"Sally! We've got to go!!!" Jemima's voice shakes Sally out of her shock, as she suddenly sees a masked, Dark and Mysterious person dart in and take Itvasme to safety…
Sally has been constantly replaying the events from the EVP Blueprint Showdown in her mind, as she attempts to process what has actually happened…
She is now safely back at home, stroking her purring cat Jasper, surrounded by lots of leafy plants, and enjoying a well deserved Iced Tea.
On the plus side.
The Anti-Rizz Realm has successfully extracted the EVP Blueprint Technology from the Secret Island Network.
Tristen and Rowena both made a complete and full recovery of course as per the Script, although they were both understandably extremely upset that they had been unable to properly protect Ice Queen Sally from that "Diabolical and Devious Dark Rizzard" Itvasme.
"Sally..!!!" *sobs* Rowena actually cried a little - in a rare display of emotion - as she embraced Sally, who was actually mainly glad that Rowena was okay to be honest. She gave her a few consoling pats.
"It's all right, you did great Rowena, not to mention the Anti-Rizz Accounts Department were very pleased... You really made their day, when you made those Dark Rizzards pay…"
Rowena wiped away the tears from her pretty eyes and accepted Sally's support gratefully.
As expected of the future Ice Queen! Sally really was becoming, increasingly, someone that Rowena was proud to know and serve.
Tristen grimaced, as he rubbed his head where he had been smacked by a certain *rubber hand*, of all things - which had been wickedly wielded by the Grand Dark Rizzard Itvasme.
"I've got to hand it to her," he grudgingly acknowledged. "She was well… armed."
As the leader of the ARSES, he was originally… bummed out that he couldn't have an elite battle, but to be honest, he had lost a good deal of his vengeance-fueled, righteous motivation once he discovered that the unmasked Itvasme clearly wasn't actually the Dark Rizzard that had played and then betrayed the heart of the girl he had loved when he was younger.
Well, whatever. Much like a game of cards… Sometimes, you couldn't win all the… hands you were dealt. But next time, he would be ready! Tristen resolved, even as he drilled his 'hand-to-hand' combat techniques a few more times… 🫢
It also seemed that the Dark Rizzards were unable to get their hands on all 5 of the EVP Blueprint Pieces, although one of the Blueprint Pieces - Lazarus' - had gone missing…
Speaking of which, after Lazarus and Ly Ly's 'Stalemate', Ly Ly had been captured and handed over to the Authorities - apparently she was now in Police custody and would be soon questioned regarding her involvement with the Dark Rizzard Alliance…
Sally herself had also grown a great deal from the Experience, learning more about herself her values, and what was truly important, as well as building better relationships with her Anti-Rizz Realm family the ARSES.
For one thing, her control over her Anti-Rizz Powers had now significantly increased, and in particular, her use of [Absolute Zero] to preserve and protect as opposed to annihilate had been both an unexpected, and unprecedented outcome.
Sally was particularly grateful to Empress Bing Qi Ling for trusting her and supporting her to make her own decisions.
In particular, in an insane twist of Fate (aka Plot…), it turned out that Auntie Bing had enlisted the help of a certain person called 'Bob', whose timely arrival had definitely… changed things - and here Sally truly believed, for the better 🌻
That said, there were still many, many unanswered questions.
For starters, who in the world was that masked person!!?!?! That had come in at the critical moment and carried Itvasme away?!?!
And Bob. 'That Guy'. Well, after the events in the EVP Blueprint HQ, he was gradually getting upgraded, from 'That Guy' to maybe, just maybe… *and here Sally's cute cheeks tinged a touch* -'The Guy'…
Or was he 'The Guys'?
Bob had revealed to her earlier [in Chapters 140-141] that he had invented something called [True Multiple Projection] which meant that he was, according to her current knowledge, not just one Dream Guy, but potentially 5 Dream guys in one…
Sally could tell with her [Intuition of the Ice Queen] that there was… *something* going on, like seeing a partially completed puzzle - it was like trying to pull back at a curtain that had hidden the full view in all its glory… if only she could see the full picture…!!!
Certainly, one could see glimpses, of some clues.
For one thing, Bob had seemed completely unfazed by the masked, mysterious man's appearance. In fact, he had even nodded to her warmly, as if it was all within his expectations, as if this was all part of the plan?!?!
Bob's consummate calmness had somehow… changed Sally's perspective somewhat regarding how to interpret the events of the EVP Blueprint HQ.
Sally wanted to ask Bob more thoroughly about this, but there was, of course, you know, just a small, tiny-winy, teenie-weenie minor detail in the way.
This was, Namely, the fact that even though Sally felt she had a… certain connection to Bob thanks to her relationship with him as Allie… Bob didn't actually know that she was Allie yet!!!
As a result, their escape from the EVP Blueprint HQ and departure from the Secret Island Complex had been both comforting, and yet… closed.
They had conversed cordially - Bob had even complimented her on the clarity and control of her Coldness… ✨ but obviously the current and capacity for connection was completely different, compared to when she was Allie…
Perhaps this was the paradox of wanting to have true connection without taking the other person into true confidence.
As for whether to tell Bob that she was Sally… Sally sighed, thought about it, really thought about it, sat up as if to start… and then shook her head, upon seeing Author mouthing "No, not yet! I need to milk more Powerstones from this delicious tension…!!!" From backstage?!?!
Oh. She wanted to tell Bob, and she felt increasingly that this would be the right call, but right now, there were too many questions that needed answering. As Empress Bing had said, she needed to get more information, to make sure that Bob was the real deal…
and also, she wanted to find out, what exactly the deal was, with his [True Multiple Projections]…!!!!