Prologue:
H: Konichiwa, Minna-san! Hawk here with Catch- oof (Is elbowed in stomach by co-authoress)
CF: Hi all! I'm Catchfire! We're doing a duel fanfic! So, here we are! Wasting your time, as usual…
H: We're not high right now… so this is gonna bite! (Flinches in pain as Catchfire's heel is ground into her foot)
CF: Don't listen to her! This is gonna be the greatest, bestest, most cutest fanfic EVER! … Most, cutest? Where'd THAT come from?
H: But… but… we don't even know what we want it to be about!
CF: *Blink* *blink* (Stands and points at sky!) First things first! We need an incredibly handsome hero! (Snaps fingers, which causes Duo Maxwell and the Gundam Deathscythe Hell to appear.)
H: Buuut! HE'S BETTER! (Snaps fingers and Tobias appears, in hawk form)
CF: (Begins to sparkle as she drifts over to Duo. She drapes her arms around his neck and goes limp, forcing him to adapt to the added weight.)
D: (Looks at Catchfire oddly.)
H: (Snaps fingers and Tobias becomes Human, so Hawk does the same to him as Catchfire did to Duo.)
D: Who the hell are you?
CF: (Gives Duo a puppy dog face) Oh, Duo! How could you? Don't you remember me?
D: (Shakes head)
CF: Oh…
T: (Blinks at Hawk) Hey! You're the one who tried to kill Rachel, aren't you?
H: (Maliciously sadistic grin)
CF: (Blinks away tears and stands up, instantly brightening) Of course you don't, laddy-love, and that's the problem! (Snaps fingers, again)
D: (Gets a really bright look all of a sudden.) Yes, I remember now! How could I forget? You're the pilot of the Reaper! Code-name, Catchfire, and we've been fighting along side each other since the war began. The mad-scientists revealed the female Gundam counterparts about a year after us boys started fighting! And then we met, and-
CF: Yeah, yeah…You remember. Now (flutters eyelashes) hold me!
D: (Sweatdrops but is happy to oblige. Notices a looming thingy) Er-
CF: (Feels Presence and looks up, then smiles broadly and mischievously at the familiar Gundam known as the Reaper. It looks remarkably similar to the Deathscythe Hell, except the Reaper is a bit shorter and more aerodynamic, because it was built to be swift, silent, and invisible, instead of being large, bulky and able to blow the hell out of anything. Also, the Reaper carries no visible weapons) Now we can write a fic!
H: But this isn't a self-insertion, this is just our introduction!
CF: (Scowls and twiddles thumbs) I- I know that! I'm just here as moral support for my Duo...
H: I KNOW! LET'S MAKE TOBIAS A GUNDAM PILOT!
D: (Starts laughing)
H: What's so dang funny?
D: You don't have what it takes to be a Gundam pilot.
T: Oh, yeah? I bet I could out fly you any day!
D: (grins and looks cocky with eyes closed and head slightly tilted. Is still holding Catchfire) That ain't the point, Bird-boy.
T: Then what IS the point, Braid-boy?
D: (stands in same pose. Both he and Catchfire have their heads down, eyes closed, and matching cold, empty smile. Then, in sync, both look up at Hawk and Tobias and open their empty robot-like eyes)
H: Thou'rt meaney! Let's start this freakin' story!
CF: Fine! (Waves at Duo and he disappears)
T & D: (Disappear)
H: Now we need a title…
CF: err… Burning Passion?
H: (Sweatdrops) Maybe we need a plot line first.
CF: err… two people filled with… burning passion?
H: (annoyance marks start popping up all over the place) These two people… wouldn't just happen to be…thou and Duo…would they? (Clenches fists as more annoyance marks appear)
CF: (Blinks and blushes) *cough* *cough* Umm… noooo… heh-heh-heh…erm, how 'bout we change it to a bunch of people who…unnn…blow stuff up? He-he-he…
H: *sigh* Whatever. *Ahem* Without further ado…
BURNING PASSION
(CF: We're keeping that? Cool
H: *Huge Sigh*
CF: Ooh, ooh! Let me start it! (Grabs the keyboard))
Duo Maxwell sat bolt strait up in bed, sweat dripping on to the sheets. He ran his fingers through his crisp chestnut hair and sighed, his lonely eyes wandering around his barren, void room. He blinks and shifts his gaze out his window, towards the stars, as he whispers, "Catchfire, I miss-"
(H: STOP! It's not self-insertion! Start over! And give me that! (Rips the keyboard away from a whimpering Catchfire))
BURNING PASSION
Tobias is gliding on a hot summer day, so there are tons of thermals. He looks down, searching for something to snack on, when all of a sudden the air around him shimmers and becomes a swirling vortex of odd colors. He blinks and is suddenly somewhere else.
(CF: Oh come on, Hawk. You can do better than that…
H: Probably, but… I don't wanna! I don't even know what I'm doing…
CF: *Huge sigh*)
Tobias had been soaring close to a large city, but now as he looks around, he sees no signs of inhabitation, except for a large black robot-looking thingy.
Duo is in the process of flying toward the enemy, when his visuals black out. They came back a few seconds later and he notices he is now in a large forest, rather than the barren wasteland he'd been flying across.
Tobias decided to get a closer look at the large item. He flew down, but the magnetic force of the Gundam drove the bird away. He sat in a tree a few feet away, and hoped that whatever this was, it wouldn't blow him up.
Duo decided he didn't want Deathscythe Hell to go tromping around an undisturbed forest, so he opened the hatch and lowered himself to the ground. He took a few steps away from the Gundam and suddenly heard a voice in his head.
So you work that thing?
"Yahhh!" Duo cried in surprise. "What the hell?" Then a large raptor fluttered down in front of him.
I'm Tobias. Animorph. Red-tailed hawk.
"Duo. Gundam Pilot. Deathscythe Hell." He was going to stick out his hand for a handshake, but then thought better of it.
"Erm. Do you know what in the world we're doing here?"
Haven't a clue.
(H: And I don't either…
CF: Ooh, ooh, let me! I know! (Grabs Hawk by the hair and, in her excitement, for she has had chocolate, Catchfire throws Hawk out the window)
H: EEEEEEE
CF: (Plucks keyboard out of mid air and saves it from being pulled away in Hawk's wake) Phew. That was a close one.
H: (hoisting herself, one body part at a time, over the railing into Catchfire's room.)(Looking slightly disheveled)*grumble* *grumble*)
"I, however, know exactly why you're here," says an unknown voice from the treetops. Suddenly a very handsome ten-year-old boy jumps out of the trees in front of the pair of unwitting volunteers. Duo looks happy to see the youngster and says, in a voice that drips honey, "Why, hello, little boy. I'm Duo Maxwell and this is Tobias."
" 'Little boy'? I am no little boy. I am 856 years old, and I am the most powerful mage on Cephiro."
Well. Touchy.
"You try being 856 years old, have every teenage twit in the world tell you you're young for a couple of hundred years and see how patient you are." Duo rolls his eyes.
"Yeah, whatever. What was that name again, O old and decrepit one?"
"Humph. It's Clef. Guru Clef. And welcome to Cephiro, Magic Knights."
(H: WAIT! Now you just hold on just one second. That is going just too far.
CF: (confused) What?
H: Take a moment to think about what you've done.
CF: What?
H: Tobias. Duo. In Magic Knight uniforms.
CF: (takes a moment to picture her beloved in a short skirt. Blushes.) No, no! I wasn't going to do that! Just give me a second. It'll work out. I promise.
H: Baka… *sigh* Fine. One more question.
CF: What?
H: Who's gonna be the third Magic Knight?
CF: Third?
H: Yeah. You know. Three. There has to be three.
CF: Why?
H: That's just the way it works.
CF: Fine. How about we have tryouts?
H: Tryouts? Oh I have got to see this one. Okay, try away.
CF: Thank you.)
Clef looks around and then asks the two boys, "Where is the third?"
"Third?" They chorused.
(H: What is that, dork?
CF: *sigh* Now what are you talking about?
H: That lil' "" thingy
CF: Well, they were talking together and Tobias is in morph. What do you want me to do?
H: Have Tobias morph out?
CF: (blushes) Oh, yeah. He-he. Silly me…)
Poof! Tobias is suddenly in human morph. "Wha-"
Just ignore it, Tobias.
"Who…"
*Snickering* It is I, the all-powerful narrator! Fear me! Do my bidding! Worsh-
CATCHFIRE!
Oops…
What are you doing??
Er-talking to the characters?
What part of "YOU CAN'T DO THAT" didn't you understand??
Er—
*Sigh* Just…Get back to work.
But-
JUST GO!! (Slight pause then typing can be heard.) Very good.
"Er-I'm not even gonna ask." Duo says as he turns to Clef. "Now, what is this I hear about a third person?" Just at that a moment, a feint yelling can be heard. It gets louder, and louder, and louder, until…THUMP "Ow!" The new figure stands up, brushes himself off, and looks around, and then at the others. "Wow. Akane really out did herself this time. Where am I, anyway?" Clef steps forward and says, "Welcome, last of the Magic Knights. I am Guru Clef, your guide."
"Umm, and I'm Ranma Soatome, of the Soatome School of Anything Goes Martial arts." Duo steps forward and puts out his hand.
"I'm Duo Maxw-"
"Ran-maaaa!!!" A piercing scream shatters the warm, friendly feeling that was in the glen.
"Oh, no…Hi, Akane." Ranma winces, then turns and faces the newer newcomer with a worried smile.
"Don't you 'hi, Akane' me. Here I go to all the trouble of finding you, and what are you doing? Playing up to a little boy. The poor thing will be traumatized for life. Ranma. No. Baka!" From out of no where Akane produces a mallet and proceeds to try to hit Ranma away. Just before she make's contact, however, a single hand stops her mallet. This hand belongs to none other than the gorgeous and witty Catchfire. Catchfire fluffs her shimmering red hair and glares at Akane.
"Hello, Akane. I've been wanting to meet you for a long time."
"Oh, have you?"
"Yes." At this point Catchfire yanks the mallet away from Akane and tee's up. "I've also always wanted," she pauses as she squints her electric green eyes towards an imaginary golf flag, "to do this. FORE!" She screams as she sends Akane flying away from the gathered people.
"Hey!" Interjects Hawk as she pops into the story. She glares at her co-authoress, fury burning in her bright blue eyes. "We aren't supposed to be in this!"
"Well, she's just so mean." Hawk sighs.
"I guess this just goes to show that if you want something done, you have to do it yourself." Ranma makes a gasping sound as Akane vanishes over the horizon. Hawk looks at him in a slightly-more-than-miffed-way. "Thank you, Ranma, for trying out for the part of the last Magic Knight. Unfortunately, you don't fit the profile so… goodbye!" She finishes as she snatches the mallet away from Catchfire and sends Ranma home via Hawk air. "Now," Hawk concludes as she makes the mallet disappear. "It's my turn." Then she and Catchfire disappear, and the remaining boys look at each other in confusion.
"Whatever," Duo and Tobias say together.
(H: (whacks Catchfire with a dictionary and grabs the keyboard. Drags her by the hair outside the room and locks the door.))
Suddenly, the air next to Tobias and Duo goes 'POOF' and gets all smoky and cloudy-like. When it clears away, a guy is standing there. He looks around with slitted cat-like eyes, and his long silver-white hair blows around his face.
"I… I believe the Gate may be messed up… this wouldn't happen to be Vale k'Leshya, would it?" He asked.
"Naw… This is Cephrio." Duo answered. He stuck out his hand, once again attempting a handshake. "I'm Duo Maxwell."
"An'desha." He shook Duo's hand.
"I'm Tobias."
"So you are the third?" Clef asked, hoping the authoresses had come to an agreement.
"Third what?"
"Third Magic Knight, of course!"
"No. I don't think so. I'm an Adept Mage, but I'm not a Knight. If you wanted a Magic Knight, Darkwind probably would have been a better choice." An'desha shook his head slowly.
"I don't think he'll stay, do you? Tobias whispered to Duo.
"Nope," Duo responded.
(Suddenly from outside the door comes a loud buzzing. Catchfire appears in the now open door, Chainsaw still whirring.
CF: (Reading over Hawk's shoulder) An'desha? I don't know who that is! We need someone I know too… Otherwise I can't write!
H: (Claimed the rest of Catchfire's chocolate for herself and has eaten it all.) Exactly.
CF: (Annoyance marks) Get rid of him now!
H: Blah! Fine!)
Then the space near An'desha shimmered and the inside of a castle appeared. "An'desha?" asked a voice, tentatively.
"Firesong!" An'desha leaped through, and the portal shutdown.
"Ok… When do you think we'll get the real one?" Duo looked at Tobias; he didn't like Clef all that much.
"No idea." Tobias shook his head and shrugged.
Suddenly a giant swirling vortex appeared. A blonde boy fell out of it and landed with a THUD next to Duo. The figure sat up, looked around in confusion, "That's the last time I eat Tai's cooking."
(H: That's stupid! 'Tai's cooking'? That's really moronic. (shakes head, frowning)
CF: It is not!
H: Yes, huh!
CF: Nuh-uh!
H: Yes, huh!
CF: Leave me alone.
H: Fine, but it's my turn!)
Tobias and Duo looked at each other. "Hey! I'm Duo and this is Tobias! Welcome to Cephiro!"
"Cephiro? Is that another part of the Digiworld?"
"No, I think it's another planet."
(CF: Make Matt older!
H: Huh?
CF: Make him 15 like the other characters!
H: oh… ok!)
There was a loud 'pop' and a puff of smoke and Matt suddenly aged 4 years. "What in the world?"
"And you are?" Tobias prompted.
"Matt Ishida." He replied in a now deeper voice.
(CF: Nice touch.
H: Thanks.)
"Ah, nice ta meet ya." Duo said.
"What is this?" Matt asked Duo as he looked around the forest.
"It's a fanfic. We're in Cephiro and are Magic Knights or something."
"Who do you think could be writing this story?"
"No clue. More than one person, it seems. Someone named Catchfire… I thought I recognized that other person, too." Tobias answered him.
Clef cleared his throat and spoke up. "Welcome Magic Knight!" he sighed, "I hope."
Yeah, that's him. We finally decided.
Hawk!
Huh? Oh…. Right… sorry.
Tobias and Duo sweatdrop. "I guess 'Hawk' is writing this." Duo stated.
"Ok. Well, now that all three of us are here, what do we do?" Tobias turned to Clef.
"First, you need weapons and armor."
"Why? I can just use Deathscythe Hell, here," he patted his Gundam's foot and then leaned on it. But fell over a second later when it vanished. "Oh, scratch that."
"I can morph." Tobias concentrated for a second. "Or… not."
"Gabumon and all my friends are gone, so I'm in."
"As I was saying. You all need weapons and armor. You need the legendary mineral, Escudo!"
"Don't you have it?" Duo looked at Clef.
"No."
"You're the most powerful Mage on Cephiro, right? Couldn't you just make it…? Umm… I dunno… appear." Tobias asked, Clef sweatdropped.
"Well, actually, I never tried." The mage blushed slightly.
"You're 856, and you haven't tried to make some rock?" Duo gave him a cynical look.
"Oh, Shut up! It's not like you've tried! You're going to the spring Eterna, and you're going to get Escudo, whether you like it or not!" Clef blew up at them.
"Geez… ok, sorry." Duo looked abashed.
"But I will give you some temporary Armor to get there."
"Ok, let's get this over with!" Matt said, cocking his head, "I've got places to go, people to defeat!" Clef waved his staff and a large cloud of smoke erupted from the gem. The three were then clothed differently.
Duo was sporting a blood red tank top underneath a sheet of form fitting jet black steel that wrapped all the way around his body and was secured over his left shoulder. He wore black pants and calf-high boots that attacked to black steel kneepads. His hands were adorned with slick black biking gloves. A deep red diamond glittered on the back of the left one.
Tobias was decked in green and platinum; he had a soft green tee shirt and pants. Starting from his back, two platinum wings wrapped around and crossed in front, creating a shield. He wore ankle-high platinum boots and his platinum gauntlets began at the elbows and ended at his wrists. A green diamond shone on the bottom, near the wrist, of his left arm.
Matt wore a light blue long sleeved shirt and a silver plate that wound around him and secured at both shoulders. He had light blue pants and dark blue mid-calf boots with a sliver buckle. His biking gloves went all the way to his elbows and he had a dark blue diamond on the palm of his left one.
(CF: COOL!!
H: (blushes) Thanks.
CF: (knocks Hawk out of the chair and grabs the key board) My turn! My turn!!)
The three boys are admiring their armor when Clef coughs to get their attention. "Don't you want to hear about your elemental magic?"
"Magic? We get elemental magic, too?" Matt asks, appalled.
"Yes. I'll give each of you a specialty-"
"Well," Matt interrupts, "I'm ok with ice things."
"Well, I can fly, or, at least, I could." Tobias stated.
"I fly, too." Duo put in. "Well, sort of…"
"BOYS!! Honestly, you're worse than those girls were 111 years ago. Each type will choose you, not the other way around. Now, ahem. Accept! Magic Gift!"
Suddenly, Duo is surrounded by a blanket of fire, as Tobias attempts to ward off the wall of wind (CF: Say that three times fast…H: (slaps Catchfire) Dork.) that is attacking him. Matt, on the other hand, is drowning in a bubble of water. Except, he's not drowning. Actually, he can breathe. Duo notices that he is not, in fact, being burned alive and Tobias realizes that this gale wind is really quite enjoyable. Just as the three begin to relax in their new surroundings, the fire goes out, the wind dies down, and the water vanishes.
"Umm. Okay." Duo blinks, looking around.
"Well, for all that you three are incredibly idiotic fools, you seem to be quite strong. I will now teach you how to use-"
"Fire Scythe!" While Duo says this, he arranges his hands as though he were indeed holding a scythe. When he yells fire, fire bursts from his hands to create a handle and blade of flames. As he yells fire, he makes a slashing motion with his scythe and a stream of fire goes streaming towards the monster that had been pouring salt and pepper on Clef, in preparation to eat him.
"You know, old man, you should really keep on top of these things. What, did you think it was snowing?"
"Grrr… You need to improve your aim… " Says a smoldering Clef.
"Well, excu-use me for saving your life." Duo scoffed.
"Saved? You nearly turned me ash… But… how did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Use your magic with out me showing you how?"
"Well, you said we had magic, so I used it. What's the big deal?" Clef sighs.
"Never mind."
"Hey," begins Tobias. "I wonder if I can use my magic. Let's see… who can I try it out on. Oh! How about her?" Tobias asks as he points to a woman who looks remarkably like Alcione and is riding on a flying bicycle.
(H: A flying what?
CF: Bicycle.
H: WHY!?
CF: Because she can, that's why. I don't want to copy the real Magic Knights too closely.
H: Oh, don't worry. I highly doubt we'll ever be accused of copying the real Rayearth…
CF: Good. Now, back to the story!)
The new figure laughs maniacally as she gives her introduction.
"Hello, Magic Knights. I am Calione. (CF: I used the same letters from Alcione's name. Cool, no?) Say good-bye, Magic Kni-"
"Wind Hawk!" Tobias shouts. As he shouts wind, wind begins to accumulate in force around him. When he shouts hawk, it takes the form of a hawk and shoots upwards then dives toward Calione, who is promptly vanquished.
"Pretty good, for a first time. I like this magic stuff."
"Humph. Beginners luck. Now, get out of my sight and find Escudo."
"Er- how do we get there?" Matt asks.
"The Magical Mr. Mistoffelees will show you the way." As he says this, an adorable little black and white kitten appears. The kitten-
(H: STOP! What do you think you are doing?!
CF: Er- giving them a Mokona-like creature.
H: YOUR CAT is not an acceptable creature, Catchfire!
CF: *sigh* fine…)
Mistoffelees disappears.
"Er- never mind." Clef says. Then he begins to get a little miffed. "Look," he starts. "I'm beginning to get a little sick of this dumb story, so-" ZZZAP! A huge stray bolt of lightening shoot from the sky and, Oh-my-God, it hit Clef!
"That's not funny, you talent-less authoresses!" BOOM! A huge tree falls directly on Clef. Clef blows the tree away, stands up, and says, "Ow. Fine, fine. I'll leave you alone if you leave me alone. Just, give them a guide and get them away from me." All of a sudden, a cute white cat with a moon shaped bald spot appears. "Hey! It is not a bald spot! It's just gold!"
(CF: Fine.)
"Hello, I'm Artemis, and I have no idea where I am, how I got here or why." He stated, quite bluntly.
"Er-I summoned you…You're going to guide them to the Spring Eterna." Clef tells him quickly.
"How? I don't know the way."
"Well…deal with it and get them away!"
"How?"
"Just, GO!" Clef finished as he held up his staff, then struck it on the ground, which caused a whirlwind to form and blow them away, literally. Clef sighed happily and waved them goodbye.
(H: My turn! My turn! (Takes keyboard)
CF: (Winces) Fine, fine, just… no more dictionaries…)
The group set down in the Forest of Silence.
"Ok! Let's find this stupid Escudo thing and get out of here!" Duo shouted
"Who died and made you god?" Tobias questioned.
"Well… being that I AM the God of Death…"
"Hey what's that?" Matt pointed at the 2-foot tall electric mouse.
"Who knows? Let's destroy it!" Duo got really gung-ho all of a sudden. "Fire Scythe!" Nothing happened. "I said, Fire Scythe!" Still nothing.
"Hmmm… Wind Hawk! Nope, not working."
"Water Cannon!" They all felt like idiots.
"Stupid Clef. This Magic doesn't not even work right." Duo scoffed.
"Hey, didn't he say he was going to give us armor AND weapons?" Tobias thought back.
"Hey! Yeah! That cheatin' lowlife!" Duo clenched his fists. The diamond on the back of his glove glowed and suddenly he was holding a solid steel scythe. "What is it with me and scythes?"
"Hey, cool, a weapon. I wonder if I got one." Tobias clenched his fists and glared at the devil, who'd just spotted them, and was advancing. A crossbow appeared and a quiver of bolts was over his back.
"Pikaaaa! Pikachu! Pi pikachu!" The thing spoke. And threatened.
(H: Translation: I'm hungry! Feed me! I'll eat this world, and all it's inhabitants! *Evil grin*)
"Over our dead bodies!" Duo screamed and then broke out in a sprint toward Pikachu. The evil, highly overrated anime-style Pikachu was about to shock Duo, when a couple of bolts whizzed through the air and struck him in the cheeks. Duo came close enough to reach Pikachu with the scythe and swung. The blade crossed its stomach and spit it in half, top from bottom. "The God of Death strikes again!" Duo cheered as Pikachu's body spontaneously combusted, and his scythe was sucked into his glove.
(H: WAHAHAHAHA!! DIE ANIME PIKACHU!! (Scribbles on a small pad while muttering) Two down, three to go…
CF: (Sweatdrops and backs away nervously))
"Well, YOU two certainly weren't any help." Tobias scolded Artemis and Matt, who were siting under a tree, talking.
"We were trying to figure out how to get to the spring of Eterna." Matt scowled at Tobias.
"Anything yet?" Duo came up behind them.
"Nope." The cat sighed. "Maybe I can do something seeing as how I'm supposed to be your guide." He closed his eyes and concentrated. His ears pricked forward and all of a sudden he leapt up and started running. "Come on! This way!" He shouted back. The three guys looked at each other then ran after him.
Hours later.
"We've been running for hours! I'm not used to running." Tobias complained.
"Deathscythe Hell always flew wherever." Duo chimed in.
"I've never gone this fast for so damn long." Matt gasped.
"Shut up. We're almost there." The cat sped up slightly.
"Stupid cat, let's have a barbecue at the spring." Duo muttered to the others under his heaving breath.
"We're here!" Artemis abruptly stopped. The guys nearly tripped over him and each other. A large pedestal sat in the middle of a circle of rocks. They ran over with newfound strength.
"There's nothing here!" Duo whined, once the reached the 'spring.'
"There's a line above it." Tobias stated, pointing.
Matt passed his hand through the line, from under it, up, then back. As it passed downward, he yelped, "Ah! Cold!" and jerked his hand back.
"Huh?" asked Tobias and Duo together. They too swiped at the line and felt the water. "Yaah!" they yelled, once again in unison.
Artemis jumped onto one of the ruined rock pillars. "Hey! You can see the water from up here!" The boys climbed up on the rocks and also saw the spring.
"Geranimo!" Duo cried as he leaped into the water.
"Kamikaze!" yelled Tobias.
"Takeru!" They landed with a splash. It wasn't that cold, and no one was unable breathe. But they were each all alone. Then a girl that looked a whole heck of a lot like Hawk Fangor and a Gryphon appeared in front of Tobias. She held out a gem.
"Escudo?" Tobias asked. The girl nodded and he touched the gym. The fabric of his clothes became patterned with feathers and so did just about everything else he was wearing. The diamond on his Gauntlet glowed and became a deep emerald.
"Goodbye Tobias. We'll see you later." Said the girl, and she disappeared. Tobias found himself outside the spring.
(CF: Hang on just a seckie. They don't even have to fight?
H: Nope.
CF: Why not?
H: Because
CF: Ah-hh-h!)
A girl that looked like Catchfire, and a rather large Dragon showed themselves before Duo. The girl held out a large chunk of a shiny rock.
"That the Escudo?" asked Duo, touching it. When he came in contact his clothes burst into flames and changed. The black armor now shone with specks of gold and red. His red tank top was now decorated with a yellow and red fire, dancing on a black background. His boots became lighter and the clasps running up the side became gold. His gloves grew slightly and the diamond became a dark ruby.
"So long, Duo. See ya soon." She winked and vanished and Duo appeared outside again.
A strange and confused looking girl appeared with a winged unicorn in front of Matt. She glared at the cool, glassy stone in her hands, "What the heck? Where am I? I was writing a fanfic! What? Keona? Hey… isn't this…" she looked up. "Oh… um. Hi!"
"Hi. Is that the Escudo stuff?" Matt asked.
"Um… yeah, probably. Here, you can have it." She held it out towards him.
Matt touched it. The water bubble up behind him, and his clothes deepened in color, to a royal blue, then small light blue bubbles lined the hems of his shirt and pants. His boots grew toward his knee but stopped about ¾ of the way up the calf. His silver gloves shortened to his wrist and covered his fingers. The diamond glowed and became a deep sapphire.
"Bye now. I have work to do." The girl said as she disappeared. Matt found himself outside the spring with Duo and Tobias.
"That girl was mysterious." said Tobias, dreamily.
"Totally mystical," seconded Duo in the same tone.
"Why'd I get the weirdo?" Matt asked, crestfallen. Then he perked up, "Hey, cool armor, guys!"
(H: I don't know what else to write…
CF: Neither do I…
H: Soooooo…
CF and H: Let's consult the guidebook!
CF: (Pulls out Magic Knight Rayearth book two) Hmmm…Nope…already done that…hey, Hawk, hand me book three!
H: Yeah, yeah *grumble* Ah! Here ya go!
CF: *Mumble* *Mumble* (tuns tons of pages…Pages fall out due to over-reading) Yaah! Er- (blushes) Ah-ha! Here we go! I'll take it from here!
H: Whatever…)
"Hey! Where did the Escudo go?" Tobias asked, looking around
"Er-I think mine was sucked into this glove thingy." Duo responded as he poked the mentioned glove.
"Umm…Well, what now?" Matt asked Artemis.
"How am I supposed to know?"
"Well, you're the guide. You should know these things…" Duo fumed.
"Well, we could try heading towards those mountains," Tobias began. All of a sudden, the four boys yell, "Yaaaaaaa!!" as the ground beneath them gives way to water
"What the hell…"exclaims Duo. He turns to ask Matt a question when he notices that Matt has gone weird and spacey-like.
"Er-you okay?" Tobias asked waving his hand in front of Yamato's eyes. But the blonde was walking toward a really big set of doors.
"Must…revive…the Spirits…" Matt droned. The others watched as the big doors swung open and Matt was faced with…a blue winged unicorn and a girl who looked very confused and more than slightly annoyed.
"Okay, someone want to tell me why I've been brought back so soon?" she asked.
"Er," Matt snapped into focus, "because you are the holder of the Spirit of water?"
"What?"
Just play along, Angel Baby…
"Oh, all right. Ahem." Suddenly the girl starts to glow with a shimmer blue light and her hair begins to float. "I am Angel Baby, call me Angel, and I am the Guardian of the Water Spirit. In order to receive this Spirit, you must prove your worth."
"Er-you are very pretty and, ummmm, your laptop is nice?"
"Good enough." The light dies and her hair stops floating and Matt is left with an unusual horse and a girl with a laptop.
"That's it? YOU'RE what I came here to get?"
"You got a problem with that?"
"No," he sighs as he escorts Angel to his awaiting comrades.
(H: Oooooo!! Tobias is up next! Let me do it!!
CF: *sigh* Well, okay…)
"Don't think all of you are riding my precious Keona all at once! Hey Artemis, make some sort of basket for the rest of you to ride in." Angel told them.
(CF: She's taking over our story!
H: Can she do that? (Bites her lip as Angel proceeds to explain to Artemis how to perform the aforementioned task)
CF: Apparently.)
Artemis concentrated and his moon spot shone with many brightly colored hues. Musically, a large carriage shimmered into existence.
Angel harnessed Keona and ordered everyone except Matt to get inside the carriage. "You'll ride with me!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him up onto the Ptericorn's back and they took off.
(H: Please know that a 'Ptericorn' is a winged unicorn.
CF: Who are you talking to?
H: … Our Readers… ?
CF: (Surprised) We have readers?
H: (Shrugs))
The horse and carriage rose above the clouds and soon they were approaching a large greenish castle, sitting atop a cloud. "That's probably where we're supposed to be going, hold on tight."
With that, Keona sped up and came to a graceful landing in front of the castle. The Carriage disappeared and all it's passengers came in for an *ahem* rough landing.
"Ow…" complained Duo, rubbing his sore spot.
(CF: (Grins))
"Hey, This castle's green and in the sky… maybe it has something to do with me!" Tobias began to get a little excited.
"All hail King Tobias." Duo mocked.
"Shut up."
"Make me."
"Both of you shut up! You're giving me a migraine. Now I understand that Clef person wanted to get rid of you all." Artemis sighed heavily.
"Hey!" Duo protested, smiling. "We're good friends," he laughed and put is arm around Tobias' neck.
"Don't touch me." Tobias turned and walked inside the castle.
"Wait for us!" Duo ran after him, followed by Artemis, Angel, Keona, and Matt. The drawbridge came down and they went inside. Tobias suddenly went all zombie-like and walked toward the back of the castle. The giant doors opened for and closed behind Tobias. When he got inside, Tobias was released from his spell.
"Tobias! Yeah! You made it! Good… I was hoping Angel wouldn't ruin the story, it's not easy having uncooperative fanfic authors as characters in your fics."
"Um, right, I totally agree." said a completely confused Tobias.
"Oh, right, um… lessee… Legendary Magic Knight, you have come to this shrine to find me. You must prove yourself worthy, and blah, blah, blah…" The girls said quickly, rolling her eyes upwards and making exaggerating gestures with her hand.
"How do I do that?"
Seemingly surprised, the girl blinked at him. She thought about it for a second and shrugged. "Aw, forget it, I love ya, you're already worthy." She jumped down from her throne and threw her arms around him. "I'm the insanely hyper, scarily obsessive, torturous fanfiction authoress, Hawk Fangor!" She appeared pleased with herself. "And this is…" she looked around then stood up and put her hands on her hips. "KEMARU! GET OUT HERE AND STOP READING MY MANGA!" A large Gryphon, with feathers representing those of a red-tailed hawk, appeared. Hawk turned to Tobias; "This is Kemaru! Come on let's go!" Hawk grabbed Tobias' hand and leapt on Kemaru's back as he came up to them. The doors opened and they went out into the large room.
"Hey, Tobias, welcome back. We missed you." Duo joked, running up to them.
"Um, yeah, Duo, this is Hawk and Kemaru." Tobias introduced.
"Isn't she one of the authoresses?" Duo examined Hawk.
"Yeah, however did you guess?" Hawk responded, it was quite apparent that Hawk had O.D.ed on sugar. "You can ride on Kemaru for now, Duo!" Kemaru growled at the thought of extra weight. Hawk and Tobias were heavy enough!
Angel and Matt re-boarded Keona with Artemis and they left the castle.
"Where are we going?" Angel yelled to Hawk as they flew through the air.
"The fire temple! It's inside that there volcano." Hawk responded. "Then she turned her head and smiled broadly at Tobias. "How art thou faring, dearest?"
"Huh?"
"How are you doing, Tobias?"
"Oh, just great, thanks." Tobias returned the smile. They rapidly approached the volcano and flew into the crater.
"God it's hot!" Tobias exclaimed when they landed.
"Yeah, I know. Just don't call me God." Duo replied. Then Duo was drawn to the center of the crater. "Water… water…" he rasped, mindlessly.
Why, "water, water?"
"Because we're all hot and inside a volcano. It's a place where people should ask for water…" Hawk replied to the booming voice.
Ah, ok then. He's here! Gotta go!
"Duo! Oh! Come over here! Be worthy! Do something!" The girl who had just been speaking now spoke to him in a non-booming voice.
"Huh?" Duo asked, brightly.
"You need to do something to be worthy of Me." the girl told him.
"Why would I want to do something like that?" Duo questioned.
"Because I told you to."
"Oh makes sense, what should I do to be considered worthy?"
"Umm… I have no idea… aw… forget it… I'm Catchfire. This is Koden." Catchfire motioned to the dragon behind her.
"Hi nice to meet cha, I'm Duo Maxwell."
"I know who you are. I'm your guardian spirit thingy!" Catchfire smiled and walked down to Duo.
"Hey, aren't you that other authoress? All of our guardian spirits are authoresses!" Duo realized as they walked back to the reception platform.
"And who better?"
"Good point." The Magic Knight of fire nodded wisely.
Catchfire spotted Hawk and trotted over to her co-authoress. "Shouldn't we have some sort of, I dunno, battle or something now?"
"You tell me, I had no reason to make them Magic Knights. What are they here to save Cephiro from?"
The red-haired authoress blinked in confusion "Er-" She then pointed accusingly at the large red dragon behind her. "Koden made me do it!"
"Hey! I did not! I had no part of this until I was a character!" Koden defended.
"Well, now that we're characters we don't have much control over this story. Maybe something interesting will happen." Hawk resolved.
"We… don't… have control?" Catchfire asked, obviously surprised.
"No, of course not! That's why I didn't want to make this self-insertion! And that's why self-insertions have lots of stuff happen but aren't usually all that damn good."
"Oh. I had no idea."
Then Angel ran up to the other authoresses. "We have company!" And she pointed up, while clutching her computer, being quite protective. Flying above the volcano was many Harpies. Their loud, shrill screeches filled the crater, and if they got close enough they stank horribly.
"Don't let them scratch you!" Hawk was somehow able to be heard over the Harpies. "Their talons are extremely poisonous!" At that moment one Harpy decided to go after Hawk. "Yahhh!" She ran as fast as hell, spotting Tobias, she dove behind him.
"Wind Screen!" Tobias yelled and held up his hands toward the approaching Harpy. It screamed as it hit the shield and flew back up. Then Tobias took up the offense. "Wind Hawk!" he directed it at the Harpy that had just attacked. It struck and the Harpy fell into the molten lava surrounding their platform.
Across the crater, Duo yelled "Fire Scythe!" The blade formed and he slashed it toward the flock many times before the magic worn down. "Fire Shot!" Ten small fireballs shot into the air and struck down half the remaining birds. Now around 8 or 9 were left.
"Hey! These would be excellent creatures for my Harry Potter fic." Angel began typing away furiously at her laptop. "Harpies. Flock together. Smell bad. Body of a bird, head of a woman, tail of a serpent. Loud. Poisonous talons." She was muttering as she typed. One of the Harpies dove and nicked Angel with it's talon.
"Water cannon!" Matt finished off the bird, but Angel had fallen on to her keyboard, already unconscious. Matt walked over to her and lifted her head. When she didn't respond, he got angry. Really angry. "Water Cannon!" He shouted taking down two more Harpies.
"Wind Hawk!"
"Fire Shot!"
"Water Cannon!"
Soon all the Harpies were down. Matt returned to Angel's side. He put his hands over her heart and whispered, "Water Resurrection." A ring of water swirled around them and shot upward, completely hiding them from the sight of the others.
When the water withdrew, Angel was sitting up, and they looked deeply into each other's eyes. Slowly, without reverting her gaze, Angel closed her computer and set it down next to her. She brought her face within inches of his and whispered, "Thank you." Then she kissed him lightly on the lips.
With so much romance in the air, Hawk just couldn't bear it. She leapt into Tobias' arms and gave him a big hug. He embraced her and returned the hug. Catchfire was leaning against Duo, her head on his shoulder. They looked the way that said, 'We're a couple.'
They boarded their mounts and took off. Artemis rode on Kemaru with Hawk and Tobias.
After they'd flown for quite a while, they found a nice quiet spot to land. They foraged for food for dinner. Tobias discovered a tree with a very odd looking fruit on it. He tasted it, with Matt standing next to him, just in case, and they found it to be very sweet and quite safe to eat. Duo was able to catch some fish from a nearby stream, and then he made a fire to cook on. Artemis was able to make some eggs appear, so Matt made scrambled and fried eggs.
After Dinner
"Well, now what should we do?" Catchfire asked Hawk. "This story is getting lame fast."
Tobias, who overheard them, suggested. "How about finding out why the hell we're here."
Hawk glared at Catchfire, "Yes, good idea. Why don't we?"
"I- I told you! It was Koden's idea." Catchfire said, forming sweatbubbles.
"It was not." Koden growled from near by.
"Yaah! I thought you were asleep!" Catchfire accused.
"That's just what I wanted you to think." Koden told her, closing his eyes again.
"Stupid dragon…" Catchfire mumbled.
"Well, we should figure out why we're here anyway." Matt said. "Maybe Catchfire can come up with something if we wander around, not really doing anything."
Angel looked up from her laptop. "You people are lousy fanfic writers. You should come up with plotlines and reasons before you start. And you should have made something to keep yourselves from getting locked into your own plot-less, reason-less stories." She shook her head slightly and resumed typing.
"Well, I'm sure Catchfire had an excellent reason for putting us here and through hell." Duo said from his place, lying flat on the grass. Catchfire perked and went to lie down next to him.
Hawk put her head against Tobias' chest and closed her eyes. He'd removed the armor and his shirt was very silky. She listened to his heartbeat and slowly drifted to sleep. They all eventually fell asleep and some even dreamt.
Kemaru lifted his head; his acute Gryphon ears picked up the sound of a creature, moving through the bushed. Koden also heard it and shot a questioning look at Kemaru who shrugged and shook his head. It might be some harmless nocturnal creature that lived around here, it might not. After a few minutes the sound got further away and stopped. Kemaru and Koden went back into their watchful slumbers, and weren't disturbed again until morning.
"I'm hungry," were the first words said the next day. Duo was, in fact, hungry.
Catchfire mumbled something incoherent followed by, "I'm too tired."
Duo sweatdropped, he'd heard horror stories about Catchfire's cooking. "That's ok, Fire-chan, I'm sure Matt could make some eggs, right Matt?"
Yamato sat up, "I can if Artemis gets more eggs."
Artemis responded with something that sounded a lot like "meow."
"Artemis, wake up. We're hungry." Duo looked at the cat, who was sleeping a few feet away.
"Five more minutes, Luna."
"Aw… Isn't that sweet?" Catchfire tilted her head and crooned. Then she yelled, "Artemis! It's the Negaverse! We have to hurry!" in a shrill voice that sounded remarkably like the aforementioned black cat.
Artemis jumped up and looked around. Catchfire had also woken Tobias and Angel, who opened her computer and resumed typing her stories.
"What is it now?" He asked in an irritated voice, once he'd figured out that no, the Negaverse wasn't attacking and yes, he'd been tricked.
"We're hungry, make some eggs." Duo demanded immediately.
"All right, keep your hair on." Artemis concentrated and made a dozen eggs appear. Matt picked up the carton while Duo started a fire. Tobias got up, being careful not to disturb the girl who'd used his chest for a pillow. He put on his armor and went to get some of the fruits they'd had before.
When he got back, Matt had finished scrambling half the eggs and was starting to fry the rest. The smell had woken Hawk, who got confused and worried when she couldn't find Tobias, but had calmed down when they told her he went for fruit. As soon as he stepped into the camp she ran up and hugged his waist, being that his arms were full of fruit. She took some from him and carried them over to the 'kitchen' area. Then she gave him a full hug.
"Why didist thou leave me like that?" She asked him with a pouty face.
"'Cuz I didn't want to wake-ist thou." He responded, hugging her and running his fingers through her shoulder-length brown hair.
"Food!" Matt said, presenting the eggs and some sliced fruit. They gathered around and ate everything. Being that there were a total of ten people and non-people, it wasn't too hard. Although, Kemaru and Koden insisted on catching a few fish, seeing as how they're carnivores.
"Er-Hawk? Can I speak to you, umm, alone?"
"Huh? Oh, sure. I'll be right back, Tobias." Hawk and Catchfire walk a bit away from the rest of the group.
"Umm. Say, Hawk. Do you have any idea where this is going?"
"Not a clue," Hawk replies happily. "In fact, I'm working with a really bad case of writers block. But that doesn't matter, we're not in control anymore, remember? How about you?"
"As bad as you. Sooo, how about we have a minion attack?"
"Whose minion?"
"The bad guy's minion."
"We have a bad guy? Oh, well, then maybe he will send something after us…" Hawk and Catchfire turn back to camp to snuggle with their knights and eat some more, when a monster attacked.
"Crap!" Angel shouted, not looking up from her computer.
"Something wrong, Angel-chan?" Asked Matt as he made his sword appear.
"I don't have a modem! Wahhhhh!" Angel slammed her head against the keyboard a few times. "Oh well, I guess I'll have much to do once I'm outta this stupid place." Then she looked up and saw the giant monster. "But, I guess we have other problems for now."
Tobias, Duo, and Matt all charged toward the monster, clutching their swords. The Monster roared and positioned itself for an attack toward the guys. As soon as he lunged Tobias screamed, "Wind Screen!" and shielded them all. They thrust the blades into the temporarily stunned monster's body.
After they'd hacked at it a bit, the monster sat up, over its shock, and swiped at the guys with his long claws. It caught all of them; Tobias got a deep gash in his shoulder and was thrown into the air. He suddenly wished he were a bird again. Duo's armor shielded him from most of the attack, but he bore a large scratch on his leg. Matt took the hit across the armor, and other than scratching his perfectly good armor, had no wounds.
"Kemaru!" Hawk yelled, the Gryphon flew up and caught Tobias.
"Koden!" the Dragon ran over to Duo's side ready to help.
"Modem! Huh, oh… Keona! Go help!" Angel said, waking up.
Kemaru flew up, with Tobias, and dove strait down, talons bared, and put a few deep slashes across the monster's head, causing him to roar in pain. "Wind Hawk!" The gust picked up and attacked, but did very little.
Koden let out a stream of fire on to the monster. Duo yelled, "Fire Scythe!" And slashed it for as long as he could hold the magic.
Keona flew up and attacked with her sharp hooves and horn. Matt yelled out, "Water Cannon!" repeatedly, and fired many blasts of water. With all of them attacking at once, the monster was weakening greatly and concentrating more on defending itself rather than attacking. Suddenly it roared and large beams of dark energy struck the knights and steeds.
Catchfire leaned over to Hawk, "Why did we create such a nastily powerful monster?"
"We didn't," Hawk responded, "I told you, we're characters and have no control over what happens, the only thing we could do is tell them where they need to go, but we don't know what kinds of things we'll run into."
"Oh. Ok." Catchfire sighed and turned back to watch as Duo struggled to release any more magic powers.
"They're running out of Magical Energy." Hawk was getting worried.
"And?" Catchfire prompted.
"And if they run out they can't use magical attacks."
"But they can use swords right?"
"Well, yeah. And our companions can attack too." Hawk considered slowly.
"So let's hope for the best." The other authoress shrugged.
"Sounds like a plan."
Tobias stood up, with a great deal of effort. He made his sword appear, being that he couldn't find the energy to use his Wind Hawk attack. He yelled and ran flat out toward the monster. He had been aiming for the leg, but the monster turned and he ended up hacking off it's tail instead. This resulted in the monster becoming unbalanced and falling over.
"Well, that could help." Tobias panted out as Duo attempted to stab its chest.
Duo was leaping and dodging, but taking hits. His armor was scratched up and had some missing pieces. The monster fell over and he saw that it's tail was lying separated from the body. He went for the chest, attempting to strike its heart. He got in close and the monster raised its claws abruptly and sent him flying back toward camp. He landed at the feet of Hawk and Catchfire.
"Can't you two do anything?" Duo looked up at them.
"Weeeell, we're not at liberty to say," Catchfire said, trying to fix his bangs. Hair was coming out of his braid and flying loosely.
"Why not? You two are in charge of this fanfic! Please Fire-chan… Deathscythe Hell, Reaper." Duo kneeled next to them and pleaded.
"I would if I could, Duo-kun. But by becoming characters we lost our power over the story." She told him sadly, giving him a hug and kissing him on the cheek.
"Oh. Ok, then. I'll go see if I can help the others kill this thing." He stood up and ran back to the battlefield, recalling his sword.
Matt came up behind the fallen monster; it didn't know he was there, but he had to do this quickly. They needed to get closer but couldn't because it kept slashing them away. He ran up the monster's shoulder blade and thrust his sword into the base of the arm. Hot crimson blood sprayed over his clothes, he had gotten his sword halfway through the arm, but it rolled over and loosed Matt from its body.
Tobias saw what Matt was doing; he called Kemaru over and launched himself onto the Gryphon's back. "Come up from behind and get close to the shoulder." He told Kemaru as they flew higher. Kemaru obliged and went into a steep dive. Tobias struck the arm opposite the side Matt had made the cut on and dragged his blade through to meet Matt's cut. The arm slid away from the monster. It roared and tried to snatch the two out of the air with its massive jaws. Luckily, Kemaru was a skilled flyer with a skilled flyer as a passenger and they were able to pull out inches from its mouth full of foot-long teeth.
Duo ran in as Kemaru and Tobias dismembered the arm. While they distracted the monster, Duo was able to plunge his sword into the monster's chest up to the hilt.
The monster's head jerked and its entire body convulsed and finally collapsed.
The vanquishers crawled back to camp. "Gwaaa! Tobias-kun!" Hawk ran to her beloved's side.
"Hawk…" he started.
"Shhh…" She flipped him over so he could look up at her. She placed his head in her lap and put her hands lightly on his body. "Healing Wind," She said softly. A light gust blew over his body and he felt his body repairing, and his strength returning. When he felt his body was completely healed, Hawk collapsed on top of him, her own power drained.
Catchfire hugged the weakened and panting Duo as she said, "Healing Fire," softly in his ear. Immediately Duo felt his entire body being engulfed in a cool flame, rejuvenating him.
His body was repaired and when he woke up, Catchfire fainted in his arms.
"Yamato!" Angel ran over to Matt and embraced him. "Healing water," she whispered, and poured her magic power into the spell. A wave of water washed over Matt and left his body unscathed and is energy returned. "Yamato…" Angel breathed as she sagged into his body.
Tobias picked up Hawk in his arms, as Duo and Matt did with their own unconscious deities. They carried them to where Artemis had been watching.
"Well, you weren't of much help, cat." Duo observed.
"No, I wasn't. But seeing as how I'm a foot and a half tall and don't posses magical powers, I don't see what I could have done."
"You could've made my Gundam appear out of nowhere."
"Hmmm… That probably would've taken more power than I have, being such a large and intricate object."
"Well, ok. But could you try and get something soft for the lovely ladies?" Tobias asked, motioning to the three.
"I can try." He concentrated and three small futon pads appeared. "That good?"
"Yeah, fine." Duo grumbled slightly. He laid Catchfire down flat on one of the mattresses. Tobias laid Hawk on another, and Matt set Angel down on the last.
Kemaru, Koden and Keona dragged themselves over to the group and gave way to unconsciousness.
"Kemaru!" Tobias yelled, whipping around. He ran over to the Gryphon. "Kemaru, wake up!" He gently shook Hawk's companion.
"Koden?" Duo walked to the dragon's side and knelt, putting his hand on Koden's flank.
Matt walked over to Keona; he laid both hands on her, "Water Resurrection." Her missing feathers grew back and her wounds healed; she woke up and nuzzled Matt. Then stood up and walked over to lie at Angel's side. Matt stood up and walked over to Koden. "Water Resurrection." Koden recovered and woke up. He nodded to Matt in thanks and laid his head next to Catchfire. Matt walked over to Kemaru.
Tobias made a motion to stop him. "You don't have to do this."
"No. But I want to. Water Resurrection." Kemaru stood up and shook out his feathers.
"Hawk? She used her healing powers, didn't she?" The Gryphon asked as he looked over his dozing mistress.
Tobias nodded, "They all did." Kemaru walked over to his master and reclined next to her.
"She needs to recover. Rest, she just needs rest. The healing drains them of all their strength."
Tobias removed his repaired armor and went to pick some fruit for a meal.
Duo and Matt also took off their armor. Matt went to the stream and returned with water. Tobias returned a short while after with the fruit and the three knights ate them in relative silence. All the companions were fast asleep next to their respective guardians. The knights fell asleep soon after dark.
During the next few days, the camp wasn't bothered much. Just a few scavengers looking for food. Most of which became what they sought. Early one morning Catchfire stirred. "What? Where am I? Duo!" she realized she must still be in her fanfic and sat up. But she winced as a powerful headache swept over her and flopped backwards onto her bed. "Duo?" she asked. Moments later the pilot was at her side.
"Fire-chan." He acknowledged, putting his hand on her forehead. "You have a fever. Don't try to move. You drained yourself." He explained gently.
"Healing powers…?"
"Yes. Now, shhh." He ran his hand down her cheek and kissed her forehead. Catchfire closed her eyes again. And soon felt a cold, wet towel being laid across her temples. She sighed and moved slightly into a more comfortable position. Minutes later she'd fallen back asleep.
"Matt," Duo whispered, so as not to wake the girls. "Do you think you could use your Healing thing on them and make them better?"
"I could use it, but water resurrection only works on physical wounds. They're drained psychologically. I'm sure they'll recover soon with plenty of sleep."
Duo sighed, "Alright." He said slowly, expressing everyone's doubts, he then looked back at Catchfire and tilted his head slightly, then lay flat on his back and stared up at the slowly brightening sky.
At around noon, Hawk opened her eyes and glanced around without moving. She wondered why she was outside. Then she remembered she was still in the story. Nearby, she could here the guys mumbling quietly. She said the next thing that came to mind, "Tobias?" She hoped that the healing power had worked. At her movement, Kemaru raised his head and looked over toward the knights. They stopped talking and she heard movement as Tobias ran to her side. "Tobias. You're ok." She smiled and started to sit up. But stopped when he placed his fingertips on her chest, pushing lightly, and shook his head. Hawk decided not to resist his gentle persuasion to lie back down.
"Don't get up. I'm fine. You're not, lie back down, Hawk-chan." He waited until she was lying back down. "Is there anything you need?"
"You." She smiled as he blushed slightly. "But since I've got that, I'm fine for now." She sighed and rolled on to her side. Then she closed her eyes and went back to sleep.
About an hour later, Catchfire woke again and then Angel opened her eyes. Catchfire called for Duo, and he kneeled down next to her. She sat up slowly, and when no pain came she hugged Duo. "I'm feeling much better, now." She said as he wrapped his arms around her.
"That's good to know," he whispered in her ear. "Oh, looks like Angel's up." Catchfire twisted her head around and saw Angel just lying there, staring up at the sky.
"Umm… Matt? Angel's awake." Catchfire called out quietly.
Matt's head perked up and he sprinted to her. "Is Angel-chan all right?" He asked, placing his palm across her head.
"Am I still in here? Where's my computer?" She felt around.
Matt blushed slightly, "Umm… well… I was reading all of your fanfic and as soon as I had finished the last complete one, the battery died."
"Y- you read my fanfics? All of them?" She asked sitting up, and throwing her arms around his neck. "Did you like them?"
"Ye- yes, of course I did." He told her, returning the hug. "I loved them."
"Oh! I'm so glad! I knew that really intelligent people would!" Angel sighed. "Some people don't like them."
"I find that incredibly hard to believe." He told her, standing up. "Are you hungry, thirsty, need something else?" Matt asked.
"No, not really. Just kind of tired." She lay back down on the mat.
"That's understandable…."
"Can Yamato read his Angel-chan a bedtime story?" She asked giving him kawaii widdle puppy dog eyes.
He put one hand behind his head and laughed. "What would you like to hear?"
"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." She batted her eyelashes.
"Uh… I don't think I know that one." He admitted, blushing.
"Oh, ok. Never mind then." Angel rolled over and fell asleep.
Catchfire, still clutching Duo, asked for some food.
"We have fruit, but that's about it."
"Don't care. I'm just hungry, Please Duo-chan!" She hugged him tighter.
"How'm I supposed to get it with you clinging to me?"
"Carry me!" Complying, he put one arm under her knees and the other on her back and stood up. She rested her head on his shoulder as he walked over to where they had some sliced fruit. He sat down cross-legged and put Catchfire in his lap. He picked up a slice of fruit and placed it in front of her mouth, since she refused to let go of his neck, he had to feed her. But he did so completely willing and without complaining. After she told him she didn't want anymore he took her back to bed and stayed next to her until she fell asleep.
Hawk woke up and raised herself into a sitting position. Tobias saw her and rushed over. "Art thou ok, Hawk-chan?" he asked her playfully.
She smiled and nodded. Then hugged him and stated, "mine."
He hugged her back and said, "yours," and pecked her on the cheek. "Are you hungry? We have plenty of fruit."
"Ok!" she said, smiling. Tobias got up and brought back a sliced fruit. She picked up a wedge and ate it quickly. Tobias picked up a second and fed it to her. After she'd finished the fruit, she tried to stand up, but ended up having to lean on Tobias, being too weak to support herself. He put his arm around her waist and she put hers across his neck and her head on his shoulder. Kemaru stood up and walked over, then lowered himself in front of Hawk. She got on his back and Tobias sat behind her. Kemaru walked over to the other two knights and stood there. Tobias got off, and lifted Hawk into his arms. He sat down with Hawk sitting next to him, leaning on him, and the four began to talk. Although Hawk fell asleep soon after and Tobias brought her into his lap, where she curled up against his chest.
"They're so peaceful when they're asleep." Duo remarked.
"And sometimes when they're awake." Matt shrugged and sighed. "I hope they recover soon so we can figure out what we're supposed to do here."
"I just hope they recover, for whatever reason." Tobias said, stroking Hawk's hair. Tobias laid back and shifted Hawk so she was right next to him, his left arm under her, and her head on his shoulder again. Duo lounged back and stared up at the stars in the sky again, perhaps making a wish. Matt glanced at Angel and stood up. He walked to where she lay and stretched out next to her.
"Yamato?" Angel whispered as she heard him sighing. "Something wrong?"
"What?" He blinked, surprised at her being awake. "No, nothing. Just wondering why we're here."
"Oh. Don't worry, no one knows that. Not even Hawk and Catchfire, who were the ones who started this thing. And now with my laptop dead, we have no control over anything, so we'll have to see if maybe there was a sub-conscious reason embedded into the story before the other two became characters." Angel assured him with a smile.
"Yeah, ok. Great. Hey do you want something to eat? We have fruit and… um…. fruit, if you'd like." Matt sweatdropped and blushed.
"Well, I'm not too tired right now, so I might as well do something more constructive than tell you how hopeless we all are." Angel brought her knees up to her chest and hugged her legs. "Sure I'd love some fruit." She smiled at him again.
Matt got up and returned with some fruit wedges. "Open wide, here comes the Hogwarts Express." he laughed as she opened wide and took a bite. He fed her until all the fruit was gone and Angel had lain back down to sleep next to him.
Matt watched Angel for a few minutes, and then he decided to do something he did often, especially when he's alone. He took his harmonica out, why he still had it, he didn't know. But it was inside his pants pocket. He played a soft, sweet melody until he couldn't keep his eyelids open, he put away the instrument and gave way to sleep.
The next morning
Duo woke up to find that Catchfire had woken and moved during the night, now she was cuddled up right next to him. He moved slowly, pulling his arm out from under her trying not to wake the sleeping deity. His attempt was unsuccessful. The fire spirit awakened. She looked in to Duo's eyes for a moment, then leaped up; arms outstretched and closed them around her knight's shoulders.
"I take it you're feeling better." Duo smiled and embraced his deity.
"Yeah!" Catchfire smiled and turned her head to rest her ear on Duo's chest.
Tobias heard Duo and Catchfire get up, he sat up and lifted Hawk into arms. She responded slightly, but didn't wake up. Instead she closed her hand on his shirt and pulled closer. He smiled sweetly and carried her over to the futon beds. There, he laid her on one, though he had to pull his shirt out of Hawk's grasp to stand up again.
He looked over at Duo and the very energetic Catchfire and smiled. "They're going to be all right. I guess four days of nearly undisturbed sleep was enough to restore them." He muttered, shaking his head slightly.
Suddenly, Angel shot up into a sitting position, "Ahhhh! Yamato-kun!"
The just woken Matt also bolted into sitting up, "Wha-?" He sat dazed as Angel put her arms around his waist and clutched him too tightly to be removed. "Something wrong, Angel-chan?" he asked, running his hand over her hair.
"I had a bad dream. You were killed and I couldn't help. And… And… Wahhhhh!" She cried out, clutching tighter. He closed his hands around her wrists and attempted to pull her off of him, no such luck. "No! You can't go!" She screamed. He pulled her upward, so she was locked around his upper-torso, and wrapped his arms around her in a hug.
"I'm not leaving you, Angel-chan." He whispered soothingly, as you would to a terrified wild animal. "But you need to let go sometime."
"No, I don't" Angel protested.
"If you let me go, I'll get you something to eat." He told her.
"Promise you'll come back."
"Yes, of course. I won't ever leave you."
"Even if I throw you off a cliff?"
"Er- um… Even if you threw me off a cliff." He said, slowly.
She loosened her grip. "You'll go get food and come right back?"
"If that's what you want."
"Weeeell, ok." She let go and he stood up. He walked over to where they were storing the picked fruit and sliced one with a small dagger they'd found. He walked over to where Angel was sitting, staring at him wherever he went. "You came back!" she sounded astonished.
"Why wouldn't I?" He asked setting down the fruit and sitting cross-legged next to her.
She blushed. "I don't know what was wrong with me." She apologized. "It was just, the dream… it seemed so real."
He shook his head, "You don't need to apologize for anything." He offered her a fruit slice and she ate it directly from his hand. After he made sure she had eaten her fill, he helped her stand up and walk to the river, where they sat and talked quietly.
Hawk woke and sat up. She looked around and saw Tobias off to the side talking with Catchfire and Duo. Silently, she stood and crept up behind him. "Hiyo!" She yelled, squeezing his shoulders. Tobias jumped up and whipped around to face her.
"Hawk-chan! You're up." He observed. Then smiled at her slyly, "You won't get away with that, you know." He stepped forward and grabbed her around waist, tickling her.
"Ah! No! No! Stop! I give up! You got me! Stop! Ah! Ah!" She screamed, laughing and trying to pull his hands away from her. He laughed and stopped as she doubled over clutching her stomach, tears in eyes and a huge smile on her face. She straightened and made cute puppy eyes as she leaned against her brave knight. "Can the vanquisher get his vanquished some breakfast?" she asked.
"Sure, but we need to get go get some more fruit." He waved to Duo and Catchfire as he put his arm around Hawk's shoulder and led her to the tree.
Tobias reached up and began to pluck the ripe fruit of the branches. Hawk couldn't reach anymore on this side so she went around the tree and started to pick the fruit. When she had as much as she could carry she turned to go back. All of a sudden a bright beam shot of the ground and made a three foot pillar of light. A figure started to appear in the light and Hawk screamed, dropped the fruit and ran back. She nearly ran over Tobias, who was coming around with his sword drawn.
"What is it Hawk-chan?" He asked as she grabbed and hid behind him, using him as a shield.
"There's a monster over there." She told him in a strained whisper, pointing. Tobias clutched the sword in both hands and they worked their way to where the light was.
"Nope, you were wrong, Hawk-chan." Tobias said as the light came into view. The sword sucked back into his gem. "It's worse than a monster." He sighed.
"Gah! Clef!" Hawk exclaimed, peering over Tobias' shoulder. Sure enough, Clef stood in the light. He was tapping his toe impatiently with his arms crossed and he was covered with sweatbubbles and agitation marks, but he was Clef.
"Stupid twit." Clef mumbled under his breath. Then he sighed heavily and looked up. "Go get the other Knights. I have an important message for all of you." Hawk turned and ran back to camp. She returned later with the other Magic Knights, their spirits and Artemis.
Matt's face brightened as he saw the Clef's light pillar. "Hey! That's the thing Gennai used to contact us in the Digiworld!" he walked over to it. "It's a hologram! He's not really here." He explained to the others as he passed his hand through the mage's neck in a slicing motion, resulting in sounds of awe from the audience.
Clef scowled at him. "Ahem, IF you are finished…"
"Huh? Oh, yeah." Matt blushed and went back to Angel, who was looking very paranoid about something…
"Anyway, I'm here to tell you why you're here…" Clef began.
"But, you're not actually here." Duo pointed out; "It's just your image."
"Shut up. The girls you found in each of the temples are responsible for keeping the peace in Cephrio. Because they are with you currently, there's nothing to keep evil things out of here."
"We're pillars?" Angel interrupted.
"Well, yes and no. You are more like… construction workers for the pillar. You need to go to the Palace of Peace and build a permanent pillar. Then you can all go home."
Matt gazed at the hologram machine. "Ya'know what? Gennai never was able to keep that thing going for longer than to tell us we were in serious danger. No details or anything. Maybe you should tell him how!" Clef sweatdropped.
"Maybe he just doesn't like staring at your clueless faces and would rather you destroy yourselves than help you." He suggested. A thoughtful look crossed Matt's face and he frowned.
"Well, anyway. You, the Magic Knights, need to take your girls to the Palace of Peace and there they will build the pillar. Don't expect any help from me." Then the hologram went out.
"Does anyone know where the palace is?" Duo asked, looking around. Everyone shook his or her heads. "What about you, cat? You're supposed to be our guide."
Artemis sighed. "I'm as much a guide as you are a girl." He growled at Duo. Catchfire whacked him over the head with her palm. "Ow!"
They all walked back to camp, picking up some of the fruit on their way.
They were all relaxing at camp, trying to figure out whether or not they really wanted to go and what the best way to get there would be if they decided they would. Suddenly heavy breathing and fast footsteps could be heard coming toward them. Tobias, Matt and Duo all stood up and withdrew their swords. They stood ready where they heard the sound coming from, all of sudden a short black haired boy with bandages around his head and arm burst in. His normally sharp eyes were widened with fear and he was unnaturally clumsy in his panic.
"Ah!" He screamed as he spotted the three guys with swords blocking his path. He came closer and did a sudden leap, twisting in mid-air, landing gracefully behind them. Soon a girl with spiky blue hair flew in after him.
"Hiei!" Angel yelled, eyes sparkling with resignation. "What brings you to this lame fic?"
"Sh- she blasted me… into a… a… portal… it closed… behind us." He panted out, searching for a place to hide.
"What were you doing together with Ryoko?" Angel raised her eyebrows.
"It… some other… author… thought… I looked like… Misaki… crossover…" He told her ducking behind a rock.
"Why don't you use your Dragon?"
"Shhh… later… don't let her find me!"
"Where is he? I must find him!" Ryoko yelled, then she looked at the three who blocked her path. "On second thought…" She floated closer and set down in front of them. "Hello… How are you? I'm Ryoko." She said leaning against the guy in green, tracing the feather pattern on his shirt with her finger.
"I don't think so!" Hawk yelled, jumping up and running to Tobias. She threw her arms around his neck and pulled back. "He's mine, demon!" Hawk growled.
"Huh? Fine!" Ryoko responded. "Then I'll just take him, if you don't mind." She said, stepping to her right.
"I don't mind, but I think Catchfire will…"
"Catchfire? What kind of a stupid name is that?" She asked grabbing Duo's long braid and bringing it to her face and touching the tip to her cheek.
Duo sneered at her. "No." He said, yanking the end of his hair out of her hand and handed it to Catchfire, who came up behind him and copied Duo's look toward Ryoko.
"Grrr… you think I'll leave here empty handed?" She asked, moving in of Matt, whose guardian spirit was currently more interested in the black haired stranger. She walked up to him, seductively.
"Stay away." He warned, grasping the hilt of his sword with both hands and pointing its tip at her.
"Aw, come on. You won't stab me, I'm a woman." She told him, pushing his sword to the side and walking closer. Matt backed up and positioned the sword in front of her again. She moved closer and put her hand on the blade, he lifted it up and brought it down cleanly through her wrist. "Not again!" Ryoko complained, "Do you know how many times that hand gets chopped of?" She asked as she regenerated it. "Well, fine. I'll just take Hiei!" she disappeared and reappeared behind Angel, who was attempting to talk to the retreating Hiei.
When he saw the demoness hovering behind the curious girl, Hiei stood up and began running back the way he'd originally came. He ran full speed toward the three knights and two girls. Angel looked up to see what had caused him to run. She found herself staring into Ryoko's eyes and screamed in surprise.
Ryoko scoffed, "Oh, shut up."
Angel stopped screaming and glared angrily at Ryoko. "You should prepare to be written into a torture-fic." She threatened.
Ryoko huffed. "Yeah, whatever… This fic bites. I'm out of here. Oh, Tennnshiii! I'm coming baaaack!" she sang and vanished.
Hawk's eyes widened and she clutched her knight, "Sh- she said my story bites!" the authoress's voice was filled to the brim with shock.
Tobias shook his head, "She's an idiot with no taste, Hawk-chan. I mean, did you see her hair?" The knight responded gently, squeezing her around the shoulders.
Hiei breathed a sigh of relief and walked back over to Angel. "How did you get her leave like that?" he questioned.
"Easy, I'm the fanfic authoress, Angel Baby." She introduced herself, smiling.
"Yeah, okay." Angel leapt into him and threw her arms around him.
"Mine!" She screamed as Matt clenched his fists in jealousy. The four others looked at him as he bared his teeth and squeezed the sword's hilt.
"Angel… chan… is… mine…" He muttered through tight jaws. Then he sighed and the sword disappeared. "He will pay, later. Angel-chan will only like me." He vowed, grinning sadistically. The other two knights and their deities watched as he walked calmly over to his girl and grabbed her around the waist. He pulled her close and kissed her on the cheek. Then he whispered something in her ear, which caused her to blush, giggle and bury her face into his shirt. He put his hands on her back and shot a defiant look at a confused Hiei.
Suddenly a loud raptorial scream filled the air. "What the-?" Tobias asked as they all looked up. A large bird with wings of fire spiraled downward onto the small camp as it screamed again.
Being the heroes they were, Tobias, Duo and Matt all stood ready to intercept the bird, should it be foe. Angel grabbed Hiei and pulled him behind a rock as Hawk and Catchfire followed.
"Hi all!" Came a cheerful voice from the firebird.
Hawk's head poked up from behind the rock, "FireTiger? Gyaa!" Hawk jumped out and ran toward the landing bird. "HiTora! What the heck art thou doing here?"
The short girl with long brown hair and smiling brown eyes jumped off her mount. "Taka! I don't now what I'm doing here! Kindle just… well… appeared! And I got on him and he brought me here! And I have cheese!" She held out an old purple backpack.
"You, um… know her, Hawk-chan?" Tobias asked with a sweatbubble.
"She's a friend from school. How did you get in my fanfic?" She turned to Catchfire, who'd come over when she realized it was safe. Although, Angel and Hiei were still behind the rock. "Ever since we lost control the strangest people have come to join our group."
Catchfire nodded. "Aren't out of control fanfics fun?" she asked sarcastically.
Hawk blinked at her then turned back to FireTiger, who was still holding out her bag. "I wonder who will come next. Hey! Did you bring anything besides cheese? Something I might… um… like… or whatever."
"I brought you a dozen lemon bars from Cookie corner, those being your favorite sweets, if that's what you mean." She opened the front pouch of her bag and pulled out a brown bag closed with a red twist tie. She threw the bag to Hawk, who snatched them out of the air and clutched it to her chest, glaring at everyone.
"Mine!" She stated simply, then she sat cross-legged and began to undo the twist tie. She happily munched on a cookie and everyone else ignored her, not wanting to be mistaken for trying to steal her lemon bars.
FireTiger looked at the group. "Who in the world are you weird dorks?"
"I'm not a dork! I'm Catchfire!" The authoress put her hands on her hips and posed.
"I'm Duo Maxwell." Duo put his arm around Catchfire's shoulder and, wonder of wonders, they seemed to match perfectly.
"I'm Tobias, and I was wondering… why do you have a backpack full of cheese?"
"Because! I like cheeeesse!" She smiled broadly. She took out a wedge of orange cheese. "Cheddar!" She broke off a piece and shoved it in her mouth. The fed another piece to Kindle.
"Um… FireTiger?" Catchfire asked, frowning at the bird.
"Is that my name in this story thing?"
"Well, that's what Hawk called you. I don't know you. So anyway, What IS that, and are you supposed to feed it cheese?"
"Kindle is my Phoenix! And he always eats cheeeesse!" She laughed. "Do you like cheeeesse?"
"Yummy!" Hawk shouted as she shoved the forth lemon bar in her face. She reached into the bag for another and paused, "I think I should save the rest!" she re-twisted the twist tie and attacked it to her belt loop.
"Is Hawk-chan satisfied?" Tobias asked walking over to her.
"That and hyper! So incredibly hyper!"
"Oh-no!" Angel jumped up from behind the rock. Matt looked over at her, and then everyone else did. Hawk smiled started trembling with restlessness. "Hurry! Tie her up! Don't care with what! Just do it!" Angel started searching the camp for rope.
"You're mean, Angel!" Hawk shouted at her. "Just 'cuz I'm hyper doesn't mean I'm gonna do things." She flung her arms roughly around Tobias' neck; he almost fell over from the sudden impact. "Hold me!" Hawk commanded.
Then, the air next to Hawk shimmered and became blue. A teenage looking boy with long white hair, golden cat-like eyes and pointed ears fell out on top of Hawk and Tobias.
"Who's he?" FireTiger asked as the portal to another fan fiction disappeared and the stranger stood up. "Do you like cheeeesse?"
"Huh? Cheese? No, I don't think so." The boy shook his head and dust off his robes. He offered Hawk a hand to stand up. Instead, Tobias quickly stood and picked up Hawk. The boy just shrugged and looked back to the short girl.
Catchfire grabbed Duo's braid and pulled him over.
"Ow! Owowow… Fire-chan!" Catchfire just held on and pointed at the newcomer. She struggled for coherent speech. "Yes, I see him Fire-chan." He grabbed the braid right above her hand to relive some of the tension. "What about him?"
"In- in- … InuYasha!" She managed to let go of Duo's braid and threw her arms around his neck instead.
"Hey, this isn't another fanfic, is it?" InuYasha asked. If these people knew who he was, then…
"Yup. This fan-fic belongs to me and Catchfire there." Hawk pointed at the still stammering girl.
"Oh, gods! Will I never be free?" The newcomer yelled to the sky, dropping to his knees.
Hawk sweatdropped, "Well, we can't exactly leave either and it's our story…" she mumbled, admitting to herself how pathetic this all actually is.
"Hey! I read your second book! With that lady with all the heads… and your brother… he looks like a girl!" FireTiger jumped up and down. "Do you want some cheeeesse? You've probably never had any before. Being a demon and living in another world and all."
"Half-demon." Hawk corrected.
"What?" FireTiger looked at her.
"InuYasha is only half dog demon." Hawk pointed out.
"Oh. Well, do you want cheeeesse anyway. Mr. Half-dog-demon-InuYasha-sir-guy?" FireTiger presented him with a slice of American.
"Hm?" He took the slice and bit off the corner. He chewed it thoughtfully and swallowed. His eyes grew wide and he shoved the rest of it in his mouth greedily. "More!"
"What?" FireTiger asked him, smiling.
"Can I have more?" She raised an eyebrow. "Please?" he asked again through gritted fangs.
"Ok!" She handed him a piece of Swiss, which he downed in two bites.
"How many kinds of cheese do you have, FireTiger?" Catchfire asked. She'd finally settled down and, now she was busy unbraiding Duo's hair so she could re-braid it.
"Um… lessee… Cheddar, American, Swiss, Provolone, Mozzarella, Bleu, umm… Cheeze-Whiz, Extra-sharp and regular Sharp Cheddar, and… and… more!" She ended grandly.
"Cheddar?" Asked InuYasha, very interested. "Mozzarella?"
"And more!" FireTiger added, handing the half-demon a slice of Extra-sharp Cheddar. "This is Extra-sharp Cheddar!"
"Oooooo…" InuYasha took the piece. He smiled and dug his fangs into it.
"He likesss cheessse? Can I have cheessse?" Kemaru came up behind FireTiger.
"Hey! I know you! Kemano, right?"
"Err… Kemaru"
"Errkemaru?"
"Don't make fun of me!"
"Sorry… here! Have some cheeeesse!" She smiled and gave him a piece.
Kemaru tasted it. "Ewww…" He clicked his beak, "I guess carnivores don't eat cheese… oh well…" He sighed, only to amuse FireTiger.
"But EVERYONE eats cheeeesse! Behold the Power of Cheeeesse!"
"Cheese has power?" InuYasha looked at the block with interest. "I've never heard of a food with power before."
Everyone except InuYasha and FireTiger sweatbubbled. FireTiger pondered the thought of powerful cheese. "Ok! Let's stop talking about cheese! We need to find the Palace of Peace and get out of this story!" Hawk interrupted.
"Can either of you two fight well?" Duo asked Hiei and InuYasha. Hiei closed his eyes and concentrated.
"I can not contact the Spirit world from here, but I can do some Martial Arts."
"I have a sword that cuts through anything." The half-demon pulled Tetsusaiga from its sheath.
"That rusty old stick doesn't look like it could cut… cheese!" Tobias raised an eyebrow.
InuYasha stared at his sword and sweatdropped. He looked around at the group; "Can I protect any of you mortals?"
"I'm a protector. Not a protected." Yamato said, 'drawing' his sword. Tobias and Duo brought out their swords as well.
"How about one of you lovely ladies?"
The knights each stood by their spirits quite protectively. Hiei also stood by Angel and received a look of contempt from the knight of water. InuYasha turned to FireTiger, "How 'bout you, Cheese girl? Can I protect you?"
"Why?"
"Because Kagome's not here and this thing doesn't work unless I'm protecting some idiot mortal with it." He sighed.
"Oh! I'm an idiot mortal! And I have cheeeesse!" FireTiger smiled.
Hawk sighed "I think she maybe over-qualified for the role of 'idiot' mortal…" She muttered to Tobias, who did his best to keep a strait face.
"Ok. Then I'll protect the Cheese girl." InuYasha put away Tetsusaiga.
"Artemis, dost thou knowest where we may find the Palace of Peace?" Hawk asked the white cat.
"Umm… No, not really. But… hey… It's starting to rain!" They all looked up, like a flock of idiot turkeys.
"Ahhhh! Rain! Help! Make it stop!" FireTiger and Catchfire both yelled.
"Can Yamato-chan make the water stop?" Angel pleaded her knight.
"I'm afraid not, Angel-chan. I can make water appear, but I can't control it like that. Atleast, I don't think I can…" He paused in concentration, "No. I can't make it stop."
"Tobias! Make it stop." Hawk commanded.
"What? How am I supposed to do that?!" He frowned, "Wind Shield!" the shield domed over them and kept them safe, but the magic soon wore off and they were wet again.
"Not like that, dummy… Attack it! Blow it away!" Hawk jumped up and down and waved her arms around, as she was quite high on sugar.
"Huh? Oh, I get it! Wind Hawk!" The raptor of air rose from him and pushed the clouds away, they kept raining but it was far away now.
"Yeah! My hero!" Hawk jumped on Tobias. "Well, that was fun!" Hawk's heart was racing from glucose overload.
"Kindle could've died! He's made of fire, you know!" FireTiger complained. The Phoenix squawked in agreement.
"My featherrrsss arrre wet!" The Gryphon complained.
"So are mine!" Keona nickered, shaking out her light blue wings.
"Stupid rain." Koden grumbled.
"Hey! Weren't we going somewhere?" InuYasha asked. "This place bites and I want to leave. The only thing good here is cheese and no annoying Kagome around."
"Aw… does the demon dude want some cheeeesse?" FireTiger reached into her bag and pulled out some white cheese. "Parmesan! Goes great on pizza and spaghetti!" She smiled as she always does when she says 'cheeeesse' and gave him a piece.
"HiTora! Put the stupid Cheese away!" Hawk yelled.
"Make me, dork!"
"I'm not a dork! You're a dork… a short dork!"
"Yeah, well… You're a tall dork! FireTiger wittingly retorted.
"You're queen of the dorks!"
"So what if I am?" Hawk sweatdropped.
"You're both dorks, so shut up!" Angel yelled, highly annoyed.
"Ahhhhhh! Tobias! Angel scares me! Make her stop!"
Tobias blinked at her. "It's okay, Hawk-chan. She's just… um… evil…" Hawk ran over to him and he hugged her, comfortingly.
"Ewww… evil… You must destroy her! It is your duty as a magic knight to destroy all evil!"
"I am not evil! I am highly annoyed!" Angel said, glaring angrily. "Matt! Do something!"
"Err…"
"As Quatre would say, 'Come on guys, can't we all be friends?'" Duo quoted. "We're just bored. Let's do something to keep from getting on each others nerves."
"I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves!" FireTiger started. "I know a song that-" She stopped as a rather large fruit hit her in the head.
"Shut up." Catchfire said calmly, picking up another fruit.
"Oooooo… what kind of fruit is this?"
"We don't know. We just found it." Tobias answered.
"Does it have a name?" FireTiger asked.
"Um… we don't really call it anything." Matt told her.
"Let's call it a Cheese-fruit!" The maniac smiled.
"That's cheese? It doesn't look like cheese." InuYasha picked up another fruit and examined it. He took a bite, "It's not bad, but it's not cheese, either." He threw the rest over his shoulder. Everyone else except FireTiger sweatdropped.
"Well… let's go find this stupid palace thing!" Artemis spoke up.
"Ok, where to?" Matt looked at the moon-marked cat.
"Let's fly around and see if we can find it!" Artemis sweatdropped, and then everyone else did also.
Soon everyone was mounted and ready for take off. Keona carried Matt at the reins, Angel behind him and Hiei (with whom Angel was still flirting with) behind her. Kemaru sported Hawk, with Tobias behind her and Artemis on her head. On Koden rode Duo with Catchfire's arms wrapped around his waist. And FireTiger rode Kindle with InuYasha seated behind her, he was trying to sneak some cheese from her bag and she was calling him a dork. The four animals took off and headed in one direction.
"What are we looking for?" Hawk asked Artemis.
"The Palace of Peace."
"Do you want me to *ahem* accidentally drop you here? I meant, what does the palace look like? How will we know when we see it?"
"Oh. Well I don't know."
"Stupid cat," Tobias muttered. "Why don't you just do the same thing you did when we were looking for the Spring Eterna?"
"That might work." He sat up strait, closed his eyes and concentrated. "Turn right." He said. Hawk urged Kemaru forward so everyone could see him, then thy turned right. The other three creatures looked at each other and copied Kemaru.
"Strait, keep going… keep going… Now turn left." The talking cat said, keeping his eyes closed.
"Can't we jussst go in a ssstrrrrait line?" Kemaru asked, turning left.
"No. There are magic barriers and booby traps set up to protect the palace. A little further, now dive down a little… ok, your clear, pull back up." The other creatures were flying behind Kemaru, they copied all his moves and were all right.
"Is Kindle hungry?" FireTiger crooned in the birds ear. "Want some cheese?" She reached into her backpack and pulled out a white slice of cheese.
"What kind is that?" InuYasha asked.
"Provolone. It's for Kindle, you can't have this piece." FireTiger told him. She held out the cheese next the Phoenix's beak. He turned his head, grabbed the piece, and missed the turn. "Ahhhh!" FireTiger pointed at the giant house fly looking creature that was speeding towards them.
"A trap has been triggered!" Artemis yelled. Kemaru stopped and hovered. The line behind him also stopped. "Fly to the ground!" he ordered. "If we try to fight up here, we'll set off more traps!" Kemaru went into a steep and fast dive. Koden mimicked and followed. Keona went after that. Kindle saw the others dive and folded his wings, shooting downward. The fly shot past. Then it nosed down and followed the group.
The animals landed and the knights, InuYasha and Hiei jumped off. Four of them drew their swords and the last readied himself in a Karate stance.
InuYasha pulled the demon blade, Tetsusaiga, from its sheath. The sword began to pulsate and grow. It turned white and became smooth and solid as it revealed it's true form, a fang.
"Leave me alone, Dork! Or I bring out the Pepper spray!" FireTiger yelled at the attacking giant insect. She reached into her bag and removed a wedge of cheese.
"Wuzzat?" Catchfire asked her.
"Pepper Jack Cheese." FireTiger smiled. "Chucking Cheese!" She yelled her… um… attack, and threw the cheese at the fly.
"Hey! I haven't tried that one!" InuYasha yelled back at her.
"I have more!" The fly uncurled its 20-foot long proboscis and shot a thick orange slime at the cheese. "Ahhhh! It shoots poison!" The cheese melted and the glob of acid landed at our heroes' feet. The grass singed instantly on contact.
"Ewwww… Don't get it on you!" Hawk advised.
The guys paled as they looked at the orange goo. They looked up and each other, then at the fly. It was hovering too high up for the swords to reach. It uncurled its proboscis again and aimed it at the knights. Quickly they all jumped and scattered.
"Fire Bullets!" Duo hit the fly's mouth and it curled it back up.
"Water Cannon!" Matt hit its wing and it stopped for a second. The fly fell slightly.
"Wind Hawk!" It flew upwards and pounded down onto the fly's back. It fell closer and InuYasha jumped at it, he slashed its eye with Tetsusaiga. The giant insect went crazy! It spun around and buzzed higher than it had been before they attacked. It launched some orange poison at its enemies.
The largest portions missed the fighters, but some splattered up and ate through the armor. "Ah! My robe! How- how? How can it? Nothing is able to penetrate! But… Yahh!" InuYasha was slightly confused. He had thought nothing was able to pierce his robes, made from the wool of fire rats, it is stronger than any suit of armor, and this acid had just made a small hole in the sleeve.
"Kemaru! Let's go after it!" Tobias called the Gryphon over and mounted, they flew up and Tobias took out the sword again.
"Koden. Let's go too." The dragon walked over and then took off with his rider.
"Keona! Come on girl!" Matt mounted and they followed Koden.
"Hey, FireTiger! Can I use Kindle?" InuYasha asked. The Phoenix walked over and he leaped onto its back. They flew up.
Hiei looked around. "Hmmph. It's just as well, I suppose. I can't attack from an animal without a weapon." He sighed and Angel ran over and hugged him.
"It's ok, Hiei-sama!" She told him happily.
He smiled slightly and hugged her back.
"They're just lucky that Matt can't see them." Hawk whispered to Catchfire, who nodded and looked up toward the battle.
"If they spread out too far from where they are, they'll trigger another trap!" Artemis stated. Just as he said that, Koden flew away from the group so they could turn back and charge the fly. A large white hole appeared in the blue sky and a Gryphon like creature, except with the hind legs and tail of a horse, came out.
"Catchfire!" Hawk grabbed the girl and pointed at the creature. "it's a hippogryph! Look! See it?" She shouted, digging her nails into her co-authoress's poor arm.
"Yes, I see it." Catchfire winced and attempted to dislodge Hawk from her arm.
The hippogryph stared at the fighting creatures, then looked downward at the girls and Hiei. It went into a dive toward them and landed about 10 feet away.
"It's so kawaii!" Hawk squealed. "But- but it might be dangerous.
"Kemaru, where do you think your going?" Tobias voice came closer from above.
The hippogryph looked up at the descending Gryphon and hissed. Kemaru let out a raptorial battle cry and landed in front of it, hackles raised. Tobias jumped off and backed up a little.
"Kemaru! What are you doing? Don't be mean to him!" Hawk ran up to her pet and stroked his neck.
"But- this hippogryph!" He started.
"What about him? What's his name?" Hawk smacked Kemaru in the back of the head.
"He's – what?" Kemaru stared at the hippogryph, who'd just squawked and sat down. "What do you mean, not from around here? You're not our enemy?"
The hippogryph squawked something and shook his head.
"Gyaa! Hawk! This… this is Buckbeak from Harry Potter! He fell through one of those holes that your uncontrolled fanfic is creating!"
"Buckbeak? Really? Angel! It's Buckbeak!"
"What? You're kidding! No! You're not kidding! Oh!" Angel runs over to the trio.
"He'sss not all that grrreat."
"Aw… Is Kemaru… jealous?" Hawk laughed. "Don't worry I love you! Hey! Can I pet Buckbeak?""
Kemaru flattened his ears as the hippogryph nodded and smiled. Hawk scratched him behind the ear. Above them, Koden let out a roar and a stream of fire.
"They're still fighting up there!" Angel realized, as did everyone else.
"Kemaru, are you done?" Tobias asked, remounting him. They flew back up to the battle. "Let's come from behind towards the wings."
"Hey! Buckbeak, would you mind it if Hiei here rode you to the battle to fight?" Hawk asked, sweetly. The hippogryph stood up and walked over to the boy in black.
"What? But- I don't have a weapon!"
"Artemis! Make a sword appear." Hawk commanded the cat.
"Um… okay." He concentrated and his moon sparked. A long double-edged broad sword with a dragon on the hilt appeared and Hiei picked it up.
"This will work." He swung his leg over Buckbeak's back and they took off towards the aerial fight.
"Is it just me, or is the fly falling strait towards us?" Hawk asked as all the girls looked up.
"I think it's falling." Catchfire responded just as calmly as Hawk had asked.
"Oh, okay. So it's not just me." Hawk nodded.
"Perhaps we should move." Angel suggested.
"Does any one want some cheese?" The three spirits looked at her and walked over. FireTiger took out a large hunk of Sharp Cheddar and they all sat down to eat. Hawk pulled out her Lemon Bars and ate a couple first. During this the giant fly hit the ground and the warriors hacked it up in to little tiny pieces. Then they walked over to enjoy some of FireTiger's provisions.
"You… you had cheese… without… me?" InuYasha sat next to FireTiger and whined, pitifully.
"You were fighting a giant fly, but now you can have as much as you want." She smiled and handed him a slice of Cheddar.
"Well, we should get going to the Palace now shouldn't we. This time everyone pay attention to Kemaru and follow closely so you don't set off another trap." Hawk stood up and grabbed Artemis. She mounted Kemaru and Tobias sat behind her. Everyone else got on the mounts they'd been on previously.
"Hey, Hiei, why don't you go ride that new thing." Yamato suggested.
"Buckbeak?" Angel asked.
"Yeah. Why don't you go ride Buckbeak?" the blonde nodded.
"Because he only let me ride for that battle because Hawk asked him to. He doesn't want to carry me anymore." Hiei explained.
"Oh. Alright then." They took off in a line again and Artemis gave directions to Kemaru. Buckbeak followed directly behind the Gryphon, unburdened. Koden followed Buckbeak, Then flew Keona and last was Kindle.
Nearer to the Palace the traps became more frequent and it was harder to pass safely. After the animals had preformed more twists, turns and dodges than they had ever previously done, they landed on the walkway in front of the huge intricate castle.
"Ok. Follow carefully behind me in a single file line." Artemis instructed. They lined up in more or less the same order except they had all dismounted. Artemis led, Kemaru was right behind him, Hawk on her Gryphon's tail and Buckbeak behind her, much to Kemaru's disliking. Tobias (he wanted to be right behind Hawk, but had no desire to argue with a hippogryph) came next and then Catchfire and Duo. Koden stood after his owner and knight and Keona walked after him. Hiei got in front of Angel and Matt walked behind her. InuYasha followed Matt, then FireTiger and Kindle was at the rear of the convoy. Artemis kept his eyes closed and moved forward. He turned right, then went further forward. Hawk followed him carefully, and everyone else proceeded in line.
He went around tiles and led them all safely to the castle drawbridge, which was currently up. "How do we get across?" Hawk asked Artemis. The cat 'looked' around.
"I don't know. This is the only way in." He admitted. They were all crowded together on the 'safe' platform across from the Palace.
"Maybe we should blast it open and fly across." Duo suggested. "It works with most things."
"We don't want to upset anyone." Catchfire told him. "We might be attacked again.
"Let's try asking it nicely to open and let us in!" Hawk smiled. "Did anyone see The Haunting? That was a lame movie, I still think they should have just asked nicely for the house to stop trying to kill them, rather than yell and threaten the house."
"Oh, come on, Hawk! Why would it open if we ask it to? That's stupid!" Angel shouted.
"Open Seazame!" FireTiger yelled at the castle.
"Maybe we should blast it open." Tobias said thoughtfully.
"Is there anyone in there? If you don't let down the drawbridge, we're gonna blast it open!" Matt yelled. Nothing happened. "Water Cannon!"
"Wind Hawk!"
"Fire Scythe!" All the attacks hit the door and flew through. "Oh well, so much for blasting it."
"The attacks went through… maybe It's a fake door." Hiei deducted.
"Let's go see." Hawk climbed on Kemaru's back and they flew across the water to the door. She touched it. "No! The door is here all right!" And they glided back. "Can we just try asking nicely?"
"Well, I guess it won't hurt to try." Angle sighed and everyone looked at Hawk.
"You want me to ask?"
"It was your idea, Hawk-chan. Go ahead." Tobias smiled at her.
"Ok! Hello… um… Palace of Peace! Can you… er… open and stuff so we can get in… Please?" Hawk smiled broadly at the castle. A slight rumble was heard as the drawbridge lowered across the moat. "Arigatou!" She bowed as everyone else sweatbubbled.
Artemis used his magic sight to look around for any traps within the castle and deemed it safe. The party of fifteen entered the main hall and walked down it to a large room. They heard the drawbridge lift behind them. And when they reached the double golden doors to the center room, they opened automatically. Which was just as well because the doors swung towards them and had no handles or knobs to open with.
"I think this castle is alive." FireTiger muttered as the doors closed behind them when they were in the room.
"Okay! Now let's build a pillar and get out of this story!" Angel ran to the middle of the room. Catchfire and Hawk close behind her. In the center of the floor were four triangles in the shape of a pyramid, the center triangle matched the surrounding black marble of the floor. The other three were red, blue and green.
"Stand your elements." A soft voice filled the room.
"Yeah. This castle's definitely alive." Hawk muttered to FireTiger. Then she and went to stand on the green triangle. "The green of Wind."
"Red is Fire." Catchfire took her place on the red triangle.
"Blue is Water, right?" Angel stepped on the last triangle.
"Knights at their corner." The palace commanded.
"What? What do we do?" Tobias asked. The castle said nothing.
"Tobias! Come over here!" Hawk yelled. "Stand right here." She pointed at the corner of the triangle that was pointed outward and not touching the other two. Tobias obliged and the other two knights stood on the corners of the triangles of their element.
Hiei, FireTiger, InuYasha and all the animals stayed where they were. "Creatures of Magic, stand above."
"What? Above wherrre?" Kemaru looked at the roof and saw a pattern mirroring the one on the floor. "Koden, Keona… up therrre." They all lifted up and touched the triangles of their owner's element.
"This is fun." FireTiger laughed. Hiei and InuYasha sweatbubbled.
"Demons channel the darkness in balance."
"Demons? Who the heck's a demon?" FireTiger asked.
"Demons?" Hiei asked.
"Demons?" InuYasha looked at Hiei. "Would that be us?"
"Makes sense. Where do we go?" The two looked around. Three black circles were arranged around the room "We're missing one."
"Damn." Hawk muttered to Angel, "I think we were supposed to keep Ryoko."
Hiei and InuYasha looked at FireTiger.
The short girl blinked at them, "What? Do you want some cheese, or something?"
InuYasha's ears perked slightly at the offer, but Hiei sighed, "Actually we think that you may be… a demon."
"What? Me? I'm a demon, too? That is, like, so cool!" She danced around.
"Wait a minute." InuYasha frowned and pulled out Tetsusaiga, "If she's a demon… what kind of demon looks like that? She looks like a mortal human…"
"Maybe…maybe I'm a mortal demon! Of cheese!" She flashed a cheesy smile.
Hiei and InuYasha sweatdropped. "I guess she could be a… err… mortal demon. There's a first time for everything and she would make a pathetic demon." Hiei scowled.
The three "demons" went to the black lights and waited to see if they were correct.
"Three who are not, channel light." A signal that their assumption was more-or-less correct.
"Not? Well, we're three and we're not doing anything." Artemis turned to Buckbeak and Kindle. "So I guess that's us." The three animals stood in the now shining white lights that were positioned between the black.
"Elements hold tight."
Hawk, Catchfire, and Angel looked at each other. Hawk grabbed Catchfire's right hand with her left and Angle's left hand with her right. Catchfire and Angel joined their other hands and made a full circle.
"Channels direct." Suddenly energy shot through the bodies of those in the lights, both black and white. The energy entered the circle and swirled together. it expanded within the ring as the as the three guardians did their best to contain the light.
"Knights of Power, pray for Peace." The three guys kneeled and put their hands on the triangles. The triangles began to glow and three beams of light shot and connected with the triangles on the ceiling.
A column of shimmering lights rose through to the sky and created the pillar. It seemed to hit a shield when it had risen to a certain height, it spread and filled the entire Cephrio sky, and everything disrupting peace either collapsed, with all evil stolen from its body, or it were destroyed then and there.
As for the temple of peace, the light column remained, shimmering into the sky. But was otherwise vacant.
Epilogues:
"Artemis… Artemis wake up, sleepyhead."
"Huh? Where am I?" The woke up and looked around, spotting the blonde who had disrupted his slumber. "Mina? How did I get here?"
"You fell asleep here, duh! How else would you get here. Now come on, we're late for the meeting at Raye's."
"InuYasha! There's another demon! And it has a crystal shard! Get up! We have to go get it!"
"Kagome? Damn."
Hiei opened his eyes to darkness. He felt the spiritual power flowing through his veins once again. He lay awake, almost completely still and alone, for a few minutes before drifting off to sleep again.
"Hey! I'm not where I was anymore!" FireTiger sat up and looked around her bedroom. Her cat, Kiko, was sleeping at her feet and the other cat, Mooki, was nowhere in sight. "I want some cheese…"
Buckbeak looked up as Sirius Black removed a piece of paper from the white owl's leg. He smiled slightly as he read it and began writing a reply. The hippogryph stood up and walked to Black's side. The Animus scratched him absentmindedly and mumbled to himself. For an instant, Buckbeak missed the nice smiling girl. Even if her Gryphon was a stuck-up pain in the… donkey.
Tobias! Tobias!
Five more minutes… what? I'm a bird again? Ax-man? I'm… home! Tobias spread his wings and launched out of the tree.
Tobias? Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill sent again.
Yeah, Ax-man?
There is a human girl lying unconscious near the river.He reported. I was going to perform my daily rituals when I saw her.
Let's go check it out. Tobias flew above as Ax tore through the forest, heading towards the girl he'd found. Hawk!
What? Ax started.
Tobias looked at the girl. He was 50 feet away, but he was a hawk. I know her… Her name is Hawk.
Can I allow her to see me?
Yeah, sure. I'm sure you won't scare her too much. Ax walked up to Hawk's body and Tobias landed on his shoulder. Ax put his hand on her arm and shook her slightly.
"Egn. What? I'm outside. Who?" She rolled over and saw Ax. "Ahh!" It wasn't everyday she woke to see a mouth-less blue face staring at her. After she paused a moment to look him over, "Andalite! Ax?"
You know me? Ax was once again startled.
Hawk ignored him, "Tobias!" She saw the raptor perched on the alien's shoulder.
Hawk!
She smiled at him. "I'd hug you… but that would be kind of difficult right now, isn't it?"
"Duo! Come on! Snap out of it!" Quatre Reberba Winner yelled over the radio. "There are two Aires on your back!"
"What? Quatre!" He woke with a start and sat up in his pilot chair. He pulled the Double-beam Scythe out, activated it and charged the two attacking Mobile Suits, cutting both of them in half with one slash.
He peered at the battle field. There was Sandrock, slashing with his Heat Shorters at Oz MS. Heaveyarm's chest plates opened littered the enemy with bullets. Wing Zero was slicing suits with its Beam Saber and Nataku was attacking with its Beam Glaive.
Wait. Who's that? Walking onto the battle field was an unarmed MS. It was different from any of Oz's Suits or Dolls, and it resembled a small Gundam…
"Who's that?" Duo brought up the information screen and tried to analyze the suit. Suddenly, a female pilot's face appeared on screen. "It's a stealth…" He muttered.
"Oh, Duo! How could you? Don't you remember me?"
"Catchfire?! How the-"
"You know her Duo?" Quatre appeared in another window.
"Is she on our side? If she isn't I refuse to fight an onna!" came an uncalled-for statement from the Chinese pilot.
Duo grinned and blushed. "Come on, guys! You're blocking my view! This is Catchfire… The Goddess of Death." Catchfire blushed and her image disappeared from the screen. Duo flew over to her and took out a few Leos on the way. The Reaper grabbed a small tube from her back. The shaft expanded, nearly tripling in length, and beams of light shot of each end. She thrust the weapon around and a Taurus exploded.
"Matt!" fifteen voices chorused as the silent blonde walked into their camp carrying an unconscious damsel.
"Shh." Matt silenced the group, he sat down and held the girl closely, waiting.
"Who's she?" Mimi asked, tilting her head.
"Her name is Angel."
"What's she doing in the digital world?" Tai frowned.
"I don't know."
"Does she have a digivice, tag or crest?" Koushirou queried.
"No. She's a- a friend."
Gabumon walked over to his destined and smiled warmly, not saying anything vocal. He placed one paw across the sleeper's forehead. She stirred.
"Huh? Where am I? Matt? Oh god, no! Am I?" Angel looked around. "Damn! I don't wanna be in the digital world! Why, oh, why? If I ever see them again, I swear I'll ring their necks…" she growled. Everyone backed off slightly. Matt then grabbed Izzy's laptop and presented it to Angel before the cute lil' genius could protest. "Oh! A computer! Gimme!" She grabbed the gift and quickly stuck a floppy in the drive. She proceeded to open a word processor and resume her stories.
"Don't expect that back for a while." Matt told Izzy as his guardian typed furiously.
H: I know, I know… Why did I stop it there? Well, cuz Catchfire abandoned me and I was, frankly, getting bored of it. But, no worries! I am as of now planning the sequel. I plan to call it "Burning Passion 2." This story(or lack thereof) had not plot, point or otherwise. But if you decided to look really hard and actually come upon one, please e-mail me (redtailedtobias@hotmail.com) and tell me! Have a nice day!
