Victor takes a moment to glance back, wondering why the Magelets aren't following -- then sees them snoozing away in the tree, giggles, and lets them be. They shouldn't be too far away if they wake up and want to join in.

Dee, for her part, is busy arranging the candy into wide squares (to minimize the risk of any being knocked out of place). It's not too long before the board takes shape. "Here we go!"

"Well, of course," Doc agrees with Quint. "I think most people would feel the same way. Not an ideal situation, but pretty much everything is better than death."

"Oh -- we know about the vending machine," Victor says. "We've gotten things from it in the past." He pets Nibbles. "Including, technically, him -- another friend of ours was clearing out some of the old stock and happened to drop his PokeBall." He smiles at Nibbles, who nuzzles his cheek. "We took a liking to each other."

"We never ran across the item that you mentioned, though," Alice says. "Probably for the best if it's either-or -- we wouldn't mind the LOL remover, but I can't think of a LOL yet that I would want to make permanent." Frowning, she adds, "Then again, I've never been stuck in the body of a twelve-year-old. I'm glad Blues was able to turning that LOLing to his advantage."