Sorry about not updating for a while. A lot has been happening. Thanks for reviewing and/or reading. Man this has been a hectic month.
Begin Chapter
"I'm so bored," Min whined. A day has passed, and they had completely explored the town. Min and Tabor had even got into a fight. In the middle of the street. It took Rock, Lykaios, and a few other mages to separate them. They were sent to their rooms when they got home. Min decided to just stay there.
"Min, are you ready to go?" Lykaios said, knocking on the door around seven p.m.
"Go? Where are we going?" she asked.
"We are supposed to go and report to the castle," he said. "Tabor is ready. Get on something nice." She grumbled a reply, and went to change into her traveling clothes. Five minutes later, she started down the stairs.
"I'm ready," she said, walking to the group, who were waiting by the door.
"Ok, let's go," Rock said, starting down the street. Everyone was wearing their armor, except, of course, for Min. They made it to the castle in ten minutes time, and were greeted by Kolya. "Hello."
"Hey," he said, smiling. "You are the first ones here. Congrats. Well, do you remember how to get to the inner chamber?"
"Go straight down this hallway, and it's the huge double doors?" Min asked.
"Correct," he said, moving to one side to let them enter.
"Thanks," Tabor and Lykaios said as they entered the hallway. "See you around."
"Can do," he said. Rock led them to the chamber, and the guards there opened the doors.
"Ah, team one, welcome," the king greeted them as they bowed. "Will you please come and stand to my right side. Lucio, you stand on the first step, if you would. The rest, in front of him."
"Yes sir," they said as they walked over. Less then a minute later, the doors opened again, this time revealing Maiju's team.
"Team two, thank you for coming," the kind said as they bowed. "Would you please come and stand to my left. Maiju, please stand on the first step, the rest, in front. If you need to see how to stand, look at team one." Maiju's team set themselves up just like Rock's. Rock was standing there, when Min whispered something to him.
"Your majesty, may I ask a question?" Rock asked.
"Other than that one?" Maiju asked.
"Yes, what is it?" the king replied, not paying any attention to his left side.
"I don't mean to be rude, but why are we here?" he asked.
"Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you last time," the king said. "The king from Windurst is coming to visit. He is bringing his best mages, and I have called my best ones too. We are negotiating the breaking of Windurst and BMC."
"So we are going to become our own country?" asked Caitlin. "Awesome!"
"Only if the negotiations work out," the king replied as trumpets sounded outside. "Now, when they come, at some point we will dismiss you and their mages. Rock, I want you to take their team that is on the king's right hand side, Maiju, the left. Take them to dinner, or something. Just make sure that they are happy. When the king enters, I will stand a greet him. You are to stand alert, and bow when I introduce your teams, is that clear."
"Yes sir," they all replied.
"Good, here they come," the king said, standing up as the doors opened. The king of Windurst, a Sage, was being carried in his throne, and was set down in the middle of the room. The Black Mage king stood and greeted him. "Harold, how wonderful to see you again."
"Likewise Charles," he said, shaking the mage's hand. "Are these your elementals?"
"Yes, the group on the right of my throne, looking towards you, is Lucio's team. Lucio is the one standing in the back, while Min, Tabor, the one in blue, and Lykaios, the one in black are in front. On the left is Maiju's team. Caitlin, Alger, the one who is in our traditional wear, and Shiro are on that team. Are these your elites?" King Charles asked.
"Yes. On my right you have Desiree's team. Behind her, in order are Alan, Darrel, and Palmyra. On my left is Sonia's team. Her group consists of Woodrow, Aaron, and Lyle. Shall we get started on the negotiations?"
"Yes, I have instructed my elementals to take your elites out to dinner while we work. Is that fine with you?"
"Fine, I wish I could join them. But we can get some good food here," King Harold laughed. "Desiree, Sonia, you and your teams may leave with Lucio and Maiju's."
"Lucio, Maiju, your teams are dismissed." The two groups started down the stairs, and walked to their respective guests. The elites and elementals walked out of the palace, and went down two different streets.
"So, do you know what type of food you want?" Rock asked to the groups.
"I want stir-fry," Min said.
"Why don't we see what our guests want," Tabor said.
"Um, stir-fry sounds good to me," Desiree said. Her team agreed.
"Ok, we found this awesome place yesterday," Lykaios said. "Remember, on Fifth Street."
"Oh yeah, best stir-fry in BMC," he said as they started towards the restaurant.
---
"We're back!" Forte yelled as he, Roll, and Blues entered the house. Going to the gym had become a daily routine, along with Roll going shopping with Gutsman and Searchman. When some girls that she had met in the market asked why she took two boys to go grocery shopping, she replied with a simple "Well, someone has to carry everything."
"How was the gym?" Searchman asked.
"Forte knocked some guy into the far wall. The one with the mirror," Roll said.
"Yep, Blues and I have a question. Does he get seven years bad luck, since he broke the mirror, or do I because I threw him into it?" Forte asked. "I think that he gets it."
"And I say that Forte does because it's like throwing a rock at a mirror," Blues said.
"And I told you that you BOTH that if you didn't drop the subject, that you both would get seven minutes of extreme pain," Roll snapped at them.
"Sorry," they both said.
"What else happened?" asked Searchman. "Because I know that those two wouldn't act like this for any reason. Why the sudden mood swing?" Roll crossed her arms and huffed.
"Well, Roll, being the wonderful healer that she is, tried to heal him. I think his name was JT. So Roll starts to fix his wounds, and when he regains consciousness, he tries to kiss Roll," Blues said.
"I see this," Forte interrupted, "And jump out of the ring, and pummel this guy to a bloody pulp."
"Forte saved Roll, de gutsu?" asked Gutsman.
"I just did it because I know the ass kicking I would have gotten if I hadn't stepped in. Both from Rock and Roll," he said, angrily.
"I take it Roll didn't help him a second time," Searchman said.
"Would you have!" she exclaimed.
"Calm down there," he replied quickly. "I wouldn't have, I was just making sure." Roll sighed. "And where were you?" he asked Blues.
"I was in the weight room," Blues replied. "The first time that I heard anything about this was when Roll comes storming out of the wrestling area with a very pissed off Forte right behind. I put my stuff up and ran after them."
"I'm going to take a shower," Roll said starting up the stairs.
"Hurry it up, I need one too!" Forte yelled.
"Forte, why did you help Roll? Other than the fact that you would be beaten almost as much as JT," Blues asked.
"I just feel like we all need to stick together if we want to get home," he said. "It's not like I like her more than a friend or anything. I don't want to fill Rock's position."
"Rock, de gutsu? Forte means Gutsman de gutsu," Gutsman said. Everyone just sighed. "What, de gutsu?"
"Gutsman, I hate to break it to you, but Roll likes Rockman," Searchman said.
"Roll no like Guts, de gutsu?" he asked, sad.
"Roll likes you as a friend," Blues said. "Just like she likes the rest of us. Well, maybe not Forte."
"Whatever. Is there any food in this house?" he asked as he walked into the kitchen. Sitting on the counter were three steak plates. "Thanks."
"No problem," Searchman said. "We really should be looking for a way to get back home. I mean, we should be avidly searching."
"Of course you would say that," Forte said in between mouthfuls. "Your name is SEARCHman." Searchman just sighed.
"Seriously, we need to find a way to Rock at least," he said.
"Why? Let him find us," Forte replied. "Beside, there're more of us than him. He can just come here."
"How would he know where to go?"
"How do we know where to go?" Searchman just glared and left the kitchen, which left Forte to gloat at another won argument. "Forte three the rest of the guys zero, Roll, um, I'd say two ties." His gloating was interrupted by Roll.
"FORTE, SHOWER'S OPEN!" she called down the stairs.
"BE RIGHT UP," he yelled back. He put his steak down, and started up the stairs.
---
"Papa, I can't understand what these blueprints mean," Netto complained. He was currently working on the interior of the tracker where the computer chips would be placed.
"Netto, I'm working on this now. Could you go and ask Laika or Enzan?" Dr. Hikari replied.
"Sure," Netto said, picking up the paper and walking out of the room. He walked down the hall and into another room. "Mejin-san, I can't understand this."
"Netto, no need for formalities. What don't you understand?" the bespectacled scientist asked.
"I can't figure out which piece goes where. Papa gave me this box of pieces that all look the same," he complained.
"Netto, I don't really have time to help you search. Meiru and Dekao have been looking for something to do, though," Mejin replied. "I believe they are in the food court."
"Thanks Mejin-san," Netto said as he ran out of the door.
"Netto, there's no need, oh forget it," Mejin said as he continued his work. Netto ran down the stairs and into the food court where his two best friends were currently sitting.
"Netto, is something wrong? Did your dad find anything?" Meiru asked as Netto caught his breath.
"I need some help with this," he said, spreading the blueprints on the table. "I have all of the parts here, I just can't figure out which is which."
"And you need our help to look," Dekao said as Netto nodded. They started to dig through the box, and ten minutes later, Enzan and Laika appeared.
"Dr. Hikari told us what you were doing, and told us to help," Enzan said, sitting down at the table.
"He also told us that Netto is supposed to be programming and building this device, so we'll take over the building, you get your butt up those stairs and get to work," Laika replied. Netto said thanks and ran back upstairs. "Where does he get the energy to do that?"
"I don't know," Enzan said as he started to identify pieces.
---
"Thanks for dinner," Desiree said as her group and Rock's left the stir-fry restaurant.
"It was our pleasure," Rock said.
"So, when did y'all get here?" asked Palmyra.
"We got here a few days ago," Min replied.
"Fun," Darrel said.
"Hey if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to call us," Desiree said as they neared the castle. "Most, if not all of the elites from all of the countries have a connection system. It's more for communications, but it can be used for other things."
"Thanks," Tabor said.
"Hey, could you do something for us when you get back?" Rock asked.
"Sure, what is it?" Desiree questioned.
"When you get back to Windurst, could you find out if some people named Roll, Blues, Searchman, Gutsman, and/or Forte were there in the past few days?" he asked.
"Sure, they friends of yours?"
"Yeah. We got separated when we arrived here."
"I'm sorry about that, but I'll check when we get back. I'll also put out a search bulletin to the rest of the elites. Any news will be relayed to you."
"Thanks," Rock smiled as they climbed the stairs and walked the hall to the inner chamber.
"Ah, Lucio and team, Desiree and team. I trust dinner was good," King Charles said.
"It was excellent, your majesty," they replied.
"Wonderful, wonderful. We're just going to wait for our secondary teams to come, and then we will retire for the night," the king said. A few seconds later, Maiju and Sonia entered. "How were your dinners, Maiju and team, Sonia and team?"
"It was exquisite, your majesty," they replied.
"Excellent. Well, I suggest we retire to our chambers for the night. Lucio, Maiju, your teams are dismissed," Charles replied as the Black Mages bowed and turned to their new friends to say goodnight. A few minutes later, they were walking home.
"So, what hole-in-the-wall place did you take them?" asked Maiju.
"We actually took them to the best stir-fry spot in town," Min snapped back. "Good food that didn't burn a hole in our budget."
"Here's our street," Rock said as they started down it. "Night."
"Night hun!" Caitlin replied.
"I hate your guts!" he called back, smiling, as he broke into a run, team in tow.
"That was so mean," Lykaios laughed as they entered the house.
"She deserved it," Min said. "The look on her face was priceless, though."
"Amen to that. She looked like she swallowed a chocobo," Tabor laughed.
"Well, we had better get some rest. I have a feeling all hell will break lose tomorrow when we see them again," Rock said. They climbed the stairs and went to their rooms. As Rock fell asleep, one name crossed his mind. "Roll-chan."
---
Across the map, Roll was sitting in her window, looking at the stars. "Why can't the Net have nighttime?" she wondered. "Stars are so beautiful." She started to think back to the first time she saw them. Meiru, Netto, Yaito, Tohru, and Dekao were waiting for a fireworks show to start, and they had logged their navis into a computer with a giant screen so that they could watch as well. Roll had sat next to Rock, and was amazed long before the show began. When Rock asked her 'what's so amazing?', she simply replied "the stars". "And he smiled and would have said something if the fireworks hadn't started at that very second." Roll smiled at that memory.
"What, do I really think that he would have said something romantic? He likes me as a friend, nothing more. But whenever I see stars, I think of him." She smiled, and would have continued her stargazing if a loud crash hadn't come from downstairs.
"Roll, are you there?" Blues whispered as he knocked on the door.
"Yes," she replied.
"Stay there until we figure out what that was."
"Ok." She sat in silence for a few minutes before Forte called.
"It's alright. All sissies can come out now. There's no need to hide, the big bad boys solved the problem." Roll rolled her eyes and went downstairs. There, in the kitchen, was Gutsman, out cold.
"What happened here?" she asked. The three other guys just looked at each other.
"Well, we thought we heard a robber, but it turns out it was only Gutsman making a lot of noise," Searchman began.
"So we come down, and hit the 'robber' on the back of the neck," Forte said.
"What's all this 'we' business? That was all you," Blues said. "Could you fix him?"
"Sure," Roll said, using her white magic. A few seconds later, he woke up.
"What happened, de gutsu?" he asked.
"You knocked yourself out with those pans," Forte replied. "You need to be more careful."
"Actually, Forte here knocked you out," Blues said.
"Shut up Fighter, and quit lying to him," Forte hissed.
"Ooh, look at me, I'm such a fierce Dark Knight. I can boss people around because of who I am," he replied.
"Shut up Fu-" Forte said before he was knocked off balance by Roll's hammer.
"We do not swear in this household. Do you understand?" she asked in a low and dangerous voice.
"Yes ma'am," the guys murmured.
"I'm sorry, I said 'DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" she yelled.
"Yes ma'am," they said quickly.
"Now, Forte, you are going to help Gutsman clean up. I'm going to bed. Don't wake me up," she said as she marched up the stairs.
"What's up with her?" asked Blues.
"PMS probably," Forte said as he started to clean up the kitchen.
End Chapter
Rose, I hope i don't come off as mean, i'm just impatient. i also don't know if i got your email correctly. if you still want to, send in the beta'd one and i'll update this one.
Jhvh777