Side Story 1: Space Camp

A few weeks into October, there was a frantic rapping at Yen Sid’s door. He opened it to find a very tousled and dishevelled master on the other side, waving her head from side to side and flapping her hands. “Oh Yen Sid!!” she cried, Yen Sid barely having time to react as she ran into his arms, but putting his arms around her nonetheless. “Yes, Dawn? Whatever troubles you, dear?” he asked gently, Dawn resting her hand on the doorframe. “Okay sooooo, the Inventor Convention is coming up right? And there’s this competition called the BHAG, the Big Hairy Audacious Goal competition!” she gasped, Yen Sid nearly laughing at the name but managing to hold it in. “Yes…and that is stressing you because?” he smirked, Dawn looking at him as if it was obvious. “Master, I don’t have it in me to win! But I want to, more than anything!” she cried, Yen Sid being taken aback. Dawn won every single competition she entered, her genius for engineering and innovation was unmatched, and her technological knowledge was vast. Yen Sid quickly brought her inside to sit on the sofa, noticing Golden was curled up on one of the armchairs, head stuck into a book. He softly smiled, and then turned to Dawn, Golden looking up at the stranger in surprise. The woman had black hair that stretched past her shoulders, was wearing headphones, and her robe looked like a sunset, fading from yellow all the way down to pink, and a little pink waistcoat embroidered with a moon and stars overtop. She looked a little ruffled, since her robe was unironed and one of her sleeves had fallen over her gloved hands. “Master, I seriously don’t think I can win this! Every other candidate has concrete data that their idea works, and benefits others! Like Markus has these fast-growing trees that have fed eighteen families, Jeanie has these amazing ideas for sound enhancers that have made it possible for researchers to identify three new species of bugs alone just from sound…and my stupid idea isn’t going anywhere! I mean, how the heck do you test Space Camp?!” she groaned, putting her head in her hands. Golden’s face shot up at the mention of space. “Papa…? What’s going on?” she whispered, Yen Sid looking at her as an idea came to mind, a smile slowly stretching across his face. “Well, little one, this is Master Dawn, you remember her from Percy’s photo album? She works on the technology of the Capsule, and she’s a very clever inventor!” he explained, Dawn just groaned into her knees as she tried to calm down. “Unfortunately, Dawn has entered a competition, and she’s worried her idea won’t have enough evidence. So…” he mused, turning to Dawn again. “Hey Cogs, what does the Space Camp entail?” he smirked, using his old nickname for her from during her time as his apprentice…she looked up shyly, touching her hair and stroking it with one hand, a little nervous tic. “Well…the idea is that children can go into the Capsule for a week and experience life as an astronaut, but also engage in team building activities, like “fixing” stuff or learning about environmental impact on Luminosa, so essentially space education about our world and why we need to protect it. And if they do well, they’d hopefully learn more about themselves, and also go on a path to think and innovate for the future.” she explained, Golden sitting up straight and then looking down at the cover of her book, depicting a rocket going from the earth to the moon. “That sounds cool…” she smiled, Dawn looking over in surprise. “You think so?” she asked, Golden nodding eagerly. “Yeah! Imagine, a week in the Capsule sounds fun! And I bet there’s a lot to learn up there!” she replied, Dawn still looking unconvinced but shrugging. “If I can’t prove it’s worth funding, though, it won’t happen. And they only select three winners…there’s like twenty candidates, and nearly ALL of them have some sort of data or evidence that their ideas work! But I have nothing!” she sighed, Yen Sid gently touching her shoulder. “I need…I need some kids or something, some people who might want to engage in the camp for a week, for a test run…but who do I ask?” her shoulders sagged, she looked defeated already, but Yen Sid had taught her better than that. He put both hands on her shoulders. “Dawn…remember when you got your mastery? After you won the first competition you put your heart and soul into? That visualizer you made, it’s still in use at the council today, it’s a genius invention that does wonders for us when we need to view things…you have it in you to create greatness, all you have to do is think outside of your own head a little, look around…” he subtly smiled, thinking of someone who really would be up to testing Space Camp. Dawn’s eyes fell onto Golden, and she immediately rushed to the floor, kneeling down and taking Golden’s hands into her own, the little girl yelping slightly as she wasn’t expecting it. “Please, little one? Would you and…master, you’re teaching other apprentices, right?” she asked, but Yen Sid shook his head. “Actually, Dawn, this one’s a new graduate. Isn’t that right, Goldie?” he smiled, Dawn looking stupefied. “But you’re like….eight!” she gasped, Golden going pink, she really was short, it was no surprise people often mistook her age. “I-I just turned ten, actually, miss Dawn…and…I’d love to help! I think all my brothers and sister would too!” she giggled, Dawn looking excited immediately at the idea, and a little relieved. “Wow…ah, I did come to the right place, haha! Since the competition specified we couldn’t use children from the council, due to them being in their custody…ahhh, I’m so glad! Wait, actually, since you’re adopted too, are we siblings?” Dawn suddenly seemed a lot more talkative, almost overwhelming Golden with the questions, but the little girl was happy to help, and she did love the Capsule. It was a fun place to chill and be amongst the stars, so a week there would be fun! “Okay! Okay, okay!!! I have packing lists and everything prepared, ahhh I’m so glad!!” Dawn grinned from ear to ear, actually picking up Golden and spinning her around, Yen Sid laughing at her antics, but feeling glad she was better. “So, as a chaperone, what do you need from me?” he asked, acting as if he was an actual parent in the situation. Dawn stood up straight and tall, and put on an official sounding voice. “Okay, sir, so here are the forms. Five days will be spent in training activity sessions, and the last two will be fun days where the children will be allowed to roam around using technology they have become familiar with, and explore the Capsule within the safe zones specified. They will be given protective gear, and the air up there is specifically modified and monitored by myself and my devices, so if there’s any faults, I will be alerted and have a quick warp to get them home safely to the landing deck here on Luminosa. In addition, they have a packing list, as I have said, and I will be giving those to you, and you have to sign these legal documents and specify any health conditions, so that I know of any necessary concerns. Any questions?” she smiled, Yen Sid raising an eyebrow. “Just one, Master.” he stroked his beard in thought, Dawn suddenly feeling a little nervous. “You’ll be taking good care of my latest cohort?” he winked, Dawn nodding and winking back. “Of course master! And…if it’s alright, I read that a psychologist works out of this house now…is it possible I could ask him to provide me with data on the mental wellbeing of the children so I can use it as evidence?” she grinned, Yen Sid smirking and calling out. “PERCIVAL!! You have a job!”

The next day, the sun rose over Fioritura city, where five sorcerers were all packed and ready for an exciting day. They had been instructed to pack seven days worth of clothes, as well as spares, alongside any toiletries they might need, and also comfort objects or anything else they might want to bring. And thus, just like when they were going to Aquatica, all of them were ready with suitcases and rucksacks, and excited for the days to come. Percy was going along with them, taking computers and wires so he could make notes, but mainly planning to just observe Dawn and stay out of the way of the little ones having fun. He figured it would be a nice reward for their recent graduations, and also would allow Dawn to hopefully collect some useful data. Dawn arrived, and smiled up at her former teacher. “See you in a week, dad!” she grinned, Golden holding the straps of her backpack a little tighter and hoping she wouldn’t feel homesick, though Starlight had insisted on going with them too, especially since she was a creature right out of space! “Yep, bye bye papa!” Golden smiled, Yen Sid bending down to ruffle her hair and give them all kisses, and waving them off as they began to walk to the landing deck, which was on the outer edge of Fioritura. “Have fun, my little sorcerers!” he chuckled, the group going to the landing deck as he watched on. It was a little quiet in the house now, and he wondered what he should do with himself, but decided it might be nice to have a little peace, and if necessary he could always call Ambrose and his family over…perhaps he could even bond with the broomies! With a smile, he headed into his office, and began to work as usual. Meanwhile, the group reached the landing deck, which seemed to be designed like a small, inconspicuous building, with an antenna on top. “This is the landing deck?” Oswald muttered, Golden elbowing him and following Dawn inside. “Oh trust me little bunny, it is one hell of a space.” she grinned, opening the door with a combination and checking nobody was following them, whilst Oswald huffed since he didn’t exactly appreciate that remark. The room was small, filled with cogs and mechanics, and Julius stuck close to Mickey, a little nervous as he carried his bag. “This place looks…a little spooky.” he admitted, Mickey nodding as the group stared at all the mechanics covering the walls and floor. “But cool too…hey, bet you could get some cool metal sounds in here.” Scout whistled, Dawn nodding and turning once more to face them, now stood in the centre of the room, where a screen appeared from the roof. Tapping in a combination, Percy admired how quickly she worked, she was deft with technology in a way he’d never seen in his life! “Why couldn’t you use a muse for this, Dawn?” he queried, the woman putting the muse in a little cabinet as he reminded her she was still holding it. “Well it’s actually simple. Muses tend to take us to the general area, not quite our destination.” she explained, Golden thinking back- it was true that when she’d been with Vanitas and Prisma, there were times where the muse hadn’t taken them to the exact spot she needed to be. “So I built this contraption! I call it my trampoline, since it takes us from one point to the next in a jump of energy!” she grinned, doing a twirl and adjusting her headphones when they slipped. “Alright, strap in now everyone!” she called, Scout sitting down next to Golden and the boys all holding hands, Oswald watching as the gears began to turn, and the two master sorcerers sat together. “Alright, keep a hold on your bags, this might feel weird.” she smiled, pushing a button as the entire room lit up, several hisses of steam beginning and cogs grinding, wires buzzing and screens beeping, it really was a tech nerd’s heaven! At first, it just seemed as if they were all sitting there, until everything started to go a little wavy, and then shaky…the group began to judder and jolt, lights going on and off in rapid succession as the device began the warp…and then in a sudden bright flash, they found themselves in an identical room, where the gears stopped and everything went silent, but the air was a little thinner. “Ah, we’ve arrived!” Dawn smiled, all of the sorcerers looking a little dumbfounded, but she quickly passed them all a few candies from her pocket. “This will help with any blood sugar loss from the warp, and now, my little cadets…” she rubbed her hands together, not quite looking at any of them, but all of them feeling just how buzzed she was. As they got oriented, they unclipped themselves and picked up their stuff, Percy adjusting his glasses as they had fallen and Scout quickly fixing her ponytail. Dawn grinned and clapped her hands, almost exploding with joy, and then putting a hand on the door. “Welcome to the Capsule, as you’ve never seen it before!” she cheered, the door opening to reveal a vibrant control room, where music was playing and every screen was lit up, broadcasting pictures of space and constellations, the gang stepping out of the pod and staring at it all. 

“Wow…so much stuff, what does it all do?” Oswald gasped, Dawn turning to him. “Hmmm, not so doubtful now, huh bunny?” she chuckled, Oswald putting his hands on his hips with a small “hmph!”. Mickey was in awe, looking out of one of the windows as he spotted Luminosa, the beautiful planet sailing below them, whilst Julius was gazing at some of the screens, Scout bopping her head to their melodies. Golden was looking out a window too, gazing up at the moon, which was surrounded by stars, and even more beautiful when they were close to it. “Ahhh space, so beautiful, and so much of it…probably why they call it space, I suppose.” Percy smiled, Golden looking up at him and nodding in agreement, thinking back to the story she was reading the previous day- she’d brought the book with her in case she couldn’t sleep. Starlight also came out of her bag, and followed her gaze in wonder, sitting on her shoulder as they all stared at the stars. “This is so beautiful, Goldie! It’s like Dreamland!” she grinned, Golden nodding and taking the glowworm into her arms, missing Yen Sid slightly and knowing he’d love to see this alongside her, but feeling better having Starlight with her. “I know you’ve all been here before, but this is a full 7 day program where you’ll eat, sleep and live like astronauts!” Dawn explained, the group turning and watching as she pushed a button, and several little protective suits popped out for them all. “Now, you’ll be wearing these whilst onboard, but through a little magic, it will seem like they’re not even there, we won’t see or feel them!” she chuckled, helping them clamber in and activating them, so as soon as they were on, they disappeared, appearing as if the group was only in their regular clothes. Percy needed a little help, but she was happy to oblige, and then she did the same with space helmets, so now everyone was protected, but comfortable too! “I have my own on already, so I’m all prepped! Now, who’s ready for Space Camp to begin?!” she grinned, Oswald pulling out his video camera and recording, excited to show Yen Sid as everyone else cheered, even Percy! “First up, let me give you a tour of today’s main area! We’ll be inside one of the controlled spaces I call my module rooms, because I configure and test everything in here! It’s super safe and secure, and also soundproof, but you’ll get some lovely views!” she chuckled, leading them through the halls. The floors clattered beneath them, and the group passed many different doors, all leading off to different chambers on this modified satellite, of which Dawn was the sole maintainer. “Did you know this satellite has a name? It’s called the IA 2000, and it’s where I mainly work! Though of course my home is on Luminosa, I love to spend my days here!” she chatted. The group finally reached the module room and entered, it was yet another chamber of screens, except these ones were transmitting and receiving frequencies. Mickey stared at them all in wonder, they seemed to include random pieces of movies and songs, which could be deciphered if Dawn so chose, but he swore he saw a glimpse of a hippo and crocodile dancing, and some of the baby pegasi… Scout was also staring at them, and noticed a very familiar broom incident pop up, as well as some dancing flowers… “Hey Master Dawn, how does all this work?” she asked, Oswald still recording and zooming on Dawn’s explanation, he figured this might help her with some evidence. “Well, these screens take electromagnetic waves and interpret them, into sound and sight alike, and I can decipher them sometimes! Though sometimes they’re just random gibberish, haha!” she chuckled, before turning to the group and pulling a lever, a table popping up. “Fred! Come get their luggage!” Dawn called, a monkey in a spacesuit appearing out of nowhere and startling them all. “Wha- you have a MONKEY?!” Percy gawked, Dawn shrugging. “Doesn’t everyone?” she giggled, the monkey coming down from the ceiling and taking all their bags, pushing them down a chute and following. “He’s a smart little fella, he’ll unpack and sort everything out! Now…for your first little training session, we’ll start small. We’re gonna be on a little scavenger hunt, okay?” she grinned, giving the group a list of items. “Since there’s a lot of blocks in the garbage chute for us to sort, we’re gonna find some lost things!”

Heading through the halls, Dawn lit them up with a controller, Oswald zooming in on it and admiring the different buttons- though he loved his remote, he couldn’t deny that it would be fun to ask Dawn to upgrade it! They headed through a corridor, where a rotating set of panels moved beneath their feet, emitting various sounds. Golden reached out and brushed against one of the panels, Scout doing the same, and soon they were creating a subtle rhythm as they walked, lighting up the realm with music. “Alright, and through here…” Dawn smiled, opening up an airlock and bringing them into a glass room, overlooking several chutes. “Okay…now, I might have to split you into teams. So, Golden, Oswald, Scout? You’ll be working over there, I’ll direct you from here, and I’ll stick with Julius and Mickey, okay?” she smiled, the groups moving over to the consoles and seeing they were each in charge of one chute. “Alright, your challenge is to keep a sharp eye and use your observation skills! If you see an item on your list, use the metal claw in the chute with the joystick to grab it, okay?” Dawn asked, Percy taking notes of how the group seemed happy to follow instructions, and Dawn was extremely approachable and warm with them. Julius looked a little nervous, so she stood next to him. As the machine switched on, several useless or broken computer parts began to be revealed. Each sorcerer had an item to find, Scout finding hers first and managing to grab a seahorse statue, it reminded her of Aquatica, and it was deposited into a smaller chute and locker system, so it would be picked up later. Mickey found his too, being a small broom-shaped bot, one he really wanted to ask about, but figured it could wait until they collected the items. Oswald and Golden found theirs at the same time, being two space boots, and then Dawn grabbed hers, being a small container with a yoghurt inside. “Ah, that’s where my snack went!” she laughed, Percy stifling a chuckle at the eccentric master, they both seemed to have a lot in common when it came to misplacing things. Starlight turned her head, and noticed Julius looking a little irritated, Dawn also realising. “Ugh…where’s mine?” he muttered, Dawn gently putting a hand on his shoulder. “Julius? Are you alright?” she asked, Julius turning in surprise and going a bit quiet. Dawn smiled, and asked the same in sign, surprising him. Percy took note of this, and Oswald decided to record it too, just in case it might be useful for her. Julius signed back, explaining he was finding the activity hard, and wasn’t sure if he could complete it. Dawn took his hand and gently stroked his cheek, making him feel a bit more relaxed, and then led him back to the control panel, still staying quiet and signing. They worked together, Dawn helping him to identify the different items causing the block, and then they finally found his item, a small pin badge. “Hey, that’s pretty!” Scout grinned, the iridescent item gleaming in the moonlight, and soon being deposited. Switching everything off, Dawn used a mechanical claw to grab the rest, and throw it away. “This junk is gonna come back with us, if I threw it out into space it wouldn’t be properly destroyed or recycled, and that would be really bad for Luminosa.” she explained, doing a final check and making sure the room was clear. “Alright, that’s today’s main activity done, and I’ll say it was fun, right?” she laughed, Julius nodding and moving next to the master, Percy writing a note about how he’d warmed up to her due to her accommodations. “Thank you, Master Dawn!” he purred, Dawn laughing as he nuzzled under her arm and trying to be gentle as she scratched him behind the ears. “It’s my pleasure! Now, who wants some lunch? You’re gonna see how us astronauts process and make food!” she giggled, the group moving through the halls and coming to a dining centre, where she’d put out some colouring pages and Golden immediately getting started on one depicting many children communicating via technology, Mickey and Julius also sharing one and using specially-made crayons to colour, which had been weighted to ensure they wouldn’t float away. Scout and Oswald wandered around, coming to a large cylindrical tube full of lettuce and other greens, which was rotating and seeming to grow these plants. Moving through the room, there were other containers just like this, Dawn watching them from a distance. “Those are Vegetable Production Systems, or Veggies. We often use them on space stations to grow plants for astronauts who are staying here. In my case, they will be used to feed you!” she chuckled, Golden silently making a face at the thought of living on vegetables for seven days, but was sure Dawn had other food too. As Fred appeared, asking for some food, Dawn plucked off some lettuce leaves and handed them to him, the monkey chattering happily and hopping down onto her shoulders. “So, why Fred?” Oswald asked, Dawn shrugging. “I guess it got lonely, just working all the time on competitions! So I got myself a little therapy monkey!” she giggled, Percy raising an eyebrow. “Does that really work?” he replied, Dawn just smiling. “Well he sure makes me happy! And he’s an intelligent little fella, he helps me a ton! Though I don’t think Yen Sid approved of me bringing him home during my apprenticeship…” she cringed, Percy laughing at the thought of a baby monkey causing a ruckus. “He’s very clever, so he’s lived longer than many of his kind, and he understands me perfectly!” she chirped, before a sudden machine went off, revealing the food was ready. Dawn hurried over, grabbing seven trays and loading them all up, using magic to levitate them. The meals were a mix of sweets and healthy treats, such as brownies, nuts and even spaghetti. “How do you store all this?!” Golden asked, Dawn giving a smile. “Well it’s all shelf preserved! And since I have magic and tech, we can practically bring anything up here, as long as it ain’t too crumbly! If there’s crumbs everywhere they can go in your eyes or in my chutes because of the antigravity, which would be a serious problem!” She explained, Percy chomping down some chocolate-covered nuts as he continued to write notes, and Dawn saw the pictures they were done colouring, smiling as she tacked them to the wall. “Well, little astronauts! I think you ought to have some time to yourselves, let me show you your sleeping quarters!” she smiled, bounding through the halls as she played with the antigravity, so she was jumping around and even started walking on the ceiling at one point, just as Percy sometimes did. Despite the fact they were from entirely different generations, they were far more similar than one might think, and that made the light man happy. Starlight followed along, flying through the door as it slid open, beds pushed up against the wall. “Do we have to sleep like Egyptian mummies, upright?” Mickey joked, Dawn shaking her head and laughing. “No, no!! Look, watch this!” she replied, pressing a button that caused the beds to pop out, robotic arms making them up with different duvets, somehow perfectly knowing just what each young sorcerer liked. “Cool, dragon bedcovers!!” Oswald cheered, jumping onto his bed and tousling it up, getting into a pseudo fight with a mechanical arm as it tried to straighten it out again. Julius looked at his and smiled, it was soft and the perfect texture for him, and a pretty green, just as he liked! Mickey and Golden had stars and planets, and Scout had all sorts of musical notes on hers, mixed in with waves and instruments. “These are awesome, Dawn!” Scout grinned, giving a thumbs up as the master smiled sweetly. “But where do you sleep?” Golden asked, Dawn moving over to another adjacent door. “Well, I can’t sleep in the same room as you guys, and there is gonna be a little wall up for each of your privacy, but Percy and I have an adults chamber. Though the way it works is that we also have walls, so we can’t see or hear each other!” She explained, the sorcerers all nodding. And as they all hooked up devices and started to find their stuff, thanks to Fred unpacking it, the first day seemed to be over in terms of activities, and thus Percy had a report to write, and Dawn was praying she’d done a good job so far.

The next morning arrived quicker than expected, with Golden being the first to wake as a light from the sun shone in through the top of the windows. She sat up and stretched, causing a still very asleep Starlight to flop off of her chest and onto the bed, not once stirring from her deep sleep. There was a small sound of a bell ringing with a jingle above her head, rousing her out of her remaining sleep, and the doors opened to reveal a pair of whirling robotic hands which provided Golden with her toothbrush, new set of clothes, her wash flannel and her hat. Dawn soon entered the room, clapping her hands to signal the robotic ones away on a job well done. “Good morning space cadets!” she cried cheerfully, looking refreshed and ready for the next set of adventures. “I hope everyone is excited today, Fred has already made you all breakfast and remember to eat plenty today, because it’s going to be a big day!” Starlight finally arose, blinking blearily as Golden cheekily dropped her hat on her, causing her to muffle as she tried to search for the lightswitch. A rather loud and guttural groan sounded from the other end of the room, provided by none other than Oswald. “If there ain’t coffee I ain’t interested!” he barked, hauling himself out of bed as he stomped toward the entrance door, a robotic hand also providing him with all his needs. “Rest assured, there’s plenty of everything!” giggled Dawn, leading the young sorcerers into the hall toward the wash rooms so they could get dressed. “Fred has taken note of everyone’s favourites and we’ve provided enough for you all, and the little twist which I’m sure you all know, is that it’s space accommodated!” Dawn strutted out of the room, playfully shooing away the robotic arms back to their usual duties. Golden smiled, they reminded her a little of the broomies, so helpful yet having a mind of their own in a unique way. Mickey giggled as he whizzed by Golden, being chased by an equally awake Percy as the light man sprinted after him in jest, being crazy prepared as he was already dressed. Scout followed, alongside Julius who hadn’t quite rubbed the sleep from his eyes yet. Dawn went and sat in the small seating area of the dining centre, watching Fred prepare her a little fruit pop drink inside a small container, before setting down a plate of pancakes with bananas and strawberries. The door opened with a small buzzing sound, alerting the young woman of the arrival of the campers. “Hello there, all!” she greeted excitedly, gesturing everyone to the cushioned seats aligned for breakfast. “Ohoho, I could smell the fresh food in here all the way from the end of the hall!” chirped Percy, dashing for one of the seats, Golden taking the one beside him. “You’re lucky you can smell.” she snarked quietly, taking a quick drink before getting to the food. Everyone was tucking into their breakfast, finding the uniqueness of the space accommodation to be a little strange to get used to but finding their way through it easily, which included porridge, granola bars and fresh fruit. “Alright, my little space rangers,” Dawn began, gently clinking a spoon against one of the glasses. “Looks like you’re all ready with full tummies! So, today we will be doing something a little bit different from yesterday, however there is a LOT of learning to be had on this one. Get ready…we are going on a safari!” Golden, Mickey and Julius perked their heads up in excitement, a safari sounded amazing, and in space too! Then it occurred to them, each sorcerer tapping their heads in thought as they pondered just how exactly it would work. “A safari, miss Dawn?” asked Julius, with a slight purr in his voice at the idea. “How would we go on a safari in space? There’s no animals?” Golden followed, Starlight sneaking an apple slice from the plates from Golden’s lap and trying to eat the whole piece. “Hehe! You’re on the ball a little there, kids.” giggled Dawn, rising from her seat. “It is a safari, but this one is really special, it’s a STAR safari!” She raised her arms up high as if demonstrating a wide picture, everyone envisioned a whole cluster of stars they’d be travelling through, some of them would be bright and up close, others would be far away, glowing different colours of white, red, yellow, blue…it would be spectacular! “During our little expedition, you’ll all be learning about each star we pass by, you’ll learn how they are born and watch them as we navigate on the trail of the paths of stardust, it’ll be wonderful, won’t it?” Percy rubbed his hands with glee, chuckling humorously as he rose to his feet, his eyes twinkling like the stars they were to see. “And I’ll be jotting everything down! It’ll be an adventure of the ages! Just imagine what we’ll see and learn out there? There may be things we have yet to discover, why…we could be the first ones to find something new!” Dawn giggled, loving his enthusiasm and signalled for Fred to put away the dishes, with a cheerful chatter, he swept everything away to make room for Dawn to place a map on the table, which contained a charter of stars and a path of light for them to travel on in their starship. “Here’s our course, we’re all going to sit in this little starship, strapped into these chairs until we reach the outer region of the path of stardust, there we can see the stars up close and stand up in our little vehicle while we watch and absorb all the new educational finds we’ll have on these wondrous spheres!” As Dawn gave everyone a run down of the trip of the day, Percy found himself staring closely at the illustration of the starship they were going to travel in, it was a lot smaller than an average starship that traversed the deepest regions of space in search of galaxies and clusters. It was certainly big enough for a lot of people and plenty of room to stand up and walk around in, with a pilot seat at the helm with various dials and buttons on a control panel, all of which he could recognise, then it hit him… “We’re going to ride in Rocket? Our old friend?!” he beamed brightly, bouncing on his feet in whimsical excitement. Dawn smiled, nodding her head at his answer. “Once you are all ready! We shall take off! And keep your goggles on for the spectacular show that’ll be the meteor shower!” 

With the push of a button, Dawn opened the doors to the walkway toward Rocket. The young sorcerers all bounced and chatted with excitement as they brought their equipment and notes for catching and learning about the stars. Rocket opened its doors, greeting the crew in its own way with enthusiasm. Percy gave a little bow to the vehicle. “Good to see you again, old friend!” he said cheerfully. “First a journey to the beautiful oceans, and now through the stars of this very galaxy! I’m truly excited to document all of this!” Oswald opened up his charter, looking at the route they would take, he squinted and tried to make out their primary destination, which looked like a field of meteors and shooting stars. “So this is like a whole getaway to the stars?” he asked inquisitively. “Well, pop my ears! Wonder what the great big black has in store for us?” Golden marched to his side, giggling excitedly as they boarded Rocket, Percy taking the co-pilot seat beside Dawn, while Oswald and Mickey took a double seat, and Julius and Golden taking one opposite them, and Starlight comfortably sitting in Golden’s lap under the seatbelt. Scout took a seat at the rear, where she got a good view of the back window, where the stars were already beginning to shine through in the black void of space. “Woah, look at those!” she said. “The stars are already out, lookie!” The younger students all glanced out the windows, while Dawn began to switch on the controls and boot up the engine, Rocket was already beginning to start up, humming a cheerful marimba noise as it revved into action. “Alright kiddos, just one more thing…” grinned Percy, placing his hands on his knees in preparation for the power boost. “Ready to begin? We just need to pat our knees like last time, you all remember right? Let’s start patting!” And so he did, the younger sorcerers at the back following his enthusiastic lead. Dawn smiled, having seen this method before and began to pat her own lap, which she found fun as well as relaxing and stimulating. Rocket’s engines roared to life and began to ascend from the landing zone. With the push of a button from Dawn, the doors to the outer world opened, ahead of them, a shining path of glimmering stardust and ice fragments, which lit the way like a beacon from the heavens. “Off on a celestial adventure!” beamed Percy, giving an upwards push on the levers, allowing Rocket to move forward and pick up speed. Golden clutched onto the arms of her seat as they got faster, the take off was always a little bumpy, and Scout was wishing there was enough room in the back to lift her arms up like she was on a rollercoaster speeding down a waterfall. Once Rocket was up, everyone finished patting their laps and turned their attention to the outside, which was already brimming with the brightest lights and the shimmering of several stars soaring across the black canvas like a magical paintbrush. Everyone gazed at the sight before them, Mickey and Oswald both gasped softly and hummed with wonder as a trio of stars all passed Rocket together, while Scout had taken a few photos on her phone, before quickly reaching into her bag and taking out a pen and her journal, immediately turning to a blank page and sketching a series of stars, meteors, nebulas and planets. “What you see here is the Daybreak nursery.” Dawn began. “It’s one of the newest stellar nurseries discovered here! And once you see it up close, you’ll see that there are more than a thousand newborn stars, all of them unique and beginning their life in their own way, just like a snowflake on the first day of winter. In fact, these stars are so unique that you can easily tell them apart, just by their colour, their size, their radius, how fast they fly…all of them filling this dark patch of space with their soft, glowing hues, like the beginning of a fresh new day, or even…Dawn, hehe! It’s why we named this the Daybreak nursery.” Percy reached into his robe, and took out his own journal, writing down word for word of Dawn’s description of the starry safari. He wrote the words with elegant writing befitting the beautiful star-filled plain, he felt reminded of an old friend, and even of little Starlight and Star, maybe this was their origin? But it was not known, perhaps they knew? “By Jove…” He mused in awe, unable to take his eyes off the dancing lights. “I’ve seen many wondrous sights in my life, and this…this has to be one of my top five! Just look at all these little stars…they’re babies!!” He gave a small squeal of delight, eliciting a giggle from Golden. “They are! And they are just as magical as you, Starlight!” She said, holding up her little friend in her arms. “Maybe we'll find another one like you up here?” Starlight then stared up and gazed at the field of stars. She had a small memory in her mind, one of her drifting through the beautiful blue and lilac patterns and feeling the soft touch of the nebula clouds forming around her, it seemed like so long ago, and it was mostly all of what she remembered before she met Golden or anyone of her family. Another glowworm like her wasn’t impossible, and the feeling of indulging herself in a starry flight was too much to resist as her little cheeks began to glow bright pink as she smiled, turning to face Dawn. “Hey Dawn? May we go out there? When it’s safe to, at least? Hehe!” Dawn smiled back at her, nodding as she toggled the levers and made Rocket turn on a bend in the stardust’s path, continuing on with the safari. “That we will!” Answered Dawn cheerily. “We’ll all soon be ready to undo our seatbelts and get a closer glimpse of these beauties! I’ve had little space suits installed for you all to wear when we venture out, we’ll be attached to a cable inside Rocket as we do so we won’t accidentally drift off, that would be awkward! So, how’s everyone enjoying the trip?” Golden and the boys all looked past their seats, nodding and giving Dawn a thumbs up to respond to her question. “It’s not as scary as I originally thought.” Said Julius, giving a soft purr as Golden scratched at his head. “In fact, it’s really, really pretty!” Mickey watched as several little twinkles of light lit up above his window, he smiled widely and waved, it was like the stars were greeting them with a hello. “Hello little stars!” He chirped, “Aww, you look real pretty up here! It’s not everyday you see newborn stars up close! Hmm, I wonder if they know Star…?” Dawn tapped her chin in response to his question, and smiled at the thought. Undoing her seatbelt, she stood up as she softly patted her lap, slowing Rocket to a steady, easy pace that made it easy for everyone to stand up inside. “It’s quite possible, but all stars are different, some are connected to people, to their hopes, dreams and wishes, and when they are born they might find that special person! I have also theorised that some stars were once people, who are simply returning back to outer space after their time spent on our home planet.” Dawn peered out of the window, taking a step closer to the window, watching as the stars all danced, many of them moving in a delicate, yet enthusiastic rhythm, it was mesmerising, almost hypnotising with the way the light bounced off of them. “In a way, it’s like a circle of life, stars are born, their stardust becomes us, we become the stardust, and thus the stars are reborn…but that’s just a theory! I have plenty of them that I have sometimes stayed up all night thinking about and writing down, but master Yen Sid would NOT be happy if he heard I was up all night I can tell you that!” She laughed joyfully at the idea, everyone else following with their laughter, knowing that would be very true when it came to Yen Sid whose dad instincts and nagging were never lost on him, even before his first ever cohort. “That’s the master alright!” chortled Percy, getting up from his seat and standing beside Dawn, jotting down a few more notes in his journal. “That being said, you remember when he took us out one late night to see the northern lights? I believe we were still quite young, all of us. It was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen since I first saw my mama when I was a tiny little thing!” Dawn grinned at him, a flash of the memory appearing in her mind. She remembered when the cohort at the time were still little, and despite their usual bedtime schedule, Yen Sid had taken them all out for a late night for a chance to see the beautiful aurora borealis. Dawn giggled, remembering how sleepy everyone looked, and how small Percy was on the way home after a long night out. “My goodness, I can’t believe you remember that!” She said, “I remember when you all came back, you and Astra were asleep in master Yen Sid’s arms because you couldn’t stay awake, you looked so utterly tired, but so cute because I noticed you two were holding hands.” Percy gave a little squeak of happiness, pulling the brim of his hat over his eyes slightly to hide how red he was getting, quickly stuffing the journal into his robe pocket and fiddling his collar, the younger sorcerers were all on their feet now and approached the two at the lit up window, all of them gazing up in amusement at Percy’s flustered appearance. “Oh gosh…” He tittered, brushing back some of the strands of his sideburns. “Me being so tiny, in the master’s arms…Ahh! How I wish things were still the same. And with my best friend too…Ahh what a glorious night it was to remember!” Golden silently snickered at Percy, finding his reaction one of humour and sweetness, it was enough to light up her face, much like one of the stars, Percy’s personality truly matched his nickname as the ‘light man.’ 

Mickey drew closer to Golden, putting his arm over her shoulder, his warm, wide smile etched on his face as the menagerie of lights spread across the window like a million musical compositions. “Look at them, Goldie.” He whispered. “It’s so beautiful! It reminds me of when you showed me all those stars, planets, everything the universe had to show! It’s no different here, don’t you think?” Golden fixed her eyes on the outside, her eyes shimmering so much the colour of her vibrant blue orbs were mixing in the bright, whitish gold glow of the stellar nursery. A small gasp escaped her throat as she recalled the moment with Mickey up on the mountain top, tears almost filling her eyes as she held Starlight close to her chest, leaning against Mickey a little more. “You’re right, Mickey.” She replied in awe, turning to her older brother. “You remember the feeling too, don’t you?” Mickey nodded to her, blinking back a tear as his own eyes began to light up from the sparkling stardust. “I do. It’s like we are back there, isn’t it? I’ll never forget what you did for me, I’m…really thankful to you, Goldie.” Golden felt her heart become lighter, and she held Starlight more, wrapping her other arm over Mickey and holding him close to her, a small but visibly happy smirk appeared on her lips, Mickey was so much like her in many ways, they were like twins, partners in crime, and always had ways to understand one another. There were plenty of times growing up where she would follow him around, copying him and listening to him when she wouldn’t listen to others, at times where she was being a typical child and acting stubborn. And at times when she felt so small, Mickey was the one to show her that being small isn’t so bad at all, especially when there are others who make her feel so big. “I’m thankful too.” She said sweetly. “To you, and…we’ll never feel small when there’s a great big universe out there!” Mickey grinned, gently rubbing his knuckles on Golden’s head, messing up a part of her bright, vibrant fringe and making her look slightly dishevelled. Oswald side stepped behind them, putting both his arms around his younger siblings, pulling each of them into a small side hug. “Yep! A great big universe…” He grinned, winking at them. “...As we head into a great big beautiful tomorrow!” This earned a smile from everyone, as they went back to watching the large group of stars soaring before them, Percy and Scout were journaling a bunch of notes as well as illustrations inside each page as a little added piece to their educational safari. There was a sudden whoosh of light as the stars all went the opposite way, like they were in a rush. No one had a thought to question it yet, until a sudden jolt sent Rocket being knocked slightly over onto its side, and everyone almost fell back into their seats. “WOAH!” Scout yelled, gripping the headrest of one of the seats to stay on her feet, her other hand grabbing hold of Golden’s while the young girl kept a tight hold on Starlight, a rather startled look on her face. “What was that?!” She cried, stepping further next to Scout as Rocket remained on a tilt, a small alarm began to sound off near the control panel, blaring and flashing amber momentarily. “Is everyone alright?” Dawn called out. “I think we’ve hit a bump in the road, and I mean that! Look outside, a space rock has broken up!” She pointed her finger to the window, where several pieces of rock in varying sizes were floating down the way, Percy leapt up, helping the three brothers back into their seats for safety. He picked up his journal and stared out of the window, catching a long glimpse at what was happening on the outside of the starpath, his eyes widening. “Well, I see now why the little stars went a different way,” He said. “We’ve just floated by an asteroid belt!” Dawn was confused, had they really floated further out from the path? She has set them on a straight course! Slowly making her way over to the control panel, she switched off the alarm and booted up the map, which only left her feeling more confused, had she not set in the brakes? “That’s so weird, I didn’t feel us moving.” Everyone else up, reaching the front of Rocket as they all gazed over at the map, watching as Dawn attempted to figure out what to do and set them back on course, Golden kept Starlight held close in her arms, stepping up to the panel beside Oswald. “Is Rocket okay?” She asked softly, Dawn tapping the controls with her fingers anxiously as the titling of the vehicle was slightly overwhelming. A screen was loaded up, and it showed the outside of the various parts of Rocket in detail, the underneath looked a little unusual, to the point where it looked out of place among the rest. “I think…hang on.” Dawn said, zooming in on the screen to the bottom half, she let out a hum, lightly scratching at the side of her face and twirling her hair slightly. “One of the rocks…It has hit Rocket on the underside and has taken off a part of him! It could be dangerous if it’s not fixed, that part is right next to one of his engines!” The group almost came to an eerie silence, which was interrupted by a sudden yelp from Percy. “WHAT?!” He cried out, almost dropping the journal which he now clutched to his chest. “Rocket is hurt? That’ll never do! We must fix this, what can we do Dawn? Just say the word!” There wasn’t a quick answer, as Rocket had begun to drift slowly off of the stardust path, Dawn sat back in the pilot’s seat, with Percy taking the other. Dawn assessed her options, tapping rapidly on the keyboard of the control panel. “Alright… let’s see…” She murmured, pushing the gear stick up to bring Rocket off his tilt, he appeared to be moving slowly again. “Despite getting the settings back to normal and setting Rocket back in control, he can't be moved with the damaged underside!” Dawn had let go of the gear stick, resulting in a sudden tilt again as it fell to its side, clearly unstable from the impact. Oswald reached forward within seconds out of reflect, pushing it back up to return gravity to normal. “Well there’s gotta be something we can do!” He cried out, pushing against the gear stick along with Rocket’s weight. Percy nervously patted his knees, hoping to some degree that it would help boost Rocket to better stability while quickly strapping himself in. “Ahh I don’t think patting our knees will put the brakes on this time!” Oswald jumped up into the seat opposite him, grabbing at his own seat belt to strap in as he was concerned about slipping over from the loss of gravity. “Well something’s gotta!” He cried. “I’ll tell ya, this is one crazy safari trip that’s for-” Oswald’s words came to a sudden stop as the windscreen was filled with a bright glow, much brighter than they had seen before on this little tour. The stars, the tiny little stars that had been joyfully floating about before, were now all shooting past them at a quick rate, but a few of them slowed down to catch a glimpse of the crew inside. Oswald stared up at them, his eyes were sparkling like diamonds from their twinkling stardust, they slowed down, and Oswald could see their tiny little faces, they were like Star, but all individually unique in personality. They waved and smiled at him, and he waved back slowly, never having seen them so up close before. Something inside Oswald awakened, and he wasn’t sure what, yet as he stared at all the tiny little stars in front of him, he felt as if he knew the answer to the predicament they were in. “Hey guys?” He said, getting up from his seat and standing up tall, an air of confidence around him. “I think I know what to do. Dawn, can you bring out those space suits please?” Dawn was slightly surprised by his sudden change of mood, but was pleased nonetheless and nodded. Stepping over carefully toward the rear of the cabin, Dawn gave a push of a button on the end of the wall, opening a small door that held several space suits, all accustomed to everyone’s exact size. Finding Oswald’s, she made her way back to him and handed him his suit, which he promptly changed into. “What are you doing, Ossie?” asked Mickey with a look of curiosity, his older brother responding with a friendly wink. “I’m gonna fix Rocket!” He smirked, taking the helmet of his suit and slipping it over his round head. “It might not be easy but I’m gonna enjoy it! This type of thing is my bread and butter!”  Finally, he attached a long, thin rope around his waist, securing it in a loop with the other end attached to one of the arms of the seats, Percy and Dawn resumed their handling of the control panel of Rocket to keep him stable and at a still position, the scientist sorcerer pushing one of the buttons to open the main door, while Golden, Mickey, Julius and Starlight watched as Oswald hopped out and floated delicately on the outside of the red space rocket, once outside, he was taken aback by how vast and wide the big blue void of space really was, he gazed around at the distant stars, watching them glimmer in the far off nebulae and clusters, almost getting distracted completely from his task. “First off, gotta take out my trusty remote!” Oswald reached into his pocket, revealing his remote, he smiled at himself for bringing it along with him on the camping trip, it was always helpful to have around. He pushed forward, going under the side of Rocket’s backend where the engines were located. There was a missing piece of metal, and Oswald could see it floating away slowly as sparks from the open piece were igniting. “Alrighty, lets get ya fixed up, Rocket. This should be easy.” He pointed the remote at the location of the sparks, the electricity connecting with some of the loose wires, sealing them up and ceasing the out of control sparks from flying out, he was glad he had a spacesuit on for they were flying in all directions, but left no damage to him. He reached his other hand into another pocket, which kept a small tool inside, it looked like a pen with buttons, he pressed one, and it quickly transformed into a screwdriver before his eyes. “Woah.” He grinned in surprise. “Dawn must have made this. Ha, why aren’t her inventions more well known?” He chuckled, now started to fix up some loose screws that had been knocked from the impact. He figured it must have been quite a hit from the rocks, feeling lucky as he usually would that Rocket didn’t suffer further damage. He tightened up all of the screws, there weren’t that many thankfully, and now he’d just need a piece to cover the open compartment, except it was floating further and further away, likely to be lost in space any moment. “I wonder if this is long enough?” Oswald thought, looking down at the rope secured around his waist, he shrugged, and began to test the length by swimming out toward it, reaching his arm out to grab the floating metal. “If not, maybe Dawn has a back up...huh?” He felt lighter, and not in a sense of lacking gravity, he felt as if he was going faster, he didn’t immediately place it until he looked down, the rope had untied… “What?!” He cried, trying to pull himself to a stop, but instead waved his arms to grab the remote and screwdriver that had fallen from his pockets. “Ugh, not so lucky here, eh Oswald? How am I supposed to get back?!” 

He kept moving, he was weightless in the open space, and now Rocket appeared to be moving away, and not on its own. From inside, Golden caught a glimpse of him moving around aimlessly in the light of the stars, her eyes widened as she stepped toward the window, almost dropping Starlight in her haste. “Oswald?” she spoke. “What’s he doing? Ahh…Percy?!” The others glanced at the window, and seeing what Golden saw, they got up and saw the trouble Oswald was in, and he was looking more annoyed as he floated upwards and away. “Guys! My rope came undone!” He shouted. “What do I do!” Mickey banged his fist on the window, drawing Oswald’s attention to him. “Use your ears, Os!” He cried, and luckily Oswald was able to hear him. Twirling his ears like a helicopter propeller, Oswald finally moved in the direction he wished to go in, finally floating back down to Rocket at a good and slow pace. “Okay, got this under controool woah!!” Once again, being a weightless form in space gave him no chance of slowing to a halt, his ears were picking up speed as he drifted under Rocket and past him, everyone inside Rocket ran to the other side, seeing Oswald float out further from the path they were on. “Oswald!” cried Scout as she leaned outside the exit door. “Hold on, okay?” Dawn ran over to the rear cabin, spotting a drawer where she kept some extra essentials, inside was an extra rope, and it was long for her to use and reach outside for Oswald, she hoped she wasn’t too late to act. “Oswald, I got some extra rope for ya!” She cried, waving the item above her head like a lasso. “Just hold on, I’m coming over!” Oswald tried to hold still, but he just kept moving, much to his ire, even propelling his ears was no longer a help. He didn’t realise it the moment it happened, as he shut his eyes in his attempts to halt, but upon opening them, his surroundings were much lighter, and so was he. At his arms and legs, holding onto each of them were several of the baby stars, keeping him still, all of them smiling up at him. “Heeey! It’s you little ankle biters! Haha, I should have known!” Oswald laughed, feeling overjoyed at seeing them. As Dawn hopped out of Rocket with the rope now attached to her, she reached out to Oswald, and took his hand, he gave her a wink as she began to pull them both back to Rocket. “That was lucky!” She grinned, Oswald nodding in agreement. He glanced down at the underneath of their vehicle friend, a new idea springing to mind. Looking at the little stars, he softly gestured them to move down. “Hey Dawn?” He said, “Keep a hold on that rope, I’ve got an idea.” Dawn wondered what he meant, but soon got a good impression of what he meant, and smiled at him. Letting go, she waited by the exit, and let the stars bring Oswald back down under Rocket. They all peeped and squeaked happily, enjoying the fact that they could help the young rabbit sorcerer on his little rescue mission. They pulled him gently, and safely to the open compartment, Oswald giving a few of them complimentary pats on the tops of their heads. A few other stars, the remaining members of the Daybreak nursery went out further, keeping their eyes peeled for a certain important item, and they found it; four little stars all grabbed ahold of the missing metal, and brought it back with them to Oswald. Now with everything he needed, he quickly got to work on fixing Rocket. “Perfect!” He said, taking out his remote as he began to place the large square piece of metal back in its place. Inside, everyone watched the moment play out, all of them feeling relief that Oswald was safe, and that Rocket was going to be fixed up. Percy almost jumped for joy, slightly losing his balance and clutching at the pilot’s seat to steady himself. “Great garnets, that was incredible!” He beamed brightly. “I thought Oswald would be in big trouble, but I wasn’t expecting those little stars to come to his rescue. In hindsight I should have, haha!” He leaned a little closer to the exit, putting his arm around Golden as she sat on her knees, both of them keeping a fair distance so they wouldn’t fall out without their spacesuits. “Aren’t they just darling, Lumen?” He grinned, earning a nod from the young girl, who was positively enchanted by the sight of the tiny stars beside Oswald and providing him the help he needed. “They are! I wanna get up close too!” Golden giggled, and Starlight nodded in wholehearted agreement. Mickey smiled, providing his little sister a soft pat on the shoulder. “We’ll soon be able to.” He winked. “Soon enough, we can step foot out there and see the whole nursery. Well done, Oswald!” Oswald heard their cheers for him, and he felt so proud of what he achieved, and partly thanks to the little stars. They all gave Oswald one more final push back up to the door so he could be at a safe distance now that Rocket was fixed. Dawn and Percy moved back to the pilot seats, finally they were able to adjust Rocket back into place, and successfully got him to park properly on the stardust path. Dawn was positively beaming, clapping her hands and bouncing on her toes as she skipped over to the closet of spacesuits, gathering them all into her arms all at once. “Perfect! Come along little ones, you wanted to be up close, right? Now’s your chance!” 

She handed out each spacesuit to everyone, who all took a moment to revel in how they fitted them in their sizes to a T. They were even colour coordinated to match their own wizard robes! Percy struck a pose like a supermodel on a catwalk, which made Golden laugh and Dawn gave him a little twirl of her own to show. “I’m guessing the master gave a little clue on how to make these suits?” Percy asked her, earning a playful smirk from the scientist as she placed a finger over her lips. “That’s his little secret.” She tittered sweetly, slipping over her own helmet. Mickey and Golden giggled and stood back to back, looking like a pair of twins in their own red suits. “I like the look, Mickey.” Said Golden. “We oughta wear matching outfits more often!” Mickey nodded, taking Golden’s hand as they hoped out of the exit together, stepping onto the stardust underneath, which sprayed out and parted like cotton from a dandelion. “You and I would wear the best matching outfits, Goldie!” He grinned. “When we get home, let’s go through some of the closets in dad’s workshop, he’s sure to have plenty!” The idea excited Golden, which gave another thing to tell Yen Sid once they were all home as well as to tell him all about the whole camp experience. Scout pulled out her journal, along with her pen as she jumped out behind them, feeling utterly and quite literally starstruck at all the sparkling dots on the black void, and the colourful nebula clouds and fairly visible planets. What stood out most was the baby stars themselves, all floating around the small area, and coming up close to the crew of sorcerers as they all watched in admiration of their beauty and cuteness, it was vastly different from watching them inside of Rocket. “Hello little stars!” Golden called out, waving her arms up and down to grab their attention as they flew overhead. “You look so beautiful up close!” Stopping in their tracks, a few of the stars looked back at Golden, a lilac one and a baby blue coloured one zoomed down to greet her, the young girl stood back a little in surprise, but smiling giddily as they came up so close to her. The blue star gave her a light tap on the nose, unintentionally releasing some stardust from its tiny hand, which landed on her nose, tickling her and causing her to sneeze. “A-achoo!!” The sneeze sent the tiny stars tumbling back, rolling like little bouncy balls of glittering dust! “Oops!” Golden squeaked, covering her mouth. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to do that, hehe! You look like little roly polys!” Golden then got a big idea, momentarily wondering if it was possible with her spacesuit on. Regardless, she got down on her knees and outstretched her arms, and then she pushed forward and rolled in a little somersault. “Roly polys!” She giggled, doing several little rolls in succession. The stars watched her, switching glances between each other, and then following her lead, they both did their own little rolls as they stayed afloat, the lilac one falling a little dizzy after a few times and flopping down into Golden’s hands. Mickey and Oswald gazed up at the dancing stars, with the former pointing up at the trail of stardust. “Look Ossie!” Mickey observed happily, his eyes twinkling in the light. “It looks like a stream of hundreds of wishes! It’s so beautiful!” Oswald gazed up, the little stars and their starlight, he felt something inside him again, it was the same thing he had felt earlier, when he first saw them up close. A small smile became etched on his face as he heard Mickey’s words repeat in his mind. “They’re like wishes…” He beamed quietly, almost speechless at their  tranquil beauty. “Maybe…one day, they will make wishes come true! Mine did…perhaps I could be like that in the future?” His words were heard, but not answered verbally, instead receiving a hug around the shoulders from Julius, with Mickey at the young cat’s other side. The three brothers watched in silence at the celestial dance of infant stars, never imagining that they would be right here in space watching such a sight, but the idea was never impossible, and if it was, it was definitely a fun thing to do. 

Scout had once more retrieved her journal, with Percy following her lead in drawing the little stars, to writing down their numbers, their colours, their behavioural patterns, everything they had observed from their interactions and helpfulness with Oswald. Even for just one day, they all felt like they had learned a lot on this little adventure. Dawn was also documenting many things she had learned on her little computer pad, she looked at her screen, a huge enthusiastic smile on her face. “I think after all that’s happened today…” She began, a quivering giggle in her voice. “We’ve made such a huge discovery!” She bounced on her toes, unable to contain her excitement, completely forgetting the trouble they had experienced moments ago. Looking up from his journal, Percy watched her with a small smirk, secretly and cheekily doodling a picture of her looking so happy. “That’s a smile you’ll be wearing when you win the contest, Dawn!” He grinned, giving her a small nudge with his elbow as she stopped bouncing excitedly, her eyes darting side to side as the rest of the young sorcerers turned her way. “He’s right, Dawn!” Chirped Mickey. “Betcha really excited, huh?” Dawn gave a small, slightly awkward smile, tapping her finger tips rapidly on the computer pad, internally wanting to hide her face behind it. “Aww shucks, you lot.” She giggled warmly, her cheeks glowing like Christmas lights. “You think I could? I mean, we’ve ALL got amazing things to present at the competition, I’m sure it’ll be just as ordinary…” Everyone stared for a moment, taking a second to smile at each other from Dawn’s humble words, Scout began to laugh, gently patting the scientist on the shoulder in a good hearted manner, making Dawn flinch a little in surprise. “Aww, you don’t have to be so hard on yourself!” The teen said brightly, offering Dawn an uplifting wink. “You’ve already shown us your amazing inventions, they are out of this world! And this whole campout in space was down to you! We’ve all had a great time, and heck, I wouldn’t mind doing this again!” Dawn smiled, a more genuine one than the one after Percy’s compliment, she giggled as she withdrew her computer pad into her pocket, taking a small, green hue star into her palm. “Well, we’ve still got a lot to see and do.” She said, gently squishing the little star against her cheek, it was like nuzzling a marshmallow. “Not to mention plenty to learn! Looks like I have too, I’ve already learned a lot from you kids, you’ve really fascinated me! It’s no wonder Yen Sid took you all on, and loves you all so much.” Percy let out a jolly squeak at that last part, valuing Dawn’s words on Yen Sid, knowing she could only speak the truth about him. Golden smiled, Mickey taking her hand as they wondered to each other what they could teach Dawn on this adventure, there was so much out there, the universe was a place of endless possibilities, as the stars had shown. 

Starlight wheezed around above the group, twisting and turning as several little stars chased her playfully, finding her a rather amusing and fun individual, noting how different she looked and yet was so similar to them. She gathered up enough stardust into her small arms and performed a spinning twirl as she ascended above the rest of them, throwing the stardust into the atmosphere and letting it float like it’s own small galaxy, it glisterned and glimmered like a thousand lights, akin to Percy’s very own. Starlight took the hands of two young stars, pink and purple in colour, and spun a little dance with them, until they released her and sent her flying with enough momentum to be propelled across the area, landing on a dark blue star, making it squeak in surprise. “Hey!” Starlight cried with a laugh, “I was supposed to throw you two! I guess you’re stronger than we thought, haha!” Her hat slipped over her eye slightly, giving herself a moment to adjust it as the blue star held her upright again, giggling like a small baby as it clapped its stubby arms. Starlight gave it a little pat on the noggin before she floated back down to join her family, sitting herself back down in Golden’s arms, tiredness overtaking her enough to let her rest and unwind after getting her awaited chance at playing with the stars. The little stars all gave a yawn and stretch, several of them slowly retreating back to the stellar nursery, they sleepily waved goodbye to the small crew, who all returned a warm, friendly wave as they watched them depart. Oswald in particular felt rather proud, feeling a gentle feeling in his heart knowing he was able to help out and work beside the young stars. “See ya you little munchkins!” He called out, waving both arms above his head. “It was nice meetin’ ya! Haha, gosh…I hope we see them again!” Mickey came up beside his older brother, playfully throwing his arms around his shoulders and pulling him close into a hug, a grin on his face in response to Oswald’s comment. “I have no doubt, Os, haha!” He said, giving his little signature giggle. “You were quite taken with those little guys, I can’t say I blame ya!” Scout now approached the two boys, smirking widely and playfully digging her knuckles into Oswald’s scalp, making him yelp in surprise and trying to push her hand off, though he was still being held in Mickey’s hug. “Yeah you were!” Scout snickered, “Coming from you, papa rabbit. You’re good with kids, especially when you’ve got four hundred and twenty of the little nippers!” Percy skidded over, clutching his journal in his hands like it would fly away if he didn’t hold on tight enough, his eyes sparkling as he gazed down at Oswald, he looked ready to burst into light. “They were soooo CUTE, Oswald!!” He beamed, small tears streaming down his cheeks shining like rivers of gold. “And you were so lucky, you live up to your title! What I wouldn’t give to hold a group of itty bitty little squishies, they were like little babies…! Goodness, I almost feel a little jealous, haha!” Oswald chuckled at Percy’s enthusiasm, relating to the statement of interacting with the little stars, and how they were compared to his own bunny children. Mickey gently brushed a hand against Percy’s leg in a good natured punch. “Well, Percy, we’ll have to give Star an extra hug when we get home!” He smiled cheerfully. “I gotta admit, the idea of the stars being like babies and getting to play with them…that must be what it’s like having your own?” The young mouse’s thoughts drifted, his eyes meeting Percy’s, who chuckled and tucked away his journal into his space suit pocket, before beckoning the younger sorcerers to follow him back to Rocket, where Dawn was waiting for them. Once inside Rocket, everyone took to their usual seats, with Percy taking the front row beside Dawn so he could pilot with her. Scout took out her journal, flipping the pages with proud speed as she glossed over the drawings and writings that adorned them, each section of the pages all filled with their new findings. “Wow, this is so incredible!” She beamed, reaching over the seats to show Golden and the boys. “Wait till pops sees these! I wonder if he’s seen or heard of anything about these little guys? He must surely, right Dawn?” Dawn responded with a giggle, lightly patting her lap to power up Rocket, whose engines soon kicked into ignition. “Well Scout,” She answered in a bubbly kind of voice. “Our old master has seen a lot of things! But a stellar nursery so up close you can touch a star? He might have an answer, but first, you’d need to ask him.” She left that last part of the sentence with a sly yet affectionate wink, taking control of Rocket as she turned the bright red vehicle around, everyone watched from the windows, in the light of the nursery, all the baby stars were settled into little glittery, powdery beds of white stardust, where they all closed their eyes and drifted off into a peaceful, well earned sleep, and before they knew it, the young crew of space campers were on their way back to base.     

After the wonders of the day, everyone found themselves eager for an evening of relaxation, chilling out in the dining hall as they tucked into their meals. Dawn was keeping them all company, and the mechanical hands were busy cleaning the spacesuits they all had worn. Julius was colouring in a picture, and Mickey and Oswald were doing hand claps, Scout and Percy were chattering, and Golden was reading a book whilst Starlight snoozed on her lap, Dawn taking a peek from her vantage point and seeing it was the same book the little girl had been reading when they first met, and despite that being a mere few days ago, she felt as if she had got to know everyone by now. And yet, the thoughts of the BHAG competition still weighed on her mind. Would her children’s camp ever compete with fast-growing trees, sound enhancers…there were others too, like a submerged camera capable of being piloted down to the deepest depths, or a new type of robotic aide that would use the neurons in one’s mind to provide the exact help that a person would need at that exact moment. Though she didn’t realise it, she’d started to mumble, and turned crimson when she noticed them all looking at her. “Ah, sorry everyone! Didn’t mean to interrupt.” She chuckled, Percy giving her an understanding smile as she floated down from the ceiling, Fred hopping up onto her shoulder. “I’ll watch them for a minute, Dawn.” Percy spoke, Dawn surprised at his intuition but nodding, leaving the room and the airlock doors shutting behind her, leaving her alone with only Fred as her company. She wandered through the halls, occasionally muttering to herself. ‘Technically Percy is like the staff I would hire if I was funded, because I’d need a proper medic onboard and I can’t be the sole caretaker of a group of children, especially if there’s more than today…’ she mumbled, before passing the locker from the previous day where they had put all the stuff they had recovered. Opening it, Dawn passed Fred the seahorse, it was actually something they had found when scouting out a beach one night for spare parts and materials, and took the space boots, putting them off to one side on a shoe rack, tying them down so they wouldn’t float away. She then took the container with the yoghurt and put it under her arm, and finally looked at the last little item, a broom-bot. She smiled nostalgically, taking it into her hands and running her fingers over the textures. Holding it close to her chest, she took a deep breath. “You can do this, Dawn…you can. You can, you can, you can…” she whispered, Fred chattering encouragingly and nuzzling her under the chin, Dawn scrunching up at the feeling and tickling him, before closing the locker. She headed to her bed, placing the broom-bot down on top of it, and gave a little smile. “Let’s head back to them. I’ve got something to show them before the day is up!” she giggled, leaping from the ground and twisting midair, landing perfectly on the roof and sliding along, eating her yoghurt as she went and Fred clinging on for dear life as his master bounded through the halls, sliding door after sliding door anticipating her movements and automatically opening to serenade her. And when she finished her food, she threw the packaging into a handy trash chute and jumped into the dining hall, moving to the kitchen and throwing the container onto a conveyor belt, where it would be washed by motion-activated mechanics. And upon seeing the master so bright and cheery again, everyone smiled. Dawn gave them all a wave with two hands, and flipped over again, so now she was on the floor and a very dizzy Fred was chattering erratically. “Alright everyone, I’ve just got one last thing to show you for today! Please, follow me!” Dawn giggled, everyone putting down their things and the robotic arms taking them to sort and put safely away.

As Dawn led them through, Oswald found himself reflecting on the past day, he’d truly loved all those baby stars and wondered if he could see more of them, whilst Scout was humming a tune to herself. Julius and Mickey had begun a game of rock-paper-scissors, and Percy was thinking hard about something, presumably how he would write down the events of the day in a way which could benefit Dawn’s competition data. Meanwhile, Golden was looking beyond, staring through each window, as Starlight had woken up and was sleepily floating alongside her. They traversed through the same musical corridor as the previous day, but instead of going to the trash sorter, Dawn pulled a ladder from the ceiling, opening up a hatch and pressing a button. “Alright everyone! Your gear that you’ve had on this whole time will protect you, so don’t be afraid! Now, let me just…” she smiled and pulled out a few cords, securely hooking everyone and checking Oswald’s twice, just in case, and giving the little bunny an ear scratch whilst she was at it. And when everyone was ready, Dawn ascended the ladder, leading them to the outside of the IA 2000, allowing them to walk on its surface and observe the planet below. As she took them over the reams of star clusters and realms, they stayed single-file, following the master as she climbed yet another ladder, taking them to the highest point of the satellite, from which they could see everything. “And here we are! My favourite spot in the house!” she giggled, excitedly spinning and the group taking in the vast view, if they squinted, they could see the Daybreak nursery, and further beyond, Mars! The moon was also high above, casting its beautiful rays off its heart-shaped surface, and a twinkling star drew their attention, the Wishing Star, as the distant horizons of the Pastoral, Magical Kingdom and even Neverland all flew by below. Billions of stars twinkled in every which way, and the surface of the earth was clear below, Golden even fancying she could spot the grandiose building of the council if she squinted, looking much like a temple. Dawn smiled as they drank in the scene, and moved over to another side of the platform, pressing a lever and four objects whirring, simply white rectangles at first which came up along one end, until they fully turned, revealing they were solar panels, powering the IA 2000 with light in a renewable way. “Woah! Time out, when did they appear?” Scout turned, the group following her gaze as Dawn gave a sweet giggle. “Usually they’re folded down, but I want to program them differently! You see, these solar panels work well during the day, but at night time, when we follow Lumos’s cycle, they don’t get the light they need, so I have modified them to use music magic as energy instead! So, we’re programming a song into them!” she explained, pulling out a slider and inserting it onto a metal bar, and turning on a little device that generated sound waves. “So, the way it works is that the frequencies from the song will pass down each of these four solar panels, being distributed evenly. For the best outcome, we want the highest frequency, so keep an eye out for the strongest sound waves. Why don’t you start, Mickey?” The master smiled, gently giving the mouse an encouraging push forward. Mickey took a hold of the slider with a gloved hand, moving it back and forth, and then atop the blue grids of the solar panels, several orange frequencies appeared. A little nervous, he looked at Dawn, who pointed at the largest one. “Give it a try!” She smiled, Mickey nodding and using his hand to move the slider, which sparked a little upon making contact with the frequency. It resounded like a chime, making him smile. “Did I do it?” he giggled, Dawn nodding enthusiastically. “Yep! Keep doing that, and feel free to take it in turns! I’ll just chill up here…” she smiled, before smoothly vaulting into a backflip and landing atop one of the satellite’s many antennas, though not breaking it due to her weightlessness. In fact, she just sat there comfortably, observing as the group took it in turns to make music together, finding noises akin to flutes and lyrics amongst the frequencies. And then, when they were done, Dawn switched off the machine, the group watching as the solar panels righted themselves, now playing music that sounded much like a lullaby, and as night settled over Lumos, they had the privilege of watching a thousand lights turn on over the globe, almost as if Luminosa was reflecting the stars. As they all began to yawn, Dawn smiled, helping them back inside and turning the lights down with her controller, the melodic frequencies now almost singing them to sleep. And as everyone tucked themselves in, the hands helping them, she looked out of the window, gazing up at the Wishing Star, and pressed a hand against the cool glass, leaning her head on it and making a wish, before the IA 2000 was filled with the soft sounds of slumber.

The rays of the great moon soon transformed into the soft, welcoming rays of the sun, which peaked out above the curtains of the small sleeping room where everyone resided. On time as usual, Dawn got up and dressed, and let Fred climb up comfortably onto her shoulder. Waving to the mechanical hands as she passed by them, Dawn took out a small notepad and pen, and went to the whiteboard in her office where she kept the day’s listings and schedules of what she and the campers were to do on each particular day. “Oh Fred, look at this!” She grinned, pointing at the assignment of the day. “It’s been a while since we were last here, hasn’t it? I believe you were here with me once? Well, you can accompany us on today’s activity, it’ll be great fun watching our little happy campers put their minds together! Oh, I can’t wait to tell them! Quickly, Fred, you go set the breakfast table, I’ll go and wake them.” Fred gave a quick little chirp in response, hopping down from Dawn’s shoulder and she gave him a little head pat. The monkey sprinted out of the office and down the hallway, approaching the kitchen to prepare everyone’s breakfast and set them up for the day. The usual meals were prepared to the liking of each member of the Symphonus family, which the mechanical hands all laid out neatly along with cutlery and several glasses of drinks. Dawn skipped into the room, her eyes immediately laying on the breakfast buffet, she gave a little twirl and a tap-dancing jig with her toes against the hard floor tiles. “Ooh it looks fabulous!” She swooned, reaching to pat Fred on the head and pet him around his ear, making him chirp happily. “You’re so clever, Fred, look at this wonderful layout! Come on in everyone!” Still dressed in their pyjamas, Percy led the way in for the younger sorcerers to the table, taking their seats and immediately tucking into their breakfast. After the events of yesterday, they had been well rested and got enough sleep to prepare themselves for the day ahead of them. “Sooo…what’s the plan today, Dawn?” Asked Percy, looking over his glass of orange juice beyond his glasses. “You look positively giddy!” Dawn hid a giggle behind her hand, fidgeting a little in her seat as excitement bubbled out of her. “Well, today involves a place I think you all know too well!” She reached for her notes and computer pad, holding them up for everyone to get a good look. They all stopped eating for a second to see, Percy and Scout each took a double take. “The Cosmos?!” Percy beamed, almost falling out of his chair. “Haha, it’s been a little while since we’ve been there, but I do recall when two of the youngsters went there for a visit! Ahh, the sounds and sights of the Cosmos…it’s enough to make one feel all warm and sentimental, doesn’t it?” He looked almost dew eyed, sitting back down in his chair and quietly resuming his breakfast, his mind lingering on the Cosmos still. Mickey and Golden shared a quick glance, smiling softly as the memory of their little trip to the Cosmos that day. “We’re going back there, Goldie!” Mickey grinned. “And it’s true, that place is…so close to my heart, especially after what you told me when we were last there, you know?” Golden nodded, feeling a warmth in her chest, her heart beginning to glow. A day they’d both never forget, now it was a chance for everyone to go up and visit the vast plains of the outer galaxy known as the Cosmos, where music was known to traverse. “You’ll all be greeted with a wondrous sight!” Dawn giggled, standing and taking a quick sip of water. “We’ve been doing some updates to the upper level of the Capsule, much like the observatory at home, there are ways we can view the realms from space, we’ve found ways to perhaps even discover new ones!” The idea of new realms was quick to intrigue the gaggle of sorcerers, Yen Sid had taken charge with permission from the council to overlook the realms and oversee any news and development. This opened up possibilities for new or ancient discoveries to be found within, which intrigued everyone, especially Golden. “And we are in on the new discoveries?!” She squealed, almost knocking over her glass of water, prompting Scout to reach out her hand out of instinct to stop it from spilling, she had mastered her reflexes from many previous instances. “It’s entirely possible.” Answered Dawn, “We are making progress with our new technology every day, and with a dash of magic, it’s much quicker and it’s all smooth sailing!” The scientist gave a clap of her hands, the mechanical hands all whisking by to gather up the empty plates, cups and cutlery, as well as the serviettes and took them away to the sink to begin washing up. Dawn stood up, holding out her arm to allow Fred to climb up her and perch himself around her shoulder, she gave him a soft scratch on his cheek, feeling soothed by his presence. “So, if you are all ready with full tummies, we might as well begin! Our location isn’t far from here, it’s just on the higher decks of the whole camp! Some of you might have noticed the stairs and lifts…” She gave a cheeky wink down at Mickey and Golden, who both glanced side eyes at each other and tried not to laugh. Dawn strolled over to the exit door, and pushed a button to open them. The group soon followed her out, making their way down a long corridor with extra lights and little whirling electrical balls that contained tiny sparks of magic, all to keep the place powered up and in working order. “Your legs are moving fast there, Lumen!” Percy snickered, watching as Golden was now almost taking the lead among everyone. She slowed down, a pale blush on her cheeks. “Hehe! Sorry, just so excited!” She chimed, taking a march in her step. “This is gonna be like dad’s observatory! Maybe even bigger with more telescopes?” Dawn chuckled at her, placing a hand on the youngest’s head and ruffling it in jest. “It’s definitely big, but we’ve only one telescope, dear.” She said, “Its size makes up for an orderly place for chemistry, several books and chairs, a model planetary system and last but not least, a large machine that helps us collect the sounds and musical compositions we hear in the vast regions of space! It’s uncommon to hear much of anything in the vacuum of outer space, however, our readings have picked up small notes and cues that float around like dust, we collect them with the machine and use them all to create music, it’s like the planets and stars are singing little notes to make one huge symphony! I like to call it ‘The Music of the Spheres!’” 

Soon everyone was on the highest level, which looked like a big drop at the top of the stairs, to which Oswald had the funny idea of making a game of dropping things like tomatoes down the long drop-down and perhaps starting a competition with his siblings over which one hits the floor first. Opening a set of large silver doors, Dawn stepped into a room with a large table that reached around the whole wall, surrounded by bottles of potions, beakers, test tubes, scales and many more among the category of chemistry. A giant telescope stood in the middle, peering out toward the round window in the ceiling, decorated with bright golden stars and moons, and a connecting machine at the far end of the room with various tubes and cylinders.  “Oh wow Dawn, you weren’t kidding…” Percy grinned, drinking in the scene of the room, observing how different it was to the observatory at home, he figured there would be plenty of room to hang upside down if he needed a quick rest. “Hehe, thank you!” Dawn giggled cheerfully, guiding the sorcerer family to the machine. “This room is my happy place! I go here if I need to relax and calm down if I get a bit too overwhelmed. Or even if I need a little rest after working on my inventions. Just ask Fred, he’ll get pretty stern if I don’t take a break when I should, hehe!” Fred gave a playful frown, wagging his finger at her as he hopped down from her shoulder, jumping up onto the machine and sitting on the panel, which was covered in over one hundred buttons, all arranged in specific colours, numbers and patterns. “Wooow control panel!” said Golden, running up to it and looking over all the buttons, her childlike mind amused by the colours and shapes. “With so many buttons to press! How do you memorise them all, Dawn?” The cheery scientist strolled up to the young girl, pressing one of the larger buttons to open up a screen, which showed the outer parts of the Capsule in space as it switched on. “I don’t know how I do it, but it just comes naturally to me.” Dawn replied, her smile broadening as she showcased the machine to Golden, finding great joy in being able to show it off. Mickey, Julius and Oswald marched curiously up the panel, taking each side of their little sister, with Scout almost leaning on the boy’s heads as she stared out wide eyed at the screen. “Woah, so cool!” She expressed wondrously. “How far out does this go?! Can we see other realms this way?” The teen wanted a go at all the buttons and gadgets as the screen turned in two different directions, powered by a small motion sensor that Dawn was hovering her hand over on the right side of the machine. “In a way, it does!” Said Dawn. “There are many radars here that can pinpoint a signal that comes from a nearby realm. They are sometimes hidden in plain sight, so these radars can find them a bit more easily.” Dawn typed in a four worded code, prompting the screen to split into six, the displayed cameras showed the inside of the machine, and a few different angles of space, and one screen in particular was settled on a planet, Uranus, with Neptune not too far on a small corner screen. “Ooh, it’s the big blue planets! We saw those when we were in the Cosmos, didn’t we Golden?” Mickey pointed to the screen, his excitement building, along with hers. Fred pushed one of the lightly coloured orange buttons under the camera screens, where it zoomed in on the two planets, around their blue outlerlining atmospheres, where tiny little speckles shimmered from the sun’s distant rays. “Yes!” Dawn suddenly jumped for joy, pumping her hand in the air as she leapt, almost startling everyone with her voice going high for a moment. “Oh, haha sorry…I just couldn’t help it! Look, see those lights? They are notes! Notes of planetary music!” Everyone was quiet for a moment, they watched as the speckles of musical light came further into view, reaching a height close enough to see them as notes, a clef, a minim, a crochet and two semiquavers. “By Jove…” Percy mused, his hand over his mouth. “Could this be where sweep and push cues originate? All magic has a source after all.” His words made Scout think quite intently, she had always done musical magic, but being as eager as she usually was, never looked into the origin of the magic. She silently chastised herself for not always paying attention when she was starting as an apprentice, even quitting temporarily. But even as a graduate, she still had room to learn, as Yen Sid had told her previously. “Now, can you all stand by this side of the panel?” Asked Dawn, stepping aside so everyone could take their positions. “We’ll need all six of you for the job! This will be a team effort! Percy, Mickey…you two can activate the signal booster, it’s magic will help attract the notes toward the Capsule.” Standing furthest to the end, Mickey reached up his arms as instructed, and pushed two large, triangle shaped blue buttons, a soft whirring sound was heard inside the machine. On the screen, the notes began to move, ever so slowly as they twinkled. Percy pressed his palm onto a yellow button as he jogged a control stick, outside the Capsure, a large, cylinder shaped pipe opened its top, gentle hums emanated from the opening, which sounded like the softest lullaby, bringing the notes in faster and smoother. “Wow! That’s some incredible technological magic, haha!” Mickey laughed, with Percy chuckling in agreement, his face lighting up as the notes disappeared down into the pipe. “Down they go! That was quite simple.” He said. Dawn clapped her hands, signalling their attention. “Well done!” She applauded. “Well done! Alright, Julius, now you can help those little notes make their way down! Just gently guide them down using the motion sensor device. I’ll keep an eye on the camera so I can guide you on where to take them.” Mimicking what Dawn had done earlier, Julius began to move his hand in small circles, the sensor scanner on the machine began to glow, indicating it was picking up his movements. The cameras panned to a small section from the inside of the machine, where the gathered notes were slowly falling through the pipe. Dawn gestured for Scout to pull a crank, which would open another section inside for the notes to pass through. “That’s really cool, Dawn!” Said Scout, “When we get those notes, could we combine them? And maybe make them into a song?” This made Dawn grin from ear to ear, making her want to jump up again joyously. “It’s like you read my mind, Scout!” She beamed. “That’s exactly what this is all about! And nothing creates a better harmonious symphony than a whole orchestra! Which is why we need you guys for this little experiment!” Her words were met with a loud clank, which made her flinch and cover her ears with her hands. The whirring of the machine slowed to a halt, until it ceased to work, and a metallic creaking noise was softly heard inside. “Uh oh…” Dawn whispered, darting over to the chute on the other side of the room and kneeling by the machine. She gave it a quick tap with her knuckles, hoping it might knock some life back into it. “Oh no…how typical!” She moaned softly, getting back up on her feet. “There’s a jam inside the machine! I think one of the bolts in the pipes has come loose. Ohh, and it was going so well.” She crossed her arms, tapping her foot impatiently at this slight mishap on the little study. Percy approached her, reaching out his hand to her shoulder as he smiled emphatically. “I’m sure it’s nothing we can’t fix, Dawn.” He said to her, “You’re a scientist, and we are here to help! Let’s pause this for a moment to take a look, we’ll first…oh, wait a minute…” His suddenly change of tone got Dawn’s full attention, she looked over her shoulder to see Fred had skipped over to the chute, trying to look inside to see the problem, his long tail swished from side to side as his curiosity rose as he looked inside, not realising it had nonchalantly hit against a lever above the pipe entrance. “Ah! Fred, wait! Don’t touch that lever!” Cried Dawn, frantically reaching out to grab her little friend, but he had already been sucked inside the pipe, disappearing quickly. 

Dawn stumbled over the machine, almost tripping as she pulled the lever back into place. “Oh shoot…Fred!!” Dawn yelled, her voice sounding at a higher pitch as she worried for her monkey, going back to the screens with Percy to see where he was, he was luckily unharmed, but was looking a bit surprised as he was stuck inside the pipe, in his hands, were all the musical notes. “Uh oh! What do we do?” Golden asked nervously, this was not something she had been expecting at all. Dawn tried a few buttons, but the machine itself was down, and it appeared not much could be done on the inside. “Poor Fred!” She said sadly, feeling a little helpless at her monkey friend’s little plight. “The issue is on the inside, but how would we even fix it? And with Fred in there…oh, it’s going to be a difficult task!” They all moved toward the open pipe entrance, it wasn’t exactly small, but was only big enough for someone of Fred’s size, perhaps even a little bigger. Scout’s eyes lit up, and she slammed her fist into her palm. “That’s it, I got it!” She said, “Maybe one of us could go in and get him? Maybe then we could fix the problem inside, too?” Golden felt herself shrink a little, as if all eyes were on her. She wasn’t exactly fond of small spaces, and with not much room to move was making her feel self conscious. “Don’t look at me!” She whispered, feeling a sense of guilt as she felt herself backing out. “I know I’m small…but I don’t know if I could go in there!” A hand touched her back, it was gentle and understanding, she turned her head to see who, and seeing her big brother Mickey smiling at her was more than enough to ease her mind. “Ahh Goldie, it’s fine! No need to pressure yourself.” He told her kindly. “It’s okay, you sit this one out. After all, you aren’t the only one who is small here.” Mickey turned back to the pipe, he looked determined though there was a sense of nervousness in his demeanor too. He looked inside to see the length of the pipe, from the outside it was looking narrow, but Mickey’s grin only broadened as he gently pounded at his chest. “I’ll go in, guys.” He stated bravely. “I’ll rescue Fred, get the notes out here, and I’ll fix the pipe in the process!” Golden was thankful she wouldn’t have to go in if necessary, though it didn’t stop her from worrying about Mickey. Oswald peered over his younger sister’s shoulder, a puzzled look on his face as his eyes went back and forth from Mickey to the pipe. “You sure Mick? It looks a little cramped, and what if you get stuck too?” He said. Mickey paused for a moment, determining the outcome. He could see the concern on his sibling’s faces, and wondered if he might be a little in over his head, but at the very same moment, a thought stood in his mind. He looked at Golden, giving her a small smile, yet it was his warm, contagious smile that everyone knew the young mouse for even in times of trouble. “I understand Oswald, but I’ll be okay.” Mickey said, getting on his hands and knees before the pipe entrance, and giving one more look toward his siblings as well as Dawn. “Besides, isn’t it fun to do the impossible?” Without hesitation, Mickey crawled his way into the pipe, his little feet disappearing before all that was left was the sound of him moving through the metallic pipe. Mickey’s confidence gave a boost to everyone else, and their worries eased. Returning to the screens, they watched as they spotted Mickey crawling up through the machine, where Fred was waiting, and wasn’t looking too scared once he heard the sounds of Mickey approaching. “Woah, go Mickey!” Julius giggled, standing on his tiptoes over the panel to watch his brother on the screens. Mickey crawled with great care and caution up the pipe, until he reached a wider opening, there were plates of metal all around, and a long way up for the upper chute that opened up to space. Mickey spotted Fred in one corner, he was curled up with the little music notes tucked tightly against his chest, he didn’t seem to want to let them go. “Fred, come to me, I’ll help ya down!” Mickey called out, holding out his hand, but Fred didn’t move, simply shaking his head. Mickey felt the monkey might be a little nervous and needed a push, but when he spotted one of the music notes flicker and try to slip out of Fred’s hand, the small primate quickly tightened his grip on them, holding them protectively. “Oh, I getcha now!” Mickey said. “You’re worried about those notes, it seems like they are a bit skittish eh?” He pulled himself up, scooting over next to Fred and sitting beside him. “I have an idea, Fred. But if you could let me have those? For just a moment?” The monkey butler shifted his eyes a little, worryingly thinking of Dawn and not wanting her to feel sad or worry about him, slowly he held out the music notes, they were almost like little crystals with the way they shimmered. “Alright, now watch this!” Mickey grinned, his face lighting up with great vigor as he held his hand out over the notes, his own palm beginning to glow. He raised his other hand, pointing up his finger, a sudden trill of music began to sound, and the notes rose up out of Fred’s hands as they danced above their heads. Mickey gave a laugh, the music twinkled like stars and played a lively little tune, it always made him so happy whenever he got to perform magic this way, a reminder of why he wanted to be a sorcerer to start with, and how living and training with Yen Sid and his siblings made it all worthwhile. Fred watched in great awe at Mickey’s use of magic, and the sound of the little song was so calming, yet enchanting. Outside, the others could hear the tune, and its gentle sound sent a feeling of warmth like a familiar hug to their hearts. “Is…is that Mickey playing that song?” Asked Oswald, feeling a little lighter than usual. “It’s kinda pretty.” Dawn’s eyes were fixed on the screens, she saw Mickey sitting with Fred, she covered her mouth to try and avoid the bubbling laughter from escaping her mouth unexpectedly. “Ohh look! It is Mickey! And with the notes, he’s creating music!” She beamed, her eyes beginning to sparkle with tears that threatened to spill out with happiness. “Oh, and that’s just one little part, wait till we put them together…” There was a rattling inside the machine, the song’s tune was finishing on one final note, before the clanging of metal replaced the beautiful sound. Everyone turned back to the pipe, as it seemed to be emanating from that direction. The screens were now black apart from the one where Mickey and Fred were shown, but now they weren’t. “Huh? W-where’s Mickey?” Asked Golden nervously, on edge for her brother’s safety as the unfamiliar machine sounds were sounding rather menacing. “Mickey!” Oswald and Percy rushed to the pipe, trying to see inside for what was happening, there was a shimmering light that gave them enough vision to see, but it was still a bit too small to make out exactly what was going on. “Mickey? You there?” Percy called out, trying to see further in until he bumped the lens of his glasses on a bit of metal, making him jump back. “Oh heck! Looks like I’ll have to transform and go in there, tally ho kiddos!” He zipped inside in the blink of an eye as his ball of light, Oswald thought of following him, hoping he could squeeze in like Mickey had done earlier, he’d enlist Julius if he needed a hand in helping his baby brother, in his thinking, a light suddenly came into view as Percy suddenly reappeared, frantically flickering as another light source appeared to be on his tail. “MAKE WAAAY!” He shouted, almost knocking Oswald over and making him lose his tail. The lucky rabbit sorcerer’s jaw dropped when he saw all the notes going after Percy like an athlete about to cross the finish line and grab their prize. Percy stumbled back into his regular form and almost darted out of plain sight behind a surprised Dawn. A high pitched voice followed, which Oswald recognised, and he was once again almost knocked over as someone else emerged from the pipe. 

“Wheeee!!” Mickey flew out of the pipe as if he had been shot out of a canon, flapping his arms like a large bird as he landed gracefully down onto the ground like a circus performer, giving a bow to the otherwise bewildered sorcerers while Fred, who was sitting on Mickey’s shoulders, repeated the exact gesture and motion. “MICKEY!!” Golden yelled, rushing to go and hug her brother seeing he was unharmed, she almost started to cry as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “What happened? I thought you were hurt!” She nuzzled her face against his neck, her small sniffles were muffled. Mickey was in slight surprise at first before he returned the hug, patting Golden on the back and rubbing her shoulders. “Hurt? No little sis, I’m okay!” He said with a laugh, though there was a soft, empathetic tone to his words. “No need to cry, it was just a little prank from the music notes, you can blame them, haha!” Percy was not as amused as Mickey, and stood out from behind Dawn, his cheeks were puffed out and his hands were on his hips. “Well I’ll believe it when they tell me!” He frowned. “I saw what happened! YOU, Mr Mouse, sent those notes after me on purpose! That scared the daylights out of me and I AM the daylight!! I am telling the master when we get home.” Mickey merely smirked at Percy’s threat, playfully sticking out his tongue as Oswald now finally caught up to join them. “Go ahead and tell him.” Mickey answered dryly. “He’ll only find it funny!” Percy’s frown intensified as his cheeks flushed a bright red, making him turn away in embarrassment. Fred jumped off of Mickey’s shoulder and now ran forward to Dawn, leaping into her arms as she held him close, never wanting him to go out of her sight again. “Oh, Fred! You’re alright!” She cried, nuzzling her cheek on Fred’s fluffy head. “I was so frightened, but I knew you’d be okay! You had Mickey to help you out…and you both even got the notes out too.” The notes danced around the telescope, each one sounding off their own tune in celebration. Mickey and Golden parted the hug, and everyone looked up to see them dance and shimmer from the observatory ceiling, their own light reflected in the sun. “Aren’t they beautiful? Haha!” Mickey chuckled, feeling quite proud of himself. He noticed Fred giving him a jolly wink from the comfort of Dawn’s arms, quickly reminding Mickey of something he had forgotten. “Oh! The machine is fixed, Master Dawn!” He told her. “That loud noise you all heard? Hehe, that was me, I fixed up the loose pipes and screws before Fred and I jumped down! It should all be in a working order now.” Scout gave a sigh of relief, and there was no longer a call for concern, as did Percy and Dawn, the latter of whom placed Fred on her shoulder and went to the back of the room, to where a chest sat, it was glittery like a beautiful galaxy. She carried it back to the center of the room, and placed it in the middle, getting the attention of the musical notes as they stopped dancing. “Okay, it’s time for the grand finale!” Dawn giggled, she looked over to Golden and Oswald, motioning them closer. “Alright, come here you two. I believe you both haven’t had a go yet with today’s experiment. Could you both pull the two anchors at each side of the chest?” The two siblings eyed each other curiously, but didn’t hesitate in running up to help open up the chest. They stood at each side, taking hold of the large, screw-like anchors that locked the chest tightly shut. Dawn gave a quick wave of her hand, and signalled the two to open it up. “Now!” Oswald and Golden each gave a firm pull of the anchors, and the chest top flew open, the room was then filled with a flurry of hundreds of little musical notes that flew out, joining their new friends up near the telescope, all of them chiming and singing their own song tunes. “Ahh! Lookie lookie!” Cried Golden, suddenly grabbing only Oswald in excitement as he was the nearest. “There’s so many of them now! They look like butterflies! And sound so beautiful…!” Dawn giggled at Golden’s look of utter delight and enchantment, the little girl’s eyes sparkling as she held her brother, almost squeezing him, though he looked a bit peeved, he didn’t seem to mind and let her hold on. The scientist held out her arm for Fred to hop on, and as he did, Dawn motioned everyone to come around in the circle, taking out a small object from her robe coat pocket, it was a wand. “This isn’t just a wand.” She chuckled cheekily, holding it up for them to see. “It also counts as a baton! I’m no professional, but I do think I can do quite good, I’ve been practising for this day, you see!” Dawn raised her arms, almost setting the scene like a proper conductor on the stage podium. She gave the wand a quick swish, and the tip let out a sprinkle of magic dust. The musical notes all caught the glimpse of the dust, and began to form a line, the largest, a clef went first, allowing the others to follow suit behind it, much like a mother duck and her ducklings. Dawn moved the wand around a bit more, the shimmering lights of the notes dimmed, and they were all formed together like sheets of music, and began to play their song. It was jumpy and bouncy at the start, becoming more playful as it continued on, reaching an octave of high percussion and strings, everyone watching the sight were completely speechless, especially Golden, who almost couldn’t blink. The young girl took Mickey and Oswald’s hands, who both gave hers a light squeeze. The boys quickly glanced at each other, feeling a spark of joy in their hearts, feeling happy for themselves, for Dawn, for Golden, and how inspiring the scene before them was. The song began to calm, and slowly drifted into a soft, harmonious choir, Dawn lowered her arms, humming gently as she led the musical notes back down to the chest. Each of the many hundreds of notes plopped themselves down sleepily inside the chest, which allowed Dawn to close it up until the next time, and whispered goodnight, and good job to them as she placed her wand back in her pocket.

The night passed quick as a flash, the next day arriving as the capsule tilted slowly, almost dreamily, Dawn awakening first and getting herself dressed. She smiled at the thought of the day's activities- she wouldn't need everyone, but she had ideas for how some of them could spend their time if they didn't want to go on her little excursion. As everyone awoke and tucked into their breakfasts, she once again watched from the ceiling, holding Fred on one arm and feeding him, the little monkey chattering in excitement. "So, what's on the agenda for today, miss inventor?" Percy chirped, Dawn rubbing the back of her neck with a slight giggle. "Well, this is actually a calmer day! After the excitement of the last two days and the craziness, I figured you'd all like a day of relaxation! So I had a few ideas, though I will also need some of you to come out with me on a little...we'll call it a little space shopping trip! I'm heading to the Press to get something, and I thought instead of doing it the boring way like using the elevators or halls, why not have some fun and use hoverbikes?" she giggled, Scout and Julius looking at each other in wonder. "Hoverbikes??" Julius gasped, imagining little motorbikes whizzing through space. "Yep! Hoverbikes! They're super fun, I can't wait to show you!" she giggled, practically waving her hands around in excitement and adjusting her headphones when they almost fell off. "But I won't be able to take you all, I'm afraid, we only have three! But trust me, when I'm funded, I'll have twenty, no, forty! I'll take you all for a ride!" she cheered, before going crimson and realizing she'd got ahead of herself, saying 'when' instead of 'if', and rubbed her neck again. "Ah, so you DO think you'll win!" Percy crowed, Dawn shaking her head from side to side insistently and earning a chuckle from all of them, though it was in good fun. "What other things can we do instead?" Oswald asked, Dawn giving her signature smile and counting on her fingers. "Well...I can let you watch a movie through my module room, since I can probably get a signal and you can choose a channel, or you could go have fun sorting the trash again-" she stopped with a smile upon seeing Julius fold his arms, giving a little giggle and reaching down to pat his head, clearly she was just as comfortable upside-down as Percy!, "or you can chill here and draw or something! Up to you!" she explained with a cheer, everyone smiling and wondering what they wanted to do. "Maybe we could watch a movie? Or three?" Mickey suggested, Golden turning and nodding, she always liked snuggling up in a blanket and watching movies with her big brother and Yen Sid, usually they'd all sit together on the sofa, and when she was little she'd fall asleep listening to Yen Sid's heartbeat...she felt a little nostalgic and touched her chest, a thought occurring to her. Since she'd dived into his heart, did that mean they were always connected? She pondered on this idea a little, remembering how his magic had saved her once, and how his phoenix had reunited everyone and stopped her nightmare...the thought made her smile, and she decided to draw him a picture too, so that she could give him something in gratitude for letting her go on this adventure. "Alright! A movie and drawing!" the little girl cheered, Dawn giving two thumbs up and Fred going down the hallways to search for a frequency, encouraging the boys and Golden to follow. "I'll stay with them, then! Nothing like a good movie to unwind!" Percy smiled, Dawn nodding and giggling as he tipped his hat, clapping excitedly at the events to come. She flipped over and landed on her feet in front of Julius and Scout, encouraging them to follow her the other direction. Moving through the halls, they passed the warp room from the very first day, and then a large door, both of them surprised they hadn't seen it yet, though the IA 2000 was huge and it was very easy to get lost, what with all the hallways looking practically identical! "What's behind that door, Dawn?" Julius asked, Dawn giving a little giggle and motioning with her hands in a grand gesture. "A surprise! But not for today, we aren't quite ready for that yet! Now come on, come on! We've got some bikes to ride!" she laughed, suddenly sprinting and the two running to catch up, soon finding themselves running along the walls and ceiling due to the antigravity, which made all three of them laugh until their cheeks were sore.

Upon arriving at the end of the long hallway, which was covered in wires, presumably to power whatever the "surprise" was, Dawn took a left turn and led them to an open area, the walls being little more than glass, which made it appear as if they were in a pod. Propped up against the wall were the hoverbikes, clunky metallic vehicles with three thrusters on the back and a large front with several buttons, Dawn smiling. "Hop on! Oh, and don't forget your helmets!" she giggled, pulling three off the wall, they lit up with LED lights upon touching each person's head, so Julius had green, Scout had red, and Dawn had a vibrant gradient of yellow, pink and purple! "So cool! How did it know?!" Scout cried, Dawn chuckling and hopping on her bike, showing them how to move it over to a rail and position it. "It's a neurocognitive helmet! It knows your favourite colours, how tight to squeeze, and it even gave Julius some ear support!" she smiled, Julius reaching up and feeling two new points had appeared atop the helmet, gasping in amazement. "Did you make these?!" he grinned, Dawn nodding and putting one of her thumbs up. "I did! I thought it would be more effective even just for things like cycling, if your helmet can sense the very neurons it's trying to protect! And it comes with rainbow disco mode!" she laughed, bopping her head side to side rapidly and the helmet flashing in a neon display that made them all laugh. And then they were ready, Dawn showing them the basics like how to put the bikes in park and movement mode, and how to operate the thrusters, but for the most part they were simple, and the track lit up when she used her remote, indicating it was time to go! “Ready?” she called, the two nodding and Scout playfully pulling the handles to make them rumble, Dawn smiling and the group racing off into space as the pod opened, surrounded by galaxies and nebulae just as they had been with Rocket. And no sooner were they racing when Dawn led them to a triangular gateway suspended in space. Raising her remote, she sent a beam of energy to three points on each end, powering it up and revealing a corridor of hyperspace. The previously still calm of space was lit up with a rush of pinks, purples and blues, all shooting in one direction, and Dawn flew in the gateway first, letting out a cheer of joy. Julius followed second, seeing rings that would allow him to go even faster and daringly trying to amp up the speed, and though Scout was excited to try too, there was a small part of her that was worried. She paused for a second, before seeing something flash up on her hoverbike, an incoming call. Pressing a button, she heard Dawn through her helmet. “You okay? I’m on the other side, we’re waiting, so take your time!” she encouraged, Scout sighing for a second and wondering if it really was safe. She knew she had no reason not to trust Dawn, especially after everything she’d seen the previous three days, but there was a weird feeling that made her nervous. She nodded and gulped. “I guess it’s the speed. It just kinda looks intimidating, haha!” she admitted, Julius listening in and being surprised. “But you liked going on dad’s phoenix! Isn’t this just like that?” he mused, Scout thinking back and remembering riding on Yen Sid’s huge protective bird as it cawed, voice reverberating through the heavens as it saved them all and regrouped them…she took another breath, and nodded again. “You’re right…yeah, it is kinda like that.” she smiled, Dawn thinking of another one. “And you looked so happy in Rocket, positively giddy! I think you can do this, you can take it slow like me and zoom over, or you can do what Julius did and fly through some of the rings to feel the rush!” she cheered, Scout hearing the joy in her voice over the headset and giggling to herself slightly. A small part of her was still scared, as the warp reminded her quite a bit of a black hole, but despite that, she had to be brave. Curling up her fist, she revved up the bike and pushed forward, feeling the rush of air all around her. At first, her eyes were dazzled by the shooting colours, a thousand hues all rushing past her, and then she saw the first ring coming up, the wind in her hair making it fly around even with a helmet on. Making her choice, she zoomed toward the ring, and immediately yelled in joy when she felt herself propelled even faster, deciding to try something crazy as she went. Lifting her feet off for a moment, she kept one hand on the bike and took the other off, being lifted up into the air and holding only to the bike as she zoomed through more and more rings, almost like she was flying, and she couldn’t resist laughing as she went, Dawn and Julius looking at each other as they dismounted their bikes with a grin, glad she was having fun, even despite being unable to see what she was up to. And when Scout finally arrived in the press, she took off her helmet, and all of her hair stuck up! Julius immediately dropped to the floor laughing, whilst Dawn found herself giggling as she ran her gloved hands through it. It was very smooth and nice, but it was a struggle to tame right now! “How did you get so frazzled?” she teased, Scout going red and laughing all the same, “I…went for a ride?” she cheekily replied, Dawn laughing and Julius holding up the helmet with a smug grin as he put it on the handlebars of his bike, tying it so it wouldn’t fly away. “We heard. You were screaming like a banshee.” he joked, Scout going red. “Was NOT!”

After some time, the group returned, unable to use the rings on the way back due to the cargo they were now carrying. Dawn always loved the Press, she remembered Master Yen Sid taking her there as a little girl, and a certain little sprog who had teased her, but that was a story for later. The little robots still recognized her even after so long, and it was a great place to store anything that might get damaged aboard the IA in a controlled condition. As they unloaded the cargo, Fred chattered excitedly seeing that his master was back, Dawn smiling as he jumped into her empty helmet and giving his cheek a little stroke. “We got them, Fred! All safe and in working order, just as I’d hoped! It only cost…half my budget.” she cringed, Fred seeming to roll his eyes as he jumped onto her shoulder. “Well at least I preordered them all…oh what a bother. If I don’t get funded, this will all be a waste!” she groaned, Scout and Julius turning in surprise. “You will, though. We know it!” Scout smiled, Julius nodding encouragingly and signing a smile. Dawn returned the gesture, before Fred took the corners of her mouth and pulled them into a smile, Dawn dropping to the ground and playfully wrestling with her little monkey. “You cheeky, well, monkey!! Ohhh your claws are sharp, naughty little thing!” she laughed, tickling him as he let out a sound very similar to a laugh, making Scout and Julius giggle. And then, thanks to the antigravity, the cargo became far lighter, allowing Dawn to pull 6 bundles in behind her. “Are these for your surprise?” Julius asked curiously, a hint of a smile on his face, and Dawn giggling slightly. “No comment! But if you want to go find the others, I’ll be sorting something out in here! Just down the hall and to your right!” she called, Scout and Julius shrugging, but curiously watching as she opened the large door, something draped in shadow beyond, something large…they whispered as they walked, theorizing what it could be, and Dawn listening, laughing to herself that they weren’t even close.

When the movie ended, Percy had found some drawing supplies and the weighted crayons thanks to Fred, and was now watching Golden sitting at the table, furiously scribbling in vibrant colours and drawing the IA 2000, depicting everyone standing on top of it just as they had the night before. He chuckled, he loved watching her focus when she drew, and especially when she was drawing presents for him, he’d got several of her little arts up on his bedroom wall by now, and he was planning on making a gallery called ‘the gallery of Lumen’. He watched as she drew in several stars, using white and yellow crayons, and then turned, seeing the boys were engrossed in conversation, chatting about their adventures as Oswald doodled some of the baby stars, he’d clearly become enamoured with them. Percy was musing on several things at once, as he usually did, and wondered how he could best write a report for Dawn, when an idea came to him. She had said they’d be there for seven days, so he’d use those last two unscheduled days to create the best report any of those stuffy BHAG judges had ever seen! Satisfied with his plan, he waved as Scout and Julius entered, both being unsurprised to see the light man upside-down. “Sup, light man?” Scout smiled, jumping on the table and floating up to join him, her ponytail dangling down over Golden, who brushed it away when it tickled her. “Oh, just watching the littl’un draw, and musing on our adventure! I’d say it’s been almost as grand and gorgeous as space itself!” he smiled, Julius nodding and going to sit with his brothers, taking a pencil and paper for himself and drawing Scout flying on her hoverbike with a silly expression, planning to show her later and mock her, being the cheeky boy he was! And when lunch rolled around, everyone was hungry, and Dawn reappeared at last, Fred feeding them all as she headed past the dining hall, now covered in oil, soot and grease. “Woah…you all saw that too?” Oswald remarked, everyone nodding and tilting their heads in curiosity and amusement alike as to what the master could have been doing. But soon she came back, now freshened up, and set to brushing her hair with a comb repeatedly, which she found stimulating and relaxing. “Sorry about that! I had to go into the basement of the IA to find something, and you could say it needs a broomie or five, haha!” she laughed, Golden imagining the broomies covered in soot and giggling to herself. “Alright, well for anyone who’s curious as to why I just reappeared like that, I have a very, VERY exciting announcement!” Dawn grinned, everyone now being far more attentive, the master standing in the center of the room and swaying slightly in excitement, one hand still combing a few strands of hair. “I’ve got something for you all. Fred?” she smiled, the monkey chattering and appearing with five little booklets, handing one to each person. Scout got hers first, and her face turned from curiosity to awe in a matter of moments, staring at Dawn as if to ask if it was real, to which the master confirmed with a wink. “We’re going to the MOON?!” the teen crowed, Golden blinking in disbelief and looking down at her booklet twice, it did indeed say something about a flight to the moon, and it also had…instructions on piloting? The little girl raised an eyebrow, turning to Dawn. “What is this, master Dawn?” she asked, Dawn sitting down and everyone moving closer, now holding their little manuals and whispering not-so-subtly about how excited they all were. “Well, it’s quite simple! I’m sending you lot to the moon! Haha, joking! BUT we are going on a little excursion! And though I could just use Rocket again, I thought it was time you all proved yourselves as the little astronauts you are! I’ve got small spacecraft which I call Bullet Ships, and these will be piloted by you, and you alone! I’ll lead the fleet, and Percy will join me in the same style as Fred, sitting on my shoulder!” she laughed, the light man laughing but then realizing she was serious and imagining sitting on her shoulder as a light…well they were family, it was only like when he’d curl up in Yen Sid’s arms as a little glowing ball, and it made him smile a little. “Hm, I’m not against that! It would be quite nice to explore the surface of the moon, imagine what we’d see! I wonder if we’d find any aliens, perhaps some as obsessed with music as Lumen? Oh I can imagine it, orange and white, little speakers instead of ears, oooh I want to go now!” Percy laughed, the group all giggling at his ramblings, but someone wasn’t feeling quite at ease. “You’ve got your manuals now, and I’ll be talking to you over headsets. Scout, Julius? You can confirm it’s clear as day through them, right?” she smiled, Julius nodding slyly. “Oh believe me, we both heard Scout screaming ‘I’M FLYING’ loud and clear.” he giggled, earning a punch on the arm from the teen, who went slightly red and flustered. “Hmm, should I tell Tyke about that one?” Oswald grinned, Scout turning round to look at him so fast it was as if her neck might break. “NO! If you say anything I SWEAR I’ll stew ya!” she snarked, looking as if steam might fly out of her ears, Oswald cackling mischievously and even Mickey laughing at her flustered appearance. “Now, now! Settle down, or I’ll put you all in the naughty corner!” Dawn joked, everyone immediately sitting up a bit straighter, which made the master giggle. “So, you’ll be following the instructions set out in that. It’s essential reading, so study up! And tomorrow is the big day!” she cheered, everyone immediately getting to reading, excitedly, all except one who had gone from feeling a little nervous, to very nervous.

As the day went on, Dawn called them all in for spacesuit fittings, revealing what she’d acquired from the Press. They were older models, but she’d modernized them to fit the task. “My regular spacesuits are good, but these are perfect for a mission to the moon! They’re heavier to combat the anti-gravity, and they have all the parts that make them compatible with the Bullet Ships, which is why I’m using them!” Dawn explained as she fit Oswald’s, using the same style of helmet to modify his spacesuit and expand it for his ears. “All good?” she smiled, Oswald feeling it morph to better fit him and giving a thumbs up, the clunky metal clanking as he did so. “Perfect! They kinda remind me of old diving suits!” he cheered, Dawn nodding and removing his helmet, it was brass like a scuba helmet, but had a longer window, allowing him to see a full head turn and observe the galactic wonders she would show him soon enough. “Yep! It’s modelled on them! I found them a while ago lying around on a beach, someone had just abandoned a bunch of them for some odd reason, they all had this weird symbol on them…” she mused, pointing to a distinct ‘N’ on Oswald’s torso, but neither of them knew what it meant, so they shrugged it off. “Anyway, I modified them into spacesuits, paid for the repairs which was admittedly a whole lot more than expected, and here we are!” she laughed, helping Oswald remove the rest of the clunky suit, so now he was in his regular clothes and the invisible suit on top. “Thanks! Want me to call Goldie? She’s last, right?” he cheered, Dawn nodding and meticulously putting the spacesuit back on the wall, linking it all together like it was a puzzle, until it was upright again, though with the new additions of the ears and bunny tail spaces that had morphed to fit Oswald’s form. A small voice snapped her out of her thoughts, in the doorway was Golden, looking curiously around at the large room, though most of it was still shrouded in shadow. “Master?” she half-whispered, Dawn smiling and beckoning her forward. “Ready to try it on?” she encouraged, Golden nodding and looking curiously at the suit on the wall, the smallest one, obviously meant for her. “Mhm…” she spoke, scrunching her shoulders slightly as Dawn moved to get it for her, it fit surprisingly well, though it tightened up a little due to being just a smidge too big. “Hmm, you can see? How many fingers am I holding up?” Dawn smiled, holding up some and Golden giggling. “Ten, silly!” she laughed, Dawn rubbing the brass as if she was ruffling Golden’s hair. “Oh, I must have lost count, I could’ve sworn I put eleven up!” Dawn joked, before removing the suit and letting the little girl go on her way, though there was something off, and Dawn made a mental note. Positioning the suits, the mechanical hands appeared, moving them into automatic fitters which would be used the next day, prepared to help the future astronauts into their gear, and with a satisfied hum, Dawn walked out the room, locking the door behind her.

As night set in, most of the group were gazing at the stars and watching the lights over Lumos, but one person was sitting on her bed, reading the manual over and over, until even Starlight was tired of the same words. “Goldie! You’ve read this eighteen times!” she whined, but Golden was very focused, eyes squinting and trying to absorb the information. “Circulatory regulator…and then the left and right thrusters…but also gotta keep an eye on the engines and even the window, so that it doesn’t fog up…” she groaned, flopping back onto the bed and scrunching the paper slightly in her hands. “Goldie…” Starlight whispered, crawling onto her best friend’s torso and feeling how her friend’s heart was starting to race. “I don’t think I’ll be good tomorrow, I’m scared…” Goldie’s voice shook a little as she spoke, she wasn’t one who liked failure, and she could be a bit of a perfectionist. Sitting up, despite being in her pyjamas by now, Golden put on her slippers and turned to Starlight. “I’m going for a walk…” she sighed, Starlight getting the feeling Golden wanted to be alone and deciding to go and find Mickey. And despite being unseen, Fred had an idea, taking something off the little girl’s nightstand and heading toward his master, knowing she’d know exactly what to do. As Golden wandered through the dining area, everyone was engrossed in the light display, not noticing her passing through, and she wondered where she could go, since the Capsule was a bit of a maze. Thinking she was going toward the module room with the televisions, she headed in that direction, only to find she’d taken a wrong turn, and was now in an unfamiliar hallway with every direction looking the same. Turning in a circle, she had no idea which way she’d even come from, and this was not helping her nerves, which were spiralling out of control as she started frantically searching for a way out, it almost reminded her of Vor and those endless mirrors, and she wasn’t having that, taking a random direction and tripping over a wire along the way, which caused the door to slam shut behind her. And now she was trapped in the dark, holding the manual close and trying to stay calm, though the only light source was herself, and her glitching. She tried to remember what Yen Sid had told her, counting to ten, but it wasn’t helping. She couldn’t pilot a rocket, and now she was lost, would anyone even notice she was gone? They’d probably be used to it by now, she caused trouble all the time, Percy had listed off a great deal with the Wayfinders, and even now there were more mistakes, like getting stuck in Atlantis or unleashing a witch from the times of Master Grey, Golden just put her head in her knees as the stress overcame her, and there was silence…until something whirred, and the floor began to move. Alarmed, Golden stood up and against the wall, wondering if it could be an earthquake, but no, she felt herself suddenly rise in a blast of energy, and her hair went all frazzled. And as her vision cleared slightly, two doors opened, and on the other side were Fred and Dawn, giving her a smile. “Hm, I didn’t know you wanted to try some maintenance!” Dawn joked, holding out a hand for Golden, who realized she’d been stuck in an elevator, probably one of Dawn’s service lifts by the sound of it, and feeling pretty silly. Dawn noticed the manual in Golden’s hand, and tilted her head. “Hm? Why’ve you got that? Everyone else has finished reading theirs, did you slack?” the master joked, but noticed how Golden’s shoulders were tense, her eyes teary, and her knees knocking together slightly, and decided to change her approach. “Well, in any case, it’s late. You shouldn’t read in the dark, it’ll strain your eyes.” she explained, holding a hand out to take the manual. Reluctantly, Golden handed it to her, the master tucking it into her pocket, and gave a smile, swinging Golden’s hand back and forth. “Hey, why don’t we have a chat? You tell me what’s on your mind, and I’ll show you something cool, sound like a deal?” she offered, Golden hesitating but remembering how Aqua had done the same thing, a thought occurring to her as a smile slowly stretched across her face, “Okay…deal.”

Making their way up the ladder from previously, Dawn kept a hold on Golden’s hand instead of tying her down, so the little girl was floating off the ground slightly in her starry blue and yellow pyjamas, which was a pretty cute sight for the master. Fred kept a tight hold as Dawn ascended onto the deck of the IA again, being the only one harnessed in she had to be careful, but she wasn’t scared, racing across the platforms and bounding through the gaps, doing a flip at one point and turning Golden over as she did, which made the little girl giggle. And soon, they came to another trapdoor, Dawn tapping it with her fingertips. “You tell me what you’re thinking, and I’ll show you what’s in this super special room.” she smiled, Golden looking curious but unable to see anything below, and deciding it might be best to just spit it out. “Well…I’m worried, master. What if I can’t fly as good as everyone else tomorrow? I already can’t memorise the difference between an engine and a thruster, and I don’t know what any of the buttons on the manual mean, they’re all just gobbledegook!” she cried, Dawn stroking her chin in thought. “Hmm…sounds to me like you’re more afraid of failing.” she spoke, Golden looking at her as if to say ‘duh’, but Dawn just gave a genuine smile. “It’s normal to be afraid when we try something new, but if we never took risks, how would we learn? I mean…” she trailed off, before reaching into her pocket and pulling out the little broom-bot from a few days prior. “Want to hear a story?” she offered, handing the little contraption to Golden, who stared down at it, it was made with a googly eye, a wooden base with mechanics inside, presumably from Yen Sid’s scraps, and some metallic rods painted in yellow to look like the bushy fronds of a broom. It had two arms made of pipe cleaners which whirred when turned on, and three little antennae, which presumably helped it run. “That’s my first ever invention.” Dawn smiled, Golden looking up at her in surprise. “I was seven. I read about these inventors, they helped build the council and maintain the Press, and I just wanted to be one. So, I built a broom-bot. I wanted to help dad with all the cleaning around the house, and since we only had regular brooms, I thought this might be a nice alternative. But…” she trailed off, almost looking as if she remembered that day clearly, “we took it to the Press one day. And I was a little shy back then, I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure how to talk to other people well and I’d sometimes blurt things out or speak out of turn, Master Yen Sid actually got me some help for that, would you believe? But anyway, dad was having a meeting with some fellow sorcerers and their apprentices, you know? And one of these apprentices also wanted to be an inventor. He kept boasting about how his inventions would change the world, and I’d hoped we could be friends, so I tried to talk to him, but I kept fumbling my speech, and he started picking on me. He’d call me weird or a freak, and then he said that girls can’t be inventors. I don’t think I’ve ever cried more than I did that night when we got home.” Dawn sighed, Golden looking sadly up at her, reaching out her free hand to pat her back and Dawn smiling at the soothing gesture, it was true that recounting this story wasn’t easy for her. “But…dad helped me through it. He gave some things to me the next day…one was this robe that he’d decorated, it was full of gears and cogs, and he also gave me a book.” she smiled, Fred pulling out the book Golden had been previously reading and handing it to the little girl. “‘Who risks nothing gains nothing’, right?” Dawn smiled, Golden gasping and opening to the page she’d been reading. “This…was yours?” she asked, Dawn winking. “Yep! And it’s a story all about courage and taking a leap. Dad gave it to me so that I’d never forget to pursue my dreams, and he told me that it would help me to see that anything is possible.” she smiled, standing up and Golden standing alongside her, the two of them looking up as the moon sailed overhead, Golden putting the book to her chest. “Dad’s amazing, isn’t he?” she smiled, Dawn nodding eagerly. “The most amazing man I know. And you know what?” she whispered, pinching Golden’s cheek and the little girl giggling slightly, “I think you’re pretty amazing too.” And with that, Dawn kept her promise, taking the little girl down a ladder and disconnecting herself, Fred immediately turning the light on and revealing a control deck, where there was a window and several holographic devices. “Go on, press anything you like!” Dawn encouraged, Golden looking at a certain button, it depicted something with a similar shape to a saucepan, though there was something on the end…and upon pressing it, several sparkles appeared, rearranging themselves into a constellation, the constellation of Ursa Minor. Golden couldn’t help but clap in excitement, starting to play with some others, there was Cygnus, and Pegasus, and Ursa Major, Casseopeia…and in her amusement, she forgot all about her previous fear, and was now engrossed in painting a sky with gold and stardust, creating patterns and connecting the dots, until the entire window was painted in a flurry of sparkles and a beautiful display of light. And cheekily, Fred crept away, giving Oswald a high-five and handing him back his camera. The more evidence, the better! And when all was done, Dawn took Golden back through the halls, but before they arrived in the dining hall, Golden tugged on Dawn’s sleeve, who bent down and smiled. “Master Dawn…? Thank you.” she smiled, Dawn ruffling her hair. “Oh please, the formalities! Just call me Dawn.” she tittered, Golden looking a little shy, but then smiling. “Actually…can I call you big sis instead?”

As the next day arrived, everyone suited up early, pulling on their brass spacesuits with a little help from the mechanical arms, and Percy strapped in his camera for the ride, positioning himself as a ball of light on Dawn’s shoulder, Fred taking the other shoulder. Checking their headsets and such were all working, she showed them their Bullets, and then grinned, turning on the light and revealing just what she’d been hiding all that time. Blue and gold, shining in the light, primed and ready…it was a cannon. The Columbiad. And as everyone took it in, Dawn clapped, the mechanical hands all flurrying to position each ship within the cannon. At first, they’d be linked together, shooting off in a blast of energy, but then they’d separate, and everyone would fly to the moon in formation, arriving on the surface as planned. Dawn helped the boys in first, Julius was at the rear of the chain, and Golden was closest to Dawn, since she was the littlest and was still a tad nervous. And then the ships lit up, interfaces loading and confirming they were ready for take-off. With a salute to nobody in particular, Dawn gave her first order. “See that lever on your right, the one with a blue handle? Pull it!” she commanded, the crew all flicking it and hearing themselves locking into the cannon. As they were pulled back, Golden wondered why they were going backwards, but her question was answered as they were promptly thrown forward, launched in a flurry of smoke that rocked the entire IA 2000 as they blasted off, sparks flying and Fred chattering in a way which was much like a scream, whilst various sounds of excitement and fear were heard amongst the crew. “Now, red buttons!” Dawn cheered, all of them pressing them together and their bullets separating out, Golden gripping the steering wheel and remembering what the manual had said…until a tiny voice appeared under her chair. “Woahhh…what’s, huh?!” Starlight called, juddering about. “I was asleep, one of the hands must’ve put me in here!” She cried, though Golden was laughing more than nervous, gently taking one hand down to scoop Starlight up and put her on her shoulder, and catching a sight of what was outside. They flew past galaxies, wisps of stardust twirling around the rocket as the thrusters left curling trails of smoke, it was like a vortex of stars and light, and entranced the entire crew. “Woah, on your left, there’s a giant space rock!” Oswald called, the group watching as it flew by, it almost looked like a cookie, and then Scout looked up. “Overhead, an odd machine!” she called, Dawn taking a look. “Barbicane’s Mining Machine!” she grinned, Golden feeling an odd fluttering in her chest and feeling a smile cross her face. “So cool!” she squealed, seeing if she could spot anything. They flew over the Daybreak nursery, the little stars all cheering for the spaceships and doing some roly polys to serenade her, and past several beautiful constellations, Polaris twinkling in the distance as if to greet them, and then they circled around the top of the space station, heading straight for the moon. “Alright, here we go! First one on the moon wins!” Dawn cheered, racing the group as they all accelerated, Starlight finding it particularly spinny and wishing she was still curled up in bed! “Wheeee!” Golden cheered, joined by a chorus of her siblings and Dawn alike, and especially Percy, who was tremendously enjoying this flight. And without even thinking, Golden knew to activate the thrusters at the right moment, Dawn smiling and seeing her little bullet zoom higher than the rest, wanting to be the first. And with a grin, the master and crew raced after her, coming to a landing on the surface.

For a moment, Golden was so swept up in her victory that she hadn’t quite realised where she was, until she brushed herself down and helped Starlight sit up, who was a little disorientated. Unlocking her seatbelt, Dawn gave her permission to step out, so she opened the hatch and took a peek. The surface was immense, a glowing gold with slightly fuzzy texture to it, as if it was twinkling through magic. She took a breath, and took one small step, feeling the surface beneath her feet, it was definitely rock, but held a twinge of energy. And for some reason, she felt the urge to smile, and so she did, before bursting into joyous giggles, so excited and happy to be on the moon, staring at the earth…it was a wonderful feeling. And as sound hit her ears, she realised she could hear music, the most beautiful symphony, a swell of instruments and chimes all resounding from somewhere inside this great moon, the one she waved at and looked up at as her protector…and now she was closer than she’d ever been before. She knelt down, and traced a hand on the surface, and realised…it was beating. In sync with her, the moon was beating…and it made her grin wider. “Hello…” she whispered, Starlight blinking. She wasn’t sure why her best friend was so happy all of a sudden, but she would always want Goldie’s happiness, so she was happy too. Golden felt at peace, calmed and renewed by this place, but the tranquility was broken when Dawn and the rest bounded toward her. “We are on the moon!! Can you believe it?!” The master cheered, the entire group standing together and taking in their surroundings. “This is so…amazing!” Mickey cheered, watching as stars flew by, and the group staring in awe at the sight of the yellow, glowing ground, sparkling like a thousand fireflies had settled on its surface and reflecting the stars back. “The Great Moon, huh? Reminds me of the stories dad reads to us.” Scout whistled, running a hand along the ground and feeling it shimmer with energy, as if the moon was reacting to her touch, and the teen found herself filled with all sorts of positive feelings. “Yeah! It…protects all the worlds, and us. It’s wonderful.” Julius mewed quietly, gazing as his little sister spun around, watching how the light almost collected around her feet and sparkled as she moved, like snowfall. “Haha…look how happy you look, Goldie.” Oswald smirked, Percy flickering as he moved his camera, looking at the lost little light in her own little world. “I…love it here! It’s like…like home! Like I can feel everyone in Lumos, no, in all the worlds, and they’re all so happy! Don’t you feel that energy?” Goldie gushed, earning a lighthearted laugh from everyone. “Oh Lumen…you’re our little energy source, because you make us all feel so positive! Now Dawn, didn’t you have something in the back of your little ship?” Percy chuckled, Dawn snapping her fingers and rushing back to her Bullet, pulling out something. It was a long flag, which she untied. “Hm…Goldie? Do you want to do the honors?” she offered, Goldie nodding eagerly and bounding across the surface, little sparkles of magic fluttering around as she did so. The flag depicted the Symphonus crest, which was comprised of a flurry of different creatures, including lovebirds, moths, swans, phoenixes, butterflies, and all sorts of other animals, all arranged and painted in gold, forming a heart shape. “And with that, the Symphonuses have officially reached the moon!” Oswald cheered, Percy flickering brighter as his joy overcame him. “Oh, mama will be so proud of me!” he giggled, everyone chuckling. And as the hours went by, they sat on the surface, talking and laughing, and finally departed in their bullets, Golden turning hers around and giving the moon one last wave, and feeling as though it might have somehow waved back, and laughed at her kindly.

The last two days of their excursion went by in a flurry, they did several smaller activities around the Capsule, like clambering through some wires or sorting more trash, but there was a lot now resting on Percy, and he’d thought of the most genius way to get evidence for Dawn’s presentation. And as the day rolled around, Dawn prepared herself. Her presentation was ready…everything was ready. She was twelfth in line to present, watching Markus presenting the data on his trees, Jeanie talking about how her sound enhancers had helped researchers…she trembled, peeking out to see the audience draped in shadow. And yet, despite that, she felt that her family were in there somewhere, cheering her on, and she’d be doing them a disservice by failing now. So as she began her presentation, she spoke confidently and eloquently, showing the interviews Percy had cleverly orchestrated, with each person explaining how the tasks had benefited them, whether it be Dawn encouraging them to persevere, to think outside the box, to take risks, to be brave, or to believe in themselves, their words almost made the master tear up. And to think just a week or so ago she hadn’t believed in herself, it was just as Yen Sid had said, the most important thing she needed was her own self confidence, and to not listen when her head made her doubt herself. Even when the judges appeared stiff-lipped and unamused by her idea, she stood proud and tall, and confidently explained that Space Camp was an idea worth funding, and she swore she heard Golden clapping the loudest as she walked offstage, which made her smile.

At the end of the day, everyone gathered in the auditorium once more, the Symphonus kids having been treated to walking around the general exhibition area, where they had encountered such amazements as automatic cotton candy or goggles that made everything dizzy and made Oswald fall over, which Golden took a picture of on Percy’s phone. And as the seven of them stood there, awaiting the winner, Yen Sid caught Dawn’s eye as she stood onstage, giving her a small but meaningful smile. An old man came to the front, clearly the organiser, he looked rather pretentious in a suit and tie, which made the master in her yellow robes feel quite intimidated, but she stood her ground. “Thank you all for your submissions for this year’s competition. It is the biggest competition of its kind, and all of you who have made it this far should be proud. Now with that said…we have decided on our three winners. In third place, number 4!” he cheered, Markus stepping forward with a look of pride on his face and being given a handshake and certificate by the judges, hearing a cheer from the audience and sheepishly grinning as his son yelled “congrats dad!”, which made everyone giggle. “Second place…number 9!” the man spoke, Jeanie grinning and practically bounding forward, going through the same routine and a few cheers being thrown her way, presumably from her family. Dawn shut her eyes, rubbing her thumb and forefinger. Even if it didn’t work, she’d done so much for all of the kids, so that was a good enough prize…no medal would change the fact that she truly was an inventor, and she reached for the broom-bot in her pocket, holding it close as she awaited the final winner. “And in first place, this year’s winner of our Big Hairy Audacious Goal Competition is…” the man smiled, holding everyone in suspense for just a second. “Number 12, Dawn Symphonus!” he cheered, Dawn blinking for a second and gawking, checking she’d heard that right, before bursting into a smile that shone like the sun, even brighter than the one Percy had drawn. With an excited cheer, she raced toward the judges, giving them all handshakes and taking her certificate in one hand, and hugging her little robot in the other. Tears of joy and pride welled up in her eyes, and the man smiled. “You know, there were a lot of wonderful submissions this year. But the reason Space Camp is our winner is not because it’s the most complicated, or advanced. It’s because it has a heart like no other to it. It will change lives, through the power of inspiration and learning, and that is why we are proud to say that starting today, applications are open for your children to attend a fully funded trip from the earth to the moon and beyond!” he grinned, Dawn smiling brightly as the candidates began to mingle, immediately finding Yen Sid and the others in the crowd and giving them the biggest group hug possible. “All of you, I couldn’t have done this without you!! Ahh, I’m so happy I think I could explode!” she laughed, before Fred chattered excitedly and waved his arms, as if signalling something. Curious, Dawn turned, before her heart skipped a beat. There they were… Ley, Chris, Xari, Hiro…all grown up. Her old cohort, all coming to see her… she almost burst into tears, taking in how different but similar they all looked. Hiro’s hair had grown, now past his shoulders and needing a ponytail…Xari was adjusting her glasses, hair now up in a bun…Chris was as small as ever, but held his wand, swishing it about pridefully, and Ley had a smile on his face, holding the hand of a little girl, maybe six or seven years old, and holding a blankie. “Go on, say hello…” he whispered, the small girl walking up to Dawn and hiding her face ever-so-slightly behind her blanket. “Um…Miss Dawn?” she asked, Dawn nodding gently with a smile and encouraging her to continue. “Can…I come to Space Camp?” she asked, Dawn feeling her heart swell and nodding, opening her arms for her little niece. “Of course you can! You know what? You’re top of my list!” she cheered, swinging Ley’s little girl around in her arms as everyone giggled, glad to see their favourite tech genius was just as happy as them.

As the evening set in, Yen Sid had invited most of his old cohort to stay the night, though Ley had to leave as his daughter had school at the council the next day, and Chris had to be up early for his wand-making business. Hiro and Xari were chatting about the discoveries they’d made since the last time they’d met, Hiro going in depth about his compositions, whilst Dawn sat quietly at the table, reminiscing about the past, until Yen Sid appeared. “Dawn? I’ve got something for you in my office.” he smiled, Dawn going upstairs with him and being curious as to what this was all about, Fred following alongside her. As they entered his office, Dawn was surprised to see it really hadn’t changed much since the last time she’d been in here during her graduation, though of course some paintings were different and some books had been added. “I made something for you.” Yen Sid continued, moving over to his desk and pulling out a canvas, which had a beautiful painting of Dawn and Fred staring up at the birth of a star from the Capsule’s surface, stars sparkling thanks to metallic paint and Yen Sid’s way of lighting his paintings. “Dawn? I am so incredibly proud of you. What you have achieved today is no small feat, and I think out of every inventor I’ve ever met, you really do have a heart like no other.” he smiled, moving over to give her a kiss on the forehead and Dawn embracing him, the two of them being joined by Percy, then Golden, Mickey, Oswald, Julius and finally Scout, whilst Hiro took a picture and Xari giggled at the sentimental family, and the moon watched over them all, now bearing the flag that signified their universal symphony, across generations and worlds alike, but still all connected, thanks to the love they shared as a family, and in their beautiful, shining hearts.