What's up? The ceiling, I know… I envy the people who feel that they don't have to put author's notes and disclaimers for every chapter they write. Oh well.

Disclaimer: … I know, you know, we know as a HAPPY FAMILY!! Not really.

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Thor's Big Mouth

I told no one of my duty, my reason of being here in Chimera. I 'made friends' with Thor. Tiz and Third were surprised, because I never usually made friends with anyone, but they never said anything.

The plants finished growing, and, as I had thought, it was beautiful. Water was suddenly more. Each day, I went there to think. It was calming and peaceful there.

One day, when I was thinking, as usual, I saw Thor wandering about. Then, I heard someone go, "WHEEE!!" And Tiz swung from the plant, landing just in front of Thor.

"Whoa!" he cried, jumping back. "Don't ever scare me like that, Tiz!"

"Oh, come on. You should learn how to do that."

"To swing from tree to tree? No thanks." I stepped out from the place where I thought was always quiet.

I walked up to them. "I actually agree with Tiz. You should learn," I said quietly.

Thor shook his head. "No thanks," he repeated firmly.

"So what were you doing here, Thor?" Tiz piped up.

"Thinking." He sighed, and looked up. "I'm gonna get out of here one day. Then, I'll find out who killed my parents." Then, he sat down, legs hanging down the log. I smiled to myself. I told myself the same thing everyday. The more I got to know about Thor, the more similar we were in personality, I found out.

Tiz was jumping up and down. "Ooh, ooh! You should go to see Colin!"

"Colin?" I repeated. "But he's so far away!"

"So? If we leave now, we'll reach him before we're missed!" Tiz replied.

"Who's Colin?" Thor interrupted.

"He's from your world," Tiz said. "He knows everything."

Thor's eyes lit up. "Then let's go!"

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I trudged along, hand on my sword if we were to meet anything that was hungry. Tiz chattered on to Thor. "That is a really sweet fruit but the only bad thing is, once picked, it shoots out poison at us." Thor nodded.

Then, three women were suddenly in our way. "Chen!" I gasped. She smiled at me slightly before turning her glare on Tiz. "Tiz."

"Chen?" she replied.

"You should join us again," Chen said shortly. I was surprised, but immediately had my sword in hand. If they were about to attack Thor and Tiz, then I will join the fight. Even if Chen was my friend. And when did Tiz leave them?

Tiz took a step to Thor. "No. I'm with him now."

"Come on, Tiz!" one of Chen's bodyguards spoke up.

"No!"

"Join us or die," Chen said, threateningly, cocking her gun. Thor stepped forward. "Stop it! She just said she didn't want to join you! Can't you just accept that?" That outburst surprised everyone.

"I'd say that you'd just lost a chance to keep your mouth shut," I muttered out the corner of my mouth. Chen, apparently, got angry. She gave a signal, and the two other women fired. Thor, with his naïve mind, took off suddenly, snatching Tiz's dagger on the way. He rushed through all the bullets, and threw the knife. It missed it's target, landing about two feet from Chen. Chen laughed. "You…"

The ground suddenly exploded next to Chen. It was one of those purple things that stayed alive for 12 hours. Like I said, I don't really bother to learn the plant's names. Thor ran back to us, snatching up Tiz's and my hand along the way. I wanted to snatch back my hand from the gesture I was not used to, but it felt nice, sort of.

After we were sure that we had lost Chen and her troops, we stopped. Thor fell to the ground, exhausted and panting. We all were. I remained standing, looking around for any other thing that might attack us.

Tiz sat on the ground next to Thor. "How'd you know how to do that?" she asked, smiling.

Thor shrugged. "Hey, why do they want you?"

"I don't know." Tiz sighed.

"Tiz is extraordinary in fighting," I spoke up. "I believe that is why they want her."

"Hey! We'll make our own ring," Thor said to Tiz, as if to reassure her.

"All right!" Tiz grinned, then frowned. "But we need a color."

"Not to mention another member," I interjected.

"Well, since it's my ring, we'll call it Thor's Ring, alright?" Thor looked at me. "And can't you be the other member?"

I shrugged. "I can be. But I don't want to."

"Why?"

"I just don't." I smirked at his confused face.

"Well, I'm sure we'll find another member along the way," Thor offered. Then, a dagger whistled past me, cutting Thor's cheek before sticking into a tree. I whirled around, taking out my sword. I was distracted be the conversation until I didn't notice that someone had sneaked up on us!

"Hey, I know that dagger!" Tiz said, surprised. "It belongs to–"

"I thought I would return this back to you," Chen's voice came to us, loud and clear. We looked at her. I scowled.

"Come back to us, Tiz," Chen said.

"Listen, are you guys deaf or something? She already said that she doesn't want to!" Thor snapped.

"Yes, but we need her."

"Then I'll fight you for her!" Thor shot back. I winced, thinking, Ouch. Bad move, Thor. She's going to beat you up bad.

Tiz thought so too. "Don't Thor! Chen's a good fighter. Don't!"

But Thor had taken out his beam-blade and powered it up. I leaned against the tree, pretending to be bored, but ready to spring into action if he should lose. "This is going to be interesting," I murmured under my breath. Tiz's face was pale.

"Be careful, Thor," she whispered as they circled each other. Then, Chen struck. Thor was knocked backwards. Then, he lunged at her. She sidestepped. They fought until it looked like Thor was going to lose. I took my sword from where I had laid it against the tree, ready to interfere. Thor was knocked back, and I could practically see his brain working. Then, he ran at Chen. Their weapons clashed together, and, slowly, Thor's blade cut through Chen's. "What?" she cried as the top half of her blade flew off.

"You!" One of the two other women Chen was with raised her gun. Before she could do anything, the ground shook under us, and the long jaw of a plant (once again, I don't like to know) snapped her up. My vision started to get oddly fragmented, and I knew that I was on the verge of passing out. I must resist! I must resist!

Then, my vision became sharper, and I felt taller than anyone. They looked so small. Then there was a bang, and everything was black.

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"It has happened again. Why did you have to shoot her, Chen?" Tiz asked.

"Again? She was like this once? And I did that because I thought she had turned evil."

"But she isn't!" Thor insisted.

I felt as if I was flying high above my body. Then, the pain started. I coursed around my body, finally stopping at my ribs, somewhere near my heart. Someone was taping my ribs, and I groaned as that someone accidentally pressed on the pain.

"Quiet, now, Zia," Third said to me softly. "This needs to be taped."

"What happened?"

"You were shot."

I smiled wanly. "War injury."

Everyone laughed, mostly out of relief. I was pretty shaky myself. It was like… I changed, into something completely different. I could feel it.

"I remember this one," I added.

"What do you remember?" Tiz asked.

"I seemed to grow, and then, my vision changed, and I was shot."

"Nothing else?" Third asked.

"No."

"How did your vision change?" Tiz wanted to know.

I shrugged. I didn't want to say anymore and they didn't make me. I sat up slowly, and stood up just as slowly. "Let's go."

I mounted the hover-bike behind Third and we flew back to the Ochre Ring.

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The next few days I did nothing but wander around. Third, Thor and Tiz disappeared for a couple of days, but I took no notice. My wound healed faster than it should have. It surprised everyone, even me. Perhaps Thor was right. I was not human.

The day Tiz, Third and Thor arrived back from wherever they came from (probably the Sun-Ring to see Colin) was the day Top was having a party in honor of his 'guest', Chen. I could see straight away that he was flirting with her, and it disgusted me. The only consolation was that Chen seemed to dislike him as much as I did. It was later, much later, I realized that she hated him because she loved Third, who, of course, didn't care about anyone, outwardly. Inwardly… well, Third was a hard one to read.

Top was leaning so close to Chen that I was surprised that he didn't topple over. Chen was sitting as far away from him as possible, but not so far away that he noticed. Then, Third, Thor and Tiz came in. Everyone stopped talking to stare at them. I stood, and made my way next to Tiz and Thor. Chen looked at Third happily, which was the opposite of the way Top looked at Third, and that was angrily. He dropped his cup. "THIRD!!" he screamed.

Third looked amused. He walked over to stand in front of Top. "Yes Top."

"Pick up my cup!"

Third smirked, bent down and picked up the cup before handing it to Top. "Here you go."

Top whacked the cup away from Third. He opened his mouth to say something, but I saw Thor kick the cup. It flew up and landed in front of Top. "You don't need to pick his cups up anymore, Third," Thor snapped. Everyone gasped. "He's an idiot. I bet I can be Top, too!"

Top narrowed his eyes. "Say that again, you little freak!"

"Okay!" Thor shot back. "I will! If you can be Top, then I can too!"

I groaned inwardly. Thor has to learn to keep his big mouth shut. How can I protect him if he kept putting himself in danger like this?

Third spun around and faced the others. "It's a Try!" They cheered. I had a sinking sensation in my stomach.

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