This chapter is mainly to just get all side info out of the way. After this, we move on. Yay!

*Chapter 15: Finishing Getting Ready*

Hope walked up to Will's house and knocked, Gaston following. Will came immediately, opening the door. "Hey Hope, hey Gaston. Come on in; everyone else is here already."

Hope walked in and looked around. The house was pretty plain; just a few pieces of furniture, a few pictures, and other natural stuff were in it, it seemed. There was one distinguishing feature though: the amount of books. There had to be at least one thousand books, probably more, in Hope's eyes. You couldn't look anywhere without seeing a book.

Will led them upstairs, to what seemed to be his room. Sure enough, everyone else was there.

"Hey Hope, what took you so long?" Rue asked.

"Oh, I accidentally gave my taxi driver the wrong directions," Hope said in an embarrassed tone. "So it took a little bit longer than it should… Rue, what on earth is that?"

Rue picked it up with one hand. "What does it look like?"

Rue was holding the biggest battle ax Hope had ever seen. Not even the TV shows she watched had anything this big. It was as tall as him, and the circular area that held the sharp, vicious blade was bigger than his head. Its handle was red. There was a red line that somewhat "outlined" the side of the ax with the blade, although it didn't outline the blade itself. The blade and the rest of the ax were grey.

"Geez Rue!" Hope exclaimed. "How on earth can you carry it?"

Rue shrugged. "I guess I'm just really strong." He then promptly dropped it on his foot and yelped in pain.

"Or not," Will commented. "You're just lucky your foot missed the blade."

"Aw shut up," Rue grumbled, putting the ax against the wall. "So, what did everyone else bring?"

Max drew a long, silver katana and showed to everyone before sheathing it again.

Will took out a bunch of small, silver kunai. "These can be handy for sneak attacks. Just look!" Will proceeded to stow some up his shirt sleeves, some down in his boots, and the rest in the pouches at his sides.

Hope nodded, and then brought out a bow and a quiver of arrows. "I couldn't bring a weapon on the airplane, so I stopped by a store and got these. I've taken a few lessons in archery from my dad, so I know how to use it somewhat." Hope suddenly looked puzzled. "Rue, how did you get that battle ax onto your plane?"

"Ruecian teleported it here," Rue said, snickering.

"I should say he did," Will agreed. "You all should have been here when it arrived!"

FLASHBACK

"I know I put those kunai SOMEWHERE," Will complained, looking through another box in his attic. "It's here somewhere..."

Neo ran inside. "Found them yet?"

Will shook his head. "Nope..."

Neo suddenly gave a shout of pain as a giant battle ax came out of nowhere, flattening him.

END FLASHBACK

"…It wasn't that funny," Neo muttered.

"Yes it was," Will smirked. "But enough of that. I'm going to check the news. You guys can sleep in these sleeping bags I have in my room; I'll set them up."

"I want to see the news too," Hope said. "You can set those things up later."

Will led them downstairs to what appeared to be a living room, and turned on the TV. A reporter was hastily reading off something on a paper.

"-assuring that the problem will be taken care of soon. As of now, NOBODY should enter Teknisk Wereld, as deaths can occur." The camera panned to show a very badly burnt girl. Hope immediately recognized it as the girl they had seen in Teknisk Wereld. "Mary-Elizabeth is an example of one of the twenty casualties that occurred when most of Tecnico Town was burned to the ground. There are no culprits yet. Guards will be issued to the premises to escort anyone entering, or still in, into the real world.  More will be announced later. Now, onto sports…"

Will shut it off in disgust. "Leave it to them to give us little information. Well, I say we get to bed. We can eat in the morning, and then go to Teknisk Wereld. I don't know how long we will be able to stay without having to leave, but we should be ready for the worst."

Everyone agreed to Will's idea. He set up the sleeping bags, and everyone fell asleep shortly.

*****

"Two have died already. Well, that was expected. They have no reason to fear though; their souls went to a good cause." The figure in shadows smiled to himself coldly. "Many more will be sacrificed before this is done. The only question is, who?"

*****

Rue was back in the ring of fire, staring at Draken as he calmly accepted his loss. The fire grabbed Draken and devoured him, along with Darche, as the fire spread closer to Rue. Closer… closer… closer…

Rue bolted upright, shaking off the last remains of sleep. His heart beat calmed as he realized he had just had a nightmare. Then, he noticed the smoke was actually there…

"FIRE!" Rue yelled, bolting up. Hope came instantly awake with a yelp. Max got up slowly, looking around, confused. Will got up instantly, and groaned.

"Oh dear, sweet, precious god, NO…"

He ran off downstairs. The others gave each other questioning looks, and went to the balcony, and saw where the smoke was coming from.

"NEO! HOW MANY TIMES MUST I TELL YOU?!"

"Good morning Will. What woke you up?"

"RUE THOUGHT THE HOUSE WAS ON FIRE! THAT'S WHAT WOKE ME UP! LET ME GET THIS THROUGH YOUR THICK HEAD: YOU ARE A WARRIOR! YOU. DO. NOT. COOK!"

"It's only pancakes," Neo protested.

"YOU CALL THAT BLACK "STUFF" PANCAKES?! THROW IT OUT NOW!"

Hope was having a hard time breathing. Rue would have fallen over the balcony if Max had not grabbed his arm. Max smirked at the commotion. "It looks like breakfast will be delayed."

*****

After Will had brought everyone bagels, ("But I worked so hard on those…" Neo protested) they went upstairs, put on their back packs, snapped on their Duel Disks, and attached the Envoyant Machine.

"See you there," Rue said.

"Indeed. Oh, in case we ever get separated, let's have a back up plan. We will all exit Teknisk Wereld, and meet up here."

"Sounds good Will," Hope said. "Let's go!"

They all pressed the green button.

To be continued…