"So, uh, Turner, what exactly are we doing?" Lyra still couldn't quite get what they were doing.

"Well, I got a scan on the Elements that Mr. Swirl used, so we can get a lock on the present-day Elements! From there, we can use those to defeat that evil whatever that appeared at the celebration!" Time Turner was erratically dancing around the console, hitting all sorts of devices that were beyond Lyra's capacities to understand.

"That actually seems pretty simple." Immediately after she said that, part of the console exploded.

"Why did you have to say that!?" He desperately pounded on the console.

"Say what?"

"'That actually seems pretty simple.' It's just asking for something to not be simple. You don't- you just never, never say that. You just don't." Flames erupted on the console. "Not good! This is anything but simple!" The STARDA continued to combust, and was left helpless, a leaf in the blue maelstrom of the Time Vortex.

"What are we going to do?"

"This!" Turner shouted, pulling down on a large lever. "Ha-ha!"

They sat there for a moment, silent.

Nothing happened.

Lyra broke the silence. "Why is it silent?"

Turner was nervously looking at the display on the monitor. "Well, either we've gotten lost in a parallel universe, or..."

"Or...?" Lyra responded.

"Or-" Turner was interrupted by a beeping on the monitor. "Or we've found an Element of Harmony!" He slowly walked to the door. "Well, here goes nothing!" With a clap, the doors opened into a limestone cave.

"We made it!" Lyra was overjoyed that she was still in one piece, somehow. "But wait, where's the Element?"

"I'm not quite sure. Wait, could that be it?" He walked into the cave. "What is that?"

In front of them was a glowing tablet. It was white, and had an hourglass symbol on it.

"This really is it! Here goes nothing, avante and all that!" He touched the tablet.

The tablet glistened, and the hourglass vanished, a hole in its place. A blue gem, shaped like that hourglass, emerged from the hole.

"Wow, looks like it's just for me!" He remarked, as the gem floated towards him "Hey, little buddy, what's your name?" There was a bright light, and then Turner could be seen, wearing the gem on some sort of golden necklace. "I did it. I DID IT! Ha-ha, the world is saved! All we need to do is use the STARDA and-" He was cut off by the STARDA. The lights inside went out with a dejected hum.

"That doesn't sound good..."

"No, it's not... Well," he said with a sigh, "we can only do one thing. Walk through the forest."

"Th- The EVERFREE FOREST!?" Lyra exclaimed. "But that's incredibly, dangerously, well, STUPID!"

"Exactly!" Turner replied. "So that's why I'm doing it! Avante!"

And they were off.

Author's Note

WHAAAT!?
I've gotten off of my butt and taken up this story again!?
Yup. I'm planning on revising some of the earlier chapters, and re-thinking an idea for an audio series.

Avante!