Chapter 5
Tomoyo woke up, rubbing her eyes. She looked at the work she had finished during the night. The girl smiled happily, thinking about how nice the costume would look on her friend. Noticing that it was still very early, Tomoyo walked to her bed and fell asleep once again.
Light appeared in Tomoyo's room. The girl woke up, wondering what it could be. She approached the light to find a woman standing in the middle of it. The woman seemed to be dazed at how she got there. She looked at Tomoyo and proceeded to ask a question.
"Excuse me," the woman said. "But can you please tell me how I got here and where I am?"
Tomoyo, not knowing the answer to the first question, answered the second one. "You're in my mansion, located in Tokyo, Japan. As for how you got here, ma'am, I have no idea either."
The woman looked around the room and her glasses gleamed in the sparkling light. "Forgive me for not introducing myself, my name is Lady Une. Somehow, I was doing a little bit of work, and then this light appeared in my office. I went for a closer look and here I am."
"Maybe I should call Sakura-san and Syaoran-kun," Tomoyo suggested. "If they don't know how you came here, then Sakura-san's guardians might."
Sakura and Li arrived shortly, with Li yawning momentarily. He peeked in to see Lady Une examining the house. Syaoran looked for Tomoyo and found her. "Is that the problem?"
"She isn't really a problem," Tomoyo protested. "I just want to help her out by knowing how she got to my mansion."
Lady Une turned to see the two magicians looking at her. "You must be Tomoyo's friends. Hello, I'm Lady Une."
Sakura smiled and introduced Li and herself. Next the Card Mistress asked the woman to retell the story on what she remembered before she got transported to Japan. Lady Une answered the same way she explained to Tomoyo. "That was about it, I'm afraid. I don't know what happened between the time period that elapsed between the time I looked at the light and the time until I got here. Sorry to be of no help whatsoever."
"Hang on," Syaoran said. "I think we have something here. A bright light, then she was brought here… But she doesn't remember what happened between the amounts of time it took her to get here. I think it's the work of someone powerful, I can tell you that much."
The woman smiled. "I thank you for specifying this, but I want to know how."
Sakura shook her head. "Sometimes the concepts of sorcery are too hard to explain and grasp for people who don't use it."
"I understand. This has to do with magic," Lady Une said. "I've never seen or believed it to exist. Until a few people I knew proved it to exist on the extraordinary ones, I had no idea that magic such as this can be seen. I mean, we all depend on machines up in space…"
As Lady Une trailed off in her thinking, Tomoyo thought of something. "Who are these people who proved that magic did exist?"
The woman came back to reality, "Hmm? Oh, yes, these people were gundam pilots, and they moved to somewhere in Japan, I don't know where, though."
"Gundam pilots?" Sakura and Syaoran asked at the same time. They looked at Tomoyo, who reached quickly for the phone.
The singer took the phone from its original place and excused herself from the rest. Tomoyo ran into the bedroom and shut the door. Then she dialed her friend's number. "Duo-kun? Is that you?"
"…Yeah, Tomoyo?" Duo said, after a pause. "Why'd you call this early?"
Tomoyo sighed and began, "Are you and your friends gundam pilots?"
"…Yeah," Duo said again, this time pausing for a few seconds. "Quatre, Heero and two other guys like me are gundam pilots. Why so interested now?"
"Look, there is this lady who mentioned gundam pilots and she said that they moved to Japan. Do you know her?"
"I might, Tomoyo," Duo answered, feeling puzzled. "What's her name?"
"She called herself Lady Une…"
Duo interrupted her, "Lady Une?! Where is she? How did she get to you? Why is she here?"
This time, it was Tomoyo who repeated the story for Duo to hear. The gundam pilot listened carefully and didn't interrupt his girlfriend for anything. After Tomoyo finished, Duo signaled Heero and Quatre, who had been looking at Duo intently as he yelled out Lady Une's name in surprise, to go outside. Then he went back to his conversation. "Look, we'll be right there, Tomoyo. Heero, Quatre and I are leaving right now to go to your house. Don't tell her we're coming, though."
"I see, Duo-kun," Tomoyo said, glad that he will come right away. "I'll see you then, bye."
The two people hang up and Tomoyo went back downstairs to witness Sakura and Lady Une in a conversation. Syaoran yawned, bored at what he was listening to and turned to Tomoyo. "So, did you settle things with him?"
Tomoyo nodded but put her finger to her lips. She whispered to Syaoran, "Don't tell Lady Une that they will be coming here as soon as possible."
"Sure, whatever you say," Li answered, not really very interested at whether or not he should tell Lady Une or not. He stared at the doorway and shook his head. "They're coming this way, I think. I can hear their footsteps."
The doorbell rang and Sakura jumped to answer it. Quatre's head poked in and it spotted Lady Une immediately. He rushed to her. "Lady Une! What are you doing here?"
"Quatre?" Lady Une asked, astonished to see him here. "I thought I told you to lay low…Is Heero and Duo here as well?"
The two other pilots entered the house. Duo went to stand next to Tomoyo and nodded to her. "I see that you took care of her before we got here. Thanks, Tomoyo. I owe you one."
"No problem, Duo-kun," Tomoyo smiled. "It was not very disturbing to find someone appear in your bedroom. Besides, I've dealt with more serious things."
Quatre chuckled and turned his attention back to Lady Une. "Care to walk with us to our school? You know, it isn't the weekends and all of us still have to go to high school."
"I'll do just that, Quatre," Lady Une replied. "You all go to the same school? Or different ones?"
Tomoyo looked at Duo and smiled. "Yeah, all of us go to Mugen Gakuen."
Duo nodded and looked at his two friends. "I'll be seeing you then, Quatre, Heero. Classes for Tomoyo and I will start in a while. Take care of Lady Une. Oh, and Heero, take care of yourself."
"Why?" Heero asked, not knowing what Duo was talking about. "Why should I take care?"
The American gundam pilot shrugged. "If Lady Une ended up being transported here, who knows, maybe Ms. Peacecraft might end up here as well."
At the mention of Releana, Heero frowned and turned to walk out the door. He looked back at Duo and nodded. "I'll keep that in mind, Duo Maxwell. If I see any suspicious beings, I will avoid it immediately. You should too, Quatre."
"Whatever you say," Quatre said, grinning. "But I don't have to be that careful, seeing that it isn't me that pacifist is after."
Lady Une smiled at his words and followed Heero out the door. Quatre waved at the others and left along with Heero and the woman. Syaoran yawned again and shrugged. "Should we be heading to school, too? I don't feel like it today."
Sakura scowled at Li. "You know perfectly well we have to. You know you want to, anyway. There's a soccer match today, and you said you wouldn't want to miss it, since you know you can take the other team down."
"Yes, Syaoran-kun," Tomoyo agreed. "You are splendid at sports, just like Sakura-san, and you should show your opponent just how great you are."
Li blushed at the compliment. "No need to rub it in, let's go Sakura-san."
Tomoyo sighed. "Speaking of sports, I haven't seen Kinomoto-san and Tsukishiro-san play for a while. Since Sakura-san's brother moved on to professional soccer, we haven't seen him very much."
"What about Yukito?" Duo asked. "I know for a fact with Yue as his true form, he is very good in physical activities."
"As a matter of fact," Tomoyo smiled at the memory of Yukito beating the best of the Tomoeda basketball players without any effort at all. "He could beat a whole team by himself if he wanted to. He is one of the best I've ever seen. Yet…"
Duo wondered at the pause. "Yet what?"
"I haven't heard of him joining any professional league. Sakura-san says that he gets transferred to any sports team of his picking. Sometimes he even plays two or three kinds of sports in the year."
Duo whistled. "Three professional sports, and being the star player…I would wonder what he does with all the money he gets."
Tomoyo smiled. "I would think half of it is buying the food he eats every day. You know how hungry Tsukishiro-san is. Besides food, he usually treats all of us out to eat with him. I don't know why, because I could do the same thing. Even Sakura and Syaoran make enough money to buy a mansion."
"You people are a set of moneymakers then. Good thing I stuck with you, Tomoyo," Duo said. "Now come on, or we'll be late."
"Let me get ready first," Tomoyo said and ran up the stairs to change (she was still in the clothes she had on the night before.)
Duo sighed. "This is going to be a very interesting day."
****
Heero sighed, after sitting down to eat his lunch. Quatre and Lady Une were conversing on the other side of the table. The gundam pilot didn't like how his day had turned out. "We really have to get you back to Germany, or wherever you have to go, Lady Une."
"You're in a great hurry to get rid of me, Heero," Lady Une said, not offended at the gundam pilot's rude remark. "Don't you want to bring me sightseeing in Tokyo? I want to see the features of this city, you know. It seems nice enough."
Quatre smiled and nodded to her. "I'll make sure you see the whole of Tokyo before you leave. I'll even show you Tokyo Tower. There, is that enough for you?"
"That's wonderful, Quatre," Lady Une said, gratified. "You're so nice, unlike some scowling creature in front of me."
Heero in turn scowled at this change of plan. "You are not dragging me along on this sightseeing trip. I'd rather walk to America and back than do this."
Lady Une shook her head. "Too bad. If that's the way you feel, then Quatre and I will leave you to sulk on your own, Heero. Say, Quatre, when is school over?"
"Heero and I usually get a pardon to leave school after lunch, considering that we don't have any problems with our school work. I'm majoring in Music and Mr. Uncongenial over here is majoring in professional computer technology. You know how great he is at computers," Quatre explained.
Heero looked calmly at Quatre. "No need to explain everything to her, Quatre. She doesn't want to know why we're here."
Lady Une looked up and smiled. "Of course I don't. I know why you guys are here in the first place. Wasn't I the one who assigned you this mission? Well, anyway, how about Duo? What is he majoring in?"
"Duo?" Quatre asked. "I've never given that a thought. I don't know, do you, Heero?"
"As a matter of fact," Heero said, exasperated at the conversation. "He's only going along to this high school because Tomoyo made him. He doesn't really care what he majors in. I think he closed his eyes and picked a subject."
Quatre and Lady Une laughed. The two stood up and left, still chattering about where to go and what to do. Heero sighed and walked out of the lunchroom, not noticing a white light glowing in the distance. The light grew bigger, allowing a figure to pass through it and walk out. This figure spotted Heero and the figure ran towards him.
"Heero! Heero Yuy!" the figure cried, turning some heads around to see what's going on. "Wait for me!"
The gundam pilot turned to see who was calling him and he turned pale. It was Releana Peacecraft. The pacifist caught up to Heero, panting and trying to catch her breath. "I'm so glad I found you, Heero. I didn't know where you went, and since Lady Une's disappearance, I checked her room and found this light. So I went in and came out here. Where is everybody?"
Heero turned around and ignored the panting girl. He then walked a little more briskly and started to jog. Releana wasn't going to be put out by Heero's ignoring her, and so she walked and jogged along with him. She then began to ask him where she was, how he was, where he was living, whether Duo and Quatre were with him, and other questions. The gundam pilot wouldn't answer a question she placed upon him. This frustrated Releana and so she grabbed his arm and pulled him towards a restaurant.
"Heero, let's go there to eat! I'm hungry," Releana said. "Please?"
"…" Heero replied. He pulled his arm away from her and started to run now. When he turned the corner, with Releana following him, he saw Quatre and Lady Une. "Quatre! Lady Une! I need some assistance!."
Quatre immediately looked at what the problem was and seeing Releana try to grab Heero and run off to another place. Lady Une also turned and she laughed at the distress Heero was feeling. She turned to Quatre. "Should we help him?"
"I think we should," Quatre said, feeling pity for his friend. "We shouldn't tell Ms. Peacecraft where this place is, or we'll never get rid of her. Come on, before she brings him to his death."
The two ran after the infuriated Heero, who was now in the verge of punching Releana's lights out. As he raised his hand to do so, Quatre grabbed his arm and Lady Une pulled Releana away.
Releana looked puzzled. "Lady Une? Where are we? Are we near Europe at all?"
"No, we are in…" Lady Une hesitated, thinking of a place that contained Japanese cultures.
Quatre spoke up, "We're in the United States, Miss Releana. We are in a Japanese neighborhood, actually. It's called Nadesiko Village."
Heero and Lady Une raised their eyebrows at Quatre's quick thinking. Quatre shrugged and said in Japanese, "At least she doesn't know where we are."
Releana didn't pay attention to Quatre's murmurs to Lady Une and Heero, and so looked around to confirm Quatre's information. Since she couldn't read or speak Japanese, she didn't know what they said (conclusively, she was speaking English all this time).
Lady Une shook her head, a little confused. She wasn't very used to speaking in Japanese, being that she only learned it a little when she was in high school, and now she had to relearn her skills. At least she understood some of what Quatre said.
Heero shook his head and continued the conversation in Japanese. "We have to get her out of here, before she finds out where we are. Otherwise, I'll never get any peace."
The other two nodded and started to whisper to each other. Releana, finally feeling suspicious, listened, or tried to listen, to their conversation. "What are you two whispering about? Tell me!"
"Oh, um…" Quatre said, transferring his speaking terms to English. He looked sideways at Heero. "We were talking about how much you would like to tour around with us, since you haven't been here, I presume."
"Oh, I would love to!" Releana replied. "Heero, are you going too?"
Heero sighed and nodded his head. But first, he turned to Quatre and whispered to him, "We should probably get Duo and his friends to help us real fast. If they don't get out of here in a hurry, then we're in trouble."
"How do we get them out, though?" Quatre asked. "We can't use air, or else Releana will know what part of the continent we are in. That won't be very practical."
"I know, that's why we have to bring them back by magic," Heero replied. "And I know a couple of people who can. Look, you wait here with these two. I'll go get Quistis and Lilka. They probably know what to do."
Quatre protested. "What about Duo and his gang?"
Heero shrugged. "You should be heading towards them right away. Summon up Sakura and Li, just in case things get out of hand and something jumps out at us."
"Roger, Heero," Quatre answered. "Get going then."
With that, Heero waved good-bye and ran as fast as he can towards Lilka's house. Releana looked puzzled. "Where is Heero going?"
"He's off to pick up two people," Quatre answered, sighing. He looked at Lady Une and the pacifist. "Come on, we better get going, too. We have to meet Duo and his friends in back in school. Let's hurry, otherwise we'll never get there on time."
****
"And that's what happened?" Quistis asked, not believing that Heero was running from a girl. "You want us to get two people out of the country as fast as you can, because some pacifist will never leave you alone?"
Lilka giggled and nodded her head. "That's what he explained to me. Should we help him, Quistis?"
"I could always ask Sakura and Syaoran for help, you know," Heero said, calmly. "They have greater kinds of magic power than you do."
Quistis shook her head. "You don't understand. They might have more power, but they don't have the skill to do certain things, such as send your people back to the place they belong to. That requires the work of someone who has transported between places before."
Lilka thought, and came up with an idea. "Say, I'll have Tim transport here with a Teleport Gem so they can travel without us having to use magic. How about that?"
"Will that work without any mishaps?" Heero asked concerned. "I don't care what happens to Releana, but Lady Une must not be harmed from this process."
Quistis looked at Heero. "What makes this woman important?"
"She's got information that not many people have. With knowledge like that, she could probably talk her way into many things. Trust me, she has had many experiences. And…she's essential to our well-being."
Lilka lifted up her wand and her wand glowed. "Don't worry, Heero. The Teleport Gem won't backfire on you. It's a Teleport Orb that might backfire. But unless you want this Releana to come back, I might advice you not to use the Teleport Orb."
"A Teleport Gem is fine," Heero said decidedly.
"Whatever you say," Lilka said, concentrating on trying to contact her friend.
A figure appeared at the end of her crystal rod. He looked about 2 years younger than Lilka, and his eyes flashed at Lilka's appearance. "Hey, Lilka. What's up?"
"Look, Tim," Lilka explained. "Can you come over here and bring over a Teleport Gem? Go use my Teleport Orb if you want, but just bring me a Teleport Gem. I'll explain everything later."
Tim nodded, not asking any questions and waved at Lilka then vanished. A minute later, the figure in the crystal appeared, holding something up. He looked a bit taller than Lilka, though he was younger.
"The Gem is right here, Lilka," Tim said. "So, why all this hurry?"
Lilka looked gratified at Tim and handed the Gem to Heero. "Thanks, Tim." Turning to Heero, "All you need to do is to touch a human and name the place you want to return to. Then you and the person will get transported to the place. Easy, huh? Just give this to Lady Une, and all she has to do is grab hold of Releana, and then you're done."
"That's it?" Quistis asked. "If this was it, then why did I even bother trying to help?"
Tim shook his head. "I don't think it's that easy, Lilka. It might be easy for those who use magic, since they do it all the time, but for non-magic users, it's kind of harder."
"What do you mean?" Lilka asked, frowning. "When I wasn't on the team, Ashley and Brad were still able to transport somewhere else…"
"That was because Marivel and I were usually with them and we transported them," Tim answered. "And besides, Ashley had the beast within him, then. He could have transported without our help."
Lilka frowned again. "Oh well. So much for easy stuff. Now what do we do?"
"We'll figure that out when we get to the place where we're supposed to meet them," Heero said. "Hurry up, Quatre and the others are waiting for us."
Tim hesitated. "Should I follow you?"
"Will you?" Lilka asked. "If you want, then you could. Otherwise, how would you be able to get an explanation?"
Lilka's friend laughed. "Very funny, Lilka. I knew I wouldn't get an answer out of you unless I had to participate in it."
Quistis opened the door and walked out, leaving her door open. "Come on, or I'll lock you guys in."
"We're coming, Quistis," Lilka cried out, running out the door, pulling Tim with her. "See? I just had to fix my friend here, and he's coming with us."
Heero and Quistis looked at each other. Heero shrugged. "Whatever."
****
"We're here," Sakura said, smiling brightly at Lady Une and the new stranger that Quatre has brought. "Hello, Lady Une, Quatre-kun. Who is the new person?"
Releana walked up to them and held up her hand. "I'm Releana Peacecraft, the daughter of the Peacecraft family and ruler of the Sank Kingdom. I, as a pacifist, say hello to you in these matters. How do you do?"
Syaoran, listening to each word the pacifist said, looked questioningly at Quatre. He spoke in Japanese, "What is this one doing here?"
"She kind of got here by accident," Lady Une answered. "We weren't expecting her."
Sakura looked the girl over and smiled nervously. She held up her hand to shake Releana's and shakily spoke English. "Hello. My name is Sakura. The friend next to me is Li. How long are you going to stay in T…"
"She'll be staying in the United States only for today, I'm afraid," Quatre said, loudly. "Lady Une and she are leaving as soon as Heero, Duo, and the others get here."
Syaoran, hearing the story from Lady Une, went to Sakura and spoke in his dialect. "This Releana is not supposed to know that this place is Tokyo. Don't tell her."
"Okay, Li-kun," Sakura said, smiling again. "I'm so nervous. I'm very bad at English. I've never been to America before."
Syaoran sighed. "Don't worry, just try your best. Call Tomoyo and tell her to come here. When she gets here, we might have someone who can speak fluent English, considering that she went to the US."
"Hai!" Sakura agreed. She opened up her telephone and dialed Tomoyo's number. "Konnichiwa, Tomoyo-san."
As Sakura spoke the conversation in Japanese, it was up to Syaoran to carry her conversation. "So, how did you like the city, Releana?"
"It's lovely," Releana complimented. "Nadesiko Village is a very nice place, seeing that Heero and you guys picked this place for schooling. Maybe I might just move here and take school here myself."
Lady Une laughed. "There's one problem, Miss Releana. Everyone here speaks Japanese. You won't be able to learn anything if you don't speak Japanese."
"Then how was everyone in the world able to hear my words as Queen Releana?" Releana asked, knowing that she spoke English.
Quatre sighed. "That's because English is the spoken language around the world, and everyone here understands English. Why do you think Syaoran and Sakura were able to understand and talk to you?"
Syaoran smirked. "So, were you the girl that spoke about keeping peace?"
"Yes, I was," the pacifist said proudly. "And my thoughts have not altered at all."
Li grinned silently. He knew about the foolish pacifist who tried to get the people to put down their weapons. He was only 15 when this happened, and he wasn't interested enough. His main interest back then was finishing his school year in Hong Kong so he could transfer to Tomoeda for the rest of his life. At that time, everyone in his family, including himself, thought the blonde pacifist foolish for commanding the people to put the weapons down. It seemed wrong to rid the people of their defenses.
Heero ran, with Lilka, Tim and Quistis behind. He looked at Quatre and nodded. "Are the two coming?"
"Yes, Sakura is calling Tomoyo right now, I think," Quatre answered. He added, "It seems that Syaoran is having a hard time keeping a conversation with Miss Releana. Maybe you should help him."
Syaoran scowled. "I don't need much help, thank you very much. I'm fine. Anyway, who is the new stranger, Lilka-san?"
"His name is Tim, Syaoran," Lilka said. "Be nice, will you? He's here to help with the momentary problem."
Li shrugged. "Whatever you say, Lilka-san. As long as we get out of here in a hurry. I have soccer practice to attend."
"If
you mind," Heero said, "We have bigger business to attend to.
Take her for example."
"Heero!" Releana said, turning from Syaoran. "There you are!
Who did you bring?"
Quistis and Lilka stepped up. Lilka smiled. "Is this the girl Heero said was trouble?" she said in Japanese.
"I would think she's the one," Quistis said. "Unless the other one is obsessed with Heero, she is hiding it very well."
Tim shook his head. "She'll be the one who we're going to have a hard time in bringing back to her place? Thank goodness I don't have to put up with her myself."
Sakura said good-bye to Tomoyo and hung up her phone. She smiled at Heero and said, "Duo and Tomoyo are coming right away. They'll be here in a few minutes."
"Great," Heero said.
Releana, being quite suspicious, frowned at Sakura. She didn't like it that the emerald-eyed brunette was smiling at Heero that way. The pacifist grabbed Heero's elbow and glared at Sakura. "Don't touch him you hear? Heero's my boyfriend. Go find your own."
"Touchy, touchy," Quistis commented, making Lilka and Tim burst into laughter.
Sakura blushed and Syaoran lifted an eyebrow. Seeing Sakura's uncomfortable expression, Syaoran stepped in. "Don't worry, Releana, Sakura-san has no interest in Heero. She's already loyal to someone else," he murmured in English.
"She does?" Releana said, relieved. She knew that if Sakura had found interest in Heero, she could have had a better chance than the pacifist. "Good, at least for now."
Heero sighed and looked at Lilka and Quistis, speaking in Japanese. "See this? She won't leave me alone. She can't take a hint that I don't like her. Even telling her that I'm getting a girlfriend won't work."
"You tried to tell her?" Quistis asked, teasing. "With your attributes, it's a surprise that you told her."
The gundam pilot shook his head. "I didn't. There weren't any other girls that would cooperate. That's why Quatre and I left to go here."
Lilka, Sakura, and Quistis looked at each other. The three girls laughed and Lilka, forming a mischievous idea in her head, pushed Quistis forward. The blonde sorceress fell over and Heero caught her in his arms. Now, you could see the faces of the people who were surprised. Sakura winked at Lilka and went along with the con. Tim applauded at the performance and gave them an encore. Lilka was smiling widely and shook her head when she thought of how much Duo would have loved to see this.
Two people, however, were jealous. It was obvious that Releana was infuriated at this, but Quatre was also unhappy at the incident. Quistis, embarrassed at being the center of attention, pulled herself out of Heero's grasp and went back to where she was standing. She glared at Lilka, who was grinning from ear to ear. "Nice job, Miss Eleniak. Why didn't you do that yourself?"
"I felt that I needed a laugh," Lilka answered, still looking at Heero's reaction.
Heero was very embarrassed and he turned to face Lady Une, who was trying to hide a smile. His embarrassment was worsened by Duo, who came along, whistling at Heero. "Way to go, Heero! I knew you would get the girl sooner or later!"
Tomoyo laughed and walked along Sakura. She glanced at Lady Une, and smiled. "So, how has the day been?"
"Swell," Lady Une smiled back, still standing next to the ruffled Quatre. "Though, if you ask me, some people don't feel the way I do."
"Oh?" Tomoyo asked, knowing why. "I certainly agree with you. Now, let's get on with this business. Why did you need us here?"
Quatre, snapping out of the momentarily lapse of jealousy, explained their trouble in Japanese. Tomoyo nodded while everything was explained and then turned to Syaoran, who has kept quiet through the whole Quistis-Heero event. "Ran out of English phrases to entertain the blonde guest?"
"You could say that again," Syaoran replied, sighing. "Every time I tried to start a conversation with her, she keeps turning around to see if Heero is still here. Talk about obsessed."
Tomoyo laughed and raised her hands, holding up her video camera. "Don't worry, Syaoran-kun, I'll handle the rest."
Duo came up. "Look, Heero explained what we have to do. Since Lilka's friend has the gem to bring Lady Une and Releana back to Europe, all Tomoyo has to do is to pretend that she wants a shot at the famous pacifist and general. When that happens, Lady Une will grab hold of Releana and she tells the gem where to go. The both of them will transport to Europe, and Releana will never know that we aren't in the US. Now, isn't that a brilliant idea?"
"There is one problem," Tim spoke up. "The gem won't work without someone who possesses a magical ability. Otherwise, the gem is useless."
Quatre snapped his fingers. "Why don't you go with them? Besides, you have another one that doesn't disappear, don't you?"
"Yes, but…" Tim protested. "Oh, alright, I'll go."
Lilka looked concerned. "Tim, you'll come back here when you finish with what you do, okay?"
"Sure," Tim sighed. "Besides, your Teleport Orb won't disappear at all. What was the point of giving them a Teleport Gem? If I go, then the Teleport Gem would be useless."
Quistis held out her hand. "Give me the Teleport Gem. And when you get back to where you belong, bring me back as much Teleport Gems as you can. They might be handy for me, since I would like to travel back to Balamb for a while."
"You miss him, don't you?" Sakura inquired. "I mean, he was a nice enough guy. Do you think the Rinoa woman is like Releana at all, chasing him all over the place?"
The blonde sorceress chuckled. "Believe me, if you put them together, it would be the worst thing you could find on two feet."
"What on earth are you guys talking about?" Releana suddenly asked, kept out of the conversation. She seemed to be getting frustrated.
Tomoyo smiled and held up her camera. "Mind if I catch the great pacifist and her general on video tape?"
"Sure," Lady Une readily agreed, clutching at Tim's cloak. "I'll do whatever you say if Tim over here will come and stand here with us. Ready, Miss Releana?"
Releana, struck at the idea of being in video tape, agreed immediately. As Tim got closer to Lady Une, the jewel glowed a brilliant emerald color. Lady Une tried to hide the glow from Releana, making sure that she was oblivious of what was happening behind her. Tomoyo got her video camera ready and held it up. She was smiling as Tim held up the jewel and Lady Une cried out the name of the place where they had to return to. The three people vanished, and Tomoyo turned her camera off.
"So, did u get them in your video camera?" Sakura asked.
Tomoyo shook her head. "I didn't press the record button. It didn't seem worth recording, unlike you and the others. I only wanted to see Tim-san use that jewel. He seemed special enough."
"I don't know, but that was kind of cold," Duo replied. "You were being mean, when you said that Lady Une wasn't worth video taping."
"No, you misunderstand her, Duo-san," Sakura said, defending her friend, "Tomoyo-san is never cold to people, even when they are evil. What she meant was that she didn't want to waste her tapes on them more. It's more like she wants to save them for the adventures we will partake soon."
Quatre nodded. "I see, Sakura. Now I understand. No wonder you hardly use the video camera around the school anymore."
"Enough of this," Heero said, relieved of the great stress that was gone. "I have to go back to school. There's a basketball tournament going on and I'm going to be late."
Syaoran nodded. "I have soccer, too. I'll see you later, Sakura-san."
"Bye, Syaoran-kun," Sakura said, and Heero and Li left the area.
Lilka looked around. "I have to wait around and see if Tim gets back safely. You guys can go if you want."
Quistis shook her head. "I think I should stay with you in case some trouble comes up."
"Are you guys going to be alright?" Quatre asked. "I would stay, but I have to go back to campus, or the teachers might wonder what I do with my free time."
Duo looked at Tomoyo. "So, are you going to stay with them? If you like, I'll pick you guys up later and we'll have dinner with the others."
"Thanks for the idea, Duo-kun," Tomoyo said gratefully, "I'm sure everyone would love it. Where will we meet you?"
The pilot shrugged. "Anywhere in the corner of this street is fine, I think. So, I'll see you girls later."
Quistis, Lilka, Sakura, and Tomoyo waited for the appearance of Tim. The guy appeared, panting. Lilka looked worried. "Tim, what happened?"
"When we got there," Tim began, "Lady Une thanked me and left immediately. Releana looked puzzled at the event and started to scream at me. She wanted to know where Heero was and I held up the Teleport Orb. She grabbed the Orb from me and ran. Then she held it up and screamed the name of the place you gave her. When it didn't work, she was going to throw the Orb to the floor. I became desperate then."
Lilka placed her hand on Tim's shoulder. "Poor Tim, what did you do?"
"Well…" Tim hesitated.
Sakura and Quistis looked at each other. "I hope you didn't hurt her," Sakura asked worried.
"She may be a nuisance to many people, but that doesn't mean that you could hurt someone," Tomoyo said.
Tim shook his head. "I put her to sleep in the middle of the entrance of the building. I hope the people see her before she gets stepped on. Then I grabbed the Orb and teleported back here. That was a hard job."
"Oh, is that it?" Lilka asked, grinning. "Well, that's not bad."
Quistis laughed. "That's typical of you, Lilka. You wouldn't care what happened to that girl. I presume that you will be leaving soon, Tim?"
"Oh, not until tonight, I'm afraid," Tim answered. "I promised Marina that I won't get back until tomorrow. That way she didn't have to cook an extra portion. It seemed that she needed less work, considering all the stress she has to put up with."
Lilka looked surprised. "Then where will you be staying?"
"Where?" Tim asked. "I don't know, maybe in a hotel or an inn. Do they have one of those in Tokyo?"
Quistis held up her hand. "And have you wreck the building with your magical powers? I would rather that you stay in Lilka and my apartment."
"What?!" Lilka cried. "Where would he sleep? What would he eat? In our apartment?"
Sakura and Tomoyo grinned at each other. Somehow when Quistis proposed something, there was no stopping her. The two girls waited for the reasons that would follow Lilka's questions.
"He'd sleep in the couch," Quistis answered crossly, "I'll enlarge it for his convenience. As for his food, Duo is treating us, remember? I'm sure one extra person won't hurt anyone. Yes, in our apartment, if you don't mind. Besides, isn't he your friend? I'm surprised you didn't think of letting him stay in our apartment."
Tim looked back and forth at the two arguing girls and looked puzzled. "I can't see why you are arguing about my stay in Tokyo. I mean, come on, Lilka. I saw your so-called apartment. I'm surprised you don't call it a house. Something that big could fit some of your friends."
"Exactly," Quistis said, feeling victorious. "And I insist that Tim stay with us."
Lilka, looking defeated, "Alright, but he has to sleep in the couch."
Sakura shook her head. "I don't see why you make such a big deal out of it. I mean, Tomoyo-san would be pretty lonely living alone by herself. She wouldn't mind having a visitor or two."
"Alright already," Lilka said, frustrated that no one took her side. "Tim could stay in the apartment."
"House," Tom corrected her. "It is a house."
Lilka glared at her friend and walked along the sidewalk. She turned around. "Hurry up! Duo might come back in an hour or two. We should do something before he gets here."
"Coming, Lilka-san!" Tomoyo said, running after her, camera open and ready to record. "Sakura-san! Quistis-san! Tim-kun! Hurry up and let's go to the movies!"
Thom and Setsuna turned up around the corner, with the sorcerer holding a bunch of boxes to cover himself. His purple eyes watched the teenagers bound up to the next block. Looking at Setsuna, he noticed that the senshi was also looking at the chosen ones.
Setsuna smiled, to the sorcerer's astonishment. "They surely will do, Thom. If it isn't their individual powers, it's the power they have when they work together. So, what's the next test?"
"The hardest we can think of," Thom muttered, unable to concentrate on anything else but carrying the boxes with him. "You know, you shouldn't have bought all these things. It's quite annoying."
