Hunter: DS is sorry about the wait. She is also sorry that she couldn't be here in person to tell you this, but she is too busy dancing like a dying whale and trying to get rid of excess energy. DS would also like me to say that now she WILL be answering reviews if you have any questions in regards to the plot or characters.

Sky: DS is sorry if anyone's feelings were hurt because they were not being thanked or felt annoyed that they weren't getting the appreciation that you guys really do deserve for being such loyal readers.

Adian: Anyway, on to the story!

Shade and James: Thank you for clicking this link!

All: ENJOY!

James POV:

I stared at the two people in front of me. Gadget and Aruna. What kind of names are those? I really didn't like the looks of the situation that Hunter and I had landed ourselves in. We were stuck in another dimension or something with two people who were obviously not human.

"Too true you are!" Aruna began, smiling, right next to me.

"We aren't human~" Gadget said, giggling, from the other side. Both were leaning down close to me.

"Did you just read my mind!?"

"No, you were muttering to yourself. We just moved closer to hear you." It was then I noticed Hunter right in front of my face, really close. I mean, really close. Like, really close. Is it hot in here to anyone else? Is that just me? It must have been the light, but Hunter looked rather red.

My face flushed, I sputtered stupidity in order to preserve even just a little bit of dignity.

"Hehe~ Too late for that!" The twins said at the same time. I face faulted. I guess I really need to work on keeping my inner thoughts inside.

"Yep, you really do." Hunter commented.

DAMN!

"Language, young man!" Aruna giggled.

I think I'm just gonna stop thinking right now.

"Anyway, the little man-child was right. My sister and I are not human! Instead, we are a type of Elf. Puppet Elves, to be precise!" Gadget clapped happily.

"Now, we heard about your little problem with the Ball-Jointed Dolls~" Aruna scowled, crossing her arms.

"You see, we don't like the dolls."

"Too away our only friends, Sammy and Allen, they did."

"Turned them into dolls, cursed to forever sing that cursed song, to dance, waiting for their next victim."

"Only, you didn't turn into them."

"The little man-child is very obvious. He is human, therefor, he is weak~"

"And the silly dolls don't believe he is worth their time!"

Insert loud complaint from James and a head smacking, courtesy of Hunter.

"The little vixen* is less obvious."

"Our guess is because she was too scared to really listen to the song."

"After all, Ball-Jointed Dolls are really scary to her~"

"Their power lies in their voice! Lala lala~" Gadget spun around here.

"So my sweet little brother and I have decided to help you!"

"You see, we have finally found a way to reverse the Dolls song~!"

"But we can't preform it."

"It interferes with our own powers." Aruna waved her remote around at her twin's words.

"So we need help~"

"And you guys are our first candidates!"

Hunter and I looked at them blankly. Hunter summed up pretty much everything I was thinking into one word.

"Huh?"

Aruna rolled her eyes but Gadget just giggled.

"We mean, we have a bone to pick with the Dolls, and so do you. We found a way to reverse the curse, and we are offering to help you. We can't do the counter spell 'cause it would hurt us, but you can! So, if you want to get your friends back, we guys are gonna have to do it!" Gadget explained once again, smile never fading.

"Does this guy ever stop smiling?" I whispered to Hunter, who just shrugged.

"Do you have a problem with my brother smiling?" Aruna had a dangerous edge to her voice and the room dropped a few degrees. The walls suddenly went black and glowing green lines were the only things lighting the room, casting eerie shadows across her face.

I felt the blue roll down my face and Hunter put her hands up in a sign of surrender. Gadget still hadn't stopped smiling and he placed a hand on his sister's shoulder. "I'm sure they didn't mean anything by it! Relax~"

Aruna heaved a big sigh and the room brightened once more. "Oh, fine. But only because you asked!" Gadget just smiled even wider, if possible, and wrapped his arms around his sister.

She smiled a half smile and returned the motion, hugging him a bit tighter, as if trying to block everyone else out to protect her little brother.

"This…feels a bit awkward…" Hunter face faulted and looked away. I nodded. "Annyway, about that plan… We'll do it." I said firmly. I missed Shade, Vector, Sky, and Adian, even if I argued with most of them. *Chough* Shade *Chough*

"Yay!" Gadget clapped happily and spun around. Aruna simply smirked and crossed her arms. "Well then, we'll have to test something."

"Don't move-"

"And it won't hurt. Move-"

"And you might just die."

"We haven't tried our remotes on humans yet-"

"But half-breeds we can do fine. However-"

"We haven't done this in a while."

"So stay still!" They finished together, right before pulling out the remotes we had seen before.

"Don't think that'll be much of a problem. James here has frozen in fear." Hunter said, smirking and patting my shoulder.

"No, I'm not afraid, I just can't…control… my body…" I grunted, struggling to move my arm. Gadget giggled and pressed a few more buttons. I stepped forward and spun around. "AH! What's this? My body isn't listening to my mind! Hunter, hel-" And then my mouth zipped shut and I couldn't speak.

Hunter wouldn't have been able to help anyway, as it seemed she couldn't respond either.

"That's cause you are under our control~" Aruna and Gadget's voice sounded more robotic and the blue wires wrapped around them were glowing bright, casting shadows, making Gadget's smile look more insane than childish.

I was forced to walk to the chairs. I sat down in one and cables appeared, locking me in place. Hunter was in much the same predicament. Suddenly feeling rushed back into my body, making me dizzy for a few moments.

"Ugh, head rush." Hunter groaned.

Gadget stepped in front on me and patted my head. "Now, now~ Don't worry, we aren't going to kill you are anything. We simply need to inject you with a liquid. Seeing as you wouldn't agree to it if you were free, we had to do this." He chuckled and stepped away.

"Why didn't you do it when we were under your voodoo powers?" Hunter snapped, spitting on the ground.

Aruna laughed. "They aren't voodoo powers! These remotes allow us to take control over your body for as long as we want. However, the remotes themselves are very different."

"Aruna's has invisible strings that extend from the edges, making her victim a marionette puppet. She can control two ways. Either by moving the remote like one would the top of the wood cross on a puppet, or the buttons."

"Gadget's is more metal than physical. The remote exerts a sound wave that no one but him can hear. It wraps around the mind like a blanket, and though you can't hear it, you can't help but move to the music~! The buttons on his remote change the sound and therefor control the victim!"

"After all, we are Puppet Elves!"

"That's all fine and dandy, but why are you telling us this?" Hunter growled, still struggling against her bonds.

Aruna shrugged. "We trust you. We want to trust you." She looked down. "This whole thing is balanced on that fact. If we don't share that then we might die, and we really can't have that!"

"… That was deep…" I deadpanned.

Gadget simply smiled.

"Now, onto the main event!" He said and with unnecessary flourish he pressed a button. A rather large laser emerged from the floor in front of us. Yea, it was really large. Like, REALLY large. And it was pointed straight at us.

Gadget laughed.

"You are having way too much fun right now." Hunter face faulted.

He just shrugged, smile still in place.

I just looked at the laser for a while.

I would like to say that I reacted with a calm and cool demeanor, that I had expected something like this and was completely prepared. I would really love to say that. But that would be a complete lie. It really when something like this:

"HOLY FRICKEN' CRAP THAT IS A HUGE LASER! YOU ARE PHYCOPATHS! AND YOU EXPECT ME TO TRUST YOU WHEN YOU'RE POINTING THIS THING AT ME!? WELL, I'LL THELL YOU RIGHT NOW, I'M NOT FEELING VERY TRUSTING AT THIS MOMENT!" I screamed. Then I did a very good impression of a dying whale/cow, as Hunter will later tell me, when I attempted an escape.

"Well, while this is very entertaining, we have to get this show on the road. Hold still…" Aruna called and she leveled the gun at me.

I blanched and stared to squirm. "Get that thing away from me!" I yelled, my voice ragged from all the shouting I did earlier. "Oh, don't be such a baby! You wanna look macho in front of your girlfriend, don't cha?" Gadget teased me.

The reaction was immediate. We both flushed dark red and started sputtering our objections. Aruba took that moment to fire.

It didn't hurt, it just felt cold. Really, really cold.

I pried open my eyes and saw blackness. Then I could hear something.

The screeching of tires and soft thunk of metal hitting flesh filled my ears. I heard people screaming, but one stood out from the rest.

"DAD! DADDY! NO! Stop it! What are you doing?"

I had a very good idea who's voice that was. What I didn't get was why. Why was I being forced to relive this? Why was I being subjected to this horror?

Just as suddenly as it hit, everything vanished and I gasped out, as if I had been holding my breath for a long time. Who knows? Maybe I had. I first thing I realized was the feeling of water running down my face. I was crying. The second was Hunter's worried calls. I turned my head and tried to compose myself. I didn't need to, as she looked just as bad as I did.

For a second I considered asking her what she saw. But I didn't. I didn't want to reopen hidden wounds. God knows that I knew how much it hurt. (A/N What? You couldn't have really thought I wasn't gonna put any angst in it? Hehe~)

"I'm fine, Hunter." I reassured her, even if I didn't look the part. "You?"

"GOD no, I'm not ok! Do you know how horrifying that was? Of cores I'm not ok!" I face faulted at her response. Should have known. If she's going down, so is everyone else.

"But I'm more worried about you. You really don't look ok. For the love of god, James, you're CRYING! What am I supposed to do?" I smiled slightly. I guess Hunter does care, in her own weird way.

"No need to worry. I'm fine." I reassured her. A loud laugh came from in front of me and I turned my head to see Aruna, laughing at our misery.

"What's so funny, annoyance?" Hunter asked harshly. Gadget looked over and said, "Young love at its finest~" Before giggling again.

Hunter and I turned beet red, looked at each other and quickly looked away. I couldn't help but notice that the lighting in here had really lit up her pretty mercury eyes, and her hair looked soft as silk… (A/N Oh, lord I can't believe I just wrote that. God help me.) My eyes widened. What was I thinking? Hunter was my friend, and I shouldn't think of her like that!

I quickly realized that the bonds holing us were undone and I stood up fast, eager to get away from the sudden tension.

Hunter got up as well and turned to Aruna and Gadget. "Can we go now?" She asked softly, still red in the face.

Gadget giggled and pressed a few buttons. The world around us shimmered and warped, and suddenly we were standing in the night-shrouded forest again.

Aruna and Gadget smiled in a way that was not at all comforting.

"Let's begin~"

*Tosses keyboard away* DONE! Hope you enjoyed this slightly longer chapter! Please review and I will try my best to answer any questions!

*A vixen is a female fox