Harry and Benjamin went back to their base of operations as Chi-Chi stood there and waited for them to return. Benjamin plopped himself onto the couch and buried his head in a nearby pillow. Chi-Chi asked what had happened while she left. Harry explained the events while Chi-Chi was in the bathroom.

“...And that’s the gist of it.” Harry finished the long story.

“Really?” Chi-Chi asked, lowering her head.

The two looked over at Benjamin, who now sat on the couch. His head hung low, and his hands covered his face.

“Poor Master’s been like that ever since we came back,” Harry added.

“Man, I wish I had seen it...” Chi-Chi moped.

“Chi-Chi!” The hamster glared at her.

“What? Those parts before the anti-climax sounded awesome!” The guinea pig tried to defend.

“Yeah, and it was,” Harry said confidently, before realizing what he was saying and shook his head. “But that’s beside the point.”

“How can we cheer him up?”

“I don’t know, but, I mean, we have to try it, eventually!”

“Poor Master...”

Benjamin pulled his hands away from his face and sighed, wiping the tears from his eyes.

“What am I doing?” He mumbled to himself.

“Uh... sulking?” Chi-Chi said bluntly. Harry scowled at her. “What?”

“I don’t know what to do anymore...” Benjamin continued.

“What do you mean, Master? You always have a backup plan.” Chi-Chi said.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Yeah, don’t give up just yet,” Harry added.

“Did I say I would give up?” Benjamin asked.

“Well, no, we just assumed that...”

“Then again, maybe I should do that at this rate...”

“No, don’t do that!”

“Uh, well, you said the crystal sphere was in her computer, right?” Chi-Chi inquired.

“Well, yeah,” Harry replied. He did not understand where she went with this.

“Maybe if we steal the device or interrogate her to help us get it out of the laptop...”

Harry smiled and chipped in, too. “...we can get our revenge, get the sphere back, find a way back home, and complete our assignment on time!”

The two animals cheered, but Benjamin did not react.

“How did you think up something like that so quickly?” Benjamin questioned.

“It... just came to us,” Chi-Chi replied. “Do you not like the plan?”

“No, it’s not like that. It’s a good idea, but I don’t know where to start.”

“Really? But that should be obvious. We break into her house to steal something from her that she finds precious and use it as a hostage.”

“Or an alternative,” Harry added, “We kidnap the girl and the computer and threaten her to make her help us or else.”

“Huh, that sounds rather evil.”

“We learned from the best!” The animals shouted in unison.

Benjamin couldn’t help but smile at that response. The two siblings told him to wait there as they headed to the kitchen. When they came back, Benjamin noticed they brought some flour with them.

The animals threw it in the air, causing the flour to go everywhere when it landed on them. Benjamin smirked and snickered at seeing their little stunt.

“Ok, I’ll admit, that’s funny,” Benjamin replied, as he got up and smacked his cheeks. “All right, the dark magician is back!”

“Hooray, that’s our Master!” Harry and Chi-Chi cheered after seeing the magician back on his feet again. They shook all the flour off them before joining him.

“I may be down, but there is no way I am out!” Benjamin declared with a pose. “And as long as I’m here, I’ll make that Isabelle’s life miserable.” He turned to his sidekicks. “Battle stations, you two, it’s time to prepare, and we have a lot of business to do.”

“Yes, sir!” The two animals shouted and saluted.

As the three headed off, their motion got interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Who could it be now?” Benjamin complained.

“I have no clue, but I’ll go get it,” Chi-Chi said, while going over to the door.

“Wait, at least check and see who it is first.”

“On it.” Chi-Chi jumped up on the doorknob and peeked through the security peephole. “Hey, Master?”

“Yeah?”

“Forget about that plan earlier.”

“What? Why?”

“Why even bother going to her, when she can just come to us?”

Benjamin’s confusion slowly turned into a horrid realization. “Oh, no.” His eyes widened as he extended his arms upon seeing Chi-Chi try to open the door. “Wait, don’t open the door!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll let you in,” Chi-Chi chirped.

“Hey, what did she mean by...?” Harry started.