Lord Cynic escapes the Mudshippers and collapses onto his bed.

Lord Cynic: "Huff... puff... man!... they're tough... huff..."

The Mini's look down at him.

Mini Garet: "Have fun?"

Lord Cynic: (growls) "Isaac and Mia, this is your fault."

Mini Isaac: "!"

Mini Mia: "?"

Lord Cynic: "If you two didn't like each other, I never would've written the fanfics and gotten everyone bubbled up... then I wouldn't have fame... popularity... reviews... okay, I guess I can live with the mobs."

Mini's: (sweatdrops)

Lord Cynic: (Sits up) "Okay, let's get back to work."

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Mini Garet: "Cyno doesn't own Golden Sun. If he did, I think I would've gotten a haircut... (sweatdrops) That is definitely a good thing... thank you Camelot for NOT giving him any rights."

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Chapter 8 - Awkward Confrontations, aka "Isaac and Mia, sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G"

It was one o'clock in the afternoon in the afternoon before Isaac woke up the next day. Cursing to himself, he got dressed and progressed downstairs.

"Oh, um, hello," he said awkwardly, finding everyone in the TV room.

"Hi, Isaac!" Mia said brightly. Everyone else exchanged dark looks, and clutched ice packs to their heads tightly.

"'Bout time you woke up," Felix grunted. "We thought we needed to get someone to wake you up."

"How come you've all got ice packs?" Isaac asked. All eyes were on Mia, who simple smiled back at them all innocently. They then turned back to Isaac, who was still waiting for an answer.

"Er... headache," Ivan grumbled. Isaac raised an eyebrow.

"All of you?"

"Hungry, Isaac?" Mia asked, saving everyone from explaining. Isaac turned to her.

"Uh... okay, yeah."

"Okay, I'll go make some toast."

Mia scampered off eagerly into the kitchen, leaving a group of stunned teenage Adepts in the TV room, mouths slightly open.

"Gee, never knew your girlfriend could have so many mood swings," Ivan remarked. Isaac flushed, but then he became suspicious.

"What do you mean, "mood swings"?" he asked. Sheba stomped on Ivan's foot, causing him to wince.

"Er, nothing," Jenna said quickly. Isaac raised an eyebrow again, but at that moment, Mia came skipping in (well, not literally) with a plate of buttered toast.

"Here you go," she said brightly, setting the plate down on the table. Everyone stared at it: A sheer mountain of toast, at least 20 slices high. As everyone stared, a reporter appeared on the TV.

"This is Mt. Buttered Toast, a massive monster of a meal. 20 slices high, it reaches up to 9 feet high, and spans at least 20 metres wide. If you choose to scale this momma, be warned: It'll spit YOU out like a bit of food between your teeth."

Isaac stared up at Mia, who was smiling in anticipation.

"Er, thank you very much," he said. Mia beamed.

"I'll be in the kitchen if you guys need me," she said, and disappeared into the kitchen.

Isaac watched her leave, then turned back to Mt. Buttered Toast. His eyes bulged.

"Um... could you guys help me eat this?" he asked timidly. He became desperate when everyone shook his and her heads. "Please? I can't eat this by myself!"

"Sorry pal," Garet said with a slight smirk. "I'm afraid you're on your own with this one."

Isaac's stomach sank, and with grief, he picked up the first slice of toast.

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The guys walked wearily along the streets of Vale, with Isaac leading the way. He was clutching a bulging stomach - after he eventually ate Mt. Buttered Toast, Mia had insisted that he drink a whole vat of orange drink, or as the others had dubbed it, Lake Fanta (A.N.: "Yeah, I know they don't have Fanta. Bear with me, will you?"). As a result, Isaac's stomach had to do an afternoon shift to digest the food.

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(Inside Isaac's stomach)

"Mmf! Must... digest..." the stomach grunted, pumping endlessly to let the toast proceed.

"We are free! Onward, to the lower intestine!" they cheered. The stomach's eyes bulged.

"No, not there!" he shouted, but it was too late. The toast became digested, it passed through the lower intestine, and became, cough, natural (but perhaps nuclear) gas.

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Censored

"Whoa, dude!" Garet said, waving his hand about. "Warn us next time!"

"Sorry..." Isaac said. "Man, my stomach hurts."

Felix, Garet and Ivan sniggered, making Isaac frown despite his pain - and the gas.

"Why didn't you just refuse the food, then?" Piers asked (the boat couldn't be wedged from the house yet, so he stayed for a while, much to Sheba's dismay).

"Yeah, good point," Ivan said.

"Hey, hey!" Isaac said, as the others started laughing. "You don't want to upset Mia... she's a hurricane if you get her angry."

The others, Piers included, looked at each other, and then collapsed on the ground with laughter. Isaac fumed as he watched them roll on the ground, laughing helplessly.

It took at least five minutes for the guys to calm down. As Ivan wiped away a tear of laughter, Isaac started tapping his foot impatiently.

"Are we quite done?" he asked.

"I'm sorry," Piers sighed, "but I find that highly difficult to believe."

"Yeah," Garet agreed. "We all know that Jenna is a living volcano, but Mia? She's about as harmless as a Vermin."

"So then," Isaac said thoughtfully, "just what happened when Mia left my room last night?"

Everyone suddenly grew silent. For a while, no one said anything, and Isaac frequently glanced between his dumbstruck male Adept buddies.

Eventually, Garet cleared his throat.

"C'mon," he said, "We need to go to the market."

Ivan, Felix and Piers nodded, then they started to follow Garet.

"Guys? Guys?" Isaac hurried after them, but he never got an answer.

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The girls - excluding Dora (who always seemed to be away) - were still cleaning dishes while the guys were away.

"I still can't believe Isaac managed to eat all the toast," Sheba said, generally surprised. Mia smiled.

"A person's gotta eat to make himself really strong," she said.

"Yeah, especially if you want him to show off his rippling muscles to you later," Sheba pointed out; making Mia blush while Jenna sniggered.

"It's not like that," Mia said, beet-red and shaking his head.

"Suuure it's not," Sheba said sarcastically. "Who knows? Maybe he's at a gym right now, buffing himself up for you."

"Where'd they go, anyway?" Jenna asked, unintentionally changing the subject.

"Um... Isaac said something about going to the market," Mia said. Sheba raised an eyebrow.

"I'm surprised he could say anything after that meal," she said.

"There, the last plate," Jenna said, placing it carefully in the cabinet. "Let's go and look for them, in case they've gotten into trouble."

"Knowing them, they've probably gone and tried to test their skills in some bogus game," Sheba said disgustedly.

"Er... this sounds like deja vu," Mia muttered, hitching her bag over her shoulder. They left the house in a somewhat apathetic mood, leaving the house sparkling clean - until mealtime, or when the boys returned, whichever came first.

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"Hello, Mum."

"Hello, dear."

Nothing more was, nor needed to be, said between Dora, who was again checking out the jewellery stalls, and Isaac, who walked on ahead with the other guys.

"Geez, you and your mother don't say much," Piers said. Isaac shrugged, but started looking pensive.

"Y'know, for the past two months she's been talking about marriages in a distant voice," he said.

"Really?" Garet remarked.

"Anything else?" Ivan asked, intrigued.

"Well actually, yes there -" Isaac stopped. "Hang on, why do you need to know?"

"Oh, I dunno," Ivan said hazily, "we might need blackmail to use again you later."

Garet laughed rudely, and even Piers smiled sheepishly. Felix didn't say a word, choosing to keep his comments to himself.

"Gee, some friends you guys are," Isaac muttered.

"What're we doing here, anyway?" Piers asked. Garet shrugged.

"I dunno, ask Isaac. It was his idea."

"I'm looking for something... something special to give to someone," Isaac mumbled, twiddling his thumbs and looking down at the ground.

"Mmm? Would this someone have blue eyes, blue hair, be a Mercury Adept and have a name starting with 'M'?" Ivan sniggered. Isaac became mortified.

"No!... it's... it's for..." He became quiet for a moment, and he shifted his feet nervously. "Um... well... you won't laugh when I tell you something?"

"No, I guess not," Garet said.

"Okay." Isaac took a deep breath. "I... have been looking for a present to give to Mia. I want to tell her that I... that I love her."

Whatever reaction Isaac expected, it wasn't what he got. Instead of jaws crashing to the ground, Garet and Co. simply stared back at him. Only Piers looked mildly surprised.

"So, you finally admit it," Ivan said finally.

"Yes, I... eh?"

Garet, Ivan and Felix shook their heads in pity.

"Geez, man," Garet said. "You make it as if it's all new to us."

"Well, I only expected Felix to know," Isaac said, making a suspicious face. He turned to Felix. "Did you tell them anything?"

Felix shook his head in disgust.

"He didn't tell us anything," Ivan said, insulted. "Honestly, it wasn't as if it was difficult to see."

"What do you mean?" Isaac asked.

"You're really asking that?" Garet asked in amazement. Isaac nodded innocently, and Garet gave a loud and heavy sigh. "We saw the way you looked at Mia during battles, how you constantly daydreamed about her - and when we woke you up you bashed our heads in, how your eyes light up when she smiles -"

"Knock it off," Ivan groaned, clutching his stomach. "You're making me sick."

"The point is," Garet continued, ignoring Ivan's complaining, "is that it was impossible not to notice. We've known since we met her in Imil."

"I... that is... but I..." Isaac stammered, but he stopped protesting and hung his head. "I guess there's no point in denying it any longer."

"That's right," Garet said, and then in a spooky voice, "We know what you ate last Tuesday."

"That's not funny," Isaac said, making another irritated face. "Besides, there's just one problem."

"Wait, lemme guess," Piers piped up, "she doesn't know how you feel, right?"

"That's... right," Isaac said.

"I must say," Garet said, "you catch on quickly. I'm impressed."

"Thanks," Piers said, beaming.

"Anyway," Isaac said impatiently, "you see my dilemma. But I'm hoping I can capture her heart with this..."

He picked up a pendant from a display. It featured a sparkling Mercury Djinn, and, when Isaac flipped it open it played a beautiful melody. Inside were spaces for two photos, so Isaac dug into his pockets.

"Whatcha looking for?" Ivan asked, but he didn't have long to wait, because Isaac pulled out a photo - and Bane.

Zzzz... Oy! What's the big idea?

"Oh, sorry," Isaac said, placing Bane pack into his pocket. He turned back to the pendant and held out the photo: Isaac on the aerie of the Venus Lighthouse, holding his Gaia Blade.

"Nice shot," Garet said, looking over Isaac's shoulder at the photo. "How'd you manage to take it?"

"Er..." To be honest, Isaac had no idea how he'd managed to take a photo of himself from the top of Venus Lighthouse. He looked back at Garet, who was still waiting for an answer.

"Well?"

"Hey!" Isaac said suddenly, making everyone (including Felix) jump. "Garet, ol' buddy, how would you like to help me with something?"

"Eh?" Garet looked at Ivan, Felix and Piers, who shrugged back plainly. "What did you have in mind?"

"I need you to - EEP!"

Isaac suddenly dove behind the counter, and the others spun around to Jenna, Sheba and Mia about 20 metres away at a perfume counter.

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"Why are we even here?" Sheba asked, as the girls strolled around.

"We're looking for Isaac and the others," Mia replied.

"Why?" Jenna asked, frowning.

"Ohhh, I get it," Sheba said, smirking.

Mia looked at Sheba then sweatdropped.

"What are you thinking?"

"You wanna tell Isaac how you feel," Sheba taunted, then in a sing-song voice, "Mia and Isaac sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-"

"Please, be quiet!" Mia whispered, as passers-by glanced at the girls strangely. "Besides, I can't tell him that!"

"Why not?" Jenna asked. "It can't be that hard to say three simple words."

"That's what I thought," Mia said, and then she lowered her voice. "I've been watching TV talk shows lately."

"Why?" Sheba asked, pulling a disgusted face. Mia frowned at her.

"It's better than watching violent movies about werewolves and voodoo chickens," she said. Sheba snorted a laugh, and then Mia continued. "Recently, the topics have been about couples and their dreaded secrets."

"Heh, heh, you've been those types of shows, have you?" Sheba asked, as she turned to Jenna. Jenna shook her head, so Sheba grew silent again.

"Not exactly," Mia said. "I find their solutions to problems rather unorthodox. No, I watch Golden Gab myself... but that's not the point. I've been watching the disputes the couples have, mainly about secrets they've kept from each other for years. They got me thinking about something?"

"What?" Jenna and Sheba chorused.

"Well," Mia started slowly, "what if I confessed my feelings to Isaac? What would he say?"

"What? What would he say?" Jenna asked.

"That's just it," Mia said quietly. "I don't know. What if he rejected me? What if he chewed me up and spat me out like a wad of bubblegum?"

"You don't know that he'd do that," Jenna said reasonably.

"That's right... I don't know," Mia said. Her eyes darted around, and then when she spotted something they lit up. "But maybe that might help."

Without warning, she darted to an armoury display a few metres away. Jenna and Sheba watched after her, and then Jenna spotted Garet and the others off at one of the other displays. She nudged Sheba and pointed, and then they both proceeded to the guys.

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"Looks like they spotted us," Garet said, pointing towards Jenna and Sheba.

Ivan took one glance at them, then asked, "Hold on, where's Mia?"

Felix shrugged.

"I dunno, but Isaac will be glad, 'ey bud?... Isaac?"

Everyone spun around to the jewellery counter to find Isaac gone. They started scratching their heads in confusion as Jenna and Sheba approached them.

"Hey, guys," Jenna said cheerfully.

"Oh, hey," Garet said absent-mindedly, still looking around in an attempt to find Isaac. Jenna raised an eyebrow and voiced the question everyone was thinking.

"Where's Isaac?"

A tall guy in red and white striped clothing appeared out of nowhere.

"I'm right here."

Everyone else made nervous faces.

"We're looking for Isaac, not Wally. Get outta here," Sheba said.

"Okie dokie."

Wally has left the building.

After the initial surprise following that, a long, uncomfortable silence followed.

"We... have no idea where Isaac went," Piers said finally.

"It's a good thing Mia's not here either," Jenna said with a sigh of relief. "She'd probably do nuts if -"

"Well, what do you know?" Ivan remarked. "If Isaac were here, he'd be relieved. But speaking of Isaac, I guess we'd better go and look for him."

"Unless he's gone looking for Mia," Garet added. Everyone exchanged dark looks, then they split into two groups - Garet, Ivan and Piers went searching for Isaac; and Jenna and Sheba went to find Mia.

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"Thank you very much," Mia said, handing the armoury salesman the money. She looked at her purchase: a leather sheath encrusted in beautiful jewels. At the top was space for someone's name, Mia hoped she'd be seeing Isaac's name on it if he accept the gift.

Suddenly, a loud crash brought Mia back to reality, and she spun around to find Isaac lying on the ground among various types of armour.

"I'm... I'm so sorry!" he stammered, picking himself up. In a flash, he cleared up the mess he made. "I'll be out of your way," he said, nodding at the bewildered salesman as he backed away from the display.

He didn't notice Mia until it was too late, and he collided with her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I... Mia!"

Isaac's heart nearly committed a kamikazi attack, and Isaac clutched it in shock. Mia, picking herself up, luckily didn't notice Isaac's reaction. She tucked the sheath into her robes as Isaac started to regain her composure.

"I'm terribly sorry, Mia, I didn't mean for that to happen, I -"

"Isaac, that's okay," Mia said breathlessly, smiling. "It was just an accident."

"It's just... I have something to give you," Isaac said, reaching into his pocket.

"Oh, I have something for you too," Mia said, reaching into her robes.

As they handed each other their gifts, a feeling of comfort and tranquillity passed through them. Their hands touched, and clouds in the sky scattered. Their minds melded into one, their souls bound together, their bodies momentarily combined, their -

"There you are!"

"(Censored)!"

Isaac swore badly as almost on cue the two groups found the two lovebirds, and once again, the fantasyland was crushed. Mia looked at Isaac in shock, then they turned to see Jenna, Sheba, Garet, Ivan, Felix and Piers running towards them.

"Guess I'll see you around," Isaac said.

"Yeah, I guess," Mia said gloomily, and they walked back to their respective groups.

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"Phew, we found you," Garet said, catching his breath. "We thought you'd gotten yourself into trouble."

"No," Isaac said bluntly.

"Hey, nice piece of accessory," Ivan said, pointing to Mia's gift that Isaac had slung over his shoulder. Isaac turned to look at it and smiled.

"Thanks, Mia gave it to me."

"Oh," everyone said slowly.

"I guess Mia has her gift, then?" Isaac asked. Isaac nodded.

"I thought you were gonna wait," Piers said. Isaac shrugged.

"I guess there was no point in being afraid of giving Mia a tiny gift," he said. "And compared to admitting to her how I feel about her, it was nothing at all."

"So, you haven't yet?" Garet asked.

"No," Isaac said, looking down at the ground. "And I'm running out of ways..."

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"Wow, that's beautiful!"

Mia had shown Jenna and Sheba the pendant, and they were all crowded in front of it.

"Open it up, see what's inside," Jenna urged, and Mia obliged and opened up the pendant. Suddenly, music started, and the girls closed their eyes to listen to the relaxing melody.

"Now this is beautiful," Mia sighed. The others nodded in agreement, and for a few minutes they just listened to the soft tunes.

"Is there anything else?" Sheba asked eventually, and their eyes popped open. Mia looked to the compartments and flipped them open. The first thing their saw was the photo of Isaac.

"Wow," Sheba said. "Interesting pose. Any idea of how he managed to take the photo?"

Mia and Jenna shook their heads.

"Not even I know how he took that photo," Mia said, shaking her head. But when she thought no one was looking, she smiled to herself.