(Sorry for the delay, people! My computer had to go in for a major retooling. Spyware's annoying, isn't it? Anyway, here's what I've pulled together for this chapter! Enjoy!

PS: The title was cut off. The full title is:

Part 10, The Nighttime that Wasn't Really Scary)

"Well, we've found them, haven't we?" Nami says, walking with the others. They would keep walking for a little while longer before stopping for the night. "So shouldn't we use the Stone to travel faster?"

"Well, that would usually be a good idea, but..." Gray begins, holding out the stone, which was cracked slightly on the surface. "It's damaged. I don't think that warping everyone at once would be very smart. It might break. However, we can still probably teleport one person at a time."

"But who will go?" Elli asks, while dragging her husband behind her in a plaster body cast. "We know that the kids are better than we thought, I can't see a very good chance of us winning if it's just one of us."

"Count me out." Kai says from inside the bag. "I already tried, and I'm still sore. I ain't going."

"Me too." The Jack that was also inside Nami's bag says. "I'm not really in that much pain, but I'm... well, scared."

"I don't know if I'm that good at fighting." Mary admits. "And that's probably what it'll come down to."

"Don't... even... ask..." Cliff says from inside the cast.

"Hmm..." Gray says. "Jack, where would they be right now?"

The Jack from Mineral Town blinks.

"Uhh..." He begins. "Well, if they stopped off at the right spot, they should be at the... Oh boy. They're at the Forest of You Preparing Yourself and Your Descndants to Face The Eternal Torment of Your Souls in the Jaws of the Flesh Hounds for a Thousand-"

"So, all in all, it's not good?" Nami interrupts.

"Yep." He replies.

"Hmm..." Gray says again. "If it's woods, I think I'll have the best advantage out of all of us. I'll go."

"What makes you say that?" Jack asks, fiddling with the tuft of hair protruding from his cap.

"Jack, when was the last time you saw me skipping along, whistling happily and not caring that my prescence was known to everyone in the area?" Gray asks.

"Hmm... Well, there was that day right before Mary announced that she was preg-"

"Besides that." Gray interrupts. "That day will now be stricken from the records for all time."

"But why were you so happy? Mary hadn't even told you yet-"

"Anyway," Gray says in a very let's-change-the-topic-NOW tone. "I know how to keep quiet and act stealthy, making a forest environment the best place for me to work. Besides, I have the stone, and you're not getting it until I've taken my turn."

"Okay, then, go for it." Nami says. "We don't have all night, you know. I'd like to see my son back so he can be working on the farm instead of the group of mental-defective non-farmers I left it with."

"Consider me gone." Gray says, holding out the stone and suddenly vanishing from view. The others cough from the smoke left behind.

-

"Anything coming to you yet?"

"No..."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Not even a color, the shape of the face, what the claws looked like, anything?"

"No, nothing!" Miro says, beginning to get annoyed by all of their questions. They were walking through the forest, following the map, which, strangely enough, was also the direction that the two shadowy things had gone. "When it hit me, my memory must've been hurt, too."

"You mean you have all of you short and long-term memory, except for what exactly that thing was?" Kate asks. "That's stupid! How unlucky do we have to be, that-"

"Well, let's think for a moment." Ricca interrupts. "So far we've had our parents chasing after us in a big group, a train hitting Miro, William coming after us by himself and also hitting Miro, a failed opportunity for a shortcut which brings us into this place, a giant tree chasing us off, this Lumina girl being kidnapped, and the two things that kidnapped her getting away... and also hitting Miro. Even by our standards, it's been a bad day."

"True." Kate agrees. "Well, at least it can't get much worse. I mean, it's nearly nighttime, what else could hap-!" But before she could finish her scentence, something had cupped her mouth shut and dragged her off. However, she was in the back of the group, so no one had noticed.

"What else could hap?" Miro says without turning around. "Kate, have you started talking in Slang-lish again? That was stupid, even when I was eleven."

Anna, who was second from the back, turns around and notices something.

"Hey, Kate's not-" But quickly, she is snatched off as well.

"Kate's not? Then what weird, made-up language is she using?" Miro asks, sighing. "You are so weird sometimes, I swear."

"Miro, I think that they're-" Ricca begins, but when she notices something behind her, she stomps on its foot and it withdraws back into the trees, groaning slightly. "Anyway, I don't think that they're doing anything weird. Turn around, you'll see."

Miro shrugs, stops, and turns around, as does Matthew and Ricca.

"Hmm..." Miro begins. "I could've sworn that there were more people than this in our group..."

"Duh." Ricca says tonelessly. "Something kidnapped them, and it just tried to get me, too."

"Do you think it was those things?" Matthew asks.

"No, they're swifter than this." Ricca says. "Whatever it is, it's not that fast."

"But it's really sneaky..." Miro says. "Kinda like you, Matthew."

"Hey, yeah..." Matthew says. He suddenly realises something. "Uh-oh... It's Dad."

"Another parent?" Miro says.

"Yes." Ricca says. "And this is just the place for him. Dark, quiet, and full of trees. We'll have to be careful for this fight."

"...Can you actually call it a fight?" Miro asks. "I mean, he can come from anywhere and we wouldn't know it until it's too late..."

"Miro, I think I have to face him, alone." Mathew says. "The only thing that can beat a sneak in this kind of area is another sneak. I'll be right back."

Matthew suddenly vanished into the trees as well, and all is silent.

"...Are they fighting?" Miro asks.

"I can't be sure..." Ricca admits. "I... suppose they must be..."

"I can't even hear anything..." Miro says. "They're good..."

A few minutes passed, and Miro and Ricca simply stand beside one another, unsure if they should move.

"...This is the most boring fight I've ever been in." Miro mumbles, looking around unsurely.

"True..." Ricca agrees. "So... should we be doing something productive right now?"

"Like what?"

"Planning for the future?"

"...What?" Miro asks. "You mean, like, what route we should take in the forest?"

"Yes."

"Ricca, there is no route. We just keep going in the direction the map takes us."

"Of course, but what if we're diverted?"

"By what?"

"William."

Miro shakes slightly, clenching his teeth.

"Then we'll take him out and keep going." He says.

"Miro, William is-"

"Invincible? I won't believe it."

"No, he's not, but..." Ricca begins, pausing for dramatic effect. "I can't fight him."

"Why not?" Miro asks. "You just might be the only one nasty enough to send him running!"

"Yes, but..."

"Oh, no, no, not you!" Miro says in an exasperated tone. "You don't have the whole 'I can't hurt him because I long for his hand caressing my hair and his eyes staring into my own and his arms wrapped around me and I know that I'll never be hurt again' crap going on, do you?!"

"What? No! are you nuts?" Ricca says with more anger than usual. "I just think that we should keep him in in one piece for now..."

"I don't see why. He's a traitor."

"He's not a traitor, he was never on our side."

"Oh, yeah... wait, that's worse, isn't it?"

"Yes, but he's still not a traitor."

"Okay, fine, he's not a traitor. But he's an enemy, and we should crush him into a fine powder if he ever comes over."

"It's more likely that he'll crush us."

"Naah. We won't lose, we're the good guys."

"In general, do you think that people win against a boss in video games more often than they lose?"

"...No. But they win eventually. Trial and error, y'know."

"Yes, but we only get one shot."

"Whoa... Very true. Maybe we should-"

"Will you two SHUT UP?!" Comes two voices from the trees. Miro and Ricca stop talking and continue to wait and listen for whatever strange fight was going on.

A few more minutes later, Miro pipes up a bit.

"Err... What are you two doing, exactly?"

No response.

Suddenly, an elaborate series of traps are triggered all around them, sending spears, rocks, arrows, darts, logs, pop cans, turkey basters, small animals, sporks, oven mitts, CD covers, pencils, rubber bands, cotton balls, paper mache ballons, wooden carvings of geese, toothbrushes and toaster strudels flying in every direction, narrowly missing the two. When the firing stopped, Miro, who had clung on to the unflinching Ricca in fear, immediately let go once he had noticed this.

"...Sneaky." Ricca says, pretending not to have noticed Miro at all.

"Umm... So... Did we win?" Miro asks, looking around.

A rustling is heard in the bushes, and Matthew walks towards them, clutching his arm.

"You okay, man?" Miro asks.

"Fine." Matthew says. "I took a spork to the shoulder, but I think I just have to walk it off..."

"Did it just nick you? I don't see it sticking in anywhere." Miro says.

"No, no..." Matthew says. "It penetrated. All the way. Right now it's stuck in the tree that I was in front of."

"Ooooh... Can you still walk?" Miro asks.

"Will it require any bandaging?" Ricca asks, ignoring Miro's stupid question.

"Naah." Mattlew says. "It's just a flesh wound."

"Where have I heard that one before...?" Miro asks himself.

"Well, it's nothing compared to what Dad's suffering right now." Matthew reassures them. "He took a hedgehog to the gut and a wooden goose to the head, from what I saw."

Suddenly, a poof is heard, and a waft of smoke comes from behind some bushes.

-

Warping back in another cough-inducing waft of smoke, Gray stands in front of the other adults for a while, and then ungracefully collapses to the ground. At this point, they had set up camp and were in the middle of their sandwiches.

"So... How'd it go?" Popuri asks, nibbling into her sandwich again.

"I think that the concussion speaks for itself." Jack points out. "Gray's not the type to have a successful mission AND go into a coma."

"Not many are..." Mary says, getting up and walking over to Gray. "You okay?"

"...I... lost..." Gray says, groaning and flipping onto his back. "How... My own son... beat me..."

"You taught him well, Gray." Mary says in a soothing tone. "You should be proud. We have others who will take care of them but for now, you rest."

Nami seemed to be quite agitated about this, but kept quiet. Once again, these people had failed to make any progress with the reclaiming of her son. This was getting tiresome.

"I think we should wait until morning before we try again." She says finally. "Gray, did you at least slow them down?"

"Yes... They'll be held back... a little while."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes... And I noticed something while I was there... He's almost caught up to them."

"Who has?" Jack asks.

"Our trump card." Gray says, grinning in a sinister way.

"Ooh..." Elli says happily. "I think this calls for a collective evil laugh."

"...We're not evil, are we?" Jack asks.

"No, but it does seem to fit the moment." Ann says, shrugging.

"I suppose." Jack says. "Okay, on three; one, two three!"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

"...I can't believe I'm travellng with you people." Nami says, sighing and returning to her food.