**Gomen, this is like...the world's shortest chap...EVER. LOL. But hey, its a chapter! ^_^ I just wanna say thanks to all of you who've stuck with me thus far, and I ain't even halfway done yet! ^_^ You guys are nice. And especially thanks to ReiHino for letting me use her as the main character and to Saito for letting me make fun of her majorly. ^_^;;;;; And its gonna happen again...^_^;;; Hehe...::runs and dodges attacks from Saito:: Here we go! And please be patient--precalc and school in general is becoming harder than I thought...I hate homework.**
The crickets chirped loudly in the cold night, a pleasant melody to listen to when trying to relax. Stars winked above, plentiful in the empty woodland that surrounded them. Arashi lay on her back, watching the glittering stars as the other two set up the camp. The grass underneath her was a bit damp, but at a good temperature to sleep on.
Yueh had set up tents before, but Niet was having a bit of trouble. At one point, the tent had refused to stay up, so she had attacked the wretched thing with her rapier. Thus it was her turn to keep first watch tonight after relieving them of one tent. Yueh made a mental note to set the tents up by herself next time and always, ALWAYS take Niet's sword out of her reach if she had to help.
"I still can't believe we made it so far in one day," Arashi commented to no one in particular. She watched a few of the leaves flutter in the breeze. "It seems impossible. Heck, I didn't even know that California had a forest like this."
Yueh shrugged as she inspected the inside of her tent. "I knew about the forests, but camping was never my favorite thing to do." Her voice was muffled from inside the tent. "I guess I'll have to get used to it," she sighed, peeking back out. Yueh glanced around and finally found the person to whom she was speaking. "And you need some rest. Your tent's over there." She pointed straight across from her tent's entrance to the slightly larger sleeping quarters a few feet away.
Arashi sat up and brushed off her back. She groaned as she stood up. "Aw, man, and this was an uneventful day..." She cracked her back out a bit as she shuffled over to her tent. "I can't imagine how I'll feel if we run into some fiends."
"Hey, you don't have to stay up half the night," Niet whined. She was practicing swinging her rapier around, doing various fencing moves taken straight from movies. "I have to keep watch while you get to sleep."
"Its your own fault." Arashi's normal personality had finally come out of the shock of becoming a summoner earlier in the day, and her sarcasm had returned in full force. "You had to chop up the third tent, Niet." She crouched down and slipped into her own tent with a giggle. "At least we can use it as pillow stuffing."
"Shut up." Niet returned the sword to its sheath and peeked into Arashi's tent. "You have a worse temper than I do."
Yueh felt the fight escalating and pushed Niet away from the tent and back to her lookout point. "You, watch. You," she pointed in Arashi's tent's direction, "sleep. Wake me up in about 4 hours, Niet." She crept into her own tent with a kind "good night."
Yueh paced around the camp, her eyes watching keenly at first. Within 15 minutes, her eyelids began to droop and she had to shake her head every few seconds to keep them open. In half an hour, she was leaning deeply on a tree, her chin to her chest, snuffling quietly as dreams filled her head.
Hearing a loud snort, Yueh awoke with a start. She grabbed her charm tightly in her hand as she snuck out of the tent, preparing a Thunder spell. The energy crackling through her hands quickly shorted out as she saw Niet slumped against a tree, the rapier at her knee stuck in the trunk. Yueh sighed and jogged over to Niet, shaking the elder girl awake.
"Eh...huh?" Niet blinked her eyes rapidly. She saw Yueh staring at her angrily. She went to stand up straight, but the rapier once again obstructed her. She pulled at the handle, grunting. "This thing is more trouble than its worth." When she finally pulled the blade free, she stumbled forward, knocking Yueh to the ground.
Yueh sighed and stood up again. "Stay awake. We don't want any surprises."
Niet yawned. "Okay!" Stretching out her arms, she nodded. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." Rubbing her eyes, she yawned again. "Man, this is going to take a while to get used to." She did a mock salute as Yueh turned to go back to her tent.
She froze midstep, her eyes watching Arashi's nearby tent. The cloth was being moved by something other than the wind. Niet watched Yueh with curiosity.
"What is it?"
Yueh didn't respond. Not directly, anyway.
"ARASHI! WAKE UP! FIEND ALERT!" Yueh screamed, throwing a shock of Thunder at the area behind the tent. Arashi had just scuttled out of the tent as the electricity flew over her. She ducked and rolled across the dirt as something was thrown back by the sparkling light.
"Yueh! Watch where you throw that stuff!" Arashi shouted. She pulled her long side belt out from its loops and began to swing it around. "I can't quite see it, guys!"
"Neither can we!" Niet shouted, pulling her rapier back out. Yueh lit a flame in her hand to better see everything.
Lined behind the now flattened tent were three fiends: a Dingo, a Water Flan, and a condor. Yueh and Niet aligned themselves next to Arashi, each with a determined look on their face.
Arashi let a grin escape her. "Our first battle, girls. You'd better do your job as guardians!"
Niet and Yueh nodded. Niet held her rapier's blade vertical to her face. The blade gleamed in the fire light held above Yueh's head.
Arashi nodded in response. She used her favorite phrase once again.
"Let's rock, baby."