Hey! I'm back! Merry Chrismas Everyone! Consider this chapter to be my present to you all.

Though it really should've come long before this point. But you can blame Pokemania for this. Boy, Pokemon Mood has just gone nuts this year. And I don't even wanna think of what'll happen when Diamond and Pearl come out and I can start trading with people online...btw is anyone here knowledgable on Red/Blue/Yellow glitches, outside of the usual MissingNo.? I ask this because I'm forming a story based on these glitches in my mind, and I'd gladly accept any help.

Anyway, disclaimer time: If I owned Jing, then I'd be rich because he could steal me whatever I wanted. But I don't, so I'm not. I do own, however, the temple, the guardians of this and last chapter, and a person named Falcon who you will shortly be aquainted with.

Now let the adventures of Jing continue...

24th Shot: Break Your Illusion

The inside of the temple was surprising white, lined with matching statues of a handsome male figure that could only be the god of wine himself, Dionysius. Intricate grapevines of marble were painstakingly engraved into the surface, curving and twisting, thick and thin, but all going in the same universal direction.

"Hurry Baiyu!" echoed the voice of golden lizard-man from outside, making it seem farther away than it actually was. The sets of footsteps, each with very different reverberations but of the same hasty rhythm, steadily became louder and louder.

"Well, no time for sightseeing," Jing stated, his voice muffled by his purple cat mask. He began to jog up the nearby stone steps. "Too bad."

Moments later the guardians with vine-crowns on their brows came dashing in: the chocolate-haired Chesirian with his sword drawn, the reptilian man's teeth and claws bared, and the wine-god's metal look-alike now summoning various guns from underneath the surface of its bronze skin.

"Meta! Meta!" the sapphire-eyed boy yelled, leading the way. "Adaenai keh shurikiki!"

"Geez, can't these guys just speak English?" groaned Kir as he and the boy with the cat mask leapt up the rest of the stairs and into the next room to avoid the gunfire from the robotic guardian that buzzed at their feet.

What they entered was not merely another space full of carvings and sculptures, but a garden even more elaborate than the one outside. The walls were meticulously painted to resemble a perfect sky, extending all the way to the top of the ceiling, Pale and circular strokes of gold at the center of the ceiling mimicked an everlasting sun. A river of red wine ran through the middle of the enclosed sanctuary, going under a marble bridge with merry faces etched in the sides. On one face of the bridge were the happy expressions of ordinary people, while on the other face were the more psychotically gleeful expressions of Maddened Ones. Goats covered in vines pranced about playfully, wearing masks of happy humans and wearing people clothes that ill-fit them.

The thieving duo dove into the nearest grove of trees, rapidly weaving, twisting, and slashing their way through the growth. The guardians weren't far behind, as the boy and bird could tell by the whizzing bullets, harsh breathing, and trampling footsteps not far off.

As one shot grazed Kir's tailfeathers, Jing and Kir quickly ascended the branches of the oldest tree, one of the tallest in the indoor forest. Looking down from their improved vantage point, they barely saw the false wine god through the myriad branches. He was aiming his largest gun, a laser cannon that emerged from out of his now-widened mouth, right at them.

Immediately Kir morphed into gun mode and attached himself to Jing's arm, and began to glow just as the Dionysius machine started to power up its own weapon.

"Give me a Kir Royale!"

The robot guardian made no announcement, but a spectacular white laser blast screeched out of the huge cannon nonetheless.

The two energy attacks collided midway, grappling with each other in a vicious attempt to tear the other one apart. The twisting battle only lasted a few seconds, however, before the lime-green beam began to delve right through the white beam of the cannon, splitting it right in half as it went. The energy forced itself down into the barrel of the cannon itself, and then shot through the other side of the robot, finally fizzling out when it struck the ground. As the green beam faded, the Dionysius impersonator promptly exploded.

Shards of steel were flung everywhere, cutting otherwise perfect stone sculptures, embedding themselves into flawless trees, and striking and shattering the fragile masks of the goats, causing them to rapidly descend into a panic.

A stray shard pierced the vine wrapped around the golden lizard-man's head, ripping it off his skull and pinning it to a tree nearby. As the vine rapidly withered, the reptile's charging and yelling abruptly stopped. A confused look appeared on his face. He warily studied his surroundings, taking it all with a newborn amazement.

Suddenly the masked boy and his dark bird busted out of the grove of trees, hotly pursued by Baiyu, whose eyes were burning in delirious rage. The Chesirian guardian slashed at any obstacles in his way with reckless abandon, as Jing made sure to keep a fair distance between him and the crazed sword.

"Lete! Lete! Ulaket ke minuae!" yelled the chocolate-haired boy.

The golden lizard-man stared at the chase in bewilderment before his eyes finally lit up in realization.

"Baiyu, STOP! What's come over you?!"

The Chesirian guardian chose to ignore his words, or perhaps he never heard them at all. Instead he continued his stream of sword swipes and stabs aimed at Jing. The orange-coated boy dodged the strikes with relative ease, his feline mask hiding whatever expression he bore.

"Hey Jing, lizard guy over there isn't trying to kill us anymore!" the black avian pointed out before narrowly avoiding being skewered by an upward sword thrust.

The masked boy gave a brief glance at the golden reptile.

"So, that's it," he mused quietly.

"Huh?"

Jing curled his right hand downward, summoning his arm blade.

The blade was immediately utilized, as Jing used it to guard against Baiyu's sword. A defiant clang echoed throughout the garden as the weapons attacked each other, followed by the sound of metal grinding against metal. When neither weapon bended the other's will, the opponents abruptly broke apart only to rush towards each other again mere seconds later.

Jing jumped over the crazed Chesirian's blade thrust before lunging in with his own weapon. Baiyu swiftly blocked the blow with his sword, however, and once again slashed at the masked boy. The attack sliced through the black-haired boy's coat just enough to leave a slight cut on his arm.

The two Chesirians danced this way and that for what seemed like timeless minutes, guarding and parrying, slashing and thrusting, evading and striking. The scenery was not spared any brutality as divine statues were chopped to pieces, ancient trees were stabbed and left to bleed their long-concealed sap, and the streams of wine were muddied by rampaging feet.

Then the masked boy nailed Baiyu with the swift kick to the stomach, knocking him down into the ground. As the delirious guardian tried to get up, the Bandit King placed his foot on his chest.

"You know, the god of wine hasn't treated his guardians too kindly," Jing began, coolly staring down at his pinned opponent. "For ones that serve him so loyally, I would think that he would bless you with dreams of endless bliss in the presence of the holy. But instead, he weaves your thoughts into the lurid belief that you are nothing more than wild animals out for blood, disposable attack dogs. What a cruel way to reward one's servants."

The chocolate-haired guardian only gave a snarl and an enraged glare in return.

"I think it's time you moved on to find a new master."

The Bandit King slowly lifted his blade.

"Let me break your illusion."

And with a single strike, he sliced the vine wrapped around the blue-eyed boy's temple clean in two.

25th Shot: Do I Know You?

His attack would leave a memento, Jing noticed. Not only had he cut the vine, but he had also cut the skin on the other Chesirian's forehead, leaving a wound. It was far from lethal, of course, but it would be just enough to most likely leave a scar. The boy with steel-hued eyes plucked a spare leaf from one of the many fallen branches laying about and used it to clean the tiny amount of blood that stained the edge of his blade.

As the vine slipped off, withering even as it fell, the madness swirling in his deep blue eyes dissolved. At first those eyes looked up at the sky in a calm daze, seeming unaware of anything, but suddenly they snapped back into focus and became clear.

"…wha?" he murmured blinking rapidly and shaking his head.

"Welcome back to the real world!" Jing greeted, his voice sounding somewhat distant and muffled by the mask. He casually moved his foot aside.

Baiyu abruptly sat up, rubbing his forehead. He felt something hot and wet, and saw crimson on his hand when he brought his arm back down.

"It's just a small cut, so the bleeding should stop soon. Here you go," replied the boy with dust-hued eyes, handing the chocolate-haired Chesirian a leaf from the same branch.

The blue-eyed boy immediately applied it to his forehead. He looked up to the masked boy standing over him almost naively.

"Where am I?" the dark-haired Chesirian questioned, just then beginning to take in his surroundings.

"Well, you're currently in the temple of Dionysius, where you were chasing us around and trying to chop our heads off," Kir stated plainly, flying over the masked boy's shoulder. "Wait a sec, you can speak English?!"

"What?! Why?!" exclaimed the blue-eyed boy, ignoring the dark avian's last comment.

"Apparently those stupid talis-whatevers weren't nearly as effective as they were supposed to be," muttered the lizard-man, walking over to the two Chesirians. "Those stupid vines took over our minds anyway."

"Oh, that's right!"

"Talis-whatevers?" questioned the boy in the blazing coat.

"These," answered Baiyu, tossing Jing a small object that the Bandit King easily caught in midair.

Opening his palm, Jing saw that the item in question was a talisman much like his own, also in a honeycomb shape with a picture of an upside-down circle pyramid topped off by a small triangle. However, when he compared them to his own talisman that hung from the chain around his neck, there were several significant differences. The coloring on this talisman was silver, not gold, didn't have the same glossy sheen that his did, and lacked the unreadable characters that outlined the edges of the talisman he possessed. The masked boy also noted how there were wide cracks and holes that had formed along the sides of the silver talisman. It was a wonder that it still held itself together.

"Ha! Looks like somebody suckered you big time!" sneered Kir, peering over Jing's shoulders with a highly amused look on his face.

"Well obviously," Baiyu grumbled, glaring at the nearby trees like this was all their fault. "Me and my friend here came here to investigate what made the people here go crazy in Bacc when we came across a man near the train station stop. He claimed to have items that would prevent us from losing our minds, and showed us these talismans."

"We paid 500 gold for something that didn't even work," the golden lizard-man sighed, slumping over slightly.

"I don't think they were even talismans at all," growled the taller of the two Chesirians. "There had to be some kind of seed inside it, and about halfway across the desert they must've germinated, because then suddenly vines just burst out of the cracks and…"

"Next thing you know, you're here trying to chop our heads off," Kir finished.

"Exactly…"

"So, what'd that guy look like, anyway?" asked the black albatross out of curiosity.

"Well, he certainly wasn't a native," Baiyu stated. "He was this tall know-it-all-looking type, with brown hair and pale green eyes with glasses. I think he said something about being a doctor of some sort."

Jing and Kir were silent for a moment.

"…You know, I think we might've been suckered too, Jing."

"Well, these talismans seemed to have served us well so far," the black-haired boy replied, examining his talisman for a moment before putting it away. "So, let's just let bygones by bygones, shall we? If we have trouble with them, we'll dispose of them."

The black-haired boy took out his violet feline mask to reveal his cool grey eyes and youthful face once more.

"By the way, you wouldn't happen to remember where the Grapes of Dionysius are kept, would you?"

"The grapes of what?" asked the golden lizard-man, a bewildered look on his face.

Jing turned to the chocolate-haired Chesirian, but all he got was a surprised stare in return.

"Guess not. Oh well, let's-"

"Imazhou!"

The Bandit King turned his head around at Baiyu's sudden exclamation.

"Ku?" he replied, his head cocked slightly to one side.

"Yi isa lai!" Baiyu shouted happily. "Kanaka lai usaru? Baiyu nu utau lai ulopuo! Kojos aliali zohza humio?"

"Uh…lai voose sar ausal," the boy in the blazing coat answered. "Jing nu Imazhou. Jing isa Jing."

For a moment Baiyu seemed slightly puzzled, but then a sly expression crept on his face.

"Enu osuso biyae, yi ISA lai."

"Huh?!" asked Kir, hearing nothing but babble between the two Chesirians.

"Nuuuu…" the steel-eyed boy repeated, seeming a bit annoyed. "Dae isa Jing. Dae isa Bandit King! Jing ukikan uvaz ke ensarios vahz bae de eskia. Jing nu ulele andomae iede Imazhou."

"What?!"

"Heh, lai nu ukoki andomae," the tanned Chesirian replied teasingly. "Iede de lai isa Imazhou e lai aulele yi."

"Huh?!"

"Nu yi nu!" the obsidian-haired boy growled. "Dae isa Jing. Jing isa King of Bandits. Jing nu kuku iede Imazhou. Kuhu iede de lai andoli?"

Baiyu gave him a blank stare.

"Kuhu?! Yi dae, Baiyu! Nu lai aumeimi?!"

The Bandit King gave him a cool stare.

"…Nu."

"KUHU?! Yi dae Baiyu, Baiyu! Hai-"

As the chocolate-haired boy began spewing out rapid and heated Chesirian, which the steel-eyed boy answered with slowly evaporating coolness, the golden lizard-man began to chuckle.

"You understand what they're saying?!" exclaimed Kir, looking at the reptile humanoid dumbfounded.

The lizard-man turned to the albatross right next to him.

"Don't you?"

"NO!"

"Even though your partner is a native Chesirian?" the reptile added, smirking.

"Of course not! Chesirian is too confusing!" the black avian snapped. "They speak it 100 miles per hour, put all their conjugations at the beginning instead of at the end, there's a million different accents… how am I supposed to get all that?! And Jing's not my partner, he's my assistant!"

"You can get it if you try."

"I've tried getting it! I've tried getting it a million times, and I still don't get it!" snapped Kir, folding his wings across his chest. "Seriously though, do you have any idea what they're talking about? I hate it when Jing goes off talking in Chesirian and doesn't bother translating anything for me."

"Well, from what I can tell…" began the lizard-man. "…It seems your partner-"

"Assistant."

"Whatever," the golden reptile replied. "Anyway, your friend apparently looks a lot like an old friend of Baiyu's named Imazhou, so he thinks that your friend is Imazhou. However, your friend says that he isn't, and that he's never met Baiyu before. But Baiyu's being stubborn and keeps saying that he is."

"What, does this Baiyu guy have the I.Q. of a toaster?" Kir grumbled, seeing Jing beginning to look quite irritated. "If Jing says that he ain't this Imazhou guy, then he ain't."

"I suspect Baiyu's still somewhat disoriented from being under mind control earlier," the golden lizard-man replied. "Hold on, I'll go get him."

"Jing usaya Jing nu ulele andomae iede Baiyu, e Jing nu ulele andomae Imazhou iviva!" the steel-eyed boy growled at the taller Chesirian.

"Nonu nu lai aumeimi nis humio?" questioned Baiyu. "Inu Cheshiria, inu ke cratera inu ke taroh altata? Yi nu eigbu humio, nonu zah elika tiba de natae, kaikai of yibo tirito, y ke vinos de gakkagakka jusia de nurio, kanaka mamado de lai ego ivav e-"

"Adaenae! Jusia adaenae!" the Bandit King suddenly screeched, causing Baiyu to jump back slightly. "Jing nu ulele lai, Imazhou, u andomae leba iahvaz en tapart taroh! Jing isa King of Bandits, nu tapart subert kuku! Baya kokukon!"

The other Chesirian was about to speak, but seemed to change his mind and stayed silent.

"Okay, buddy, you've bugged the guy enough," the golden lizard-manspoke, tugging Baiyu to the palace's exit. "Let's just get outta here and rest up, then we'll decide what we'll do."

As the former guardians disappeared behind the door leading to the outside, Jing and Kir were just beginning to enter to door that would led to the deeper chambers of the temple.

26th Shot: Bird of Prey

"So what was that about, anyway?" questioned Kir, as he and Jing rushed down the seemingly endless hall lined by pillars and sculptures. "I mean, the lizard guy told me about it a little, but not really."

"Oh, nothing important," the obsidian-haired boy answered, keeping his gaze set on the path ahead as his steps echoed emptily against the pristine white walls.

"It sure didn't sound like nothing," the black avian remarked.

"Don't worry about it," the Bandit King responded. "It was stupid anyway. I don't know why I got mad in the first place."

"Well, what exactly did he say?" the dark albatross insisted. "I know it was something about him thinking you were some guy named Ima-"

"I told you-" Jing began, a slight growl forming in his tone.

"Well well, what do we have here?"

The thieving duo froze as an unfamiliar voice drifted down from above. Jing and Kir's heads twisted around a few times before they finally found the owner of the echo.

On the top of the tallest statue right in front of them, they spotted a blond boy that was perhaps just slightly older than Jing, if not the same age as him. The pale shine of his brass knuckles contrasted with his deeply tanned skin. He was clad in loose, cobalt-blue clothes, with the sleeves of the shirt ripped off and a long, matching headband tied around his head with twin lengthy loose ends trailing behind him.

And wrapped on top of the headband was a deep green crown of vine.

Sky-blue eyes intently studied in partners in crime, eyes swirling with eagerness, with excitement, with determination. After a few more moments passed, the cobalt-clad boy leapt down not a few feet away from Jing and Kir.

"Whaddaya know? It's a kid and his birdie."

"Hey! The name's Kir, and I'm not just any old bird! I'm an albatross!" the dark avian barked. "And you're nothing but a kid yourself!"

"Yeah, I guess so,' the boy admitted absentmindedly. "Anyway, I suppose you're here to visit the grand god Dionysius, are you?"

"Actually, we're here to-"

"Well, too bad. He's out at the moment," the boy with the sky-blues eyes interrupted, strutting forward. "So just have to deal with his son instead."

"His son, huh?" the boy in the blazing coat asked, a slight smirk creeping on his face.

"Jing, the guy's bonkers!" Kir exclaimed. "He's got one of those vines wrapped around his head. I bet he can't tell the difference between a god and a goat."

"Silence, you fool!" the blond boy shouted overly indignantly. "I was going to let you pay your respects to my father, but with an insult like that you've just won yourselves a trip to go to the underworld!"

The blue-eyed kid took a martial arts pose.

"And I, Falcon, will send you free of charge."

"Oh? Is that so?" questioned Jing, summoning his arm blade. "I didn't know hell had a price tag."

"Enough talk, I'm taking you down!" Falcon yelled, throwing his fist forward.

The black-haired boy swiftly jumped to the side and took a swipe at the fair-haired fighter. Jing's opponent in turn leapt back before rushing forward with a flurry of punches, all evaded by the gray-eyed boy. When the Bandit King slashed downward with his blade, Falcon blocked it with his brass knuckles, throwing a loud clang into the air.

For a brief while the two of them remained in place, pushing against each other's weapons. Then Falcon broke the struggle and rolled aside, aiming a kick at Jing's lower legs. The boy in the blazing coat saw it coming, however, and flipped over the sweeping attack. The fair-haired fighter lunged forward with another punch, which the raven-haired boy just managed to dodge. As Falcon aimed a strong kick at Jing, the gray-eyed boy ducked down and performing a sweeping kick of his own, knocking the boy off his feet.

Bouncing back to his feet, Falcon gave a bit of a growl as he somersaulted away from his opponent. Letting out a yell, he rushed forward and then leapt into the air, sticking out his leg to nail Jing with a flying kick. The boy in the blazing coat braced himself, then jumped aside at the last moment, so that Falcon ended up crashing into the wall instead.

The fair-haired fighter let out a weak moan before he got up and dusted himself off, keeping a wary eye on Jing.

"Heh, not bad," spoke the fair-haired boy, an almost pleasant look on his face. "But I certainly hope this isn't the best you can do. After all, the best fighters can take on multiple opponents."

Suddenly several white-and-green streaks hopped in from behind the other statues, lining themselves neatly by Falcon's sides. Jing took a defensive stance. Once they had stopped moving, it was easy to see that these were not fierce-looking monsters, or even robots, but little furry…

"Rabbits?!" exclaimed Kir.

Yes, these were in fact snow-white fluffy creatures with big feet and long ears. These rabbits, however, also had vines tied around their heads, as well as their rest of their bodies. And, as Jing soon noted, they had an intelligent spark to their eyes that was usually not seen in most wild bunnies.

"…You gotta be joking..." Kir grumbled, giving an annoyed look to the hares sitting obediently next to their master. "You're gonna beat us with a bunch of stupid hairballs? C'mon, I know those vines make you crazy, but this is just plain stupid."

"Look who's talking," Falcon growled back. "Nothing but a crucru ynix aroco."

"Huh?" Kir asked dumbly, silent for a few seconds. "Hey, what's that mean?!"

"I'm not telling," the cobalt-clad fighter replied in a singsong voice, rocking back and forth on his heels.

"That's not fair!" the black albatross screeched, flailing his arms around wildly in a fit. "I'm being insulted and I don't even know what the insult is!"

"He called you a crusty old crow," Jing translated boredly.

"What?!" Kir bellowed. "Why you-"

"So you're a Chesirian as well?" questioned Jing, looking at the blond straight across from him. "I'd kinda suspected it when I saw that your skin was so dark."

"Well, yeah," Falcon admitted. "I'm from way back in the far reaches of – Wait, what am I doing? I've got a battle to win!"

"You mean you got a battle to lose, don't ya?" Kir taunted. "Let's do this, Jing!"

Not a moment had passed before Kir shone livid green and metamorphosed into his gun form.

The Bandit King aimed at Falcon, but the fair-haired Chesirian didn't seem intimidated at the least.

"Get 'im," Falcon commanded to his loyal ones.

Ha ha, you get a cliffhanger XP. All the more reason to come back though, right? BTW, the next chapter might be a bit short, as things are nearly wrapped up here, but I want the next in-between part to start on a whole new chapter. You see, until most in-betweens, its both quite large and important story-wise, or at least hint-wise. Just so you can wonder about it.

NEXT CHAPTER: The battle between Jing and Falcon climaxes, but can Jing even get near the treasure without his world spinning out of control? And if he can, at what cost? Just because something helps you now doesn't mean it can't hurt you later...

I hope you guys liked this chapter. Please review, as I only got one reivew last chapter. I know you guys are out there, because Gilded Smile's stats show that over a thousand people have looked at this story, which isn't too bad for a story in an more obscure section. Please let me know what you think.

Happy Holidays Everyone!