After her speech, Mira paused. Not because she wasn't sure of her words... but because she didn't know where to go next. While she hesitated, Coraline decided to speak up.

"Okay... but how?" she asked.

"We don't even know how we got here," Anne noted. "We need to figure that out before we can get out again."

"Right..." Mira agreed, thinking. "We have a bunch of different theories, but nothing really conclusive yet. Other planets, video games, simulations, other dimensions... but nothing conclusive yet."

"Nothing?" Luz repeated.

"There's one thing," Tulip pointed out. "The portal. We already know there are gateways to other places, whether it be to other dimensions or otherwise. I think that's pretty strong evidence pointing towards our 'other dimensions theory."

Mira hummed. "I guess... but have any of you noted that this world doesn't make sense? Before coming to this town, I was in another, and... well, it's hard to explain. You know how in video games, when you're wandering around in the world, and no matter how good it is or immersive it is, it just can't feel as fluid and natural as the real world? That's because it's made by one person, and is being used to tell a story, so you know that it probably wouldn't work as a real world. You know?"

The entire room stared at her, except for Kris, who was nodding, and Tulip.

"Oh... you're saying that this world feels like it was man-made?" Tulip asked her, and Mira looked relieved.

"Yeah! Er... kind of," Mira frowned, obviously working hard to form her thoughts into words. "Not exactly. What I'm trying to say is that this world feels fake. It feels like the kind of place in a video game, like in The Hollow. There's a lot of stuff that looks cool, but doesn't really add up when you think too hard about it."

Despite her explanation, Kai still looked confused. "So, you think we're in The Hollow?"

"Haven't we been through this?" Kipo asked her, not unkindly. "Most of us here don't play video games. Besides, why would we play something that takes away our memories? Is that even legal?"

Anne laughed. "Ha! Tech companies can get away with literally anything, actually."

"I don't think me and Dipper owned a video game like this," Mabel noted. "Mostly 8-bit games. Ooh! There was this one that was really scary in the beginning with scary monsters, but then there was a cool twist where it turned into a dating sim and all the monsters became adorable!"

Tulip blinked. "That sounds like a great game, why didn't I think of that..." Tulip said, before she shook her head, getting herself back on track. "Er, anyway, what about that person Dib had always been talking about? What was it, Zac?"

Mabel perked up. "Oh! Dib's alien friend, Zim!"

Kipo winced as she thought back to Dib's (numerous) rants. "I don't think they were friends."

"They weren't," Tulip confirmed. "According to Dib, Zim was an alien from another planet here to take over the earth, but whenever Dib tried to expose him, nobody believed him, and he was left to his own devices."

Coraline frowned as she listened to Tulip's explanation. "The more I learn about this guy, the weirder he sounds."

Anne laughed. "Yeah... trust me, he was weirder in person."

"In any case, one of his theories was that we were all trapped in a simulation," Tulip pointed out. "It's true, we might not all play the same video game, but we wouldn't have any choice if we were trapped in a simulation."

The room went quite as they all thought about that.

"Hm," Kipo said thoughtfully. "I mean, that's a good point, but there's still a lot of questions. Why us? Why specifically the sixteen of us? We're all from different worlds and places and dimensions, so why would Dib's enemy call us all here?"

"..." Tulip opened her mouth, and then shrugged. "Oh, I have no clue. It's just a guess, I really can't defend it any more than that."

"Oh," Kipo said. "That's a fair point."

"There's another thing," Fei Fei mumbled, though she seemed surprised as the table turned to her. After a couple seconds, she seemed to decide to continue. "Um... We're not really normal, I think. All of us seem to have been through strange adventures, I've noticed."

"Oh, hey, that's true!" Anne realized. "Now that I think about it, none of us are really normal kids! I mean, I'm pretty sure normal kids don't usually go to other dimensions or fight monsters. We're special!"

"...And so that means... what?" Coraline asked. Anne frowned.

"Oh, I don't know," she said. "But it's probably important, right?"

"It's definitely not a coincidence," Kai said. "I'm mean that's pretty statistically improbable, right?"

"You're right," Mira agreed. "But honestly... ok, I don't really think that we can get any where like this."

Kipo stared at her in concern. "What do you mean?"

"We can't really decide anything like this," Mira told them. "All we're doing right now is guessing. If we really want to figure this out, we'll need more evidence."

"...And how are we supposed to do that?" Coraline asked her. Mira shook her head.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I really don't have a clue, but we're going to need to figure something out, because all we're doing now is talking ourselves in circles. Maybe we can... hm."

Mira went silent once again as she tried to think of what to do. Kipo didn't say anything, after all, she hardly knew herself. She'd been to a lot of places recently, and not one of them held a clue about how to get out of here, or where they were. For all she knew, there might be nothing.

Actually, thinking of all that reminded Kipo of how she hadn't had a good sleep in weeks, and just like that, her uncomfortable time in the wilderness finally started weighing on her, and Kipo started slumping down in herself. After what felt like hours of silence, Kipo couldn't take it anymore, and she stood up.

"Let's just agree to keep thinking about this," she told then. "Until then, I agree with Mira. We're not getting anywhere like this."

"Oh, so you think so, too?" Mira sighed, but it was more light hearted then judgemental. "Yeah, ok. Meeting adjourned until... er, what Kipo said."

Kipo nodded, and before Mira was even finished talking, she was already moving out. As Kipo left, she heard Mira continue talking.

"Ok, Luz, Coraline and Kris, you guys don't have a place to stay yet, but I can help you with that," Mira was saying. "Don't worry, just follow me, and I'll get you settled in!"

As the door closed behind her, Kipo breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness, Mira was helping them. Kipo wished she could, but she was far too tired. As soon as Kipo got back to her house, she doubted she'd even have the energy to make it up to her bedroom.

She'd probably worry about everything else tomorrow.

The house felt... colder, Kipo noticed as she stepped in. In any case, it certainly felt like it hadn't been lived in for a while. It looked just like the house in the clearing, all dirty and dusty and empty, full of spiders and dust, so much so that it looked more like a cemetery than a house. However, when she got to this place, she actually had spent some time dusting and sweeping and making her new home comfortable and warm to live in. It had actually been nice, and Kipo had felt so proud of herself when she looked at her hard work.

But now all of that had disappeared. Now, her house, the house that had once almost become a sort of home, was just as empty and skeletal as it had been before, and Kipo might as well have not done any work at all. Even Kipo's scattered belongs: the flowers from the field, the art Mabel gave her, the books from the library... they also felt like they didn't belong, just as Kipo did.

But Kipo only shook her head at that, and collapsed on the couch in the little room that Kipo assumed was supposed to be taken as a living room. As she fell down on it, a layer of dust flew up, and Kipo watched as it gradually settled down again, burying her. Even the couch, which had felt so familiar and comfortable before, was uncomfortable and cold, a stranger.

Still, Kipo didn't get up. But despite her exhaustion, she didn't actually get to sleep for a long time.

When Kipo woke up, it was a surprise. She hadn't realized that she had actually managed to fall asleep, but even after it was over, she didn't feel rested. Her bones were just as heavy as it had been before she laid down.

Well, whatever. It didn't really matter anymore, because no matter how hard Kipo squeezed her eyes shut, she knew she wasn't going back to sleep again. Not only was she technically 'rested', but also because of the tremendous racket outside. Seriously, it sounded like the world was getting violently ripped apart out there.

Suddenly, the little room was lit up in light, and Kipo's eyes widened. Her hands flew up to her face, managing to cover her ears just in time for the ear-splitting thunder to sound, shaking the foundation of her little wooden house. Kipo could somehow feel the sound rattling around in her bones; it sounded like an earthquake.

"What is that?" Kipo asked out loud, but even then, she could barely hear herself. She turned to her window, but she couldn't see anything through the curtains. It's not like she needed to see, however, she could very well guess from the clues around her: a storm had hit their little town.

Was this what Mira and the other's had experienced before, Kipo wondered? It was worse than she thought, because hearing was one thing, but experiencing was another.

Lightening flashed again, and Kipo squeezed her ears tighter. It didn't help. It felt like explosions in her mind, blowing up whatever sanity she had left. It was so painful...

Kipo shook her head, wincing at the ruckus in her skull. She swung her legs over the couch... and then froze.

As her feet hit the floor, they splashed down into icy cold water as well, and suddenly, Kipo wasn't in her little wooden house anyway. She was back there... in the house in the clearing... with Wirt by her side... and a cute little snake dog on her other side.

But when Kipo turned her head, looking for them, they weren't there.

Kipo couldn't hear it, but her breath was getting faster. And her feet, down in the water flooding her house was going numb.

A loud thunderous noise echoed through her house, but this time it wasn't thunder. Kipo's head snapped to look, and she saw that some of her roof had caved in, crashing down beside her. Kipo didn't move from her spot, but she did look up, and when she did, she saw giant claws curling around the hole in the roof. Kipo's eyes widened, there was a bone white snout poking in.

Suddenly, something touched her arm, and Kipo jumped away, nearly falling off the couch as she did. But when she turned around to find the attacker, all she saw was Mira, staring at her with wide and terrified eyes, her entire self silhouetted in white. Kipo stared up at her, for a second confused. What was Mira doing in the house in the clearing? What was going on? Kipo once again glanced up at the hole, and this time, there was nothing there but rain.

Mira reached forward to lightly tap Kipo's shoulder again, and this time Kipo forced herself not to flinch away. She turned her eyes back to Mira, forcing herself back against her panic. Thankfully, her vision sharpened, and for the first time, she felt like she was seeing Mira clearly again. Kipo blinked at her.

The white background behind Mira was actually an umbrella was the first thing Kipo noticed. The second thing was that Mira was trying to talk to her. But though Kipo could see her mouth moving and the words forming, nothing Mira was saying was making its way to Kipo's ears. Had she gone deaf? ...No, she could see hear the storm outside, that must be overpowering Mira's voice.

Kipo frowned, and after a second, Mira stopped talking. She also looked troubled, Kipo noticed. Had she noticed Kipo's predicament?

"I can't hear you," Kipo tried to say, but she couldn't hear herself either. She paused in the middle of her sentence, tried again, and then fumbled in the middle. Eventually, Kipo stopped trying, sighing in annoyance.

Thankfully, Mira seemed to get the message. She shook her head, and grabbed Kipo's wrist, pulling her out of the house. Kipo followed without argument (she probably couldn't even if she wanted to), and let Mira lead her out of her house, into the pouring rain outside. Kipo winced as the icy cold droplets landed on her face, feeling like needles in every place they dropped. Kipo was about to raise her hand, trying to stop the onslaught, but Mira suddenly pulled her sharply forward underneath the umbrella. Kipo had no idea how the umbrella was holding up when the rain felt like it was tearing her to shreds previously, but she wasn't going to question it too hard. Especially when she raised her arms, and found the skin bruised. Kipo stared down at it. She hadn't even known rain could do that.

"Kipo!" A voice called, and Kipo startled, nearly knocking Mira over, who she realized had gotten up on her tiptoes to try and talk in Kipo's ears. They both seemed surprised that it worked, and Kipo leaned down again, letting Mira talk.

"What is it?" Kipo tried again, but with all the noise around, she still couldn't hear herself. It was irritating, really, that sometimes her 'special' hearing was more a deficit than a help.

Still, she shook it off as Mira spoke in her ear. "Go to the community center!" Mira told her. "It's reinforced, better than our houses. I would go with you, but I need to get everyone else, I'm not sure how long these buildings will last and-."

Kipo nodded before she could finish.

"Don't worry about it," she said, and looked into the rain, grimacing at the pain she was sure would come. It'd be pain, yes... but Mira was right. Kipo could hear her house collapsing into itself. It'd probably be rumble by the time the storm was over.

So, with that, Kipo took a deep breath, and ran out into the rain.