"Okay Oddball, if we can get through the courtyard and into the forest, we'll be homefree,"

"Alright then! Let's do it - Oomph!" Sam rolled her eyes as Odd fell to the floor with a thud, seeing bright blue paint splatters on the front of his dark blue Velcro vest which lay strapped over the chest of his purple t-shirt. "Ow!... Who knew Einstein had good aim?"

"Doesn't matter! All we know is that he's nearby with Aelita and Yumi. And we both know how good those two are," Her boyfriend nodded as he stumbled back onto his feet, clutching his neon purple paint gun to his chest.

"Yeah, I know that," He brushed the blades of grass and leaves out of his blonde hair. "But it looks like you're on your own from here," When Sam turned to stare at him in surprise and horror, he gestured to his paint-splattered chest. "I'm hit. That means I'm out," The dark-skinned girl rolled her eyes, slapping herself in the head for being so foolish.

"Right, then I guess I'm in this for me now," She cocked her gray paint gun and smiled to herself. Odd smiled at her and went to go sit on one of the benches, letting his gun rest in his lap.

"Yup, go kick some ass babe," She nodded to his before running out from behind the tree she had taken cover behind. She caught Jeremie and Aelita in surprise and quickly shot them both in the chest, making gray paint splatter into their protective vests.

"Ha ha, got'cha! You two are out!"

"And so are you!" The dark-skinned girl turned around, confused but had quickly switch to surprise and horror as two bright red paintballs smacked against her gray vest. She stumbled backwards a step and groaned, hitting herself in the head for the second time that day. She looked back up as Yumi walked out from behind a tree that stood behind Odd. The blonde jumped in surprise, almost falling off the bench.

"Whoa...! What the -?" The raven haired girl smirked in his direction. "H-How long have you been hiding there?"

"For the past five minutes," Sam playfully glared at her and stuck out her tongue while Jeremie and Aelita tried to suppress their giggles. "By the way, I win!"

"Great job, Yumi!" congratulated Aelita.

"Hey, wait a minute!... There's only five of us..." mused Jeremie. "Isn't there supposed to be six?" Before anyone could answer him, two neon green paintballs came shooting out of nowhere and splattered right across Yumi's red vest, creating a runny, squiggled line. She looked down with a 'WTF?!' look of bewilderment on her face.

"There is," They all suddenly swiveled around to see Ulrich jumping down from a tree that stood a good half a meter away from the bench area. He stood up from his crouch and hoisted his neon green paint gun over his shoulder, other hand shoved casually into the pocket of his jeans as he strode over to his friends. Once he neared them Odd let out a loud whoop and jumped up from his perch on the bench, hearing his gun clatter noisily on the ground but didn't take any heed to pick it up. He clapped his roommate on the shoulder.

"Nice job, buddy!" The brunette smiled at him but then jumped in surprise when Yumi smacked him in the shoulder.

"Ow-w-w!"

"Damn you for being so good at this game," She cursed. "I thought I'd accounted everybody but I guess not," Ulrich laughed before gently wrapping an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him.

"It's okay. Knowing you, you'll probably get me next time," She playfully glared towards him but leaned into him nonetheless. He smiled down at her before turning to everybody else. "So what did you guys think of Paintball?"

"That was fun!" Aelita squeed, clapping her hands in ecstatic joy.

"I enjoyed it, until I got put out," Jeremie said gesturing to his vest, making everybody laugh.

"It was awesome! Except for when I got out first," Odd said stuffing his hands into the pockets of his purple denim bellbottom jeans.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was cool and in all in fun yada, yada, yada. Let's play again! I demand a rematch!" said Sam, clutching her gun in both hands. "But this time... it'll be one-on-one! No teams whatsoever!" The others nodded.

"Alright then, we except," Ulrich removed his gun from his shoulder and pointed it towards the dark-skinned girl, unwrapping his other arm from around Yumi's shoulders as he did so. "I'm gonna wipe that smile right off your face,"