The next morning, Nami, Elli, Cliff, Gray, Ann, Mary, Popuri, Kai, Jack, and Jack waste no time in beginning their walk down the train tracks. Elli now had the unfortunate task of dragging two body casts behind her, since Gray had recently been knocked senseless by his battle of stealth and random objects. After about an hour of walking, they come up to a tunnel gouging through a small mountain.

"Well, that's odd." Mary says, looking up to the top of the tunnel's entrance.

"What is?" The hat-wearing Jack asks.

"The dent up there." Mary says, pointing to where she was looking. Indeed, a human-shaped imprint was present on the surface, going at least three inches in.

"Hmm... But I don't see anybody around." Nami says, searching. "And it looks fresh. Who could have kept going after something like that?"

"Who else?" Elli says. "It had to be William. He must have been taken off-guard by it."

"William?" Jack asks from inside of Nami's bag. "Who's that?"

"Our son..." Cliff says from inside his plaster bonds. "Try to keep up, will you?"

"Hey, I've found something!" Ann says suddenly, getting everyone's attention. She gets up from an area slightly off of the tracks and holds up an object. "Anyone know what this is?"

Nami walks over to Ann and takes it without a word. She looks at it closely.

"This is ours." She finally says.

"What? What's ours?" Jack asks, the bag wriggling around a bit. He unzips the bag and holds a hand out. "Let me see it!"

Nami placed it into Jack's hand and he pulls it into the bag.

"Oh... Hey, this is our goat milker! I thought that Miro said it fell into the river!" Jack says happily.

"He must've just taken it." Nami says. "But I wonder why...?"

"Self-defense." Jack replies. "When he was young, he saw me get my face stuck in the milker. After a few hours, he got it out, and I warned him that getting your face stuck in a goat milker is very bad and quite painful to remove if you can't reach the suction switch. He must've taken it since it's such a powerful device..."

"Right..." Nami says. "Or he could've just forgotten it was in his pack."

"Well, since that's cleared up, let's keep going." Mary says. "We have a lot of catching-up to do."

So they continued to walk, approaching the tunnel. Nami slows down, however, and thinks for a moment. The others also stop and look at her. Finally, she looks down to her bag.

"Hey, Jack, I've been wondering..." She begins.

"Huh? What have you been wondering?" Jack asks.

"When you weren't looking at my diary, where on me were you looking exactly?"

"What?! Oh, please don't bring that up again." Jack whines.

"Either you answer, or you're not allowed in the bag any longer." Nami explains.

"Grrm... Okay, fine." Jack says, shuffling around in the bag and taking a breath. "I was looking at... your face."

"...Really?" Nami asks.

"Yep." Jack replies. "In my opinion, the most interesting part of you is your mysterious, deep, smooth, hard, yet soft visage. Your very countenance inspired me to present you with that Blue Feather oh-so-long ago..."

"I thought it was my 'Just give me that stupid thing' that inspired you to present me with it." Nami says.

"Hmm... That, too, I suppose." Jack says. "But I fell for you because of your face, and your silent feelings deep inside that were just waiting to be released."

"Well... But wait, wasn't there anything else that you liked?"

"...Nami, you're a great person," Jack begins. "But I have to be honest, you have the figure of an ironing board."

"JACK! NO!" Kai yells, but it was far too late. Nami, in light of Jack's comment, removes the bag from her shoulders and holds it out in front of her. Sighing, she pulls her leg back and drop-kicks the bag into the tunnel, sending it slamming and bouncing across the walls, floor, and roof, and continuing to do so even when it was out of sight in the darkness.

"Come on." She says, beginning to walk again. "They'll probably stop before they reach the end of the tunnel. If not, we'll recover them in under a day, I'm sure."

-

Miro and the remainder of his group walked around the wooded area, looking for their missing friends. They had spent all of their time doing so, with basically no luck so far.

"...Don't you have any clue where your Dad would hide them?" Miro asks Matthew. Matthew only shrugs.

"I'm just his kid. He trained me, he knows more than I do about these sorts of things." Matthew replies.

"Oh, okay then- wait... he trained you to do this kind of stuff? Why?"

"Well, he trained me to be able to sneak food from the fridge in the middle of the night without Mom noticing." Matthew states. "It's a survival skill when you're a teenager."

"Very true." Miro replies, nodding.

"Quiet, you two." Ricca says. "I think I heard them..."

Indeed, Ricca heard two voices coming from the other side of a large, twisted row of bushes. They sounded exactly like they were: Kate and Anna. The others stay behind the bushes and listen to their conversation, for no particular reason other than dramatic effect.

"Hey, look, a hot spring!"

"Anna, that's not a..."

"Really? What is it, then?"

"A bog."

"Oh... Well, then it's a hot spring and a mud bath! This is great!"

"Anna... There's a difference."

"What?"

"Well, a hot spring is clean, warm, and alltogether a nice place to be in. A bog, on the other hand, is filthy, smelly, and filled with leaches, fungus, and possibly large, predatory creatures that haven't yet been given a name by scientists."

"Oh... Well, I guess I'll just leave my clothes over here on the side."

"Right then, let's go tell them that we're here!" Matthew says suddenly, already beginning to move through the bush. Ricca grabs him by the neck and pulls him back, however.

"Nice try, but you don't get the yarn until you buy the maker." She says sternly.

"Don't give me that metaphor crap, I'm a teenager!" Mattew says, struggling against Ricca's grip. "I wanna see! This isn't fair!"

"No kidding." Miro says, sighing. "Where were you when Kate stuck her nose in through the window in the middle of my... eugh, shower, Ricca?"

"Oh, well Kate's allowed, but you're not." Ricca explains.

"WHAT?" Miro and Matthew both yell.

"That is totally unfair! Why do we have to put up with this?!" Matthew protests. "I demand equal rights in this society! This is just a mustache and a cool accent short of communism!"

"Oh, be quiet." Ricca says. "There's more of us, so we win. Does that answer your question? Now let's get those two back here- Cover your eyes!" She orders. Miro and Matthew obey, rising up from the bush with their hands over their eyes. All that they could do now was hear voices.

"Kate, Anna, we've found you!"

"Oh, hi Ricca! Should we get going?"

"Maybe once you have something decent on, we will."

Matthew's hands shake, trying to restrain himself.

"MUST... NOT... UNCOVER EYES..." He says to himself. However, his intrepid and debauched teenage-sense overpowered him, and his arms shoot down to his sides.

"NN...k?" He says, turning his regular 'nnk' into a questioning one. He sighs and looks over to Miro.

"Miro, you can uncover your eyes." He says. "There's nothing new."

"Phew, good." Miro says, removing his hands and blinking. "But... what was that crack about 'once you have something decent on, we will'?"

"Just a test of endurance." Ricca says. "I figured that now would be as good a time as ever."

"So anyway, let's go." Kate says. "I'm sure that there's plenty of evil left in this forest, we ought to get through before it decides to come looking for us."

And so they continued on, walking through the darkened forest as fast as they dared. The sun should have been at full shine at this time of the day, but the strange tree cover obscured most of its light. The forest continued to darken as they walked, everything getting more and more dank and slimy as they went.

After about an hour of silent walking, they pass around a large tree and see one of the oddest sights in their life.

"Wha...?" Miro says.

"Is that a..." Matthew begins.

"It looks like one." Kate says.

"Yes, it seems so." Ricca concludes. "It is a toll booth."

Indeed, standing in front of them was a singular toll booth, equipped with a standard red-and-white striped bar and a collection bin for money. The group starts toward it uneasily, not sure of what exactly they should do. When they were close, a voice suddenly emenates from the booth.

"Toll please."

"AH!" Everyone but Ricca yells, looking at the booth window with widened eyes. A figure shuffles around inside it, lowers the window, and reveals itself to be...

"Harris?" Matthew and Anna say in disbelief.

"What in the Goddess' name are you doing here?!" Matthew asks.

"Enforcing the only law that ever has to be enforced." Harris says boredly, dusting off his policeman cap. "A toll must be paid to ener the Haunted Forest territory."

"Enter the...? We've been walking in here for hours!" Miro protests. "We're already in the forest!"

"I said the Haunted Forest Territory." Harris repeats. "It dosen't necissarily have to begin exactly where the trees start."

"Well, it at least has to be CLOSE, dosen't it?!" Miro points out.

"This is a Mayor Thomas government, what do you expect?" Harris asks.

"That's a good point." Ricca says, nodding. "What is the toll, exactly?"

"5000g per head." Harris says. The group's eyes collectively widen by two times their regular diameter and, after a stunned silence, they shuffle back a few steps and go into a huddle.

"How much money does everyone have?" Miro asks, looking to the others, who began searching their pockets. "I have... 300."

"370." Ricca says.

"40..." Anna says, sighing.

"150." Kate says.

"6... 7... 8... 8. I have 8." Matthew says.

"Hmm, that's..." Miro begins. "...not enough. Hey, wait a second..." He turns to Harris and walks right up to the booth.

"What's keeping us from just walking around?" He asks. "There's no fence or anything, just you and your little striped bar!"

"The law." Harris says, nodding. "There's a fine if you go into this territory without paying the toll."

"How much?"

"10,000g per offender."

"Gah! Well, is there any kind of discount we're eligable for?" Miro asks, the others now standing beside him as well.

"Minors get in free."

"Well, we're minors, aren't we?"

"Let me rephrase; Minors under 7 get in free."

"...Err... Early puberty?" Miro suggests, the others nodding.

"Not buying it." Harris says bluntly. "However, there is one more exception: Mexican dancers get in free as well."

"Wh... What?!"

"You heard me. But you're not Mexican dancers, so shoo!"

Groaning, the group turns and begins walking the other way, already devising a plan to get through the gate. It would be tricky, but it just might work.

After about thirty minutes of preparation, the group begins to sneak back to the booth, each dressed in flashy Mexican outfits. Before they were within sight of the booth again, just behind the large tree, Miro pauses for a moment, blinking.

"I... would NEVER have guessed... that I would wind up in this situation." Miro begins, trying to keep his ridiculously large hat from blocking his field of vision. "I am in a haunted forest... trying to get by a toll booth... being followed by a Mariachi band!"

"No one wanted it to come to this, Miro." Matthew says from behind him, carrying a heavy-looking guitar with a bit of difficulty. "In fact, before I went on this journey I vowed to myself that I would not get involved with cursed places, toll booths, or anything that included large hats. Yet, here I am."

"Well, what happens now, since you broke all three of those vows in under 24 hours?" Kate asks.

"I owe myself 20g."

"Hmm, you were really serious about it, weren't you?" Ricca asks sarcastically.

"Focus, people." Miro says. "And Kate, quit fumbling around with your outfit!"

"I can't help it!" Kate protests. "I hate this dress!"

"You always wear a dress, what's the problem?!"

"This one has all kinds of... beads and... colours. It's weird." Kate says.

"Oh, big deal!" Miro says. "Look at these pants! Look at these Leather Clench of Death pants that I have wear!"

Kate looks down to Miro's pants. She looks to the side of them, at the brand name. 'Leather Clench of Death'.

"Whoa... I thought that you were kidding." Kate says in amazement. "And... geez, your legs are skinny."

"They're usually thicker," Miro explains. "It's just that these pants fit me tighter than my own skin..."

"Can we please move on to a less unsettling subject?" Ricca asks.

"Please." Matthew says. "Anyway, let's get to business."

Everyone nods, and the group passes around the tree, approaching the booth as inconspicuously as possible. Miro walks up to the window.

"Hola, Senior tabanco-man!" He says. Thankfully, he had read through a Spanish dictionary earlier and found out that 'tabanco' meant booth.

"Aren't you the group that I sent away half an hour ago?" Harris asks suspiciously.

"That depends," Kate says. "Was the group that you sent away half an hour ago wearing these Mariachi clothes and speaking in poorly-attempted Mexican accent-es?"

"Hmm... Good point." Harris says. "Well, you're free to pass."

"Excellent! Moi, moi bien, Senior!" Matthew says happily, the whole group beginning to walk through the opened bar-gate. However, before they could actually pass it, Harris slams it shut again. This struck Miro in the head accidentally, leaving him unconscious on the ground for a short while.

"Allow me to finish." Harris says. "You're free to pass... IF you can defeat me in a competition!"

"What kind of competition...?" Kate asks suspiciously.

Harris opens a door on his booth and steps out.

"A... DANCE-OFF!" He proclaims, going into a... rather impressive dancing stance. If he were a female ballet dancer, that is.

"A... d... d... d-dance-off?" Miro says with sheer terror in his voice, picking himself up from the ground.

"Correct!" Harris says. "Now, who shall be my opponent?"

Ricca takes quick action at this.

"I elect the Merry Mariachi Troupe's incredible duo of Katriana and Mir...o." She proclaims, to Miro's absolute, total opposition.

Miro quickly motions for everyone to pull back and take a huddle again, and once they had, he cleared his throat.

"Let me just tell you something... I. DON'T. DANCE." He says as clearly as possible.

"He's right." Kate says. "And me dragging his feet around probably won't be enough to win this."

"Well, what should we do, then?" Matthew asks in a panickey tone.

"Don't worry." Ricca says. "This is all under control. In fact, these two will put on the best dancing act that any of us will ever see in front of our own eyes."

"What?! Have you left your good brain in the tool shed?!" Miro yells. "I'm going to say this one more time, and I'm not guarenteeing that it will be the last: I -that's me, by the way- DON'T -meaning do not, as in complete incapability, not to mention I don't like it- DANCE. Dancing, the thing that you do when you shuffle your feet around to a pattern and move rhythmically to the beat of music, yeah, I don't do that, EVER."

"Maybe not you," Ricca says, looking at him in a sinister way. "Maybe not the dark Miro, but-"

"You're not considering..." Matthew begins.

"No! No way am I going through that again!" Miro says, refusing the idea outright.

"There's no other choice." Ricca says grimly. "We can't do this without your help, Miro. We have to unleash the romantic you again."

"No! Please, there has to be some other way!" Miro begs, which was a bit of an uncommon sight.

"I'm afraid not. We need you and Kate to go back into the deep throes of love, or we'll never get by this guy." Ricca says. "Miro, Kate... kiss."

"NNNNNOOOOOO- Wait..." Miro says in mid-scream, looking over to Kate. "That's not really a bad thing, is it?"

"No, not really." Kate says, shrugging.

"Wait, but... aren't you going to go all 'What? No way! I don't like that person at all!' again?" Matthew asks in confusion, looking from one of them to the other.

"Well, no." Kate says. "It's already pretty official, there's no real point."

"Yes, any kiss lasting over 96 hours is a pretty sure sign." Miro admits. "So... Well, don't gawk at us! The last thing that I want is to get nervous and miss!"

The others turn around, breaking the huddle and waiting pitently. Miro, sighing and cracking his neck, and Kate, cracking her fingers and running a hand through her hair (not for effect, just to make sure that she or Miro wouldn't accidentally swallow some of it), approach one another timidly, look around to make sure that the others had turned fully away, and slowly, almost reluctantly allow their faces to touch. However, the moment that they did, their romantic sides broke free and they threw themselves into each other.

"...Are they done yet?" Matthew asks.

"Well... I hear 'muah'-ing." Anna points out. "So I think that they're just..."

"Siezing the moment?" Ricca says.

"Okay, let's just pull them apart." Matthew says. The group turns around and approaches the two, forcefully pulling them from each other.

"Remember your mission!" Ricca says, restraining Miro.

"My mission?!" Miro says. "My mission is the feel of Kate's gentle grasp around my waistline, I have no other thoughts but those of her and her polish, her elegance, her... symmetry! I can not possibly survive without it!"

"As can I, my godly thing of supreme supremacy!" Kate proclaims. "We mustn't ever be apart! Why must you hold us back?"

"You have a job to do!" Matthew says, pointing over to Harris, who was stretching and warming up. "You two are to face THAT middle-aged law enforcement person... or maybe he's a mailman, I dunno... Anyway, you must face HIM in a dance-off, and you must dance in the southern style that you are now dressed as!"

"...Ah, I see." Miro says, loosening himself from Ricca's grip and approaching Harris. Kate does so as well, both staring at him in a very challenging way.

"So, you are the one who dares to challenge Miro and the beautiful Katriana?" Miro asks, speaking in one of the most appealing Spanish accents ever concieved by human vocal cords.

"You talk big, but can you out-dance the 1965 Mineral Town Men's Ballet champ?" Harris says. "Only a TRUE dancer can defeat me! One with passion!"

"Passion?" Miro asks, laughing. "You fool! My heart burns with the passion of a thousand bulls during mating season! I will not fall to any man! Ponerse!"

"...Huh?" Harris says.

"It beans 'begin', you unsavory thing of wrinkled, graing imperfection!" Kate says, spitting at his feet. "Now prepare to meet your pride's end, fool!"

With that, Miro and Kate put themselves into a tango position and begin dancing to music that was being randomly strung together by the other kids. However, their moves were so majestic that the many, many mistakes made by the music were overshadowed by Miro and Kate's incredibly good, sometimes possibly gravity-defying moves. Harris had a tape recorder inside of his booth and it was playing a melodious ballet tune, to which he danced to the best of his abilities He pirouetted, he turned axles, he did front-flips, he did backflips, he did half-flips and stood on his hands in positions that would dazzle anyone bothering to watch. However, in the end, Kate and Miro end the contest with a potentially deadly series of spins and then a final, impressive dip. Harris was defeated.

"Oh... darn it." Harris says, walking inside the booth. "You really must be a band. Well, it was a nice exercise." He pushes a button and the bar lifts up, which wasn't exactly necissary but it did make things official.

"Excellent." Miro says, him and the rest of the group walking through. "Now, let us away. We've much more to do, don't we?" He looks over to Kate and smiles.

"Oh, yes." Kate says, smiling back at him. The others suddenly realise an error to their plan. None of them had a fish handy. Thinking reluctantly about what they'll have to go through until they find a good, solid fish, they proceed through the forest and out of sight.

-

About an hour after the group had made their way through the gate, another person walks up to the strange booth. The person's footsteps could be barely heard, and any breathing was completely silent. The pale gleam of moon-white hair was visible.

"Toll please." Harris says boredly, not bothering to look out the window.

"I am afraid I must pass through here without paying a toll." The person replies quite plainly.

"Look, everyone has to pay a toll to get through here, why are you so-" Harris cuts himself short, however, as he looks through the window to see who this person was. "Wow, hello, William! What happened to you? Sorry, but you've still got to pay a 5000g toll, even if you are white-haired and emotionally drained now. Now, BROWN hair is a totally different story-"

"I said," William begins, holding a hand out in a mind-control kind of position towards Harris. "I must pass through here without paying a toll."

Harris blinks a couple of times, but then sighs.

"Nope, everybody has to pay, so you do, too."

William lowers his hand, suddenly realising something.

"...No brain to control, right..." He recollects. Instead, he simply begins to walk by, lifting the bar above his head so he could pass.

"Hey! You can't do that!" Harris begins. "There's a 10,000g fine for- AAAAAHHH!!!"

For the next few seconds, the only thing that could be heard was Harris' scream echoing through the woods, and then all was silent again.