Vash: Wasn't I supposed to write this chapter?
Yuki: Yeah, but you blew up Doughboy, and then your cat deleted the three pages you wrote, so I decided to write it.
Doughboy: HUH, WHAT?
Vash: Nothing!
Yuki: Uh-huh
Vash: *scanning* It sure is long...and not many dialouges.
Yuki: Sure, it's a battle. Sorry it's that long, though. It's because, well, well...uh...um, mostly because of...well, this is the longest I've written.
Vash: You're kidding.
Yuki: Nope, and CCS does not belong to me.
Vash: Proud of that?
Yuki: Of course not!

The Second Battle
We marched across, us nine kids, plus Anora, Cerberus, and Cherry, in a great procession, followed by many dwarfs. At one time, I tried to count, but gave up soon after. There were just too many.
"So what in the world are we going to do?" Liz asked.
"We're gonna barge into the castle, kill the enemy and everyone alive, and win over Uri!" Vash said, waving his sword dangerously in the air.
"Everyone?" Rene gulped.
"Gosh, you're violent." I said. Vash made a strange noise.
"Everyone who supports Queen Jewel, that is." He said.
"That's better." Kanari said.
"He's excited." Kelli said.
"Well, I'm tired." Doughboy said, grunting as he ran as fast as he could towards the castle. "Why did our battlegrounds have to be so far away?"
"It was a good location." Vash said.
"But we are tired." Snowy pitched in. "This running is wearing me out."
We ran for what seemed like a long time, so long that my eyelids were starting to get heavy, and not because I was tired and worn either. Suddenly, something caught my attention.
There was a massive cloud of dust ahead, and out of it charged something that looked like the one thing I dreaded. Galdius.
I had no clue why I feared him, more likely because of his looks them himself, not saying that he was a favorable person by that, though. And the other fact that he was trying to kill us, and Vash would have so stand up to him.
Vash ran up to the field in front of us, waving a hand for us to charge.
"Let's go." I sensed fire in his eyes as he ran towards Galdius with the Green Mist raised in the air and its sheath at his side. The two clashed right in the middle of the battle and started to fight. Kelli charged at Lumbeus, and the rest of us tried to get a knight each. The dwarfs were rather busy, talking out their swords (which, by the way, where HUGE, curved knives that looked like they were used more for butchering animals then for fighting) and slashing though the crowds of men, noble Uri workers and army officers both. There were only a few workers, though. They were inexperienced and didn't deserve to be out on the battlefield, but they were the patriots, and they had a right to fight. However, that gave us a right to kill.
The dwarfs didn't care who were workers and who were members of the army. They slashed viciously through the crowd, and though the other side held up their shields to protect themselves, the dwarfs didn't give up, and nothing would stop them. They just had to look around to make sure that they weren't going to kill one of the other dwarfs (dressed in green with white feathers stuck through their ragged hats) and us.
There were only five knights this time. Two had been killed, but I couldn't understand why we were missing one. And yet, I had that tingling feeling that Queen Jewel was still nearby. Sure, she had a right to watch. Mr. Clay and Clay the Elder were probably perched on top of a hill this very moment watching. However, it have me the creeps.
I had little time to think about all this. My knight had changed, and this one was fiercer. I wondered, however, they would still have the energy to fight. But then considering the fact that we were only a couple of hundred yards away from that precious castle, I understood fairly clear why they stood up to this.
The battle was very bloody. Kanari and Nakita were near the back, blinding and making the knights deaf, one by one. It was rather funny, because soon your knight couldn't do anything! But they did it mostly to the army. Having wings, they were able to fly over to the back of the army where they could affect the places where it was clear of dwarfs and us kids. This way, it was clear that no one would get really harmed.
And Rene could destroy the deaf and blind after. This got rid of ΒΌ of the army quickly. However, the rest of the army, the part that had not come out to fight at Santa Aria, was arriving also. Twenty thousand new, refreshed, soldiers ran forward to replace the old ones. Our dwarfs were already worn enough, but still had enough energy to fight. The ground was so thick with bodies that it was hard for us to move through while fighting. And yet we continued.
Vash and Galdius were cursing at each other while they fought.
"I don't understand you, Vash!" Galdius said, charging at Vash's arm, the one that held the Green Mist. "Why must you be like this? You know you used to have a spectacular life with us. Seeking the freedoms, eh? Little boys love to dream." Galdius sighed and chuckled. Vash blocked Galdius's sword with one swift movement.
"Freedom is very nice, Tis not the reason." Vash said as they took turns trying to slice one another. "I don't like this place, and it is not my home. To be whipped five times per day by an unholy man who calls himself my brother is not my sense of joy. And I'm not a little boy anymore."
"You will always be little!" Galdius said. "And who dares call me an unholy man?" Vash chuckled, knowing that Galdius had no clue what that meant.
"So where is this place you do call home?" Galdius sneered. "C'mon little Vash, tell me!" But Vash was concentrating on something else. With a flick of his wrist, he flicked and turned and sent Galdius's sword spinning out of his hand. It went flying several hundred feet and landed standing on a mound of earth, with the handle pointing up, and a little red ball with the flag pattern hanging to it.
Galdius's eyes popped open and he grabbed Vash by the throat.
"If I didn't hate you so much, you would be designing my swords and teaching me how to fight like that by now!" Galdius boomed.
"You like my skills, don't you?" Vash asked, raising his sword. He aimed for Galdius's arm, but the deadly blow never came. There was a slight noise and light and everyone's head turned to watch Cherry. A little thing (Cherry) was floating on a small, white bubble, but it wasn't like floating, more like Cherry was surging up energy to keep itself afloat.
"The leaf is gone!" Nakita's cry could be heard all the way from the edges of the battlefield. Galdius looked up and saw her.
Indeed, the leaf was gone, and instead, it had curled itself up until it looked like a bulb. With all the energy it could muster, Cherry sent that bulb up in the air, where it blew up into a thousand pieces and released something that seemed like a million pellets. They sparkled like a diamonds in the sun. Cherry's light began to fade slowly, and she slumped down to the ground. All her energy was gone. She hadn't even said the name of her attack, for fear of breaking her promise to me. But the explosion when that bulb erupted sounded towards the lost and desolate corners of Uri. Everyone heard it.
"It's the bell." A worker in the field said. "The end of this war is close." Of course, he was whipped for it, and had to work through the night without any dinner.
Those pellets were deadly, and each had a spectacular aim. One hit Galdius in the cheek, and in an instant, he was flaming hot, his cheek was burnt, and his dark, cold blue eyes seemed to glow with anger. His fist shot out and collided with the sharp edge of Vash's sword, knocking Vash onto the ground and shearing the skin off of his knuckles. Vash rolled off of the grass and stood up again. He looked at Galdius, who was staring at his white knuckles. But they weren't white from doing work or whipping or punching someone. They were white because that was bone of the knuckles.
If Lumbeus hadn't called for retreat, I don't know what would've happened. Most of the army had been hit with the many bullets from Cherry, who lay still in the grass. Galdius was first to right and last to retreat, which was very noble of him. His eyes still icy and blazing with hatred, he met Vash's glance. They seemed to send a message: We shall meet again.
The remainder of the army started to retreat and got away; the dwarfs too tired to pursue to chase. Then suddenly, from the far corners of the battlefield, there were two running figures.
"It can't be." Vash said. We looked at him, and then at those two tiny figures on the horizon. Vash had good eyesight, but what possibly could those figures be?
"Vash?" Kelli asked, like a small child on a stormy night. "What is it?"
"Lair and a knight." Vash answered. "With a small red thing that looks like a lizard."
"Liz-oh no, Vash! It can't be!" Kelli cried.
"What's wrong?" Kanari asked.
"We're about to met Lair's pet dragon." Kelli answered. We looked on. The dwarfs had started an orderly retreat behind us to the lines, and so had the rest of the army of men. They slowly inched towards the castle, their eyes cast on the dragon. Not even a whole army of Fereos and men on them could defeat that thing. So they were glad. Was this the end of us?
"Where's Nakita?" Rene asked. We looked around, and I finally spotted her.
Ever since Cherry had landed on that soft grass, Nakita had dashed over to help. Now she soberly walked towards us, the fatigue figure in her arms. We waited for the news.
"She's not dead." Nakita said, sobbing. We weren't sure if this meant that she was and Nakita was trying to convince herself that she wasn't or if this was the truth. Cerberus landed in a soft thump beside us. Anora came and spread out on the grass. They were exhausted, having taken care of much of the army that day. Cherry lay on the grass, motionless, and we decided she was dead.
"Such a little thing." Rene said softly, patting the figure on the grass. Cerberus walked over and licked it.
"There's got to be a way to bring her back." I said, trying not to let tears fall. Vash patted Nakita on the head as she sobbed beside Cherry. Liz and Snowy, afraid to let their feeling show, took post as guard and watched the dragon inch closer.
"This silly war." Nakita said softly. "This is all my fault. If only I hadn't picked Cherry out, if only if I hadn't let myself go into that hole, if only if I had been more careful, and-"
"I would have never had those beautiful days." Cherry said. WE looked down and saw that the small figure was lying on Cerberus's tongue, weakly looking up at Nakita.
"Oo unt ouch er." Cerberus mumbled.
"What?" Kelli asked.
"You can't touch her." I translated. I couldn't explain how. It just came to me. Cherry laid her head down once again, and this time for keeps. Cerberus let her roll off of the tongue.
"Would cordial help?" I asked. Cerberus shook his head.
"Not in this case." Anora sighed.
"No." She agreed. "Not this time." Nakita sat down and picked the warm (wet) body up. Pulling it close, she started to sob and cry.
"Nakita." Vash said. "Stop blaming yourself." Nakita sniffed.
"I'm sorry Vash, I can't help it." She said. Taking off her jacket, she wrapped it around Cherry. It was her cherished blue jacket, the one that she loved, the soft one she placed Cherry on with the touch of one that's been hurt.
"If you want, Nakita, you can take this battle off." Kanari said boldly. She didn't feel like it was her responsibility to say that, but oddly enough, she had to. Nakita smiled into the other girl's eyes.
"All right, thanks, Kanari." Nakita retreated to the back of the field.
I looked around. Actually, it looked more like a meadow than a field. It would make a splendid meadow, if only Queen Jewel would stop mowing it and let the flowers grow. But she considered flowers weeds.
Lair and the last knight were already close enough for us to see their faces. All the hatred that had been drained out of Vash's eyes with Nakita's tears returned instantly and they flashed as he set his eyes upon her. But the rest of us looked at the dragon and felt like we would give anything for a brick shelter to hide under.
So mighty was the huge dragon, which looked twice the height and fifty times the width of Lair herself.
"She must've had that a long time." Snowy said. The dragon spread out its wings, each more than fifty feet in length, twenty in width, and gave a puff. Smoke, white smoke, came out of his nostrils.
"Oh yeah?" Vash said, snorting as well. "I can produce white smoke too!" It's red scales traveled along it's body, expect for it's slightly yellow belly, which looked stretchable to fit many children. Even the knight walking at its side seemed to edge away at times, but Lair proudly kept one hand on her pet and one on her sword, which lay concealed in her sheath.
Vash took a couple steps forward and met Lair and the dragon face to face.
"You're back." He said gravely. She flashed him a brilliant smile.
"Aren't you glad to see me?" She added, "I wasn't happy what you let them do to me in the Fourth Dimension. You should've lived up to your honor and defended me!" Vash raised his eyebrows and looked her over. Her eyes were narrowed and her hands were raised. They were tattered and worn from raising her pet and doing so much work and looked as if they could slap harder than Kanari. Vash made a face.
"What's wrong?" Lair asked. "Don't like the looks of my dragon?" The dragon heard something and titled his head. A puff of smoke was exposed to Vash's hair. Vash stood fuming. Lair chuckled.
"Oh, I'm so sorry Vash!" She said, leaning forward to brush it off of his head. Along with the smoke, soot and other indescribable stuff had one out. Vash drew out his sword. "Vash, don't hurt it!" Lair said, crying out loud. "Stop it, what did it ever do to you? We can work out a verbal agreement."
"Or we cannot." Vash offered.
"Why do you have to be so difficult?" Whined Lair, stomping her feet. The rest of us watched. Nakita, who had a bundle (Cherry and the jacket) in her arms approached cautiously to watch the scene.
"Tell me Lair." Vash said, with a quick glance at the castle. All of the men were already inside, and the dwarfs (who were afraid of the dragon) had disappeared into the underground. "Why do you bother me so? You know you came to fight, so why not get it over with?"
"Well, a personal agreement would be better." Lair said, giggling. Kelli rolled her eyes and whispered to the rest of us,
"Here we go again."
"Does this happen often?" Doughboy asked. Kelli nodded.
"What a great idea." Vash said. "How bout you letting me see your sword?"
"Or the other way around." Lair suggested. They stood for a moment, glaring at each other, trying to appear sweet and persuasive. Lair drew out her sword slowly. She held it out at Vash, but not to him, her hand planted firm on the handle. Liz's sword was drawn as well, and my hand was already on a certain card in my pocket.
"Galdius tells me you don't obey the rules." Lair said.
"What rules, may I ask?"
"The rules of him letting him have what he wants."
"Like?"
"Finder Keepers, Losers Weepers." She pointed at Nakita.
"Notice it doesn't say you can't steal anything back, eh?" Vash chuckled and smiled for the first time. Lair shifted uneasily. She leaned on the dragon, who snorted and another cloud of smoke came out. The dragon yawned as Lair began to scratch it's back and settled down on the grass. It opened its mouth and a great flame of fire came out. His claws seemed very sharp. No one said anything for a while. Vash sniffed the air.
It smelled like food. The rest of the kids and Lair noticed it too. The dragon lazily closed its eyes.
"Then we'll fight for it." Lair suggested, but it seemed more like a command than a suggestion.
"There are better things to fight for." Vash said. "Like the rights of others." His voice had an edge to it and his eyes seemed to glow. The light blue eyes seemed to turn amber, reflecting the dragon. "For ten years, Lair, I've been abused and whipped, and I'm finally old enough to stand for it and what I came here for. Ten Years. I will give the dwarfs back their land and drive everyone out!"
"Ten years is longer than Queen Jewel has been ruling over this area." Lair said. "And why do you have to fight me to do it?"
"You stand in the way." Vash grunted.
"And if I move?"
"The dragon stands, the stable dragon." Vash said. "That cannot be moved. You realize if I kill your pet you will try to kill me."
"I will kill you."
"I'd like to see you try." Lair pointed her sword at Vash and let it go against his neck. Vash smiled to himself. Even if her blade were against his neck, she would never kill him. He knew that. Lair put the sword back into the sheath.
"Courage." Vash said. "Is a gift."
"I don't see why you accompany yourself with that girl, though." She pointed at Kelli. "We all know she's not your real sister, that she just pretends it and that you two are all buddy-buddy because she's taken care of you."
"That's not true."
"Yes it is."
"And how would you know?" Lair smiled mischievously.
"I have my ways." Lair said. "Anyways, her eyes are deep blue, like Galdius's, and you're are light. She is no sister of yours. She's Galdius's sister."
"Lair." Vash said, his patience wearing out. "It's not going to work." Lair sighed, and then tears started to leak out of her eyes.
"Why did you have to create some sort of army that tries to kill everything our land has stood for?" She cried. "Vash, if you need to leave, why couldn't you have just left without leaving this bloody mess?" They looked around. There was a bloody mass of dead bodies lying everywhere around the green grass.
"Yes, to let a country standing for slavery and hardships last." Vash said quietly. "Lair, it's time for old friends to become new enemies."
"It has been time already." Kelli stepped forward. "It is our mission, our destiny to do all this, Lair, and you can't stop us."
"Let me live!" Lair wept.
"If you don't fight, you can perhaps stay in Uri or come somewhere with us." Vash lied. Lair sighed.
"Well, if I must, I must get it over with." She looked in Vash's eyes. "I'm a nobleman's daughter, raised to right and to protect myself. The dwarfs will salvage whatever you leave alive. And so I must fight, for myself, for my family and race." She looked at both Vash and Kelli this time. "And since you don't care whether I live or not, let's get this battle rolling." She took two paces back, and then climbed onto the dragon's back and patted it.
We all thought she was going to command it to right. But oddly, with teats in her eyes, the dragon lifted up. The knight's eyes grew large as he realized she had forgotten about him and that he would be left with us. Grabbing onto the dragon's pointy tail, he was lifted in the air also. No one had the heart to pursue the chase.
"She'll be back to fight." Vash said. "Next time."
"Hmm." Liz said.
It was not our fault that the knight let go, or that the dragon happened to fly over a ravine. That knight never returned again, but we watched the dragon land inside the dome, coming in from the outside, through the windows that we had broken. Vash plopped down on the grass, looking up at the sky.
"What a day." He murmured angrily, his voice furious, yet soft as not to stir any feelings. He got up and dragging his sword across the earth (which strangely looked like he was plowing it) walked slowly to the nearest entrance to the Underground. I forgot about Queen Jewel's feeling as we left the meadow. She was in the castle, watching our every move until we moved out of sight, therefore she did not know where we went when we disappeared into the Underground.
Vash was quiet throughout dinner, a little upset and tired, and then walked up to his bed. Ruffled and angry, one took great caution not to insult him. He seemed sad, desolate, and his thoughts were wandering. He was remembering those childhood days with Lair. Hadn't he had fun then? But one look at the snoring Doughboy told him again and again that he was not a traitor. Taking his glasses off and laying them next to the lamp, Vash sighed contently in his bed, drifting off, and thinking how soft and nice it was to sleep in a bed at last.
Kelli sighed, in her room. Her sigh reflected the thoughts of all the girls in the room. I was there, concentrating on the crystal ball, and for a while, all our feelings shone plainly. It was not easy being a girl fighting for rights and all. But then, it was not easy fighting. I thought of Vash. Even if you weren't a girl, life was still harsh when you were at war. I thought of the history books in our classroom and stained my pillow wet with tears. But we were doing a good deed here. A real good deed. And for all the people, we would be marked down as heroes for them, ensuring their freedom and rights.
"Why is this whole thing about rights?" Nakita said. "It should be more about how much you care for others and what you think and seem to do for other people and how much you care for things as a whole, not just rights. But I like the part about standing for something right. Everything has consequences, I should know." Her sad, once merry eyes seemed to look right past me.
"It's all right Nakita."
"I've lost someone." Nakita said. "And yet I feel has if I've gained nothing, not even a lesson."
"Now that's freaky." Kanari agreed. Nakita sighed.
"I just wish this thing was over with." Liz added. "That way we wouldn't have to kill!"
"I personally agree." Nakita said. "But I do feel it's brought us all closer and gave us more to realize about the things that mean the most to us. It's a lesson and it's made us wiser for all."
"Yes." I said slowly. "It has."

Vash: Rubbing eyes* What's with this talk in the end?
Yuki: Sorry, trying to end it somehow...rememeber to review, or to come back and to review that Easter fic...you skipped a part in there.
Vash: Oops.
Yuki: Ahh...*sighs from content* I own Jewel Quest once again....*smiles* now I can start writing Digimon Romance!
Vash: *blink?* oh my *groan*
Yuki: You should like Ulala when we went on that roller coaster ride...she said it when we went on the two Dueling Dragons, Fire and Ice, and on the Hulk.
Vash: Where?
yuki: IOA.
Vash: Well, all right, wrap this up Yuki, so you can get writing.
Yuki: That's all you care about, me write and have no fun *pout*
Vash: ...
Yuki: You don't write half as much as I do!
Vash: Well, you have your reviews.
Yuki: Fine, be that way! Bye! *starts crying*