Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Knights. They belong to the wonderful

Miss Ohkami. A castle full of lovely Dragon Fighters, Officers, Knights, and

a Lord...Not to mention the Demons. Ah...

I envy her.

Kat: I should have known you'd review. Well, anyway, thanks for the

idea! ^_^ It all started when you were talking about Rath singing "I Hate

Everything About You"...

Random Person: Oh, yay! Another review! Thanks a bunch! And... What's

an IC?*hangs head in shame of her stupidity*

Seletua: Thanks for the review! ^^ I've got what's gonna happen next

planned out... for the most part. Updated! And I love your name.

Lisa: Yay! It's you again! I love those pictures too... And you were REALLY

good at Pops!

***

Rune shoved a large cardboard box out of his way, pushing it three

feet to the side. It was heavy, probably filled with molded and

waterlogged crap that no one wanted or remembered anymore, but had

never gotten around to throwing out.

He stopped when it hit the cement wall making up one of the four sides of

his basement.

He turned around, "Rath? You think this is big enough?"

Rath scrutinized the open space in front of him, one hand on his chin.

"Move that box too, Rune. Make it just a little bigger."

Rune sighed, leaning on an old ping-pong table. He'd been running

around down here, pushing boxes and piles of junk off to the sides ever

since they reached his house.

Wiping his forehead with the back of his hand, he resignedly walked

across the cleared space to the large box Rath wanted moved.

Placing one shoulder against it, he began to push the heavy object

towards the wall and away from what Rath called the "Practice Area".

It was slow work; whatever was inside weighted at least a hundred

pounds. He felt pressure exerted on the box next to him, and suddenly it

slid across the floor with relative ease. Surprised, he looked to the side

and saw Thats straightening up, dusting off his hands.

The other boy grinned.

"You looked like you needed some help," He explained.

He then sat down on the newly cleared floor, leaning back against the

box.

"So Master Rath, what would you have us do next?"

Rath blinked at them, startled.

"I only wanted a space large enough to practice," He said, sounding a

little hurt.

Rune walked over to the large black containers near his basement stairs.

He opened the second largest one and pulled out an electric guitar; a

light blue design of flames licked the silver body, almost seeming to move

as Rune carried it back over to Thats.

"Here. My guitar. You can practice on this."

The brown haired boy grinned, taking it from him and running his fingers

over it, checking it thoroughly.

"Thanks. I guess this is what you meant by, 'we can find something for

you to practice on'." He looked the instrument over and whistled lowly.

"Nice. In good shape, too. Where'd you get it?"

Rune smiled at the complement.

"I got it at that little music shop downtown. The one across from that

picture place where you got your passport photo taken. It was for my

thirteenth birthday."

Thats looked back up at him, a question forming on his lips, when a sound

somewhat like a small explosion caused them both to turn around and

look at Rath, startled.

Rath was kneeling on the floor, a cord in each hand, and was apparently

in the process of hooking up the speakers he had brought.

"Rune?" Rath looked up at the older boy, "I can't get this to work."

"What?" The blonde strode across the room, "Give it here, Rath. I'll get

it."

As Rune knelt on the floor to inspect the wires and systems, Rath rose.

"He gave you the guitar?" Rath asked, taking note of the instrument in

Thats' hands.

"Then I'll go get mine and we can warm up," He said, squatting among

the black cases. He picked one of them up and carried it carefully to the

far side of the cleared area, where he jumped up and sat on what

appeared to be a old and dusty dining table.

Holding the case on his lap, he undid the three metal clasps holding the

case closed, then slowly opened the lid.

Thats leaned back against the cement wall behind him and rolled his

eyes. He watched as his friend's face lit up at the sight of what was

before him. Sighing, he scuffed his foot against the ground in a bored

manner, almost, but not quite kicking the open can of soda in front of him.

He jammed his hands into the pockets of his dark brown pants, waiting

for Rune to finish setting up the speakers so they could begin and get

practice over with.

He didn't have to wait long.

"Hey, guys," Rune called, straightening up and waving them over, "It's all

set. We ready to go?"

Thats nodded, carefully stepping over the objects on the floor and walked

over, Rune's guitar still in his arms.

They waited as Rath slid off the table and, after closing his case, walked

over to them.

He had the strap attached to the guitar swung around his shoulder for

safety and was holding the instrument itself so that it wouldn't hit

anything and scratch it's glossy exterior.

If you asked Thats, the boy would say that his friend was being overly

cautious with his prized possession. However, even he could see why he

was being so careful.

The artificial lighting glinted off the golden cursive near the tuning keys,

revealing the instument's brand name, Draqueen.

The boy nodded as he noticed, not for the first time, the name on Deus.

It wasn't exactly a common brand, one of the more expensive ones,

actually. They were well known for their quality, however, so if you were

really into this sort of thing it would be a good brand to search for.

Thats grinned, inwardly laughing, as he glanced down at the guitar he

was using.

A spankin' new brand name instrument compared to somebody's hand-

me down.

Guess who was more into this sort of thing.

***

Review, please? I'll be getting to the girls next chapter, just sit tight and

ignore me if I say anything stupid.