“Wait,” said Zoe, holding out a hand to forestall him “I have a solution to this problem. I wish......"
"Nooooooo!!!" DTH Jon screamed at her.
Before Zoe could utter another word, Clueless DTH Jon and Karyn suddenly appeared behind her. They were walking forward and that Jon's shoulder clipped Zoe's, sending the stone flying down the drive.
DTH John collapsed to his knees. He was stunned into silence for a few seconds before he spoke.
"Good timing you two." he told Clueless DTH Jon and Karyn.
"No problem." Clueless DTH Jon told him having no idea what he was talking about.
It was clear Zoe wasn't happy as she went to retrieve the stone. "Why don't you want me to make a wish?" she asked DTH Jon.
"It's like using a hammer to try and crack an egg, that's why. We need to use a little finesse, wishes are generally too powerful. Look what happened to Karyn from a careless wish. I carefully planned out the wish to create the DTH because I knew how easily it could all go wrong."
"Ok. You've made your point. I also made my point a little while back about leaving me in peace and now there is more of you arriving."
"Don't blame me, I never even sent my message. Actually....," he turned to the newly arrived pair, ".... how did you know to come here?"
"The flower thing on the screen." Clueless DTH Karyn told him.
"Which means, everyone upstream looking for ARD Jon would see this as an adjacent dimension, making this the logical place to go."
DTH Jon turned around and on the street saw another pair of Jon and Karyns looking around in a somewhat confused state.
One pair looked like the other DTH Jon and Karyn but the other pair's Jon was wearing a different shirt.
Clean Shirt Jon and Karyn had arrived from here
One of the Karyns gave a shy little wave to the ever growing group of people on the drive.
"Hello." she said.
Ten minutes of discussion later between them and the plan for returning ARD Jon was established. Each Karyn would be touching ARD Jon being careful not to touch anyone else. Holding the hand of each Karyn was their respective Jon. In Jon's free hand he would operate the DTH. It would be perfectly synchronised with all the others. When they hopped they would all be returned to their point of origin taking a version of ARD Jon.
DTH Jon concluded the discussion by addressing the group.
"Okay so, that's all there is to it. Just follow the plan and we'll be able to get back to having some fun, crossing dimensions."
A voice spoke from the crowd. "We have a little problem."
"What's that?" DTH Jon asked
"A Karyn is missing." said Clean Shirt DTH Jon
"No there isn't. There is a Karyn for every Jon, I've counted."
"Yeah, she's not my Karyn, she's ARG Jon's."
"You mean ARD?"
"Yeah that's it. Sorry I misheard. She wished herself here somewhere I think."
"Well she can just wish herself back again. She's not our problem."
"Jon!" DTH Karyn interrupted.
"I'm sorry Karyn but she isn't. She has a stone, so I'm sure she can work it out for herself."
"Good point. I am not a complete idiot."
Clean Shirt DTH Jon spoke again.
"That probably won't work. I tried using the stone myself and it didn't work, so it's possible the stone will only work if the user and dimension are the same. Probably a quantum physics thing or something."
DTH Jon covered his face with both his palms and sighed.
"Great! Just great. Why do these things always end up being so complicated?"
"No idea man, just thought I'd share it. Useful to know for future reference."
"How do we find her?" DTH Karyn asked DTH Jon
"I haven't a clue. This whole thing is just one hurdle after another. She could be anywhere."
Zoe interrupted, "We could use the stone."
"No." he told her, "You really are obsessed with using that thing."
Zoe frowned. She was looking for an excuse to use it again, even if was risky. She believed this hypothetical brother of hers was a real party pooper. She could only imagine how annoying he would be to his version of Zoe.
Just then the front door opened again. Everyone turned to look as another Karyn came walking out. She looked very confused. She stopped and scanned the faces of the five Jons and the four other Karyns until she spotted the ARD on ARD Jon's wrist.
"Jon!" she screamed as she ran over to ARD Jon. She gave him a big hug.
"Where have you been?" ARD Jon asked?
"Locked in the basement. Your mom just let me out." ARD Karyn informed him.
DTH Karyn leaned over to DTH Jon.
"See, no need to make a drama about it." she told him.
Another five minutes of discussion establish ARD Karyn was to be placed between Clean Shirt Jon and his Karyn on the big DTH chain. This time everyone successfully got in position.
DTH Jon turned to Zoe.
"Well I guess this is goodbye. I can't say I really have any good memories of this place but I'm glad you have a more positive personality here."
She smiled. "Are you still here?" she asked.
"No." he told her pushing the button. As there was such a large number of Jons and Karyns displaced at the same time it caused a tiny thundeclap noise as they all disappeared.
Prime DTH Jon and Karyn with ARD Jon returned Here
The clean shirt version of DTH Jon and Karyn with ARD Jon and the rescued Karyn went here
