Kahli looked deep into G'athoong's glistening, reptilian eyeball. The dragon was honestly a little intimidating, but Kahli was doing her best not to give that away.

"So, G'athoong, why do you think me and my companions are the people that ought to fight this fight for you?"

Well, you won't have to do it all alone. I'm more than happy to be part of the resistance against Basstardio, however, I do hope you'll understand that his obsidian net has a certain power over dragons that gives me serious pause at the idea of fighting him directly. I don't want to lose my own freedom in a bid to save B'raahsiet - what good would that do?

Kahli didn't necessarily agree with all of this. In all honesty, she felt like G'athoong was being a little cowardly and she didn't really respect it, although she did understand. That being said, she didn't feel like saying anything to that degree - she'd seen the other scenarios by this point and didn't want to get murdered. So instead she just kind of stood there for a moment, staring into the dragon's eye, trying to think of what to say.

What? Why are you looking at me like that?

"I don't know," said Kahli.

You're not hitting on me, are you?

Kahli was filled with disgust at this notion. "Me? What? No! Not at all, G'athoong!"

That's what they all say. You're definitely hitting on me.

"No, G'athoong, I'm definitely not. I was just trying to think of what to say."

By staring soulfully into my dragon eye?

"That was not what I was doing!" Kahli was feeling very self conscious. She didn't know how to respond to this dragon - it was like she just didn't believe her when she said she wasn't interested!

Look, live in denial all you want, I won't do anything.

Kahli uncomfortably walked away from G'athoong's huge eyeball and shivered a little. However, in that moment, a bird passing overhead decided to relieve itself at an inopportune time. Its excrement landed on Kahli's face, distorting her vision and causing her to jump in shock. This jump, led to a stumble, which became a tumble, and before she knew it, she was falling right off the side of G'athoong!

Thankfully, she could just summon up another big rock and start treading air. Something this messy was gross, but, in the end, trivial. Eventually, Kahli had kicked her way back up to G'athoong and was sitting atop her scaly back.

"How did the talk with G'athoong go, Kahli?" asked Sahdi as she started weaving strands of her hair into the shape of a crown across her forehead.

"How do you think it went, Sahdi?" Kahli frowned.

Sahdi looked at Kahli's countenance, and for a second, she actually laughed. "I would say, if it doesn't offend you, I would say it went kind of shitty, honestly."

Kahli laughed a little bit, too. "Yea, I agree. Only problem is, I think G'athoong thinks I'm in love with her or something. Which, uh, to clarify, I'm definitely not."

"Yea, I wouldn't take you for someone into dragons in that way," said Sahdi, trying to hold back what looked like even more laughter. "Or in any way, honestly. You seem pretty dragon agnostic. I appreciate that in a tauman."

Kahli and Sahdi looked at each other for a second.

"Uh," Kahli cleared her throat and wiped the bird shit off her face. "So, I'm going to go learn how to meditate with Unit 5a23, I guess."

"Oh, cool, that sounds fun. Only, here, take this [enchanted] kerchief to wipe off your hands and face, it'll keep all the bird shit off you." Sahdi tossed Kahli a silken cloth with paisley patterns woven into it.

"I can't tell if you're being serious, Sahdi," said Kahli as she wiped herself with the cloth. It smelled effervescent. "About the meditation with Unit 5a23 sounding fun, I mean."

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"And maybe you'll never know." Sahdi tilted her chin up and frowned a little in a cheery fashion.

"Okay," Kahli said as she walked towards the robot, who was floating in the air with his legs crossed.

"Wait, Kahli, you never told me. Are we going to go looking for G'athoong's long lost girlfriend?"

[End scenario]

Kahli was standing in the void with Froufrou again.

"Well, that sure was a weird timeline," she said. Her voice echoed in the void, which was confusing. Then again, it was as established not a true void as much as it was a semi-void as proved by Kahli's rock attack returning to her while fighting the jellyfish, so the echo made enough sense after all after Kahli gave it ample consideration. "But, whatever. That's why I get three I guess. I'm happy to pick the second scenario."

Froufrou released a stinky squelch.

"Yea, I thought the same about that third timeline, Froufrou, it was a bad one. I mean, I got bird poop on my face! That's so gross. Why would I pick that timeline? It made me look like an idiot!"

Froufrou released a stinkier squelch, as if to imply that she disagreed with Kahli's prior assessment of her opinion regarding the third scenario.

"What, you mean you think that the third scenario was the best? Why do you think that? What about that scenario could've possibly been ideal? It was embarrassing, and I got like no information out of the dragon. It sucked, Froufrou, if we're being honest here!"

Froufrou squelched against this assessment, sticking to her guns. She was making it clear to Kahli in her own way that she preferred if they chose the third timeline.

"Really? You really do want to pick the third timeline, don't you, Froufrou?"

Froufrou squelched, and while it smelt terrible, it was clear to Kahli what she wanted.

"But what were the merits of that timeline? What about that timeline could possibly be preferable to, say, the timeline where G'athoong told me all that cool dragon stuff?"

Froufrou squelched.

"Okay, well, I guess there is the bit where G'athoong already told me all the cool dragon stuff, so I already know much if not all of it. And with that, even though it sounded like she was going to tell me something cooler at the end of the scenario, maybe what actually would've happened is, she would've told me something boring, or stupid, or maybe both. That happened one of the last times I picked the second scenario, I ended up with a bit of a dud honestly. So, with that, those are the drawbacks of scenario two. But what was so good about scenario three, again?"

Froufrou squelched matter-of-factly.

"Alright, alright, okay, so one thing that was cool is that I didn't end up deciding whether we'd help G'athoong or not. Which, honestly, I still haven't decided. And, with all the awkwardness about G'athoong thinking I'm intersted in her, which was very awkward by the way, it did distract from the whole question of would I help or not maybe to the point where I could get away with not answering anybody. Which, honestly, would be the ideal here - in an ideal world, I'd like to not have to worry about that. Like, sounds like a great quest. But also, like, what if I don't want to do it? I haven't made up my mind, and maybe if I chose scenario three, then maybe I won't have to."

Froufrou squelched with a hesitant optimism.

"Yea, well, I think you've successfully won me over, Froufrou. It was the last thing I was expecting, but somehow, you managed to convince me that I ought to take scenario three."

Froufrou squelched with pride.

"I've got to say, Froufrou, having you here to help me pick out my timelines has been so helpful! You're a much better sounding board than that awful jellyfish ever was. I'm thrilled that I'll get to keep doing this with you!"

Froufrou squelched in agreeance.

Kahli then realized she hadn't used her new [skill]'s power yet to twist a timeline! Was it worth twisting a timeline? Kahli didn't even know what twisting a timeline could do to it! Still, she felt like she'd be foolish not to at least try it out, right?

[Clarification: Your power to twist timelines works on one scenario per checkpoint. Froufrou has already implemented this aspect of your skill once, with success, in order to assist you in fighting the big jellyfish, thanks to your ability to share skills with one another. In her previous, untwisted timeline, Omar never came up into the air with a sack full of books to hit you with - he just came up and started yelling at you instead.]

"Wait, what?" Kahli looked at Froufrou. "Froufrou, you absolute queen! I had no idea you were so clever! And, so if I'm understanding my system correctly, twisting a timeline actually changes the past as well as the scenario itself? So when you used it and twisted a scenario, Froufrou, in order to help us defeat that jellyfish, you actually changed the past?"

Froufrou squelched in agreeance.

Kahli was almost shaking with shock. She was starting to wonder what all this meant. Twisting timelines could, apparently, twist the entire timeline? What would that even look like? What all could she do with it? What were the implications.

"Froufrou, this [skill] is kind of terrifying."

Froufrou squelched in agreeance.

Kahli felt her mind reeling as she considered the implications, wondering if she was even truly herself. Did some past Kahli die, or cease to exist, due to the twisted timeline? That couldn't be the case, right, seeing as when she viewed the scenarios, it was always her experiencing it... Still, she was a little murky on this new power. That said, she felt it was an option that might be best used only when needed. And it didn't seem vital to be used for this set of scenarios. Froufrou agreed with a heart squelch.

"Alright, then, Froufrou. Scenario three it is. Let's see if I can get away with no commitments to save G'athoong's girlfriend - then ti'll be a real win."

With that, she selected the scenario with confidence.