Um, so, I've almost gotten halfway through D. Gray-Man, episode 1. Well, maybe more than halfway. I'm…happy that I got that far, and sad that it's taken me this long. But it's very exciting to see Allen all animated and stuff. :0

So, here's the next chapter. Thanks for your kind reviews, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story. Here comes weirdness.

Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-Man, insert witty phrase here.

Chapter Summary: Something's amiss…at the convenience store?

Allen was so surprised at being shoved out the window that he didn't have time to react. Fortunately, he landed on a handy bush sitting below. While the bush may not have been too happy about Allen landing on it, Allen was happy about landing on the bush, because it meant that his spine wasn't going to be broken.

"What's the big idea!" yelled Allen, from his spot in the bush. Over being scared, he was now furious, and…wearing…armor?

Yes, as Allen looked down at himself, he realized he was wearing armor of the shiny silver variety. He could've sworn he'd been armor-less before being pushed out the window. No wonder he'd fallen so fast. But hey, he had a nifty blue cape that was attempting to flow in the breeze.

Standing up, Allen brushed off his shiny new armor. He had no idea what was going on. What's more, someone was coming his way. It was…Kanda?

"Hey," said Kanda, carting a rickshaw behind him. "Are you waiting for the bus?"

Allen stared. "Uh…no? I don't know."

"How can you not know if you're waiting for the bus?" said Kanda critically, staring fiercely at Allen. Then, suddenly, he said, "You're going to the convenience store. You need the bus."

"Well," said Allen, "I…wait a minute, how did you know that?"

"I've been training," said Kanda, which, for him, was not unusual.

"Training for what?" Allen asked, worried about the answer he'd get.

Kanda looked at him a minute before answering matter-of-factly, "Mind reading."

No, training was not unusual for Kanda. Training to read minds, however, was a different story.

Allen allowed himself a moment of intense confusion before shaking his head to clear the fog. "Anyway, Kanda, am I glad to see you."

"Yeah, sure," said Kanda. "Get in."

Allen ignored him and continued. "I don't know what's going on, but I woke up, and there was the Earl, and Tyki, and-"

"Shut up," Kanda said, bluntly interrupting, "And get in."

It was no use. Kanda was as confusing and bizarre as the rest of them. Allen felt completely lost, and, without much of a choice, climbed into the rickshaw.

"To the convenience store," said Kanda, and then he took off, running at break-neck speed, down the street.

Allen hung on for dear life, reasonably afraid of being thrown from the rickshaw. At the rate Kanda was going, he wouldn't be surprised if it suddenly exploded. Actually, with the weird things going on, it probably would explode.

Luckily, Allen didn't have long to contemplate this possibility. The convenience store appeared in front of them, and Kanda screeched to a stop.

"Get out," said Kanda, glaring at Allen. Good old Kanda.

So Allen got out. He didn't want to be in in the first place.

As soon as Allen had jumped out of the rickshaw, (with some difficulty, because his lovely silver armor was quite heavy), Kanda took off again, a trail of dust springing up behind him. Within seconds, he had disappeared down the street, and Allen was alone in front of the mysterious convenience store.

Turning, Allen regarded the building. It looked exactly like a regular convenience store, except for those two people sitting outside the door.

Wait a second…were those two people…Allen squinted, trying to be certain of what he was seeing.

Yes, it was them. Sitting right outside the entrance of the convenience store were Komui and Reever.

"Yo yo yo, Allen," said Komui, looking over the top of his scary dark sunglasses. "How goes it?"

Allen, once again, was left staring in shock. What in the world was going on, here? Why were Komui and Reever loitering outside a convenience store like a couple of delinquents?

Reever was busily coloring in a "color by number" coloring book. His tongue poked out of his mouth as he concentrated on coloring the puppy with the correct colors.

"This is hard," he said, scribbling all over the page with a purple crayon when purple clearly wasn't even on the list of needed colors.

"Let me see that." Komui crawled over to where Reever was boring a hole through the page with his purple crayon. "Well, duh, you're supposed to color harder. Like this."

Allen lost patience with the whole thing as Komui snatched Reever's crayon and started furiously covering the page with purple. He walked past them just as the coloring book burst into flame, sending both Komui and Reever into a panic. As Allen walked through the automatic door, he attempted to ignore their screaming.

Once inside, Allen looked around. Everything seemed normal…except for the freak playing with the copy machine.

Suddenly, the freak playing with the copy machine turned around, setting her eyes on Allen.

"Woah, Allen, take a look at this," said Road, holding up a sheet of paper. It had a copy of her face, slightly smushed, printed on it.

Allen choked out a surprised "that's great" before continuing on, as fast as he possibly could in all that armor. What was he supposed to be doing again?

As if by magic, Allen noticed a list at his feet. With great difficulty, he bent down and picked it up.

"Number 1," read the list, "Get the Earl some cake. Number 2: Save the princess."

"Get the Earl some cake?" said Allen aloud. "What the heck kind of quest is that?"

Still, it was a quest, so Allen walked up to the register. There, behind the counter, stood…

"What?" said Allen, horrified. It was Hortence and Henry, and they were holding cleavers.

"Hi, little bbOy," said Hortence, waving around her cleaver. "We know you're here for some cake for the Earl, but we could fatten you up for free, if you'd like."

"Nice and fat," added Henry.

Now, Allen loved eating, and if anyone else had offered him food, not a "fattening up", he'd have gladly taken it. However, it was Hortence and Henry who were doing the offering, and in a very disconcerting way. So he shook his head.

Disappointed, Hortence run up the cake, with Henry watching on blankly. He looked a bit like a dead fish.

"Uh, hey," said Allen, while Hortence was counting out his change, "Do you know where the princess is?"

Hortence looked at him with her tiny eyes. "I'm sorry, but our princess is in another convenience store."

Allen almost died of shock before Hortence started giggling in a terrifying, high-pitched manner.

"Just kidding," said Hortence, while Henry's face remained stony. "If you give me your arm, I'll tell you."

With that, Allen turned on his heel and walked away, grabbing the plastic bag containing a piece of cake. He had no idea how he was going to find the princess, but he wasn't going to give his arm to that creepy old lady.

Allen didn't have long to worry about finding the princess, however. As soon as he was halfway to the door, he heard an ear-splitting shriek.

"Princess!" cried one of the pimple-faced clerks. "Stay away from that buzz saw!"

Turning to his left, Allen was met with the most incomprehensible sight. There, attempting to throw himself at a whirring buzz saw, was Krory, decked out in a pink princess dress that was positively dripping with glitter.

"I don't want to live," wailed Krory, trying to escape the clutches of the poor teen clerk who held him back.

"Krory?" said Allen, dumbstruck. "Krory's a princess?"

Krory turned his head, which had a nifty little tiara perched on top. Seeing Allen, he momentarily stopped attempting to hug the buzz saw.

"Allen!" cried Krory, tears cascading down his face. "Allen! I'm going to end it all!"

"N-no, no, don't do that," said Allen, holding up his hands. Suddenly, with the rustle of a plastic bag, he remembered the cake.

"I'm going to do it," said Krory.

Allen whipped out the slice of cake. "But I have cake!"

And with that, Krory stopped struggling. Eye set upon the delicious cake, he began to sparkle with princess-like brilliance.

Allen stepped forward to give the drooling Krory the cake he so wanted, when, at that moment, he slipped on a banana peel. The cake flet at Krory, who caught it in his mouth in a display of graceful princessitude, but Allen was not so lucky. He felt himself being pulled towards the buzz saw.

"It's magnetic," said Krory, daintily wiping his mouth with a silk hankie.

And Allen was like a walking piece of iron.

**********

"Lavi, what if Allen never wakes up?" asked Lenalee, growing more and more worried as time went by. Maybe he really did have severe head trauma or internal bleeding. Then it would be all her fault. All because of a stupid picnic.

Lavi sighed, although, truth be told, he was getting a bit worried, too. And it was getting harder and harder to cheerfully say Allen would wake up any minute. Maybe this was the one time Allen hadn't been so lucky. It would figure, too, that he'd get killed by a roof.

Suddenly, Allen shuddered violently.

Lenalee, who had nearly had a heart attack, began crying, "What's wrong, what's wrong?"

And then Allen's eyes opened.

"Are you okay?" said Lavi, jumping up to make sure Allen wasn't brain-dead…or a zombie.

Allen looked completely horrified. He tried to sit up, but the fact that Lenalee was clutching his head made it incredibly difficult.

"Allen!" wailed Lenalee, "I'm sorry!"

"It's fine, it's fine," gasped Allen, struggling to get up. "Lenalee, I'm okay!"

Lavi stepped up, attempting to get Lenalee to release her death grip on Allen's head.

"Lenalee," he said, "See, Allen's fine. Why don't you let him-"

"He's not fine," sobbed Lenalee. "This is the third time today he almost died!"

Allen, still trying desperately to get up, cautiously said, "Maybe you're exaggerating a bit…"

"Well," mused Lavi, suddenly deciding to be of no help at all, "She's kind of right."

And then Allen had no choice but to give up and let Lenalee "patch him up", which, he suspected, would consist of an awful lot of gauze and bandages.

**********

There it goes. The finishing up of that strange interlude. Next: what's been happening in the real world? Goodness me, who knows. Sorry. I'll try to get it up soon. I have essays, so many essays.

By the by, I'm writing another story for those of you who are on the verge of begging me for more romance. You know, I promise I'll get to it, but in the meantime, you can have that. It's for you. Be sure to check it out? :3