Hey peoples! Sorry I didn't update in so long. But I was grounded. Stupid me. Anyway, hears a little more madness with 'Dances with Liger Pilots'.

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Kyle didn't get a whole lot of time to look at the strange scenery around him. With another pop, the pilot landed hard on what seemed like a marble floor, the impact knocking the breath form him. He took a moment to stand, examining his surroundings with his ears again. Soft and classical violin music met his ears, along with the clinking glasses and faint feminine giggling. The sight that met his eyes though, it was a tad bit shocking, but nonetheless puzzling.

Something reminiscent to a formal party was taking place. Penguin suits and evening gowns abound, along with the formal wear of their time and era, mixing like a flood of brightly colored silks and cloth, swirling about to the strange beat of the violin music. The room was massive, and could easily fit the entire first floor of Audrena's base within it with room to spare. Tables laid out with delicacies stood to one side, enticing to the eyes. A fairly flat but sweeping stair case led up to a set of massive brass doors, gleaming and glittering in the suspended chandelier light. Everything was marble or some other rare material, more stone pillars holding up the beautifully painted ceiling and massive stained glass windows opening up onto night-darkened balconies . . .

'Why on earth did that guy send me here?' He snickered at the bunch. 'Good god, what a bunch of stiffs.'

Blinking, his nose began to itch. On reflex, he reached up to scratch it, and got quite a surprise in the process. It was only then that he noticed that his own hands were gloved as well. With wide grey eyes, he examined his hands, then glanced down at his body, stifling a yelp. Kyle's clothes, unbeknownst to him, had been switched to the same formal wear as the rest of the guests at this well-to-do party.

It was all very disturbing.

"What in Zi?" He breathed, gazing out at the whole lot.

It was strange though; he could start picking out people from the various crystals in his nightmares.

After getting over the sheer oddness of the scene, he remembered the fact that Audrena was gone, along with that Malone guy . . . what a nut case.

A hand dropped onto his shoulder, making Kyle jump and whirl. He found himself staring into a pair of purple eyes, and his guard immediately went back up.

"Alright Malone, where's Audrena?"

"Stop harrying me Kyle. She's here. You'll just have to wait for a moment." He glanced down at an old watch on his left wrist.

"5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . ." He counted, sounding bored. Just as he was about to say 'one', some one appeared about 50 feet over their heads and smacked chest first into the polished floor with a cry of pain, growling in both discomfort and frustration. The curly haired dictator then smirked at Kyle, who glared back.

"Told you so." He said in a matter-of-factly tone, walking away toward the cuisine laden tables, smirking widely.

The fury pilot watched him go before stooping to help the fallen woman, who was pulling herself up slowly with numerous and structured yet colorful curses.

"You ok? That was a pretty bad fall there." He said, hiding a grin. The woman turned her head and glared at him with much venom, and Kyle recoiled a bit.

"Trust me," Audrena hissed, looking quite peeved. "I know!" Hauling herself to her feet, she dusted herself off to some extent, then glanced over at the questioner.

"Oh wait . . . oops . . . I thought you were that one monk guy again. He keeps following me around and asking me to bear his child. What a crackpot!"

A flicker of annoyance shot through his mind and he turned to see another black haired man blink in alarm and walk away whistling. (Two guesses who that is, heehee!)

"What is it with black haired morons these days?" Kyle sighed, shaking his head. A fit of giggling made him glance over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow.

"What's so funny?"

"You look like someone normal! That's fricken funny!" Kyle chuckled a little, looking her over as well.

"You shouldn't talk. You look somewhat feminine with that dress on." She donned a very sour look.

"What dress?" She spat, in all seriousness, having not worn a dress since the age of five. Kyle blinked, looking her over again, his eyes glittering mischievously.

"Isn't it kind of obvious?" The female pilot blinked, then looked down at herself and yelped, startling both Kyle and a few others that were passing by.

"What happened to my clothes!?" She stated hotly, staring down at the billowy lilac purple garment that draped her form, along with a pair of elbow gloves of the same material and color. She stuck out her lip and pouted, somewhat depressed.

"I hate this." She whined. "I hate this with much fervor." Kyle rolled his eyes, but had to suppress a small smile.

"Hey. Think about it this way. At least it isn't lime green." He quickly said the rest before Audrena could use the anger that was now flaming in her eyes.

"Purple suits you, it brings out the color of your eyes! Besides, you look taller." Kyle let out a small sigh of relief when Audrena glanced down at the ground and a delighted grin replaced her frown.

"Holy components, you're right!" She paused. "Wait a second . . ." Lifting up the rim of the gown, she looked under at her shoes, and found that she was still wearing her boots.

"Huh . . ."

Gazing around, Kyle began to notice that about an eighth of the men out conversing were more in a colonial style of dress, and were staring at Audrena's ankles* as she was trying to figure out why the rest of her clothing was replaced and not her boots. Getting a tad bit edgy, he cleared his throat promptly to get her attention.

"Have you tried every exit out of here?" Audrena gave him the I-know-you're-not-that-stupid look. He grinned sheepishly.

"Obviously. The balconies are shielded from the outside, the windows are all shatter proof, the bronze doors are electrified, and there's a teleportation shield overhead. Whoever got us in here must've been intent on not letting us out." Again, Kyle paused, this time feeling something intruding in his thoughts. Audrena halted, getting it as well.

"Listening in on us is he?" She muttered, ripping off her gloves and throwing them to the side. Her

fists immediately clenched, as though she was going to physically fight off the thing in her mind.

"Excuse me," Kyle jumped about a foot in the air as an icy cold hand was laid on his shoulder. He whipped his head around, only to stare into a pair of amber yellow eyes. Calming down about 2 inches, he took a step back.

"Jumpy, aren't we?" The dog demon couldn't help but taunt. This guy was so taunt you could almost play him like a guitar string. Kyle paused, another recollection coming to him. The man with white hair and dog-ears . . .

"Tell me," He continued, just as Kyle was opening his mouth to answer. "That there, she's your mate, right?"

Two things happened right then. Kyle gritted his teeth in embarrassment and turned red as a ripe cherry tomato. The other was that Audrena let out a growl of wrath at such an accusation, leaping forward and bashing the insulator's left jaw. How dare he say something like that!

Now, you have to consider a half saiyan versus a hanyo`. Both are powerful and prone to temper rages, but one has an advantage over the other. Incredibly strong bones. So the hanyo' got away without a shattered mandible. But it became a standoff, and both attacker and victim received damage.

Audrena fell back with a cry of pain; three of her knuckles broken in a hit that would normally send a person crashing to the ground, and the Inu stumbled backwards, 2 teeth knocked loose and a bruise starting to rise in the area. Kyle got between the two immediately, ready to hold the two apart. Inuyasha was just about fighting tooth and nail to get back at the woman who had just decked him, two of his teeth lying on the floor in a small puddle of saliva. Kyle was having a very hard time holding the furious dog-boy back, who was attempting to try and murder that female. Audrena readied the fist that wasn't cracked and limp, ready to brawl yet again, and rushed back into it. Quickly deciding that he had had enough, he threw them both about 20 feet in opposite directions. Malone looked on with a small smirk. Kyle's mental abilities were growing exponentially…

"Stop it, both of you!" Another voice cried, a tall orange-haired girl trotting forward, looking patiently vicious. She turned to Audrena first; who was shaking her hand in extreme pain.

"I can understand the anger from Inuyasha's words, but that doesn't mean you have to hit him!"

Audrena simply gave a snarl in response, Kyle's healing abilities going to work on her knuckles.

The flaming redhead then turned her attention to the dog-eared fellow, who eyed her dryly.

"Look Mystery-"

"It's Misty!" Kyle shook his head and led the still cursing Audrena away form the now feuding pair before things got ugly. Even if the bones and cartilage were restored, it still stung, and the liger pilot kept profanitizing.

"Stupid #$$ #& #^&#%^&# %&#%^&#^& %^U %^&#%&%!!!" Eventually, after numerous stares from the other guests, she stopped cursing and instead became quite calm again. Kyle blinked as a slower tone came the accompanying music, a tad bit sweeter in the sound. A small smile lit his face and he swept a bow, smiling at Audrena.

"Care to dance?"

A massive red blush came to Audrena's face and she stared incredulously at him with an expression of shock shining in her face.

"Here? Now?" Her head swung around towards the other guests, then back down at the gently smiling Kyle, amused at her reaction.

"I figured that would be your reaction, but yes. Here, and now. There's no one here to chide us for our actions, no one to poke fun. Just us and a group of strangers, heedless to our actions." Audrena stared him down for a while before shaking her head and sighing. Ok, so he was trying to get her in with his big vocabulary. Feh.

"Well, I do owe you a favor for fixing my knuckles . . . Fine then, I concede." She said, holding up her hands in defeat. Kyle blinked, cocking his head from the left to the right in slight confusion.

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"It is. I've never danced in my life. And those shoes look so shiny, I don't want to scuff them up."

Kyle eyed her warily.

"You almost had me believing you. Strike one." He took her right hand in his and grinned.

"Besides, there isn't a better time to learn then now." Audrena grit her teeth.

'Great. Absolutely wonderful. So NOW he gets romantic!'

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Nitric began growling in his sleep mode, a dream of some sorts affecting his mind. With a start, the fury jerked awake, shaking himself into full consciousness. Glancing to the side, he allowed himself a moment before nudging Wraith awake.

"Hey!" He whispered with his tone urgent. "Hey! Wake up! We got to go!"

The liger growled at him, her bladed tail wrapped around Newt, who was fast asleep.

His nudging became more urgent. "Come on Wraith, he got to get up. Kyle and Audrena are gone!" She groaned and put her head back down.

"Wait until the morning!"

Nitric sighed and rolled his eyes, and began nudging her again.

She growled warningly.

He continued.

Now thoroughly pissed off, she promptly bit his head in retaliation. The fury screamed through his shut jaw, and it came out muffled and distorted.

"Wait until the morning!" She groaned after releasing his head, curling her bladed tail tighter around the sound asleep Newt. "Go away!" Nitric, now thoroughly annoyed, kicked the liger with a clawed foot. Nitric shook his now pained head in disgust, turning around and walking out of the hanger.

"Fine then," He muttered to himself, plodding out across the desert into the star-lit night.

"I'll find Kyle and Audrena myself."

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Audrena donned a very sour look.

"Do we have to?" She hissed. "I mean, come on, it's not like we'll die if we don't!" Kyle gave a chuckle.

"Scared Audrena? Never knew you to be a coward."

That statement pushed all of Audrena's metaphorical buttons. That was a big insult in her books.

'I'll show you!' She thought silently, suddenly determined. She would prove him wrong. Oh yes, she'd show him! Kyle watched the fireworks display in her eyes and knew he had said the right thing to get that fire of conviction blazing.

"I'm not a coward. Just nervous." She hissed. Kyle moved closer, much to Audrena's increased uneasiness. This whole place made her apprehensive, and Kyle's actions were just making it worse. She shuddered, feeling an arm around her waist that most certainly didn't belong to her.

"Jeez," She muttered, blushing like mad and trying to cover it up by breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Your hands are cold."

"And going to new territory, might I add." Kyle murmured, going a little red. He had reason to be red. He had never touched anyone's waist, much less Audrena's. It sort of scared him, and he kept expecting some sort of physical or verbal violence. But none came. So he went on cautiously, hoping not to get hit.

"You know, I finally figured out why you mean so much to me." That was a little alarming. Audrena blinked, trying to remember when she asked that. She eyed him carefully, still keeping her distance.

"Yeah?"

Again, Kyle's tone was cautious. He still was expecting to get thrashed.

"Well, if you weren't around, I wouldn't feel complete." Audrena blinked, then nodded her head in a side to side motion in a version of 'Ok, I can deal with that.' It took a moment to realize the sheer gentleness in his voice, and to cover up her shock and somewhat embarrassed happiness, she implied a very strategic move.

She put her head on his shoulder.

A massive blush covered Kyle's face, letting out a happily content sigh. Audrena snickered silently in the back of her mind.

He was so easy to manipulate.

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The desert stretched on, the dry and cracked ground purple in the early morning, but Nitric's pace didn't let up. Desert animals and reptiles on their early rounds looked up with alarm then slight interest as the massive rumbling beast sped past them, going about their business as the mechanical thing melted into the darkness.

Nitric was now in a state of complete panic. Hundreds of situations regarding his pilot had run through his mind as he set out at about 1 in the morning, further fueling his alarm. It was now about 5:30, with dawn rising behind him, and Nitric was now in full-fledged panic, racing around at his top speed in any direction, trying to lock in on Kyle's DNA strands, which could be anywhere on the whole planet of Zi.

This could take a while.

After leaning towards the north, he smirked, turning sharply towards the DNA signal. Finally! It took long enough. But he began to slow, having been struck with a sudden thought. His pace continued to slow as he delved further into that idea, finally coming to a stop. What on earth was he doing that far north? Stretching his sensor to the limit, he tried to access Kyle's physical condition.

What he got back only confused him more.

What in God's name was he aroused for?!

Oh wait…never mind, there it goes…

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Audrena stirred on his shoulder. She, oddly, had found a sort of peace at this, but this was no time to contemplate strange, abnormal feelings. She could do that at a later date.

"Hey Kyle?" She whispered, trying to get his attention. It didn't work. "Kyle!" She hissed, but nothing seem to snap him out of the strange funk he was in…

Kyle was completely lost in his own emotions, though he wouldn't dare let them show. He was in a version of euphoria. This was the perfect situation, it was as though he was in the middle of the best hallucinogenic high any drug could possibly give. He was close to the only human he truly cared about, and she wasn't tried to kill him for it. Heck, the last time he looked, she appeared indisputably serene, almost comfortable. But then again, Audrena wasn't exactly the easiest to read emotionally…

A poke in his ribs popped his pretty balloon, and he was launched back into reality rather abruptly.

He stared into the rather annoyed face of his dance partner and grinned sheepishly.

"Err…thanks for the dance…it was rather enjoyable." This took Audrena off-guard. Well, that explains where he was.

"No problem, but keep at it, otherwise we'll get caught."

"What?"

"Shhhh…" They continued, though it was nowhere near as stiff-backed as the first time. She took her eyes to Malone, who was surrounded by various women, almost all rather scantly clad. They stuck out like a collaboration of sore thumbs among the formal wear, and it only made her more disgusted with him. Hanging with hoes eh?

"You got any bright ideas on how we can get out of here?" She whispered urgently. Kyle had to snap himself out of his little world again. Feeling her breath on his ear made him sort of giddy, much less whispering.

"Having fun are we?" The playful atmosphere disappeared immediately upon Malone's arrival. Audrena eyed him with suspicion, and a hint of jealousy. He was dressed casually, despite the fact that everyone else was in formal.

"Oh yeah," She said with the largest amount of biting sarcasm she could manage, putting her hands on her hips and talking to the ceiling. "I'm just having the time of my life, knowing that I'm in the company and keep of a psychopath!" Malone looked to the side and sweat dropped. A sharp wit. The Voidian hadn't changed a bit.

"I guess Kyle's stay in the institution didn't show up on his records."

Kyle went pale in shock, but recovered quickly, and Audrena couldn't help but snigger at him. Malone smirked at the glare of death he received.

"Well, I can truthfully say I'm not surprised." Kyle sweat dropped this time, not saying anything in return. A verbal counter-attack would only put him on this guy's level. Audrena snorted, trying to hide it by covering her hand with her mouth and failing miserably. She couldn't help herself. Even though her buddy was being vocally abused, she couldn't help but laugh at him. It was only a harmless joke, right?

Right?

"So why are you keeping us here?" Audrena demanded, getting back to the business at hand. Kyle glanced at her carefully, but nodded almost unnoticable, looking back at their host.

Malone chuckled, snapping his fingers. The dancers disappeared, the lights, the music, the people, everything. The only think left was the ballroom, dusty beneath their feet. It was dim and dreary, looking as though it had not seen the light of day in a few hundred years. The luxurious curtains were gone, replaced by thick, heavy sheets of foldable metal.

And in the middle of all this hung a massive chandolier, at least 5 times larger then even the largest antiques. The very last crystal scrapped the floor from a ceiling at least 50 feet high. Each of the crystals must've been made out of amethyst or something, because it glimmered purple in the minimal amount of light there was. Audrena was awe-struck, not by the fact that everything has disappeared, bu because of the sheer size of the chandolier. It towered over everyone there.

Kyle though, was shocked, and a bit of bile rose in the back of his throat. This was the chandolier...that very chandolier from his nightmare...

He scooted to Audrena's side.

"We have to get out of here, now." He hissed. Another chuckle from Malone, his lime green eyes flashing triumphantly.

"This is my life's work. I had to travel to 7 different dimensions to get this." He said, fingering one of the crystals. Audrena eyed him as though he was insane and ignorant, rather happy that she was in normal clothing again.

"That's impossible. Inter-dimensional travel?! We haven't even gotten to time travel yet, much less between universes."

Kyle nodded. "She has a point. If we haven't found out time travel yet, there is no way you can travel into other dimensions, because in the process, you would have to manipulate time as well."

Malone snorted, his grin dropping immediatly.

"Thanks for the quantum physics lesson Kyle. But unless the obvious is clear to you, I'll explain."

"This is an Essance Corona." Audrena snickered.

"I never knew you were the beer drinker."

"Not that corona you idiot!" Malone sighed heavily.

"There are very few of these, and I traveled to countless dimensions to stock it."

Kyle blinked and raised an eyebrow. "Stocking it? With what?"

Audrena paused, then it struck her.

'All of those people on the dance floor...'

"Oh my god..."

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Weeee! Chapter up! And I swear I'll be quicker with the next one, Essance Theif.