Sorry I'm late! I've been busy with play rehearsals and school projects and lots of things! Anyway, I kind of lied about this chapter, so I'll give you a summary to patch things up.

Summary: Naomi knows where to go next, but where exactly, though? Meanwhile, Liang and his brother unexpectedly find China and are faced with a sudden problem for Selena and the Hetalia gang. Plus, there's a glimpse of what happens back in the U.S.!

Disclaimer: I no own! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 10

America yawned. "Dude, how long have we been traveling?"

The group was all sitting on the couches at Sonya's house. Selena and Sonya have returned from their chat and America and Russia already apologized.

Violet looked at her phone. It would usually say what day it is back at her home. "It's been a whole day! Man, we've been traveling for a whole day without sleep!"

"Well," Sonya offered, "You guys can rest here. Besides, I don't really mind sleeping here in the living room. Also, you guys need your energy. But, I think we should plan on where we should go next. That way we can just eat breakfast and then leave immediately."

Everyone agreed to Sonya's idea. "Okay, dudes, where should the gang head next tomorrow?" America asked.

England snickered. "Wait, 'gang?' Why in this bloody world would you use 'gang' to describe us, America?"

"Duh, it sounds awesome and heroic to describe us that way!" America grinned. Everyone laughed happily. "After all, I'm the hero!"

"No offense," Annabel smirked, "but I, for one, think that Naomi and England were my heroes. After all…" Annabel gestured to her cast.

"Well, no matter what," Violet smiled broadly, "America will always be my hero!"

"You don't say?" Selena sarcastically remarked. By now, everyone knew that Violet was a major America fangirl and laughed at Selena's comment.

"No, seriously dudes," America repeated, "Where should the gang go?"

"Is there anyone who recognizes us?" Japan gingerly asked.

Naomi was in a deep train of thoughts. Yes, there was someone from a different country that she knew of. Yes, that guy likes Hetalia. But… she doesn't want to bring it up. She felt really ashamed somehow by recalling that her old friend, Liang, was a Hetalia fanboy. Maybe it was because she had a crush on him before… Don't say it… Naomi's conscious begged, but it was too late.

"Yeah, there is," Naomi responded. No! Naomi's conscious yelled. Naomi ignored her conscious and continued, "I have an old friend in China. His name is Liang. He was a Hetalia fan way before I was. I don't really know where he lives. All I know is that it's somewhere around Beijing."

America's stomach growled loudly. "Dudes, forget sleep, I'm starving!" America whined.

Vera came in with a bunch of sleeping bags and threw them onto the couch. "Do not worry," Vera grinned. "I have made dinner for us. You can help yourselves!"

Almost immediately, America rushed towards the dining room. Everyone else followed, except for Naomi who was still stuck on her train of thoughts. What's Liang doing now? Naomi wondered. She sighed. I've dropped hints and yet he didn't get it. I wonder if he's okay…

"Naomi-chan," a voice interrupted Naomi's thoughts. Naomi looked up to see Japan's head through the doorway. "Aren't you coming? Everyone is waiting for you. I'm starting to worry about you."

Naomi looked up at Japan. She didn't see him as her favorite anime character anymore. She saw Japan as a friend. "Yeah, I'm coming," Naomi confirmed. She soon followed Japan into the dining room, still wondering about Liang. Where is Liang and what is he doing? Even more important, did Liang find China yet?

China: "Ai yah!"

What Naomi didn't know was that Liang didn't live in Beijing. Sure, he did live near there, but Beijing was like five hours away.

Actually, Liang lived in the city of Puyang, which was kind of big… well, he thought. Liang lived in Puyang for a majority of his life! The only kind of place he has been to outside of Puyang was when he used to live with his Mom back in the U.S. Ever since his mother… Liang shook his head. It was too painful to think about it now. Besides, he needed to focus on his studies.

Unlike his older brother, Shen, who was educated well back in the U.S., Liang wasn't able to get the needed knowledge he required. Ever since their mother died of cancer, their father has been distant. And then it finally happened; his father abandoned Liang and Shen. Luckily, Shen was eighteen years old at the time, so he was able to be the official guardian of Liang. Since they were poor, Liang was homeschooled, and because of that, he needed to focus on his studies right now.

As Liang continued to read the story that Shen quickly wrote, Liang learned more and more about transitive verbs. Suddenly, Shen slammed his book shut. Liang, startled at his brother's sudden move, looked up at him. "What's up, Shen?"

"Come on," Shen urged as he put on his messenger bag. "We need to take a break. We're going to ride our bikes through town. Besides, we kind of ran low on eggs and noodles."

Liang grinned broadly. Finally, he can go outside! "Let's do this!" Liang eagerly agreed, rushing outside to his bike. Shen laughed and followed after his brother. His brother always loved something exciting. After all, he was fourteen-years-old, six years younger than Shen. Shen always expects a little bit of youth from Liang each passing day.

The two brothers mounted their bicycles and started to bike out to their street. Shen led the way towards his friend's store. Despite Shen having more experience in athletic exercises, Liang was riding the bike faster than Shen. Liang was more of the outdoors person. Besides, Liang didn't need Shen to lead the way. Liang has been to Song's store five times already. He could figure out the way. Liang started to speed up his bike.

"Hey!" Shen called after Liang. "Where are you going?"

"I know the way!" Liang assured. He started to ride faster and faster. He pedaled and swerved in and out until…

"Hey, Liang! Slow down!" Shen shouted.

"Wha-?" Liang stammered. He pressed hard on the brakes, but it was too late.

CRASH! Liang was thrown off the bike, and he collided head-on into the stall. As Liang tried to figure out what happened, a bunch of fruits fell onto Liang's head. Shen couldn't help but laugh.

"Are you okay, Liang?" Shen asked.

"Uh-huh, I'm fine," Liang groaned. Shen helped his brother up.

"That was crazy! I told you to stick with me," Shen scolded jokingly.

Before Liang could retort, he was interrupted by someone else. "Ai yah! Why would you do that? Now the owner is going to get really angry!"

"Yeah, well, the owner is my…" Shen started. His jaws dropped as he finished, "…friend."

Liang and Shen would watch Hetalia in their spare time, so they both knew very well who the guy standing before them was.

"I don't care!" the guy went on. "The owner will still blame it on me for being so careless! You two being his friend makes it even worse! He'll forgive you easily and make me work harder! I don't even know how I ended up working for that man! He's a monster!"

Liang and Shen stood in a trance, staring wide-eyed at the guy before them. They were so shocked that Shen didn't even care that the guy called his friend "a monster."

Liang snapped out of his trance. "How did you end up here? You… are China, am I right?"

China was glad that someone finally knew who he was. "Oh, good," China sighed with relief, "at least you don't think I'm someone else. The owner, Song, thought I was someone named Wang. He told me that I needed to substitute for him because 'I was his loyal assistant.' Anyway, you asked how I ended up here. It was because of a stupid American who touched England's magic book."

"Well… that makes sense," Shen agreed. "So… you need help or something? Someone we know might have picked up your other friends."

China shrugged. "Maybe," he agreed. "By the way," he held out a plate with food on it, "would you like to sample some Chinese pastry treats?"

"Sure, why not?" Liang smiled. He grabbed one and started to nibble on it.

"Wait a minute, Liang," Shen interrupted. "Let's help China clean up before Song arrives. China's right; Song has a seriously bad enough temper to be called a 'monster.'" Shen winked at China.

So, Liang reluctantly put his treat down and helped China clean up. Once Song arrived, he looked satisfied. He noticed Shen helping China out. "Hey, Chang!" Song used the habit of calling people by their last names, as that was the order of names in their area. Last names were first and first names were last.

"Ni-hao, Song" Shen greeted. Shen and Liang were too used to calling people with their first names. "How are you?"

"Good," Song answered. "So… I see you've met my assistant, Wang," Song introduced.

"Didn't we meet him years ago?" Liang asked as he chewed. He did remember someone named Wang Yao, and he sure did look like China.

"Yeah, you did," Song smiled.

"…Song, that's not Wang…" Liang shook his head and explained who China really was.

"What?" Song appeared to be shocked. He faced China. "I'm so sorry for mistreating you, if I did."

'That's okay," China shrugged.

Suddenly, Liang's phone rang. "Hang on, I need to get this," Liang excused. He picked up the phone. "Hello?" There was a brief pause. "Naomi, is that you?" Another brief pause commenced. "Oh, you found them? Who?"

"Who are you talking to, Liang?" Shen asked.

"…Uh-huh, yeah… okay, so that's five already. How many more do we need?" Liang continued. He held up his hand to Shen, signaling he'll say later. "…Three more. We already have China. He's actually here now. Uh-huh… okay. I guess I'll see you around." He hung up.

"Who was that?" China asked.

"Naomi," Liang answered. "She was my old friend back in the U.S. She said she found America, England, Japan, and Russia. There was someone else… Canada, I think that's his name."

"I can't believe you forgot already," Shen muttered. "Wait a minute, how did they find all those countries? China is in China, so those other countries must be in their own homes, too. How did they go around the world?"

"They used a transporter," Liang responded. "They traveled by the capitals of the world."

"Ai yah, this isn't Beijing, though," China pointed out.

Song didn't know what the three were talking about, so he just resumed business for his stall.

"How did you know?" Shen asked.

"I've been to my capital plenty of times," China answered.

"Yeah, this is Puyang…" Liang realized something. "Oh no! If Naomi and the others travel to Beijing and they can't find us, then…

"They'll have to travel five hours to find us," Shen finished. "Oh, great… Liang, did you tell Naomi where we lived?"

"…No, I forgot," Liang answered bluntly.

Song overheard the problem. "I know what you can do," Song chirped. "There's a ball over at Beijing. You remember… um, Zhao Mei?"

"Yeah, she was the sister of Jia," Liang recalled.

"Well, the Zhao family are having a ball in celebration of Mei's sixteenth birthday," Song informed. "You guys can go there and tell your friends that's where it will be."

"Where and when's the ball?" China asked.

Song handed the trio three invitations. In Chinese, the date, time, and location of the ball were written out.

"It's at the Zhao mansion?" Liang yelped. "That place is humongous!"

"It's tonight," Song notified. "Tell your friends that, and they'll be fine."

Liang turned to Shen. "Shen, bring out our old tuxedos. We're going to a ball!"

Japan: "I always say 'no.'"

Me: "You didn't say 'no' when I asked if you wanted to do the line break." (Yep, I'm back for line breaks and trolling!)

Back at La Puente, California, United States…

Rocco was right underneath the windowsill of Violet's home. Why? He was her classmate, and he had to know if the rumors on the news were true: Violet and Selena have gone missing.

He overheard the phone call that took place between the parents and what appeared to sound like Violet. He overheard that… she was traveling the world?

"What?" Rocco mumbled. "That's impossible!"

Ironically, Violet's parents said the same thing. "No, we have a transporter! We had to get back the Hetalia characters, and we'll send them back to their universe!"

What in the world is Hetalia? Rocco wondered.

"Okay, so… if you disappeared over a silly thing, why wouldn't you tell us about it?" Violet's mother asked.

"I don't know! You said I wasn't allowed to bring in strangers, and I thought you'd be mad at me and… I miss you, Mom," Violet blurted. "Please, don't get mad at me…" Rocco guessed that Violet was crying a bit… okay, maybe a little too much.

"Oh, sorry, we miss you too," Violet's mother comforted.

"Where are you now, Violet?" Violet's dad asked.

"We're in Russia, but we're going to China next," Violet informed.

China? Isn't that Selena's homeland? Rocco smirked. He loved to mess with Selena and say that she lived in a tent in China. Actually, Selena moved from Quezon City, Philippines and not China, so she always tried to kick Rocco's butt.

Rocco quickly texted on his phone his other friends and classmates the new information. He didn't know what the butternut Hetalia was, but he'll find out.

So, they went missing because of a 2nd dimension sort of thing? Rocco repeated. Selena and Violet are lucky ducks.

Me: We are lucky ducks indeed. Get ready for dancing in the next chapter! (And Hetalia characters in tuxedos, too! :D)

Next Chapter: The gang arrive in Beijing, but have to attend a ball if they want to meet up with Liang. But, how are they going to do that with all the security? And how can Selena and the other fangirls in the group resist their glomping urge if the Hetalia men are in tuxedos?

Thanks for reading!

~hetaliaforever123