After showing Tech around the castle, Zoey decided it was time for him to meet Barry the Mushroom.

She stood in front of Barry`s throne, her eyes wide. "And this is Barry the Mushroom." She murmured, in awe.

Tech looked at all the other mushrooms, and said. "They all look exactly the same."

Zoey gasped, "Techy, are you being a racist?"

Tech scoffed. "I`m not a racist, Zoey. And really? Techy?"

"What?" Zoey asked innocently. "It`s a cute nickname!"

Tech smiled wryly. "Okay then. Techy it is."

Zoey looked intently at him for a few moments, then smiled lightly, and said, "I like your hair!"

Tech self-consciously ran his fingers through his long-ish brown hair, and felt a slight blush creep up. "Oh, thanks." He mumbled.

"No problem, friend!" Zoey said with a wide grin, then took Tech hand and started skipping back to the castle, forcing him to jog to keep up with her.

She led him upstairs, to a small room, with only a plain bed, a torch, and a small bookshelf in it. "This is where you`ll be staying! I had Rythian take out the old stuff that was in here, so now you get to sleep here!"

It was then that Tech discovered that he was exhausted. All this running around with Zoey had tired him quickly, the girl just had too much energy! Tech thanked her quickly, then shuffled to the bed and laid down. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

LINEBREAK

"Zoey, are you sure about letting this kid stay with us? Something about him seems off to me..." Rythian told Zoey after Tech fell asleep.

"Rythian, you`re just being paranoid. Not everyone is a bad guy, you know. Tech seems nice!" Zoey said.

"I don`t know." Rythian glances up the stairs distrustfully.

"Rythian." Zoey`s voice is harder. "At least give the kid a chance."

Rythian looks at Zoey skeptically for a few moments, then sighs heavily. "Okay, Zoey."

"Good. Now it`s getting late and we should get to bed." Zoey smiles triumphantly, then flounces up the stairs to her bedroom.

Rythian sighs again when she vanishes from sight, but follows her up, flicking off the lights behind him.

ANOTHER LINEBREAK

"M-Master." A hushed voice spoke from the dark depths of a cavern. "I have found him."

"Good." A deep, dark voice said. "Get him. Don`t fail me again."

"I won`t, Master." The first voice promised, and then all that could be heard were the shufflings of bare feet on stone.