*label final_combat_start

Dan walks down Newbury Street. Someone walks out an alley--and crashes into him.

"Whoa!" he says, going down in a heap and narrowly managing to brain himself on a nearby fence. "I'm sorry! I'm so, so--Renne?"

Renne offers a hand and pulls Dan to her feet. "Y'all right there, buddy? Were you going to see Ms. Chen again?"

"Sure, sure. And yeah, I was. What's up?" He blinks, then raises his hand, looking at it.

"Sorry," Renne says, tugging him into the alley. "Long story. You'll hear it eventually!"

After the yellow flash, she gathers up his clothes and leaves.

*page_break Meanwhile (sort of)...

"Doesn't that cause paradox?"

"It does," the Professor says. "But minor paradox. Because it's something that hasn't been resolved yet. You can feel the energy bouncing around in your head as the timeline holds itself stable. It's a--whulf!"

He falls flat on his face in the grass. He pushes himself to his feet, but the yellow energy is already crackling around him, while the trainee watches near the open time door.

Behind a tree, Dan rubs his forehead and frowns, other hand holding a long rope.

*page_break And finally...

The car is a blue station wagon. A hose is plugged into the fuel intake, except it's actually a metal and rubber cable.

A woman is tapping a panel on the side of the car. She looks up and sighs. "Sorry. I [i]thought[/i] I filled her up." She crosses her arms and leans back against the car. "I suspect shenanigans. Fortunately, we have time."

*page_break

Dan is sitting on a chair near Frankie, rubbing his head. Renne is off in a corner, doing exercises. The Professor is busying himself with the time machine's controls.

"Actually it's not as bad as I expected," Dan says.

"Of course not," the Professor says. "The paradox ripples are being caught in the temporal shield. That's the whole point."

"Oh, yeah. I'd hate to be outside it..." He blinks. After a moment, the other two mentors look up.

"Ow..." You blink and wave your arms. Your limbs seem to leave double images behind. There's a pulsing pain in your head, except that when it goes away you can't remember it ever being there.

"Of course," the Professor says, coming over to you. "${name} has a timeline that interacted with all of ours, so all that paradox..."

"You okay, ${name}?" Renne puts her hand on your shoulder, and tries to, then pulls it back. "Weird."

"You'll be okay," Dan says. Except, he also says "Is there anything we can do?". And, "I've never seen anything like this before."

"Alternate timelines?" you ask, although it seems like barely more than 50% of you said it.

"This is bad," the Professor says.

*if (combat < 5)
	"It's okay," you mumble. "It's okay."

	"Stay with us, ${name}!" Renne says. She must be shouting, though you're finding it hard to hear. "You're a fighter?"

	"Fighter? No..." All those times, you never wanted to fight. You can see other timelines where you became a fighter. Other times when you were able to fight through this...

	"${name}. Please." The Professor's eyes are...old, as he looks at you.

	"Sorry," you murmur. The world dissolves into static, then dark. "Go on without me."

	"Sorry..." The last thing to flash through your mind is a screen from an old video game.

	[i]It's a sad thing that your adventures have ended here...[/i]
	*ending

"It's okay," you mumble. "It's okay. Just...do it."

"Do what?" Renne calls.

"Break through...paradox...breaks the shield." You blink/not blink. "Do it."

"We have to..." The Professor glances back at the console, then he runs over and starts up the machine.

"Wait!" Dan says. "We can't travel time with someone this paradoxed on board! It's dangerous!" The humming and pulsing increase, filling the room, as the floor starts to rumble.

"Precisely!" The Professor's eyes shine as he holds on to the console. "Here we go!"

*page_break CRASH

There is a wave of--incomprehensibility and distortion.

Then you feel yourself again. Mostly. Well, you only feel like [i]one[/i] person, so that's an improvement. Simultaneously, your mentors gasp.

"This is why I stopped getting hangovers," Dan pants.

"Paradox!" Renne says.

"But I feel better!" You stagger forward and lean onto the console. "Mostly! Why are you..."

"Isn't it obvious?" the Professor says. "The shield collapsed! The built-up paradox got through!" He laughs in delight. "Your paradoxed self smashing against the shield finally overloaded it, just like you said! Now the timeline will mess with our memories until everything makes sense!"

"So does that mean..."

The rumbling stops, as does the pulsing. The Professor grins and flips a switch; the door opens. "Welcome home!"

*page_break

The Paradox Corps complex is quiet, but not quite deserted. Continuity is still there, and most of the technicians and researchers are as well. The reappearance of your mentors, three of the highest-ranking agents, is met will cheers and a bustle of activity.

Left alone, you wander the halls until you find yourself in the main hall. A jumble of cables converges here, scorched with soot. Holt is standing, studying them, so you walk up to him.

"Temporal shield," Holt says, nodding downward. "Whatever it is, they took it and ran, once it blew up. These are just, y'know, cables."

"Do we know how it works?" you ask.

"I dunno, I never studied much theory." He glances at you. "Maybe I'll take some classes for real this time. Become an agent!"

"Sure," you say. "Of course you're pretty good with your tools anyway."

"Hey!" Both of you turn at the familiar voice, finding Frankie running down the hall toward you, out of breath. "Hey, you two! We're going out again. The Corps needs all the agents it can get right now!" Smiling, she waves. "Come on, come on!"

*ending

