Author's Note: How long has it been since the last chapter? A little less than a month ago? Well, that's not too bad, compared to the space between the other chapters! I hope the few people who have found this story enjoy the new chapter!

Disclaimer: Luck be a Lady Tonight is the title of one of my favorite songs from my favorite musical, Guys and Dolls. (My very favorite song in that musical is Good Ol' Reliable Nathan Detroit. Also, the musical verson of the song is a hundred times better than the Frank Sinatra version)

7: Luck be a Lady

"Aaaahhhhh!" I yelled when I saw a short, nine-year-old boy with black hair standing over me, "Tuck, what on earth are you doing in my tent!?"

"Oh, you mean this is your tent?" Tuck Carbuncle asked me.

"I'm sleeping here, aren't I?" I rolled my eyes.

"I was just looking for my tent."

I looked out the tent door. It was still dark out.

"What are you doing up this late?" I asked him.

"I was sleepwalking, and I ended up in the woods, so I had to find my way back to camp in the dark. I thought this was the other end of the campsite where my tent is."

"There isn't a cliff face at the other end of the campsite." I reminded him.

"Oh."

He just stood there for another moment before I asked him: "Do you need me to walk you back to your tent?"

"Would you?" Tuck asked in a sweet-nine-year-old voice.

"If it'll get you out of my tent." I said grudgingly.

So we walked. I was in the pajamas that Cosmo and Wanda had kindly poofed up for me, and Tuck was in a nightshirt that was a few sizes too big for him. We were quiet for most of the walk to the other side of camp. Partly because we didn't want to wake anyone up, and partly because I was tired and a little annoyed at being woken up at about three in the morning.

Finally we reached the Carbuncle's tent. I could tell because Brad was standing in the door flap looking even more annoyed at his brother than I was.

"Tuck!" Brad whispered as angrily and loudly as he could. "Were you 'sleepwalking' again?" He made air-quotes around "sleepwalking".

"Hey, what are the air-quotes for?" Tuck whispered indignantly, "I can't help it if I sleepwalk!"

"Really? Because I'm starting to see a pattern in the tents you end up in." Brad whispered back. "First Katara's tent, then Sam's, and now hers!" He pointed at me.

"Uh, I think I'll go back to bed now." I said quickly before I got dragged into the argument. I could here the whispers getting progressively louder as I walked away.

I walked back to my tent, flopped into my sleeping bag, and fell asleep at once. When I woke up, it was light outside, and I was really hungry. I decided my first stop that morning would be the mess hall.

The first thing I noticed when I walked out of my tent was that it was unusually quiet. Maybe everyone was asleep? I walked around the tent and saw that the campfires were still smoldering, which meant someone had already lit them and put them out. Maybe I'd slept in and…

"Oh crap." I said, even though no one was there to hear me. Maybe I'd slept in and missed everyone leaving for the Four Nations!

"Oooh crap." I repeated after I completed the thought in my head. My plan had been to just sneak my way to the middle of all the people getting into the portal and blend in with the crowd until I was there. Now what was I supposed to do?

Well, since I'd already missed the portal, I might as well get something to eat while I thought of a way to get there myself.

To my surprise, the mess hall wasn't empty. There were four people there: Tuck Carbuncle, Carl Wheezer, Cosmo, and Poof.

"Morning sleepy-head!" Cosmo greeted me cheerfully as I entered the mess hall.

"What are you all doing here?" I asked, "Didn't everyone leave for the battle in the Four Nations?"

"Well, everyone else did." Tuck said through a mouthful of cereal. "But I'd rather stay here than get blown up by one of those Shadows."

"Yeah, and I would've gone, but the battle's taking place on an island, and I'm allergic to sea-water." Carl added.

"What about you, Cosmo?" I asked him. "Why didn't you go?"

"Well someone had to stay here and take care of Poof!"

I was surprised that Wanda trusted Cosmo with the baby, but then I realized there really wasn't anyone else who knew how to take care of a fairy baby. She certainly wasn't going to let Timmy watch him again.

I sat down and bit into a chocolate muffin from off a breakfast plate. So I'd been left here with the panaphobe, the guy who's allergic to everything, and the idiot. Thanks a lot, Fudge Head.

I decided that I'd need to take a direct approach to my problem. "Ok, so can any of you help me get there?" I asked.

"Nope." Tuck said.

"No, sorry." Carl replied.

"Where?" Cosmo asked confusedly.

I sighed with frustration. "Can you at least tell me where the portal generator is? Carl, you're friends with Neutron, you must know where it is!"

"It's still set up behind his shed." Carl answered. I made to get up. "But you need a twelve-figure access code to work it."

I groaned. "You wouldn't happen to know the code, would you?" Carl shook his head.

I groaned louder and ripped the toast I had picked up in half. "Well, 'Luck be a Lady Tonight', I guess."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tuck asked.

"I'll try and guess at it." I said.

I jogged over to the portal generator. On the way I tried to figure the odds. Let's see, the access code is twelve figures. With that many it has to have repeatability, so there's a one in ten chance of getting the right digit, so that's a twelve to the tenth power… Holey Mackerel! And what if 'figures' meant it could have letters too? That'd be a twelve to the thirty-sixth power! I wouldn't just need luck to be a lady; I'd need an honest-to-goodness, raise-Lazarus-from-the-dead miracle! Oh, I just wish I has some kind of hint or…

Wish. I am an idiot.

"Cosmo!" I yelled as I ran back to the mess hall, "Cosmo, I need to ask you a favor! Cosmo!"

"What's the matter?" Cosmo asked me, "I haven't heard someone yell my name that much since I pushed Wanda down the Fairy World rainbow. Wow, there wasn't a manly word in that sentence either!"

"Cosmo, please! I wish I knew the access code to the portal generator!"

The green haired fairy just looked at me for a moment. Then he started laughing. Uncontrollably. It looked like I'd hit another obstacle. Finally, his laughter calmed down.

"Ok, so what did you really want?"

"That is what I really want!"

"I can't grant you a wish! You're not my godchild!"

"You got me the pajamas!"

"Timmy told us to get you anything you needed to be comfortable that night."

"Oh, come on!" I yelled, "What's gonna happen if you break the rules here? You're in another mini-verse, how would they know? And what would they do? Jorgen is probably under a shadow's butterfly net right now!"

"Yeah, probably." Cosmo agreed.

"So will you help me?"

"Help you what?"

I slapped my forehead and was forcibly reminded of the wallet conversation between Patrick Star and Manray from an episode of Spongebob.

"Cosmo, I wish I knew the access code to Jimmy's portal generator." If he said 'no' again I was planning on just stealing his wand.

"Ok!" The slow fairy complied happily.

With a poof I suddenly knew the access code. No, I more than knew it, I knew it like I'd tirelessly memorized it and then used it all the time. I knew it better than my phone number or my street address, and much better than I knew my zip-code.

"Thank You!!" I cried excitedly as I grabbed Cosmo in a bear hug.

"Hey! I'm glad you're happy now, but I've got to go! Poof's going to wake up from his nap soon!"

"Oh, wait!" I had remembered something, "Before you go, I also wish I had a bow and a quiver filled with an endless supply of arrows!" Poof! An already-strung re-curve bow and a large but light quiver appeared. The bow was just like the one I favored at the shooting range.

"Cosmo, you are the best!" I cried ecstatically, but he was already gone. I didn't blame him; I'd read a comic about Poof waking up from a nap before in Nick Mag. It was not a good idea for the little guy to be alone at the time.

I ran to the portal generator and typed in the code. A large swirling circle of pink portal energy was projected into thin air about five feet away. I was finally going to get there.

"Luck's been a Lady Tonight!" I said with a grin.

Author's Note: I'm sorry I leave so many cliff-hangers, it's part of story telling! Update speed depends on how much homework my Physics and PreCalc. teachers decide to assign.