The Azguards’ old nation, from before the empire spread, consisted of four worlds: Azguard, rock and water world mid system, Krakken IV, a desert and dirt world alittle closer to the local star, Hurok, a glacial world with ancient enemy installations dotting its’ surface, and finally Hephastus, the woodland home of the Vrakken and some say the Jewel of the Azguard System.

And now that the coalition had been formed, Regrad had a mission: Secure his space, reunite his system, and prepare for war. He knew war was coming: The coalition was too strong, too much of a contender for galactic dominance, for the empire to just disregard. Either the empire would strike first in an attempt to quash them early, or they would strike in an attempt to destroy the evil that the empire represents.

Either way, this was the calm before the storm…

So he would do what he could to be prepared when the time came to fight alongside his allies, and to do that he needed Hephastus. Its’ verdant world was not safe outside the boundaries of coalition space, and its’ people were of such stock as to be a real boost to the Coalition, if only they were given the opportunity.

The Vrakken were similar in some respects to Azguards; Both were noble, brave, fearsome, tall, but they were also different because while Azguards are only fierce and noble in times of great importance, Vrakken are always so. They were a true warrior people, who had never advanced far enough to reach to the stars.

For a short time, the Azguards lived here too. They had come as a part of a colony operation when the Vrakken had been discovered. Then there had been a brief time of peaceful coexistence, until the corrupted government of Azguard ordered the Vrakken lands seized.

This had been a pivotal, nay vital occurrence in the Azguard history. Suddenly, unexpectedly, the local Azguard forces decided to disobey the order. This had been the first time a military force of Azguard had ever refused the orders of their superiors. Suddenly Hephastus became a revolution world, completely against the sudden corruption of their once beloved government. The battles lasted for several days, until Regrad Returned.

He had been lost in space for some time, after a hyperspace accident. He had just returned to find that there was a rebellion. After finding the facts, he sided with the rebels. This was an unheard-of move, and soon he was leading the rebels to victory.

But then, massive Azguard warships came to blast them out of existence, and would have had not another pivotal moment occurred. A Mon Calamari scout had discovered this scene, and had quickly reported it. A massive Calamarian fleet came in, and was able to negotiate the conveyance of peace. Once the corruption of the Azguard High-command was discovered, Regrad was put in charge.

This had been Azguards’ greatest encounter with outsiders until then, and the effect is still apparent today. Not too long after taking control, Regrad shut off all outsiders and relinquished all worlds, to avoid detection by the mighty empire.

But, once the empire had collapsed in on itself, Regrad was quick to champion a renewed space program. He was fast in saving Krakken IV from enemies, he helped start the Save The Frozians fund and had permitted the actions of the research team, and now, to liberate Hephastus, he had decided to come into the planets’ orbit and send people down to re-establish contact with the Vrakken.


When they had left, the Vrakken had been very sad, but understanding. They knew it had to be done to avoid the revering eye of the empire. So when a handful of transport vessels landed upon the planets’ surface, they soon re-encountered the Vrakken.

The Vrakken had been in their technological infancy when the Azguards discovered them last. But due to radical exposure to the Azguard technology, they quickly adapted their traditions and ways to suit their newly acquired devices. By the time they left, a Vrakken could assemble a blaster rifle for hunting, prep a patient for bacta, and administer a worldwide government. And, when the mood took them, a national disco-tech dance competition.

Their scouting ships now encountered a pair of hunters, who whooped and hollered towards them, gesturing for them to come down. The ships made one graceful swoop, and came down nearby. Azguard TARGET League disembarked from the ships, to greet the Vrakken.

“They’re back!” The Vrakken cheered. There was much back-patting and singing of songs. The Vrakken lead them to the forest, where their people resided. After a half hour of forest travel though, things were getting suspicious.

Tree branches lay broken, tufts of earth were ripped from the ground. The explorers huddled together, their armour clinking, as they tried to look in all directions at once. Then all of a sudden, their Vrakken guides vanished into the woodlands. Ten Vrakken leapt from the undergrowth, pointing deadly blasters at the heads of the explorers.

There was silence.

Then there was laughter. The Vrakken bursts into hails of it, and so did the Azguards. “Welcome back.”

“We are glad to see the Azguards are still well, we Vrakken were worried for you when we saw the effects of your civil strife. Yet when you left you promised us that it was so that you could stay safe from the empire. Now tell me, the re-establishment of your old jurisdiction, will it not bring them down on you?”

They were sitting in the middle of a circle. The diplomats were guests of honour at a meeting of the tribal chiefs of Hephastus, in its’ deepest woodlands. Just because they had technology did not mean they would change their ways. The chiefs wore ceremonial garb, made from ancient materials found in the fields of the planet. The Azguard guests sat around a fire, which burned brightly in the very middle of this council.

“We learnt you cannot ignore or hide from the Empire of Man. They are a twisting snake, a serpent of extreme guile and cunning. They drive off foes with fear and dark promises, all of which end in lies and death. They must be fought or else they will surely destroy us all. We decided it would be better to die and fight them, then to wait for them to enslave us.”

“Then you mean there must be others who fight as you do. Do you have friends and allies to trust, people to fight by your side?”

“Yes, in fact we do. They were the ones who convinced us it was better to die fighting then to surrender. A people of fish-men called the Mon Calamari were attacked by the Empire of Man. They were murderous, destructive, and vile. And I shudder to think what would have happened, had not luck intervened and broken their battle lines. We realised we could not sit on the sidelines, we had to actively fight them. Then we made the Coalition.”

“The Coalition? What is the Coalition? You have had many alliances before, people of Azguard, but I have never heard of the Coalition.”

“We have sided with a group of like-minded beings, such as the Mon Calamari and a small fraction of humans-”

“Humans? Are they not your foes? Are they not the ones you struggle against?”

“Yes, they are. But Humans are an oddity. They are not like us, beings of similar minds and sense, no. Every human being is so different from his kin that it is a wonder they ever work together. That is one of the things that makes the Empire of Man such a strange opponent. The only way they succeed in holding on to all their power at once is to fool their people, to sell them lies and tricks. Their people are duped into believing what they want to believe.

“Those that have sided with us are fortunate. In the case of some, they were fortunate in avoiding the rule of the empire and as such could see their lies for what they were. Others, somehow discovered the truth, and fled the empire. Still others were too strong of will to be turned or tricked and left that way. Either way, those that escaped have either sided with us or have hidden far away into safety.”

The Vrakken looked at each other and gave careful contemplation to their situation. This was a lot to take in, and they desired to know more.

“Tell us” One said “What is it, then, you desire to do? This terrible empire seems incombatible.”

“We know, and for ages we have thought that too. They have kept their appearance as untouchable for a long time. They have seemed like an act of god: nothing you can do about it, just weather it. But as we gathered our strength together we realised that many can tear down one. There are so many crying out for freedom that together their voice will bring the Empire crumbling down, brick by brick. When the time is right, when the people have assembled their voice, then is the time for vengeance, for our strike, and come Death or Glory we shall be victorious.”

“Truly honourable. It is evil like the Empire that must be destroyed, so it seems. We have another question for you. Why is it you need us? We have no warships. We are not space-warriors, we are only a simple people on an even simpler world. There is no way we could help you, no way we could ever support the responsibility of bringing the galaxy to the light.”

The Azguards seemed quite ready to answer this question.

“The reasons we have come to you are two-fold. One, is that we cannot support our fleet, our armies, our plans, without the aide of many. We need crews, we need workers, we need admirals and tacticians, we need supplies and wisdom, and these things we cannot find in great enough supply on our worlds alone. Your people though, are great leaders and live on a world of verdant wealth. Share the wealth with us, and we can win.”

This seemed to displease the Vrakken. They were needed to fuel the war effort. “And what else do you need us for?”

“We need you to be protected. To leave a people that are our friends outside of the veil of our protection, when the Imperial Fleet is certain to come crashing through this sector soon, would be unjust and unfair. We came to guarantee that when the Azguards go to war, their friends and people will be all right. It is our duty, as protectors of this sector. If we went to war, and heard of the deaths of our allies, we would never forgive ourselves.”

The Vrakken seemed far more pleased with this answer.

“Alright then, you seem to have explained this well. You have told us of The Great Enemy, and you have told us of your plan to bring truth. Now, you must tell us one last thing, what is it you intend to do after you have won? After your great war is fought, who then shall you turn to?”

There was silence from the Azguards, until finally…

“Once the blight of the Empire has been wiped from the galaxy, once the people are free, then we shall return to our homes. Our work will have been completed. The Azguards must stand ever vigilant against those who may bring evil and desecration to the galaxy. That is the responsibility of all people, and as such we will carry it out. And if, one day, peace finally descends, then we shall get to go home, at last. And when that time comes, history will not need heroes, people will not need armies, and we will not need to fight. And that is what we are fighting for.

Suddenly, a human with a huge moustache, British Military Colonel's uniform, and deep voice walked into the scene.

"Right, stop the takeover, its' not silly! No one enjoys a good laugh more then me, well perhaps my wife, and thos lads down at the general field hospital, and the chaps at Station 42, actually a lot of people appear to enjoy a good laugh more then me, but that's besides the point!

"The point, being, that Dolash02 has cut the funding for this planetary takeover-thats why nothing's happened for so long-until we lighten it up and it becomes silly. Thus, I vote we turn it into a star wars version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

"Right, get going then!"

Back to the takeover. With their new silly theme installed, the Leader of the Vrakken spoke.

"We will join you, but first, you must perform a task for us. You must find us... A shrubbery!"

There was a hushed silence.

"And, once you find this shrubbery, you must chop down the mightiest tree in the foresst with... A Herring!"

Another hushed silence.

Finally, one of the Vrakken spoke. "Um, sir, perhaps it would be wiser to send them on a more... pracitcal quest?"

"What? Oh yes. All right. Let's see, come over here."

One of the Azguard diplomats detached from the group and was brough to the Vrakken's stylish game-show like Wheel-Of Quests. With aplom, he gave it a spin.

"Come on, land on fetch tea!" murmured one diplomat, as it spun uncertainly for a second, just made it past fetch tea, and ended up on Impossibly difficuly quest into the jaws of horrible evil.

"Oh. @#%$."

The Azguard diplomats convened over tea (Which they did not have to fetch), which was rather good, with nice strips of bacon. Not the streaky kind, the proper tasty kind, back-bacon I think they call it. But the tea was a little second-rate, what with all the sugar in it. Anyone would think the Vrakken had teeth of diamonds to drink this regularily. Oh yes, and they decided to call in some familiar faces to accomplish the mission.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Doctor Fralginway sighed heavily. "NO, Admiral Freewater, I don't think the Vrakken watch the Cartoon Network, but I'm sure you can do without for a week or two." Apparently he had gone back undercover. Or suffered a concussion.

How had they convinced him to go on this expedition? With the same three crazies he had been forced to work with last time? Was their no Justice in the universe?

Well, there sure were a lot of idiots.

Proffessor Shlump and doctor Yiffin were already unloading the bags, and were already bickering. This time about the Annual ACU Alumni Meeting seating arrangements. Not that it mattered anyways, they had spent their university years insulting anyone within reach about how much smarter they were then them and thus would inevitibly end the night by being found in the dumpster with their underwear pulled over their heads. Some things are the same the universe over.

"We're so glad you made it, the situation is desperate and we have no time to lose. Walk this way." The Azguard who greeted them at the landing pad lifted one leg straight up, and began walking. The others paused and looked at this strange behavior, then followed suite.

They were taken to the temporary Azguard embassary, surrounded by a No. 42 type tree, the Larch. There their guide passed on the baton to a second guide, who lead them through the shabby door and into the presence of the diplomats.

"Ah, gentlemen, how nice to see you." said one, who then returned to his tea.

"We were told it was urgent." said Frelginway, warily.

"Oh it is, very urgent" said the diplomat, who continued drinking his tea. They waited a little longer until he was definetly done, before he finally continued.

"What we're about to tell you is tip-top secret, so secret, that we can't say it out loud, so secret in fact we will have to all wear dark glasses and use codenames while we discuss it."

The security procedure was complied with.

"Good, now as part of the agreement with the Vrakken for them to join the Coalition, we have to refill their lavatory paper supplies. That we can do, but we also need to rid them of the horrible Garnooly Beast of West-Manchester. Now, noone here has a degree in Garnooology, but after going over your file we feel you four may be just the four we need, what with how you handled those damn Frozians, sure showed them a thing or two about how to fight a war, eh?"

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"Uh, sir? The Frozians are on our side, and I am pretty sure we never attacked them."

"What? Oh yes, good splendid. And don't use my real name, use a codename-"

"What" pipped up one diplomat "Is your name really Sir?"

"Oh yes, my parents had a sense of humour about them, too bad about that incident with the rotating knives, really. But anyways, we're getting off topic."

"Yes" said Yiffin "especially when it concerns these Garnoolidy things. what's their D.A.P.R.?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Interrupted Frelginway

"Oh really Mr. Way, how long have you been in science?" said Shlump with a sigh. "Diplomas And Papers Rating is a very important rating for anything a scientist does, without it we'd never know if the amount of diplomas we'd get for something would be worth the effort."

"Listen, there's no time for any of that. We have a ship chartered special for you to get to the Flatlands of West Manchester. I understand the locals hold some sort of ritual blood-sport there every so often involving an inflated Yorg's bladder and some goal-posts, but you should be fine, so long as you avoid any gathering with coloured scarves. Now be off with you!"

Their mission began. They were all loaded on to huge double-decker freighters, and flown-all expenses paid-to West Manchester, a dreary, rainy, smoggy, smelly sort of place. Think London but less fun and more alchoholic. Pushed along like tourists they were pressed into a crowd of passing Vrakken waving scarves and screaming "United Ferever!" They succeeded in detaching themselves from the mob at the landing-zone, and begun their dangerous quest to hunt down the awful Garnooly beast.

"Look out!" The four explorers leapt behind a rock, just in time, as a vicious gang of grannies appeared over the hill. On the other side, a malevolent gathering of "Keep Left" signs detached themselves from the road, and moved to meet them half-way.

The group tried to look innocent, standing quietly and looking about. One of the grannies reached into a pocket and took out a can of paint. She put it down next to the signs. One of them got up, revealing a rolled-up zip-lock package filled with knitting wool.

The two groups exchanged packages, and walked cautiously away.

"That was close" muttered Shlump, as they moved out. "e almost encountered senior citizens."

"They're a larger threat then you think" said Frelgrin

"Oh really? What are they gonna do? knit at us?"

He was suddenly interrupted by a razor-sharp home-knitted mitten thudding into a tree near his face. "Run!" Shouted Frelgrin. The group legged it towards a nearby mountain, narrowly dodging hat-pins and crochett needles.

"Quick! In here!" Shouted Yiffin, who dived into a dark-looking hole. The three others followed him. They peered back, but the grannies had broken off pursuit, and were now dispersing back to West Manchester.

"Phew, we're safe." said Yiffin "Lucky I spotted this cave."

"But-"

"Yes, very lucky, you tit, we could have taken on a pack of grannies"

"Listen-"

"You can't just go around beating up grannies, Shlump."

"Hold on-"

"You're one to talk, Frelgrin, you had your blaster half unholstered."

"Just wait-"

"It came loose while we were running."

"SHUT UP."

The three scientists turned to Admiral Freewater, who was pointing behind them. The cave which Yiffin had chosen seemed to be home of a large, scaly, hairy, smelly, muscular, toothed, clawed, monstrous... Thing. It was sitting in an arm-chair, wearing a fez, smoking a pipe, and reading The man who would be rich. Oh yes, and a sign over his head said "The Great Garnooly."

"Well, bugger."

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeello, my little friends" he said "Welcome to The Great Garnooly's lair. Care for a cookie?"

The Great Garnooly brought out chairs for them to sit on, and propped up the fire in the grate. He also gave each of them a cookie, with little chocolate chips inside.

"Now, what seems to be the matter?"

This is not what the explorers had excpected. They had excpected some sort of massive, dragon-like creature, or perhaps and enormous armoured quadrupedal thing with spikes and all that. The last thing they excpected was "Master-piece Theater, with scales and cookies." Not that there's anything wrong with that. They were good cookies.

"Mr. Garnooly-"

"Please. Call me Gary."

"Ok" said Shlump "Gary, are you infamous "Garnooly Beast" of West Manchester?"

"Oh yes, when I was younger. I guess I'm just not five-hundred any more. Yes, when I was younger, I'd spend months at a time, roaming the country-side, tippig cows, throwing rocks at knights, that sort of thing."

"Er..." Said Yiffin "Do you mean you've been around for Thousands of years?"

"Well, yes."

"Shlump, may I have a word?"

Yiffin and Shlump detached themselves from the proceedings.

"Shlump, we can't kill him, can you think of the ridiculous amounts of awards we'd get for this sort of thing? We have discovered Living History. That has a D.A.P.R. rating of over five-hundred points! We'd be the guests of honour at the TARGET Scientific Society Annual Meeting."

"Yes, you're right, Yiffin, we need to find a way to get him back without anyone noticing."

They paused.

"Dress him up as a woman?"

"Perfect, lets' get going."

"It's not going to work"

"It'll work"

"No one is that stupid"

"It fooled freewater"

"A rock with a skirt would fool Freewater. Its' a disaster waiting to happen-"

"Ah, welcome back" Said the diplomats' representative "So, did you slay the garnooly beast?"

"Uh... Yes sir! And this is just a poor woman who's... uh... speeder broke down and we escorted her back to civi - well, here, anyways." Said Shlump

The diplomat turned to what appeared to be a huge, scaley, furry ball... in a dress.

"Yes... I see why the speeder broke down... Er... where was I? Oh yes, congradulations, gentlemen. With this task completed, we will have won the alliegance of the Vrakken and their lovely planet. So, we'll be having a special dinner tonight outside their... tent... and you're all invited. Escpecially you, ms. ?"

"E... Garyella?"

"Ms. Garyella" said the diplomat, apparently savouring the words. "I hope to see you there too..."

Then, to the relief of the scientists, he wandered, off, no longer paying attention to them or what they said.

"Phew, that was close" Said Gary, before he let out his gut. "So what do we do now?"

"I dunno" said Frelgrin, wearily, "Let's get back to the tent - er, consulate, and get something to eat. And if they havn't got bacon I'm going to hit something. Perhaps a wall."

They went back, and waited. Soon knight fell. Luckily his armour protected him, and he was able to get up and walk away.

Then night fell, and hoping that nothing more could possibly go wrong, the explorers (plus "Garyella") made their way to the Main Tent.

There, the Vrakken and the diplomats danced, sang, ate, smoked, and exchanged internet sites. It was a right old ceramony and celebration, with the explorers as the guests of honour. Everything was going fine, and even Frelgrin began to relax...

Then disaster hit, in the form of a really stupid, blind, or just plain weird diplomate, who approached Gary - whoops! I mean Garyella.

"Ah, my dear miss, would you honour me with the next dance?"

In case you are wondering how anyone could be attracted to the Great Garnooly in a dress, it is a fundamental law of the universe that all sentient races and their sit-coms follow, that a male dressed up as a female will inevitibly look appealing to some other completely heterosexual male who can honestly not see the difference.

With no choice but to accept or suffer an embarrasing silence and claims of discourtesy, the Garnooly nodded and struck up a fine waltz.

Frelgrin, who had just left to get some punch, came back to see his three associates staring slack-jawed after them.

"All right, what's going on now?"

"Th-th-the diplomat... He just..." stammered Yiffin.

"We've no choice, we'll have to shoot the Garnooly right there or risk facing embarrasing questions." said Shlump, desperation evident in his voice.

"Cor, that fat woman sure can dance. When did we meet her?" said Freewater.

"Someone has to do something!" exclaimed Frelgrin.

The other three stared at him.

"Oh all right, I'll do it."

He slowly walked over and tapped the shoulder of the diplomat, but thanks to Murphy's law, which to Azguards is an official law of science, the Diplomat turned just as he tried to step forwards, bringing down his heavy, armoured shoe onto the foot of the Great Garnooly.

Letting out a howl of rage and pain, the great Garnooly split the dress. Everyone took a leap back in fear, as its' eyes turned red and it grew exponentialy in height. Soon Gary was a ten-story godzilla, caught up in rage.

Immeadietly, droves of Vrakken spoke very quickly in a language that included a lot of "Chinns" and "Hosawas" and "Konichiwas". The mob ran in fear as Garyzilla stomped through lower Vrakken City.

Our bold explorers looked up at the scene with gaping eyes. Finally, Shlump spoke up.

"Crap, we're gonna get blamed for this."

Garyzilla stormed down main-street, knocking over giant tents and stepping on buggies. While people fleed in terror, Garyzilla breathed horrible radioactive breath - wait... No, he's just ate too much of the garlic bread.

But the effect is the same! People swoon and faint on the spot as the stench pummles their senses into submission. Gary stompe into the middle of town, where a huge tree sat. If you want an approximate height, I'd say, oh about the size of the Empire State Building.

He was about to climb it, when a woman near his foot screamed, who just happened to be blonde and wearing a red dress. Gary reached down. "S'cuse me mam" he growled, and picked up a bottle of scotch that was next to her. Drinking it down in one gulp, he reached up and, painfully slowly, began to climb.

Back on the ground, the civilian populace are running around like headless chickens, generally wasting time, taking snap-shots, and selling commemorative T-shirts. But the government was taking action. The action they were taking was to stomp en-masse over to the explorers.

One diplomat of the Azguards stepped forwards.

"And what, pray-tell, is that?" he said, pointing at Gary.

The four explorers looked worried, seeking an explination. Then, Freewater had a stroke of brilliance, and said "What's what? I don't see anything. There's nothing there, its' all your imagination."

The other three shot him burning glares. Yiffin said "Freewater, pretending you cannot see the problem DOES NOT MEAN IT GOES AWAY."

Freewater grumbled and said "That's what they always taught us in the army."

Frelgrin stared upwards at the beast. "We need a way of getting him to come back down and hold still. I have a vial of de-monstrofication fluid I can inject him with that will reverse the procedure."

"Well, why don't you just climb up there and ask him ever so nicely to come back down and take a shot!?" shouted Shlump, who was already running away full-sprint. Suddenly the sound of propelllers met their ears.

The Vrakken are a crude people, technologically, so instead of space-fighters they had bi-planes. Taking off en mass, they took their first pass at Gary.

He swung wildly, trying to strike them, but they were too nimble and peppered him with large pieces of fresh fruit. Why fresh fruit? Why not? Fresh Fruit not good enough for you eh? Want to learn how to fight with pointed sticks, do you? Well tough.

On the ground, the explorers made it to their ship, where - along with various food-stuffs, books, clothes, and magazines - could be found the chemical box.

Reaching in and removing his vial of De-monstrification, Frelgrin spoke to the others. "We can't let them shoot Gary, you guys'll have to fly me up there and drop me on him. Chocks away!"

Their ship took off, with Shlump and Yiffin at the controls - arguin bitterly.

"Press THIS gear twice and that button once!"

"NO, you confounded idiot, pull that lever, quickly."

Despite this, though, they succeeded in flying the ship in the direction of the tree. And just in time, too, because a giant banana peel had been dropped on Gary's branche, and he was slipping preacariously close to the edge.

Gearing up for the jump, Frelgrin closed his eyes, prayed to god, and then "Jironymo!" He was away! Flying through the air thanks to his handy back-pack parachute. Freewater, being incurably dumb, figured this looked like fun, so he too jumped, with a mal-formed "Jerryalamo!" Shlump and Yiffin, who both soon realized they couldn't fly this thing, followed out aswell with a "Jehova's Witnesses" and a "New Jersey!"

Unfortunately, due to bad planning, only one person who jumped had a parachute. With a thud freewater hit Frelgrin, then Shlump and Yiffin. The parachute couldn't take the weight and they plumeted onto Gary's head with a *BAM*, that knocked him sensless.

Shlump stood up proudly from the chaos. "Ha! That was our plan all along. Victory and medals for all."

Frelgrin also made it out of the mess, and gave Gary the innoculation. He shrunk back to regular Garnooly standards.

It was much later in the day when Gary came to his senses. "So sorry" he said "I was completely distracted at the time, you understand, right?"

But that was not enough for the Azguard Diplomate Core. "You disobeyed your orders, brought back a dangerous monster to civilisation, and sat silently by as poor Fred here danced with a male monster???"

The four explorers stood in shame, they were really going to get it this time.

Or at least would have, but then the Chief Vrakken spoke up. "You know, this Garnooly Beast-"

"-Gary-"

"-Yes, Gary, he seems like a nice enough monster, I mean sure we have to be careful around his toes, but what's wrong with that? we'll just have to get him some nice and comfy shoes, won't me?"

"But they disobeyed a direct order-"

"Our agreement still stands, Mr. Diplomat, you'll still get your alliance, and the free cake-"

"Wait" interrupted Freewater "This free cake you speak of, is it real, or symbolic?"

"Its' right over there on that table."

"Wohoo!"

"Anyways, as I was saying, maybe we were a bit harsh on Gary, after all we never met a Garnooly Beast before. I think everything can work out just fine, don't you?"

There was a general consensus of nodding among all present.

And the Vrakken Chief was as good as his word, the treaty was signed, and there was much rejoicing, and Gary was allowed to stay, so long as at all times he wore very thick shoes.

And our brave hereos? They go home again for a well deserved rest and break from each others' company, but you can be sure the next time the omnipotent writer needs a comedic setting, they will be ready with witty comments and a large banana-peel.

fin