DISCALIMER: I do not own ANYTHING except the plotline, the settings, and a few characters here and there. I hereby forfeit all claims to any copyrighted material.

One moment Tawni was at the mall with Sonny trying to find a dress for the Wisconsinite to wear for her date with Chad Dylan Cooper, the next she was on the floor writhing and groaning in agony as voices flooded her mind. It…it sounded like there was supposed to be only one, but somehow there was a chorus…

You, girl…you are very important. Don't worry; you won't need an explanation. You're not getting one, anyways. Fair, no; needed, perhaps.

All you need to know is that the time has come. You've yet to fulfill your end of the pact, but we'll try and keep our promise. What pact, you might ask? The pact that binds you to us. Again, that's all you need to know; after all, you're not getting any explanations out of us.

You're our pawn; a powerful, beautiful, steadfast, courageous pawn.

It's time you came into play. We've got them on the run, and you're our secret weapon.

The last thing Tawni remembered hearing before she blacked out was, do not fail us, or there will be consequences…we didn't spend all this time deliberating over whether we should use you or not just to find out that you were one big disappointment all along…


When Tawni woke up, the first thing she realized was that she was not in California anymore. Of course, she still could have been, but the various trees that were surrounding her were a mix of deciduous and confers (she also briefly thanked whatever deity truly existed for having her actually listen during class long enough to tell the difference twixt the two), vastly unlike the mighty redwoods she saw back home. The soft grass was green, teeming with insects and dotted with various flowers at random intervals. Light slowly filtered through the canopy, beams of sun barely piercing through.

The next thing she noticed was that she was dressed funny. A black cloak surrounded her neck, covering what appeared to be a black bodice, black leather pants (that were starting to hug her rear just a little too tightly for her tastes, but they were rather comfortable nonetheless), and black boots with various leather straps going from right to left, securing her footwear firmly to her legs with silver buckles. The cloak was very comfortable to wear, truth be told, and she had taken a rather quick fondness to it, anyway. She was also sporting fingerless gloves that were, perhaps predictably, also black, stopping about midway along both her arms, with the same kinds of black straps and silver buckles she had on her boots, up to about where her elbows were. At least her breasts didn't suddenly expand to enormous proportions. Then again, she wasn't exactly flat to begin with; her breasts were large enough to add an almost seductive quality to her personality, yet small enough that they didn't become sandbags that decided to hitch a free-ride on a poor girl's torso. That much, she noted to herself, she was thankful for.

It all looked very…chic on her. Stylish, even. Why, she would've gone as far to say that she looked like some nerd's bedroom fantasy (of course, she'd prefer to be in some jeans and Choos (maybe even that sudden chest expansion; it'd fit the bodice a lot better), but beggars weren't exactly choosers, if she remembered correctly…).

She felt something…move as she sat up gingerly. It felt weird, like it was always there and yet she just noticed it for the first time. Something was hanging off of her left hip. Something…she guessed it had to be triangular in shape, judging by the fact that there was a tip that almost poked her. It had to be a dagger or sword-thingy or some such. If she recalled correctly, there was also a case that went with it…what were they called again? Scabbards…yeah, that was what they were called. The handle was called the 'hilt' (or something like that; she couldn't remember, and yet she could tell the difference between deciduous trees and confers, so she had that going for her…) and the really sharp, pointy end that was made of metal was called the 'blade' (again, she couldn't remember; she damn near flunked Medieval History, so her being able to recognize a weapon from that time period were long odds at the best case).

She lightly gripped the hilt of her short-sword (it had to be a short-sword; it was too long to be a dagger…that or someone from the prop team decided it would be funny to give her a Roman sword instead…a 'Gladius' or something…she then briefly remembered that she almost flunked Ancient Medieval History, too) to…well, see what it felt like. From what she could tell, it was a leather of some sort, most likely deerskin or perhaps even eel-skin (just by going on texture alone, she wanted to say the leather was somewhat of a blend between the two). It also felt well worn, like she always had it at her side all this time. The very end of the hilt (the 'pommel,' if she guessed correctly…damn the fact that she didn't pay attention in class!) had a very large diamond or ruby encrusted in it (it was most likely the ruby, come to think of it…).

Wait—did a twig just snap? Oh, crap. She was doomed, she just knew it—

A small, green, ugly…thing charged at her, screaming some sort of victory cry. Frantically, she tugged the short-sword out of its scabbard and got up quickly to block (she almost thanked her mother for putting her through all those fencing classes she 'had' to take when she was ten…) the oncoming attacker.

Of course, her sword started to glow, which made everything just that much weirder…