Things have definitely calmed down since Steven and I basically freaked out, in our own ways, at Pearls temporary passing. I managed to get a very long good night's rest and I ate properly. My wounds from my battles weren't anything serious, only flesh wounds that were easily fixed with small amounts of alcohol to prevent infection and bandages to cover them up. I did run a slight fever for a few days because I was out in the rain but nothing too serious. I was thankful for that at least. I probably would have lost my mind if I had to stay out of anymore missions or miss some interesting things that might have happened. Still a little peeved at myself for missing the mission where they got Lion, otherwise I wouldn't have freaked out so much when I woke up to him staring at me. Either way, I was happy to be able to go on a mission with the gems but I politely declined. After my battle with the hologram and the brawl with that monster and its subordinates, I realized that I've been slacking off on my skills. I've relied too much on my guns and I need to be better.

"78… 79… 80… 81…" Right now I am down on the beach in front of the temple doing some sit-ups on a flat peace of rock. I wasn't as fast as I would have liked when I fought the hologram and my melee attacks against the leader creature weren't as hard hitting. So for now on when I have some free time, I've going to be exercising. "97… 98… 99… 100." I collapse onto my back and take a few seconds to breathe. When I feel well again, I twist myself around and begin doing some push-ups. I don't know how exactly these exercises will do for me considering my physiology and all but hopefully my strength, cardio, and speed will be increased because of what I do. "12… 13… 14… 15…"

"Hey Marcus!" I stop and look up to see Steven, Connie and Lion staring at me. Steven is wearing his cheese-burger backpack, which is pretty cool by the way.

"Hey guys. Whatcha' need?" I ask while doing my push-ups again.

"What are you doing?" Connie asks me.

"Exercising."

"Why?" Steven asks.

"Because I want to get stronger."

"But you're already strong." Steven states.

Letting out a deep breath, I stop on my 30th push before sitting down. "True, I am strong. But I want to be stronger. I don't want to be over-cocky in my strength and abilities." I bring my hand up and look at it, "If I think I can take on someone or some kind of monster bigger than me, I want my body to be able to back what my mouth says." I say as I clench my hand in a fist. The monster fight tired me out pretty quick, even though I was slightly food and sleep deprived but I want to be able to fight for hours if need be. Hopefully that won't happen but excuse me for being paranoid.

"Wow. That's actually a pretty great way of looking at things. And a good goal to keep you on your fitness plan." Connie commends me with a smile.

"Thanks Connie." I thank her and stand up, patting my pants a bit too clear away any sand. "So, I reiterate: Whatcha' need?"

"Oh, right. Well Connie and I were going to go see the new Dogcopter movie and we were wondering if you wanted to see it?" Steven answers and asks me. 'What… movie?'

"Dog… copter?" I ask in a confused tone. 'Is it a literal dog… helicopter?'

"Whaaaaaaat!?" Steven loudly exclaims, drawing out the 'what' as he places his hands on his head. "You haven't seen any of the Dogcopter movies?!"

"Uhhhh… no?" I say in a slight questionable manner, hopping I didn't offend him.

"Did you at least read the books?" Connie asks in a hopeful tone with clenched fists.

My blank expression is the only answer they need.

Also I do not like the way they are looking at each other like that. Almost like they are planning something.


I was right.

"Whoa… Whoa… whoa! You know, we could have taken my truck!" I yelp while holding tightly onto Lion's mane.

"Aw c'mon, Marcus! That's no fun. Besides, your acting like you've never ridden a lion before!" Steven says to me from behind, his arms wrapped around my waist.

"That's because I haven't Steven! I'm tech guy! I live in the modern times. I hack ATM's and criminal bank accounts so I don't go broke. I prefer four or two wheeled modes of transportation. Not on the backs of ferocious animals!" I yell behind me. Steven and Connie almost immediately dragged me onto Lion's back when they were done planning and with the two of them behind me to prevent me from escaping, I have no choice but to succumb to my punishment and hang on for dear life as we make our way through Beach City.

"Don't worry about it! Lion will take care of you. Won't you boy?" Steven asks Lion.

"Reargh." I hear the animal I am gripping onto growl out. I only squeeze harder.

"See!"

"My entire existence is reassured." I sarcastically say.

"Great." He doesn't get my sarcasm.

"Uhhh Steven? I think he was being-" Connie gets interrupted.

"Whoa!" We all yell out as Lion does a complete right angle left turn and heads straight for the water.

"Uh dude. Wrong way." I say to my ride but get no answer in return.

"Waaait, Lion! Don't go in the oceeeeeaaaaan!" Steven yells as both he and Connie scream as Lion jumps high into the air straight towards the deep part of the ocean. I close my eyes and embrace myself for the sudden rush of cold water.

"…"

But it never comes. Peeking one eye open, I look to see we are just above the water. Looking below, Lion is literally standing on the water. I look back to see Connie fix her glasses and Steven looks at Lion in surprise. "You can walk on water? Why don't you tell me you can do these things you dooooo?!" Before Steven can finish his question, Lion takes off along the water. At first, I'm still freaked out at the absurdity of how Lion is doing this but Steven's arms slacken and I look back to see that both he and Connie are looking around area in wonder. I admit it starts to look cool as well, especially when a couple of seagulls start to fly alongside us too. I almost reach out and touch one when they suddenly bank off and head elsewhere. Turning back to the front, I spot a boat coming up on us with a couple of sailors on board. They soon notice us and adopt shocked expressions on their faces. "Hey-o!" Steven greets them.

"'Sup!" I greet as well, causing the two passengers behind me to laugh. As we continue to move along the water, I notice a dark presence below us, causing me to look down and widen my eyes in awe. Two whales are swimming along with us and I can't help but be enraptured by the sheer presence of these majestic beats so close to us.

"Uh... are you sure he knows where he's going?" Connie's question snaps me out of the moment.

"Maybe its… a shortcut?" Steven replies but unsure of himself.

"He's got a funny way of a shortcut for us." I grumble out. While the animals are all cool to see and badass and all, I still don't like the idea of being stranded out here in the ocean so far away from land.

Soon after I say that, Lion roars, shaking us a little but also shooting some sort of pink-white portal in front of us.

"Okay! Okay! I'm sorry for giving you lip! Please continue on your shortcut! Oh man." I plead to the lion but he continues running towards it. I duck my head into his mane as the other two cling to me while screaming.


If Connie and Steven weren't with me, I could have sworn I was either having some sort of horrible fever dream or I took something not meant to be ingested.

The giant colorful tube hallway with a slipspace effect to it is the first indication that I think Lion is hyperdriving us.

"Has he ever done this?" Connie asks Steven. 'I'm wondering this too.'

"No. This is new." Steven replies as the two of them hold onto me tightly, almost being pulled off by the sheer amount of air and force pushed against us, resulting in me holding very tightly onto Lion's mane and clenching tightly with my legs.

"Seriously?" I ask incredulously, "Teach him some things Steven. I don't like being caught off guard, especially by him." I indicate to Lion.

"Got it." Steven agrees. Soon the pressure begins to lessen on us and I hope the ending is coming soon.


We come out of the portal as quickly as we were moving inside it, causing Lion to slide along the shallow water.

"Whoa!"

*Splash*

And causing me to flip over his head and land in the water on my back. He moves forward a little to where we are looking directly into each other's eyes. "You did that on purpose didn't you?" I ask him.

His only response is a very wide mouthed yawn that emphasizes every single tooth he's got and makes me pale a little. He proceeds to sit down, sending the kids tumbling off him and landing in the water as well. "Whoa!" they yelp with a splash.

Slowly, I sit up and take a look around. We are in some sort of cave system with ankle high water. There is also some sort stone platform with stairs next to us. Curiosity getting the best of me, I stand up and look to the others. "You guys okay?" I ask.

Connie brushes some of her wet hair off her face and stands up with Steven. "That was really cool." She comments.

I smile at her optimism of the situation and start walking up the stairs. Lion follows behind me and growls to catch the others attention. So far the platform doesn't seem all that interesting, just a spiral circle in the middle of the already big circular platform and even when I stand in the middle of the place with Lion nothing happens. Suddenly the entire spiral part of the platform glows and shrinks to where I'm standing. I feel movement under me so I quickly jump out from where I'm standing to find a hand shaped pedestal rising out of the ground. Interestingly, there is a gem symbol in the middle of the hand surrounded my rose thorns that remind me a lot of Steven's gem. 'Hm, could this be…' My mind trails off as Connie places Steven's hand on the pedestal while he's listing off the reasons to be at the movies now.

The pedestal glows as Steven's hand comes in contact with it and so does the rest of this place. "Hey, I think it likes you!" Connie says out loud. Looking around, I can't help but agree with her.

"Yeah, I think to does." 'The way how this place lights up when Steven interacts with it means it's connected to him. It didn't react when I stepped forward, only when he did, means it's not just affiliated with gem interaction, only a specific gem.' I look at Steven.

"Ah! AAAH! My hand's stuck! It won't come off!" He grunts as he tries to pull is hand free from the pedestal. 'And that gem is you, Steven.' Finishing my thoughts, Connie and I move to pull Steven off it.

"Hang on."

"We got you." Connie and I try to reassure him as we pull on his stuck arm. With grunts of exertion, we try to pull him off the pedestal but to no such luck. After stopping, I look closely to his hand to see that it doesn't look like any sort of adhesive or restraints are keeping him stuck. If I had to guess, just some sort of magic field keeping it there.

"Man, that's really stuck on good. I guess we'll have to chop it off." Connie proposes.

"What?!" Steven asks incredulously, clearly surprised at our idea.

"Marcus, Sword." Connie orders me.

"Gotcha." I reply and materialize my Katana.

"What?!" Steven asks again, now in more of fear at the blade in question.

"Ha. Relax man, we wouldn't do that to you." I say as I poof my sword away. "That was for dragging me with… you… guys." I slowly finish as I stare at rising pink pillar away from us. It suddenly rolls open to reveal many swords to us. "Holy…" I say as I make my way towards the weapons

"Hey swords!" Connie exclaims with enthusiasm, kinda like how I'm feeling right.

"Wooooow," I breathe in awe, examining the various weapons in this collection. "Man, different Katanas, some short swords, regular infantry swords, swords to cause intense bleeding, hold on… are those broadswords?" I ask myself. As I roam around, I gasp out loudly at another sword, "Is that a Zweihander!?"

"Nooooo!" Steven yells out loudly. Before I can touch them, the swords are sucked back into the pillar and underground.

"What?! No! No, no, no, no!" I grasp at the ground to somehow try to pull the weapons back out. "Steven!" I say and run over to the kid. "Steven man! I'm sorry for freaking you out but please bring those swords back out, please!" I almost beg him.

"Um, okay. Nnnnnngh. He grunts and tries to concentrate in pulling the weapons out again. However his effort is unsuccessful.

"Aw." I groan.

"Hmmm, here." Connie then pokes Steven in the shoulder.

"Ow! What are you- Hey! What are you doing?" Steven exclaims as Connie proceeds to poke, prod, pull and tickle the kid. "Hahahaha! Wait. Stop. Stop. I'm gonna pee!" Steven quickly stops her before he does what he says he's going to do.

Suddenly, several squares form around the platform and rise out of the ground, pulling many different types of armor out as well. The armor ranges from some that look like knights from the crusade era, samurai armor, and some armor that I've never seen before.

"Woah." I awe at the equipment pieces.

"Whoa, look at all this armor!" Connie says excitedly as well.

"Press my nose! Press my nose!" Steven asks of us.

"Boop." Connie obliges. Soon the armor pieces are pulled down into the ground and three pink cannon-like objects side by side are pulled out.

"Are those Laser Light Cannons?" Steven asks in slight surprise.

"Laser what?" I ask him.

"Next!" Before he can answer me, Connie grabs the corners of his mouth and pulls them apart. The cannons disappear and a row of axes appear.

"Axes!" They both exclaim loudly. 'Not really my cup of tea but alright. Connie pokes Steven some more and the axes disappear as well, this time being replaced with a woman-like statue with it's arms extened out with spiked ball and chains attached to the arms, 6 to be exact.

"Spikey chain balls!" Steven and Connie yell out.

"Are those flails?" I ask to no one in particular. Next what rises out next is a giant…

"Penny?" Steven asks confused. He's right, a legitimate penny that stands even taller than me and perfectly on its thin edge is shown to us.

"Does that means it's worth more than a regular penny?" Connie asks with a hand to her chin.

"If it's made of legitimate copper, then most likely it is." First glance, I have no idea if it is copper or not but no way is it just worth one cent.

"Well, that would make 'cents'." Steven jokes with a very wide smile. This causes both he and Connie to laugh while I give a nervous chuckle. Lion just yawns and lies down on his side in an annoyed fashion. 'I feel ya buddy.'

"This is so great, but..." Connie begins to say but her mood turns to one of being sad and worried. "I get the feeling, though, I'm not really supposed to be here."

"Ahhh, don't worry about it Connie." I say while patting her shoulder. "I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to be here either. I may be a gem but this place doesn't feel… right to me you know." My words put a slight smile on her face.

"But I want you here! I want both of you here. I mean, I don't want you here." He says, gesturing to the cave around us. "I guess Lion wants us here. But I want us to be at the movies! And I want to see lots of explosions." His words put a bigger smile on Connies face, bringing her out of the depressed mood she was in.

Suddenly the glow on the platform ceases, letting Steven go in the process as he almost barrels into Connie, who manages to steady him. The hand pedestal is pulled into the ground and is replaced with an even wider white circle in the ground. Something massive begins to float out of the circle and it turns to us just as it comes out. The thing looks like some sort of robot as it stares at us with wide glowing eyes and some weird tube holes for mouths. What also adds to our grim atmosphere is the fact that these triangle pieces of concrete point out of the ground around us. If I was so sure, and I am, I can hazard a guess that they are pieces to use as cover from whatever this robot is.

"Oh boy." I moan out as I get ready for a fight.

"Should we be worried?" Connie asks.

Steven looks over to Lion who is laying down and looks like he's going to take a nap. "Lion doesn't seem to be worried." 'It's true. Some animals tend to freak out or try to run if something poses a threat to them. If Lions alright, then I guess we can be too.' The robot begins to shake a little as it begins to emit electricity from one of its mouth holes. It shoots a ball of electricity at us. "Run!" Steven yells as we all move in opposite directions. I pull out one of my pistols and get ready while hiding behind one of the triangle covers. 'Then again, Lion isn't a normal animal.' Peaking out, I look at the floating robot to see it looking at Steven and Connie. I aim and fire a few rounds at the thing. The bullets do no damage as they ricochet off its armor but it's enough to garner its attention. It turns back to me and switches its lower mouth for another one, this one blue.

"Guys! Get to Lion!" I yell to them and take cover behind a different triangle as it fires. Ice immediately covers the entirety of the cover I am on before it cracks and breaks. Staring back at the robot, it switches again, for an orange one. Fire spews from its maw this time.

I jump out of the way and hide behind several of the triangles to keep myself from getting cooked by the flamethrower. Looking to the side, I see the others are next to Lion.

"Get out of here!" I wave them off to go.

"But what about you?" Connie yells to me.

The flames begin to lick at me from around the sides, causing me to flinch. "I'll be fine. You guys get out of here!" I order them to go. The flames suddenly stop. I take the chance and bail out of my cover, moving closer to the others.

"But-"

"Lion!" I interrupt Steven to get his attention. Lion perks up and looks at me. "Get them out here!" Moving out of over, I fire a few more rounds at the robot to keep its attention on me. "Now!" I order.

I don't know if he understood me or not but he nods and picks the both of them up before roaring and conjuring up another portal. He jumps through the portal with them on his back. "Marcus!" Steven yells to me as he disappears through the portal. Taking a deep breath knowing that they are okay, I pull out my other pistol.

"Okay, big man." I say to myself and move out of cover to face the robot with both guns brandished. "Let's dance." With my declaration, I fire a few more rounds at the machine before sprinting off to the side as I continue to fire. The machine sends multiple balls of electricity at me but it doesn't compensate for my fast movement. Seeing my bullets are doing nothing, I slide into cover and quickly reload them. 'Damn! What else to use?' I can't take the risk of using my swords straight on otherwise that thing can freeze me, shock me or flambé me before I even get close. 'Maybe a distraction?' As it shoots fire at my cover, I look around for anything else to use. It sucks that all those items Steven somehow managed to pull out disappeared before I got a good chance to look at them. Those cannons would have been especially useful for right now. With nothing at eye level, I look up, spotting a few large stalactites. I smile and fire at them, breaking two of the three pieces of rock from the ceiling and hurtling down right on the machine. They impact against it hard, making it sputter and all its glowing lights flash. "Yes!" I fist pump, thinking I got it. However it rights itself up but the lights still blink. "No." I holster my guns and pull out my swords. Moving out of cover I sprint towards the machine and jump just as it regains itself. My swords impact and slide along the bottom of the machine, raking hard against the metal structure of the machine and echoing the cavern of metal on metal.

I roll as I land and look back to see it turn around to look at me. The spot where I hit it barely has a scratch on it. Definitely not enough to do any real damage. Fire begins to form one on its mouths. "Shit." I curse and move out of the way. The thing shoots its flamethrower at me as I sprint past the triangles, the flames being even more intense as my potential cover get eaten away in seconds. When they stop, I quickly duck into cover and assess myself. "Ah!" I yelp as I notice my right arm is on fire. I quickly pat the fire and look around to see that almost all of my cover is gone. "Damnit. I can't take that thing down. Not by myself and certainly not with what I got on me. I need back up or more firepower." I tell myself as I look for a way out around me. To my surprise and relief, Lions portal is still here. 'Or maybe just a way out.' "Erg!" I groan out as I am suddenly thrown forward. Rolling on the ground a bit, I stop on my stomach and look back to see that thing shot a fireball at my cover and begins to hover menacingly close to me. I quickly pull out my pistol and aim at it. If this were a speaking enemy, they would probably laugh at me trying to use my useless berretta to try and kill him. But I don't need to kill him.

I just need to stun him.

Shifting my aim higher, I fire at the last stalactite and send it falling towards the machine. Before it manages to spew fire at me, the rock hits hard, stunning it again. Taking my chance, I jump to my feet and sprint for the portal. Because I only used one falling rock this time, the machine manages to reorient itself much quicker but by then, its already too late.


"Hyaa!" I yell as I come flying out of the portal and land on one hand and knee. Looking up, I see I am in some sort of parking lot. Looking back to the portal, I can't help but smile. "Huh, reminds me of Cortez from Timesplitters." That was one of my favorite games series.

Looking around a bit more, I find I am in front of the movie the movie theater. 'Seriously? Now we're here? Ah forget it. Now where are-' "Marcus!"

I am suddenly barreled into by a couple of people as they shout my name and I see that they are Steven and Connie. "Whoa! Hey guys. What's up?"

"You're okay!" Connie says in happiness.

"Yeah, yeah I am." I tell her. A small guts of wind licks at my shoulder burn, causing me to wince. "Well, almost." I gesture towards my arm.

Steven's eyes light up with an idea in his head. He proceeds to rustle through his backpack and pulls out a soda for me. "Sorry it's not cold." He apologizes to me.

"Better than nothing." I thank him and place the full can on my burn. "Besides, I always prefer room temperature drinks. Never like ice in them. Otherwise the water dilutes the drink." I point out non-chalantly. Steven laughs at the info while Connie only smiles.

Steven looks towards the move theater. "Well, we're here. Shall we go in?" he asks with a smile.

"I'll go buy the tickets." I say and proceed towards the ticket counter where a surprised ticket booth lady is manning it. "Hi. Three for Dogcopter 3." I ask for the tickets. She continues to stare at me. "Hello?" I ask as I wave a hand in front of her face through the glass. She places a finger on the glass, pointing behind me. I turn around to see Lions portal is still there. 'Wait, why is it still-' Something crashes against the portal and a fireball is sent flying towards a car, exploding it upon impact. "What the-?" I take a closer look at the portal to see it's the robot from the room.

"Oh no." I hear Connie gasp out.

"It's the robot shooty thing!" Steven yells loudly. The machine begins to glow blue while it's still stuck in the portal and aims at the kids.

"Guys!" I yell and sprint towards them. I materialize one of my swords and grab it with both hands just as the machine fires the ball of electricity. I slide in front them and swing my sword at the attack.

In hindsight, I really should have remembered that metal is a great conductor for electricity. I groan out loudly through gritted teeth as my body convulses with the bolts of electricity coursing through my entire body. The shaking soon stops and my body goes limp before I collapse. "Marcus!" the two of them yell out my name and rush to me. They are careful in touching me as my body continues to give off sparks. "Are you okay?" Steven asks me.

"Ye-yeah. I-I-I'm fine. Just… just can't… move." I struggle to give my answer. My body is rigid on the ground from the shock treatment and I feel numb. I don't even feel my sword I still have tightly gripped in my hands.

"The electrical impulses from the attack stunned your entire body. Kinda like a taser." Connie answers.

"Yeah… except without the prongs. Man those things hurt." I reply. She stares at me with a raised eyebrow in a questionable manner. "Don't ask how I know that."

"But! Without you, how are we supposed to beat it?" Steven asks Connie and me before turning to Lion. "Lion, what do we do?"

'Yeah, like that furball can do anything to help because he's been soooo helpful…' Lions eyes suddenly turn white and begin glowing before he lowers himself to the ground and a sword hilt with a symbol similar to the one in the cave appears out of his head. '… so far.'

Steven grabs the sword and begins to pull it out of Lion's head with an awestruck look on his face. "Uh... this is weird, right?" Steven asks in an unsure tone.

"Yeah, it kinda is." I can't help but add my own comment to the situation.

He then manages to fully pull it out and holds the large weapon above his head. "You have a sword in your head?! Why don't you tell me you can do these things you do?!" Steven asks the animal incredulously.

"Yeah that sounds like info we could have used a little while ago Lion!" I yell at the beast from my position on the ground. It doesn't even bat an eye at my outburst or the fact that Steven just pulled a sword that's taller than he or Connie from its forehead.

"It came through." Connies outburst makes me curl my head towards the portal to see the robot manage to wedge itself free from the portal.

"Crap." Before anything else can be done, the bottom part of the machine begins to rotate rapidly. It retaliates against us by shooting every single elemental attack it has in its arsenal all over the place. Balls of electricity, fire and ice begin firing and impacting all over the place, electrocuting cars, burning and scorching the concrete landscape, and freezing windows. One hit nails the sign above the theater and knocks it off, making it land in front of us. I manage to feel the ground shake from the sign and the attacks so I'm glad some feeling is coming back to my body.

"What do I do with this?!" Steven asks in a terrified manner while holding the sword a little wobbly.

"Grip it with both hands. Hold it firmly and in front of you." I try to instruct him how to hold the sword. I don't know how they are going to use it to destroy that thing but if Lion gave it to them, then it must be good for something.

A ball of electricity is sent straight towards us."Guys! Look out!" I warn them.

"Watch out!" Connie warns as well in a similar terrified manner as Steven and helps him steady his sword. I don't know what Connie did but she manages to help Steven swing the sword against the attack, deflecting the attack directly against its shooter. The machine sputters a bit in a more violent manner than when I hit it with the stalactites and the lights flash more hazardly. The happy look on their faces shows that we have found this enemies weakness. They look back to me.

"Becareful, and good luck you two." I warn and wish them luck with a nod of my head. I'm getting feeling in my head and neck area so I'm thankful for that at least. They nod back and both steady themselves as the machine rights itself again.

The machine begins to fire balls of fire this time at them. "Foreand!" Connie yells as she helps Steven guide the sword to deflect the attack. Feeling begins to come back to my legs as I try to stand up. "Backhand!" They deflect another attack and I could swear they are using tennis moves. I manage to get to my feet but my hands are still grasping the sword, not surprised since they were the point of entry for the electricity. "Overhead…" the two of them yell and hit another attack but I see its pushing hard against them. I move over to them and rear back to hit their sword."Death strike!" They yell and just as they finish, I swing my sword hard against theirs, adding the last force they need to send the attack right back to the machine. The ball of fire shoots right back into the hole of the machine and explodes.

Bits and pieces of the machine explode all over the place and rain down around us. I move in front of them to keep anything from hitting them. Once it's done, we all stare, awestruck.

"Just like tennis practice." Connie whispers.

"Magical destiny practice." Steven whispers as well.

"I wanna take tennis practice." I demand.

With nothing else for us to do, we make our way to the ticket booth, the lady from before still there as she pokes her head out to see us. "Hi!" Steven asks happily and innocently, despite the fact that Connie has the sword they used slung over her shoulder, Lion is peaking at the side of the window, and I am still gripping my sword like I want to attack. Both the ticket lady and I can't help but look to see a flaming tire roll-by behind us.

"Uh, hello." She greets us albeit awkwardly.

"Two kids, one adult, and one lion to see Dogcopter." Steven gestures to the animal, who snorts on the booth window, fogging the window up a little. 'I could probably argue about the adult thing but a movie sounds nice so I won't complain.'

She takes a good look at Lion before leaning in closer, "Um, do you have a rewards card?"


"Marcus! Put your sword down. It's cutting across the screen."

"I can't! I think my hands are still fuse to this damn thing." Connie and I whisper harshly to each other. I don't know why we are considering I don't think anyone else is in here with us. I don't know what it was that freaked the people out more, the little girl holding the sword, the teenager holding the Japanese sword threateningly, or the massive lion animal that's seating in a couple seats to hold his weight and size. I also can't help but look up and see him wearing his 3-D glasses, not deterred in the least at having them on.

Looking towards the two kids next to me, I can't help but smile at how well they fought that thing earlier ago.

'And to think, who knew tennis lessons could be so life-saving.' I think as I take a sip from my drink.

Felt good to right a chapter that wasn't completely emotional enduring. Not sure if the next one will be similar but I do probably have something planned for 'Rose's Room.'

Also, some of you have also asked as to why exactly I switched the rating from T to M. As I said before, it was more of a precaution on my part. I know the major differences between the ratings T and M but I don't know the minor differences that could tip the line over between T and M. I'll switch the rating back to T but I would then have to rely on you guys for those tiny details that say 'M rating'. I know if a sexual scene is included, M, if major blood filled chapters take place, M, and complete off the wall cursing like every other sentence, M. But if only a few curse words here and there and implied sexual encounters, I know those could be considered T. Excuse my paranoia but I just want to be prepared in case someone calls me out on it. If you guys want to help with telling me when the T should become an M, go right ahead. For now I'll go ahead and change it back to T. Also this isn't going to be a back and forth kind of thing. If it goes to M later, it stays M, just to let you all know. I'm not a super major writer so that's why I'm not entirely skilled when it comes to this rating thing so sorry for the confusion.

I'd definitely appreciate the help but I'm not forcing you guys to do it. Anyway, till next time.