Yume- I finally finished typing!

Bright- Hey, this doesn't end at Sank Kingdom.

Yume- sweatdrop The last scene was too cute I had to end there.

Minako- Insert Disclaimer Here.

Phoenix

Chapter 9: Shall I Fight?

Heero and Quatre rolled out of the way as the snake woman dove at them. The human stood and drew his sword.

"Sssso, you'll resssisst, will you? I think I sssshould warn you, a sssword wont do you any good."

Heero grunted. His eyes were adjusted to the light pouring in from above.

"Wh-who are you?" asked Quatre from his position behind his protector, his voice quiet and fearful.

"Oh me? I am Dorothy. I'm here to take you home, baby bird."

"You'll have to get through me," growled Heero.

"Oh, alright. I guesssss I could have a lunch break."

"Hn." Heero readied himself for an attack.

Dorothy lunged at Heero. He dodged, pushing Quatre the other way.

"Climb out. I'll distract her," he ordered the blonde.

Quatre stumbled toward the opening. He looked up at the hole. He had never tried flying without something to jump off of. Quatre glanced back at the mercenary. Heero was having difficulty hitting the snake-woman. The way things were going the human would need help.

Quatre took a step forward.

No! He couldn't! He couldn't risk using that power; that fire. It was out of control!

"It was a controlled fire, directed at exactly what was threatening you."

But Trowa was wrong. It was wild! It had scared Quatre. Maybe if he had practiced, then he could help Heero.

Right now there was only one thing he could do. He had to find the others.

The little phoenix glanced around and spotted a boulder he could use as leverage to get airborne. He climbed up, casting worried glances over at Heero.

Heero swung at the snake beast, once again missing his target. He was getting annoyed.

"Isss that the besssst you can do?" hissed Dorothy as she slithered away from another strike. She noticed that her target was about to escape. Just when Quatre jumped into the air, Dorothy's tail lashed out and caught him by his leg.

"AH!" Quatre cried out in surprise as he was pulled down to the ground.

"Quatre!" called Heero.

"Now, now. I can't have you fly away now." Dorothy's tone dripped with venom.

Quatre grimaced as he tried to sit up. The grip on his leg was too tight!

"Now, what will you do?"

I have to try. I have to use the fire, thought Quatre. With a deep breath, he plunged himself into that pit of fire that rested within him.

Trowa was walking back from town with Fang at his side. He wondered if the others had made any progress. Suddenly Fang took off barking. Startled, Trowa followed. An explosion ahead of him made his run faster.

Quatre! Heero!

"Duo," called Wufei.

"What?" the sulking imp asked.

"Look." Wufei pointed off to the distance.

Duo looked over and noticed a wall of fire. "So?"

"You baka!" The dragon smacked Duo upside the head. "Heero and Quatre are in trouble!"

Duo rubbed at his head and then jumped up. "Kat has fire power!" He took to the sky. Wufei rolled his eyes and followed.

"Agh!" cried Dorothy. The fire was too hot for her to handle. She glared at its cause.

Quatre sat with his knees drawn to his chest, arms locked around his legs. His face was buried in his knees.

"Damn it!" screamed Dorothy. She couldn't stand the heat much longer. She growled before slithering away.

Heero found the heat unbearable. He noticed Dorothy leaving, yet the fire didn't stop. He looked over at the huddled form of Quatre. The boy didn't seem to notice the fire around him. He had to snap Quatre out of it before they were burned to a crisp. Or to be more exact, before he was burned.

Heero carefully maneuvered around the fire, calling out to Quatre. Heero was sweating and panting by the time he reached the young boy's side.

"Quatre. Quatre!" called Heero. "It's Heero. You've got to take control."

"I can't," murmured Quatre so quietly Heero almost couldn't hear it.

"Yes you can! Now focus!"

Quatre cringed at the tone but obeyed. Heero felt a little guilty but shook it off. Now was not the time for emotions. Quatre took a deep breath, trying to calm himself and draw the fire back in. He jumped slightly when he felt Heero lay a comforting hand on his shoulder. It seemed that was all he need to clear his mind of doubts. The fire died away.

Heero sighed in relief, feeling cool air from above fill the cave. He felt something fall onto his shoulder. Looking to his side, he was met with a blonde head. Quatre had passed out.

Trowa, Duo, and Wufei met up at the large crevice, Fang barking down into the hole. At the same time, Heero climbed out with Quatre on his back. The wolf licked at the two lost party members before Wufei pulled him away.

"What the hell happened!?" shouted Duo.

"Just ran into some trouble. Quatre exhausted himself," explained Heero in a casual tone.

"What kind of trouble?" Duo demanded.

"There's a town not to far from here," said Trowa. "Then just a few miles off is the Sank Kingdom border."

Heero nodded. "Let's go." The dragon, elf, human, and wolf began to walk away,

"Hey! I asked a question here!" Duo ran after them.

Quatre sat up and stretched. Releasing a loud yawn as he rubbed at his eyes. He looked around. He was in a hotel room. A window to his right was slightly open and showed the night sky. Next to his bed was an oak nightstand with a candle flickering on it. On the other side of the nightstand was another bed. Across from Quatre was a red couch.

The door to the left of the couch opened, calling Quatre's attention to Duo.

"Hey there, Pryo-Kitty!" Quatre rolled his eyes. It seemed the imp had an endless supply of nicknames for him. "I brought ya some food from the hotel's kitchen. We have some soup, bread, and milk for the Kitty Kat." He handed the food to Quatre.

"Thanks, Duo," laughed Quatre.

"Soooo…. Heero told us what happened."

Quatre sighed. "I can't believe I let the fire run wild like that. I wanted to help, but I didn't think I could."

"It's our own fault," said Wufei as he entered. "We were waiting to get you a weapon before starting your training. We failed to anticipate that the Beasts would try again so soon after their first attack."

"We'll just start the training now. We could stay here for a day. Your sister gave us plenty of money to spend," said Trowa. He and Heero joined the others inside.

"Yeah! Quatre, if you're loaded why didn't you tell us? I didn't find out until we got here," whined Duo.

Quatre smiled. "Professor H thought it best to train me outside of town. We were just staying in the cabin for awhile."

Professor H? thought Heero. I'm sure I've heard J mention him before. He decided to think about it later. Heero pushed away from the wall, which he had been leaning against and entered. "Enough. Let Quatre eat. We'll start training in the morning."

"Hey! This is my room too! You can't kick me out!" complained Duo. Heero just glared at the imp who grumbled. He left the room, following Trowa and Wufei to the diner.

Heero turned back to the small blonde in their care. "Duo and Trowa will be sharing this room. Wufei and I are in the next room to the left." He turned to go.

"Wait, Heero. I'm sorry about before." Quatre looked down at his food. "I should have tried harder."

"You beat yourself up to much." Quatre looked up to see Heero standing next to him. The older boy placed a hand on his head. "You're doing fine for just awakening to your destiny. Besides, maybe some of Duo will rub off on you and the other way around. Kami knows he needs to calm down."

Quatre couldn't resist giggling.

"Now eat and get some rest. We'll start training early tomorrow morning."

Quatre watched him leave. Fang entered the room before Heero closed the door and walked over to the boy. Quatre reached out at scratched at his head. "Heero's a real nice guy, isn't he Fang?"

Yume- See, a cute ending.

Bright- Now what do we do. I wrote about Sank.

Yume- Hm… let's think.

Minako- Don't take to long.