"Mine!"

Edward quickly transmuted his arm and Chanty transmuted a nearby branch into a lethal looking spear.

"Mine." Marching out of the bushes was a metal ball with legs and beady eyes. It stared at them for a second before continuing its walk and rummaging through the grass for anything interesting.

"And you are a what?" Einon asked it as it went by him. The ball looked up in time to see a jewel fall from his mouth. Its beady eyes got really big and it lunged for him. Immediately it the ball sprouted more legs and ran off, with Einon in its grasp.

"Hey! Put him down!" Al yelled after it.

"Let go of me!"

"I'll give you one warning…sphere. Put him down or else!" Chanticleer yelled as well, running after it.

"Mine!"

"No he's not!"

The ball ignored them all and kept running. Even when it skidded to a stop to pick up the jewels Einon left when he yelled at it the others weren't able to catch up until the ball went down the hole to its den.

"Somebody go down there and get him out!" Al cried.

"Brody!" Luke said. "You should fit, go help him out!"

"And if that thing decides to get violent what do I do!"

"Somebody get down here and help me!!! OW! QUIT IT!"

"Oh fine I'll do it!" Ed pushed past Chanty and the twins. He did this gritting his teeth because he knew he was silently calling himself small. He jumped down the hole, and landed on the ball.

"Mine!" it said startled, then exploded. Coins, jewels and all sorts of little trinkets it had collected flew everywhere, along with Ed…and everyone else for that matter.

Most everyone was simply thrown backwards and landed on the ground. Al and Lucus hit trees, Ed ended up IN one and Chanty fell into a patch of tulips. That wouldn't have been so bad if they would've stopped kissing him wherever they could get their lips.

"I'M GETTING VIOLATED BY A PLANT!!! KEEP YOUR LIPS TO YOURSELVES!"

They all wilted with disappointment. After checking themselves to be sure they were injury free (and once someone helped Ed get unstuck from the tree) the seven of them knelt beside the hole left by the metal ball.

"Einon! Einon, you ok?" Annie pushed away some dirt trying to find him.

"Yeah I'm, (cough) I'm fine."

The blast hadn't hurt him any. The only injuries he had were from jewels and other objects causing minor cuts on his face.

"I probably shouldn't be asking but does any one know what that was?"

"It was a mine." Lucus said. "Didn't you hear it yelling 'Mine!'"

"That would explain why it blew up when Ed stepped on it." Chanty said. Still smearing off kisses from the two-lips and doing a few full body shivers.

"Einon," Al asked. "When you yelled at the mine to 'quit it' what was it doing?"

"Oh, that. It saw the jewels coming from my mouth so it was pretty much jamming its legs down my throat trying to find more."

A half hour, maybe more had past and the feeling of walking in circles was burning strong. Ed and the twins felt more sane and intelligent all the time while everyone else felt like their heads were all swimmy. The new know-it-alls were seriously begging to worry; by the way things were looking they would be escorting a group of vegetables before this was over.

As they walked past a bizarre tree full of Frisbees Chanty had to cover Brody's ears because they were swearing loudly. It took a minute to realize why but it was agreed that they each must have been a disk-cuss.

"Since when to mushrooms and irises grow together?" Einon said slowly, his hands to his head as though he had a bad headache.

"Ever since I buried Mundane money around the yard in jars." A new voice explained. "And irises sprout where ever my wife goes."

"Who said that?" Annie said, as though she didn't care either way.

"I did." A man came from behind a house almost hidden within the trees. He looked the group over. "You're not from Xanth are you?"

"We're not from where?" Al asked politely yet bewildered.

"Apparently not."

"Wait a minute, where are we?" Brody asked.

"The Land of Xanth. Since you don't even know of it I can only guess that you're a Mundanian."

"Hey! That sounds like an insult, bud!" Lucus tensed the muscles in his arms.

"It's not meant to be insultive at all." The stranger said. "It simply means you're from the land that we call Mundane. So named because unlike here there is no magic so it is highly mundane to us. Usually people from there have only heard of Xanth in fairy tales but don't believe it exists, but once an a while an unsuspecting soul will stumble upon a portal or something that brings them here."

"There's no such thing as magic." Ed said flatly.

The man shrugged. "Seeing is believing so I suppose you're mind will be changed in no time."

Before Ed could say anything Chanty nearly collapsed on him when trying to bend over to transmute something on the ground. The nearest item was a mushroom so it squished a bit when he sat on it but his mind was on its way to the twilight zone so he didn't care.

"Hmm. It seems your friends are suffering from some of the later effects of the Madness."

"Madness?" Luke asked.

"We're in what's known as the Region of Madness. Put simply, anything sane that is in the madness too long will become insane and anything insane will become sane. All sorts of things have gone loopy from getting stuck here, that's what makes it dangerous."

"Becomes insane!" Al panicked. "You mean they're gonna be stuck like this!" he turned to Brody and the others who looked like they'd been eating too many donuts judging by the way their eyes were glazing over.

"No, they'll go back to normal once they're out of the Madness."

"(phew) So how do we get out of here and who are you?"

"Oh I'm sorry, I'm Richard. My wife Janet is around here somewhere. We can escort you out of the madness and help you settle in."

"Settle in!?" Ed and the twins yelped at once.

"But we can't stay here! We've got to get back home!"

Richard shook his head. "It is very rare to find magic strong enough to reverse getting from where ever you came from, it somehow can't be the Mundania I know because you're friend seems to have a magic talent." He looked at Chanty still on the mushroom seat. "If you insist on searching for a way to get out of Xanth then my wife and I will still get you out of the Madness…"

"Magic talent? He was using alchemy."

Richard ignored him. "There are several rules that are a must to know in order to get by here. Know that magic is everywhere so things may be a little strange to begin with. Not everything is as it seems so be careful. Many things that seem ordinary often have abilities you would have never thought possible so keep that in mind if anything bizarre happens."

"So basically expect the unexpected?" Al asked.

"Exactly."

"Who are you talking to, dear?"

Richard's wife Janet came outside and he explained what had happened to the group.

"Oh we'd be happy to get you out of the Madness." She said. "But we'd better do it fast." She glanced at the rest who looked like they were sleeping standing up. "This is one of the last steps of madness. They'll go completely insane if they're in here much longer, at that point it will take a long time for them to return to normal."

Chibi me – wait a minute…you said that anyone sane that goes into the Region of Madness would become insane right?

Me – aye

Chibi me – And anyone insane will become sane?

Me – yep.

Chibi me – And…you said that Ed was acting as though he was one of the smartest people alive?

Me – something like that.

Chibi me – (GASP!) You were calling him insane weren't you!?

Me –(twiddles thumbs) Maaaaaaaybe.

Chibi me – I suppose that your friend Empty Heart wouldn't like the Region at all would she?

Me – not in the slightest. She prides herself in being insane.

Empty Heart- (appears out of nowhere and puffs up with pride)

Together – WHERE DID YOU COME FROM!!

Empty Heart- (snicker) Chicken potpie!

Me – see what I mean? Insane….