Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ The End of All Things to Come ❯ The Memories Remain ( Chapter 2 )

Author's Notes: I'm getting worse… the gaps between stories are getting bigger and the chapters shorter! It's also a bit rushed, so I'll try better in the future. Anyway, thanks goes to both Roku and Canis, the only two people to review the first chapter. Cheers! On a side note, I've met both Sophie Aldred (Ace) and Colin Baker (the sixth Doctor)! Bully for me, eh?

Disclaimer: Digimon belongs to Toei Animation Co., Disney, Fox Kids, Saban Entertainment and Bandai, Doctor Who belongs to the BBC and both are used without permission.

The End Of All Things To Come

By Jack Of the Pelt

Chapter Two

The Memories Remain

"You!" the strange woman snarled, her voice tinny coming though the mask.

"Er, me?"

"Heh heh heh!" the strange woman giggled, reaching for one of her larger knives. "What luck! Literally killing two birds with one stone!"

Charley backed off up against the wall. This 'woman' was clearly insane, and clearly wanted to kill her. "Can't we talk about this?"

"No," the woman replied, drawing one of her knives. "WEEPING BLADE!" the woman cried as she thrust the knife forward, as a viscous looking liquid now seeping from it, towards Charley's heart…

The girl closed her eyes, and awaited the killing blow.

But it never came.

Charley opened her to see the knife had stopped just barely an inch away from her chest. A large blue hand was wrapped around the woman's wrist.

The strange woman looked up at the owner of hand, who was several feet taller than her, she managed to say "Who-?" before Charley's saviour punched her across the corridor with an audible crack. She slammed into the wall and slid down it.

Charley blinked a few times, staring at her former assailant, now slumped against the corridor wall, and then finally took a look at whoever had saved her. She stared in shocked disbelief at the creature standing over her, who looked like a tall blue lizard man. He was well protected, with armour on his shoulders, waist, fists and even the tip of his tail. He also wore a metal mask, which had bright red hair emerging from underneath it, and dark green combat trousers. A bright red symbol was emblazoned across it's chest.

"Are you alright, miss?" it said in a gruff voice.

Charley, too surprised to speak, simply nodded.

Before he - Charley was pretty sure it was a he - could reply, there was a scream of anger and the lizard man was knocked to floor as a black blur barreled into him. He threw it off of him and scrambled to his feet, automatically going into a fighting stance.

The blur - the woman who had attacked Charley - was standing opposite him, a long knife in each hand and a third one held, strangely, by her tail.

Charley suddenly noticed that there was another person present, a handsome brown haired boy about her age standing at the other end of the corridor. He was examine a device with what looked like some sort of 3D holographic display. "She's LadyFomorimon! A Data type Phantom Digimon!" the boy cried, looking up, "She's at Perfection level, so be careful Strikedramon!"

"Nothing I can't handle, Ryo!" the lizard man - Strikedramon - replied. "Don't worry about me!"

"My, my! Aren't we the confident little one! Well, try THIS!" She charged at the male digimon, back flipping into the air at the last minute. "SLASH KICK!" she cried as her feet looked like a single blade for a split second. Even quicker, Strikedramon leapt back out of the way of the attack and swiped at her with a two fingered claw.

"STRIKE CLAW!" he bellowed, as his adversary landed on her feet.

Reacting quickly, she ducked, and his attack ripped a chunk out of the wall behind her. As she went down, she performed a text book sweep kick, knocking her foe's legs from underneath him and he fell onto his back with a thump. Seeing this opening, she plunged the two knives in her hands downwards. "WEEPING BLADE!" she shouted once again. Strikedramon rolled out of the way, and knives went into the floor, the acid hissing, melting part of the floor away. The other digimon kicked out with both his feet, catching LadyFomorimon in the side, knocking her across the corridor, only for her to land perfectly on her feet.

"Shit!" she swore as the two digimon swiftly climbed back to their feet. They both assumed fighting positions once more.

Panting, Strikedramon said, "Hmph, girl, you're good!"

"Thank you!" she replied cheerfully. "You're not so bad yourself!"

They stood like that for a few seconds, getting their breath back, and waiting for the other to make the first move. It was a stand off.

Bizarrely, a tune started playing.

LadyFomorimon looked crestfallen. "Damnation! That's my cue to leave!" She blew Strikedramon a kiss though her mask. "Ciao, handsome, we'll meet again!" she said in farewell, before she literally melted into the shadows.

"Hey! Come back!" roared Strikedramon. "I haven't finished you yet, girl!"

The boy ran up to his large reptilian friend. "Leave it Strikedramon; I have a feeling you two will meet again." The boy turned to Charley and held out his hand. "Are you okay, miss…uh?" The boy went a bright crimson as the girl took it. Instead of helping her to her feet as she expected, he stood there staring at her hand in his.

"Ahem?" Charley coughed.

The boy blinked, but quickly realised what he was doing. "Oh! Sorry!" He quickly helped her to her feet.

"Charlotte Pollard."

"Sorry?"

"You asked me my name," the girl replied. "It's Charlotte Pollard, but you can call me Charley. What's yours?"

"Uh, it's Ryo," he answered as he helped her to her feet. "Ryo Akiyama."

***

"Koushiro!!!" Haruhiko yelled as he attempted to get passed the flames that had appeared in the wake of explosion. The sprinklers had started, but they were having little or no effect on the fire that was springing up.

"No, don't!" The Doctor said, pulling him back.

"But -"

"No," the Doctor told him firmly.

Shuu had pelted back down the corridor to them a minute or so after the explosion. Panting, he asked, "What happened?"

Haruhiko looked at him with haunted eyes. "After the Doctor and I left the room, there was a tremendous explosion and… Koushiro was still in there."

"Koushiro! We should-" he went to go towards the ruined lab, but the Doctor barred his way. Shuu looked as though he was about to argue, but the Time Lord cut him off.

"I'll go," he told them.

The two men looked at him in surprise. "But Doctor…" Haruhiko began, but trailed off.

"Oh don't worry about me," the Doctor said. "I've had plenty of experience in this kind of situation! Here, could you look after this for me please?" This last remark was direct at Shuu as the Doctor handed him his green velvet coat. "Now I suggest you both leave the building as fast you possibly can before this gets even worse than it already is."

"Good luck, Doctor," Haruhiko said. The Doctor nodded before headed towards the lab, while the others left for the nearest fire exit.

***

Holding an arm up instinctively to keep the heat away, the Doctor scanned the room for Koushiro. Not finding him with his sight, the Doctor stretched out his other senses. He quickly found him lying beneath a nearby desk which must have, luckily, shielded him from part of the blast. He was, however, bruised and bleeding, semi-conscious with slight burns. The Doctor hurried over to him, avoiding the flames. Kneeling beside Koushiro, he said, "Koushiro, Are you awake?"

A groan was his answer as the red haired man opened his eyes, blinking blearily up at the Time Lord. "D-Doctor?"

"Take it easy," the Doctor told him, examining his bleeding forehead. "You've had a nasty knock by the looks of things."

"W-where's Tentomon?" Koushiro asked weakly.

The Doctor frowned sadly. "I think he's been deleted," he said gravely.

"I knew it…" He looked to the Doctor as if he was about to cry. "I felt it when he died…"

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be Doctor," Koushiro said, and coughed violently. "It's not your fault."

The Doctor looked around them at the surrounding flames. "I should really leave you here, but in these circumstances it would be better to get you out of this place…" he said as he put the red haired man onto his back. "Now, lets get out of here before it gets even worse."

***

Haruhiko and Shuu had left the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building swiftly as possibly by the nearest fire escape, and they both headed for the front of the building, to see that the emergence services had already arrived.

"Haruhiko!!!" yelled a voice as they walked towards the crowd.

"Ken?" Haruhiko said in surprise, not expecting to see the dark haired man, heading towards them. "What are you doing here? I don't think this is a job for a detective just yet…"

Ken shook his head. "I'm not here on official business," he told the old man. "Koushiro asked if I could come and see him."

"What for?" inquired Shuu.

Ken shrugged. "I have no idea," he admitted. "He said it was very important, though. Where is he anyway?"

Haruhiko looked back up at the damaged building, where smoke was pouring from where their lab and offices had been. "I'm afraid he was caught in the blast…"

Ken's eyes widened. "Oh, gods…" he murmured.

"Hey, Ken! Haruhiko!"

All three of them turned in the direction the voice had come from to see a man in a suit with what looked like a small orange dinosaur struggling to keep up with him.

"What the hell is going on?!" The dark haired man asked, almost crashing into the old man. "I was just coming to see you Haruhiko, when I saw that explosion up there!"

"It's Koushiro," Ken told him.

Taichi paled. "What's happened to him?"

"I'm afraid he was in our lab when the explosion hit," Haruhiko said. "I don't know if he's alright."

Taichi tightened his fists, but said nothing.

Agumon had been staring up at the plume of smoke coming from the building. "Not another bombing…" the digimon said, shocked.

"I'm afraid it looks that way, Agumon," Ken told him.

"Why do they do it, Taichi?" Agumon asked his friend. "We've never done anything to them!"

Taichi looked angry for just a moment, but then it was gone. "I wish I knew, Agumon," he said. "I wish I knew…"

"Who knows how a terrorist's mind works?" Ken commented, but he avoided saying that it could have equally been a digimon that had planted the bomb, as he doubted that would have helped the mood.

"Why are they taking so long?" Taichi said. They all turned to look towards the front doors, where a gathering of the fire crew, both human and digimon were about to go in. "Why are they hesitating to go in?!"

"Because of those two!" said Shuu, happily surprised. "Haruhiko, it's Dr Bowman! And he has Koushiro with him!"

"Ha! I knew I could count on the Doctor!" Haruhiko said, looking for all the world as if he was about to dance around in joy.

"Well I'll be…" Ken said, open mouthed.

***

"Hmm," said the Doctor, as he saw the ambulance crews rushing towards him as he left the building though the front doors. "That was quick; I am really quite impressed." He gladly let a young female paramedic take Koushiro off of him, knowing that they would take good care of the unconscious man, but waved away any attempts by the others to take a look at him.

As he watched Haruhiko's group hurrying over, he saw the dark haired man in the long coat - Ken, one of the few Chosen he had not really get to know - say a few words to the others, before splitting from the group to join Koushiro in an ambulance, after sharing a few more words with the paramedic.

When Haruhiko and the two others - Shuu and a man the Doctor recognized as an older Taichi Yagami - the old man clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Doctor! I knew you could do it!"

"That was amazing Dr Bowman!" Shuu said as he gave the Doctor's coat back to him. "Is Koushiro okay?"

"He's fine from what I could see," the Doctor told them as he put his coat back on. "Only a few cuts and burns; he must have been shielded by his desk. But I'm afraid some permanent psychological damage has been done…"

Haruhiko's face fell. "Tentomon's been deleted." It wasn't a question.

The Doctor nodded sadly.

"Oh, dear gods," Shuu said, turning away.

There was a silence in the group for a few moments, as if they were silently mourning the lost of Koushiro's partner and closest friend.

"Doctor…?" Taichi murmured. He had been staring at the Time Lord ever since he had first saw him, as if trying hard to remember if he had met him before at some point.

The Doctor looked up at him. "Yes, Taichi?"

"Doctor!" Taichi cried, grabbing the Time Lord's hand in an almost bone crushing grip. "It is you! After all these years!"

"Taichi!" the Doctor grinned as the brown haired man let him go, the tragedy momentarily forgotten. "How on earth did you recognize me?"

Taichi shrugged. "I dunno…" he replied, "it only took me a couple of seconds to realize who you were…"

"Doctor!" Agumon said, excited to see the Time Lord again as his partner was. "Where's Bernice? How is she? Is she okay?"

The Doctor gave a light hearted chuckle, remembering that the dinosaur digimon, strangely, had a crush on his old archeologist companion. "Last time I visited her, she was a professor of archeology at a university, and doing quite well for herself," the Doctor told him with a smile, but he then looked distant for a second. "I really must pay another visit to her sometime in the future…"

"Uh, I don't mean to interrupt," Shuu said, feeling a little left out of the conversation, "but how do you know the Doctor, Taichi?"

"Oh, I met him about twenty five years ago," Taichi replied enthusiastically. "But he was this little Scot -"

"Well, the Doctor knows most of the original Chosen Children," Haruhiko said, before Taichi could say anything… difficult to explain. "It was the summer of 2003, wasn't it, Doctor?"

The dark haired man nodded in the affirmative. "But you've know me for a lot longer than that, haven't you Haruhiko?"

"Yes," the old man replied, remembering that fateful day when his life changed completely when he had first met the Doctor. "That was quite an adventure, if a bit of a nightmare." Memories came unbidden to him, memories of horrific creatures in barnacle encrusted black armour rising from the depths of the ocean, shrouded in fog as they snatched their victims from their homes in that little seaside town, taking them back to the sea…

"How long ago was that?" asked Shuu, curious, snapping him from his reverie.

"What? Oh, er…" Haruhiko didn't really know what to say. How could he tell him that this had been in 1986? And the fact that the Doctor had been a completely different man back then,? A man with a mop of curly hair and a wide toothy grin?

Fortunately, he didn't have to. "Oh, quite some time ago," the Doctor told Shuu. "Personally I can't remember myself."

***

Meanwhile, in the ambulance that contained Koushiro and Ken, the red haired man was slowly coming around.

"Koushiro, how are you?" asked the police detective as the red haired man opened his eyes.

"Ken," Koushiro said shakily. "Am I glad to see you."

"Why?" asked Ken, gently. "What was so important that you had to see me?"

"This…" Koushiro reached into his jacket and produced a small CD.

"What is it?" asked Ken as he took the disc.

"It's this month's readings from the Digital World…"

"What's so important about them?" Ken said as he placed the disc into his coat pocket.

There was no reply. Ken looked back at Koushiro, who had closed his eyes. He looked up at the paramedic across from him.

"It's okay," the paramedic told him. "He's become unconscious again, but he's stable."

Ken nodded. Sitting back, he remained quiet for the rest of the journey to the hospital, wondering what was so important about the disc Koushiro had just given him…

***

"So who could have done this?" the Doctor asked, pointing to where smoke was billowing out of the building above them.

"Oh, could be any number of people, Doctor," Taichi told him. "Religious fundamentalists, racial purity freaks, digimon who want humans to stop 'contaminating' their world… the list is endless."

"So this has happened before?" the Doctor asked.

Taichi nodded. "And I doubt it'll be the last time," he said. "It's mine and Agumon's job to keep good relations between the two worlds."

"But surely there are more public places they could attack, why here?"

Taichi shrugged. "Why not? This place has the closest connection to study of the Digital World, making it a good a place as any."

"But-" the Doctor began.

"We should have expected this," said a voice behind the group, cutting him off suddenly.

"Huh?" Haruhiko said, turning around. "Oh, it's you, Yamaki."

Standing before them was a blond man, possible in his early thirties, wearing a navy business suit and dark glasses. "That's Mr. Yamaki to you, Mr. Takenouchi," he almost growled. "I am your superior, after all."

Haruhiko gave a quick bow. "Forgive me, Yamaki-san," the old man said with a little mock sincerity. "It won't happen again."

Yamaki glared at him for a second, but said nothing and turned to the Doctor. "Who is this?"

"Doctor Alistair Bowman!" the Doctor said, thrusting his hand out so the other man could shake it. "Of UNIT."

Yamaki stared at the offered hand as if it belonged to a leper. He looked back up at the Doctor. "Mitsuo Yamaki," the blonde man said simply, without shaking hands.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes, as if studying every detail on the man's face. "Haven't we met before?"

The other man remained expressionless. "I don't think so."

A beautiful woman walked up to Yamaki. She had hair a deep shade of unnatural looking red, pale skin, and eyes that were perhaps too green. "Sir?" she asked him.

He turned to her. "What is it?" he snapped irritably.

If the young woman was shocked by his manner, she didn't show it. "Sir, the Chief Cabinet Secretary wants to speak to you on the phone," she said in an accent that sounded oddly English, but not quite.

"Hmph, I'll be with him in a second," Yamaki said. He turned back to the Doctor. "Perhaps we'll meet again." And with those parting words he left with his secretary.

"Rumour has it that those two are lovers," Shuu murmured as he watched the two leave.

"I hate that callous bastard," Taichi said though gritted teeth, clenching his fists.

"I don't like him at all either, Taichi," growled Agumon. "there's something not quite right about that guy…"

"A friendly sort, isn't he?" the Doctor observed. "He doesn't look very Japanese though, does he?"

"Oh, his father is Japanese and his mother is American, apparently, but whether that's true or not I don't know," Haruhiko told him. "Yamaki is in change of the Juggernaut project, by the way."

"And that girl?"

"Reika?" Haruhiko frowned. "I don't really know much about her, except for the fact that she's been Yamaki's secretary ever since he arrived a year ago to work here."

"Hmm," the Doctor said, pondering. "You'll have to tell me more about this Juggernaut project, Haruhiko…"

"Doctor!" called a voice behind them before the Doctor's old friend could say anything.

The group turned around to see a young, pretty blonde girl hurrying towards them, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. The Doctor gave a wide smile, recognizing the girl, but feeling guilty for forgetting about her during the current crisis. "Charley! I'm so glad to see you safe!"

Charley gave him a hug. "You too Doctor!" She panted, out of breath. "When the alarms went off I thought you'd gotten yourself into some kind of trouble!" she laughed.

"Charley you know me better than that!"

"Who's this Doctor?" asked Haruhiko. "Another traveling companion?"

Before the Doctor could introduce her, Charley went ahead. "Hello, sir!" she said with her most charming smile, holding out her hand. "My name is Charlotte Pollard, but you can call me Charley."

The old man took her hand and shook it. "Hello, my dear," he said. "I'm Haruhiko Takenouchi, this is my assistant Shuu Kido and my friend Taichi Yagami," indicating the others as he said this, who nodded respective names where mentioned.

She greeted both of them, smiling, before turning back to her friend. "Doctor, I have so much to tell you!"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Really?" he said, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Well then, you can tell me on the way!"

"On the way?" she asked. "Where are we going now?"

"There are several places and people I want to check…" he replied.

"Uh, Doctor," Taichi said, interrupting him. "I don't think you should leave just yet."

"Hmm…?" asked the Doctor. "Why not, Taichi?

Taichi pointed. "I think we should tell them what happened to you first."

The Time Lord looked to where his old friend was pointing, only to see two police officers were walking towards them. "Of course," the Doctor sighed. "We'll go, but not before the police have a little word with us."

***

"Well, what do you think?" Reika said as Yamaki put down the phone, grinning, her accent changing once again. "Quite a show, isn't it?" They were alone, so there was no worry about anyone overhearing her. She wasn't, however, going to tell Yamaki about her meeting with the blonde girl and her subsequent battle with the big blue lizard. It would have been embarrassing to admit she actually had her hands full.

"A little extreme, wasn't it?" Yamaki asked his secretary.

Reika ran a hand though her long red hair. "Hmph," she growled. "It got the job done, didn't it? Besides they'll probably think it's one of those Human Anti-Digimon or Digimon Anti-Human groups or whatever's fashionable this year."

"He's still alive."

Reika looked crestfallen. "Awww! That's bloody great! I wasted a whole bomb on him!" she muttered. "He could have had the decency to die!"

"Well, I want you to finish off the job. Go to the hospital he was taken to tonight and kill him."

"Just great! More bloody work for me!"

Yamaki wasn't listening to her complaining; instead he was staring up at the smoke pouring out from the building above them.

"Boss?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

"He was there."

"Who was?"

"Oh," Yamaki replied, smiling. "Just a very old acquaintance…"

Suddenly, it went pitch black and he was somewhere else.

Koschei.

The voice came from everywhere at the same time but it did not worry Yamaki in the slightest. He rolled his eyes. "Oh, what is it now?" he demanded irritably. "I've followed your orders to the letter."

Insolent dog.

A sharp, white hot pain seared though Yamaki's mind, and he collapsed to the floor with a scream, clutching his head. "What have I done wrong this time?" he snarled though gritted teeth. "If it's about that Chosen Izumi, he's already being dealt with, so stop taking your frustrations out on me!"

It is not the Chosen of Knowledge I worry about, Koschei, it is the Chosen of Kindness that concerns me.

"Ken Ichijouji?" Yamaki said as he climbed back to his feet. "What about him?"

Knowledge gave him disc which has information that is very… sensitive, it may endanger what we are trying to do.

"Hmph, I'll deal with that personally, while my little assassin deals with Izumi." He paused for a second before continuing. "One other thing…"

Yes?

"The Doctor is here."

I know. And so is he.

"'He'?"

It does not concern you. Now go.

And with that Yamaki was back in Tokyo walking alongside Reika once again.

***

"Miyako?" Ken called as he walked into his family's apartment, throwing his coat onto a chair in the hall after removing his shoes. "Miyako! Are you home?"

There was no reply. She's probably taken the kids to their grandparents, he thought, and found a note confirming this in the kitchen. It also said that she would be back before six, bringing a takeaway dinner with her..

He had left the hospital after the doctor's there had told him his friend was stable, an hour after they had arrived. Realizing there was nothing more he could there, he had asked them if they could contact him when Koushiro had regained consciousness. He had caught a bus home and now he was alone in the apartment.

Or so he had thought.

As he entered the living room, he found an unexpected guest.

"Yamaki?!" Ken said, surprised and shocked to find him in his house. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

The blonde man was sitting back in an armchair, his fingers steepled. He was not wearing a business suit anymore; he was now wearing more casual clothes and a long, black leather coat, but he still wore the his trademark dark glasses. "Ah Mr. Ichijouji, I'm so pleased to see you," he said as he got up from his chair, smiling like shark. He started to walk towards the other man, which made Ken take an instinctive step back, but Yamaki stopped meter or so away from him. "Now would you please be ever so kind and give me the disc Mr. Izumi gave you earlier today?"

Yamaki's hand shot out and grabbed him by the throat, catching Ken completely off guard. The other man lifted him off the ground as if he weighed no more than a small child, Yamaki's expression changing into a snarl almost instantly. "I don't have time for games, Ken! Where is the disk?!"

Ken gasped for air, his eyes bulging. Yamaki's grip was like a vice, his strength unbelievable. "W-what disc?"

"I don't like it when people lie," he said simply, and tossed him across the room. He crashed into the wall and fell onto the floor.

"How utterly pathetic!" Ken's assailant spat. "The Digimon Kaiser indeed!"

Ken's eyes widened in shock. How the hell did he know that he was formerly the Kaiser?! Only his closest friends were aware of that!

"How did I know?" The man smiled, as if reading his mind. Yamaki walked slowly towards him. "My people have some very special talents…"

"Your people?!" Ken gasped, looking up at Yamaki as he rubbed his neck. "Do you belong to one of those Anti-Digimon Terrorist groups?"

Yamaki didn't answer his question, but shook his head instead. Smirking as he did so, he produced what looked like a black wand from the inside of his coat.

Yamaki noticed Ken's puzzled expression. "It's what you call a Tissue Compression Eliminator, or TCE for short." He pointed the strange device at the police detective. "I'm going to use it on you if you don't listen to me."

Ken held his hands up, as if he instinctively thought that would defend him. "Yamaki, what are you doing?!"

"It's not Yamaki," he corrected. "My name is the Master."

"What?!"

Yamaki - the Master removed his dark glasses with his other hand, staring deeply into Ken's eyes. "I am the Master, and you will obey me," he intoned slowly. "I am the Master, and you will obey me!"

"Huh…?" Ken muttered, completely confused now, but unable to tear his eyes away from the blonde man's. "Yamaki what are you -" Suddenly all resistance left Ken, his eyes going blank and lifeless, and his arms slumped to his sides.

"Very good , Ken," he told his hypnotized victim. "Now; where is the disk Koushiro gave you?"

Ken pointed into the hallway. "It's in my right coat pocket," he replied in monotone, his face still blank.

"Excellent," the Master said, a smile on his face. "Now I want you to go to bed and go to sleep, returning to normal when you wake, forgetting all about this disk and my little visit here. When your wife returns home, if she asks why you were in bed tell her you didn't feel very well. Do you understand, Ken?"

"Yes, my Master."

"Good. Now go."

Ken left the room without a word, his expression unchanged.

Not sparing a glance for Ken as he left the room, the Master left the living room and into the hallway. He picked up the police detective's coat and rummaged thought the pockets, eventually finding a small compact disc with the words Digital World Readings written in Japanese kanji on it's label. He placed it inside a pocket in his own coat and re-entered the living room.

Smiling in satisfaction, the Master unlocked a cupboard in the room - one that hadn't been there before - and climbed in, shutting the door behind him. A short while after he had closed the door, there was a strange noise, like the grinding of ancient machinery, and the cupboard faded into thin air…

To be continued…