Here's the next chapter. For those who want to exactly know who Ulic Qel-Droma is, don't ask me everything. He's from the game Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and don't even ask me if I got the spelling right, because it's been a while since I last remembered how to spell the name. Ah who cares? I'm getting started now.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Fox, Yugioh, or Star Wars, but I do own a few characters.

Encounter

Chapter 30

Emotional Breakdown

Serenity woke up as the light of the sun shone through the tent door window. She sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes as she felt rejuvenated from a good night's sleep. She heard the door open up and looked over to see Duke coming in.

"You're awake," Duke pointed out.

"Yeah, why you ask?" Serenity asked.

"Well…"

Before he could continue on, he saw something that was lying on Serenity's pillow. He took a good look and stood there, thinking to himself why Serenity would still have a teddy bear.

"You sleep with a teddy bear at night?" Duke asked.

Serenity looked at Duke only to realize that she did pull out her teddy bear. She wanted to say something, but she couldn't find anything to say to that.

"Serenity, I can't believe you still have a child's toy!" Duke said.

"What's wrong with that?" Serenity questioned.

"You're 15 and you still have a teddy bear, that's what's wrong!"

"There's nothing wrong with that!"

"Now that I think about it, I can't believe that I was falling for a girl who still sleeps with her teddy bear at night!"

Serenity's eyes began to fill with tears as she began to hold her teddy bear close to her. She couldn't stand being embarrassed by Duke just because she still has a teddy bear that she couldn't let go of. Tristan came up to Duke and asked him something.

"Hey, Duke, is Serenity awake?" Tristan asked.

Duke looked back at Tristan to see that he was standing behind him.

"Yeah, but you wouldn't believe what I found Serenity with," Duke said.

"What?"

"How stupid do you think it is to know a girl who still sleeps with her teddy bear at night?"

"Well, what of it?"

Tristan walked in to see Serenity still sitting in the bed with her head down as her arms are wrapped around something. He could vaguely see a teddy bear in her arms as tears were running down Serenity's face.

"Duke, what did you do to her?" Tristan barked.

"Why would you try to hit on a girl who still sleeps with a teddy bear at night?" Duke shot back.

"You should know that Serenity went through a lot more than what you know!"

"Why should I care? She's 15 and she's still acting like a little child!"

Tristan's hand turned into a fist, feeling the urge to smack Duke in the face. He began to suppress that as Joey came up to check on his sister.

"Hey, guys, can I get in so I can check on my sis?" Joey asked.

Tristan looked over to his friend, seeing that Joey wants to check on Serenity to make sure that she's okay.

"You'd better tell Duke to apologize to Serenity!" Tristan said.

"Why? What did he do now?" Joey asked.

"What I'm wondering is why your sister still has a teddy bear," Duke said.

"Duke, don't tell me that you embarrassed my sis for having a teddy bear!"

"I can't help but to think that a girl at her age still has a teddy bear to sleep with."

"Duke, she lost half of her child life because of our separation! You have to understand how hard it was on her to be separated from me!"

Duke turned around and began to leave to go back to the yacht, which is where the others were. Joey looked back inside and began to walk over to Serenity. He wanted to comfort her from Duke's words as does Tristan. Joey kneeled down by Serenity's bed and Tristan stood there to help support.

"Serenity, it's okay," Joey whispered. "Don't listen to Duke."

"I know, but it's just…so hard to know the truth," Serenity mumbled.

"Hey, Duke was just being a jerk, so don't listen to him," Tristan said.

"Let's just go to the group, sis. We're already making breakfast, so you should hurry."

"…Okay…I'll go…but if Duke or anyone else tries to embarrass me again…then I'm going to…I don't know what I'll do."

"Serenity, you don't have to hurt anyone, okay?"

With that, Serenity began to get out of bed and began to follow Tristan and Joey to the yacht. As they got there after a 2 minute walk, they saw that they were just in time for breakfast.

Serenity sat in the grass away from the group as everyone else was gathered around a fire pit. Joey looked over and sat next to her with his plate of food. Fox looked over and could sense anguish coming off of Serenity. He wanted to tap into her mind to see what was going on, but he didn't so that she could keep things to herself. Téa looked over to see that Joey was over by Serenity while they ate in silence.

"Hey, what's wrong with Serenity?" Téa asked?

"Let's just say that Duke said something to embarrass Serenity," Tristan said.

"Hey, don't blame me that Serenity still has a teddy bear!" Duke remarked.

"You're saying that Serenity still sleeps with a teddy bear?" Bakura questioned.

"Yeah, I mean, why would you have a teddy bear when you're 15?"

"Duke, even college students take childhood possessions with them to college, even if it's a teddy bear," Mai commented.

"Well, then they're all idiots," Duke said.

"Hey, I'm only 13 and I still have my play toys that I used to play with when I was younger," Mokuba said.

"Well, that's different, Mokuba," Duke pointed out.

Serenity couldn't stand listening to Duke's jabbering about her teddy bear. She wanted to do something to stop him from talking on that matter before she ends up hurting someone. Before she could, someone stopped his ranting already.

"Duke, you have to understand that she's been lost ever since she got separated from Joey," Fox explained. "When she was able to stay with Joey for the year now, she began to regain the pieces of her life and put them together. She later met Lisa, who was actually the only person Serenity could consider as her closest friend. What Lisa did for Serenity changed her life. And…ever since Lisa's death, she felt lost again. Those reasons would probably be why Serenity still holds a childhood possession still. Don't think she's weak for that because holding onto certain feelings is what also fuels a few of the Jedi students at the Academy."

"Sounds like even the Jedi can be babies," Duke mumbled.

"What did you say?"

"Hey, don't blame me that I don't like seeing people as weak!"

Serenity went to the yacht to put her plate in the sink so that she can go back to camp to be alone. She found the sink and set her plate in it and got off the yacht. As she began to pass by the group, she began to hear remarks from Seto.

"We have Joey who is a puppy and his little sister who is a baby," Seto mocked.

"You'd better hold that tongue of yours!" Falco barked.

"To me, the Wheelers sound like a family of weaklings!"

"Seto, shut the hell up you bastard!" Serenity yelled.

Everyone looked over to Serenity, who was standing behind Seto with tears running down her face. They all know that Serenity's feelings are more fragile than theirs, but the way Serenity is poised shows that she's ready to pounce on Seto.

"Serenity, just calm down and head back to camp," Fox said. "I'll meet you there when I'm done with this."

Serenity began to walk by until Seto made one last remark.

"Yeah, go back and cry your eyes out like a baby where we can't see it."

With that Serenity turned to her left side and took one small leap forward. As she was in semi mid-air, she began to curl her left leg up as it was being raised for a side-kick. She began to bend back and thrust out her kick as her right foot planted into the ground. Her back was towards Seto and Serenity hooked her side-kick so that it would hit Seto in the jaw. Seto took the impact and fell over unconscious from the kick. As Seto hit the ground, Serenity began to run off back to camp.