if’n anyone sees that book you and yer friends wrote. Given all that’s happened, there’s no way it could faze ‘em.”
Confused at first, Twilight quickly realized what Sandy was talking about, and could only stare mutely at her in response. Sandy giggled softly, and stood up before facing the puppet.
“Okay, Ah’m ready!”
Almost immediately, Sandy’s body began disappearing before everyone’s eyes. The suddenness of it caused Twilight to stumble backward in surprise, but she recovered quickly, just in time to join everyone else in waving Sandy goodbye as the bipedal squirrel turned around to do the same, smiling wide even as her face was disappearing. Before long, Sandy was gone, leaving everyone else with tearful, smiling faces.
They all took a while to collectively wish Sandy well in recovering from her sprained ankle. Eventually, Twilight took her seat again, and the discussion resumed once more.
“Anyway,” Celestia said, wiping away a tear with her wing, “there’s one last topic I wish to discuss with you all, and that’s my proposal for a relocation.”
Everyone collectively tilted their heads in confusion at that, to which Celestia proceeded to explain.
“We’ve been in Ponyville for the majority of our stay here. As a result, whenever Aza gives us another hazard to deal with, we only endanger the town by staying here. We’ve already allowed more damage to occur than I’m comfortable with⋯” She glanced to the front door, which was still a scattered mess of splintered wood on the ground, while Pikachu sheepishly rubbed his head. “To prevent more from occurring, it is my suggestion that we relocate our group someplace more isolated.” She looked around to everyone. “What do you all say?”
“It sounds well and fine enough,” James said with a shrug. “I’m guessing we’d be relocating someplace detached from civilization, though?”
Celestia nodded. “That’d be most preferable.”
“That sounds like a great idea, Princess,” Twilight beamed. “Where did you have in mind?”
“There’s a grassy plain just southwest of Canterlot that I usually see from my bedroom’s balcony,” Celestia said. “It’s about fifty or so acres big, with treelines surrounding it on all but one side. It should be more than big enough to accommodate all of us.”
“Will we have to sleep on the ground?” Yugi asked. “Not that I’m against it, just curious.”
“I imagine it’d be a little risky to sleep on the ground,” Samus said. “At least, with those worm monsters still prowling around out there.”
“I understand your concern, Samus,” Celestia replied, “but it’s very unlikely we’d have to deal with either of those worm monsters while there, what with them being so far away from my suggested location.” She turned to Yugi. “As for the question of sleeping on the ground, there’s several outcroppings of rocks scattered across this field, which might also help us in case those worm monsters do show up.”
“Pi-pikachuuu,” Pikachu sighed, looking exasperated.
“So, is everyone on board with my idea?” Celestia asked, looking around to everyone again.
Everyone took a few moments to think over Celestia’s suggestion. The solar alicorn bit her lip, worrying they’d disagree. Then she felt a hoof on her withers, and looked aside her to see Twilight smiling reassuringly up at her. This put Celestia’s fears to rest, to which she wore her own smile, thankful to see that her own student really did fully trust her again.
What do you think, pharaoh? Is it a good idea?
I can’t imagine we’re any safer here than we’d be where Celestia is proposing we go to. Even if the only reason for doing so is to keep this Equestria’s infrastructure safe from harm, we don’t have anything to lose by following through with it.
You’re right, and hey, pharaoh?
Hmm?
I think it’s about time you got in control again.
You think I’ll be welcomed?
If you want, we can wait a little while longer, but you really need to come out again at some point.
I know, Yugi. I just hope Celestia and Twilight won’t react unfavorably when I do.
I’m pretty sure they won’t.
I hope you’re right.
“The pharaoh and I are all for the plan,” Yugi announced.
“I guess I am too,” James said. “Though, I’ll admit my back might have a few complaints about it.”
“I agree,” Samus said. “With the plan, I mean; I can sleep on rocks just fine.”
“Pika-pikachu!” Pikachu exclaimed.
Ryuk shrugged. “Sure, you can count me in too.”
“Then it’s settled,” Celestia said. She stood up and gestured to the wrecked front door. “Let’s get moving immediately. It’s mostly even terrain from here to there, and it shouldn’t take more than a couple hours’ worth of time.”
“Speaking of which⋯” James spoke up. Everyone watched as he turned to face Aza’s puppet. Narrowing his eyes, he asked, “Did you bring the flow of time here?”
Everyone’s collective gaze then turned to the puppet, each one holding some trepidation for the answer Aza would give.
”I’m assuming this is about why the Monster Blood worked,” Aza replied, while the puppet stuck its black sphere out, as if pointing at James. ”Your worries are unfounded, for while I did indeed import the flow of time for it to work, I only kept it for a single minute.” The puppet seemed to draw its white and black spheres into itself while dipping its red sphere forward. ”You’re all not really going to complain about losing one measly minute of your lives, are you?”
No one said a word, instead looking downcast with neutral expressions. Ryuk, however, began fidgeting nervously, and a hint of concern showed in his eyes.
”Rest assured, it’s not something I’m going to make a habit out of. I might do it again somewhere down the line, but never for any substantial amount of time.”
As if I’ll ever believe that, everyone thought simultaneously, before Celestia cleared her throat and spoke up.
“Well then, let’s be off, shall we?”
Everyone nodded, and, one by one, left the library. Twilight levitated the tin of Monster Blood alongside her, giving the whole thing a good, clean inspection as she walked out the door. Pikachu hopped up onto Celestia’s back, and the princess kindly nuzzled him before stepping over the scattered wood splinters on her way out. James, Yugi, and Samus followed behind her, leaving Ryuk as the last one to leave.
As the Shinigami floated his way over to the door, Aza’s puppet came up behind him, to which Ryuk glanced back with a worried frown.
“Were you serious about only letting time flow for a minute?” he asked.
”Any objections you’d like to raise against it?” Aza asked, keeping its voice concentrated just on the two of them.
Ryuk shook his head. “I’d rather not die,” he stated.
”I thought so.”
“You coming, Ryuk!?” Twilight called.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming!” Ryuk replied, and floated out the door, with Aza’s puppet following right behind.
Oh boy, they are so going to flip when they see what's coming next.