I keep getting distracted. Well that's Spring Break for ya. In other news, this story has finally gotten 20 reviews! I didn't even believe I would get that many, and I'm not even done! Thanks to all of my treasured readers who made this happen. You always brighten the darkest of my days! In other news, I think this'll be a long one, so hopefully it'll make up for how short last week's was. Listened to "Falling" by Emmy Rossum while writing, check it out if you can. Good song.

Summer 6th

The mine in Moonlight Cave was so dark and damp; most people who didn't go there assumed it would be a cool place during the summer to escape the merciless heat in. They were wrong. Oh so very wrong, Jamie thought, as he tugged his purple bandanna from his neck and wiped his sweating brow with it. Though it was stuffy, and though Jamie was regretting now more than ever that he wore pretty much the same outfit day in and out, Flower Bud's resident tsundere knew he had to keep on toiling. Just thinking of that menacing Pigtails (no longer Tina, as recent events proved she deserved to be demoted back to a non-human level—what he was thinking in the first place eluded him) getting even the slightest bit of leverage on him made his very soul hiss in rage. Ignoring his weariness, he pressed forward, hammer swinging as a testament of his resolve.

However as time wore on, Jamie began to wonder when it would be appropriate to stop. He was human, after all (though he'd never admit it aloud and could even barely comprehend it in his own heart). As if in response, his usually perfectly stable legs wobbled beneath him. There was no denying it; Jamie's body needed a break.

'Please, just hold out a bit more,' he silently pleaded as he stumbled. 'I'm almost done here. I'll sleep early tonight, just—just…' too tired to even finish the thought, he put all of his energy into smashing rocks and almost unnaturally large crystals. His vision blurred, but Jamie blinked hard and slapped his face with dusty hands, running on sheer will.

Every extra gem and stone collected was another step ahead of her. Another step closer to rescuing the Goddess. In recent times, he'd let himself slip without realizing it. But no more, he vowed. So help him, he would rescue Flower Bud's deity. Balancing a rival on the side wasn't necessary, but he could do it. He would do it, just to see her drop out and admit defeat. Why did the Goddess send for her? Why could she see the Harvest Sprites? He gritted his teeth. 'What makes her even remotely similar to me?!'

And then, suddenly, he'd had an epiphany. The girl had so often said things about working together, and even though he countered it with the idea of a rivalry instead, well, he'd never thought it wasn't his idea first. The other day, he'd finally realized it. The Harvest Goddess didn't send her because Jamie wasn't good enough—not yet, at least. This was Tina's true purpose: not to be Jamie's self- appointed rival, but to be a lesson for him sent by the Goddess. An obstacle that he had to pass to finally prove his worth and his strength. It all made so much sense now! The way she had scolded him in the past for calling himself things like "perfect" and flawless" were because he was wrong, yes, but he had taken it the wrong way. It was wrong of him to say that because he had never faced any outstanding trials, not because it was "rude" or whatever nonsense the Sprites would say about it.

Pigtails was obviously a trial, and definitely one only a Goddess would be able to storm up.

Thoughts racing like never before, Jamie was spurred on to keep going. He couldn't have been in here that long. It was just the heat playing tricks on him. Bending over a broken boulder, he picked up the gleaming hunk of silver ore and jumped back up quickly.

A little too quickly, it seemed, and he felt the whole world around him spin at a sickening pace too volatile to keep up with and melt away into an almost soothing darkness.

His last thoughts before blacking out were of buying new clothes to wear in summer.

A blinding ray of sunlight streamed in between the cracks of the white blinds above the bed, and right over Jamie's eyes, conveniently enough. Not remembering what had happened to him last, and hoping to find answers (and maybe beat the snot out of whoever was responsible for what was apparently a black out), Jamie sat up in the strange bed he was lying in.

Or tried to, at least. Immediately after being jostled out of their comfortable rest, Jamie's muscles screamed in protest and agony. He was flat on his back against the mattress again before he could blink. Wrenching his eyes open from being squeezed shut in pain, Jamie glanced around the room, deciding he could at least assess the situation.

"Oh. I'm... home." Well that was almost kind of boring. That aside, what was he doing here, he wondered (as weird as it sounded). From the corner of his eye, he noticed a crumpled piece of paper on the nightstand next to his bed, along with a glass of water and some... Were those weeds? With a shaking arm, he summoned the strength to grab at the letter, crushing it further in eager fingers that just barely reached. He smoothed it out, and tried to hold it up above himself to read the oddly tiny handwriting. After a minute or two, and his arms stabilized, he began to work out the letters.

"Dear Jamie,

Please don't be mad, but we were the ones who brought you back to your house. I don't know if you can remember, but you fainted in the mine, yeah! We were so worried when you fell over, and Carlos thought you were dead, yeah! But then Billy poked you with a stick and you moaned, so we guessed you were okay. Then we got some help from some of our friends-

Here, Jamie blanched, almost too afraid to wonder what sort of "friends" were carting around his unconscious body. Filthy forest animals, no doubt.

- to bring you back to your house, and here you are, yeah! We also left you some magic grasses from the forest to help you get your strength back. They're really healthy, so eat 'em up, yeah! Get well soon!"

-Billy

So in other words, after falling and possibly hitting his head, instead of the Sprites leaving him somewhere where the Doctor could find him, they decided to parade him around town back to his house, likely on the back of a bear for the whole town to see. Well this was just wonderful. What was next, he would be rewarded with a new Musical Note for passing out like some kind of fool?

"You got: The Limitation Note!"

—Piped the mysterious, Harvest Sprite- like voice with a flash of rainbow light that usually manifested when Notes were found. As the colorful glassy sphere (a soft pink, just to tick him off, it seemed) floated down into his hands that were already palm-up in part reflex, part awe, Jamie almost groaned out loud.

Don't worry, I'm not done just yet. Splitting this part into two chapters, or else it'll be unnecessarily long. Ugh, why do I never get the inspiration to write until 10 p.m.? Anyone? Anyone? ...Bueller? Next chapter: get ready for some spicy rumors (gasp!) and direct interaction between Jamie and Tina! Bonus points to anyone who noticed the half- reference to Legend of Zelda. :) Jamie kinda chanelled Asch fon Fabre from Tales of the Abyss in this chapter, couldn't help it. They are a bit similar...