(I've been holding this off for a long time, though I suppose now I should follow the trend and make sure people don't think I'm part of some Natsume cohort trying to get people to buy into this game. Mind you, it is obviously a good game, but I'm still not a cronie. So, Allow me to introduce you to…

THE GREAT DISCLAIMER

(Ahem)

I do not own Harvest Moon.

I do not own Marvelous Interactive.

I do not own Natsume, and if I did I would fire those stupid translators and replace them with people who actually know some of the language they're trying to translate.

I do not own Jack.

I do not own the other Jack.

I do not own Nami or Karen, but I will not rest until I do.

I do not own Ann, nor any of the 12.5 billion spa-boiled eggs that fans have been giving her over the years.

I do not own Mary, Elli, or Popuri, for they are minor characters and unpopular to most. But I do like Mary somewhat.

I own Miro, by name, but I do not own Miro's appearance and some of his personality.

I partly own William, Anna, and Ricca. My associates own the other part.

I fully own Matthew, which is always nice.

I fully own 'Whitey' William. Everybody likes an anti-hero.

I do not own a pathetic, sad man with a disgusting physique who is unloved by all. Or his son Hugh.

Speaking of Hugh, I don't own him. Though I am considering it, since I can then sell him off to rabid fangirls for an enormous sum of money…

I do not own Daachan. That thing is still goddamn scary.

I recently found out that I don't own the cat name Kanna. I honestly had no idea that it was the name of an InuYasha character. Which, you ask? Well, you know that creepy little girl in white that lugs around a mirror all the time? Yeah, that one.

I do not own InuYasha. If I did, Sesshomaru would get more stage time and Kikyo would DIE ALREADY. I also do not own Kagome's Magical Anime Skirt of Doom and Not Showing Anything Even During a Massive Gust of Wind.

I do not own Celia, or her 3-inch thick flax dress.

I do not own Muffy, but she can own me any da- uhh… I mean, I do not own Muffy.

I do not own Van or Vesta. I can't fit them in the garage…

I do not own Cody. In fact, I hate Cody muchly because he's turning my kid into an artist when I want him to be a musician. Grumble…

I do not own Nic, Nac, Flak, or anything else under eight inches in height.

I do not own Murrey, for that is unhealthy.

I do not own Hardy, for obvious reasons.

I do not own Daryll, but I think I have a shirt like that… only, like, less destroyed.

I do not own Cliff, but I think I did shoot his bird accidentally before FoMT came around…

I do not own Gray, no matter how cool one eyeball peeking out from under a hat is.

I do not own Kai. I think he might be bald.

I do not own Kate, though I stand by my opinion that she's cute and is a much more natural match for Nami's son.

I do not own the ChildKate shipper industry, but I am a proud member of it. And my Fic's the first one I've seen to have that pairing…

I do not own Lumina, though my little brother is completely infatuated by her so I am checking prices on eBay.

I do not own The Lord of the Rings series. I'm not quite as smart as Peter Jackson and much better looking than Orlando Bloom, who speaks 60 percent through his nose.

I do not own the Gundam series. If I did, I would yank that one guy's neato silver mask and ride into town with it, on my trusted camel.

I do not own Gwen Stefani. If I did own Gwen Stefani I sure as heck wouldn't be sitting in front of this computer right now.

I do not own Samantha. Grant beat me to it.

I do not own Grant. I don't need an excuse.

I do not own Rock, Tim, or Ruby. I'm not even sure if Tim and Ruby own Rock. I mean, just look at him. He's not pudgy or weird at all.

I do not own Bry. He's my good friend Corinne's doing.

I do not own Harris, or the fact that he's a pansy.

I do not own Takakura's eyebrows.

I do not own whatever else of Takakura there is.

I do not own you, but I do pwn you.

My name is Mr. Unimportant, and I. AM. CANADIAN!)

-

Once they had ran a good way down the path leading from the town and entered the mass of forest nearby, Miro orders Hugh to sneak on the sides of the path with him. Hugh had much to protest about, since there were many branches and brambles and other pointy things impeding them along the way, but Miro insisted that it was the best idea.

"…And why's that again?" Hugh mutters, as a small branch cut across the area of his face that already had a bandage over it anyway.

"Simple." Miro states. "This Bry guy… He always had the edge on us because he had the element of surprise. We don't expect him to be so quick and sudden, but if we get the jump on him, he won't have time to go hyper on us."

"…Oh, yeah, I get it." Hugh replies, nodding a bit. "But, uhh… he's gotta be a hundred miles away by now. Do we have to stay hidden in these stupid bushes until-"

"Don't worry. There he is." Miro says suddenly, signalling for Hugh to be quiet with one hand and pointing to Bry with the other. Indeed he was there, visible in a gap between bushes, about 20 meters away. He was staring in the opposite direction, down the path, simply standing there. Miro and Hugh were both puzzled by this, but took the opportunity to begin approaching him. As they walked, Miro could hear mumblings from the blonde teen.

Bry was staring down the path with a restrained eagerness. He waned to keep going, but…

"…I'm free." He mutters to himself, smiling a bit at this. "Yeah, I'm free. I can go wherever, do whatever – the world is my oyster-fish… But what now? Something's not right… I feel funny, like there's something missing in my chest. Stupid me… I need to get this missing part filled up, and then I can really do whatever I want… Hmph. All of this freedom, but still I don't feel just right."

Suddenly, Miro and Hugh jump out from the bushes next to him, charging at once and aiming at his general self with various limbs. In an instant, he ducked between them and grabbed each of their ankles, causing them to trip to the ground. Standing up again and taking a few steps back, Bry looks at them.

"Oh well, at least there's still your butts to kick." He states.

Getting up quickly, Miro and Hugh turn to face him.

"…How did you know we were there?" Miro demands.

"Heard you!" Bry replies tauntingly. "I heard all of those twigs breaking a long time before you showed up!"

"B… but… that's my thing!" Miro spits. "You can't be really tough AND steal my thing!"

Bry laughs at this, apparently finding it greatly amusing. At that moment, Hugh managed to squeeze a great brainwave from his tiny brain and adds his own heroic bit to the scene.

"Give up."

Bry stops at this, and gives Hugh an odd look.

"…Why?"

"Because, you can't win." Hugh continues, flexing various parts of himself in preparation. "Me, I'm the final boss. Miro here's the dinky main character who ends up being really strong. When the two fight, you know it's the biggest battle in the game. But if the two of us team up, you know that we're impossible to beat!"

Miro was ready to retort about the 'dinky main character' bit, but decides to let Hugh's attempt at intimidation continue. Bry simply chuckles more.

"…Ah, you know what I am?" he asks, eager for Hugh to respond.

"What's that?" Hugh inquires.

"I'm the hidden boss!" Bry states, giving another chuckle of pride. "I'm stronger than both of you, and almost nobody can beat me!"

"…How do you even know about hidden bosses?" Miro inquires, giving him a stare.

"Played Tales of Symphona." Bry replies with a shrug. "S'the only game I have, so I unlocked everything."

"Tales of…" Miro begins, confused.

"…Hey, wait a minute, I have that game!" Hugh shouts. "I play it every evening after measuring my daily sweat!"

"Oh? Who's your favorite character?" Bry returns, giving Hugh a look.

"Kratos, he's hardcore…" Hugh replies, returning the look. "You?"

"Lloyd."

"You're a LLOYDER?" Hugh snaps, looking genuinely angry. "You bastard! We're kicking butt, Miro!"

"Right…" Miro begins, completely unaware of what in the world they were talking about. "Tag-team. You first, Hugh."

With that, Miro takes a few steps back, allowing Hugh to begin the battle against Bry. Cracking his fingers yet again and then cracking something in his arm that sounded greatly unhealthy, Hugh gives Bry a smug look.

"I…" he states. "am the son of the great Wally! You will not win this one, boy!"

And with that, he charged at Bry, aiming a wide swing at him. Bry ducks beneath Hugh easily enough, and aims a punch directly into Hugh's cast-iron-solid left pec. Hugh only smirks.

"You've gotta do way better than that." He states. Bry smiles, complying by then grabbing an area of the pectoral between his fingers and giving it a nastily painful twist.

Hugh cringes, feeling the manlyness sap from his body as he is reduced to his knees by the crippling twister. "Gaargh… AAAGH! MIRO! TAG! TAG, MAN!"

Miro pauses, observing what Bry was doing with interest.

"…Why did I never think of that…?" he wonders with a sigh. "Would've saved me so much crap just a few days ago…"

"Miiirooo…"

"All right, all right, you wimpering sack of pansy." Miro mutters, tagging Hugh's outstretched arm. Bry immediately releases him, Hugh limping a safe distance away to nurse his abused area of person. Miro gets into one of his patented fighting stances and faces Bry with determination.

"I…" he states, much like Hugh did. "am the son of the mean and powerful Nami and the, um… mentally… pure… Jack. Suffice to say, I should keep you busy for at least a few seconds…"

Miro and Bry run at each other, both trading similar blows between each other with their arms and feet. The moment that both of their elbows and one knee were locked with each other, Miro pauses to give Bry a look.

"…Okay, this is more than coincidence." Miro points out.

"Hm. What did you do to learn how to fight?" Bry inquires.

"Um… Mostly self-taught, we could say, but right now I'm using what I read in a book… Say, did you also read Jet Li's How to Kick Butt in Fifteen Seconds?"

"Yep." Bry states. "Did you read the sequel, Jet Li's How to Kick the Butt of People who Didn't Read the Sequel?"

"Wha-?"

"That's a no."

With that, Bry immediately unlocks all of his limbs from Miro's, spins once which somehow places himself behind Miro, grabs his arm, and yanks it backward over onto his shoulder.

"Gargh… I didn't know my arm could do that…" Miro states, wincing a bit in pain.

"It can't." Bry says, smiling a bit as he forcefully threw Miro over his shoulder, whom landed on the ground in yet another of his ungraceful heaps. After a moment, Miro got back up to one knee, pausing to re-adjust his arm in the process.

"…Okay…" he says tenatively. "…You're obviously not the average random hyper phychopath. Hugh, we need to take this guy on at the same time."

"…Yeah…" Hugh mumbles, wiping off his watering eyes and gingerly removing his hand from his freshly-tweaked nib as he stood up. "Yeah… Let's get him… One…"

"Two…"

-

Meanwhile, in the library of Mineral Town, the four still-beleagured protagonists from Mother's Hill were deep in debate of what the next course of action would be. Matthew was reading a book while speaking, while William was holding the sides of his head with slightly watery eyes, having suffered a painful ear-tugging from his beloved mother when they had passed by the Hot Spring. Thankfully, the other three teens were hasty to explain the whole situation to her before William was permanently made into an elf.

"So, if we're right about this, we need a plan right away." Ricca states, looking to everyone for nods of agreement. Anna at the very least nodded.

"But we're not sure what Karrie will try next time." She points out. "We don't know if she'll even try anything at all…"

"She will." Matthew states, not looking awat from the book. "I doubt if she'd want to stop at just Ricca and William."

"…What are you doing, researching on her?" William inquires, noticing how into the book Matthew was.

"No." Matthew replies simply.

"…Then why are we in the library again?" William proceeds.

"…Oh, I'm doing research on 'hollaback'. I have doubts that it's a real word." Matthew explains, nodding to this. The group pauses for a moment, then continues.

"Okay, then what's her next likely target?" William questions. The group pauses for a moment at this.

"…She doesn't know that the attempt on me and you failed." Ricca points out. "She's probably moved on to other possible targets."

"Stu?" Matthew inquires.

"I don't think so." Anna replies. "Stu and May aren't together. I think she'd spend her time on the hard ones first and save someone like Stu for when she's used up all of her best plans."

"…We're not talking about an evil genius here," William reminds them. "This is Karrie. A normal, if incredibly sweet and heart-stoppingly beautiful person. We can't even be sure if it really IS her doing this."

"Oh yes we can. Me and Anna." Ricca retorts, Anna nodding to this. "We're girls, we can sense betrayal…"

"Ph." Matthew sounds, accidentally spitting a bit on his book. Wiping it off, he continues. "Okay, so assuming that this is Karrie's doing, we can safely rule out all four of us, and Stu. That only leaves…"

"Kate and Lumina!" Anna says with a gasp. "We have to find them and warn them, before Karrie can…"

"…What can Karrie do again?" William inquires. "She isn't the most amazing villian ever. Not like Daachan or… me a few days ago."

"We shouldn't underestimate her." Ricca states, getting up from her chair and turning to the exit. "That's exactly how almost every bad thing that's happened to us started…"

-

In the cozy confines of Doug's Inn, a pair of Forget-Me-Not Valleyers occupied one of the otherwise near-empty tables, enjoying small talk and sipping on their pineapple juice. These two, Kate and Lumina, seemed to be quite glad of this down-time, without other people around babbling constantly, or kicking their chair legs accidentally, or asking annoying questions. This was a nice time to have a good, simple conversation with someone that one has known for a long time.

"You know, this is a pretty good spot." Kate comments, glancing around once at the place. "The Inner would really do well if it had a bit of an expansion and a big dining room."

"Yes," Lumina agrees, nodding. "Too bad that Tim and Ruby wouldn't like it. They really enjoy the traditional look of the Inn."

"…Yeah, the vases and ugly masks and things…" Kate trails off, nodding a bit. "Though it would still bring up business if there was at least more than one room open at any time…"

"That's true…" Lumina agrees. She takes a long sip of her pineapple juice and wipes her mouth off with a napkin before proceeding with a question. "…So, when did you and Miro get together?"

"Hm?" Kate returns. She had heard her clearly, but it was natural for the person being asked pretending not to have heard, and then a second later miraculously realizing what was being asked. "Oh… Well, what do you mean?"

"You two didn't really seem to like one another before you left the Valley." Lumina states. "When I saw you after, though, when we were going through the forest and Miro was telling the story, and you ran in between us, I noticed how protective you were… So, you must have gotten together before then, right?"

"…Well, yeah…" Kate replies, nodding a bit. "Well, let's see… I always did have this itchy feeling that he was more than just somebody to kick around, ever since a couple… maybe three years ago. I know we officially got together sometime over the trip, but I can't really pinpoint… Oh, wait, there was that kiss that lasted a few days…"

"A… a few days?" Lumina echoes, looking at Kate incredulously. "Kate, that is a very, very big landmark… When did this happen?"

"Umm, a couple of days or so after Miro left…" Kate replies, looking a little awkward. "And, well, we found out we had split personalities after that… Um, apparently our inner selves got out, because of the kiss, and we were acting strange for a while until Miro was slapped by a fish and got me angry, which put us back to normal…"

"Oh, my…" Lumina says, unsure of what exactly to say to this. "How… romantic…"

"Yeah…" Kate says, chuckling a bit and sipping her juice before clearing her throat to continue. "So what about you and Hugh? Have you kissed or anything yet?"

"Kissed?" Lumina repeats, feigning that she hadn't quite heard just like Kate did. "Well… Yes. A few times, on the bus…"

"Ah, and I noticed that window was steaming up…" Kate states observantly. "…And, umm, how was it?"

"Oh, it was wonderful!" Lumina replies, a look of great giddiness on her face. "You would never expect him to be such a talent at it! Maybe he practices on things like pillows…"

"Did you return at all?" Kate inquires.

"…What do you mean?" Lumina inquires to the inquiry.

"…Lumina! You didn't just sit there and let him go, did you? You've gotta give as good as you get!" Kate states, giving her a shocked look. "We're not romantic knobs, here, we're Valley girls! They need to know who they're messing with!"

"…Oh, umm…" Lumina mutters, seeming to think for a moment. "Well, I… I gave… about as good as I got. I don't know, he was very nice. Even a little shy about it at first."

"Really?" Kate inquires, looking at her now with some interest. Then, a thought came to her. If Lumina could find her way into the soft side of Hugh, one of the most one-dimensional people she has ever encountered, then maybe, someday soon…

"Lumina… Are you planning on marrying him?" The question came out in a quiet gasp of awe, as Kate leaned slightly over the table and gave Lumina a transfixed, fascinated look.

"…Um…" Lumina mumbles, looking down for a moment before deciding to answer. "I… I th… Yes, I think so."

Kate gasped, the natural stimulation given by most females from hearing the echoes of wedding bells in the future overcoming her usual self for the moment. A delighted smile came upon her face and she put her hands to her mouth, giggling.

"Oh, wow, this is so great!" she states, standing up and nearly knocking over her chair. "And you two are the right age and everything! Well, Hugh's nineteen but that's really close! And you're, umm, probably old enough to cover for both of you, so yeah!"

"Umm, yes…" Lumina mutters, deciding to stray away from stating her real age if it could be avoided. "But Hugh hasn't proposed or anything, of course, so…"

"Oh, of course, you can't expect him to right away," Kate agrees, getting back to her seat. "but you two are older than the rest of us, so we can expect you two to tie the knot before us."

"Do you plan on marrying Miro?" Lumina inquires.

"Well…" Kate begins, thinking for a moment. "Seeing as we're chemically alike and very attached to each other… I mean, it's much too early to talk about things like that, but since he's one of the only people I've grown up with…"

Just then, the door to the Inn opened, and the shining hair and trim constitution of Karrie slunk her way into the room, immediately spotting the two and grinning to them.

"Kate and Lumina!" she greets, walking up to them cheerily and taking a seat. "We haven't been able to talk yet, have we?"

"…Since when did you know our names?" Kate asks, attempting not to sound rude but her success being in serious question.

"Oh, Miro and Hugh mentioned you… at least twice." Karrie recalls, remembering the instances after a short pause. "But anyway, how are you two feeling? All of that walking and adventuring around must have made you really sore. Are your feet okay?"

"They're fine," Kate replies a little sharply. "And no, I don't care for that lotion stored in your left-front pocket."

"Aw." Karrie says, a tad put-out. "What about you, Lumina?"

"I… I'm fine, thank you." Lumina states simply.

"Hmm…" Karrie pauses, thinking for a quick moment before apparently remembering something. "Oh, and I've been meaning to ask you two something…"

"You have?" Kate questions, Lumina also looking a bit curious.

"Yes." Karrie replies. "…You two are very pretty, and really nice-looking for country girls. But, well, have you ever wanted to look just a little better?"

"What do you mean?" Lumina asks, blinking once.

"I mean, you have very good qualities but you don't really show them." Karrie states. "Lumina, you're slim and built to be a very good runway model, and Kate, your freckles go very well with your face, and you have some of the fullest hair I've seen. All you two need is a couple of things and you can look just beautiful."

"You don't say…" Kate mutters, looking very uninterested and taking a sip of her juice absently.

"Yes!" Karrie proclaims, looking more excited now. "Lumina, if you wore a thinner dress and made it a single color, like brown which would go great with your eyes, it would show off your curves so much better! And Kate, if you wore something red with something on the back that would let your hair be seen, and curl it at about the last quarter-"

"I'd look like a freckled Muffy." Kate interrupts, still looking uninterested. "Thanks but no thanks."

"Muffy? That horridly over-applying blonde woman? Dear, no!" Karrie states, looking distasteful at the thought. "Your face and body would make it look like something completely different! Not to mention, your hair isn't nearly as light as hers."

"Yes, having a light head isn't the best of things." Kate mutters, taking note of Karrie's hair colour.

"But there's one thing that you two need before any of that happens." Karrie continues, giving both an uncomfortably thorough look. "You need about… oh, not even five taken off…"

"Five what?" Lumina inquires.

"Pounds." Karrie replies. "You two have great waistlines, but they would look just perfect if we could get the nice, hourglass frame working for you."

Kate gives her a look.

"I said I'm fine." she states concisely. "The people I care at all about don't give a crap how I look."

"I've… never had any complaints…" Lumina states, glancing down for just a moment at herself.

"Of course!" Karrie replies, undeterred. "Why would they? You two look great just as you are, you don't ever have to change! But imagine how surprised they'll be if they see you one day all well-dressed and showing your real self to the world!"

"And you think that somebody else's vision of what I should look like is my real self?" Kate returns, narrowing her eyes but mocking interest. "Interesting…"

Karrie pauses for a moment at this. With the view on personal fashion and self-respect that Kate had, Karrie was beginning to wonder about her lifestyle and choices, her opinion of herself, her hidden insecurities and… meh, oh well. C'est la vis. Proceeding with her plan, Karrie takes out two glasses from apparently nowhere, full of what seemed to be chocolate milk. Smiling, she places them in front of the two girls.

"Give these a try." She offers, still smiling. Kate looks at the one given to her with some apprehension.

"…What are they?" she asks, looking to Karrie suspiciously.

"Just something I drink." Karrie replies, giving a little shrug. "I really like it, so I thought you might as well."

"…It just looks like chocolate milk." Lumina states, putting a spoon in the liquid and stirring curiously. "Is that all it is?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Karrie replies, smiling a bit more. "It's only a drink, don't worry. Go on, give it a try."

At that very moment, the door to the Inn is slammed open, with four teens charging in immediately after. After glancing around for a moment, they spot their two friends and Karrie, immediately stunning the two guys. The girls, however, run to them determinedly.

"Wait! Stop!" Anna says, as Kate and Lumina had their glass raised in front of themselves.

"What is it, Anna?" Lumina asks.

"Don't worry, it's just a drink." Kate reassures them.

"My left eye it's just a drink!" Ricca returns, giving Karrie a look, who only smiled back. "Quit that! Don't think I don't know you, Karrie! And don't think I don't know that you tried to set up me and William!"

"I did what?" Karrie asks in her light voice, blinking in apparent confusion. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you're greedy and not nice!" Anna states huffily. "Now what did you put in those drinks?"

"I didn't put anything…" Karrie begins. "I just wanted them to try it…"

"Oh?" Ricca inquires, noticing something within her pocket and quickly reaching in at it (William all-out fainted at this). With equal speed, she pulls it out and examines it. It was a torn paper packet of some sort, which obviously once contained some kind of powder. Reading the label, Ricca gasps and immediately glares at Karrie.

"Slim-Quick!" she states, throwing the packet away in disgust. "You conniving tart! Even I didn't think you would sink so low!"

"Kate, Lumina, don't drink that!" Anna warns them. "If you do, your self-esteem will be killed instantly! You'll count calories and wear bad makeup because it 'exfoliates'!"

"And nobody on this planet knows what the hell that means!" Ricca adds. "And you'll keep breaking out in horribly annoying fits of giggles and start dressing like those Ragnarok Online skanks!"

"…What?" Anna asks, puzzled.

"…The beach house has dial-up." Ricca explains. "Anyway, don't drink it! Throw it away!"

Kate chuckles, having finally been given an excuse to discard the drink, and places it back on the table, pushing it far away. Lumina does the same, however a bit more gently so as not to spill.

Karrie sees this and, tilting her head and letting out an "Aww…" of disappointment, sighing. She then turns to Matthew and a recently-conscious William.

"Mattie? Willie?" she asks sweetly, to their vauge nods of recognition. Karrie then speaks with her same sweatness. "Destroy them."

"Okay." William and Matthew say, nodding dumbly as they approach the other four girls with a tetermined gleam in their eyes. Just before they could strike (and likely get their heads stomped in) however, a voice called in protest.

"Hey! I don't want any climactic battling in here!" Doug calls from his bar table. "Just go outside and play nice, you seven!"

To the varied mumblings of the group, they grudgingly agree, trodding out the door and making it to the pathway before the pounding of William and Matthew commenced.

-

The residents of the bubbling, warm Hot Spring were still comfortably lazing within its bubbly liquid, the pent-up anger from William's incident having drifted away from Cliff and Elli ever since it was explained as a simple misunderstanding. They even felt a little sorry for yanking at his earlobes so hard before any explaination could be made.

"Ah…" Nami sighs, getting her head slowly up from the rock and opening her eyes. She looks to Jack. "I feel much better now. Thanks again."

"Eh, it was nothing." Jack replies. "I know you'd do the same for me. You did that one time about 16 years off. Seven months pregnant and you could still march into that Bar, kick the chair out from under me and haul me out to Hardy's place for alcohol poisoning treatment after Griffin mixed up the Moomoo Milk with that really, really big shot bottle."

"I've always wondered how you never noticed, either…" Nami points out. "Then again, you had that incident with the belt sander a few days before that, so your taste buds might have still not grown back at the time…"

"That was it." Jack states. "I remember because it was the month before you had Miro that things stopped tasting like sandpaper."

Just then, an excited Kai runs up the parh leading to the Hot Spring, followed by an equally-excited, cap-wearing Jack. They both stopped in front of the group, grinning delightedly.

"We caught a bass!" Kai proclaims, unslinging the guitar from his back and showing it to the group.

"We caught a fish, too!" Jack adds, his cap askew on his head.

"Really?" Elli asks, looking interested. "Is that what you're so excited about?"

"We think it's a new record!" Kai states. "It's a Huchep. You you know the record for them?"

"Umm… No. But how many inches is this fish?" Mary inquires.

"Err… Jack, what did it measure at?" Kai asks.

"Umm, inches?" Jack replies.

"Yeah." Kai says.

"Let's see…" Jack mutters, pausing to recount it. "About… Five hundred and sixty four."

Everyone in the pool either gasped, coughed, or choked at this proclaimation. Gray was the first to speak out.

"F… Fourty-seven feet!" he splutters, staring shocked at the two.

"About that, yeah." Jack replies, nodding a bit.

"Had a hell of a time trying to get it in the cooler." Kai adds. "We had to just leave it on the beach."

"But don't worry, Ann has a huge bottle of preservatives that she's saved for just such an occasion." Jack assures them.

"W… wait, how the heck did you catch something like that?" Cliff asks. The others look to the two expectantly.

"Umm, well…" Kai begins.

"It's… a fairly typical fish story." Jack proceeds. "You know… Just finished the farming rounds, decided to go to Kai's, we decide to cruise on the boat, brought some fishing stuff, get out about half a kilometer into the water, we drop anchor, the rope gets caught around Kai's foot, he falls into the water, fish comes along, fish swallows Kai, dies, floats to the surface, I pull them in, jump on the fish until it spits him out, and the rest is history."

"…Fairly typical." Kai says in agreement. "So, umm, Jack technically caught the fish, but I get credit as bait."

After the expected pause of dumb looks,the Jack in the pool is the one to speak out.

"…That… is TOO cool!" he shouts, standing up in the water and looking to them with excitedly shining eyes. This, however, revealled the reason he didn't want to put more than his head out of the water. For lack of any posible way that this can be stated in a generously fancy way, he was wearing the two-piece bathing suit that Nami had just barely failed to make him wear when the journey to find their child began. Unfortunately, she had also told him to bring it along, just in case…

"…Speaking of cool, mind the draft, Jack." Kai reminds him. Jack, again remembering what he was wearing, "Eek!"ed once and sunk into the water again.

"Maybe we should have a little festival." Nami suggests, looking at Kai and the non-submerged Jack. "It'll probably take the whole town's efforts to eat the thing, anyway."

"Hey, that's a good idea!" Kai proclaims. "But… what should we call it?"

"The Scurvy Festival?" Cliff suggests.

"Eh, sounds a little too formal." The hatted Jack states. "How about just the… Big Fish Festival?"

"That sounds good." Elli agrees, nodding.

"Okay!" Kai says. "C'mon, Jack, let's find Mayor Thomas!"

With that, the two of them run off, eager to share their good news with Mayor Thomas and the rest of the town.

-

"…Three!" Miro and Hugh yell at once, after a rediculously long pause. During this, Hugh had managed to get to the other side of Bry, so Miro and him had both routes of the path covered.

Miro was the first to get to Bry, and aimed a few well-dodged blows at him before Bry grabbed one of his arms, forced it to Miro's chest and used his other hand to grab Miro by the throat. This is where Hugh came in, aiming a kick to Bry's back. However, Bry knew what he was going to do and jumped, wrapping his legs around Hugh's own while still keeping his grip on Miro. Then, with a forceful twist of his body, he forced the two of them to fall to the ground, along with himself. However, he landed in an easier way, quickly getting up again. Miro and Hugh also get up, and then back up to surround him once more.

"Hugh, he can't get us both at once!" Miro states. "Let's go at him, at the EXACT same time!"

"Right!" Hugh replies. With that, they both run at him and prepare to strike out, but Bry halts them by leaping into the air and sticking his legs out in the splits, planting his feet on both of their chests. After vain attempts to reach out and grab at the boy, Miro decides to step back so that he loses his footing. However, as though Bry knew ahead of time what he was planning, he kicked off of Miro and planted both of his feet on Hugh's shoulders, standing on them and facing Miro. Miro attempted to run at him whilst Hugh tried to grab him, but Bry quicky crouched, slid his feet down to Hugh's back, and kicked off from him. This caused Hugh to collide into Miro and both to hold their faces in pain after they had done so. Bry, being Bry, had casually landed on his feet, but not without the required stylish backflip.

"Oww… Damn… You nasty, evil little MONKEY!" Hugh spits.

"I swear, this time we'll get you…" Miro mutters behind his hands, which still covered his face.

For a change, Bry ran in between them. Finding this a good opportunity to strike, both Miro and Hugh take a swing at his head level. Unfortunately, his head level was quite the same as theirs, and when he ducked to dodge them, they wound up punching one another in the face. Much more painful for Miro than for Hugh, but both reeled for a moment and squinted their eyes. Bry popped up before them again and, as they were busy feeling under their noses for blood, he grabbed both by the back of the head and slammed them into one another again. When Miro and Hugh stumbled backward, they didn't bother check their noses again. They could take a good guess as to whether or not there was blood.

"…Okay, you know what?" Miro states, his voice sounding plugged. "You are… really annoying…"

"And a lot better than either of you." Bry states smugly. "Lookit you both. Even together, you can't land a thing on me. I was born to be free, and not a force in this world can stop me!"

-

"…Hey, Patrick, give this a look, will ya?" the creepily identical Kassey requests, carefully inspecting a completed firework he was just finished. Patrick grunts and stands up, walking around the hole in the middle of their water-tower home and takes the device carefully from him, giving it a good look-over.

"Something about it?" he asks. "Seems fine to me. What do you have packed in it?"

"Few grams of this, few grams of that." Kassey states, shrugging a bit. "The mixture, though, I don't think it'll react right. Doubt it'll explode."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I tested one like this a months ago. It just fizzed in the air and died." Kassey says. "Though, I did tweak this one a bit. What do you think?"

"Let's give it a try." Patrick replies. "Sometimes there's only one way to find out."

"True." Kassey agrees. "Okay, open the hatch."

"Opening the hatch…" Patrick mutters, turning a random crank on the wall and raising an entire section of the water tower's side fully open.

"Ready the stand."

"Readying the stand." Patrick echoes boredly, finding a metal holder for the firework and placing it next to the open section of wall, also placing the firework carefully upon it.

"Light the fuse." Kassey concludes.

"Lighting the fuse." Patrick replies, taking a match from his trouser pocket and striking it against his own forehead to light it. Placing it at the base of the firework, the fuse soon hisses and sparks in anticipation to go off.

"Stand back."

"Standing back."

After a short moment, the firework shoots off into the air, quickly clearing several hundred feet in height before… heading downward again. A strong crosswind had blown it far from the two pyrotechnicians however, and it seemed to be heading into a distant area of the forest…

-

Hugh and Miro prepare themselves to continue their combat with Bry, whom was facing them and getting into a ready stance as well.

"Come on, let's finish this…" Bry states, smirking readily.

"You got it." Hugh growls.

"This is it, no more pausing." Miro says. "Only One of us is walking out of this bout, and it's going to be me."

"…You?" Hugh repeats, giving Miro a sideways glance.

"…Well, we have to be logical." Miro states. "I mean, one of us is probably going down in the fight."

Hugh mutters and looks to Bry again, but, before any of them could make a move, a firework came down from the heavens and landed right before Bry's feet. The three of them pause for a moment, and then slowly look down at the fizzling object…

-

The explosion was impressive, even by firework standards, Kassey noted as he tried to guess the radius of smoke and debris from that distance. His compound worked pretty well…

"Just looks like the internal fuse is delayed a bit." Patrick states ovservantly. "Good mixture, though. We gotta remember to keep that."

Kassey nodded and, with a certain haste so as to not get curious people to come and ask what that loud bang was, the two of them quickly wound the crank down again to re-enclose their water tower home.

- - -

An uncertain amount of time later, in an uncertain location, a red-haired teen awoke from what seemed to be a concussion-induced coma. He wasn't quite sure of his name or identity yet, but a majority of his senses had been returned to him. Sunlight brushed against his face from behind the leaves of trees… A thought suddenly sprung to his mind, but, with a quick sweep of his hand, he was relieved to find that he was, in fact, male. He was relieved because being female just seemed too all-around hard. Blinking a few times, he sat up to take a look at his surroundings. Forest. Path. Jock. It seemed like normal surroundings scattered about his view…

Miro! That was it! Sort of like that guy from that show! But what was he doing around here…?

Several minutes passed, and as his momeories continued to collect themselves, he became more and more disappointed… Jee, with this new look on how his life turned out, he had an excellent view on how much it really stank. A moment later, the lump of humanity that was the jock that was Hugh that Miro had remembered was Hugh about a minute and a half before began to stir, grumbling and muttering incoherently.

"Ugh… M… Miro… You there…?" Hugh breathes out, finally something that could be understood.

"Yep…" Miro mutters, though the many bruises and burn-ey feelings he felt made him wish somewhat that he wasn't.

"…Are we dead?" Hugh continues.

"Nope."

"God dammit…" Hugh mutters angrily. "We really have to stop almost dying and just come to a damn decision…"

"…Do you see Bry?" Miro asks, once Hugh had pulled his face from the pathway.

"Who?" Hugh questions.

"Bry." Miro repeats.

"…Who? I can't hear you over the ringing…" Hugh inquires again.

"Bry!" Miro shouts with all of the energy given to him.

"…Oh yeah! Uhh…" Hugh begins, taking a look around. He suddenly spotted a speck of blonde in a nearby bush. "Hey, over there!"

"…He was on the other side," Miro points out, referring to the firework. "He should've been blown the other way, shouldn't he?"

"I think… I remember seeing him being slung from a tree before the concussion knocked me out…" Hugh recalls. "Oh well. Let's scrape him out of that bush and drag him along while he's out."

"Okay." Miro agrees. And so they did, and since Bry had taken the worst of the blast, he was completely out without a sign of stirring for at least that lifetime. However, he was breathing, which is always good. Hugh and Miro each carried him by a shoulder and with much haste (or as much haste as their incredibly sore bodies could manage), they began down the pathway once again.

(And I'm ending the chapter there! I was gonna add more, but once again the length has startled me. I'm sensing only anout three more Chapters to go, so don't fret if you're paitently waiting for me to finally shut up...ehehheh... Oh, remember to review! And if anyone recognizes the big fish incident as a part from an episode of The Red Green Show, you already might be able to guess upon how it'll all turn out. Well, you're right, but keep quiet about it! We don't want the others to know, it'll spoil it!

…Oh, and I don't own Tales of Symphonia! Or Ragnarok Online! Or anything else! ANYTHING!)