Angel of Light: Okay, I've made precautions, so my computer won't delete it this time!

Cody: It took you five times to figure it out?

Angel of Light: I forget things fast….

Cody: I guess she has an excuse….being a blonde and all…

Angel of Light:…….hey!

Daisuke stared over the cliff, watching their bodies become smaller and smaller, until fading away altogether. Still dazed from battle, he sat down on the ground.

At that moment, Miyako, Ken and Iori came running over.

"Where is the Princess?!" she shrieked.

"…She and the Prince fell over the cliff…I'm sorry." He told her.

"WHAT?! AND YOU DIDN'T DO ANYTHING? ARE THEY OKAY? WE HAVE TO FIND THEM!"

"There's nothing I could do. The troll…it-it all happened so fast…I'm sorry…"

"Well then, what are we supposed to do?" asked Iori.

"I guess we'll have to go. There's no use staying here. We should go on without them." said Dai, standing up.

"NO! WE CAN'T JUST LEAVE THEM HERE!" Miyako panicked.

"Well, you could stay here, but, you saw that bear, and the dragon'll be coming with us. It's your call." Dai told her.

She looked over the ravine, and looked to the forest. The girl sighed. "Alright, I'll come…" she said reluctantly.

The serpent looked over the edge. It let out a mournful cry, and turned with the others.

*~*~*~*

Faster and faster they fell. Princess Hikari desperately clung to the mare's mane, but she felt her hands slipping. She looked over to see Prince Takeru falling too, still unconscious. Not far below him, was his mount.

She sifted her gaze to the ground. It was coming closer and closer. The river no longer looked like a mere stream, but was starting to look like a rushing torrent. Even if they landed in it, the current would sweep them away and eventually kill them.

All she could do was close her eyes. She saw her life flash before her eyes. She saw herself as a child, plating with her brother. Going out for endless rides through the forest and across the plains. She saw herself running through the castle, hiding from her father. She saw- some thing occurred to her. She should have hit the ground, or the water.

Cautiously, she opened her eyes. What she saw astounded her. She was on the ground! She was still clutching the mare's mane. The stallion had his head bent down, and seemed to be looking over the Prince who was lying on the ground, also untouched.

Kari noticed something about the stallion that she had never noticed before. In the middle of his forehead, was a light blue star. Up through the top of that star, as silver horn spiralled to the sky. Her jaw dropped with amazement. Her gaze was then directed to her own mount. She felt like she would faint. On her horse too, was a star, except this one was a light pink. The same silvery horn protruded from her head.

"Wh-wha?" was all the Princess could say. She as still in shock.

The stallion raised his head, and just looked at her with big, innocent blue eyes.

The Princess just sat there, unable to move, face showing her astonishment.

At this point, Takeru stated to stir. He was lying on his stomach, so he couldn't see what was going on. He wasn't aware of the change in his surroundings.

"Ugh…" he groaned. "What's going on?"

Kari blinked, and came back down to Earth. Carefully, she slipped from the horses-er- unicorn's back, and stood by her head.

Takeru noticed that he wasn't the only one there, and realized who was with him. He became slightly annoyed.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on, or what?"

Though she was relieved that he was okay, she didn't show it. Partly because she didn't want him to know, and partly because she was still amazed at what had happened.

"I-I'm not sure…" she replied.

"What do you mean 'you're not sure'?! I mean you-" he stopped short. He noticed the bewildered look on her face, and looked to her mount, and then to his.

"Oh…"

They stared at the unicorns, who stared right back at them.

"D-did you know about this?" Takeru asked Kari.

"N-not until a few minutes ago."

A few more moment of silence passed.

"I guess we should uh, make camp." he stated blankly.

Hikari nodded her head, almost too enthusiastically.

~*~

Most of the night was spent in silence. Takeru had got most of his memory back, and gathered from what he saw from the girl's reaction, that they had fallen from the cliff.

That night, something between the two of them changed. Maybe it was the fact that they had been spared from being so close to death, or maybe it was just the fact that the two horses were more than they appeared to be. Still, something was different.

~*~

Then again, maybe not.

"It's too bad she had to fall too. She should've just stayed up there. She's more of a burden than a help. I don't know why she had to come in the first place…" He muttered. He seemed to be talking to the stallion.

"I heard that." Kari shot back.

He ignored her.

"And to think I was actually worried for him." Princess Kari said, before going down to the river's edge.

The Prince raised an eyebrow at this comment. 'She was worried? About ME?' he thought. He turned around, and looked for her. He spotted her by the river's edge. She had found a small clearing, and looked like she was attempting to fish. She had thrown her overcoat in the riverbank. She really didn't look too much like a princess anymore.

Try as she might, Kari couldn't catch a fish. She had a sharpened stick, and was stabbing the water. She managed to spear one, but it wriggled off the end of it just as she was going to put it on land.

Takeru had to stifle some laughter as he watched her. He had to give her points for trying, though.

Frustrated, she threw the stick down. Little did the Prince know, but those words that he had said earlier had hurt her more than he could imagine. Kari sat down on the riverbank, not caring that it was muddy. She pulled her knees up to her chest, and watched the fish swim by, as if taunting her.

Kari's mind began to race with a million things. What Takeru had said earlier was not new to her. In fact, it was quite familiar.

'He's right', she thought, 'I don't even know why Father made me come. I'm of no use. He just wanted to get rid of me, so I wouldn't get in the way. Instead, I'm getting in the way here. It's my fault we fell over. It's my fault he's hurt. No matter how much I hate him, it was still my fault. Taichi is the only one who ever believed in me…and I'm beginning to think that it was only out of pity for me…'

A small tear threatened to come out, but she blinked it back. She wasn't about to give him another advantage.

Takeru watched her, and finally decided he'd go over. "You're never going to catch anything if you just sit there. Fish don't just leap out of the water into your hands you know." He said this with a taunting edge in his voice.

"I'm not stupid."

"You could have fooled me." he remarked, almost putting his foot in his mouth.

Hikari shot him a death glare, and stood up. In a huff, she stomped over to where Erowin was standing. She lifted herself onto the unicorn's back.

"What are you doing?" He called out while following.

"We've wasted enough time here already, so, I'm going."

"Not alone, you're not."

"Oh?" she asked. She had a feeling he would come, but wanted to know why.

"Because you couldn't survive a day out here on your own. You'd get mauled by one of those bears in a second."

She looked hurt by this. A look of determination soon replaced that.

"You just don't want me to go, because you're afraid for yourself!" she shot back.

"Ha! You only wish. The only reason you're still alive is because of me!"

She thought about this for a second, "No it's not. We both wouldn't have made it if it weren't for the unicorns, now would we?"

Takeru was silent.

She smirked triumphantly.

"Still, that troll would have killed you, if I hadn't have come!" he finally shot back.

"Daisuke saved me -and you- from that! You were no good at all! That thing knocked you out in a matter of moments."

"And you didn't do a thing. You just pulled that 'damsel in distress' stunt. The truth is, you can't do anything yourself. You have to have everyone do things for you."

"That's not true!" she said defensively, though the more she thought about it, the truer it became.

The two just stood for a moment, glaring at each other.

Takeru threw his hands in the air. "That's it, I can't take it anymore. I'm going on alone!"

"Fine." For once, they agreed on something.

The Prince was walking to his mount, when he thought of something. He stopped, and turned back to the Princess.

"We'll make a bet out of this."

She too turned to him. "Alright, you have my interest."

"If I get to the destination first, and you arrive later, you have to do whatever I say until the war is over. If you don't arrive, I'll make up some story about how a troll got you, despite my efforts. The same goes for you."

"That's fine with me. But I'm warning you, you'd better get ready for some intense humiliation. Maybe you should take this time to prepare for it." she taunted.

"In your dreams, Princess."

She didn't say anything. Instead, she went off. She knew where she was to go, because she had travelled this way before with her father. They also had some maps. Though she was happy that she would finally be able to prove herself, she had a small feeling of remorse inside her. Kari was almost reluctant in leaving. There was also something else that bothered her, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

~*~

Prince Takeru got some things together, and mounted the stallion. He went off in the same general direction as Kari did, but took a slightly different route. He too felt that he would have been better off with her, and almost felt bad for leaving her.

As he rode, he found that his thoughts drifted to the Princess a lot. He had to admit she was beautiful, but he'd never say that to her face. Too bad she didn't have a personality to match. He shook his head, and sighed. He too had a bad feeling, but chose to ignore it.

*~*~*~*

An ominous dark shadow loomed overhead. The day was beginning to grow old, so neither of them noticed. A malevolent laughter rung through the plains, but it was inaudible to human ears.

From atop a far mountain, the pounding of hoof beats could be heard, thundering through the pass. The riders seemed to move as one black mass, inching towards the path of the royals.