So this might be the last weekly update of this fanfic since I'm returning to university next week. Let's see how well I keep this and homework in balance. I may update biweekly-monthly now, it all depends.

Pardon the bleh fighting scenes. However, they were just monsters. You slice and dice them and move on your way. It's not like a boss battle where something ridiculous happens.

Also, I'm pretty short on computer time and if there's an error, please leave a review and I will check on it tomorrow (aka Monday).

I thank Mieu for beta-ing this.

Disclaimer: I don't own. Period.

Chapter 11: Fubras River

Well, that sucked. My idea of a lazy day was to not get my ass dragged out by Jade to help him with his chores. I was not expecting that. That and I lacked some sleep thanks to him. I yawned tiredly as we all made our way towards the Fubras River. I earned myself a few stares from Ion and a few backwards glances from Luke and Guy. I wasn't surprised. It was, after all, a really loud yawn.

"Jeez, what's gotten into you?" Luke asked. I gave him a glare before rolling my eyes.

"Oh gee, I don't know," I responded, shrugging lightly. "I went to bed waay past midnight, some red-head decided to barge into the room demanding for some gel base and cotton early in the morning and not too long after, some long haired person with glasses dragged me out of the room for 'some'-" I made air quotation marks to them, "-practice! I'm totally not going to be tired after those events."

"It's not my fault that you decided to sleep past dawn." Luke huffed.

"I like my sleep, thank you very much," I snapped at him.

Luke snorted. "Like I care about your sleep."

I narrowed my gaze at him. "Can I shoot him?"

"Anh, you're being irrational," Tear told me. "We should stop take a break some point in the day. Her lack of sleep is affecting her way of thinking."

"No, my thinking is perfectly fine," I protested gruffly. "Tired but perfectly fine."

"What's one plus one?" Luke asked, with a grin on his face. I gave him a deadly glare.

"Two," I answered. "I may be tired but I'm not that stupid when it comes down to math."

"Jeez, so uptight." Luke muttered, turning away. "Just like Tear."

"I heard that, Luke," Tear said from behind.

"Please settle down..." Ion spoke up. "Fubras River is only a couple day's walk away."

That caused me to groan. My face was buried in my hands as they both slide down my face, pulling the bottom of my eyelids. "That takes too long...! I wanna just fly over there instead of walking." Rather, I want to sit on a couch and just move the darn character to the Fubras River. That at least doesn't take two days.

"Sheesh, she is being really irrational..." Luke muttered, shaking his head.

"Anh, I might suggest you taking out your weapon when we are outside of cities," Jade told me suddenly.

I sighed, "Why?"

"Well, for starters," Jade began walking past me and my eyebrow rose. "Monsters are attacking now."

"What?" Luke quickly turned around, hand on weapon.

Not too far ahead of us were monsters; one of the monsters there was the green one that attacked me in the forest. Vicious little bastards. Cute, but vicious. They rode atop of purple boar-like monsters. There were at least five of them, both the plant and the boars. Flying beside the entire group, was a couple of birds I knew pretty well as Chirpees. Let's see...that totaled up to twelve monsters. Fun...

Luke and Guy had already begun the battle formation, drawing their swords and slashing the first couple monsters that made it to the group: the boars. The plant-like creatures jumped off of the boars the moment the boars were hacked into pieces. They began running, looked like waddling to me, towards the four of us. Jade and Tear quickly made them into mush as I grabbed Ion's hand, pulling him to the back of the group.

Back to the group, go to the back to the group and-

"Anh! Watch out!" Tear shouted at me. I looked behind her to see that boar charging towards me. Ion was thinking on his feet and he practically tossed the both of us to the ground as the boar ran past us. It didn't stop the plant monster to jump off and attack us with those huge ass fangs. It opened its mouth, revealing a lot of saliva dripping from the fangs. I grimaced, putting myself between it and Ion, at the monster before a spear impaled its head and the head of the spear exploded, sending green goo to my face. I made a face before wiping the goo off.

Thanks, Jade.

That was the nastiest thing that ever flew to my face. Gross.

I gave Jade a glare as he pulled his spear out of the ground and ran to face the boar that was turning around. While I was on the ground, I took that opportunity to take out my rifle. Getting up, I scanned the area to see if I was needed somewhere. Luke and Guy were just finishing up a boar while Tear was healing a wound that was found on Luke's arm. Her healing was cut short when a Chirpee dived right in between them.

"Oh yeah?" Luke challenged it. "Eat this! Sonic Thrust!" He thrust his blade right into the Chirpee and a small gust of wind enveloped the blade. It was already dead before it even hit the ground. Luke smirked at it then turned to Guy who took down a boar. "How's that, Guy?"

"Not bad!" the blond responded. "Now watch this! Tiger blade!" Guy jumped up into the air taking a plant monster with him. He spun in the air before landing two slashes, bringing the monster down. He landed gracefully while the monster pieces fell with a plop sound.

"Show off!" Luke shouted at Guy who just laughed.

You both were showing off...

Something caught my eye and I immediately fired at it. Ah great. It was another plant guy. How many were there? Fifty? I hoped not! I loaded another bullet in the chamber and aimed at the monster. I was a bit too slow since the monster had already tackled at me into the ground and bit into my arm. I cried out in pain just before I smacked the damn thing with the rifle. The thing was making me sick hearing it growl like a feral creature. The fact that my blood coated its mouth like lipstick didn't help one bit. While I was wrestling the thing off of me everybody else had already finished off their monsters and Luke was the first to come to my aid.

"Hold still!" Luke demanded as he tried to find an angle to smack it off.

"Easier said than done!" I snapped at him. "Get it off before it sinks its fangs further in!"

"I said hold still!" Luke shouted. He gripped his sword, lifted it up and swung his sword like a baseball bat, smacking the damn thing off of me. A small bit of blood trailed from its mouth as it flew off. Once it hit the ground, i got back up and snarled at us before Guy sliced it down in half, ending the growling...snarling...whatever that was. Meanwhile, Tear was healing my wound with First Aid. Honestly, I wasn't so sure if she was able to heal me since I wasn't composed of fonons. Oddly enough, after the green light disappeared...it healed. Now there was only a pink spot where the wound once was...surrounded by whatever was left of the fabric.

"Is everybody all right?" Tear asked, looking around.

"Somehow we managed," Guy responded. "I'm just surprised to see that many monsters in one group."

"Most likely someone who was here earlier used a Dark Bottle," Jade spoke up. "Normally monsters shouldn't be attacking in large numbers, but if someone uses the Dark Bottle, it's very likely. Regardless of such, we should move quickly before more arrives."

"He's right, we should get out of this area," I said, standing up. I suddenly felt really light-headed as my eyes lost focus. I clutched my forehead before I saw sideways. Or was that me falling sideways? Whatever the case was, the next thing I saw was black.

"...Nngh..."

Warmth. It was oddly warm around me. Especially my back. I opened my eyes to be greeted by darkness. There was a light behind me since I saw my own shadow, the smell of something being burnt and the crackling sound of burning wood. I blinked twice to adjust my vision. I was warm all over and the only place that was cold was my forehead. Reaching up, I felt a wet cloth on my forehead. Sitting up, I let the cloth drop onto my lap as I stretched.

Ah, that felt good. After I lowered my arms, I looked around, a bit dazed. I came into eye contact with Tear who came over to me.

"How are you feeling?" Tear asked me once she reached to me. She knelt down beside me.

"Like I had a good nap," I responded automatically. I rubbed my temple, trying to remember what had happened earlier. Monster attack and collapse. "So...I collapsed and...where are we?"

"The Fubras River is about another day or two from where we are." Tear explained. "After you collapsed, we contemplated whether we should stop and let you rest or have you carried the rest of the way."

"I guessed I was carried the entire time," I said, "and I was carried by...who...?"

"He really didn't like the idea but..." Tear nudged her head towards a certain person who I stared at him with wide eyes. I pointed to him.

"Luke?" I asked in a hoarse tone. "Luke carried me?"

"Reluctantly." Tear added.

"If I said I don't want to then I don't want to!" the aforementioned person said out loud, startling me. I looked over to see that he was across from us, on the other side of the fire. There was a pot in front of him and I slightly heard chopping sounds from the other side.

"Now now, Luke," Guy laughed nervously. "What's done is done."

Luke grunted before returning towards the fire. He was doing something with it but I wasn't able to see what he was actually doing. Ion was just staring at the fire with Mieu on his lap. The light from the fire danced in his eyes. He appeared to be a bit troubled. I heard Tear sighed. Turning towards her, I saw her shoulders sagged a bit.

"He was complaining the entire time. He was also grumbling about the Colonel, saying it was his responsibility to take care of his subordinates. The Colonel, however... He said that he was too old for stuff like these and that Luke should carry him."

Using his old age as an excuse. That was so like him.

"Where's Jade by the way?" I looked around, it doesn't appear that he was here with us.

"He's doing the first watch," Guy explained. He then looked down at what Luke was doing and laughed. "Luke, you're doing it wrong."

"I did?" Luke asked. His attitude and tone completely changed.

"Luke, you have to-The sauce! The sauce!" Guy jumped up as Luke grabbed for the pot only to recoil because of the metal handles. Tear had already grabbed the pot and placed it next to the fire, she lifted the lid up, looking inside of it.

"I don't think any of the sauce was burned," she declared. Ion was already next to her with a wooden spoon in his hand. Tear took the spoon from Ion and stirred the sauce around. She sighed in content. "Good, the sauce didn't burn at all. Dinner's ready now."

"What's for today's dinner?" I asked her as I walked over there. I smelled the sauce, which had a familiar scent to it. "Spaghetti?"

Tear passed me a plate, which had the pasta with the sauce on top. She had already passed a plate of it to Ion before she gave me my plate; she then proceeded to pass a plate to Luke who passed it to Guy. It made me smile to see that Luke passed it to Guy before receiving his own.

"Thank you for the meal," Tear said before we began the meal. I bit into the pasta hearing it crunch a little bit. I paused a bit before chewing the rest of the pasta.

"Luke...Did you make tonight's dinner?"

Luke scoffed a bit. "Yeah, what of it?"

"Pasta's not cook fully," I told him before mixing the sauce and the spaghetti. Even I knew that you had to cook the pasta properly...

"I'm not a good cook!" he protested. "How was I suppose to know if the pasta was ready or not?"

But...That was basic knowledge, Luke... Ah, I shouldn't rub it in, he wasn't a good cook but...the pasta...!

"My, this was done pretty badly..." Jade spoke up. I choked on my pasta as I turned away from him. I placed my plate on my lap as I coughed, trying to get the dry pasta out of my throat. In between my coughing, I heard Luke made a gagging noise before lowering his plate. I fanned myself since I was probably red from the coughing.

"When did you...!"

"From my post, obviously," Jade answered casually. He twirled the pasta with the fork. Jade lifted the fork up as the light from the fire gleamed on his glasses. "Where else could I have come from?"

Luke opened his mouth to say something else but he ended up huffing before eating his pasta. I stifled a grin before turning my attention back onto the spaghetti. Luke and Guy had entered in their own conversation with the occasional Ion jumping in here and there. Tear and Jade ate in silence and I noticed that Jade was constantly glancing in my direction. I looked away each time we made eye contact.

Awkward much...?

I ended up sitting along with Ion as the two of us listen to Luke and Guy talk to each other about Guy's travels. Luke had also popped the question of Guy teaching him some sword moves in which Guy had to casually decline saying that his style is much different than Van's. I was trying to think of something to say since I wanted to thank Luke for carrying me. For some reason, I didn't think thanking him while he was enjoying this conversation would end well. I should thank him later.

"Why do I have to come with you to do dishes?" Luke sighed as he trailed behind me. I laughed, looking behind me to see his face. He had a bored expression on his face and both of his hands were behind his head.

Earlier, I had volunteered to do the dishes. I had also asked them to let me bring Luke along since I wanted to thank him for carrying me despite his complaints. Of course Luke complained but with everybody's urgings, he eventually gave in...reluctantly. I had apologized multiple times for dragging him along. He still didn't take it too well.

"Really, sorry, Luke." I told him for the umpteenth time. "I just wanted to thank you for earlier."

"If you wanted to thank me then why didn't you say so earlier?" Luke asked. "Jeez, you're wasting my time."

"If I didn't drag you along, what would you have done instead?" I asked him with a grin on my face. I turned around so that he didn't see my face.

"I would have...trained with Guy!"

Uh-huh. Sure you would...

"Thanks, Luke," I said, "for carrying me. I was probably a burden for you but you still carried me regardless. So...thanks."

Luke huffed. "I don't see why Jade didn't carry you. Too old he says. You're his subordinate! He has responsibility over you! Not me! Besides, you're heavy."

The urge to punch him in the face was suppressed.

"Don't collapse on us like that then," Luke told me. "That Jade was pretty hard on you if you just fainted after only a few days of training. Tear had a word with him about that. 'You were too hard on her and now her fatigue caught up to her' is what she said."

I bit my lip from laughing but I ended up snorting a bit. I could imagine Tear putting her hands on her hips as she told Jade those exact words. Jade would have a calm expression as he listen to her, inputting his own opinion if necessary. Ion would be standing a bit away from them as he looked back and forth between the two.

We found ourselves a small stream where we could just wash the dishes in. I dipped the dishes into the stream and began rubbing the sauce and pasta off of the plates with a cloth. Luke sat beside me watching the stream as I cleaned the dishes. I ended up struggling getting the bits of the sauce that had dried on the plate.

"So you made the entire dinner?" I asked him.

"Yeah, with Guy's help," he responded. "Guy said it was a good idea to try something different while I still had the chance." He sighed. "I never want to cook again. It's too much work to make a meal. I can't wait to get back to the manor."

You haven't seen Natalia's cooking, Luke. After that, you would most definitely cook even if your life depended on it. I dipped the pot into the stream, letting the water soak up the entire thing. I remember doing this at home. The sauce was already sticking to the stainless steel; it was always hard to scrap it off if it was just dipped into the water. I smiled to myself as I dipped the cloth into the stream, lightly scraping whatever was moist in the pot. I listened to the nice swishing sound from the stream.

"What are you thinking?" I heard him asked me suddenly.

"Hm?" I looked up, my hand that was holding the cloth stopped moving. "What do you mean?"

"You're oddly quiet."

I laughed. "I was just thinking about back home." I stopped as a sudden wave of home sickness hit me. I closed my eyes as I thought about home. I wonder what was going on back home. Did they know I was gone? Was I even gone in the first place? Was time passing by there like it was here? I suddenly felt a sudden rush of anxiety feeling causing me to start crying.

"You're doing it again."

I sniffed, wiping the tears away. "Sorry, what?"

"You never heard a single thing, have you?"

"Sorry, Luke, just thinking of home..." I sniffed once more before putting my mind on the job I was suppose to do. I began washing the pot, the sauce came off really easily but there was some burn marks on the bottom. I rubbed the bottom much harder. "I'm good now."

Luke paused a bit before scoffing. "Home sick, huh? I guess someone would feel a bit upset if they thought of home."

"Yeah..." I rubbed it a bit harder, lifting the pot up while checking the bottom with my nails. A bit of water from the pot had fell onto my uniform but that was all right, it would dry later. I cast a side-glance at Luke. "Aren't you worried, Luke? About your family, I mean."

Luke just stared at the water, he stood up abruptly. He was staring at something in front of him making me rather confused before he said, "Are you done with that?"

I blinked twice before staring at the pot. "A-ah, yeah." I put the dishes back into the Wing Pack before standing up and following Luke back to the camp. A smile was spread across my face.

Luke...you were worried about your family. You just didn't want to admit it.

He was a good child.

After we had returned to the campsite, I noticed that Jade was already gone back to his post. Now that I thought about it...Guy and Jade were the only ones that had been doing the watch lately. Jade aside, wasn't Guy ever tired...?

Anyway, I was making my way over to where Jade was. The old geezer was giving me the weird old geezer look during dinner. I just had to ask him about that. His eyes were looking at me as if he was trying to figure me out. Hadn't I already told him enough? Apparently not...!

I found Jade standing in an open field, staring at the moon with his hands in his pockets. There was a slight evening breeze causing a nice rustle sound amongst the leaves. The moon was very illuminant; it was a full moon this evening. I wonder...I recalled that Auldrant had more days per year than Earth does. Does the moon cycle twice around the world or does it just cycle twice as long?

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't just stand there and marvel at my back." Jade's voice suddenly took me out of my thinking. I rolled my eyes before walking up to him, stopping right at his side.

Seriously, does this man have a built-in human radar? As in anybody that comes within this much distance, he immediately detects their presence. Or was he picked on when he was younger so that he knew someone was in his radius? No, I couldn't imagine Jade being picked on; rather he would be the one doingthe picking.

"Is there a reason why you are here?" he asked me. I might as well get to the point with him.

"Earlier you were watching me," I said, "why?"

"Why my lieutenant colonel suddenly collapsed earlier," he responded casually. Somehow I sense sarcasm in that tone. "Why shouldn't I be worried?"

I sighed. Yep, that was sarcasm. "Seriously, Jade, why were you watching me?"

I looked up at him to find that he was giving me a really calm stare. Those crimson eyes of his had an eerie glow to them. Especially at night.

"You haven't been feeling well these past few days, have you?" he asked, turning his gaze towards the moon. Jade pushed his glasses up in a very thoughtful manner.

"Actually," I paused, trying to see where he was going with this. "I felt perfectly fine every day. Except for being tired, that's basically it." I glowered at him. "Why?"

"I have an interesting hypothesis," he answered. "Since you were not from Auldrant, and from a world in which fonons are non-existant, I believe fonons were acting like a pathogen towards your body. As of a result, your innate immune system immediately tries to fend them off causing your body to be stressed due to the constant exposure and, eventually, you would collapse."

In the words of Lloyd: I get it but I don't at the same time... I twisted my face as I tried to wrap my head around it. "Meaning...?"

This caused Jade to heave a sigh. "Don't that university of yours teach you anything about biology?"

I pointed to myself. "Math major. I haven't touch Bio since high school."

"Regardless of when you have taken it, you should still hold some information about it." Jade pushed his glasses up. "I suppose not. You are aware that everything here is composed of fonons and elements. To your body, fonons is considered as a virus even though it is potentially harmless unless in large quantities."

"And since it thinks the fonons are viruses, the immune system starts working." I nodded, following along. Food had fonons in them. That made sense. "As long as I'm not exposed to large quantities of them I should be fine." My brow furrowed. "But that doesn't make sense. I was feeling fine the last few days, why now?"

"Healing," he answered simply. "You received large quantities of Seventh Fonons as Tear healed you today."

I did felt very sick after she healed me so that was very plausible. "So my body would constantly fight of the fonons? Do I seriously need a medication? Cause that would suck. I hate drugs."

"No, that won't be necessary," Jade responded. "The fonons will fuse with your cells and your body will adapt with them in time. How long that will take will depend. Though I suggest large exposure to fonons like healing artes would cause you to lose consciousness."

"Try not to get hurt or risk another collapse, got it."

"And refrain from saying this to anyone."

"That, too."

We arrived at Fubras River by nightfall two days later. Everyone thought it was best if we rested that night before entering the area; apparently monsters were more violent in areas like the Fubras River at night. Well, gee, what would you expect from a dungeon?

Just when the sun rose from the horizon, we had already entered Fubras River and the area looked pretty nice! In comparison to the Cheagle Woods, that is.

Fubras River had a lot of green grass like the Cheagle Woods. At least this dungeon doesn't have green things everywhere unlike the Cheagle Woods. Fubras River was surrounded by large rocks that had aged quite considerably. As its name states, there was a river, parted into many small streams by either rocks or land. There was a large wooden gate for passage and let's not forget, it was infested by a variety of monsters. Most of them should be water based since it was a river dungeon.

After Luke had abused Mieu, he received some scolding from Tear and an insult from Jade. With that, we moved passed the entrance. We had also encountered a couple of Chirpees, which was quickly taken down by Luke and Guy. Jade had kept his eye on Luke during the entire battle, which meant that he was planning something.

"Luke, wait just a moment," Jade spoke up after Luke sheathed his sword. The redhead turned around with an irritated face.

"What is it, oh great leader?" he asked, sarcasm was evident in his tone.

"Luke!" Tear had her hands on her hip, ready for another scolding. Jade, who held out an arm in front of her, stopped her.

"I've been watching you fight." Jade said, after pushing his glasses up. "It appears you don't have a firm grasp on proper fonon use."

Luke appeared more puzzled that irritated. He huffed, waving a hand at Jade. "Using fonons is what fonists do. I don't need to worry about that." He turned around, about to continue walking before Jade sighed.

"Did you Master teach you nothing but brute force?" Jade taunted. Tear sighed, placing her hand against her forehead while Luke whipped around. He jabbed a left finger at Jade.

"Don't make fun of Master Van! He didn't teach me that stuff because I don't need it."

"Luke, you sounded extremely childish there." Tear pointed out.

"Very," I agreed, nodding my head.

"Will you two stop picking on me?"

"Whatever the case, you don't know how to use fonons in battle, correct?" Jade asked, moving on. He walked up to Luke with his hands behind his back. "In that case, I'd like you to learn so you can fight more efficiently."

"Why the hell should I bother?" Luke sighed, irritably.

"Luke, this man is a professional." Guy patted Luke's shoulder. "If you want to survive, you should listen to what he has to say."

Luke scoffed, looking away. "Yeah, a professional killer."

"Why, thank you."

"That wasn't a compliment!"

"Oh, how convenient," Jade spoke up, changing the subject completely. He took out his weapon as he was looking in another direction. "There's a monster. I'll teach you during a real battle."

"Wha-" Luke started to ask. However, Jade had already threw his spear at the monster, missing it by an inch. Actually, it looked like he intentionally missed. The monster, which looked like a Spheal from Pokémon except uglier, jumped up and down in irritation. It began hopping towards us while Jade nodded in approval.

"Well, then, now that it has its attention on us," he looked at Guy and I. "Guy, Anh, keep it busy as I explain how the fonons and Fields of Fonons work to Luke."

Guy sighed, not drawing his sword. Instead, he drew the sword along with its sheath. "You should had explain it to him before you attacked it, Jade."

"Too late," I laughed, taking out my rifle. "We could just bash it around as Jade tutors Luke."

Instead of running towards the monster, we just knelt down pushing or poking and, if necessary, smacking the monster if it came to close.

"So you already heard about fields of fonon?" Guy asked as he lightly poked the monster. It didn't stop its assault as it opened its mouth and covered the end of his sheath. I sighed, standing up. I flipped my rifle so that I was holding the other end. The monster began trashing about as I readied myself into position.

"Hold still, you." I told it as I took a golfing position. Guy just held his sheath out while the monster continued trashing. "I already know about the Fields of Fonons...!" I stressed the last part since I swung my rifle, it was an amateur swing since I hadn't golfed before, smacking the monster into a rock wall. Well...At least I smacked it.

"That was a pretty bad swing," Guy laughed as the monster got back up and began working its way back at us.

"Oh shut up, Guy," I muttered. I looked behind me to see that they had already gotten to the FOF part. Tear had casted a circle of a faint green colour with Luke in the center. I turned around to see that Guy was making circles around the monster. It was hopping in one place trying to find a chance to attack him. "There're almost done, Guy!"

"Good to hear!" he called back to me.

"Aren't you getting dizzy?"

"Not at all."

Oh look. Ugly Spheal monster used Rollout. Guy dodged. Ugly Spheal monster's attack missed. Guy used Taunt. It was very effective. Wait, why was I thinking about Pokémon all of a sudden?

"Hey, you two!" I heard Luke shout at Guy and I. "Move out of the way!"

I stood clear from Luke while Guy lured the Ugly Spheal monster, which still doesn't have a proper name yet, towards Luke. Luke was already standing in the middle of the circle and when the monster reached the circle, he used an altered arte. Luke slashed the monster twice before jumping into the air where a ball of electricity appeared above the monster. It released a massive amount of lightning on the monster and Luke did a mid-air somersault, bringing his sword down to the monster and finishing it off.

Luke straightened himself, his eyes lit up like a child's face. "Whoa! That was cool!"

Jade nodded. "You will have a much better advantage in battle if you use the Fields of Fonons as well. Learn to use them."

Luke nodded as he sheathed his sword. "Did you see that, Guy? That was cool!"

Guy laughed, "Well, now you know about Fields of Fonons. We should give a name for that arte you had just used."

"I want to add a phrase before the attack to it like: Feel thunder! or something like that." Luke pretend to swing an invisible sword to it. "What should I name it? I used Fang Blade with a Wind Field of Fonon so I think it should be Lightning Fang Blade. How's that?"

Uh...no. If he named it like that, I wouldn't stop laughing. Feel thunder! Lightning Fang Blade!

...Yeah, no.

"I don't like it," I said out loud. Luke shot a glare towards my direction. "I've seen you use Fang Blade before and that attack was a little different from Fang Blade."

"I agree with Anh," Ion spoke up. "I think it's better if you name it differently than what you already know and used."

"They both have a point, Luke," Guy patted his back. "That move looked a lot like a combination between Fang Blade and Tiger Blade. I'm leaning towards the Tiger Blade side so, Lightning Tiger Blade." Guy paused a bit, one hand underneath his chin. A slow smile spread across his face. "I like that. It has a nice ring to it."

Luke immediately soften his gaze towards Guy. "So I should go: Feel thunder! Lightning Tiger Blade!" His eyes widened as a smile spread across his face. "Hey, I like that, too! I wonder what other cool artes I can get?"

"I'm sure you three are having fun naming artes, but we really must be going," Jade spoke up, interrupting our fun.

Luke huffed. "Geez, leave it to you to ruin all the fun."

Needless to say, his line caused Ion, Guy and I to laugh. We got the complaining, grumpy Luke again.

Too much water was in the Fubras River. We had to tread through plenty of water to get to the other side. When we had just arrived to the place, the water was as deep as the heels, now...now the water was goes far as my knee as we tread through the water. My leggings were getting wet...! I felt water splashing into my boots causing my toes to go cold. It also added a really nasty feeling since my socks had also got soaked in the process. I could almost hear the squish squish sound coming from them. Ewwww...! I was surprised not to hear any complaints coming from Luke.

"Argh! The water is making my legs cold!"

Nevermind... I take what I said back...

"It's already soaking my jacket, my back's starting feel cold, my feet feels frozen...! Can we rest?"

"If Fon Master Ion can handle the cold, so can you." Came Tear's reply.

"I don't need an opinion from a person who can't feel anything!"

"You kept complaining that you want to head back to Baticul sooner," Tear pointed out. "If we keep on resting at your every suggestion, we'd be taking months before we reach there. Is that what you want, Luke?"

Luke huffed, turning away. "You're always a cold hearted witch."

"At least I'm not whining or spouting idiocy."

"Who's whining, witch?" Luke shouted, completely turning around almost as if he was challenging her to a duel or something. Water splayed on parts of my clothes thanks to his turn. I sighed, irritably as I looked behind me. Tear was looking away, not bothering to answer his question.

"Calm down, Luke!" Guy told him. "On the other side of Fubras River is Kaitzur. You'll be home sooner than you think. Just be patient a little longer, will you?"

"I get it, Guy," Luke yanked on his pants, giving them a displeased look. "If I get soaked anymore than this, I'll catch a cold soon."

"Hang in there, Master!" Mieu chirped up as the we walked closer to land.

"I thought I told you to shut up!" Luke snapped at the cheagle on Ion's shoulder. "While we're doing the walking, you're sitting on his shoulder all dry! How about I make you wet, too?" He walked over to Ion, attempting to reach for the cheagle. Mieu immediately cowered on Ion's shoulder and jumped to the nearest one, which happened to be mine.

"But Master...! I can't swim!"

"Luke, leave Mieu alone!" I told him.

"Shut up! I'm teaching him a lesson!" Luke attempted to reach for Mieu again, but this time, I was helping Mieu.

"Hand over the cheagle, Anh!"

"You're just going to abuse him some more!" I started to run away from him, he was following me in hot pursuit. Ugh...I couldn't run very fast. Luke would catch up to me in no time. He did. Mieu and I fell into the river with Luke right behind us. He grabbed Mieu and thrust him into the water. Mieu was struggling in his grip as Luke thrust him into the water. He managed to run up Luke's arm for safety but Luke was quick as he grabbed the cheagle and began pushing him back into the water. This repeated a good number of times. As Mieu ran up Luke's sleeve, he splashed fair bit of water flew to Luke's face, adding more oil to the fire.

"Dammit, Luke, leave him alone!" I shouted, trying to pull his arms away from Mieu.

"Luke, stop!" Tear called to him. "Can't you see Mieu is completely terrified? And stop yelling! Both of you!"

"Let go of him, Luke!"

"You let go of me!"

"Are you two even listening to me?" Tear asked us, loudly.

"Please stop this," Ion begged. "We really should just move on."

"Come on, Luke, release Mieu," Guy called to him over our shouting. "If you both keep this up, the monsters could hear your screaming and attack us."

"Enough, the both of you," Jade spoke up. "At this rate, the monsters not only heard you but they are making their way towards here." There was a small pause before he continued. His tone was completely different and serious now. "Now look what you have done. There's a monster swimming towards you both."

Luke stopped trying to soak Mieu as he stood up frantically, I did the same as he did. The both of us was standing in the water, trying to find the shadow of the monster.

"What? Where?" Luke asked, sounding a bit terrified.

Mieu scampered out of Luke's hand and he jumped into my arms as I took a few steps behind Luke. If the monster was to attack someone, it should be the one closest to it. Assuming that Luke was the closest person to the monster. We found the shadow of the monster, it was a thin shadow but it was definitely there. Luke slowly reached for his weapon, pulling it out to face it.

"Luke!" I heard Guy from behind.

"Don't move!" Tear told us, sternly. "If you stay still, it probably would move on."

Uh...Tear...You were wrong about that part. The shadow came closer to us and I held my breath to see what the monster was. Was it going to be one of those ugly Spheal-looking monster or was it going to be a giant tortoise? Just when I thought it was in a good enough range to attack us, a fish jumped out of the water. I exhaled. And my heart was beating madly just then.

"Oh, my mistake, it was just a fish." Jade said, lightly.

Luke squeaked a bit before directing his anger towards Jade. "What was that all about?"

It turned out that Jade freaked us out for nothing. Tear's face said it all, she had a sympathetic look on her face while Mieu sighed in relief. Guy laughed, nervously, as did Ion.

"You shouldn't pull that kind of joke, Jade..." Guy walked over to Luke and patted his shoulder. "You could give us a heart-attack if you keep that up."

Jade pushed his glasses up. "It's to let those two learn that we should be quiet in monster infested areas like this." His face brightened up, and it was very teasing. "Now then, let's be on our way."

Guy's expression had a very nervous look. "How can you say stuff like that?"

"At least no one is hurt," Ion pointed out.

We had already trekked through half of the River. We had to stop and make camp in the middle of the dungeon since it was pretty much close to sunset. Jade had found a good area to camp, which was basically a flat land, surrounded by huge rocks except for one opening. It was a pretty good idea since whoever was suppose to watch over the camp can just focus on the strip of land where the monsters were probably going to appear.

Tear and Jade had already started a fire while I pulled out the Wing Pack, taking out the necessary utensils for tonight's chef, which would probably be Jade. Guy and Luke had both cooked, and those two were sword practicing. There was a lot of grunting and sword clashing between the two. I even heard this coming from Luke.

"Lightning Tiger Blade!" I heard him shout. Most likely he was trying the move. I rolled my eyes as I pulled out the knives. Luke still had a long way to go.

"Dammit! I thought it would work after I used it the first time!"

This time, Guy laughed. "Luke... Even after you used it the first time, the key part of that move was the Field of Fonon. It has to be present in order for you to use it."

"Why didn't that Jade tell me?" he shouted, indignant.

Jade chuckled. "I thought he knew. Apparently not."

"Indeed." Tear muttered. "He takes simplicity to a new level." She walked over to Ion, who was watching the fire dance. Tear patted his shoulder causing him to look up. There was a look of concern in Tear's eyes. "How are you feeling, Fon Master Ion?"

"Oh, I'm fine, thank you." Ion gave her a gentle smile that brought a soft gaze from the melodist. Jade's eyes narrowed dangerously at Ion while Tear nodded.

"That's good."

"Hey, Jade, kitchen's ready for you" I called to him. He tore his eyes from Ion and nodded. He stood up and walked over to the set-up kitchen while I stood up with a few towels in hand. He raised his eyes in interest.

"And what are those for?" he asked.

"A bath. You said monsters are more active at night so I thought it would be better if Tear and I bathe before it gets dark." I told him before making my way to Tear. "Tear, let's go bathe while it's still light out."

Tear looked at me, rather surprised. She lowered her gaze, which shifted towards Ion. "But, Fon Master Ion..."

"It's okay," Ion spoke up. "You should go enjoy yourself, while you have a chance. Besides, Jade can look after me."

"If you insist..." Tear replied hesitantly. She stood up, taking a towel from me. "We won't be gone for very long."

"Have fun." Ion told us before we left. Just before we were about to leave for the river, Guy and Luke had just finished training with each other and was returning. They both looked at the towels before looking up at us.

"Going somewhere?" Guy asked.

I nodded, pointing towards the river and a bunch of rocks. "Tear and I are going to be bathing over there. You guys make sure you stay away from us."

"And yet you're bringing Mieu?" Luke questioned, pointing to the cheagle at our feet. Mieu hid behind Tear with a small 'myuu'. Tear shot a glare at Luke.

"Mieu's fine," Tear said. "He doesn't know any better. Let's go before it gets dark, Anh."

I let Mieu crawl up my arm and onto my shoulder before I followed behind Tear. I turned around sending those two an 'I'm watching you' signal. If those two ever peeked at us, it was going to be roast for dinner.

The water was just right, not too hot nor was it too cold. If we had waited any longer, the water could have gotten really cold. I leaned against the cold rock, staring up at the orange sky filled with pale clouds. I never got to see nice scenery like this; it was definitely a memory to remember. I had a cloth floating in front of me while the towel I brought was set next to my clothes to dry myself. I looked down at the water, staring at my own reflection. I scooped up some water and splashed it on my face before wiping it away. I leaned back onto the rock, crossing my arms.

Mieu was on a small rock, playing with the water in front of him. He seemed fascinated with it despite the fact that he couldn't swim. There was just one more thing missing around here.

"Tear! How long are you going to undress?" I asked her. I hadn't heard anything from her since we got here. She told me to go ahead and she would catch up but I hadn't heard from her after that. I heard footsteps coming closer to me, and I saw Tear, with a towel wrapped around her as well, walking towards the river with a red hue on her face. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail and one hand was covering her chest while another hand held her clothes, and a pack of throwing daggers laying on top of them.

I stared at the daggers with a raised eyebrow. "You know...you didn't have to bring your daggers."

"You can never tell if those guys are actually looking." She said, setting the clothes and daggers behind Mieu. She dipped her hand into the water, testing it. After that she dipped herself into the water, rubbing a bit of water on her arm. She looked at me and then covered her breasts. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Oh come on, I can't marvel at the size of your boobs?" I grinned at her. "Mine's small in comparison to yours. I would kill to have your boobs."

Tear's face turned even redder. "C-can we not talk about this?"

"Why? It's just girls talking about boobs. There's nothing wrong with that." I laughed, looking away. "But if you don't want to talk about that, that's all right."

There was a silence between us as Tear continued rubbing water onto her skin. After a while, she spoke up, "The water feels good."

"Yeah," I sighed. "We haven't bathe for a while. It's good to do that every now and then, whenever we have the chance. Have some girl talk."

"Girl talk?"

I closed my eyes and scoffed a bit. "Right, you were raised as a soldier. Of course you never hang out with just normal girls." I opened my eyes, looking at the somewhat purple sky. "What is there to talk about?"

Tear opened her mouth to say something but she stopped. Her eyes turned serious as she looked back. Her eyes widened as she reached for Mieu.

"Duck!" she shouted, as I did as I was told. Something flew above our heads and landed right across from us, splashing a great deal of water over us.

It turned out to be a frog monster as it rose to the surface. It glowered at us dangerously, bubbles rising from where its mouth was. There was a sound of croaking, befitting the frog monster. I heard Tear shouting at me to get out of the water, in which I never hesitated to do so. The minute I did, the frog jumped at me and a dagger flew into its mouth. The frog made gagging noises before it fell back into the water. Its back was keeping it afloat but it was most definitely dead.

Tear sighed in relief. "Thank goodness, we should head bac-" Her sentence was cut off when she reached for her dagger. "Who's there?"

Guy ran into view, "There was a Ribbit going through here..." His voice dropped as he saw us in our state. He looked away as he pointed to Tear. She looked between her and she and I covered her exposed breasts as her face turned extremely red. I screamed as Tear grabbed a towel while Guy, paralyzed by the shouting, tried to think of something. He was waving his hands in front of him. I searched for a rock, and ended up finding a pebble. It was better than nothing so I picked it up and threw it at him. He dodged it.

"I-I didn't see anything! I swear!"

"Guy!" I shouted, grabbing another rock and throwing it at him. "S-stop staring at us!"

"Gah!" he cried, averting his gaze as he dodged the rock. "It would help if you're not throwing rocks at me!" That didn't stop me from throwing a third rock at him.

"Get out of here, Guy! Tear, cast something!"

"D-don't cast! I'm getting out-"

"Pow Hammer!"

"Aah!"

There was an awkward silence between us as the both of us stared at the limping body on the ground. The only thing that was heard was the wind playing with the water.

"...Next time we bathe at an inn."

"I'm with you on that, Tear."

"Naughty, naughty, Guy."

"It wasn't intentional! There was a Ribbit heading towards their direction! What was I suppose to do? Let them deal with it? I didn't know they had a weapon with them!"

We didn't tell them what happened at the river until later in the morning when Guy was constantly repeating 'women are scary, women are scary' that evening. After Tear Pow Hammer'd him, I gave him a couple slaps of my own. We got dressed and dragged him back to the camp, each holding an arm. Obviously that brought Guy to an extremely terrified state. Neither of us spoke about it during dinner, Tear and I ate in silence and in anger, refusing to say anything.

It wasn't until morning that Mieu told Luke a little bit of it. He then questioned us and Jade heard about it and he, too, joined in. The entire story was told to them, the part where the monster showed up, Tear finishing it, and Guy coming in.

"It's not his fault that they were bathing and the monster showed up," Luke defended Guy.

"Well, it was his fault for lingering." Tear countered.

"It's not Guy's fault!"

I rubbed my temple. Why were we going through the 'whose fault it was?' transition? It happened, there's no need to go on about it any further.

"Please settle down," Ion begged. "What's done is done. Can't we just let this go?"

"Ion's right," I sighed. "Besides, it's Guy. I'm sure he learnt his lesson. Isn't that right, Guy?" I turned to him to give him a smile. Guy recoiled a bit, and I frowned. He probably thought of the wrong idea from that smile. I sighed once more. "...Guy..."

"That Anise girl is by herself, right?" Guy asked, changing the subject. "Is she okay going through here herself? I mean with all the monsters and such."

"I wouldn't worry about Anise," Jade spoke up. "This is Anise we're talking about."

"It's Anise, she'll be fine." Ion gave Guy a smile. I nodded.

"Anise is Anise, she'll do just fine by herself."

Guy made a face. "R-really...? That's good to hear." He gave us a smile but it wasn't a reassuring one.

I could hear him now. 'Just who is this Anise?' would be what he would be thinking right now. Yeah, he would definitely find her really scary when he meets her. Something growled menacing which stopped us in our tracks. Everybody pulled out their weapons as they scanned the area for the source of the growl.

"It's coming from your left, Tear," Jade told her. Tear nodded, pulling out her dagger and throwing it towards her left like she was told. The dagger flew in between two rocks and a large yellow blur dodged the dagger and landed not too far from us. It looked very similar to the liger queen except it was much smaller than her and it had yellow fur with dark purple strips going through it. Like the liger queen, it had silver eyes that glowed in hatred.

"It's a liger," Tear confirmed the monster. The liger continued to growl at us as it circled around us, still keeping an eye on us. As it moved away, behind it was Arietta the Wild. She approached us, gripping her voodoo doll closer. Hatred was seen in her eyes.

"It's Arietta the Wild. They found us..." Guy muttered. His expression was very upset as he looked at us. Jade kept a cool gaze, his attention was mostly on the liger that was already behind us.

"I won't let you get away." Arietta told us.

Ion pushed his way towards her, his staff lightly tapped the ground. "Arietta! Please, let us go. You understand, don't you? We can't let this war happen."

Arietta's gaze was warm towards Ion as she shifted her feet nervously. "Ion... I...I want to help you, Ion..." She glared at the rest of us. "But those people are my enemies!"

Ion lightly tilted his head to the side. "Arietta, they aren't bad people."

She lowered her doll so that her mouth wasn't covered by it. "Yes...Yes they are! They killed Mommy!"

"What are you talking about?" Luke asked her. "When did we ever do something like that?"

"Mommy's home was burned, so she moved into the Cheagle Woods..." Arietta started to explain. "She was just trying to protect her children... My brothers and sisters..."

Tear gasped. "Could she mean the liger queen? But... She's human."

Ion turned his head towards Tear. "She was raised by monsters, the liger queen to be more exact, after losing her parents in the Hod War," he explained. "She was recruited for the Oracle Knights because of her ability to communicate with monsters."

Luke's eyes widened as Mieu back away from Arietta. "Then the liger we killed was..."

Arietta dropped one of her arms, pointing a finger at us. "That was Mommy! I'll never forgive you! Especially you!" Her finger went towards me. "I won't forgive you ever! You killed my siblings!"

"Whoa whoa whoa, chill," I told her. "Why single me out for your siblings? You know, there are three more that also did the killing. Where's the proof that I killed your siblings?"

"You want proof?" she asked me, holding something in her hand. "Then here's your proof!" She threw whatever was in her hand towards me and it was deflected by Tear. A loud metal sound was heard before it clinked onto the ground and rolled harmlessly towards us.

What Arietta threw at us was the shell of the bullet I used during the battle with the liger queen. It was the one where it flew past the liger queen and knocked a branch off, killing the fetuses in the eggs that was below it. I knew that pretty well since I told myself to pick it up after the battle. I was so caught up with the conversation and the arrest that I totally forgot about it and had left it there.

Well...this day was getting better by the minute.

...Not...

About the Pokémon reference, yes I know that was not what Taunt does. Actually, in one of the other Pokémon games, the move Taunt makes a Pokémon to be 'Taunted' which meant the taunted Pokémon has to keep attacking. Like the monsters were defending in the first place. (sarcasm)

You may have noticed that there's no level restrictions on the characters. I'm already aware that Guy learns Tiger Blade at level 27 but come on...it's a base arte.

Review~! It makes my day. And I'll try to update faster, but no guarantees.

Which reminds me...I just recently beat a certain blond person from ToA in Tales of Hearts and is now in possession of his vest. WHO WANTS GUY'S VEST? First to review will get it! And I also have Yuri's (Tales of Vesperia) bangle and Luca's (Tales of Innocence) sword, too! :D Those three are up for dips.

See you all in the next chapter!