The Protowing streaked through space on its urgent trip back to the FF7 world. "What do you suppose happened?" Red XIII inquired as Rudy piloted the vehicle.
"I don't know," Barret said. "But I wouldn't be surprised if those damn Umbrella and that Zenogias fellow are involved."
"Zenogias..." Vincent said darkly.
"Will you stop doing that and tell us about Zenogias?" Jill demanded.
Vincent sighed. "Very well."
"Oh no, it's a gratuitous flashback sequence!" Cait Sith exclaimed, but it was too late. Things were already fading out...
* * *
"All right, guys, we've got a new member today," Vincent said, addressing his three fellow Turks. "Meet Zenogias."
A tall, fairly skinny, man with long black hair and dark eyes stepped forward. In his general appearance, he looked like he was from Wutai. And indeed, after the introductions had been made, one of the Turks asked that question. "Not exactly," Zenogias replied with a chuckle. He turned away from the Turks for a moment, and then turned back. He now had a much longer nose and blue eyes.
The Turks stared at him. "You see, Zenogias can change the appearance of his face just like that," Vincent explained. "Needless to say, an ability quite useful in the Turks."
Zenogias turned away again and assumed his normal -- or at least those which he usually used -- features. "Don't woiry, I'll try not to scare you," Zenogias said. Although he had the ability to change his face, he did have an unmistakable New Jersey accent in any form.
* * *
Vincent opened his file cabinet, removed a folder, and set it down on his desk. While Zenogias waited, Vincent shuffled through the papers within and removed a few of them to give to Zenogias. "Those are all your procedures and whatnot," Vincent said.
Zenogias took them and held them to examine them. "By the way," he said casually, "do you know about something called 'Jenova'?"
Vincent stopped what he was doing and looked at Zenogias. "Why do you ask?" he asked suspiciously.
"I heard some people talking about it in the lobby," Zenogias said. "It was just a strange-sounding word."
Vincent could tell he was not telling the truth, and consequently did not plan to do so either. "I think it's something Gast and Hojo are working on," he said vaguely.
"Oh," Zenogias said. Vincent could tell that Zenogias knew he was lying, that he had been assigned to protect the Jenova Project before being promoted to leader of the Turks. This could get interesting, Vincent thought to himself.
* * *
"Why does it take five Turks to investigate an ice cream truck?" Wedge asked as the Turks cruised through pre-plate Midgar in their top secret Turkmobile.
There was silence from the other Turks -- Vincent, Zenogias, Vicks, and Inspector Gadget. "Is this a riddle or something?" Zenogias asked of Wedge.
"No, I just thought it was a little weird that they'd send all of us out on this mission."
"This is no ordinary ice cream truck," Vincent said, keeping his eyes on the road. "There's rumors that they're secretly selling drugs and illegal fireworks."
"Yeah, but still..." Wedge stopped speaking when he saw the ice cream truck passing by on the street. It was painting jet black, except for the skulls painted on the sides. The front of it was covered in spikes, and there were twin machine guns mounted to the top. Instead of the traditional bell to signify its arrival, this truck used a tape recording of sinister laughter, while a demonic voice sang "I scream, you scream, we all scream on the torture machine."
"There's the truck," Vincent said. "Zenogias, get ready." While Vincent pulled over to the side of the road and parked the Turkmobile, Zenogias changed his face to hide his normal appearance. He was already dressed in normal street attire as opposed to the Turks' traditional suits.
The five Turks got out. Vincent, Vicks, Wedge, and Inspector Gadget waited while Zenogias walked up to the truck and talked with its operator, a bald guy with a mustache and goatee, squinty eyes, a skull necklace, and a long black robe. Zenogias returned in a moment, carrying a Chocobo Beanie Baby. "He gave me this," he said. "Said he had no idea what I was talking about when I asked to buy drugs, and claimed all he sold was ice cream and Beanie Babies."
Vicks stared at the death-themed ice cream truck. "Yeah, right," he said.
"It's probably got drugs inside," Vincent said.
"We'll run this by the chocobo," Inspector Gadget said, taking the Beanie Baby from Zenogias. He opened up the trunk of the Turkmobile, revealing a drug-sniffing chocobo. Inspector Gadget passed the Beanie Baby over the chocobo's nose. The bird did not react.
"Guess not," Vincent said.
"Maybe it has fireworks intead," Vicks suggested helpfully. He took the Beanie Baby from Inspector Gadget and set it down carefully on the road. He struck a match and lit the plush chocobo on fire. Then he and the other Turks moved out of the way.
The chocobo burned quietly for a few seconds. Then green sparks burst out of the chocobo, at the same time a high-pitched howling sound started. The toy rocketed off the ground and soared across the street, trailing flames. It struck an office building and the entire building exploded.
The sinister-looking cart operator was jogging towards them. "Hey! What are you doing?" he shouted. "Don't set that off here! You're going to get me caught."
"You already are," Vincent said.
"Huh?" The cart operator stared at them through his beady eyes until something in his brain kicked in and he realized who they were. "Oh no! The Turks!"
The man turned and ran for his cart. "Go go Gadget Copter!" Inspector Gadget said. His gray hat folded open and a propeller came out. He flew down the street towards the ice cream truck, but caught the wind and was blown away, never to be seen again.
Meanwhile, the ice cream cart of doom was rolling towards the remaining Turks, pushed by the evil operator. The operator flicked a switch on the cart and the two machine guns burst into action, gunning down Wedge and Vicks.
"Oh my God, he killed Wedge and Vicks!" Vincent exclaimed. "You bastard!" In the Protowing, Cait Sith snickered.
The demon ice cream truck bore down on Vincent and Zenogias, its machine guns blazing. Vincent fired at the operator, but missed, then he and Zenogias took off running away from the truck. Zenogias stepped in a drying cement sidewalk block. His foot slipped and he fell to the ground, half in the street and half out. Vincent winced as the truck rolled over Zenogias's hand.
The ice cream man chased Vincent down the street and past the Turkmobile. As the truck rolled by the Turks' vehicle, its back doors suddenly burst open and the Chocobo, alerted by the smell of drugs from the ice cream cart, hopped out, warking loudly. It landed directly in front of the cart and knocked it over. The cart, Chocobo, and ice cream man landed in a jumbled heap on the sidewalk, causing some minor sparks. "Oh no, it's gonna blow!" the ice cream man said.
Thinking quickly, Vincent jumped into the Turkmobile. They'd left the keys in, so Vincent just stepped on the gas. He knew which way to go, and he could get far. As he passed by Zenogias, he reached out the open door and yanked the other Turk inside. The drug-sniffing chocobo scrambled away from the cart and ran after its masters. Shortly thereafter, the ice cream truck exploded, taking out its owner and a whole city block as well.
"The Prez isn't going to be too happy about that," Vincent said. "And we lost three Turks too. Guess it's just you and me." And you can't be trusted, he added silently.
Zenogias did not reply.
"How's your hand?" Vincent asked. "Need a bandage?" Vincent pulled over, tore a strip off the end of his sleeve, and tied it around Zenogias's injured right hand.
"Thanks," Zenogias said gruffly. He sat down in the passenger seat of the Turkmobile and said nothing more. Vincent drove them back to the Shinra Building, then a modest 20 floors, but his mind was on what he had seen while bandaging Zenogias's hand.
Underneath his skin there had been nothing but metal.
* * *
"So Zenogias is a Metal Demon," Cecilia concluded.
Vincent shrugged. "I don't know what he is, but that hand still gives me the creeps. That's not the end of the story, though."
* * *
Vincent made his way back to his office in the Shinra Building after a trip to the bathroom. He opened the door and stepped inside. Then he realized that he had forgotten to close the door on his way out. Either some helpful person had closed it for him, or somebody had been in his office and didn't notice that the door was open when they came in. Vincent feared it was the latter.
Remembering Zenogias's interest in the Jenova Project, Vincent went quickly to his file cabinet and looked for the Jenova Project file. It was there, looking normal. Vincent took it out and peered inside. The papers had been roughly shoved back in and weren't in order. That bastard probably photocopied them, Vincent thought. "Lucrecia!" he said, and ran out the door.
* * *
The Turkmobile pulled into the small research community of Nibelheim. The mountainside town was the home of both the Jenova Project and Shinra's experimental Mako reactor. "Yo' shoulda blown up the reactor right then," Barret interrupted.
Vincent parked the Turkmobile and ran to the nearest person. "Did somebody from the Turks come by here?" he asked. "I got left behind, and I'm trying to catch up to him."
The woman, seeing that Vincent clearly was a Turk, replied, "Yeah, but I think he went up into the mountains. Good luck finding him."
Vincent shrugged. "Thanks," he said, and ran for the mountains. He made his way up the trail through the gray-toned Nibel Range towards the Mako reactor. He rounded and bend and froze in horror. The bridge to the reactor had collapsed. He was stuck.
Then Vincent realized that unless the bridge had just collapsed, Zenogias couldn't have gone that way either. He began to look around and soon came across a cave in the mountainside. Vincent stepped inside. The cave was a long limestone passage, illuminated by irridescent fungi on the walls, and appeared natural. Vincent hurried down the passage, praying this was the right cave, and soon arrived at a circular room.
This room was most definitely not naturally formed -- it was jagged and irregular, and there was a hole in the cave roof. The hole was probably caused by the object that dominated the cave -- a silvery, pod-like vehicle, partially driven into the rock. Zenogias was currently attempting to pry it out with the aid of a sledgehammer.
Before Vincent had a chance to move, Zenogias was pointing his gun at him. "Don't try to stop me, Valentine," he said. "You don't have a chance against my powoi. You woin't such a bad guy, so don't make me kill you."
"What are you doing?" Vincent demanded. "And better yet, what are you?"
"I am one of the Quartoi Knights," Zenogias said. "I have recalled my mission at last. And I will not allow you to intoifere."
"Who writes your lines?" Vincent said. "You sound like an idiot, not to mention that accent."
"I warned you!" Zenogias thundered. He stood up and opened his eyes wide. Blue lasers flashed out and blasted Vincent in the arm. The Turk stumbled backwards against the cave wall, dropping his gun.
"Ah, the old eye laser," Vincent gasped, sounding oddly reminiscent of Cait Sith. "Always a good boss trick." Zenogias fired again just as Vincent bent to pick up his gun, and the lasers missed.
Vincent leapt at Zenogias and rammed him in the chest. Zenogias fell against the pod and his gun slipped to the floor. Zenogias fired another eye laser at Vincent, hitting him in the leg. Zenogias then hopped onto the top of his pod to fire again.
Vincent threw a Turk Light Ray at Zenogias. Zenogias dodged backwards and the beam hit the top of the pod. The pod rocked backwards, throwing Zenogias off and onto the cave floor, and rolled out of the crater it had been stuck in. "Ha!" Zenogias said. He threw open the glass windshield of the pod and jumped inside.
Vincent leapt for the pod, but Zenogias snapped the shield shut just in time. Vincent tried to force it back open. Zenogias pressed a button on the pod's control pod, locking the shield in place. With the flip of another switch, the pod's engines roared into life.
Vincent backed away from the pod. The pod, propelled by blue fire-emitting engines on its bottom, rose from the ground. Zenogias stared out the window at Vincent and made an obscene gesture. Then the pod took off through the hole in the cave and was gone.
Wounded in the battle with Zenogias, Vincent stumbled to the wall of the cave and sat down to rest and treat his injuries. That was his plan, at least. Not long after he sat down, he heard footsteps. Vincent stumbled to his feet in time to see Hojo enter the cave, accompanied by several SOLDIERs.
"So good to come visit Lucrecia and I, Mr. Valentine," Hojo sneered. "I'm sure that you'll be more than willing to aid me with... an experiment, right?"
Vincent looked wildly about for his gun, but one of the SOLDIERS clubbed him on the head with the butt of his rifle and knocked him unconscious.
* * *
"I hate to interrupt your story, but we're almost there," Rudy said.
"That's okay, I was almost done anyway," Vincent said. "Hojo took me to the Shinra Mansion, and you know the rest."
"So Zenogias was one of the Quarter Knights," Hanpan mused. "But what would he be doing on your guys' planet? And the Breath of Fire world?"
"That was the same Zenogias," Jane agreed. "He had the weird accent and that eye laser bit."
"Zenogias," Aerith said. "I know I've heard that name somewhere before..."
"Yeah, like the previous chapter," Sephiroth said.
"No, no, that's not what I meant. I meant somewhere a long time ago."
The Protowing descended through the atmosphere of the FF7 world and circled the planet towards Costa Del Sol. Rudy landed the vehicle outside the town, and the large band disembarked. They hurried down the sand-covered streets of the resort town to Cloud's villa.
Rufus pounded urgently on the door. "It's me, Rufus!" he shouted.
The door was answered promptly by Tifa, who urged them inside, where Cloud and Guido Sardenia were waiting. "What's going on?" Barret asked.
"Umbrella's going to fire the Sister Ray at Costa Del Sol," Tifa said desperately.
"The Sister Ray? That's impossible!" Rufus exclaimed. "We had to use 6 Mako reactors to get that thing running. There aren't even any more reactors in Midgar."
"I don't know, but you can see the thing charging up," Guido said. He went to the window and pulled the curtains back. Rufus looked out. In the sky to the northeast was a distinct blue glow. Although the Shinra Building could not be seen, the Mako glow from the cannon was clearly visible. "Luckily, they're taking their merry time."
"We still don't have any time to waste," Tifa said.
"Don't worry, everybody," Cloud said reassuringly. "The situation's all under control."
"Under control?" Cid exploded. "Are you #$%&*in' insane? In thirty minutes, this town's gonna be nothing but @$(%*."
"WHAT ABOUT MARLENE??" Barret demanded.
"That bastard Hojo," Sephiroth said. "The Jenova Project, this, and he killed my father too..."
"Should we tell him?" Cait Sith whispered to Red XIII.
"Let's not," Red XIII replied. "It might set him off again, and he's been much better about that lately. All those anger management sessions must have paid off."
"Why the hell are we sittin' 'round here?" Barret said. "Let's go stop that thing!" He ran out the door.
"Somebody's got to evacuate the town," Cecilia said.
Taking charge of the situation, Rufus looked around the room and selected a small group. "Vincent, Sephiroth, Jill, Rudy, Jack, Jane, you guys come with me," Rufus said. "The rest of you, get everybody out of town and up into the mountains. Aerith, take my door. I'm counting on you not to let anything happen to it." He reluctantly handed the door he had acquired in Castlevania to Aerith.
Rufus's chosen group hurried out of town to join Barret at the Protowing, leaving the others -- Cloud, Tifa, Guido, Cait Sith (left behind quite intentionally), Red XIII, Aerith, Cecilia, Elmina, Alucard, Cid, and Wesker -- to evacuate Costa Del Sol.
Rudy started the Protowing and flew towards Midgar. "We're going to have to go in by air," Rufus said.
"Right," Rudy agreed. "We've got parachutes."
As the Protowing approached Midgar, Rufus realized that the situation was a bit different than he had expected. The last he had seen of Midgar, the Sister Ray was still perched on a tower in Sector 8. Now, however, the gigantic cannon was attached directly onto the top floors of the Shinra Building. From the barrel of the cannon radiated a slowly-increasing charge of Mako. "They've got the cannon on the Shinra Building," Rufus said. "This changes things a bit. All right, we've got to land on the roof."
Rudy opened the door and leaned out. "Not much wind," he observed. He quickly slammed the door shut and piloted the Protowing directly over the Shinra Building. "Okay, guys. I'll have to stay here."
"We be goin' in!" Barret said, throwing on his parachute and jumping out of the Protowing. The others, except Rudy, followed him.
The group landed on the roof of the Shinra Building. Rufus and Barret were familiar with the building and ran to the stairs. Vincent, Sephiroth, Jill, Jack, and Jane followed them.
The stairs lead to what used to be Rufus's spacious office on the 70th floor. The office looked much the same as before, but sitting in the big chair behind the desk was Professor Hojo. Hojo looked up at the sound of footsteps and saw Rufus pointing his shotgun at him. "Someone's been sitting in MY chair," Rufus said.
Hojo stood up. "Welcome to the Umbrella Building," he said. "Heh, heh, heh."
"What are you doing alive, Hojo?" Vincent demanded. "I saw you die!"
"Heh, heh, heh," Hojo said. "Umbrella was kind enough to inject my body with the G-Virus and bring me back to life. Heh, heh, heh. The G-Virus reacted with the Jenova cells and restored my human form. You see, although the G-Virus has similar effects as the Jenova Virus, they are almost exact opposites in structure. So when combined in one individual, they counteract each other, and no mutation occurs. And as you can see, it even reverses a previous mutation. That was an unexpected bonus. If Umbrella ever has any more trouble like the Birkin incident, all it takes is an injection of the opposite virus to cancel the mutation."
"Why are you telling us all this?" Jill asked.
There was a long silence. "I don't have the slightest idea," Hojo said eventually.
"I thought so," Jill said smugly.
"I'm afraid you're too late," Hojo said. "In fifteen minutes your friends in Costa Del Sol are toast. Heh, heh, heh."
"Yeah, too late, that's what they all say," Jane countered. "Can't you bad guys ever write an original speech? You're too late, blah, blah, you're just in time to witness my triumph, blah, blah, you did well to get this far, blah, blah, I was expecting you, blah, blah, your journey ends here, blah, blah, now I will show you my power, blah, blah, join me and we will rule the world together, blah, blah. Oh, and you have to reveal your true form."
Hojo appeared offended. "I happen to have a degree from Ghaleon's Villain Correspondence School," he said in hurt tones. Then his normal attitude returned and he added "Heh, heh, heh."
"Stop laughing!" Rufus shouted. "You're worse than Heidegger!"
"Heh, heh, heh," Hojo said. "Now prepare to witness the ultimate horror. Heh, heh, heh."
"Heh, heh, heh, yourself, foo'" Barret said. "We already beat Yuffie. What could be worse than that?"
"Watch and learn, Sephiroth," Hojo said. He pressed a button on the U-shaped desk. The lights in the office dimmed and a mirrored ball from the ceiling descended. Colored lights flicked on and illuminated the floor in a pattern of squares. Then the music began, and Hojo started dancing.
Jack and Jill ran up the stairs to fetch a pail of water, or rather to get away from the nausea-inducing experience below. They were followed close behind by Rufus, Vincent, Sephiroth, Barret, and Jane. Rufus slammed the door to the stairs behind him when they were back safely on the roof.
"Disco Hojo," Sephiroth said. "He's right. That is the ultimate horror."
"What are we gonna do?" Vincent said. "And you're not going to get any more points for saying 'We gotta believe!' Oh, that reminds me, I had a PaRappa reference in my story."
"Yeah, but it was the car one," Hanpan protested. "That's been done to death. It was in Domino and it was in Blue and Green. I don't think you deserve any points, buster."
"Shu' up and think of summin' to do!" Barret snapped.
Vincent pulled his cloak up over his head. "Maybe this will protect me."
"Probably not," Rufus replied.
Vincent tugged his cloak back down. "I can't see anyways," he agreed.
"I've got an idea," Jane said. "Any volunteers?"
"What are we volunteering for?" Jill asked suspiciously.
"Okay, thanks," Jane said. She fired her Olestra Shot ARM and covered Jill's head with a big gooey blob of Olestra. "That should protect you from just about everything." Jill mumbled something in reply. Jane pushed her towards the door. Jill managed to open it and stumbled down the steps to the 70th floor.
Hojo was still dancing. Seeing Jill enter, he turned towards her, pointed, and shouted "Disco Inferno!" Flames erupted around Jill, but Jill fired in the direction Hojo's voice had come from and hit him on the shoulder. Hojo lost his concentration and the spell ended. Jill then took a number of shots at the ceiling until she hit the mirrored ball. The ball crashed to the floor, landed on the desk, and hit the button to turn the lights off.
Jill ran back up the stairs to the roof. "Is it safe now?" Jack asked. Jill mumbled something through the Olestra.
Sephiroth looked around for something to remove the Olestra, but came up empty-handed. "Stay here," he said. "We'll get Hojo." He ran off down the stairs.
"Sephiroth, wait!" Vincent shouted. He and the others members of the group -- minus Jill -- ran back down into the 70th floor just in time to see Hojo leaving through a glass door in the middle of the huge window behind the desk, with Sephiroth chasing him.
"Hey, that door didn't use to be there," Rufus said. He pushed it open as it started to close and they stepped out a narrow steel catwalk that led to the control panel of the Sister Ray, which was affixed to the Shinra Building with long beams riveted to the walls. Far, far, below them sprawled the vast cityscape of Midgar.
Hojo was standing at the control panel, his hand on a lever. Sephiroth was running towards him, the Masamune raised aloft. "Get back," Hojo threatened. "The Sister Ray's ready to fire. All I have to do is flip this lever and you can kiss Costa Del Sol goodbye."
Sephiroth ignored him and kept running. "You killed my father!" he shouted.
"No, Sephiroth," Hojo said. "Lucrecia never told you. I am your father!"
"Nooooooo!" Sephiroth cried, leaping at Hojo. Hojo moved to pull the lever, but Sephiroth cut him down with the Masamune. Hojo slumped to the ground.
Sephiroth stared down at Hojo's body. There was silence. Then Hojo stumbled to his knees. "Now you're gonna pay," he hissed. His body started to expand and turned purple. Huge claws sprouted from his hands, and a grotesque red eyeball sprouted in his right shoulder.
"What can I say? He really does have bad lines," Jane quipped.
Tyrant-Hojo advanced on Sephiroth, but passed right through his phantasmal figure. Ignoring Sephiroth, Hojo stomped towards the rest of the party, who were trapped on the catwalk. Jack tried the door. "Crap," he said. "It's locked from the inside."
Vincent started pumping bullets into the mutated form of Hojo, but they had little, if any, effect. Barret tried to ram the door open. "That door's made out of glass!" Rufus protested. "You'd be crazy to break it!"
"You see any other 'ternative?" Barret shot back.
Vincent kept firing at Tyrant-Hojo, even though it was doing no good. "Vincent, catch," a voice said from the roof. Vincent looked from side to side, and then looked up just in time to see a rocket launcher hurtle down, hit him on the head, bounce off, and plummet down towards the city.
"You idiot!" Jane screeched. "You were supposed to catch that!"
Sephiroth ran at Hojo and started slashing at him with the Masamune. Hojo paused just long enough to turn and knock the Masamune away with a swing of his claw. The Masamune arced across the catwalk and landed point-first in the Sister Ray.
Barret continued to bash the door, but it appeared to be reinforced against breaking and did not budge. Jack leapt at Hojo with a Trump Card. Hojo batted him backwards. Jack slammed into the side of the Shinra Building and fell. He managed to grab onto the side of the catwalk and hung there, trying to pull himself back.
A blue blur whizzed up from below. It was Hanpan. The others had not even noticed him disappear, but he had returned, and he was someone managing to carry the rocket launcher, despite its hefty size. "Do I have to do all the work around here?" Hanpan lamented.
Floating in the air near the girder, Hanpan raised the rocket launcher to fire. As Tyrant-Hojo raised a claw to slash Rufus, Hanpan fired a rocket. It hit Hojo dead-on and blew him into a shower of Hojo Helper.
"That was close," Jack said needlessly.
"What did you do that for?" Vincent demanded of Hanpan. "I wanted to kill Hojo."
"You?" Sephiroth scoffed. "Look what he did to me."
"I should have been the one that killed him," Rufus said.
All three turned to Hanpan. "You stupid rat!" they yelled.
Hanpan sighted down the barrel of the rocket launcher at them. "There's still another rocket in here," he warned.
That silenced them. Sephiroth went to retrieve the Masamune from where it landed in the Sister Ray. A thought occured to him and he silenced through some wires on the back of the cannon, disabling it. Then he broke through the locked door and they returned to the roof, where an Olestra-covered Jill was waiting. Rufus signalled up to Rudy in the Protowing.
"The question is, who threw the rocket launcher?" Jack asked. Hanpan had handed the weapon over to him, not wanting to lug it around.
"Wasn't it you, Jill?" Rufus said.
"No," Jill said. "I can't see a thing. How could I throw you a rocket launcher?"
"It was probably Rudy, then," Jane said. "He does have a rocket launcher."
The Protowing descended to a level equal with the roof and Rudy opened the doors. The group climbed in. "Thanks for tossing us the rocket launcher,"
"Rocket launcher?" Rudy said. "What are you talking about?"
There was silence as everyone looked at each uncomfortably. Hanpan started humming the Twilight Zone theme. "It sounded like Lucrecia's voice..." Vincent said quietly.
"No way, it had to be Pepsiman," Jack insisted.
"The Turks, probably," Sephiroth said.
"Palmer?" Rufus suggested.
"It was King Truffle," Barret declared adamantly.
They all turned to stare at him. "KING TRUFFLE?"
"Okay, maybe not," Barret said sheepishly.
"Well, since it doesn't seem to belong to anybody we know, I guess I'll keep it," Jane said as the Protowing flew back towards Costa Del Sol.
| Next chapter: Delivering a Thousand Smiles a Day |