Chapter 3

I wonder how many chapters it would take to finish this… about 10 would do, I think.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. But I made up some names when it's necessary so technically, I own the made-up ones.

"So how does this go again?" Frog asked while he freely messed with the different parts of his tent.

"You're doing it all wrong!" Black Bear scolded as he pointed to the tent's manual. "We'll be sharing this tent, atleast assemble it right."

"Yes, sir!'

Iceman and Angel who were also trying to assemble their tents laughed at the two. "They're really a lot of fun, huh big brother?"

"Yeah." Iceman mumbled. "Well, let's hurry and fix up our tents."

"Angel!" Shao Wei called as he ran towards her. "Want me to help you out? I just finished with mine."

"Oh, thanks."

Not again. Iceman thought as he watched Shao Wei. He's purposely trying to impress her. Shao Wei..

"Anything wrong, Iceman?" Shao Wei asked with a jolly smile. "Want me to help you too?"

Iceman suddenly stopped fixing his tent and stared at Shao Wei with narrowed eyes. Don't say anything. After noticing that Angel was giving him that leave-us-alone look in her eyes, he quickly turned away and continued with his assembling.

"You're kidding, right?" Gao Xing asked as he stared at Barbie's huge tent. Ofcourse, it was a pink one. It was so big that all of them could fit in it.

"Ofcourse, I'm not." Barbie declared as she stood next to Gao Xing. "This is the smallest one that I own."

"Rich girls. You just can't live without all that luxury, huh?" Gao Xing said as he shook his head.

"What did you mean by that?" Barbie asked, being a tad insulted. Gao Xing only shook his head again in reply.

"And you're gonna hang around there all alone?"

"Hmm. Yeah!" Barbie smiled as she looked at Gao Xing. They stood there staring at each other for a little while until they both got back to their senses and quickly turned away. Gao Xing poked Barbie on her forehead saying, "Don't stare at me like that, poodle."

"Stop calling me names!" Barbie demanded with a pout.

"Make me." Gao Xing raised an eyebrow. "Poodle."

Barbie scoffs in response. She wanted to shout back at him with a few insults too but then again, something made her feel that she shouldn't.

"Hey, it's not like you to just stay quiet. You usually start chattering non-stop at this point." Gao Xing quickly pointed out as he took a step closer to Barbie. "Ran out of things to say?" he mocked.

"Nope!" Barbie shook her head. "I guess it's no use arguing with a barbarian like you." She stuck out her tongue and ran towards Xiaoxi.

Gao Xing sighed.

"Hey guys, we'll need some firewood. Who's willing to gather some?" Black Bear announced. Everyone looked at each other; clearly, none of them were willing to.

"I'll do it," Gao Xing said, stepping forward. "since everyone's too afraid to walk around the woods for a while."

"Hey what did you mean by that, tough guy?" DJ asked furiously as he walked infront of Gao Xing. "I'd gladly go."

"What—"

"No. I'll go." Barbie stood between the two. Everyone was quite shocked.

"Don't be ridiculous, Barbie." Killer said as he chuckled a little, "You're kidding, right?"

"Of course not!" Barbie placed her hands on her waist and started to stand tall with assurance. "I'm serious."

Interesting. Gao Xing turned to Barbie, "Let's see you do it."

"We can't let her go!" DJ protested.

"DJ's right, Gao Xing." Xiaoxi said. Everyone else nodded in approval.

"I guess she can't take it then, huh?"

"I sure can!" Barbie raised her chin up. "Just wait and see!" She quickly started dashing towards the woods without saying another word.

"Gao Xing! Why did you convince her?" Black Bear asked.

"Hey, she did it with her own free will."

"I'm worried about her though." Xiaoxi said.

"We could go look for her, you know." Shao Wei suggested.

"I think we should just leave her alone." Angel suddenly said and caught everyone's attention at the same time. She was startled herself. "Maybe she wants to prove herself or something similar to that."

Everyone gave Angel's thought a consideration for a while.

"Uhm. Maybe so." Xiaoxi said.

"But if she's not back by half an hour, I'm going after her." DJ declared.

Gao Xing looked at DJ. He suddenly felt a little guilty for letting Barbie go through this. But then again, she's just out for some firewood. Nothing could go wrong, right?

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

"BARBIE!" They all screamed in unison. DJ was about to run towards the woods but Gao Xing quickly shoved him aside and soon disappeared into the woods.

"I don't understand Gao Xing sometimes." Killer said.

"I think it has something to do with love." Xiaoxi suggested.

"That's a little hard to believe." Frog said, laughing.

"Maybe we should follow Gao Xing." Iceman said.

"No, guys. Stay here, I'll go." DJ nodded then dashed into the woods.

"Will they be alright?" Iceman asked.

Where are you? Gao Xing found himself panting after several minutes of running around. He suddenly realized he lost his sense of direction after having to blindly run around to look for Barbie. Just then, he heard another scream from Barbie. She's close. He turns to his right and steps through a series of bushes. "Huh?" He was startled to see Barbie standing infront of him. She apparently dropped the firewood she just gathered and was shaking. "Gao Xing!" She exclaimed as she clutched on to him. Gao Xing was startled by the sudden gesture. "What happened?"

"Th-There was a spider on one of those branches I picked up."

"What?" Gao Xing hit his forehead. "I ran all the way here just because of a spider?"

"You don't understand! It was big and scary!"

"Big and scary, huh?" Gao Xing shook his head. "Could you let go of me now?"

"Huh?" Barbie realized that she was holding on to Gao Xing a little too much. She felt herself blush. "Uh. Sorry about that." She quickly backed off.

"Thanks. I was practically choking."

"Hmph. So why did you come along? Were you worried about me or something?"

"Huh? Don't get the wrong idea, they forced me to anyway."

"Yeah, sure." Barbie said, sarcastically. "Either way, thanks." She gave him a smile.

"Whatever."

"Why do you always have to say that? Can't you be nice even just for one minute?"

Gao Xing sneered, "Your welcome." He mumbled.

"We should get back now, right?"

"Uh, yeah." Gao Xing nodded as he walked towards the scattered wood. He began picking them up silently.

Barbie watched him, seemingly amused. He's not so bad.

"Hey, don't get all comfortable there. You better help me here."

"Alright, alright!"

It took me a while to finish this one for this day. I was busy watching this new anime I found. :D Thanks for reading.

- Jemm