One morning two Harlequin norns were playing in the norn terrarium, when the disaster struck. The norns, Mysti and Kate were talking about what they would do that afternoon." don't know, Kate-what we usually do?" suggested Mysti. "What, eat cheese?" Kate said bored. "You know, Mysti, we always do the same things. I wish something exciting happened, but it never does-" Kate had spoke too soon. Suddenly a male Bruin norn ran up to them, shocked. It was Jake, and he was never very popular in that world, even though all 40 of the norns living in Tiemstone knew him. "Mysti, Kate!" cried Jake. "We have news-and it's pretty-Ok, very bad!" "What?" Kate liked excitement, and you could hear it in her voice. "Well...." Jake began. "Remember when the grendels and etttins couldn't take living with norns any more, and they started a war?" "Well, how could we forget?" Mysti sighed. That was a very bad time. "It's happening again!" cried Jake. "Oh." Kate said, still bored. "I suppose that we'll have to get some more norns living over here then." Jake nodded. "Yes. We will adopt some. Tomorrow...getting ready for the...war." Kate and Mysti rolled their eyes. Jake sighed. "You harlequins never have time for danger issues, do you?" Kate smiled, shaking her head. "We'll both be up to see the new norns, tell Shandy and Collette that, though they'll never be up that early." Those norns were very popular, most norns looked up to them. Jake then rushed off, and the Harlequins gobbled some cheese and played in the terrariums all day. Eventually it was the morning, and the norns were up. Kate went to find Jake and Mysti went to find the other norns. They all waited in the norn terrarium patiently, until the first norns warped in. One was another Harlequin norn called Huishi and another was a female Astro norn, Starlight. They waited for hours, letting all the norns come in. They would be a great army. The last two norns were 2 males, one Hardman and one Toxic, Mysti and Kate didn't like the look of them, until later on when one of them came up to Kate, the toxic, Gary. "Hi," he smiled. "Hello," replied Kate, bored as usual. "I know I'm a toxic norn, and we wouldn't really be able to be around each other, but I like you." Kate looked at Gary. "O...K," she smiled, walking away, but Gary seemed quite nice. Then the Hardman norn went over to Mysti. "Hello, I'm Barry." He grinned. "Gary and Barry, what a pair." Yawned Kate. Barry scowled at her, then continued. "I'm tough. Not like you, I'm afraid, but you seem nice, Mysti. Oh, Jake told me your name." Mysti looked at Kate, then at Barry. "Um...well, you're OK as well I suppose." The two Harlequin girls gathered in the learning room. Kate chewed on some cheese while Mysti told Kate about Barry. "He seems quite nice, Kate." She smiled. "Mmmm," Kate was still eating the cheese. "Gar'ys wnivece twoo." "What?" Mysti laughed. "Gary's nice too!" Kate finished the food, and looked at her friend. "You know, we would sure love children, wouldn't we?" If Mysti had have been eating, she would have spat the food out. "Um, Kate? Get real. We hardly know these guys, even though that would be nice." Kate grinned. "Let's go and see our future boyfriends!" Mysti sighed, but laughed at the same time. "If you say so!" They went out of the room and looked around the norn terrarium, no sign of them. Then they saw a very nice norn who they liked a lot, a female Bondi norn called Harphel. Harphel was very helpful to them. "Hey, Harphel," Kate greeted her. "We need your help. Have you seen Ga.I mean the new norns?" Harphel replied. "Yes, who do you want? I know all of their names." "Cool, who's your favourite?" Mysti asked eagerly. "Mine's Ba." "Never mind," Kate said quickly. "We want to find Gary and Barry, the Toxic and Hardman norns." "Oh," said Harphel in a disappointed voice. "Are you sure you want to be bothered with those norns?" "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" scowled Kate. "Tell us where they are, Harphel." Harphel rolled her eyes and said, "They're really not your type, but OK.Gary is in the jungle and Barry is beating up a grendel doll. Are you sure you want them?" "Yes, Harphel, we do!" shouted Kate. "Goodbye!" She walked off, with Mysti following. "Kate, maybe Harphel's right," Mysti told her. Kate glared at her friend. "Harphel's never right!" "Oh yeah? What about the time she helped us find the missing Quirky Cookie Machine? And the time we needed to find Julie, Harphel was always there to help! Also Harphel helped us when you were hurt and she even offered to help in the war! Need I carry on?" Kate looked at Mysti, and rushed off. "Kate!" cried Mysti. "Oh no.she could get killed out there! My best friend! I have to go out there with her!" And with that, Mysti rushed after her. Kate saw her, and stopped. "No, you'll just try and stop me. Mysti, I thought you were my best friend." "I am," panted Mysti. "I was coming with you because I can't stand putting friends in danger. We're friends, so we stick together." Kate smiled. "We Harlequins don't mind danger, we just have a laugh. But thanks, let's do this together!" They decided to go to find Gary first, as he was in a location they knew of. They would have to ask Harphel where exactly the Hardman was, if she was still talking to them. So they set off to the jungle to see the toxic norn. First they went to the terrariums area, as it was known here in Tiemstone world. They saw all the doors, and pushed the jungle one. They looked around; it was very dark and scary, and as no one knew when the war was going to start, there might be grendels and ettins lurking here to attack. They cautiously looked around, and Kate shouted "Gary!" A voice replied, "Kate? Is that you?" Kate followed his voice and saw him eating rotten food. "Um.hi, Gary. Yes, it's me Kate!" Gary threw the food away and went over to Kate. "Hi!" he was going to touch her, but she might catch a disease off him. "I'm sorry about my breed, Kate. But looks don't matter. I can't help what I am, and what I do." "I don't think we have much in common anyway," Kate told him. "Sorry, I guess." And she grabbed Mysti and left Gary there. "Kate!" Mysti whispered. "You are so mean! How could you do that! He's nice enough, and you'll get a really cool baby with him!" Kate looked at Gary. He seemed upset. "Wow, Mysti, you're right. I'm horrible. I'll apologize, and maybe we can work something out." The norn walked over to the Toxic. "I was mean then, Gary. I'm sorry. I should never judge a book by its cover." Gary smiled. "Maybe.we could work something out?" Kate said, "That's what I was going to say!" She hugged Gary, forgetting his breed. They were happy, until. Suddenly a beast leapt out in front of them, causing Kate to scream. Gary went over to the beast. "Grendel?" Mysti shuddered. Gary nodded and went near to it. It was making the other norns sick, but Gary was already Toxic, so he managed to evade the disease and kill the grendel. "Oh, Gary," Kate kissed him, and a pop came after it. She was pregnant. Kate's eyes widened. "Mysti!" she hugged her friend. "Sorry, Gary, we have to go now, to talk to Harphel.you're welcome to come." "Yes, I will!" Gary got up. They discussed their child's birth. Then Mysti cried out, for she had seen Harphel in the terrarium area. "Harphel!" The Bondi turned round, saw Kate and turned away. "Look, Harphel, I'm sorry," Kate said, and she meant it. Harphel could tell, so she forgave her. "OK, Kate." She smiled, and Mysti asked where Barry was. The bondi replied, "He is. in the desert terrarium." The norns said thanks and ran off. They approached the desert terrarium. It was also dark in there, but Gary was protecting them, though not getting too near. "Um...Barry, are you there?" Asked Mysti. Suddenly Barry walked out of the darkness and hugged Mysti, which surprised her. "Barry!" she cried. "What are you doing?" "Nothing," he grinned. "Well, you seem to like me," Mysti said slyly. Barry nodded. "I like you too!" the norn said and hugged Barry. "Aaaawww," Kate and Gary said simultaneously. Just then everyone heard a high pitched scream. Kate and Mysti looked at each other in fright. A letter appeared on the ground. Barry read it out loud. "This is to all norns. The grendels and ettins were getting bored of waiting to attack you, so we just decided to kill a norn instead. We will attack later...if we feel like it." "Oh no," cried Gary. "The scream must have been from the norn who got killed, or someone who has seen them." They all rushed out, calling Harphel's name, but she never replied. "Pleeease don't tell me Harphel died." Kate was almost crying. Then they saw a crowd of norns, and pushed their way in. Harphel was there, and looked at Kate and Mysti. She was crying. Then Mysti saw who the dead norn was: It was Shandy. Collette was by her side, sobbing. Barry scolded himself. If only he could have been with them.