A cool breeze swept through the hot air, and it felt nice as it moved across Kipo's skin, carrying the notes of the guitar over the rolling fields. It was calming, she thought, a breath of fresh air after she felt like she was drowning. For the first time in a long time, Kipo's head felt almost clear.

As she strummed the last couple of notes, Mira opened her eyes again, looking over to Kipo with a smile on her face. The two of them were sitting under a tree over looking a peaceful and serene pond. Kipo had thought it was odd there was a pond in the middle of a field, but at the end of the day, she just had to chalk it up to the other oddness of this world. She watched the fish dart around in it. So far, none of them had been able to catch them.

"That was beautiful," Mira told her, pulling Kipo out of her thoughts. "What was it called again?"

"It's the Yumyan Hammerpaw song," Kipo told her. "About Yumyan Hammerpaw. There are also lyrics to the song, if you want to hear them."

"Well, now I do," Mira said, her voice only half teasing. "Not only do I get to hear that awesome song again, but I also get an explanation on who this Yumyan Hammerpaw is."

"He was great!" Kipo assured her, and she lifted up her guitar again. But before she could play any notes, she found herself once again glancing to the sky. Her face betrayed her feelings, and Mira frowned.

"You still miss them, huh?" Mira asked gently, looking up to the sky. Suddenly, she shivered, drawing her legs closer to herself. "I know. I'm sorry."

"I miss everyone," Kipo admitted. "Bipo, my parents, my friends from my world... Adam..."

Both girls looked away at that name. It had at least been a week since... the incident, but the pain had really only seemed to grow worse with each passing day.

The two of them stayed quiet for a moment, but eventually, Mira spoke up.

"He's... His body's still in that forest," Mira finally said, and the uncomfortable truth settled over them like a suffocating blanket. "We'll... I'll need to go collect it eventually."

"I can help," Kipo said, setting her guitar aside. "I should help-."

Kipo meant to say more, but Mira waved her off. "No, no. Go out and look for those people. I already got Wirt and Kai helping me. You got other things to do, especially... especially if those people are still alive."

Kipo looked away. The crystal she'd found in the cave was still in her pocket, and when Kipo remembered it was there, she knew she'd eventually have to go looking for them. After all, it showed her Wirt, and person she knew was real, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to assume the others were as well.

Kipo and Mira both had their own quests to tend to, but neither of them could think of leaving the town yet. That's why they had decided on waiting for Anne and Fei Fei to come back. The two of them probably knew the world much better than Kipo did, and would serve as guides.

If Kipo was being honest, she was grateful she was forced to wait for them. A couple of days to... fully process what had happened. It was a blessing.

Well, it was a blessing while it lasted, at least. A sudden rustling above them startled Mira and Kipo out of their thoughts, but before either of them could fully question it, there was a sudden CRACK and a huge splash that soaked both Mira and Kipo.

"Hey!" Mira cried, backing away. Kipo, meanwhile, surged forward, covering her guitar with her body.

"What the-?! Kipo looked up, squinting at the once calm pond in front of them. Her eyes widened in realization as she watched a big head with strange black hair emerge from it. Kipo resisted the urge to sigh.

"Oh, hi, Dib," she greeted politely. "Would you... er... like to hang out with us?"

Dib coughed out the water in his mouth. He stared at Kipo suspiciously. "Hm. Well, since my 'observing you in the wild' thing didn't work, I guess I could ask you questions."

Mira sighed as Dib stood up, and trudged out of the waist deep water. But instead of going to Kipo and Mira's side, he went the other way, and sat down on a rock on the other side of the pond, dripping wet. Kipo and Mira stared at him.

"We're over here, you know," Mira told him.

"Yeah, but I need space to observe," Dib explained. "And to defend myself, if necessary."

"You're still on about that?" Mira huffed before Kipo could say anything. She crossed her arms, glancing at Kipo. I get that these are... special circumstances, but you can't exactly go around judging people by the colour of their skin, Dib."

"I-huh-what?! No!" Dib spluttered out. "She can turn into a giant cat!"

"A cat that helped rebuild our homes!" Mira argued. "Or, well, fix them, at least."

This isn't exactly what Kipo meant when she said they should all hang out. "Um, everyone...?"

"I'm not saying that we should completely ostracize her!" Dib shot back. "But we shouldn't just blindly trust her either! We don't even know where we are!"

"That's all the MORE reason to trust her!" Mira countered. "Besides, Kipo's been so nice so far, do you really think she did all that just to betray us?"

"Yes. Yes, I do think that," Dib said, and both Mira and Kipo knew what was coming. "Especially if she's an alien, or created by an alien, to keep us all in this virtual world why the real alien outside takes over the world!"

Dib paused after that, perhaps for dramatic effect, but shocked silence was unfortunately not what he was going to get.

"If you want us to be surprised by that, then maybe you shouldn't announce it every time you see us," Mira grumbled. "We've heard it all before. Besides, aliens aren't real."

Dib looked just about ready to lose it. "YES, THEY ARE-!"

"I mean, statistically speaking, the universe is so big that it's probably more unlikely that there aren't aliens out there, right?" Kipo cut in. Both Mira and Dib looked at her, surprised.

"Huh? Well, I guess that makes sense," Mira agreed. "You seem to know a lot about astronomy, so I trust you."

Dib huffed. "Oh, yeah, trust her and not the paranormal investigator and the defender of Earth."

Mira looked over to him, but before she could say anything, Kipo once again interrupted to defuse the situation.

"You're the defender of Earth?" Kipo asked. "That sounds pretty cool. But, uh, what is it, exactly?"

Dib, once again, looked surprised, and a little bit flattered. "Huh? Oh, well, basically there's this guy, Zim, and he's a invader from this alien race, the Irkens. He somehow managed to fool my entire class, and the world, into thinking he was human, just like them, but I saw the TRUTH. And now it's my job to expose him for what he is and also try and stop him from taking over the earth every couple of days. It's hard work, especially when no one ever believes me, but I know that as soon as I expose Zim for the fraud he is, I'll get all the flattery and praise I deserve! Well, as soon as I get back, anyway."

Kipo and Mira stared at him. Now, they were actually taken aback, and Dib was smug about it. Unfortunately for him, Mira recovered quickly.

"That sounds like the plot of a comedy series," she said. Dib reeled back.

"What?!" he yelped. "My life sounds like a joke to you?!"

Mira blinked. "Yes?"

Aaaand Kipo was stepping in again.

"Defending the earth all by yourself?" Kipo questioned. "That must have been difficult. If I'd had to face Amelia (I've told you about her, right?), I don't think I would've been able to."

Mira hesitated for a second, and then she spoke up as well. "Yeah... I wouldn't have been able to get through the Hollow without Adam and Kai by my side... and they were great friends, too. Well, are... was... I don't know."

Kipo and Mira fell silent at the thought, but Dib didn't seem to notice the somber mood change. Instead, he looked smug.

"Well, it was kind of difficult," he said, looking pleased. "But no matter what Zim threw at me, I always came out on top, every single time!"

"That's great, good job, Dib!" Kipo cheered, doing her best to push away her pain. She should be happy for him, after all. Meanwhile, Mira rolled her eyes, huffing.

"Yeah, I know, I know," Dib said, giving off an air of faux humbleness. "That just good to show how dedicated I am to fighting evil forces (especially aliens trying to be described as humans)."

Suddenly, Dib looked over to Kipo, his cheerful mood gone. He stared at her determinedly, like a warning. "So, you can bet that sooner or later I'll be out of here, no matter who stands in my way!"

Mira groaned while Kipo shrugged, not particularly threatened. She'd just thought that they had been getting along pretty well...

"Um, ok-," Kipo tried to tell him, but Dib wasn't finished yet. To her and Mira's surprise, Dib jumped up, shook his fist at the sky, and started yelling.

"YOU HEAR THAT, ZIM?!?!" he screamed. "YOU HAVEN'T FOOLED ME! SOONER OR LATER I'LL BE OUT OF WHATEVER YOU PUT ME IN AND I'LL STOP YOUR LATEST PLAN!! YOU HEAR ME?! YOU HEAR ME?! YOU HEAR ME-?!"

Mira stood up. "Kipo, I think we should go back to town."

Kipo looked at Dib, who was still screaming, sympathetically. "I think he's trying to get it out of his system-"

"Let's go back to town."

Kipo didn't argue this time.

Eventually, as the buildings of the town (now devoid of any of that ugly metal) came closer and closer, and Dib's yelling got quieter and quieter, Kipo and Mira were met up with another friend. They both greeted Tulip warmly, who'd apparently hurried all the way down from the mountain to meet them.

Mira took notice of her urgency, and she titled her head concerned. "Is something wrong? Did you find anything in the mountains?!"

Tulip coughed, out of breath. "Huh? Oh... no, I was just wondering what was going on with Dib?!"

'But you didn't go to him instead?' Kipo thought questioningly, but almost immediately after she figured she knew the answer to that question. "Er... I think he'd just working through some things."

Tulip raised her eyebrows, almost comically. "Oh... is he alright?"

"I'll have to check later," Kipo said, making a note of it in her head. Mira frowned, glancing back at Dib.

"...Maybe it should be someone else?" Mira guessed, before turning her attention back to Tulip. "So, you didn't find anything in the mountain?"

Tulip sighed, shaking her head. "Yeah, nothing. Sometimes I think I'm going up and it's getting colder and colder, and then I'll find out I'm in an underground lake."

Mira hummed at that. "Weird."

"I'm usually pretty good at mazes," Tulip said, the frustration in her voice clear. "I don't know why this one is so hard."

"Magic?" Mira guessed.

Tulip hummed. "Maybe."

Kipo put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually," she told her. "Wait, why are you trying to figure it out, anyway?"

Tulip glanced over to Kipo, and then turned around to the mountain. "I don't know... it just looks significant, right? Like, it looks important, right?"

Kipo and Mira turned to the mountain, too. Now that Kipo really looked... yeah, Tulip was right. In a valley of beautiful rolling green, the mountain stuck out like a sore thumb. If the valley was one big painting, the mountain might've been added in as some kind of after thought.

Kipo frowned. While it didn't tick of any of her senses for being somehow important, it definitely was strange. But wasn't this whole place kind of strange anyway?

"I... guess," she eventually said. If Tulip thought it was important, then who knows? It might be?

"Definitely the place where a final battle might take place," Mira noted, and Tulip nodded. Kipo didn't say anything. She wasn't exactly sure what they were talking about.

"Maybe when we defeat the boss we can finally get out of here," Tulip guessed. "But would we just go to another train car or...?"

Mira groaned. "There better not be more of this. After... well, I'm just officially done with all this. I need video games again. Non-virtual reality video games."

"I just can't wait to eat junk food again," Tulip noted. "I'm sick of healthy, sugar-free food."

Now they were getting into familiar territory again. Kipo smiled. "I like my guitar and stuff, but listening to professionally recorded music again will be nice."

Mira and Tulip agreed wholeheartedly, and the three struck up an animated discussion about what they'd do when they got home. It ranged from catching up to missed shows, starting up old hobbies, or just missing a specific snack or comfort object. Eventually, the conversation changed to people, and then, of course, that question got asked. There was a lull in the conversation, and Mira, just... kind of... blurted it out.

"So... do you two know that thing, where like, in a TV show, when a character goes off to a magical land, and then they go back to the real world, and basically no time had passed?" Mira asked. "Like it was all dream?"

Kipo and Tulip paused, the sudden question almost stopping them in their tracks. Mira played with her hair. "Do you think that'll happen with us, when we go back?"

The three of them feel silent. The question, which had clearly been meant as a fun hypothetical, suddenly seemed heavy. Yes, Kipo had read comics and books where that had happened, and yes, of course, that DID make sense... but this was real life, and as impossible as the flipside seemed... having no time passed didn't make any sense either.

Eventually, thankfully, the tension was broken as Mira started walking again, answering her own question. "Well, I mean, it probably works like that, right? Anything else..." Mira paused for a second. Even she didn't want to think about that possibility. "It just doesn't make any sense."

Kipo breathed a sigh of relief, suddenly reassured, and Tulip did as well. As they came closer and closer to the town, each of them wiped the question from their minds.

After all, it has to work like that. Obviously.