Love Bites

Mia hummed a tune as she walked towards the toilet, needing to answer a call of nature. The door was locked and she didn't have to worry about anybody coming in. Neither was she worried about the author writing about her going to the toilet. She reached out and lifted the lid, getting the shock of her life as a head popped up out of the toilet.

"Mia!" Alex cried, unaware of how strange it was to be right in the toilet. "I came all the way for you, now will you toi-let me profess my devotion for you and finally accept me as the one you truly love? I will not accept no for an answer!"

"AUGH!" Mia was truly enraged now, she had heard Alex make a bad pun and it was even worse because it was ALEX right there... "You pervert, what do you doing in the toilet?" She angrily pulled the flush and Alex began to get pulled down.

"Nooooooooooooo!" Alex wailed as he disappeared down the toilet out of sight. "Miiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"

"Jerk," Mia did her business then went to the sink to wash her hands. She put the plughole in the sink and turned the tap on. Mia received yet another shock as Alex came through the tap, shrunken down, and splashed into the water.

"Mia..." Alex simpered, splashing around in the water and gazing up at her. "Please tell me you never get that sinking feeling when you see me, please tell me you feel the same way about me as I you! I love you, I will conquer all odds!"

"SHUT UP!" Mia yelled, plunging her hand into the sink and wrenching out the plughole, smiling as Alex was washed down it along with the water.

"Nooooooooooooo!" Alex screamed again, disappearing through the plughole and going down into the drain. "I love yoooooouuuu!!!"

Mia sighed in relief, washed her hands and turned around to see... Alex.

She screamed and sat up in bed, sighing in relief and wiping her forehead, relieved that it had just been a scary dream.

"Mia?" Isaac called from his bedroom. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Mia yelled back. "Just a bad dream!" She slumped back down onto the bed, burying her face in the pillow and trying to forget the horrible dream about Alex popping up, it was more than she could bear just seeing him.

It was morning and Felix was walking. He felt a little grumpy due to having woken up early and being unable to sleep, and just taking a walk in the cold fresh air made him want to go back to bed, but he might as well just enjoy it. Vale was nice and quiet, and those annoying fangirls running around screaming for Picard would be fast asleep in bed if they had any sense at all. Except, Felix mused with a devious smile, they probably didn't have much sense if they went for the Lemurian.

Little did he know that a proud member of the OBHL was currently writing his name on a list, frowning and looking dangerously decisive after Felix's little thought. As it was, Felix was barely conscious of anything at the moment in his sleepy daze. If he was conscious of anything, he would know he was still in his pyjamas. Felix idly whistled a little tune as he walked towards the plaza, not knowing why he was going that way, but for some reason everybody liked to go to the plaza.

"Hey, cute pyjamas, Felix!" An insane person who was awake shouted through their window, a goofy grin on their face. "You should wear them more often!"

"You're up?" Felix mumbled sleepily. "Crazy, insane person being up at this time of the morning."

"Excuse me, you're up too!" The angry person slammed the window and Felix had the horrible feeling that he was being added to somebody's list, accompanied by the even worse feeling that it was not the first time that morning. Gulping, Felix considered the next plan of action that he should take and he did, turning and running back home, screaming. He did not get very far before a cranky squirrel in a tree flung an apple at him and it smacked his head neatly. Neatly enough to make him fall over.

"This is turning out to be a bad day," Felix whined, getting to his feet and rubbing his bruised head "I don't think that anything could possibly make this day worse. I get added to lists and a squirrel hits me with an apple..." His tirade continued as he walked into his house, listing all the bad things that had happened to him in his life as he crawled into his bed. He continued until Picard awoke and told Felix to shut up, so he didn't have much choice in the matter but to shut up.

Later on, Vale was now awake and it was as loud as it tended to be. Insane fangirls ran through the village shrieking for Lemurians and Felix shot death glares at them as he passed, trying to survive the swarms and get through alive. They were a genuine health hazard, Felix believed, and he wouldn't admit it, but he did feel a little bit unhappy that he didn't have his own fangirls. He felt that he should, he had the good looks and better clothes than Picard and he was younger too, possibly by about a hundred years. He had led a group to saving the world, and he had survived about a million dangerous situations.

'It's not fair, Picard gets all the popularity,' Felix sulked towards the plaza, being drawn to it by its unbeatable pull that drew every Valean or visitor to it, running over the lists of reasons why he was better than Picard in his mind and deciding that he definitely was. Felix stood at the top of the plaza steps and looked around the plaza, scouting it for visitors, just in case. Visitors could be predictable. Felix could even remember when he had been a visitor... not that he planned to be again. The Venus Adept saw a very familiar sight and froze to the spot, trying to deny who it was, but unable to. 'Oh no...'

'This is so boring,' Feizhi was unhappy as she wandered around the plaza, surrounded by rabid fangirls screaming about a Picard. She had expected Vale to be better than this, but now she was wishing she was back home in Xian. At least she could play at Kung Fu and beat up Hsu and make him cry. He nearly always cried, especially when Feizhi kicked him very hard in certain places. 'Maybe I should go back...' She looked up and her mouth dropped open.

'Oh no, she's seen me!' Felix was now breaking into a cold sweat. He had a better memory than Kraden, he remembered all too well how she had given them a Golden Ring, but Sheba had liked it so much, they didn't have the heart to give it to Isaac despite promising her... and if she'd already seen Isaac and she knew... he was in trouble. 'What do I do?' Felix frantically looked around for a quick escape route.

"Remember me?" asked Feizhi, standing at the bottom of the steps and giving him a penetrating stare that chilled Felix to the bone. "I think I'd be quite disappointed if you didn't, there aren't that many girls with purple hair." She smiled sarcastically.

"F-Fei...zhi..." Felix nodded slowly, his eyes widening. "Y-yeah, we saw you in Champa... but why are you here in Vale? Where do you live anyway?"

"I live in Xian," Feizhi responded. Felix facefaulted and she snorted. "I didn't come here all the way by myself. I went to Champa alone because it isn't that far, but I did have escorts with me to help me through the Lamakan Desert." Now she seemed to be grinning evilly.

"And what happened to your escorts?" Felix asked, hoping Feizhi really wasn't a psycho. Perhaps she was and that led to stalking Isaac, but then again she didn't seem to be the type, but appearances can be defective. 'Help!'

"Oh, I gave them the slip back in Vault yesterday," Feizhi chuckled. "They wanted to stay the night because they were tired, but I wanted to see Isaac again so I just disappeared and got here. It wasn't that far. They should be here soon anyway... oh, and do you know what I can do to monsters that decide to ambush me when I'm out walking?" By now she was walking up the plaza steps towards Felix.

"Er.... o...k..." Felix choked out, taking a hesitant step back. Feizhi shot forwards in a whirl of arms and legs and in an instant, Felix was on his back and Feizhi's foot was on his chest. He stared at her nervously, into her triumphant green eyes, and he wished very much he had stayed in his house all day. "Er... good...kung...fu?"

"Precisely," Feizhi removed her foot and Felix thankfully got to his feet. The Xianese girl turned and walked back down the steps, Felix dazedly following, still a little shellshocked from being pinned to the ground. He did not notice Ivan and Sheba struggling past him, wrestling a chest between the two of them. Had he bothered to examine closely, he would have noticed that it was tied up with ropes for some reason. "Where are those stupid escorts?" Feizhi grumbled, looking at the gate. Her eyes lit up as she noticed people coming towards the gate. "Aha!"

"Miss Feizhi!" The escorts cried out, tumbling through the gate and rushing towards her. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where did you go? What are you doing here?" Feizhi rolled her eyes as the questions rolled over her, and the escorts soon looked at Felix. "Did you help her? Who are you? You're not Isaac, are you?"

'3...2...1...' "AAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!" Felix screamed. "I'm Felix not Isaac!" He turned and ran, almost ready to explode at being asked if he was Isaac. The day was already one of the worst ever, now that some silly buffoon had thought he was Isaac. He really wished people would stop assuming he was a pirate king with a stalking tendency. Felix, Jenna, Sheba, Picard and Kraden knew well about Isaac being the Pirate King after beating Deadbeard, they just hadn't told him yet, they had hoped the pirates would catch up and tell Isaac first. Jenna thought it was a pity, she wanted to tease Isaac about being the king of the pirates.

"Er... I think that's Felix, not Isaac?" Feizhi shrugged, smiling. "Excuse his... er, reaction, it would seem that after I mistook him for Isaac, he's a little bit touchy about it. Hey! I forgot to ask him what he did with my Golden Ring!" Realising the escorts were still asking questions, she snapped. "Yes! I'm FINE!" This did not have the desired effect though, as they decided to be worried about her being angry and ask even more questions.

"Well, well, well," Picard was standing at the top of the steps, arms folded and a very devious smile on his handsome face. Felix stopped in front of him and scowled as Picard continued to talk. "It looks like you're getting chatty with Feizhi. I'm disappointed, you'e attracting better girls than me. How do you do it?" Felix's scowl just became even angrier and he shoved Picard aside, stomping off. "Well! You need to learn some manners!"

"I hate, hate, hate this," Garet moaned, mopping up the kitchen floor. "That idiot Aaron just had to eat way too much ice cream last night and spoil the floor, giving me extra work to do. It's so unfair."

"I don't think he originally planned to throw up," Jenna attempted to console her distressed boyfriend. "And after this, there's only four days left of chores."

"Four days seems like an eternity," Garet whined. "That Kay's so mean!"

"Hey," Jenna frowned as she thought of something. "Why is Kay making you do the chores anyway?"

Garet looked up and opened his mouth, before closing it again, his eyes widening in horror as Jenna began to get the 'You better tell me before I hurt you' look. Fortunately, that life-threatening moment was disrupted by two Jupiter Adepts rushing through the door with a now untied treasure chest and slamming it down on the kitchen floor.

"Hey!" Garet growled. "I just mopped that area!"

"Hey!" Ivan pouted and tried to look as sad as possible. "I've saved you from having to confess to Jenna twice, you could at least be thankful..."

"Grr..." Garet clenched his fists and scowled.

"Did you like the dolly?" Jenna asked Sheba with a sadistic smile on her face. "I worked very hard on it."

"We're sorry," Ivan and Sheba said together. Garet and Jenna were lost for words, staring dumbstruck at the two Jupiter Adepts who looked back solemnly, pointed at the treasure chest. "For you." Then they turned and left the house slowly, closing the door behind them. Isaac was just coming up and he was surprised to see them bursting into hysterical laughter, but he did not ask why.

"A gift?" Jenna snorted derisively. "It's probably just an empty chest, they're trying to trick us, but I can see right through their evil plan."

"Ooh, I wonder what's in it?" Garet dropped the mop which clattered to the floor and he crept over to the treasure chest, reaching out to lift the lid.

"Garet..." Jenna said warningly. She froze as the treasure chest blinked... blinked?! "GARET! DON'T! IT'S A-"

The Treasure Chest leapt up onto its legs, arms waving in the air and 'lid' flapping open and shut as Garet stared openmouthed at what had once resembled a treasure chest, but rather than just any treasure chest it was now just a...

"Mimic..." Jenna said wearily, as the Mimic clattered loudly and advanced towards Garet who let out a yell and got to his feet, backing away from the Mimic.

"They tricked us!" Garet yelled. "Ivan and Sheba tricked us! I knew it was a trick!"

"Actually, I knew it was a trick," Jenna argued. "You clearly didn't think so, otherwise you wouldn't have bothered to open it!"

"Hey!" The Mimic was now running into chairs and knocking them over. "Stop that!" Garet yelled. "I've got to clean up this stupid kitchen! Watch, I'm going to use my Psynergy on this horrible beast, how about a nice Lique-"

"I don't think so, Garet," Kay rebuked him, walking into the kitchen and staring at the Mimic. "You get this thing out of here right now, and don't even think about burning the kitchen down. Fire Psynergy is not allowed inside, unless it's in a fireplace!"

"Oh..." Garet drooped. "But how am I supposed to get it out of here?"

"Hey, Mimic, you smell, hey, mimic!" Jenna taunted, standing in front of the door. However, the mimic was invulnerable to insults and did not turn around. "Hey... it's ignoring me! I don't like being ignored!"

"Ooh, what's that?" Aaron walked into the room and stared wide-eyed at the dancing chest. Before anybody could stop him, he had already rushed over and tried to pat it. Unfortunately, it seemed that the Mimic did not like children and clamped itself on his arm. Aaron's eyes grew even bigger and started to well up.

"Oh, shoot!" Garet angrily kicked a chair. "HEY!!! Let go, you stupid Mimic!" He proceeded to kick the Mimic which let go and turned around to face him. "Yeah, I'm talking to you, you stupid chest!"

"OWWWWW!!!" Aaron screeched, waving his arm about and knocking yet another chair over. "That hurt! Meanie Mimic!" He managed to cast a very weak Flare but the Mimic barely noticed as it advanced on Garet.

"No Psynergy in the kitchen!" Kay shouted. "How many times must I say it? Do something about that stupid chest!"

"Dragon Fume!" Jenna yelled, running at the Mimic. A fiery dragon hit the Mimic and it stopped in its tracks, looking displeased and turning to face Jenna.

"Jenna!" Kay also turned to look at Jenna. "I SAID-"

"But I only hit the Mimic!" Jenna protested, pulling out her staff and whacking the Mimic backwards with it. "This is going to take a while. Come on, Garet, think of this as a chore, and you've got to do it... for some reason I STILL don't know."

"Um, yeah, heh heh..." Garet chuckled nervously, drawing his sword and preparing to do battle with the rabid living treasure chest.

"Felix!"

Felix happened to be just standing near his house, watching a squirrel dancing around in a tree and wondering if it was the same one that had thrown the apple, when he heard the shout and turned around, looking horrified.

"Um... what is it?" Felix asked nervously, wishing people would quit bugging him and leave him alone. How did Picard manage to avoid his fangirls?

"I just..." Feizhi stopped and turned around to see her escorts standing behind her. One of them was coughing loudly. "What do YOU want? Leave us in peace!"

"But, Miss Feizhi," One escort protested. "Is it safe for you?"

"Allow me to demonstrate," Feizhi lunged forwards and within seconds, she was holding the escort by his arms over the river, his feet just on the bank. "If I let go, you'd fall in. You couldn't defend or anything. Get the message?"

"Y-yes!" The scared escort squeaked. "I get it!"

"Now," Feizhi pulled the escort away and pushed him back to his group. "You lot go and reserve rooms in the inn or something. I have to talk to Felix about something, so please leave otherwise I shall be cross." The escorts didn't bother to ask questions, they simply turned and ran back towards the plaza.

'I'm scared!' Felix thought, shivering. "What did you want to talk about?" He had a pretty good guess however.

"The RING," Feizhi said meaningly. The air temperature dropped, making the two Adepts shiver, and a girl popped out of a well somewhere. "The Golden Ring that I gave you to give to Isaac."

"Oh, that," Felix licked his lips and tried to think of the best excuse. In the end, he decided to try and win her over with the truth. "I'm sorry, but Sheba, one of our group, she liked the ring so much she wanted to keep it, and we were so busy, it slipped our minds to tell Isaac about the ring."

"Oh..." Feizhi blinked and shrugged. "Well, at least Isaac knows now, but unfortunately I don't stand a chance with him. I hope Sheba put the ring to good use, I did spend a very long time making it, and it should be worth it."

"You do Kung Fu and make jewellery," Felix shook his head. "What else do you do?"

"Hmm..." Feizhi grinned. "I see the future."

"What do you see?" Felix asked.

"I see..." Feizhi closed her eyes and an image floated into her mind. "I see a girl coming from the direction of a well!! I think it's a girl, they've got long hair and it's all over their face... it's very frightening... are there any wells in the village? Oh, and her mother's coming up and yelling at her for going into a well!"

"Er, I don't know anybody with a penchant for wells..." Felix wondered what maniac would be in a well in the first place. Probably the same kind of maniac that liked early mornings. He longed never to be like those maniacs.

"Hurray! We did it!" Garet and Jenna cheered, as the Mimic disappeared from sight, having been defeated in battle. Aaron was lying on the floor, having been hit by the Mimic's Sleep psynergy, and Kay was getting redder in the face every minute as she watched the celebrating Mars Adepts.

"Garet," Kay hissed through gritted teeth. "CHORES!"

"Oh," Garet looked downcast. "No fair."

"I could always tell..." Kay grinned, opening her mouth wider. "Hey, Jenna-"

"NO!" Garet wailed. "Don't you dare!"

"This is all Ivan and Sheba's fault," Jenna looked around at the overturned chairs and the sleeping child. "It's all their fault. You know what, Garet?"

"Huh?" Garet was currently in the process of uprighting the poor overturned chairs as he stared blankly at his girlfriend.

"This is War," Jenna smirked evilly. "We're going to get... HELP."

"AHEM!" Kay yelled. "You can talk after your chores!"
'
"Moody old battleaxe," Jenna muttered, stomping past Kay and out of the house, already planning the upcoming war she was going to make happen.

"What? What did you call me?" Kay asked, turning around and watching Jenna retreat with confusion on her face. Then it cleared as she understood exactly what Jenna had just said to her. "HEY!" Kay growled and gave chase, but Jenna had had a head start, so she was pretty far behind even before she exited the house, slamming the door closed.

"Ug... I don't want to get up yet, Mom..." Aaron mumbled sleepily, rolling over on the floor. "Want to sleep more..."

"Aaron... oh, I give up," Garet proceeded to mop around his little brother, giving him a wide berth, since he really didn't want to wake him up. If he had had his arm bitten by a Mimic, then surely he needed rest? Garet thought so. He wondered exactly what Jenna meant by help, and hoped that maybe there were going to be more of them against Ivan and Sheba. It was certainly a good idea.

Later on in the day, the Adepts got together, all eight of them, Garet having finished his chores. It was time to talk once and for all. The Adept War was dangerously close to commencing, little did Vale know what would hit them.

---

Hmm, I wonder Adept War... =D

Jenna: Please review. ¬¬'