This is my first fan fiction! Please, for gosh's sake, flame if you will, I don't mind a critic! Enjoy this stupid piece of randomness! ^_^ -The Insane Zen Child

Stuck In A Tree Fort

Manta was just walking along as usual on a bright, spring day. He (he's a dwarf, btw) had just come home from a half day at school, and was relishing the rest of the spare time he had.

"Wow, THIS is what Yoh feels like everyday!" Manta exclaimed in joy, skipping around outside of Kalim's House. It was around the middle of the Shaman Tournament, and he could hear two teams duking it out in a stadium far away. Shaman Tournaments tend to be very noisy, a good rule of thumb is to bring earplugs.

Manta almost decided to go watch the match when he saw a large tree growing in Kalim's yard (his yard is So neat and tidy… ^_^) It loomed over his head like a large, majestic beast. Manta brushed his light brown hair out of his eyes to get a better look. It was so HUGE! Yet…

Out of pure unbridled wastable time (Anna was busy screaming at Silva for charging too much for something), Manta decided to climb the tree ('This time I'll do it!') and grabbed it tightly. He got about an inch off the ground when he heard someone's voice above, and then another.

"Holy crap, he's found us!" an odd, Hispanic voice.

"That's never good!" a light, lilting, yet frightening voice.

"Make a run for it!"

"…you can't run in a tree, Ryu."

Ryu? thought Manta, amazed. I never thought Ryu would dare wreck his pompadour by going up a tree!

But… who's the other voice?

That was a really stupid question, really. There was only ONE person who's mere voice could paralyze the boy in fear (save for Hao, and he's busy being a jerk somewhere else), and it was this voice here. Slightly accented, it rang and vibrated in Manta's head like a gong.

Faust.

Manta attempted to run, to hide, but it was too late. A white sleeved arm with a gloved hand came swooping down from the tree, and grabbed Manta by the collar. It came back up, Manta dragged up with it.

"NOOOO!" wailed Manta, "Lemme GO! Lemme GO! LEMME GO!". He was now on Faust's lap, still held in a vice like grip. Faust was sitting precariously on a tree branch, Ryo sitting on a branch across from them. It would have been cool, like a tree fort, had Manta not been prisoner.

"Oh, dear…" sighed Faust sadly, "He's discovered us, Ryu! NOW what do we do?"

D-discovered? wondered Manta in fear, Wha-. An answer came to him, but it was ridiculous. Faust… and Ryu? Faust… and RYU!? FAUST… AND RYU!?!?!?!

"No, this isn't a lover's hideaway, Manta." affirmed Faust, reading the poor boy's mind. "It's our secret club!"

Ryu grinned happily. "Yeah!" he chirped, "our super secret, ultra special, super duper, totally pimpin', pompadour loving-"

"Ryu…"

"…burger eating, water pistol shooting-"

"Ryu, shut up." Faust's voice was curt, and he turned his attentions back to Manta. "This is our secret clubhouse, Manta. We just decided it is because we have nothing to do, and we want to avoid Anna for as long as we can…"

"…Hao hating, Democratic Party, Hippie's on Happiness CLUBHOUSE!" Ryo had finally finished, and looked up at Manta. The boy was just staring around, probably wondering just what he was doing there.

"Umm…" he began, "w-what do you guys do up here?"

Faust chuckled. "I don't know, TALK, I suppose…"

He was going to continue, but all of the sudden-

"Aww!" moaned Ryu, "IT'S SNOWING!"

It was true. It had suddenly began to snow out of nowhere, turning a nice spring day into a snow day. Within seconds, the tree was almost completely buried in the snow, leaving only a few leaves on top of the resulting snow pile.

"Man! We were having so much FUN!" whined Ryu, disappointed. HoroHoro must have used a snow attack during a fight and lost control. HE must have been enjoying this, but it completely destroyed their fort!

"Sigh… let's go home." Ryu tried to climb down, but found the snow surrounding the trunk was packed so tightly that he couldn't budge it!

"Oh, no…" moaned Faust, ruffling his wild blonde hair in frustration. They were TRAPPED! Trapped in a tree fort, together!

Manta was shivering. What was taking those guys so long?

"Manta…" whispered Ryu dramatically, "…are you good with surprises?"

Apparently not. Within the first three seconds of knowing the… "surprise", he was trying to dig a escape route out.

"Must… ESCAPE! Must… ESCAPE!" he screamed. Faust just shook his head in exasperation. Ah, great. Trapped with Ryu. Ryu… and…

Manta! MANTA!!!

Faust, eccentric as he is, instantly jumped down to the snowy floor (their fort became a bit of a pod…) and grabbed Manta close to him in a tight bear hug!

"It's okay, my little son-figure!" he exclaimed, excited. "We can get through this together!"

Manta started shrieking. "FAUST! L-LET GO OF MEEEEEEEEE!" He looked at Ryu, hoping for help. No, Ryu was sitting and combing his pompadour, as if nothing on earth was the matter, that life was good…

"…like he's in his Best Place." Manta thought to himself. Exhausted from trying to struggle out of Faust's grasp, he let his head wilt, and tried to think of a way to get out.

"Faust… do you think we have a ladder or something?"

Faust pondered, purple lips pursed in concentration. His face brightened suddenly. "YES, Manta! We can climb up the tree trunk out of here!"

Hope seemed to return… but only for a moment. Ryu, trying to warm up, had lit a match, and managed to burn the trunk down (I sure do doubt the 'snow pod's' structural integrity now… but hey, it's a fan FICTION, FICTION!). Faust appeared disappointed, but was secretly glad he could spend more time with his 'son figure'. Manta, on the other hand, looked like all of his blood vessels would snap at once out of fury.

"RYU! WHAT THE HECK IT THE MATTER WITH YOU!?!?" He threw a punch toward Ryu, but slipped, and managed to give himself a whitewash in the snow.

"Darn." he whispered, wondering just how much worse the day could become.

Meanwhile, HoroHoro and Pillica were walking on all the snow, having the time of their lives. The little snow mishap had managed to make thirty feet of snow to flash-fall in a single second, engulfing anything it it's way. Looking around, HoroHoro spotted the tip of a house peeking out of a snow bank, the Supermarket just barely standing as high as the snow around it, and-

"Look!" yelped Horo in surprise. Looking down, he saw a few leaves and branches barely poking out of the ground, looking like litter from a distance.

"This is my favorite climbing tree, Pillica! Look!" He kicked a few of the branches merrily. "Anyone climbing it at the time would have been buried alive!"

Pillica was worried. "Maybe… we should see if anybody is trapped in there?"

Horo felt like doing so, but glanced a snowed-over ice cream truck just ahead of him. Screw any rescue missions! There was free ice cream to take! Yee Haw!

There, end of Chapter One.

Ah, I'm betting you'll see Tamao in the next chapter… along with a pompadour freezing mishap… ah, well. Please review, keep the fire of my writer's soul burning bright!