A/N: This is the THIRD time that I've had to type this chapter up!!! First time, the computer got a virus (which Marty's blaming on me, of course,) and the second time is because he deleted my folder. You have no IDEA how much I hate him now. Now he's totally got it out for me, too!! I can't wait until I don't have to share a computer with him anymore! It makes him so thoroughly grumpy!! I mean, come on. He's holding a grudge over his lame, piece-of-crap computer! I could just as easily let the whole thing go, but Moron here refuses to!!!!

Sorry, I'll quit ranting.

There won't be any Reader Response thingies for a while until I get more time on the computer to type them all up. Marty hardly ever lets me onto the computer anymore. But just remember that I love you all and that your reviews DO matter!! I really do love to hear what you all think of my story!!!

Enjoy the chappie!

Ch. 10: Teacrashing

"OUTTA MY WAY!!" Hector screamed, pushing the Pegasus Sisters aside, throwing the front gates open, and dashing into the castle courtyard.

"Hector! I keep telling you, stop, drop and roll! Stop, drop and roll!! All your running is feeding the flame!!!" Eliwood yelled, running through the gate shortly after.

"AUGGH!!" Hector cried, suddenly deciding that frantically running around in circles was a good option, "Why isn't there a fountain anywhere!?"

MEANWHILE!!!!!

Lyn was hanging up laundry from her window in the castle tower, singing some weirdo Sacaen tune that nobody knows.

"It's so nice to have these laundry lines installed outside my window!" Lyn thought happily, "I don't even have to leave my room to hang up my laundry!!"

She reached into her Bucket 'O' Laundry and ended up pulling out a turquoise green shirt.

" 'I've got a fever and the only prescription is MORE COWBELL!'" Lyn read to herself out loud, "Who in the world does this belong to?"

She examined the cowbell picture and sentence for a minute or so, shrugged her shoulders, and decided to hang it up anyway.

She put the shirt on the line and reached over to the clothespin bag. After fumbling around for a second, she couldn't find any.

"I guess I'm out." She said, "I'll just go downstairs and ask for more."

Then Lyn left in search of clothespins, foolishly leaving the cowbell shirt on the line. UNANCHORED.

A moment later, the wind happened to pick up and carry off the line, sending it soaring gracefully over Caelin's courtyards.

MEANWHILE!!!!!

Hector was still running around in circles, while Eliwood was standing in middle, attempting to reason with him.

Resting from putting his über-forshizzle negotiation powers to work, Eliwood looked at the sky for a moment. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed none other than the cowbell shirt itself, playing on the breeze like a carefree child. Eliwood first wondered what turquoise dot could possibly be, and then disregarded it for a few minutes until it became painfully evident that Hector and the shirt were on a collision course.

"HECTOR!!! LOOK OUT!!!!"

"Huh?" Said Hector, right before the wet cowbell shirt smacked him and clung to his face, sending him careening off course right into certain doom.

"Wow," Eliwood said, "This is looking pretty ugly."

Hector, not knowing that he was running off course and into his grave, stuggled with the shirt's suction grip on his face. He FINALLY pried it off his face and held it out in front of him to see the identity of his assailant.

" 'I've got a fever and the only prescription is MORE COWBELL!' What in the devil does that mean?!"

"By Elimne!" Pent exclaimed, "That gentleman on fire is holding a shirt in front of him! He must be planning something devious!!"

"I think that's Lord Hector, dear." Louise pointed out, "And what does the shirt have to do with ANYTHING devious?"

"HALT! What business have ye here?!" Pent hollered.

"Pent! Get out of the way!! He's not stopping!!!" Erk yelled, attempting to hop away from the party, but fell over in the process—"Crap." – RIGHT in Hector's way, "OH CRAP!!!"

Hector threw the shirt over his shoulder, finally noticing he was about to destroy Serra's tea party. But he'd already tripped over Erk, adding the last component to demolishing a pleasant afternoon, "Oops!"

Hector soared foreward with the velocity of a speeding bullet, with the destroying capability of a wreckingball. He completely leveled the entire tea party as if it were nothing but a house of cards. Though, luckily enough, everyone got out of the way, Erk wasn't so fortunate. He hadn't moved or breathed since Hector booted him in the stomach a few seconds ago.

"Ohh..." Hector moaned, sitting up on the pile of debris he created, "My head REALLY hurts."

He paused for a moment, "Wait a sec, I'M STILL ON FIRE!!"

"Don't worry Milord!" Matthew piped up, hopping out of a teacup that miraculously survived holding a teapot that ALSO miraculously survived, "I'll save you!!"

"Thanks..." Hector said with relief, "OW! THE TEA'S SCALDING ME!!!" He bellowed.

"Sorry young master! But the fire's out!!" Matthew chirped, "Let me help you up! Here, lean on my shoulder!"

"You sure I won't smash you or something?"

"Oh, yes young master! I'm very capable! ... As long as you don't want a piggyback ride!"

"I wouldn't dream of it." Replied Hector.

Leaning on Matthew's shoulder, Hector began to walk away from the destruction, when suddenly,

"Lord Hector, what do you have to say for yourself?" Serra said. The calm in her voice was terrifying.

Their spines stiffened and their hair stood on end.

"Well?" She asked.

"Erm..." Hector attempted to start, but he was frozen from fear.

"Hector!! Take my hand!!!" Eliwood called out, riding in from the east on his crazy little horse.

Eliwood grabbed Hector's arm as he passed, swung him onto the back of the horse, and rode off into the distance like a madman.

"Great. He left me again." Matthew said to nobody in particular. He shrugged his shoulders and decided to disappear with that KUH-RAZY cool poofy-thiefy thing that only thieves seem to do.

Serra began to laugh to herself crazily and shake, ready to have a total meltdown.

"I think we'd better leave her alone for a bit..." Nino whispered to everyone, who agreed and slipped out unnoticed.

Erk finally took a breath and looked around, "Ouch. It hurts to breathe. Hey, what happened to everybody?"

". . ."

"Serra? Are you alright?"

Serra fell to her knees, started screeching like a banshee and grabbed her pigtails, yanking as hard as she could like she wanted to tear her head in two.

MEANWHILE!!!!!

Kent was soundly sleeping. But then Sain entered and shattered the peace as if his very presence commanded it.

Sain, of course, threw the door open, "Kent!! I've got a BIG problem!!!"

Kent, being completely blinded by the light, nearly fell out of bed, "Auggh, Sain! Shut the door! The light's blinding me!!"

Sain raised an eyebrow, "Won't it be a little awkward for us, two GUYS, to be sitting here, talking in a dark room alone together?"

"Whatever, I didn't think of that." Kent said, rubbing his eyes, "Now what do you want?"

"Is that any tone to take with your Boon Companion?!" Sain gasped, clutching his chest in TOTAL shock.

Kent sighed, "Sorry, I suppose that was a little rude. So what's the problem?"

Out of the blue, a horse whinnied in the hall.

"You brought your horse?!" Kent exclaimed.

"He wanted to come see if you were feeling better!" Sain lowered his voice to a whisper and leaned in a little, "He'd heard from Katrina-Bo that you'd gone a little crazy."

Juanito entered and stood next to Kent's bed.

"Sain! You can't have a horse in the castle!!"

"I couldn't leave him outside all by his lonesome!" Whined Sain.

"Why not?"

"Things're getting dangerous!"

This piqued Kent's interest, "What happened?"

"The Pegasus Sisters and Serra are on the warpath!"

"Really?"

"Oh, yes. Lord Hector pushed the Pegasus Sisters over and completely demolished Serra's tea party trying to put his cloak out!"

Kent began to panic, "Did all this happen while I was sleeping?!"

"I think so. What time did you finally get to sleep?"

"I KNEW I couldn't leave the watch to those feather-brained Pegasus Knights!! Everything was under control while I was on watch, and the second I hand it over to them, everything goes to Hell in a handbasket!!!"

Kent flopped backwards onto the bed.

"I wouldn't consider severe sleep deprivation and battling with flowerbeds 'Under Control.'" Sain pointed out.

Kent put his hand on his stomach and furrowed his brow a little, "I think I'm getting an ulcer..."

"Um, before this 'ulcer' of yours eats you alive or something, can we solve my problem?" Asked Sain.

"Oh, right." Kent replied, sitting back up.

"Hold on," Sain said, turning to Principe Juanito, "Could you step outside while Kent and I talk for a little?"

He snorted and shook his head rigorously, nearly hitting Kent on accident.

"Please?"

Juanito fixed a steady gaze on Sain.

"I'll give you a nice, juicy apple."

His gaze remained fixed.

"I'll give you two!"

He still didn't move.

"Fine! I'll give you three, but I'm not going any higher than that!!"

El Principe Juanito rolled his eyes and took his leave.

"Geez, he's a tough negotiator... The little bandit..."

". . ."

"Anyway, I need more ideas for the party!"

"Ideas like what?"

"Er, well, for the entire party."

". . ."

"... I've already made the invitations." Sain said like this was some sort of accomplishment.

"That's good,"

"Now I just need things like games to play, food, where to have it, decorations, etc, etc."

"Oh, is that all?" Kent asked sarcastically.

"Yup, I think that's it!"

"Let's see..." Kent scratched his head, "How much effort are you willing to put into this?"

Sain thought for just a split second.

"Very little."

"Ok, so how about something easy like... Like a barbecue maybe?"

Sain's face lit up, "OF COURSE!!! Why didn't I think of that?!"

"Glad I could help."

Sain wasn't really listening to Kent, but rather, was scolding himself for not coming up with the idea himself.

"Hmph. You're WELCOME." Kent said, doing that irritating 'subliminal-reminding' thing. Then, deciding that it didn't really matter either way, he laid down and went back to sleep.

MEANWHILE!!!!!

Canas was reading in his peaceful, cozy reading nook in Castle Caelin's cellar, smushed right over there in the corner.

"Psychology is SO fascinating!" Canas exclaimed in his snuggly corner that he magically placed a La-Z-Boy recliner into.

He adjusted his monocle, "So many problems in our world nowadays would be so easily solved if people simply knew how the Human mind worked!"

A loud, very destructive sounding explosion erupted from the upstairs, then somebody began to laugh maniacally, and two aged voices yelling afterwards (Which were MOST LIKELY Hannah and Eunice,) with Serra's incessant shrieking having been the background noise for the past 15 minutes or so.

Canas shook his head, "Poor Erk. It's too bad that we all forgot him there with Serra. By now, he's probably either deaf or completely insane..."

If only there were something he could do...

He snapped his book shut with one hand, having already finished 2025 pages of reading in one sitting. Yup, he's THAT good. He got up, went to the cellar door, opened it very carefully and peered into the hallway to be sure there wasn't anything dangerous lurking out there, and then confirming it was safe, he ventured to the kitchen for a snack.

A/N: That was a really long chappie! Hope you liked it! I'll come out with the next chapter as soon as I can, ok?

Remember to review!!