"Okay, go… Umm… Yeah, one word. Two syllables."

"Second syllable… You. You? No? Oh…"

"You… Me? It's 'me'? Okay, okay… Umm…"

"First syllable… rhymes with… Sing? Speak? No, oh, oh…"

"…Squish? Squeeze? Compress? Cram? It's cram? Oh, oh, good…"

"So… first syllable rhymes with cram, and it ends in 'me'. Umm… Lammy? Sammy? Tammy? No? Umm…"

"What does it relate to? Relates to… rear? End?"

"Arse! Arse and… Child? Kid? Son? Son! Arse-son… Arseon…"

"Arson! Relates to arson! Umm…"

"Nami!"

"Right!" Jack yells, smiling and pointing to the victorious Kai, who had turned around just a bit to glimpse at the proceedings of the Charades game. Everyone was fairly impressed at this, with some exceptions.

"…I'm… not… pyro…" Nami hisses, arms crossed and eyes narrowed. Jack walks back to his seat beside her.

"We all know that, I just needed something that they'd get." He explains. "No harm meant by it."

Nami sighs once, shutting her eyes. "Well, I do relate to plenty of other things, you know. Things that are true, like being impatient and enjoying the odd Judo match."

"Judo? Really?" Cliff says, blinking once.

"Oh, yeah, Nami's a beast in the ring." Jack informs them. "You can sometimes catch her with a good armlock, but if she gets you in her leg vice it's game over."

"…I didn't need to know that…" Miro says, sinking in his chair a fair amount.

"Oh, we're kidding." Nami says reassuringly. "Though, a Judo ring would be a nice addition to the property. Just to make sure certain people are up to snuff…"

Kate smirks. "Don't worry, round 3 will be even tougher than the last two."

"I sure hope so," Nami comments.

"…Anyway, Kai, you're up." Gray says, looking toward him.

"Huh? Oh, okay." Kai says, getting up from his seat at the bus and walking to the middle of the rows.

"…Umm…" Elli begins. "Don't we need someone in the driver's seat…?"

"Naah." Kai says. "It's a straightaway for hours. I just put it on cruise."

"Okay, we'll trust you on that." Ann says with a bit of hesitance.

"Hurry up, let's start." William requests.

"Right, okay…" Kai begins. Looking around for a moment, he pauses to think. "Hmm… Oh, I've got it! Here goes!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Muffy."

"I damn well hope so…"

After this next wave of discomfort in the bus, several more hours and Charade games passed, with Kai disqualified from ever playing another round for the rest of his life and being banished to his bus duties forever, or at least until they got to town. Night began to pass, and the tired village-goers (minus Kai, who had caffeine bars and plastic to chew on handy to keep him awake) began to grumble and yawn and stretch, some lazily watching the sunset as they waited for the exhaustion of this extremely full day to set in.

Miro, of course, was among the first to begin getting droopy-eyed. He sighed out a yawn before lowering his head slightly to drift off to slumberland. However, before he could even pack his bags for the trip, he notices a weight on his shoulder. Opening his eyes slightly and turning to look, he sees Kate resting her head on that very spot. Miro stares at her strangely.

"…What are you doing?" He mumbles, stifling a second yawn.

"Ricca's right, guys are squishy." Kate comments.

"Am not…" Miro grumbles.

"Don't worry, it's a…" Kate begins, cut off by a wide yawn. "…'s a good thing. Guys are made to be squishy at times in order to be used as nice little headrests for us…"

"Oh…" Miro mutters. "Well, if you're sure…"

With that, he shuts his eyes and goes into a deep, well-deserved rest.

At the same time, Ann and her respective Jack were also getting to rest, leaning their heads against one another in perfect, trained balance.

"I wonder…" Jack begins.

"Hm?" Ann replies sleepily, moving her eyes toward him.

"Do you think anything happened with Anna and Matthew that we haven't heard of…?"

"Well, Nami's son didn't mention anything major…" Ann states, "but they are sitting next to one another on the seats, which seems to be what all of us… couples, sort of, are doing… But this is Anna we're talking about."

"Yeah, it is Anna… our Anna… not some cheap retail Anna like the one Basil got himself caught up with-"

"You know what Basil thinks about judging the plainness of his choices." Ann reminds him sternly. "It's his life and he can live it as uninterestingly as he wants."

"Well, yeah…" Jack mumbles. "But back to Anna… We can trust her, yes, but maybe we can keep an eye on her, umm, monthly supplies. Make sure she's still using them…"

"Oh, stop it." Ann says. "This is Mineral Town, not Degrassi."

"What did I say about mentioning Degrassi?" Jack reminds her. "That's one of the reasons I moved away, to get away from cable…"

"Well, we're even now…" Ann says, yawning once. "Go to sleep…"

On yet another seat, Nami and the remaining Jack were also getting themselves comfy for a night's rest. Oddly, yet not unsurprisingly, Jack was the one resting his head on Nami's shoulder.

"I guess this is curtains…" Jack mumbles. "After this, we're all going home and living it out the way we always have…"

"Seems like a bit of a shame…" Nami says, looking up absently at the roof of the bus. "We found Miro, order has been restored, Daachan's dead-"

"Dead-dead," Jack adds.

"…Yes, dead-dead," Nami says, nodding a bit. "But… all things considered, I had a lot of fun…"

"You?" Jack says in some surprise. "Unheard-of. You don't have fun with anything."

"I do so…" Nami says, a small smile on her face for some reason. "Something refreshing like a long hike, some fighting, and a couple of near-death experiences… its fun."

"I suppose…" Jack says with a yawn, "it does take you back to the days… back to that first year where it was a battle and a half to get you to talk to me…"

"Yes, it's gotten better from there." Nami says. "You can talk to me now and I won't ignore you and walk away anymore, not to mention you won't have Celia and Muffy dogging you while you did so…"

"Yep, those were the times…" Jack mutters. "…Wait, you had fun doing that?"

"Oh come on…" Nami begins, "like I wouldn't have fun leading along the pasty newbie of the town to see just how dedicated he is."

"…Ooh, you're evil." Jack says, squinting his eyes in frustration. "Do you know how many sleepless nights I had wondering if you liked me or not?"

"About the same as I had smiling to myself asleep, knowing that I might not have wasted my young life after all," Nami replies. "I dawned the neck-cropped hair and blue vest because I thought it was over, but nope. You just had to be so damn persistent and tried to marry me anyway."

"Yup. Mr. One-Track Mind right here," Jack says with a grin. "The day I first saw you, I thought 'if that is a girl, she is absolutely going to be the one I marry-' K-kidding, kidding!"

Nami lowers the random rock she was about to make Jack the proud owner of and thinks for a moment.

"…I don't think it's over just yet." She says finally. Jack looks up at her, confused.

"What do you mean?" He asks.

"Maybe it is for us, but not for… them…" She says, turning her head to look at all of the teens, half of which were peacefully asleep. "Not quite…"

-

Evening became night, night became…more night, and more night finally became morning. The hours rode by methodically, as Kai was just exiting the shortcut when the majority of the people woke up. As soon as they saw the shortcut, their jaws fell on their laps in mass incredulousness. From that they saw, the path was lined with flowers and sakura trees, housing songbirds, rabbits and other such woodland creatures. Slowly, the people looking outside turned their heads, looking straight forward at the seat in front of them, and let out a collective sigh.

"We had to stay on the train just a biiit too long-" Matthew begins.

"Oh, hush…" Anna says, glaring at him for a moment.

More hours passed, one by one by one, until everyone on the bus was officially saddle-sore and then some. Most people lost track of the time after a while, preoccupied with cards or hard-to-play Marbles games or the odd 'TREE!'. In time, Kai was passing through a forested area, carefully swerving between plant and animal life until he found clearings.

"This is getting interesting…" Miro comments, after Kai hit a bump and completely scrambled yet another Marbles game. Looking up and out the windows, he nods in agreement to himself. "Just look at the trees. Everything here seems rather… normal."

"That's a good change…" Kate says. Most of the others nod at this.

"Where are we, Kai?" Cliff asks.

"I'm not… totally… sure…" Kai says, half a dozen coffee mugs scattered around him and a small bit of plastic still hanging from his mouth. "But soon, yeah, soon…"

"…Never mind him." Elli begins, sighing. "I think he'll need some Turbojolt if this trip is much longer… and some eyedrops… In fact, he'll need to go straight to the Doctor…"

"Clearing!" Kai yells. And, indeed, the trees made an abrupt end just a few meters later, allowing Kai the pleasure of finally gunning it down a path that appears shortly after, going down the way he was.

"…Hey, a lake…" Hugh points out, looking out toward it. It was small, with a tiny island in the middle of it.

"Watch out for the creek!" Kate yells, seeing one with only a small footbridge going across it. Thankfully, with skill or luck or perhaps just by accident, Kai swerves hard enough for the bus to balance on its right wheels and go across the small bridge.

"…O…kay… Anybody else recognize the lake and that bridge?" Gray says, swallowing once after the bus slammed back down on all of its wheels.

"…Yes…" the hatted Jack says, nodding meekly.

"…Do you realize, then, where this pathway will take us?" Gray questions further, as the bus began to do what felt like going up a rather steep hill.

Everyone from Mineral Town immediately widened their eyes to the size of… much-widened eyes.

"KAI! HIT THE BRAKE!" They all suddenly yell. Kai, in a panic, also realizes where this would take them and accidentally slams on the gas instead of the brake. Several people not in their seats are knocked back by the force.

"WRONG PEDAL!" basically everyone screams out. Kai nodded quickly and moved his foot, slamming on the brake as hard as he could. The bus goes into a skid, swerving once in a pattern that unfortunately followed the path precisely. After a moment of doing so, the people notice the sound of the tires screeching and crunching over rock as they reached the very pinnacle of Mother's Hill. A jolt was felt as the bus' front wheels passed over the hill's edge, and the sound of metal screeching could be heard after that as the bus skidded across the rock, slowly. And, at what was probably the last possible instance, the bus grinded to a stop, balancing over the edge of the hill.

"…Wh… Why does every day in my life have to suck…?" Miro mutters, gripping onto a seat for support while standing up.

"Don't… move…" Nami orders, everyone seeming to agree that this was the best idea.

The bus was swaying noticeably, balanced on the very edge of the hill. Several people gulped as it went backwards, and several sighed when it went forwards.

"Now…" Ricca says slowly, taking in a deep breath. "We need some weight on the other end… Anna, slowly walk up to the back, and when you're close enough, throw your backpack as far as it'll go."

Anna nods slowly, biting her lip as she slowly picked up her bag and walked up the aisle of the bus, using the seats to aid her. Once she was at a good range, she swayed her backpack back and forth in her hand, and threw it as far as she could. It landed near the back seat, and with all of the concealed weapons and heavy equipment in it, it quickly weighed the back end of the bus down and sent its wheels crashing safely on the ground.

"Thank goodness…" Miro says, sighing once. "Now, everybody, take the back exit out."

"That's an emergency exit…" Anna points out.

"Anna, even compared to the argument in the Mall over the emergency exit, THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!" Matthew yells, sending his own cap askew on his face.

"…Well, yeah, I guess this time…" Anna says. Carefully, she walks to the back and opened up the exit door, stepping out first onto solid ground. She is followed by everyone else, ushered by Miro and Ricca, until only those two remained there. However, that fact slipped Anna's mind for the moment.

"Oops, can't forget this!" Anna says, reaching into the bus and taking her backpack from it. Ricca and Miro's eyes both widen.

"ANNA, WE'RE STILL IN HERE!" they both yell. However, it was too late. The bus slowly began to lean back yet again, and with Anna's back turned obliviously they were out of luck for a weight.

"Quick, get to the top!" Ricca yells. Miro, nodding, began to clamber up the way along with her. However, as the bus leaned farther and farther back, it became more difficult, until it was actually quite impossible and they had to climb up the seats to get anywhere. By the time they actually had made it and were sitting on the back of the furthest seats they could get to, they quickly notice that the bus… didn't stop leaning…

"We're not heavy enough…" Ricca says plainly.

"Oh, why couldn't our cows make anything but low-fat butter…?" Miro mutters to himself. "'The cholesterol will kill you', yeah, but not before the pointy rocks at the bottom of this cliff do!"

"And the exit's too far to reach…" Ricca continues. "This isn't good…"

"The irony is killing me, here…" Miro mumbles, leaning back against the wall and making himself comfy, "but not before the pointy ro-"

"Oh, shut up." Ricca snaps, sighing and also getting herself in a more comfortable position.

There was a moment's pause, cut off by the sound of rock grinding and the bus leaning back even further. They both cringe and wait for a moment.

"…We did make a good team," Ricca states.

"Yeah…" Miro replies. "We were fighting for leadership in the beginning, but we probably should've been working together…"

"Yes. But at least we didn't let the rivalry go too far." Ricca says, shrugging a bit. "We went for power, but it never really interrupted our big objective. And, we never let our group down."

"Oh yeah, of course. Without us, they'd have been toast." Miro says with a chuckle.

Suddenly the bus begins sliding, a cracking sound heard as though a rock had finally snapped under the weight of the vehicle. The two were thrown around a bit by this, Miro landing on his back on a seat a few rows lower, Ricca managing to grip onto a seat one lower than the one she was just sitting on and using it to land easily on the seat one lower. Looking down, she notices that there was a large root sticking out of the side of the hill keeping the bus from falling. At this point, the bus was almost completely vertical.

"…Are we dead yet?" Miro asks, looking up at her and slowly sitting up.

"No…" Ricca replies, sighing once in relief. "We'll be fine as long as that one root holds up-"

A loud crack from the root interrupts Ricca. Both she and Miro gasp.

"R… Ricca, I think there's something I should say…" Miro begins. "I, uhh… I love you!"

"…What?" Ricca says, staring at him.

"Well, not nearly as much as Kate, but these being our last moments alive I figured it might count for something…" Miro explains quickly, glancing down at the ever-cracking root once or twice.

"…It doesn't." Ricca says, shaking her head. "And there's no way we can die right now… Nope, too much has happened. It would be anti-climactic."

"No, no, it would be anti-resolution-ic." Miro corrects her.

Suddenly, the root beneath them completely snaps, the bus jolting as it began its way down. Quite suddenly, however, it stops.

"…Umm…" Miro begins, looking around. "…Why aren't we, umm, falling or… dead…?"

"I'm… not sure…" Ricca admits, looking around. Nothing they could see was holding the bus up now. Suddenly there's a quick upward jerk, and the bus is risen slightly. Apparently something was hanging onto it and making a good effort to pull it up.

"Er…" Miro says, another lifting motion felt in the bus. "…Any idea what this could be?"

"No… and I'm not really in the mood to care…" Ricca replies.

Slowly (much too slowly for Miro and Ricca), the unnamed force pulls the bus up bit by bit, and, in about a minute's time, tips the bus down to land on its back wheels again. At this point, Miro could walk to the back window and see what was doing this.

Looking out the door, and finally looking down, he saw, gripping the tailpipe of the bus and pulling it back to the ground, "…Hugh?"

"Yup," Hugh says, straining to haul the bus back to the ground. "What, was I gonna just leave you two? No, no, like I said, I'm good."

"Oh yeah?" Miro says disbelievingly. He looks toward the other people standing by idly. "And how exactly is he doing this by himself?"

"The same reason he's doing it at all. Motivation," Kate replies. "Lumina happened to mention how very impressed she would be if Hugh could lift up the bus."

"Good thinking." Ricca says, walking from behind Miro, impatiently, she simply hops down from the elevated bus door and joins the others. Miro follows suit, landing easily enough and walking with Ricca for just a second to pass a small message.

"I retract my statement from earlier…" He says. Ricca nods.

"Of course. This never happened." She says simply.

"H-hey, wait up!" Hugh says, letting go of the tailpipe to follow them. This causes the bus to lean over yet again and, this time, fall over the cliff and land on the rocks below, resulting in an explosion which sent several shards of metal flying all over the place and small clouds of flame poking over the edge of the hill. The group turned quickly to see this occur.

"…Well, maybe it happened a little…"