“Yes, baby.” confirms Duplica.  “The System Director did the rest of the work, fixing everything back to normal.”

    “What happened to Ultimax and his friends?” inquires Faye.

    “Well,” says Cat, “they weren’t illusions.  They were real people.  I guess you could say the System Director kind of pressed the reset button for them and rewrote their histories to give them a second chance.”

    Grace tilts her head as she tries to ponder this.  “What does that mean?”

    Patting her shoulder, Elf responds, “It means she doesn’t know.”

    Cat Rug then gathers her students together and apologizes for not preparing them more thoroughly for her surprise test.  “The robots you faced weren’t a part of this era.  I just added them to make things more interesting.  You kids did a great job, and I’m very proud of you.  Please forgive me, though, for scaring the daylights out of you.  None of the villains ever suspected we were here.”

    Jo Meyers echoes this praise.  “The way you boys handled your new moves was impressive.  You girls also showed you are growing into wise SGs.  You have made us both very happy.”

    AB, Missy and Keb pop over as well to give their thanks.  “So, I know the robots we faced were just copies of the suit from All Cheerful & Rosie, but you still handled them with supreme skill.  Good job, guys!  I hope you enjoyed watching the past me over there beating up the bad guys.”

    Keb laughs, “You didn’t beat up nothin’.  The System Director did all the work.”

    He gives her an obvious glare, despite his face being covered in his helmet.  “Do we need to watch the fight again, blue one?”

    Missy agrees happily.  “Any time I get to watch you being heroic is fine by me, hon!”

    “Hey, guys,” Keb says, turning to the kids, “since you all passed the test with flying colors, why don’t we get you back to your base, all safe and sound, so you’ll feel a lot better as AB and I tell you the rest of what happened after today’s little square dance?”

    Everyone agrees to this, with Gracie asking Cat if there will be more food.

    “Sure, hon,” the teacher says, “and I’ll call Vahnna to meet us there so you and Kammy can have a better go at eating than you did earlier.”

    Gracie bows a little.  “That would be great.  I really want to make things up to Paul after my actions earlier.”  These words thoroughly please Grace’s mother.  As the portal opens, Grace makes it a point to reach over to the boy she was talking about.  “Hey, we’re having lunch again.  I’ll sit with you again, okay?”

    Trying to act as manly as possible to impress her, Paul says, “Gi, I’ll tell you what; to show you it’s all good, I’m going to buy you lunch, how’s that?”  In reality, this is his way of ensuring she doesn’t accidentally send him to the hospital from another allergy mishap.

    Our kids step inside, along with AB and his crew.  With Vahnna on the way, this is sure to be a great wrap up to our field trip.

-To the Last Chapter (no clownin’)-

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