—Eladea— I apologize for summoning you all in here so late, everyone... —Eladea— But... this is a discussion that would perhaps be best kept away from the Goddess, for the time being... Not to say I endorse the notion that we should speak untruthfully to her, of course-- —Helen— We get it, El. Everyone here? Besides the obvious. —Rilly— Where's Coral? —Casandra— Her? She went home a few hours ago. Guess once the fun stopped she didn't wanna hang out anymore. Everyone who matters is here. Start. —Helen— Let's get to it then. —Helen— Polyta and Jiro are missing. Now, I'm not, like, worried about them, or anything. I wanna make that clear. I wasn't even-- I don't even care. They're whatever. To me. —Eladea— Helen. —Helen— Right. Sorry. The issue is. Jiro was our Love Champion, and Polyta was our best fighter. Plus... she was the closest thing we had to a leader. Without Jiro, we can't use our Love Powers. Without either of them? We're pretty much undefended. You can't take care of yourselves? Such weakness... —Casandra— You ain't exactly an unholy terror yourself there, squirt. —Rilly— Awww, c'mon guys! We can hold our own pretty good, I'd say! Me myself, I'm a real tough customer with my ribbons! —Helen— Against Proteus' whole army? Even just the big guy himself... he's tougher than you think. Trust me on this. Look, we need a solution, fast. Either we find Jiro and Polyta and get them out of that labyrinth below the island or... augh, I don't even know. There has to be something! I can't relax on this island if it's constantly under fire!! I will not spend all eternity being crushed underfoot! It was meant to be different here... —Yuno— Um... maybe... is there something Zabelle can do? She's a, um, a witch, right? Can she, cast some kind of, um, protection spell...? —Zabelle— Sorry, Yuno... not that kind of witch... —Rilly— What kind even are you, hahaa? —Zabelle— Oh you know... I do portals... some alchemy... If any of you need to enchant new graphics runes into your Gaming Mirror I can do that also... Although... —Zabelle— If we do go rescue Jiro and Polyta... and that is the way this meeting is going, right...? —Helen— Yeah... pretty much. —Zabelle— This is a Bottled Homecoming... open it and it conjures a magic portal home, wherever that is... With one of these... we only need to get to Jiro and Polyta. The journey back to Hollidae will be as easy as uncorking this, and stepping through... —Casandra— Cuts out half the mileage, huh? Although. That does raise the question of which of us unlucky shmucks is going into the spike labyrinth to deliver that thing. —Eladea— If it must come to that... I am prepared to take the risk, and go down myself. It's my responsibility to tend to the Goddess' needs, and right now, she needs her Champion. —Helen— On your own? Don't be stupid, El. If you're going down there, I'm coming with you. —Yuno— I-- I-- I wanna help too!!! I've already been down there, so I, um, I know what to expect, and, and... I want to show Polyta... that I can prove-- Shut up all of you. None of you are going. You'll all get yourselves killed, permanently, and then I'll end up stuck here dealing with the aftermath. —Eladea— I know the danger I face, but my duty to the sanctity of this island-- I'm going. Alone. —Helen— On your own? Don't be stupid, Nix-- You will SLOW ME DOWN. —Helen— Alright... sheesh... I am leaving tonight. I am dealing with this. And then this whole AFFAIR will be OVER. —Yuno— But, um, Nix... —Yuno— Are you really sure you want to go back so soon? I'm sure. —Yuno— It's just, um, it sounded like... like you spent a long, long time down there already, and, um... I would have thought, you know... I don't care. It's nothing to me. I already got out once.

Lum says:
Welcome back, everyone! In case you didn't know, we launched a Patreon over the break! Go check it out! (Also, I'm gonna be taking another 3 week break like a month from now lmao. Just a heads up!)