Cal walked into the Frog’s front yard just as he was making another offer to Emily.

“I have decided to take you on as my student. I will expect these people to make you aware of their time loops, and with each new loop, you will come to me for further training. As I said, what they made you suffer through you poor child, will likely never be undone, but I can help all your minds find their sense of self again, and with that, I think healing can truly begin,” Glrum said.

“It’s refreshing to see you do have a heart, you know that,” Cal said as he entered.

“Have I really never shown it before?” Glum responded, looking rather shocked at Cal.

“You have lightened up before, but I don’t think ever to this extent. Thank you for agreeing to help Emily,” Cal smiled at Glurm, one of the few times he had meant the kindness implied by it for the frog.

“Hrm, perhaps I have become too cranky in my old age. We will see how training my new student helps with that. Come, child, today you are going to eat our first mana-infused fruit, and we will discuss guided meditation,” Glurm said as he left the room. Emily looked to Bug and Cal for permission.

“It’s alright, Glurm is likely the best teacher you could ask for on there, far better than we ever could be as things stand,” Cal said.

“And I’ll visit, I promise!” Bug called after Emily as she gave in and followed Glurm.

“Come on, Bug, let’s go check on Dad before he loses his mind from the weird magic and science talk,” Cal said, ushering Bug out of the room as well.

When he found his father, the man had already given up and was sitting on the ground snacking on something, and shaking his head at the pair still talking of the plan. “Cal, you sure this is safe?” He asked, having spotted Cal.

“Nope, Libby, Excalibur, final opinion? Is it safe or not?” Cal asked.

“I agree with Libby and Andrew’s findings. I believe it is entirely safe, and even the possibility of ending their loop early to be extremely minimal. They will need to be at the center of Ethel’s realm, and all of them will need to have their mana spirits present, but it will work if you can get at least ninety percent of them ready to do it,” Excalibur answered.

“Well, that’s some rare good news,” Cal said. This was about to be a dramatic shift in power. They were going to have to figure out how to all train together safely and, for that matter, how to grow and live together. This would be a lot of new time-aware humans in the voidhouse. The expansion of the living space had moved up to an extreme priority, as had an increased area to grow crops. They needed to make sure they couldn’t be so easily cut off again.

Stolen novel; please report.

“So I take it Glurm is willing to help Emily?” Stan asked.

“Surprisingly, he seems to genuinely care about what happened to them and wants to take them on as his student,” Cal responded. He was a bit grateful to Glurm for this one, as he had no idea how to really help Emily. He would make sure the Agency regretted their actions, though. That much he was capable of.

“Yeah, honestly, he isn’t bad at the whole training thing, as much as an ass as he can be,” Stan said with a loud sigh.

“Please make sure they are okay, Dad,” Bug said, wagging her tail furiously.

“I will, I promise, now you three should probably get back and start planning for your grand project. If you pull that off, it’s going to be interesting,” Stan said.

“I know. We also still need to figure out what to do with the multitude of prisoners once Harold and Glenn finish cataloging them all,” Cal said. The fact that Harold had become such an important part of their fight was something Cal wouldn’t have expected in his first meeting with the man, but now, without him, he had no idea if they could win. He owed it to the man to rescue his granddaughter and even save his grandson if possible.

“You think we are ready to train an army?” Stan asked, delaying his previous suggestion.

“I have no idea. It was obviously going to happen eventually, and we had already had a big discussion on it. It’s just happening a lot faster than I would have expected,” Cal wasn’t sure when his plans would have really started kicking into high gear, but fate had a way of pushing them whether you ready or not. He wished he had Andy around for help.

“Probably the best answer I could expect. We’ve all grown a lot in this time, you maybe more than anyone. Your mom would be insanely proud of what you’ve accomplished. You too, Bug. I wish she was here to see it,” Stan said, his voice cracking slightly.

“I’m not sure how well she would have taken to Bug’s ability to talk, though; then again, the one from the other universe didn’t seem to have much of a problem with it,” Cal said. He didn’t like to think of her. He had no idea where she was and what she was doing, and while he was glad she had saved him during the repeated loop ends, he still wasn’t sure how to treat her.

“I miss Mom. She always had the best treasts,” Bug said, prompting Cal to lean down and scratch behind her ears.

“Alright, before we depress ourselves even more, it is time for us to get back. Ready, Libby?” Cal asked, decided he wanted to think about this topic less. He loved his mother and always would, but for some reason, that pain was always there.

“I am,” the robot answered.

“Good luck,” Stan said as the three of them departed. Cal hoped they didn’t need the luck, but with the way his life had gone, he was always willing to take as much of it as he could get.