| Nobody could blame them. The deep freeze had come on so suddenly that nobody had any time to do anything but be caught in it, and once it had taken hold, nobody escaped its grasp. KFC remained frozen, almost suspended in time, and the Kreludorks trapped there found that while their "bodies" remained trapped in KFC, they could simply open another window and be free from their icy prison. They could browse without being in KFC, and so they did, nearly all of them.

| But the few who didn't, or those who returned every now and then to see if the freeze had abated - they were the ones who noticed something changing. It had been months, too many months, almost incalcuable, really, but the layer of ice that had covered absolutely everything and everyone seemed to somehow fade away. It didn't melt, as one would expect it to, just fade.

| This fading process was slow at first, slow in the middle, and slow near the end of its process. It took a booting from the Plot boards to spur KFC into momentuous action, and those who remained trapped in their bodies at KFC noticed a significant change: those who had browsed elsewhere were gone. They had faded into nothing just like the ice had slowly been doing, although this process was instantaneous.

| They could come back, that was for sure, but only when KFC heated back up again.

| Luckily, you're reading the day when that happened.

| It was nothing remarkable, really. All of a sudden the ice faded away in one fell swoop and the Kreludorks found themselves able to move and talk and smile again. Immediately they yelled through KFC for each other and when they congregated for a hug in the Commons, it was an admittedly meager number.

| But the hug was still strong, and when they pulled back you could see Confetti, Jen, Soldier, Faerie, Lati, Michael, Tiger, Chris, Violet, Pen, and of course Niddyz.

| "Well. It's been months, but I think I still know how to cook," Niddyz said, grinning.

| "I'll check on the chickens," Confetti offered.

| "I'll go with you," Jen added. The others scattered to check up on the other devices, like the instruments in the Science Room, the Skylight Tower, and the new basement additions of the second Games Room and the Exam Room.

| Confetti and Jen, upon entering the Chicken Coop and walking down the cobwebbed stairs to the landing, gasped simultaneously in shock.

| All of the chickens were still frozen, quite literally, in fact. One poor Chicken - "Scruffy!" Confetti shouted with a sigh - had been standing on one frozen leg when they entered, and the rush of wind that their steps and the closing of the panel had created was enough to topple him over. Scruffy was now a myriad of icy pieces on the floor.

| "I guess we'll just have to thaw them out," Jen reassured a sobbing Confetti. Confetti hiccuped and nodded and Jen got to business, ransacking the drawers of the bureau Confetti kept down in the Coop. She found a Basic Hair Dryer and a Fire Ball, used the Dryer to waft the heat from the Fire Ball to thaw the chickens, and within a good hour or so the chickens were clucking around Confetti happily...except for Scruffy, of course, whose KFC funeral was scheduled for next week.

| At last, the gong sounded and the gang reunited at the serving window that merged the kitchen and the Commons together. Niddyz smiled as he piled out plates of chicken parmesan and everyone tucked in with abandon (but not relish, because relish and pasta don't really go together).

| KFC, dear reader, is back.

| "They just fell down a huge hole. I'll wager they're a little sore," Lati snipes. Confetti rolls her eyes.

| "Y'know, I could've sworn the ground floor was, y'know, on the ground," Lain notes.

| "It is. Was, at least," Niddyz agrees, "But I guess there was something beneath that all this time."

| "Well, we *did* move," Lati reminds him. Confetti jabs her in the ribs. "What?" She looks at Lain. "Oh. Right. Sorry."

| "Moving on..." Niddyz interrupts, "We need to get down there. Anybody have a rope?"

| "Sorry, I lent my last one to a hick town for their hanging," Confetti mutters.

| "Fine. I'll do it the easy way, then," Niddyz declares, heading into the Rec Room. He returns with a Pink Umbrella and a Basic Dryer.

| "Let's hope for no storms, eh?" he jibes, opening the umbrella. Then he jumps off the edge of the crater, using the Dryer to keep the umbrella afloat at odd intervals until he's comfortable landing.

| "I guess it's not really a crater if it's not a semicircle, huh?" Lati says, finally peeking over Lain's shoulder to get a glimpse.

| "It's the thought that counts," Lain mutters as she grabs a Big 'N' Bouncy Toy from the Rec Room and takes a bounce.

| "Y'know, things are so much easier when you plan ahead," Confetti adds as she straps on her Sky Boots and flies in.

| Lati looks around the Rec Room behind her, lost. Then the proverbial light bulb comes on and crashes. She grabs an Isca Kite and skates on the air down into the hole where her friends are waiting.

| "It's...well-lit?" Lati says after she dismounts her kite. It is indeed well-lit - they have landed in a well-furnished, carpeted room with high walls with lights embedded in them. Hundreds upon hundreds of light bulbs shine in their holes, albeit on a dim setting.

| "Electricity bill must be a real pain in the Uni," Confetti mutters.

| "So where's everybody?" Lain asks, still bouncing around on her toy, quite unable to stop or even look down for fear of losing her grip.

| "We're here," Jen calls, waving her hand then flinching as she retracts it. The group runs over to the wreckage to see the remnants of the Games Room and its former inhabitants.

| "I'm fine, just a broken arm and leg, I think," Jen informs them, "Michael's fairly bad off. Someone had stolen Soldier's closet so she'd come in to find whoever it was...she's out of it now. Tiger landed hard on some juice but he's okay, maybe a little woozy. Faerie and Callie were somewhere...and the newbies, oh goodness the newbies..." Jen trails off.

| "We've got it," Niddyz assures her. And so they do, rummaging around the debris to find the injured KFC-ers. Luckily, nobody suffers anything worse than some broken bones and scrapes, which are easily repaired using Jules' potions. Of course, Confetti has to use her Sky Boots to fly after them every time, which leads her to an interesting idea.

| "Since we need a new Games Room and all, considering what's happened...why don't we make an Exam Room, too? Just in case another 'accident' happens," she suggests.

| "Sounds good; there's certainly enough room. Can you get the chickens on-board?" Niddyz asks.

| "If I can get them to use a litterbox, I think I can handle convincing them to build a staircase and furnish two rooms down here," she reassures him.

| "Now for the big question," Michael starts.

| "Where's your underwear?" Soldier snipes.

| "How did you - never mind," Michael stops and restarts, "Why is this room even here? It's like somebody wanted this to happen, you know?"

| "Great. Now you've gone and foreshadowed something ominous. Just great," Faerie mutters.

| Unfortunately, this isn't the only time odd things have happened in KFC that can't be understood or explained - and it probably won't be the last, not for a while.