Disclaimer: I don't own Xenosaga...yeah.

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Chapter 12

Shion and the group waited in anticipation. Everyone had finished their jobs and now only the Professor was working. There was one last thing that he had to fix before anything would work.

'Come on Professor…I know you can do it. You are a professor after all…' Shion thought as she saw the old man working hard. Her heart tingled with anticipation, as well as everyone else. Every one's hopes rose as the Professor looked back at the machine.

"Is it fixed Professor?" chaos asked. The Professor turned around to face the group.

"I think it might be. I'm not sure yet…we have to test it out again…" Everyone sighed except for Shion. Suddenly, a light bulb appeared over Shion's head.

"How about we test it out by trying to bring Jr. and MOMO back?" Shion suggested while smiling widely. The Professor put his hand to his chin in thought. Then he looked back at Shion.

"Possibly, but we might lose them in the transfer." Shion's smile faded and turned into a sigh.

"Well…if you need someone else to test it again, then fine. I'll go." Shion volunteered.

"B-but Chief! You might…"

"Allen…don't worry about me so much. Or else I'll start calling you mom again." Allen sighed and then slumped his shoulders.

"F-fine! If you're going, then I-I'm going too!" Allen stood up straight once more, feeling good about himself for once. Every one turned to him in surprise.

"What?" Shion asked, tilting her head.

"I-I said that I'd go too." Allen repeated before he thoroughly thought it through.

"All right then Allen…you'll come with me too. I know that it's not safe to be there without a partner. Just make sure you don't get too scared." Shion explained and then walked to the cylinder shaped object. Allen gulped and then squeezed in with her.

"Here. It's a back up keychain. Once you know that the time machine works, then push the button." The two nodded, hitting their heads together and wincing in pain. The Professor laughed and then went over to the panel board. The two were gone the next instant as a bright flash flooded the room.

'Come back safe you two…' chaos thought as the rest of the room waited in anticipation.

Shion and Allen landed in a heap as they fell from the sky. Shion was the first to get up and look around. Allen got up after her, rubbing his head.

"Wow…look at this place. It's so big…I wonder how we're supposed to find Jr. and MOMO in this…"

"Chief, we're only here to test it. We're not here to search for those two. Now come on and get us out of here."

"Allen…I want to explore for a little while. Come on, follow me." Shion started to walk around, weaving through trees and bushes. Allen sighed and followed after her, knowing that if he was left behind then he would also be stuck in this time.

Jr. and MOMO woke up the next morning to a cloudy day. It wasn't raining like it would've been, but instead it was just a plain, old, boring day.

"It sure did cloud up fast…last night was clear." Jr. stated as he yawned and stretched his arms. MOMO nodded. Suddenly something hit Jr. in the side of the head. He bumped into MOMO, causing her to lose her balance. Jr. rubbed his head while MOMO fell into some nearby bushes.

"Ow! What the hell was that!" Jr. looked around, hoping to find the cause. MOMO got up and brushed some leaves off of her and shook the leaves out of her hair.

"Look! Up there!" MOMO pointed out, acting like nothing happened. Jr. looked up in a tree that hung over the pathway like a bridge. A chimpanzee was up there with small rocks in hand. It obviously thought it was playing around with the new visitors.

"Wow…this is a rare sighting isn't it Jr.? …Jr.?" MOMO looked over at the tree to see Jr. climbing it. He got up on the limb that the monkey was on and slowly made his way towards it.

"All right your gonna pay! That hurt!" Jr. scolded the monkey. All it did was laugh and then quickly jumped to another tree. "Awe! Come on!" Jr. sat down on the limb and then jumped off. He made his way to the other tree that the chimp jumped to and climbed up that one, hoping that he would catch the wild animal.

Unfortunately, the monkey kept him in pursuit, jumping from tree to tree. Soon enough, Jr. found himself being a daredevil and jumping after the monkey, almost falling off of one tree. MOMO followed by walking down the path, watching the animal jump and then the boy jumping after it.

"Jr. …You're not going to catch it you know." MOMO giggled. Jr. ignored her and continued to jump limbs. 'Monkey see…monkey do. (giggle)' MOMO laughed. Her laughter was interrupted when Jr. jumped on a tree limb, making it break under him. He fell onto the ground. MOMO ran over to him with a small smile on her face.

"Are you okay?" She asked, holder her laughter back as she said it. Jr. sat up from his laying down position. He rubbed his head and looked on to see the monkey mocking him by hanging from one of the tree limbs. Jr. gave it a scowl and got up.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but that monkey won't be in a second!" Jr. went to run after it, but MOMO grabbed him by the neck of the collar.

"Jr., just give up all ready. You won't catch it." MOMO laughed. She let go and Jr. stayed by her, giving the monkey an evil glare. Then he turned to her and smiled.

"I'm thinking you're probably right." He replied. He shot the monkey one last glare and then decided that he would walk with MOMO again.

"Do you still have the keychain?" Jr. asked. MOMO held the object up to him and nodded. "I don't think it'll work, so go ahead and throw it out. We don't need it anymore." MOMO hesitated.

"But what if it does eventually work?"

"…" Jr. sighed and then shook his head. "Don't worry about it. It hasn't worked yet has it? We've tried it 50,000 times all ready; you'd figure it would've worked by now." MOMO looked down at the keychain she held in her hand and sighed. She then tossed it to the side, feeling guilty of throwing it away, but Jr. had a point. It hadn't worked every time they tried to get out of the jungle.

While they were walking, Jr. was contemplating certain thoughts. 'All right…maybe, tonight will be the night. I'll tell her, but it can't be just anywhere…wait, I could use that field. It's perfect! Now, all I have to do is gather up the courage to tell her… (Sigh) That's gonna take a while…' Jr. had noticed that he had stopped walking, making MOMO look at him, wondering what was wrong.

"Jr.? Are you…okay?" She asked gently, cocking her head to the left. Jr. smiled and nodded.

"Yeah…just thinking." MOMO smiled back and they continued to pace themselves through the jungle.

"Allen! Stop being such a scaredy cat!" Shion scolded at Allen, who was hiding behind her from the recent finding of a small spider.

"Chief! It's gonna get me! You gotta kill it! Or else it's gonna kill me!" Allen whined, sinking behind her again. Shion's eye twitched and then she turned to Allen who had just noticed she moved.

"Don't be silly Allen! It's so small, you can barely see it! Now come on!" She grabbed Allen by the collar and dragged him behind her, Allen whimpering every now and then.

A few minutes later, Allen was walking by his own will, while Shion was searching for anything that could be a lead to where Jr. and MOMO where. Suddenly, Shion jumped as something cracked under her foot. She backed into Allen, causing him to fall backwards. Shion also fell, falling into Allen's lap.

Allen sat up to stare down at Shion as she laid there in his lap for the slightest second. Afraid of where she had landed, Shion let out a scream and sat up quickly, knocking Allen in the forehead with her own. The two sat on the ground rubbing their heads in pain.

"S-sorry Allen! It's just…something was under my foot. I wonder what it … (gasp)" Shion stopped abruptly as she looked at the small object lying on the ground. It was a familiar looking keychain, most likely belonging to MOMO and Jr.

"What is it Chief?" Allen asked, looking up as well.

"Its…it's…their keychain…" Shion said, picking the object up. "Oh my god...they can't be…" Shion immediately assumed they were both dead. Tears flooded her eyes as she thought about the horrifying idea.

"Chief…we…should probably go back…and tell the Professor and the others…" Allen said forlornly, as he stood up, obviously assuming what she too was assuming. He looked down at Shion and sighed. Shion hesitated before slowly standing up, holding the keychain as tight as she could.

"Allen…tell me it's not true!" She yelled. She ran to Allen and buried her head in his chest, making him wide-eyed. "It can't be!" Shion sobbed heavily, her whole body shaking in Allen's arms.

"Come on Chief…let's go back." Allen whispered gently. He reached in his pocket and pulled out their keychain. He pushed the button and they immediately vanished in a bright white light.