The City near the Palace of Power.

Mason pulled into the FODR of MegaLand dealership from which he had bought his car.  He drove into the storm-proof garage where all the cars were kept when it was raining heavily.  In the garage, Mason parked, and he and Kevin got out.  "When I got my car," said Mason, "they had another one exactly like it, except that one's your favourite colour.  I told them to reserve it for me. . . or should I say for you?"

            "You really are spoiling me, Mason," said Kevin, irresistibly smiling.

            Mason smiled.  "You?  I am spoiling one of quite possibly the best drivers in the galaxy?  I'd be spoiling you if I were getting you your own 64-storey castle in the country.  Come on."  Mason and Kevin went upstairs to the office of the man who had sold Mason his car.  "I found this gentleman easy to talk to."  They entered the office since the sign on the door said, 'COME RIGHT ON IN!'

            When Kevin and Mason entered, the salesperson said, "Well, hello, Perry!  I got that car on hold for you, and it's been held for you ever since.  We also gave it complimentary washes when it got dirty.  It's good as new, and it's still for you."

            Mason smiled.  "Thank you, John.  I want to get it now."

            "Okay," said the salesperson.  "You want everything fixed up the same way as when you bought the other one?"

            "That's right," said Mason.  "All the same insurance, all the same everything."

            "Are you going to pay for the whole thing again?" asked the salesperson.

            Mason answered, "Sure, why not?  I have the cash with me."

            "Then," the salesperson said, "let me get the keys and let you out with it."

            "Oh, it's not for me," said Mason.  "It's for my best-scoring client for a driver's licence.  He's right here."

            "Good afternoon," said Kevin.

            "Well, well, the Game Master himself!" said the salesperson.  "If, during your test, you didn't have a chance to get fully oriented with the car Perry got, we'll get you oriented with this one.  Follow me, please."  The salesperson led the way out of his office and to the main office to get one of the two main keys to the car Mason reserved, then lead out to where the car itself was.  He checked himself by checking the ID number under the windshield and the ID number on the key.  He inserted the key into the lock on the right (driver's-side) door, and turned it clockwise.  All four of the doors and the hatchback unlocked when the key was turned 45�.  He opened the door and let Kevin get in the seat.  For the first time, Kevin really noticed the instrument panel under the dashboard.

            "Hey!" Kevin said.  "Where is everything that's supposed to be under the dashboard?"

            "Computerised gauges, lights, and such in the like," said the salesperson.  "It's holographic.  Take the key and turn it in the ignition lock to on."  Kevin took the key by the triangular handle and inserted it into the ignition lock, on the left side of the wheel.  He turned it from lock counter-clockwise to acc and from acc counter-clockwise to on.  The gauges, lights, odometer, analogue and digital tachometers, trip odometer, altimeter, and analogue and digital speedometers appeared.  The seat belt light was on, as were all the other lights.  There were an up-shift light and a down-shift light on the panel.  The analogue tachometer became orange at the 45 500 r.p.m. mark and red at the 47 000 r.p.m. mark.  It was yellow at all the other marks.  Just as in the car Mason had obtained for himself, there were both an automatic and a manual transmission.  In the floor were the clutch, brake, and accelerator pedals, in that order from the driver's left-to-right.  The automatic transmission selector lever was on the left side of the steering column, and the manual transmission gearshift was on the floor in between the seats.  There was a rocker switch on the steering wheel to switch between automatic (left side down) and manual (right side down).  The selection patterns in this vehicle were identical to those in Mason's.  Also, just as in Mason's car, there were the manual lap and shoulder harness combination in the front and back for the rightmost riders and likewise for the leftmost riders.  The riders in the centre of the back seat would have an adjustable lap belt.  Also existent were power windows; air conditioner; digital radio; digital CD player; glove compartment; master window control panel on the driver's door; parking brake on the floor behind the manual gearshift (the only change from the car Mason got); a hatchback-up warning light on the control panel (since the car was a wagon [a small wagon, but still a wagon]); front windshield wipers whose settings were off, intermittent, on-speed 1, on-speed 2, and on-speed 3, a rear windshield wipers whose settings were off, intermittent, on-speed 1, and on-speed 2; a windshield and rear window washer fluid reservoir indicator; a separate reservoir for window washer for the windshield washer fluid and rear window washer fluid; normal light switch on the turn-signal-selector switch; backup warning lights; regular door locks; all-door door locks; electronically adjustable seats; and electronically adjustable outer mirrors.  A gear-number-light and a transmission-type light were also present in the holographic instrument cluster in the dashboard.

            "Want to test-drive it?" asked the salesperson.

            Kevin said, "Sure, why not?"  Mason got in the back seat behind Kevin and the salesperson got in the front passenger seat as Kevin closed his door.  When everyone had closed their door, Kevin locked the doors, adjusted his seat correctly, adjusted the mirrors correctly with the electronic mirror controller, and strapped on his seat belt.  Mason and the salesperson fastened theirs.  Kevin switched the transmission to MANUAL with the switch on the steering wheel.  He saw two black buttons on the steering wheel with a horn on them and theorised that, yes, they were the horn controls.  He activated the clutch by holding it in with his left foot, activated the parking brake by pulling up the lever with his left hand, shifted from AUTOMATIC to NEUTRAL with the manual gearshift, shifted from PARK to MANUAL with the automatic selector lever, and asked, "Has this car been run recently?"

            "Not in the past couple of days," answered the salesman.

            "Okay," said Kevin.  He pushed in the accelerator halfway with his right foot, then released it.  He turned the key counter-clockwise to START and held it there for a second and a half, then released it.  The engine started.  He pushed in the accelerator a little to aid it.

            "I remembered something that I forgot to tell you, Perry," said the salesman.

            "What?" asked Mason.

            "I forgot to tell you," said the salesman, "that, in this model of cars, you needn't have the clutch in to be stopped with the manual transmission in gear 1 or REVERSE.  That's one of the newest improvements.  However, if you release both the clutch and the foot-brake, the car will automatically pop into NEUTRAL harmlessly if the parking brake is activated.  That is a safety feature to keep the car from jiggling while the parking brake is up."

            "Let's see," said Kevin.  He pushed in the foot-brake completely with his right foot, put the car into 1, and released the clutch slowly.  The car did not stall when the clutch was fully released.  He released the foot-brake slowly.  The gearshift automatically popped into NEUTRAL when he fully released the foot-brake because the parking brake was activated.  He put the clutch and brake pedals back in.  He released the parking brake, shifted into REVERSE, and slowly released the clutch.  The car still did not stall when the clutch was fully released.  He slowly released the foot-brake, at which time the car started to back up.  He turned the wheel to the right so that the front of the car faced the exit.  He straightened out the car by turning the wheel straight.  The back of the car was lined up with the line of the space next to the space it had occupied, so Kevin put in the foot-brake, put in the clutch, shifted to 1, released the brake, covered the accelerator, slowly released the clutch to the friction point (when the gear engaged), pressed the accelerator in a little to speed up the car, fully released the clutch, and had them underway.  Kevin moved the car at a constant rate of 12 kilometres per hour.  Another of the features was speed control.  However, the speed control could not be activated below 45 kilometres per hour.  When the car reached the door, the door opened automatically.  Kevin pulled the car out into the pouring rain.  He activated the low-beam lights and turned on the window wipers to fullest power.

            Kevin drove the car in the leftmost lane through the parking lot until he reached the traffic light; it was shining red, so he stopped.  The traffic lights were suspended above the road, and on this world, there were always two signal units for each lane of traffic, - one at the start of the intersection, and one at the end - a major convenience, and the light was centred over the lane it affected.  After some light traffic had passed on the perpendicular side of the intersection, the lights began to change.  First, in the lane that had been previously going, the green light shut off and the amber light above it activated and remained so for precisely six seconds.  Then, the amber deactivated at the instant the red activated; the red light was the highest, and as in the United States, this was regulated by traffic laws.

            Precisely three seconds after the lights for the road cutting across Kevin's turned red, as the red light in Kevin's left-turn signal was still active, the amber light flashed so that it came on once a second for precisely six seconds.  (By the way, VideoLand did not officially sanction left-turn-on-red, the left-sided logical equivalent to America's right-turn-on-red.  This was a traffic violation, although it was widely overlooked, since drivers were careful to make sure that vehicles were not coming.)  Technically, if no conflicting cars or pedestrians were in the intersection, one could legally run this signal, called the red flashing amber, but this was improper; running the green amber (the one which occurred as the light turned red from green) was also legally permissible but improper.  Kevin obeyed the traffic signals to the proper extent, and he waited for his green left-turn arrow to turn on after the red and flashing amber lights deactivated.  Then, he turned onto the road that led back to the Palace.  The dealership was just outside the town, which was about seven kilometres south of the Palace.  This road ran straight to the Palace door.

            Kevin sped up on the road to 16 kilometres per hour, then released the accelerator, put in the clutch, pulled back the manual gearshift to 2, slowly released the clutch and put the accelerator in slowly.  After he had released the clutch, he sped up to 24 kilometres per hour, where he shifted to 3.  He sped up to 56 kilometres per hour.  He then pulled back the steering wheel and made the car airborne.  The altimeter rose.  Kevin then shifted to 4.  He then slowed down to 37 kilometres per hour, made a three-dimensional U-turn (left-side style, of course, which meant turning in a U to the right), pushed the steering wheel toward the front of the car as he came out of the turn, descended to the ground, straightened out the car and landed it smoothly on its wheels.  He downshifted to 3 (making the engine slow the car down as soon as he engaged the gear), downshifted to 2 at 32 kilometres per hour, and slowed to 16 kilometres per hour.  The right-turn signal was green, so Kevin turned and re-entered the FODR of MegaLand building.  He turned off the window wipers.  He found the parking place where he had started the car and parked there.  He put in the clutch, shifted to NEUTRAL, turned on the parking brake, and turned off the car by turning the key clockwise to LOCK.  At LOCK, he removed the key.  He moved the steering wheel until he heard it click.  All three of them took off their seatbelts and exited from the car.  Kevin locked the doors.  They went back to the salesperson's office.

            "So," said the salesman, "what do you think?"

            "It is great," said Kevin.  "I'll take it."

            "That was �7 496.78�?" asked Mason.  [� - Read, "seven thousand, four hundred ninety-six pounds, seventy-eight pence."]

            "Yes," said the salesperson.

            "I want it registered in Kevin's name," said Mason.

            The salesman said, "That will be fine."  Kevin signed a registration card given to him by the salesperson.  Mason got out his wallet and forked over the following to the salesman:  a five-thousand-pound note, a two-thousand-pound note, and a five-hundred-pound note.  (Thus equalling �7 500.)  Each note had King Charles's noble visage on the front and, on the back, a picture of a famous figure in VideoLand's history.    The salesman handed back a receipt and �3.22 in change in the following form:  a two-pound coin, a one-pound coin, a twenty-pence coin, and a two-pence coin.  The salesman next handed Mason several papers that had already been signed.  The salesman finally handed the other key to Kevin (who already had the first), along with an ID tag.  "We have a bunch of new, regular, unused licence plates in the back," said the salesperson.  "Want one of those?"

            "That'll be okay, for now," said Kevin.

            The salesman began, "That'll be. . ."

            Mason handed over the money.  "Here you go," he interrupted.

            Taking the money, the salesman said, "Very well.  This way, please."  He led the way to a room with hundreds of licence plates.  He got a plate and queried, "Will this be fine?"

            "Yes," answered Kevin.  "That will be fine."

            "Okay," said the salesperson.  They went back down to the car.  Mason still had all the papers.  The salesman put the licence plate on the car.  Kevin unlocked the doors.  Mason opened the rear-left door and took off the price sheet, which he gave to Kevin.  The salesman gave Kevin a packet containing the several instruction books to the car.  The salesperson recorded the licence number of the plate (193-7HG6) and said, "I assume that you wanted a licence plate good for the entire Kingdom of VideoLand."

            "Yes," answered Kevin.

            The salesman said, "Good.  I hope you enjoy your new automobile.  Farewell."

            "Thank you," said Kevin.  "See you later."  Kevin entered the car, shut the door, and lowered his window.  "Going to drive your own car, Mr. M.?"

            "Of course, Kevin," said Mason.  "Just remember that yours is the blue car and mine is the red car."

            "Right," said Kevin.  "See you back at the Palace."

            "You'll have to get into the computers there at the garage," said Mason.  "You also need an ID tag.  So, I'll see you at the door."

            "See you at the door," said Kevin.

            * * *

            Garage Door, Palace of Power.

            At the Palace, Mason and Kevin pulled up to the door and put on the parking brakes.  Mason and Kevin went over to the window.  The guard said, "Hello, Mason.  Back again?"

            "Back again," said Mason.  "I need to get my friend here registered in the computers."

            "Captain N!" said the guard.  "Finally got your licence?"

            "Yes," said Kevin.

            "What's the licence plate number?" asked the guard.

            "It is 193-7HG6," said Kevin.  He took out his driver's licence, no longer attached to his keychain.  "Here is my licence."  The guard typed something on the computer, printed up a card, put Kevin's licence plate number and driver's licence number on it, signed it, had Kevin sign it, and let Kevin have it.

            "Okay," said the guard.  "You're all registered.  Good day."

            Kevin said, "Thank you.  Good day."  Kevin and Mason got back in their cars after Mason showed his ID card to the guard.  The guard opened the door, and Kevin and Mason entered.  They drove in, found parking spots next to each other, and parked.  They then exited their vehicles, locked and shut the doors, put their keys in their pockets, and went to the elevator.  Mason went up the elevator to his office.  Kevin continued to the main floor, where Her Highness's Throne Room was.

            * * *

            The Royal Throne Room of Her Imperial Highness the Princess Lana of VideoLand.

            "Hi, guys!" he greeted upon entering the throne room.

            "You're back, Kevin!" said Lana.  She was excited about him finally getting his licence.

            "Oh, great!  Not him again!" moaned Simon.  He was not too thrilled about Kevin's achievement.

            "Hello, Lana," said Kevin.  "How is everything going?"

            Lana answered, "Fine, so far.  Haven't heard from Ludwig.  Of course, that can only mean bad news."

            Simon asked, "Well, Captain N, how did the licence business go?"

            Kevin removed his driver's licence and showed it to Simon.  "Does this answer your question?"

            "Oh, take me now, Lord!" exclaimed Simon.  "I beg you!"

            "I knew you'd pass!" exclaimed Lana.  She hugged him.

            "Thank you," said Kevin.  He kissed her on the cheek, then released her.  He looked in her eyes for a moment.  He could tell she was attracted strongly to him, but she did not feel comfortable expressing it yet.

            Lana felt this.  He finally knew it.  What was he going to do?  Was he going to make her express it now?  Now, when she was not ready?  Or maybe she was ready; if he kissed her, she would try to be.  If she were not ready, she would not be too hard on him.

            Fortunately, he decided not to do this.  There was business to take care of.  "HERE, DUKE!!"  Duke came running in.  Kevin patted him on the head.  "Hi, boy!  Princess, where is Dr. Wright?"

            "He's in his lab with Roll," said Lana.  "Why?"

            "We need several warp zone formulas right away, Princess," said Kevin.  "The whole galaxy may fall victim to one of von(Bowser)Koopa's evil plots!"

            The good Ludwig von(Spike)Koopa, good cousin of the evil Ludwig von(Bowser)Koopa, came in and asked, "Did anyone make mention my evil cousin?  Well, good day, Kevin.  How did the tests go?"

            "Great!  I got my licence!" said Kevin, showing his licence to Ludwig.

            "Excellent work, Kevin!" said Ludwig, giving Kevin the thumbs-up.  "Now, what seems to be the problem?"

            "Your cousin," said Kevin.  "I'm returning to Limbo, which is where Perry and I went earlier."

            "I'm coming," said Lana.  "How about you, Simon?"

            "Oh, no!" exclaimed Simon.  "Not me!  I'm not getting dragged along into another crazy adventure!"

            "Well, I am coming," said MegaMan.

            Kevin said, "Okay, let's go.  Ludwig, hold down the fort with Simon."

            "Roger, Kevin," said Ludwig.  MegaMan and Lana followed Kevin out into the elevator, which stopped at the floor with Mason's office while they were in it.  In came Drake, Mason, and Della Street.

            "Hi, Kevin," said Drake.  "How is it going so far?"

            "Fine," said Kevin.  The elevator stopped at the basement and everyone got out.  MegaMan and Lana followed Kevin and Drake and Street followed Mason.

            "Okay, Perry," said Drake when Kevin was at his car and Mason was at his.  "Why the heck did you have to drag me out of the comfort of my office?"

            "We've an emergency on our hands," said Kevin.  "There is probably enough room for everyone, especially if Lana sits up here with me."  That was true.  There was plenty of room.  Kevin unlocked the doors to his car.  MegaMan, Mason, Drake, and Della Street got in through the rear left door with arm-room to spare, even after the door was closed.  Lana got in the front left seat and strapped on the seatbelt.  The two in the back seat who were nearest the doors fastened their seatbelts.  Kevin got in the driver's door, closed it, strapped on his seatbelt, put his foot on the clutch, inserted his key into the ignition lock, shifted to NEUTRAL on the manual gearshift, checked the mirrors to make sure that no one had fuddled with them, and started the car.  He shifted into REVERSE, put his foot on the brake, released the parking brake, released the clutch fully, put his left hand on the back of Lana's seat, sat with his left hip back in the seat, looked back through the rear-window, put the palm of his right hand on the top of the wheel, released and covered the brake, turned the wheel slowly to the right while tucking his elbow in, backed out to the right, straightened out, stopped, put in the clutch, shifted into 1, released the clutch and the foot-brake at the same time, and pushed in the accelerator.  He sped up to at about 19 kilometres per hour.  He released the accelerator, put in the clutch, shifted quickly to 2, released the clutch quickly but not very quickly, and put his foot back on the accelerator.  He stopped at the gate, put in the clutch, shifted to NEUTRAL, put up the parking brake, unlocked the doors, took off his seat belt, opened the door, went over to the guard, and showed him his ID.  The guard nodded and started to open the gate.  Kevin returned to the car, locked and shut the door, put on his seat belt, shifted to 1, put in the foot-brake, released the clutch, and put down the parking brake.  He waited for the door to rise, then took his foot off the brake and almost instantly pushed on the accelerator hard.  This gave him power to start off quickly.  He pulled out, accelerated quickly to 21 kilometres per hour, shifted to 2, accelerated to 29 kilometres per hour, shifted to 3, accelerated to 56 kilometres per hour, shifted to 4, accelerates to 80 kilometres per hour, shifted to 5, and pulled up into the air right on 88 kilometres per hour.  He explained the entire situation while accelerating.  At 129 kilometres per hour, he shifted to 6.  After accelerating to 177 kilometres per hour, Kevin shifted to 7.  By the time they reached the warp zone, Kevin had finished explaining.  "Okay, here we go into the wild black yonder!" said he.  They entered the warp zone.

            * * *

            Bedlama City Jail, Bedlama.

            At a jail on Bedlama, Melodia was serving as a representative for the rest of the captured members of the Mob in the visitor's room.  She was sitting across from the appointed attorney.  "I won't be able to help you if you don't tell me anything, Melodia."

            "You don't even want to help my group and me!" said Melodia.  "No one who is on the straight side of the law and who is in Limbo would have any speck of desire to help us!"

            "It's my job, ma'am.  Now, tell me just what happened."

            "Steelheart could tell you that!  I'd trust you if you weren't just appointed by that darned court!"

            "-Sigh.-  What can I do to make you trust me?"

            "Nothing in the universe, buster!  Maybe I would rather trust someone who at least had the sense not to tell the court even the smallest bit of evidence detrimental to his client!"

            "It is an attorney's responsibility to bring facts, not lies, forward to the court.  If it were found out that an attorney were lying, the Bar Association would be on him more quickly than a light ray can get from head to tail on a dog!  Of course, however. . ."

            "You need the damned Bar Association on you fat A!  I don't think that you would present the littlest damn lie just to save your client!"

            "My 'fat A,' as you call it, is accustomed to only telling the truth.  Yes, it bugs me when I lose a case, but it's only because of the facts.  But. . ."

            "Curse you!" shouted Melodia, cutting him off as he was trying to tell her that he was not allowed to break confidence.  "I'm through arguing with you, you fat A.H.S.O.B.!!  MATRON, WE'VE FINISHED!!!"

            "Okay," said the attorney.  "Bye.  I'm reluctant to defend you, but I'm doing it because the court told me to do it."  He left with the matron.

            Melodia got up and slowly went to return to her cell before another matron came in and said, "Wait, ma'am, another person's here to see you."

            "Who is it?" asked Melodia.

            "He told me to give you the code, '13-15-14-19-20-1-18.'  Do you want to see him?"

            Melodia mumbled, "M-O-N-S-T-A-R; Mon*Star!"  She then said, "Yes, ma'am."  The matron left, then came back with what appeared to be an average man.

            "You may see her now."

            "Thanks," said the person.  The matron left.  The 'man' transformed molecularly back (yes, I said back) into Mon*Star, who had one of Mo-Lec-U-Lar's transformation rings!

            "How did you manage that?" asked Melodia.

            Mon*Star said, "Oh, I just did.  Yes-Man told me how because Mo-Lec-U-Lar had told him how.  I'm going to arrange a little plan, Melodia.  We're going to find a way to get you out of the law's hands.  If not before the preliminary hearing, afterwards.  I also have a plan to make that stupid defence attorney look bad!  The performers of this plan will come here in disguise and tell you of it.

            "One of the ones in that car that carried Steelheart was Captain N, Melodia."

            "Captain N?  He's supposed to be from VideoLand!  Who else was in there?"

            "Seymour, Zeek, and Perry Mason."

            "-Gleep!-  Perry Mason?"

            "In fact, he and his pal, Hamilton Burger, have been appointed to prosecute this case, as they have had quite a lot of experience.  You know there's a shortage of capable prosecutors around here."

            "Uh, oh!  We're in for a humdinger!"

            "Hee, hee!  I hope Ludwig, MotherBrain, and Bowser Koopa are real!  I also hope so about the Fearsome Five and F.O.W.L.!"

            "I hope so of them, too, Mon*Star.  But how much of your plan do you know?"

            "I think it's just slowly waiting to register in my brain and give me an idea.  I just don't know much about what we're going to do, or how we'll do it, yet.  I'll think of it soon.  In the meantime, tell the others I said hi.  I'll see you later, Melodia."

            "I'll see you later, Mon*Star."

            "Let's see how I work this thing, again. . ."  Mon*Star fit the Molecular Transformation Ring over his right fist and whacked his right fist with his left fist and transformed into the man who had come in.  "Ah, perfect.  MATRON, WE'VE FINISHED!!"  The matron entered and escorted Mon*Star out.  Another matron entered and escorted Melodia back to the cell with the others.  At the cell, the matron let Melodia back in with the others.

            "So, how'd it go?" asked Hardware.

            "Oh, that damned attorney gave me some more of his damned nonsense.  One day, I am going to kick him out the door like a bat out of hell!"

            "Whoa!  Being in jail is making you use foul language!"

            "I use whatever comes to mind whenever it comes to mind."

            "You would not believe what I want to say!" said Windhammer.  "I sure want to know who is behind this weather.  It sure as the devil is not I."

            "Mon*Star also dropped in, disguised," said Melodia.  "He said he was working on a plan."

            "Well, we need some plan to get out of here!" remarked Mo-Lec-U-Lar.

            "We'll find out what it is soon enough," said Melodia.