GREEN THUNDER

I would've yelled "BAIL!", but I had already taken to the air and was flying as fast as I could away from that giant damn flaming fireball of twisted metal. I could hear Dimentio yelling at me to slow down, but as IF I'd listen to that idiotic, son-of-a-gun, little bas -

TWANG.

I shouted in pain as I felt something pierce my leg. I looked down, my wings flapping hard to stay in the air. I felt my blood run cold as I pulled out a silver, lightweight arrow. The shaft had sunk halfway into my left thigh, and was covered in blood. Blood with a certain purple tinge to it...

Poison!

I gasped as the realisation hit me. Then I yelled again as another stabbing pain was experienced in my head. I clutched at my skull, but the pain went on and on, like some beast trying to claw its way out of my brain...

Then the pain was all over, and I felt like I was on fire.

I twisted and flailed in mid-air. Dimentio was behind me, shouting something. I felt my wings paralyse, and I slowly descended.

Or was it slowly? I don't really recall...

The yells of a helpless victim... the ground rushing up to meet them... the sickening crunch of breaking bones... pools of blood...

CHARMING MAGICIAN

"D'you think he'll be alright?" asked Raven concernedly, looking down at L.

"Do I look like a doctor to you?" I snapped.

Raven turned away from me. I know I sounded cruel, heartless even. But I certainly didn't feel that way.

L was my childhood friend, the one person who I could really trust. Even though we didn't mess around like we did in the old days, we were still friends. And if I could ever call someone loyal, it would be L Thunder.

I don't want to lose someone like that.

To give myself a right for silence, I looked down at him. I had patched him up the best I could with magic (oh, the wonderful thing!), but he still looked the worse for wear. A scar was running down his right cheek. A portion of his left trouser leg had been torn off to be put to use as a bandage for the arrow wound. His left wing looked broken, and his arms and hands werecovered in scratches. His head was heavily bandaged.

We were hiding out in Misery Forest. Peach's Castle had yielded nothing except injury, and the princesses and the Bros. had not been saved. Raven was bruised, battered and slightly bloody, but she refused to be cleaned up. Instead, she had resorted to examining the arrow.

"It's definitely of Endontian design," she had murmured. "Perhaps an elvish tribe?"

"Where would elves be?" I had snapped, and she had fallen silent.

Bolt seemed to have been captured, too. Xena and X, however, had joined us. They were currently scouting for food.

"Uungh..."

We whirled around. L was sitting up, feeling his bandaged head. He felt the moss beneath him, then turned his head wildly.

"Calm down, dude!" exclaimed Raven in relief, sidling up to him. "You okay?"

"Yeah..." L still looked a little confused.

Raven looked at me. "I think this is the part when you make a simile?"

We laughed.

"I can't think of one right now," I admitted.

"Well, that's all nice and dandy, but d'you wanna eat or what?"

We turned around. Xena and X were there, each clutching large vines of some red berries.

"FINALLY!" we said in unison.