After talking with Jake and Adrianne, Ben got in bed and

stared at his ceiling. He thought about a few things: regents, the

prom, but mostly about Becca. Her blonde hair, her brown eyes,

her beautiful form, and of her magnificent personality. What

he loved most about her was her happy-go-lucky personality. She

was like a breath of fresh air to him, the only thing that kept him

from being completely emotionally empty. He smiled and realized

he really did love her. Unfortunately for him, she was in love with

someone else. She wouldn't tell him who, but he assumed it was

Jimbo.

Man, Jimbo had ruined all his hard work and sacrifice to get

Becca. First, there was last year's prom. Jimbo and Becca snuck

into the prom from the bathroom window, and they ended up being

part of the prom court somehow. Then, it was the whole thing with

the Operation Pineapple, which was a plot of Jimbo's to get back at

Ben for making him do something which he won't even dare think

about. It involved himself, Becca, and a giant piece of pineapple.

Not a fun experience.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Ben grumbled because he had just

started to fall asleep. 'Who could be calling at 11 at night?' he

thought as he grudgingly got up and answered the phone. "Hello?"

he said tiredly. "Ben? It's me, Becca." He heard her sweet voice

through the receiver on the phone. His sleepiness instantly

dissolved. "Why did you call so late at night?"

"Jimbo called and asked if you still wanted to go to the prom

with us in our carpool. He said that you might, but I was supposed

to ask you first. Well?" she said expectantly as Ben breathed a sigh

of annoyance on the other end. "No, I'll find a different way to get

there. Tell Jimbo I'm out," he said as he hung up the phone with a

disgusted look on his face. He went back up to his room and went

online, hoping that there was someone he could vent to. There

wasn't. So he went on one of the forums he happened to be a

member of and complained to the people who were online then.

They all told him to shut up.

There was one person, however, that told him to get in a

private chat-room with him. Ben agreed and accepted the invitation

that appeared on his screen from evildude434. Evildude434 told

him that the way to win her heart was to impress her with some

kind of power she didn't know he had, like strength or brains. Ben

replied by saying that she already knows everything about him.

Evildude434 put up a devil face and typed "Not everything." And

with that, the mysterious character logged off. Ben frowned

because he thought he knew what evildude434 was talking about.

********************************************

"Perfect. He fell right into my trap." The cloaked figure

signed off-line and smiled evilly. "The boy will soon bend to my

will. Mippa! Mullog!" Two imp-like creatures hopped into his

throne room. "Yesh Mashter?" The concealed figure turned toward

them. "I want you to get this young boy to show his powers at the

prom tonight. And you may use this." He handed them each a card

with an image printed on it. One was a muscular figure with a

completely blank face. The other was a beautiful woman . "I will

make Adrianne mine, and she will feel my pain!"

********************************************

Becca dreamed that she was walking on an ocean full of

flowers. It was daytime in her dream. She was barefoot wearing her

periwinkle prom dress. She looked up at the sky, and realized that

she was now underwater. She swam to the best of her ability, but

something was holding her in place. She blacked out.

The next thing she knew, she was standing on a big boat.

Amber, Ben, Jimbo, and Adrianne were there too. The seas

were rough, and Adrianne almost got tossed overboard. Becca held

onto the railing, but it disappeared. She almost fell over the side of

the ship, but a shining figure in red armor caught her and carried

her safely to the boat's destination. How she knew the destination

of the vessel, she had no idea. Her savior looked at her, and she

almost saw his face when...

********************************************

Riiiiiiiiiiiing! Becca's alarm clock went off. "I forgot to turn

it off," she mumbled as she went to put the thing out of it's misery.

She hit it on the surface fairly hard. She muttered something about

suing the company that made it as she tried to go to sleep again.

She did fall asleep, but she had her standard Jimbo-will-you-

marry-me dream. No more of the boat and the figure in red armor.

She hoped that it would turn out to be Jim, but somehow she knew

it wouldn't.

********************************************

Jake woke up again at about noon. He thought back to this

morning when he had had Adrianne in his arms for a brief moment.

She was still on the couch, asleep. She really was pretty. Maybe he

could ask her to dance with him at the prom.

Then a thought crossed his mind: What about that strange

rock he found two days ago? He felt it in his pocket of the pants

from yesterday that he had forgotten to take off. He quickly got

dressed in new clothes. He had tan khakis, a navy shirt, and his

nice warm wool socks. He put the precious jewel on a string and

put the string around his neck. He thought about his dream, and it

still scared him that he might die saving someone he hadn't seen

the face of. As he walked out of his room, he saw Adrianne waiting

for him in the kitchen.

"I'm going to need a prom dress," she said, hoping he would

take her hint. "I'm going to need to a suit," Jake replied. "Would

you like to pick out a dress while I pick out my suit?" Adrianne

laughed. "What's there to pick out? Guys always have the most

boring clothes. Don't you agree?" Jake nodded. "Girls usually

have better clothes than us guys, and it's not fair. You all get to

wear bright colors, and dresses, and what not. But guys get to wear

just one type of clothing all the time."

"You need to get a life." Adrianne said to him. They both

broke into peals of laughter as she said that. "You know what I just

realized? I don't have any extra clothes. You wouldn't happen to

have anything for me to wear, would you?" Jake raised his hand.

"Wait here." He went into his bedroom and rummaged around in

his dresser until he came out with some rather feminine clothes.

"I have no idea why these are in here, but you can keep them

afterwards. A keepsake of our time together." Adrianne smiled and

went into the bathroom to put them on. "How do these things fit

you? They're so big," she said from within her makeshift changing

area. "Fit into what?" Jake asked her. "The shirt," she replied.

"They seem to fit an elephant." Jake frowned. "I don't have any

pair of pants bigger than a size medium." Adrianne laughed.

"What's so funny Adrianne?" She came out of the bathroom

wearing the clothes. "I was trying to wear one of your towels."

They both laughed.

********************************************

Becca was depressed again. She still couldn't remember what

the face of the man in red armor was, at least she assumed it was a

man. 'Well, Bec, you know what they say about assuming,' she

thought to herself. ' When you assume, you make an ass out of you

and me.' She was thinking of calling up Jimbo and talking to him

about it, but she decided to go see a counselor instead. Counselor

Diana. She had a last name, but Becca could never remember it for

the life of her.

Councilor Diana was a rock that she could hold onto. Becca

remembered when she had first called up Diana Hotlines on the

phone and talked for hours about Jimbo and Ben and her wacky

love life. Diana just listened, as if she had nothing more important

she could be doing. Becca liked that feeling. She also got that

feeling very vaguely when she was talking to Ben. It was as if

he......... no. It couldn't be. Ben was just her friend, nothing more.

She decided to call up her councilor.

"Hello? Councilor Diana? I've got another Jimbo problem."

The councilor on the other end laughed. "I figured as much. It's

always a Jimbo problem." Becca frowned. "Actually, this time it's

more of a Ben problem too. I think Ben is jealous of Jim for some

reason. Every time I bring up the subject, he just kinda zones out,

ya know? It's as if........" she trailed away. "As if what?" Diana

asked. "Never mind," Becca said as she nervously got dressed.

"It's nothing. 'Bye!" She hung up

********************************************

"It's the perfect bait," said the cloaked figure. "It's too easy.

The Red Dragoon is madly in love with her, and he would do

anything to prove it. All we have to do is bait her! Mullog!" The

imp-like creature Mullog crawled over to him. "Yesh Mashter?" it

crooned. "You have the Faceless Card, right?" The creature

nodded. "Yesh Mashter," it said. "Use it on the girl named Becca.

The Dragoon will fall to her charm and he'll think she finally

wants him," the hooded figure said. "It's just too easy!" He cackled

again.

"Eevano." A woman's voice echoed through the halls of his

palace. "His Majesty wants that girl quickly, so I suggest you kill

her before you get too emotionally attached. This councilor scam

isn't going to work forever. Becca is smart. She'll find you out, and

then she'll get her Dragoon friend to kill you." Eevano laughed. He

put a voice changer up to his mouth.

"She won't figure it out," he said, sounding like Councilor

Diana. "I killed the real councilor a long time ago. If she comes to

visit her, she'll get a real surprise, and then we'll have her." He put

the voice changer back down.

"Why do we need her anyway? Adrianne is the one with the

special powers," he asked. "The master requested her personally,"

the woman replied. "He wants her to absorb the special powers

concealed in her. So we capture both of them."

********************************************

"So you've driven how many times before?" Adrianne asked

as she got into his dad's brand new, $10,000 Tiburon. "I told you,

lots of times," Jake lied. "You're a poor liar." "I know," Jake

replied as he buckled up. He pulled out of the driveway, and

promptly hit a mailbox. His mailbox.

"Now, this dress shop is just down the street, right? I mean,

you're not driving me all over town in this thing, are you?"

Adrianne said timidly. Jake lined the car up with the road.

"Adrianne, will you relax, nothing is gonna happen."

They pulled out of Jake's driveway, and again hit something.

It was someone's blue bin. "Recycling can be so annoying," Jake

quipped as he backed the car away from the deformed recycling

bin. Neither of them noticed a black car right behind them. At the

wheel was a strange, imp-like creature who worked for Eevano. He

was the tallest one, tall as a human, so he could drive a car. The

imp put the car into the drive position and went after Jake and

Adrianne. Jake and the mysterious black car pulled out of Jake's

street, and the black car followed him to the dress shop.

Adrianne went inside. "I'm going to go pick a dress out. Will

you wait for me here?" Jake nodded. Adrianne was right in front of

the store when the imp-like creature grabbed her and shoved her in

the trunk of his black convertible. "Help!" she yelled as he was

taking her away, but no one seemed to hear. It was as if they were

all in a trance. "Jake!" Jake jumped over to the imp-like creature

and demanded he give Adrianne back. The creature just glared at

him and threw some whitish powder at his face, shoved Adrianne

in the trunk, and drove off. Jake fell on the ground with a sickening

thump.

"I......... can't......... lose her," Jake said as he tried in vain

to rise. A man in a black cloak ran over to his side and poured a

silver-colored liquid in a perfect circle around Jake's body.

"You're going to be okay," the man said as Jake was

mysteriously able to stand again. "Who are you, and how do you

know about-" "No time," the man said as he swung into the

Tiburon. "Jump on the hood. Only you can save her now."

********************************************

Becca put the phone down on the receiver. 'How could I be

so stupid?' she thought. 'Man, she just doesn't care. No one does.'

Her brown eyes wet with tears, she picked up the phone again and

dialed the number of the only person she wanted to talk to right

now. Ben. It was strange, feeling one way about Jim and a totally

different way about Ben. They were just so similar. Like brothers

almost. 'Maybe it's not Jim I like,' she thought.

A crash came from her kitchen. Her thoughts interrupted, she

walked into the room, and found no one there. 'That's odd,' she

thought. Then a tiny imp-like creature jumped on her back and

pulled her to the floor. Ben was on the line.

"Becca? Becca, hello?" He heard her screams over the phone.

"Hold on Becca, I'll be right over."

********************************************

Jake followed the instructions of the mysterious man and

jumped on the hood of his car. "Not yet," the man yelled up at him.

"I have to save Adrianne, you told me so yourself," Jake replied.

"No, first you need to unleash your hidden power." Jake's hands

went to his neck and felt the green sphere. He focused on the desire

that powered his life: the desire to save the earth. 'Wait, that's not

it,' Jake thought as he felt the change take him over. The stone was

already working it's magic. It was the desire of the spirit that lived

in the stone that the world be saved.

Finally, the change was complete. Jake could feel his body

become a living weapon. Fortunately for him, he had parked the

car in a remote parking area and no one saw his transformation.

Precious time had been lost during this time, so Jake felt it crucial

to use all the time he had left wisely. The strange man started the

car, or so Jake guessed because he felt a sudden jolt as the car

started moving.

They chased after Adrianne and the imp-like

creature for a full five minutes at top speed before catching up to

them. Jake pulled out his giant cannon and fired a concentrated

beam of energy at the lock on the trunk. The lock melted off, and

the trunk flew open as Adrianne pushed with all her might. Jake

leapt over the gap connecting the two cars and rapped his arms

around Adrianne. "You're going to be alright now," he said with

what he hoped to be a comforting tone. She looked up at him and

smiled. The trunk came crashing back down on them, but, thanks

to Jake's enormous wings, it didn't shut. This is probably a good

thing, even though they could have just pushed upward to open it

again since the lock was broken.

With a giant leap, Jake flew into the air with Adrianne in his

arms. He looked into her green eyes, and said "You okay?" She

nodded. He held her closer as her flew up higher. "Where would

you like to be dropped off?" "At a friend's house, right there," she

responded and pointed at Becca's house. "I'm not a taxi service,"

Jake said, and Adrianne laughed. "Sorry." Jake shook his head.

"No really, I don't mind. It's on my way."

He dropped Adrianne off when he noticed Ben's car in the

driveway. 'Hmm, that's odd,' he thought to himself. They went

inside to find Becca on the floor crying, and Ben doing his best to

comfort her. "I'm gonna stay here and do what I can to calm them

down," Adrianne said as she ran over to Becca. "Oh, and by the

way," she said as Jake left. "Thank you, for saving my life." Jake

smiled again. "Don't mention it." He ran out the front door and

flew on his giant mechanical wings back home.

Becca's tears hit the floor with a splash as Ben and Adrianne

tried to get some kind of reason as to why she was flooding her

house. Becca opened one eye, and it's icy-blueness glowed with a

hint of cruelty as she uttered one terrifying word that made Ben

start to sweat: "Dragoon."

********************************************

A/N: Well, what do you think? Just to show my lack of

creativity with names, Lord of the Rings fans should spell Mullog

backwards, and LoD fans, which there should be a lot of here,

should switch the vowels in Mippa. I know this chapter wasn't a

very long one, but it will get better at the prom and going to the

prom. I might just have to split up the prom into two separate

chapters! Now for a title.............