A/N: Wowza! This is completely and utterly amazing! I am practically swimming in reviews! Thank you so incredibly much, you guys are the best! Here's a little note to Windrider:

I know where you are coming from with the speed and all. But you kind of have to realize this chick is scared, all out terrified. Think adrenaline, times ten. Another thing, if you hadn't noticed at the moment she really doesn't have much going for her other than her tree climbing ability and her speed, I had to give her something! But I am pleased that you picked up on that, you're very observant.

All right, that's all I really wanted to say. I didn't mean to sound too testy with you, Windrider. Sorry, bad day. Okay, I have officially stuck my foot in my mouth and swallowed. Well then, I'll continue with

where I left off!

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"Oh," I mumbled, "I have one hell of a headache. Aspirin, aspirin, oh God, I need some aspirin. Whoever got me this drunk is so going to die. Wait a minute, I don't even drink." I was officially puzzled.

If you hadn't already noticed, I had an awful headache. I was lying on my right side with my knees up to my chin and my arms pulled behind me, not the world's most comfortable position. To add to my discomfort, I was sitting against something-hard, rough, and there was a lump that was working its way up my butt.

"Argh, okay just sit up. All right, I can do this," I started to cheer myself on. Pant, pant. I wasn't moving anywhere; it actually felt like I was stuck.

"Damn it! I can't."

I slowly opened my eyes. Big mistake.

"Ahhhh! Too bright, too bright! Someone shut the window! Pull the shades, for the love of God!"

When I finally pried my unwilling eyes open again, I saw what I was dreading. I was looking at the blue, clear, sky with a hell of a lot of trees surrounding it. That is definitely not my bedroom, no matter how big of a mess is in there. It hasn't gotten so bad that I have trees growing out of the garbage, yet.

Okay, relax, obviously you are out in the trees. God! Now just answer this question, what am I doing here? I faintly remember running through a forest, I was being chased… strange guys in Robin Hood get-ups…that was some dream. Too bad I couldn't finish it. Oh, well, I'll just go back to sleep now. Good night…

I slowly closed my eyes again and was just drifting off to sleep when I heard voices.

"Holy shit! It wasn't a dream!"

I tried to sit bolt upright, but I only got to just above lying. I finally figured out why I was in such an uncomfortable position; I was slumped on the ground with my feet tied in front of me, my hands tied behind me and I was tied to a tree! A tree of all things! The nerve!

(Just for those that are wondering, the lump going up my butt was a tree root. Just thought I should share that with you.)

When I opened my eyes for a third time, I saw eight mismatched people all staring down at me, yes even the munchkins were staring down at me. This is not a good thing, nope it definitely isn't.

To make matters worse, the seriously psycho old fart was walking towards me.

Great, just what I need, another chance to piss him off. Maybe I can get him to break one of my legs now. Or wait, better yet, maybe he'll give me cement shoes and I get to go swimming. Oh, goody.

By now, I had figured out he was the cause for my headache. This guy is really scary; you don't just go running around like your Merlin, it's not right.

"Ah, I see you are finally awake. I apologize for the ropes. I took this precaution so I would be able to speak with you before you scurried off," the old guy smiled at me gently.

I just looked at him blankly. I do not scurry! So he wants to talk to me? Yeah right.

Hmmm, to piss him off or not to piss him off? That is the question. Choices, choices, it's not like I have anything else to do and I highly doubt I'm going to get out of here alive anyway. Oh well, mwhahahaha.

I then smiled at him sweetly, "Oh, so you wanted to talk to me? Why didn't you just say so?"

"Oh, well, I wasn't quite sure you would agree to my request. But you do now?"

I smiled at him again, and honked a lougie right into his face.

"Oops, silly me. I do apologize for that. That always happens to me when some deranged old fart knocks me out. I really need to get that fixed don't you think?" I smiled innocently.

3…2…1…Blast off!

"Why, you little…I should…I should just…" he sputtered while he was wiping off his face.

"Come on, let it out. My psychologist says it's not good to have any undue stress or rage inside. It never does any good. That a boy, there now don't you feel better? All warm and tingly inside?" I know, I know, I'm evil. What else was I going to say? I mean, I was about to be killed in about thirty seconds. Might as well have a little bit of fun.

But just then one of the little munchkins turned to another one and asked, "Hey, Merry, what's a 'psychologist'?"

"I dunno Pip, ask Gandalf."

Okay, not only was the dark haired one slow, but the munchkins also had something wrong with them. Well, maybe I shouldn't blame the poor kids, I mean they were tramping around a national park with a group of idiots. How much could they know?

"They're people that help you with your emotions, they make you feel better after you talk to them, sweetheart," I answered the little guy.

"Merry," he whispered. "What's a 'sweetheart'?"

"Okay, that's it!" I once again lost my temper. "You guys are a bunch of idiots, plain and simple! Now…LET…ME…GO!"

Well that got their attention.

The old guy was obviously still pissed at me, go figure. "Oh, no you don't! You are going to sit there, as you are, until you are willing to speak to me as an adult. That is final!" he then stalked away.

Yep, definitely still pissed. I thought only little kids threw tantrums.

The rest of the freak-shows stood around and stared at me a little longer.

"What? You've never seen a girl tied to a tree before? You people seriously need to get out more."

They still just looked at me.

"Hey! Buddy! How's the merchandise doing? Like I said, I am going to be very surprised if you ever have kids. That even hurt my foot! Oooohhh, don't want to think about what it did to you!"

The dark haired guy glared at me, but I noticed that he was turning a satisfying shade of purple. He, too, turned and stomped away; eventually everyone else trailed away after him.

Honestly, I was really surprised that no one had just killed me yet. Jeez, I really need to work on my people skills.

-----

Slowly, I had managed to pull myself into a better position. I was no longer sitting on a tree root at least. Sadly enough, it had take me most of the day. The old fart still wasn't even looking at me, the dark haired guy was still a nice shade of purple, and everyone else was ignoring/avoiding me.

Man I'm good!

I had also noticed that while I was out cold, someone had taken my sweatshirt off my waist, taken my backpack off my back and I was getting very cold. As it was getting darker, I was starting to shudder ever so slightly. By the time full darkness had descended, I was in an all out shiver.

Then my butt decided it was high time to fall asleep. I seriously have problems with my body parts falling asleep-conspiracy. As I was shifting my weight around, my butt hit another lump. I was just about ready to start swearing about the lumpy ground when I realized what it was.

My Swiss-Army knife key chain. I had completely forgotten that I had placed my car keys in my back pocket when I started out on this little chaos spree called a hike. I was sav- uh, savagely hungry? Whew, nice save by me.

Obviously, whatever idiot it was that tied me up, didn't take the time to check my pockets. Oh well, no great loss of mine, only theirs.

Finally I maneuvered it out of my back pocket and it then decided to drop onto the ground behind me. So, then I spent roughly the next twenty minutes trying to pick it up again. There! I got it, now I had it in a death grip; it wasn't going anywhere soon.

Crack!

I whipped my head up and came face to face with one of the little guys. He looked at me quickly and then he just said, "Oh, I believed you to be asleep, were you?"

"Nope. How am I supposed to sleep when I'm tied to a tree and freezing off what is left of my awake ass?"

"Oh. Um. I brought you a blanket if you would prefer to use it. I believed you to be cold without a cloak or tunic."

"Uh-huh, well, thanks. Could you just kind of drape it over me, I'm kinda all tied up at the moment."

He failed to see the humor in that.

"Aye, I see that. Strider bound you before you awoke."

He stepped up to me and just kind of threw it over me. Well, at least I wasn't on the verge of hypothermia anymore.

"Thanks kid, your okay."

He just grinned at me, then he got a weird look on his face.

"Why do you call me 'kid'? I am not a goat."

Okay, he was slow too.

I sighed, "It's another word for munchkin."

"'Munchkin'? I am not acquainted with that word."

Okay, now it was my turn to get pissed off.

"Child, young one, that sort of thing. That's usually what you call someone that is obviously younger than yourself."

At this his eyes got really wide, "You have seen more years than I?"

"Um, yeah, I believe so anyway. How old are you?"

"I recently passed my fiftieth year," he stated proudly.

I swear my jaw dropped to my lap.

He then grinned at me, "You really do not appear to be that old. Are you an elf?"

Elves? Kids that are older than my parents and are not to be considered munchkins?

I really had a lot to learn.

A lot to learn.

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A/N: Okay, well that's now completed. (I think) Don't get mad at me if anything is wrong, currently it is rather late at night and I am falling asleep at the keyboard. I figured I owed you guys a chapter, it has been awhile since I up dated after all. Oh well, you use what you have to work with.

Toodles!