A/N: Okay, you know what? Screw updating by act. I'll just follow the norm and update upon each completed (and proofread) chapter.

This chapter contains very little blood and violence, but there is a nice little obscenity less than 1000 words down. That's right, I do NOT censor anything.

(Chris narrating): Last time, on Total Drama Quest...Geoff and Bridgette's romantic trip to Vancouver Island was interrupted first by a mountain lion and then by me. They found themselves in another world, one in which I was king of Wawanakwa province. That's right, baby! I'm king! I fed them a bunch of crap and sent them to find allies at a nearby pub. They wound up selecting another former TDI castmember, our favorite jock Tyler. Not my choice, but then, I'm not them.

The three of them traveled up to the Northern Fortress to steal the legendary sword Enceladus from our very own Chef Hatchet. And along the way, they nearly got killed by a rabbit. That's pathetic, guys! Anyways, they fought Chef and pretty much got their butts handed to them. Geoff got a lucky shot in and they fled the fortress, Chef close behind. They managed to escape his wrath and I rewarded them with more crap. And then I made Chef my chef again. Courtney also joined them at some point, despite having no desire to battle. Freeloader!

What is this, anyways? A quest, or just another one of my shows? What perils will they face? And why am I, the handsome host, being being relegated to recap duty? I'm a king, for crying out loud! Get ready for:

ACT III: QUEST FOR MAGIC

...on Total...Drama...Quest!

The Hermit On The Hill

The entire town was awakened by a massive explosion shortly after dawn the following morning. The blast was strong enough to rattle entire buildings and loud enough to scare off every animal for miles around. And yet, there was no fire, no light, nothing to indicate that anything had happened in Wawanakwa that morning. The buildings shook, sure, but none were damaged in the slightest. For the townsfolk who dared to come out of their havens, the source of the blast was abundantly clear.

Chris Maclean the First was standing in front of a cannon, holding a megaphone in front of it and wearing earplugs. His new cook Chef Hatchet of the Northern Fortress stood on the opposite end of the gun, holding a burnt match. As the citizens of Wawanakwa settled into an angry mob, Chris raised his hands to calm them. "People of Wawanakwa! This is our latest weapon, the...um...Gun Of Awesome! That was just a test. I repeat, that was just a test!"

The ever-expanding crowd continued to bristle. Chef inched closer to the nearby inn, preparing to make a break for it. Chris continued trying to work his way out his little problem. "Seriously, people! The thing wasn't even loaded!"

That failed to lower the tension, so he tried again. "Trust me, this was absolutely and completely necessary! What you just heard is the harbinger of doom for our foes! With this, we will be unstoppable!"

"What enemies? The last war was nearly a century ago!"

"Well," Chris began. "There is that crazy queen in Discordia. She could attack at any moment, so we need to be prepared! Yeah..."

"We have the Chosen One! We don't need your fancy weapons!"

"Oh, come on! When I have ever steered you wrong? Trust me, this will be necessary."

After several more explanations of increasing absurdity, the crowd began to disperse. Chris leaned against the war machine and said, "That was close, eh, Chef?"

The cook glared daggers at him. "Chris man, if you ever pull that kind of stunt again..."

"Trust me, Chef. I knew what I was doing."

Four sleep-deprived teenagers, shock still in their eyes, trudged out of the inn. Bridgette grumbled, "I'll take it that was our wake-up call?"

Even when faced with the tired glares of the Chosen On and his party, Chris remained inexorably cheerful. "That's right, Bridgette! You won a cookie!"

He tossed a cookie from who-knows-where to the surfer. She caught the stale dessert without even looking, still fixing the monarch with a grumpy scowl. "Thanks to your cannon, Geoff's head is bleeding again."

Indeed, it was. Geoff was holding a reddening towel against his forehead. When Chris just looked confused, Courtney explained, "When your little toy went off, Geoff actually jumped out of bed and hit the ceiling. You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Oh. Sorry?" Chris shrugged, prompting a shriek from the party manager. "You damn idiot! How much gunpowder did you put in that?"

Again, Chris just shrugged. Chef pointed to a foot-high bucket on the ground. "See that bucket? I put about five bucketfuls in. I figured it needed a little more power."

Courtney and Bridgette stared, horrified, at the small container. Five of those was enough to... "Chris Maclean! If that thing had exploded, we'd all! Be! Dead!"

Chris seemed to ponder the possibility of him dying. "Oh, yeah...yeah, that thing isn't meant to have that much powder in it. I don't have any idea how Chef packed it all in there. Yeah. My bad."

Courtney face-palmed at this. "Your bad? Your bad? That's all you can come up with? Your fucking bad? Do you have any semblance of foresight?"

Chris raised a hand. "First off, no need for language like that. And of course I have foresight."

"He just chooses not to use it," Chef grumbled, clearly less than thrilled with the prospect of fiery death. Chris glared at him. Damn it, Chef was supposed to be on his side, not annoying CIT's! "Ahem...anyways, today is the day you leave Wawanakwa!"

"We've only been here one day, man," Geoff reminded him. Chris beamed and continued. "Regardless! I now bequeath to you...an herb! That's right, a one time use item that might heal your wounds and will certainly taste worse than Chef's Wood Plank Stew!"

Geoff nearly threw up just from the memories of that particular dish. Converting a hot tub into a meal did not result in an appetizing meal. Still, he took Chris's gift while Tyler threw up his hands, irritated. "Oh, come on! That's the best you can do? A disgusting leaf? We have Bridgette for healing!"

"Sorry, Tyler. I'm on a budget."

All four teens just stared at Chris. No way in hell were they buying that. Courtney growled, "You. Are. A. King. Don't you have a treasury or something?"

"Yes, you are correct, Courtney! And that treasury is gonna buy me a bigger cannon!"

"Yeah," Bridgette replied, rolling her eyes. "I think there are some cottontails near the Northern Fortress that didn't hear you."

"Correct! Want another cookie?" She fervently shook her head and Chris shrugged. "Suit yourself. But anyways! May I ask where you're headed first?"

Geoff scratched the back of his head, careful not to let the towel slip. "I don't think we've decided yet..."

"The hermit," Courtney chirped. At Geoff's confused glance, she explained, "The three of us decided on the hermit while you were passed out last night."

He grinned and shrugged. "Cool. I guess we're going to the hermit's place first."

"Good choice, guys," Chris replied, smiling with what liked pride. "Well, then. After you leave the city, you cannot come back to the castle again. EVAR! So do you wanna save now?"

"...what?"

"Oh, sorry, Courtney! I forget to explain saving to you. You see, if you-"

"I really do not care, Chris," she huffed. "I guess we'll...save."

"All right then! Let's see...Tyler has 134 gold, Courtney has 566, Bridgette and Geoff have...none? Where'd that money I gave you go?"

"I think Duncan stole it," Bridgette admitted. Beside her, Geoff nodded and whispered, "Hey Bridge? Can you heal this?"

She struck him in the temple with her stick. With in moments, the skin looked as good as new. "Nice! Thanks, babe! So..."

"The money," Chris deadpanned. "You say Duncan stole it?"

They jumped as Courtney swore her second vicious oath in ten minutes. "Argh...stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

"What's wrong, Courtney?" Bridgette asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. The manager shook off the palm and growled, "That damn ogre! After I chased him down and got my purse back, I noticed he had another wallet...but I just thought that it was his! Argh, that little thief..."

As Courtney's ranting trailed off into under-her-breath cursing, Chris continued his analysis of their inventory. "So, let's see...that's exactly 700 gold, one herb, a copper plate, a copper sword, a stick, and absolutely no monsters killed, which is disappointing to say the least. Okay, your progress is saved! Should you fall in battle, you'll return to this very spot."

"I'll believe that when rabbits sprout horns," Courtney snapped, tired of Chris's very existence at that point. She didn't know what to make of the looks her comrades were giving her, nor could she figure out why Chef started crying. She didn't particularly care, either. Explanations would just delay the journey further. Thankfully, Chris saved her from any education on why 'rabbit' suddenly seemed to be a taboo word. "I guess before you I leave I should give you a sense of direction. Wawanakwa province—aka, where we are right now—is smack in the middle of the world. To the west lies the coastal province of Tofino. That's right, Bridgette, that province is named for your home town! To the north is Wüste, a province that is split in half by a mountain range. The strange weather patterns have left the northern half a frosty desert and the southern half a rain forest. Trust me, it's really weird.

"Uturneos lies borders us to the east, but I've never actually seen it. Those guys built wall along their borders and have closed off all ports to anything but trade. It's annoying. To the far north is the frozen island province of Leukonesia. It's cold and snowy, and that's all you really need to know about it. Discordia, including the queen's castle, is as far east as you can get. Like Uturneos, I don't know much about it. And finally, there's Inciniera to the far southwest. And since that's just an uninhabited island with a volcano, you should just ignore it. Got it all that?"

"No," Courtney and Tyler exclaimed simultaneously. They exchanged a glare as Chris said, "Didn't think so. Here's a map. Oh, and the hermit doesn't let just anyone talk to him. You need to have...THIS!"

Courtney snatched the slip of paper from Chris. "Hermit Permit? You couldn't come up with anything better than that?"

Still sniffling over the rabbit reference, Chef muttered, "I though it was catchy, goody-two-shoes! You insult me one more time, and my foot is booting your insensitive butt all the way to Inciniera!"

"Um..sorry..." Courtney replied, growing increasingly annoyed about not knowing what a rabbit had done to Chef. "It...it is catchy, I guess..."

"That's better, girl."

"Well, now," Chris chirped, looking over the group again. "I guess that's all! You're on your own now!"

Before anyone could think of protesting, he drew a smoke pellet and slammed it against the street. As the smokescreen enveloped an entirely human-less section of the road, Chris and Chef ran off in plain sight of Geoff. He scratched his head and asked, "So...what now?"

"We need supplies," Courtney replied, looking at the cookie and herb Bridgette was still holding. "And you need new clothes, Geoff."

"I kinda like it," Bridgette giggled. Geoff looked down and yelped. Besides his breastplate (he wondered how he managed to fall asleep wearing jagged metal.), there was nothing covering his chest or abdomen. His shorts were also ripped to shreds. "Gah! When did this happen?"

"When we dragged you all the way to the castle," Tyler answered with a chuckle. "Sorry, dude, but we can't have the Chosen One looking like crap."

"You're no better," Courtney snapped. "Your clothes are so dirty, they're not even red anymore! Which, by the way, is an entirely obnoxious color, especially on the field of battle. Your enemies could see coming from miles away dressed like that!"

"Courtney, drop it," Bridgette pleaded. The constant bickering between the two, as well as Courtney's ranting, were already giving her a headache. "Okay, how's this..."

"I'm gonna go buy supplies," Courtney huffed, turning towards the market. "Bridgette and Geoff, you two can wait for me at the southern outskirts. Tyler, you come with me."

"What? Why me?" Tyler inquired, balling his fists. "Look, personally, I can't stand being near you-"

"And personally," Courtney screeched over him, "I'm not gonna spend one coin on you. You're buying your own clothes, and that's final! Now let's go!"

Before he could plead to Geoff or Bridgette, Courtney had a wiry grip on his wrist and was dragging him off with her. Geoff tilted his hat and muttered, "Whoa. Harshness."

About half an hour later, Courtney and Tyler arrived at the outskirts, a motley collection of houses and small stores. Courtney held a bag of various herbs, while Tyler trudged behind her. He did not look happy in his cheap new t-shirt and shorts. Blue, it seemed, was not his color. Sitting on the grass were Geoff and Bridgette, each holding their respective weapons. Courtney stopped in front of Geoff and produced a new pink shirt, similar to the one that was recently destroyed. "Here you go, Geoff. I'm surprised they had one of these here. I also purchased 10 herbs and a couple of antidotes."

Bridgette took one of the darker leaves and studied it. "Antidote? What for?"

"It's a cure-all," Courtney announced, beaming. "Supposedly, it can cure any type of monster-inflicted poison. I only bought two because they're 50 gold each. Plus Chris's stupid tax."

"Nice," Geoff said, looking at the herb in question. He noticed Tyler's glum look. "What's wrong, dude?"

Tyler erupted, pointing at Courtney. "Thanks to Miss 'I-Know-Better-Than-You', I'm flat broke. Wearing this crap! I can't believe I let you convince me to buy this stuff!"

"What, was I supposed to be your clothes for you like your mommy?"

"Whoa, cool it, guys," Geoff said, moving in between them. "No need to fight now."

Bridgette rolled her eyes. "That's all they've been doing since Courtney joined us."

Courtney snarled one last time at Tyler before storming ahead. "Let's go. We really should try to reach the hermit as quickly as we can."

"Hold on," Geoff called. He unstrapped the battered armor and threw on his new shirt, Bridgette watching every moment. After he had put the plate back on, Courtney said, "Let's hurry. It's about nine right now, but we should hurry anyways."

"Hey, last time I checked, Geoff was our leader," Tyler retorted. Before Courtney could offer up her own comeback, Bridgette shouted, "Okay, seriously! Enough!"

"Bossy bitch!"

"Ha, you have to cuss to get your point across? I swear, you're even more stupid than that neanderthal Duncan. You're like...an Australopithecine!"

"At least I don't make up words!"

"That is not made up! Go learn some paleontology, you idiot."

"And Courtney takes the lead with that really long word! Can Tyler come back?"

"Shut up, Geoff!" Courtney roared. Bridgette just clutched her head. This was what happened when two people, adamant in their belief that they could never lose, met. No, not quite. This is what happened when two such persons met and another one was there to provide running commentary, including but not limited to who he thought was winning. Geoff's enthusiasm wasn't shared by either of the two arguers, though. "Oh, come on, guys. I just thought if you guys won't stop fighting, I'd make a game out of it, ya know? At least try to make it a little less stressful."

"That's the problem, Geoff," Courtney snapped, nose upturned. "You are clearly ill-equipped for thinking."

"Courtney..." Bridgette said warningly. Courtney sighed and said, "Um...sorry about that. I just kinda got...carried away, I guess."

"Well, you did claim that you excel at saying bad things about people," Tyler reminded her. "You're sure displaying that right now."

Courtney snorted and concentrated solely on climbing the gently sloping hill before her. The hill was the only significant raise in elevation for miles around, as it seemed that the majority of southern Wawanakwa was flat grassland. And the nearby Wanak Forest, of course. The forest reached higher than they had ever figured, towering even over the hill. The outer edge of it looked peaceful enough, but untold terrors lay within, according to Tyler. The hill itself was a good three hours away from the main city. They had seen some small villages strewn throughout the countryside, but never bothered to stop by one. It wasn't until Tyler began whining that he was hungry that realized they had forgotten to buy food back in Wawanakwa. The last village was nearly twenty minutes behind them. The newly-ended fight was the result of trying to discuss their course of action.

If anything good could be said of the journey, it was that no monsters had attacked them. In fact, the plains seemed as barren of animals as it was devoid of natural features. Not that they had taken comfort in not seeing any threats; quite the opposite, actually, as Bridgette reminded them constantly that predators were likely hidden or too fast to outrun on the flat grasslands. However, with the fight taking up most of their thoughts and the hilltop hut growing nearer, their fears left them. As with the rest of the trip, they reached the door of the hut without incident. Tyler stepped up and pounded on the door. A voice answered, "Hermit Permit, please."

Chris was actually serious about that?. Grumbling, Courtney pulled out the crumpled paper and asked, "Where do I put this?"

"Just slide it under the door, eh."

Damn it, she knew that voice! She complied and stared impatiently at the door, waiting for the redneck inside to decipher the words on the permit. The door gave a slight creak moments later as it opened outward, revealing a smiling prairie boy wearing a blue toque over his mullet. "Hey, guys. Come in."

"No!" Courtney screamed. Once every eye in the vicinity was on her, she kept protesting. "We are not working with a sexist pig like you, Ezekiel! No way!"

"Oh, come on, Courtney," Geoff said, trying to soothe her anger. "You never know, the dude might have changed."

Ezekiel shrugged. "I guess you could say that, eh."

"Oh, really?"

Motioning for them to follow him, Ezekiel retreated into his hut. He chuckled to himself. "Yeah. Eva kinda proved me wrong back there, eh. Not to mention Gwen and Heather getting so far in the show."

Courtney rolled her eyes, but still followed him inside. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with."

"Hey, Zeke, man," Tyler inquired, holding his stomach. "Do you have any food?"

"Just some bread and deer meat, eh." Ezekiel pointed to a cabinet, frowning in concern at Bridgette's betrayed look. "What?"

"Sorry, I really don't like meat." She noted with some irritation that Ezekiel's gaze never left her. Tyler came and sat down, carrying a loaf of stale bread and a strip of deer flesh. Feeling the texture of the rug, he commented, "Deer skin?"

The prairie boy leaned against the pine wall. "Yup. I have to fend for myself, eh. That includes hunting in those woods. And my dad told me never to waste, eh."

Bridgette jumped up as though the carpet was electrified. She scurried as far away from it as she could and sat down on the bare floor. "So, um...do you have any idea how to get to the moon?"

"Huh?"

"Ezekiel," Courtney said, looking as professional as she could. "According to Chris, we need to reach the moon to empower Geoff's sword."

Ezekiel looked at the slightly incandescent weapon. "That's supposed to be a sword?"

"Not just a sword," Courtney corrected, slightly miffed that he refused to look at her. "That's the legendary Enceladus."

He cast a dubious eye on the 'sword'. "I dunno. Doesn't look too legendary to me, eh."

Collective faceplant. Once Courtney had recovered from his typical ignorance, she snapped, "Listen, you redneck! That sword is our only hope if we're gonna defeat Heather!"

"Yeah! Plus, it's glowing. It has to be special" Tyler added, arms crossed. Courtney rolled her eyes and mumbled, "Yes. Of course. Glowing means it's important..."

"Sorry, sorry," Ezekiel said, slightly frightened by Courtney's anger. "I'll take your word for it, eh."

"Okay, guys, we're getting off track here," Geoff said, calming them down before anyone else could get snappish. He hadn't yet realized that Ezekiel hadn't looked away from his girlfriend yet. Bridgette clearly did, as she was giving the home-schooled kid a cold glare. "Do you know of a way to reach the moon?"

"Sorry, eh," Ezekiel answered, dipping his head. "Can't think of anything right now. There might be something in my books, though."

"Great, you could check that out for us," Courtney exclaimed. "How long do you think it will take?"

"Eh, well," Ezekiel began nervously. "Some of my books are in different languages, eh."

"Why do you have them if you can't read them?" Tyler demanded. Ezekiel finally looked away from Bridgette to glare at the athlete. "I didn't have a choice, eh. And besides, I'm fluent in eight different languages. I can read most of them. However, some have a few words in some language I've never seen in my life, eh."

"I'm sure there are plenty of languages a home-schooled farm boy has never seen in his life," Courtney snapped, her frown deepening as his eyes flipped back over to Bridgette. "Can you help us or not?"

"I can try," he declared, a shade of pride in his voice. "But I also had a book with translations for the weird language."

"Had?" Courtney shot, her voice becoming shrill. Ezekiel raised hands in defense. "It's not my fault, eh! About a week ago, those beavers from Boney Island raided my house and took it, along with my spellbook."

Bridgette blinked at this bit of knowledge. How long had he been here? Weeks? Months? Did Chris bring him and some others here right after Total Drama Action? Not important now, she reminded herself. Courtney was beside herself with fury and disbelief. "Beavers. Beavers took your book. In a raid. How am I supposed to believe that?"

Her comrades slowly inched away from her, but she didn't care. She stood up and stormed over to Ezekiel, who managed to stay calm in face of the imminent explosion, no doubt a carryover from his misogynistic views. "Well, it's true, eh."

"You are totally useless!" She spat, getting right up in his face. To her chagrin, the prairie boy didn't even flinch. "Of all the books, you had to let the translator get stolen! Why didn't you, like, guard it or something?"

"Kinda hard to guard something while running for your life, eh. It sucks, though. That was my source of magic."

"Source of magic?" Bridgette asked, suddenly interested in hearing him speak. Before Courtney could remind them that this was not important, Ezekiel replied, "Yeah. Can't do a thing without it, eh."

"Look, we really don't care what you hit things with," Courtney interrupted. "And that was really stupid of you to-"

"Wait, hit things?" Ezekiel's face all but told Bridgette that she had been doing her healing stuff wrong. A bit nervous, she said, "Yeah. I've been hitting people with my staff to heal them."

Ezekiel struggled not to laugh at that. Anyone else, yes, he would have, but not her. "Can I see your staff?"

"Sure," she said with a shrug. She handed him the pine branch and he inspected it, trying to tune out Courtney's impatient, hissing breathing. Finally, he handed it back and announced, "It's just a stick."

"What?" Bridgette said, shocked. "But...I paid 300 gold for that!"

"No, I paid 300 gold for that," Tyler corrected, although glares from both females shut him up. Ezekiel shrugged and said, "Sorry. You got ripped off, eh."

Bridgette crossed her arms, totally not buying this. "So, how was I healing Geoff and Tyler, then?"

"Bridgette, we don't have time for-" Courtney began, but Ezekiel was already answering. "It's because you're a cleric, eh. You already have magic running through you, but since you don't know any magic words-"

"Oh, please," Courtney said, not at all pleased with being cut off. "Magic words? We don't have time for this. Right, Geoff?"

Geoff shrugged and smiled. "It's whatever Bridge wants."

Courtney gasped in dismay, but remained quiet. Geoff was leader, and whatever he said, went. Bridgette and Ezekiel both look happy with his decision, and Tyler didn't matter to her whatsoever, so she had to let it slide. Glad to be learning the correct way of doing things, Bridgette said, "You can go on."

Glad to be talking to the hottest chick he knew, Ezekiel said, "Well...since you don't know the words, you have to channel your magic through a medium, such as a staff. Once you learn some spells, though, such things become useless, eh."

"So why do you need your book?"

"Using magic is draining on the human body, eh. We can only do so much at once. By making that book my 'Source Of Magic", as it's called, all of my spells are powered by it. But I can't do anything without it, eh."

"Brilliant, Zeke," Courtney chided with a roll of the eyes. "Instead of guarding your only weapon, you let some oversized beavers take it. Do you know what foresight is?"

He gave her a small smile. "Knowing then what I do now? Yeah, I know. I screwed up, eh."

"I'll say you did. Now there's even less of a chance you'll be useful! And why are we still here, anyways? We're not going to-"

"Hey, Courtney?" It was Geoff, laying down in one corner, hat over his face. "Why are you so angry all of a sudden?"

"I am not angry!"

"Yeah, you are."

Courtney glared at him for a few seconds before deciding not to risk being left behind for her attitude. "How's this. If we reach the moon—which will totally never happen, by the way—I'll tell you. If you don't ask me anymore questions on the matter."

"Sounds good, babe." Ezekiel once again managed to tear his gaze away from Bridgette, this time to ask the party animal a question. "Hey, how's this? I'll read all my books to try to find something while you guys retrieve my book. Okay?"

"No," Courtney raged. "We are not doing your work for you, you little twerp! We'll look for one of the sages and come back later."

"We'll do it," Geoff corrected her. She gasped and turned on him. "What? We don't even know if he could even help us! Why bother with a dangerous quest?"

"Because deadly quests are fun."

"Shut up, Tyler!"

Geoff sat up and explained. "Well, you see, that blacksmith that sold Bridge her staff-"

"You mean, overpriced stick."

"Sorry, Bridge. Well, anyways, he said that there was a mine in that forest and that the miners couldn't reach the mine because of the beavers. If we help him, he'll have more stuff to make armor with! And then I could totally get a rad new set of armor!"

"That would make sense," Courtney replied, still not convinced, "if this same smith hadn't just ripped you off with by charging 300 gold for a stick!"

"Well, I don't see anything better to do," Bridgette argued. "And plus, if we get the books back, Ezekiel might come along with us."

Ezekiel blushed slightly. Courtney's glare flashed between the two as she growled, "You actually want this redneck with us?"

Bridgette shrugged. "He's a magic user. I'm sure he'd be useful at some point."

Although she acknowledged that the surfer had a point there, Courtney wasn't ready to concede. "But he's...Tyler! What do you think?"

"Game on!" The athlete cheered, rising into a boxing position. "We'll send those beavers all the way back to Boney Island!"

Courtney sighed. Defeated again. "Very well. We'll get your stupid books."

She marched towards the door and kicked it out onto the hillside. Her rage not quite gone, she turned and shouted, "Come on, let's go!"

"Hold on, Courtney," Geoff called back, slowing rising to his feet. "Hey Zeke, dude. Got any spells to teach Bridgette?"

"Sorry," Ezekiel said, looking slightly shamed. "I don't know any healing words, eh."

"It's all right, Zeke," Bridgette said. "I'll be fine."

Tyler was rummaging through the pantry again. "Hey, Zeke! Can we take some of this food along?"

"Sure, eh. Bridgette can eat some to get her strength back if she uses too much magic."

The surfer in question give him a sly smirk. "Because girls don't have as much stamina as guys do, right?"

"What? No, I didn't mean that, eh!"

Giggling at the flustered teen, she said, "I'm just teasing you, Zeke."

Courtney, impatient as usual, called out, "Okay, can we go yet? I really don't want to have to sleep in that forest."

"We're coming," Tyler replied, stuffing several strips of deer meat into a bag. One of Ezekiel's, of course. Bridgette scrunched up her nose in disapproval. "Um...can't you bring some bread?"

"Why? This meat is awesome, and the bread's kinda hard..."

"She's a vegetarian, dude," Geoff reminded him as he waved Enceladus around carelessly. Tyler muttered a meek 'sorry' and returned to the pantry. When he turned back around, two loaves of bread were hanging out of the sack. "All right, then! Let's do this!"

Courtney wheeled around and began hiking down the hill. "Yes. Let's get this pointless side-quest over with."

"This is hardly pointless," Bridgette chastised. As they descended towards the woods, Ezekiel stood in his doorway and shouted, "Good luck, eh!"

Three of the four waved back at him, and he resigned himself to the task of fixing his door. He smelled rain, and the last thing he needed was a flooded hut.

Okay, let's see...oh yeah, pairings. Forgot to mention these. At the moment, I'm going with all canon pairings (GxB, GxT, OxI, etc.) I may change some things around a little later, though.

And thanks to the Kobold Necromancer for explaining to me how to get those neat lines. Farewell, ugly strings of o's! However, if you do spot any remaining strings of o's (or major grammatical errors) please notify me and I will edit it upon my next update.