Karone-sakura; thankyou bubs! HUGS AND COOKIES FOR YOU!

Now, i'll do this for you AND Midgy!

NOT FOR ANYONE ELSE! AND RATING WARNING!

"Hey! GET BACK HERE!" I screamed, running as fast as my legs would take me. I was beyond peeved off. And the guy was on a horse!

I was that mad that I hardly cared I was running after this guy in my underwear.

Seriously.

Amanda and I had found a place to just have a quick wash, and some jerk had come along and taken our clothing.

Was I mad? You bet your sorry ass I was!

Three weeks of just mindless wondering, and simular tests, and I'd about had it with these things. But… I was a pawn, and couldn't do a bloody thing to stop them.

Now you tell me that wouldn't make you just the slightest bit pissy.

"Hey! Yeah! The French with a bad hairdo!" I yelled, snatching up a rock by the side of the road as I ran, and hurled it at the back of his head.

"Oomph!" Spot on! He fell of his still running horse like a ton of bricks.

I would have been even more mad if he wasn't holding onto our clothes in his little bag or whatever.

"Hah! Never mess with moi!" I yelled in triumph. Seconds later a white wolf sped past me, and I yelped.

(Jade, you always have to go with the dirty way. Not to mention the embarrassing one) Amanda said as she reached the guy, and a growl made him stay down until I reached them.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't really thinking about finesse right then" I said as I snatched the bag from his hands, then searching through it to find we really did have all our stuff back. Then I leaned in close to the guys face, who was still shrinking back because of Amanda, and said,

"Just for that, I'm keeping your bag"

He said a string of French words, and I just sighed, rolled my eyes, and walked off with Amanda by my side.

(I really hate this) she muttered as we reached the treeline, walking in until we thought it was safe enough. She shifted back, and we put on our clothes. I put the bag over my shoulder, smiling and thinking it would be a cool bag… if it didn't smell like horse butt so bad. I chucked it away, then followed Amanda as we made our way through the underbrush.

"Now which way did we come from?" She asked. I shrugged.

"I dunno. I was too focused on wanting to kill a French dude"

"Dangerous girl, you are"

"I'm not that bad, am I?"

"Well, when you're in your other home land, ya are"

"Well, maybe it just brings out… a different side of me" I shrugged again, and we finally stepped through until we found Rachel and Cassie. Rachel was morphed, and Cassie was halfway through.

(What happened?) Rachel asked. Amanda smiled and told her. I swear, her mouth twisted into a serious smirk.

"Well, as long as you're both ok" Cassie said, now fully human. Rachel was soon the same seconds later, and all of just sat in a heap on the ground.

"How the heck did we end up here?" Amanda sighed, leaning back-to-back with me.

"Some creep who thinks we're rats in a cage" I muttered, feeling exhausted. I never even got the chance to wash my clothes… not fair…

"Well, whatever happens next, just know we're all in this together, all right?"

I was about to agree with Rachel, when something dropped out of the trees. We all just… um… well… screamed.

And then we realised it was only Rtaia.

"Can you warn us before you do that!" Rachel snapped. Rtaia cocked her head to the side, considering.

"I am… sorry. I did not mean to frighten you. I thought you heard me"

"With human ears? I don't think so" Cassie muttered.

"Again, I apologise. I thought I had seen something to the west of here"

"Like?"

"Are you girls ok!" Ithiell was suddenly beside us, making us almost scream again. Seconds later three figures crashed through the trees, all of them wearing just their pants.

"What is it! What happened!" Jake looked panicked as he stood there, dripping wet, chest heaving and looking like he was about to have a heart attack.

I think he looked cuter than usual like that.

"Small scare. No worries" Amanda said, letting out a small giggle.

"Rtaia" Cassie smiled reassuringly.

"Crap! Our clothes!" Robert suddenly vanished, and the two boys followed.

I looked at Amanda, and then the four of us cracked up laughing. How could we not!

"Um… what?" Ithiell was worried, and seconds later Tobias landed in a tree. We all laughed harder, until we were all sprawled on the ground, laughing so hard we were crying.

"Can…. Can you…" Rachel tried to speak, but she was laughing too hard to get out another word.

(Ithiell? Can you tell me what's going on here?)

"Truthfully? I have no friggin idea"

(Um… Rtaia?)

"I do not know"

We were beginning to get over it by the time the boys came back, trailing Ax, but the looks on their faces just made us crack up again.

We were hundreds of years in the past, with no idea why we were here, and we were laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world.

And after so long, for us… it was.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

(Something smells good) Marco sighed as we passed over another hut.

(Yeah) Amanda agreed (Too bad we're not allowed to stop)

Neither Ithiell or Jake got the hint.

(I'm going to shift back and run around naked) I said, excluding the rest of the guys. Nada. Nothing. They were still out of it. Kind of disappointing, really…

We were flying around, mindlessly again. All I really wanted after over a month was to get into a nice hot tub and stay there until I got extra pruny, then shove on all my warm night clothes and hop into a nice comfy bed and sleep for about a week.

I guess we were all in that sort of mood.

Wait, I forgot the banquet of greasy take-away food, then mountains of chocolate that I may or may not want to share with my bestie. God I missed KFC…

Rachel tried to help by going through the anatomy of both the guys and girls, with Rtaia confusedly asking what they were. But Ithiell and Jake… nothing.

They just flew on, mindless drones of birds.

(Let's dive-bomb em) Marco suggested.

(And they would respond to that because…)

(Well… I dunno!)

(That would work about as well as us hitting them over the head) Robert muttered, sighing.

(Maybe we could fly away and leave them, and when they realise we're gone…) Amanda trailed off, letting out her own frustrated sigh.

(Maybe…) I trailed off, then turned my thought-speak to private (Jake? Jake, I need you)

(Huh?) It worked.

(Jake, I need you)

(Whoa-what? What's wrong?)

(He speaks!) Marco laughed giddily (Thought we lost you for a second there)

(No. I was just… thinking) he still seemed out of it, but I confirmed what I knew. Inside, it made me smile.

So, I wasn't the only one who'd been had.

(So, what now?) Tobias asked.

(Um… I'm not sure. Ithiell?)

(K-huh? huh-what?)

(What now?)

(Um… land and take a break? Maybe I'll be able to think clearly without seeing phantoms in front of my eyes)

(So… you saw it too?)

(Just a glimmer, but… yeah. I think so)

(JAKE! ITHIELL! GET A FRIGGEN GRIP!) Amanda snapped. We were all silent for about a full five seconds. Amanda hardly ever snaps at people. Especially Ithiell.

(All right) Ithiell replied meekly, and I could almost have laughed. But as I dipped my wings, I saw… in the distance, I think… a golden eye… what…

(Jade!)

(Coming!) I dove, landed, and soon I was myself again. I looked around… and saw all of them looked a little nervous. They were all looking at something behind me…

I turned slowly… very slowly… and almost gasped.

"No friggen way" I breathed, suddenly realising anything was possible in this place… whether real or created…

It was a unicorn. A white, bigger than life, unicorn. It was beautiful. It was amazing. It was… real.

Then…. fire! Right above our heads! We all ducked, some of us screaming in terror.

I looked up… and had to resist saying something I'd soon regret.

"A dragon! It's a freakin dragon!" Robert yelled in horror.

"Ithiell! We were right!" Jake was yelling, but I couldn't see him. A dust cloud soon enveloped me as those massive wings beat above me, and a golden eye stared down at me… as if he knew something I didn't…

"Crap!" Someone screamed, and all I could see was the dust, and feel it in my lungs. I coughed, my eyes stinging as I tried to see my friends. I heard screams of the others…. oh god, where they ok! Felt something slam into me, knocking me down and covering me.

I stayed under them for as long as I possibly could, until the heavy dust began to clear, and I could finally see around me….

Robert helped me up, and we looked around for our friends. We slowly found them, one by one, through the slowly clearing smoke.

Then it was gone, along with the unicorn and the dragon. I looked around…

And realised three of us were missing.

"Oh no…" I gasped, nearly falling and Robert managing to catch me before I did.

Three of our friends… three of my closest friends…

Amanda, Cassie… and Jake.

Sorry guys. As you can tell, I kind of like dragons. Don't know why, I just love how they look, and what they can do… wicked!

Midgett; Update soon! Please? (puppy eyes… xblink blinkx)