Hya! I worked hard on this so I hope you enjoy it! Again sorry for the wait, this time I was ill and had uni work. Not a good combo. Well here's what you've all been waiting for! Chapter 13! It's not unlucky so read it lol.

Zack was awoken by a constant chatter of noise; he turned over in his sleeping bag and groaned when he saw the hour that his digital clock was reading. He slowly sat up and began finding some odd pieces of clothing that would make him look at least presentable.

As he slowly applied each piece of clothing, he noticed the noise he had awoken to was someone speaking, or more accurately, arguing.

Zack unzipped the tent and stepped outside into the dim morning light. Around the unlit campfire were a few of Zack's crew who also couldn't sleep through the noise and standing in the middle was the source of their displeasure. Zack's second in command was currently rubbing his eyes in frustration and was waiting for the man he was facing to stop jabbering.

There were two of them, the one talking was short, podgy and had fashioned his facial hair into a pointy beard and moustache. His short black hair was thinning at the front of his crown and he held his small nose up in a very unpleasant and snobbish manner.

At first glance, Zack didn't like him, and the other man had him on edge. He was very tall, muscular, donning a broad rimmed hunting hat upon his head and owned a sheathed machete at his belt. He was clean shaven with a large jutted chin and had small dark predatory eyes.

Zack approached them groggily, relieving his second in command from the small man's verbal onslaught and selflessly took it onto himself.

'Oh, are you the man in charge of this Green Party?' the man said, suddenly taking a sweet tone, 'It's about time someone came to sort out these useless followers. We've been denied a suite with luxury accommodation, can you believe that? Surely people of our standard deserve the best, don't you agree? Now after you've fired your employees would you please be so kind as to show us to our hotel? We've had a long journey and are absolutely exhausted. The trek here was just ghastly, we had to have 5 slav-er I mean people help us push the jeep out of the mud, that's why were so mucky you see,' he said, pointing to a few minuscule specks of dirt on his trousers, 'and once it got dark we couldn't sleep a wink, the animals were making such a racket we thought the dead would rise.'

'Shame they didn't,' someone muttered.

The man scowled in the general direction of who had spoken. Then something caught his attention, he froze with only his eyes moving. They swivelled and swerved until the tiny insect they were following came dangerously close to his face then, SLAP! The man opened his hands to reveal the squished remains and looked around in an expectant ignorance. When he noted that no one was willing to lend him a tissue he turned to Zack again expectantly.

'Look sir,' Zack said whilst he had the opportunity, 'I can kind of get the idea of the service that you are used to, but as you can see, you are standing at the edge of a jungle and there are no hotels of any standard for at least 50 miles. You can't expect us to provide you with luxury accommodation; we're a forest protection group, not room service.'

The man's eye twitched. He lowered his insect soiled hands and carelessly wiped them on his trousers. Sweat rolled down his podgy face and seemed to glisten angrily.

He turned his nose up at Zack and dropped all the sickly sweetness that his voice held earlier.

'Well then, Mister?'

'Zack Young.'

'Master Young, where do you expect us to sleep?' he said rudely.

'I beg your pardon?' Zack replied.

'You've been expecting us, yes? It's very rude to be welcoming your guests like this. After all, we are the ones who'll be negotiating with you.'

'Negotiating? What for?'

Again the man's eye twitched.

'Didn't your superiors even inform you we were coming or why?' he huffed, obviously irritated.

Zack vaguely remembered being told some hotshots were coming, but he thought they were the usual tourists or Green supporters. He also wasn't expecting them to come at 3:30 in the damn morning.

'Rather they didn't tell us "who" was coming, usually when we get a call from them it's to inform us that a donator is coming to see how their money is being spent. I would have thought that "negotiations" would be held in the main office back in Sydney.'

'We tried, but they told us that the man completely in charge of this project is you, Master Young.'

'Just Zack, if you don't mind,' Zack ground out.

'Zack then, I would like to discuss the details with you at some point, but before that, we'd like somewhere to sleep and a decent meal, and a bath if that's possible.'

Zack groaned in annoyance but nevertheless began ordering his group to set up the spare tent. Somehow it felt like it was going to be a long day.

Crysta was curled up in her bed of leaves but throughout the night she hadn't slept a wink. She turned over, searching for a more comfortable position. Her body screamed for sleep; however her brain was working overtime.

Why had it come down to this? Yes, she knew Pips harboured feelings for her and yes, she had feelings for him but she didn't believe that they went any further than brotherly love. That is, until he confessed to her.

Pips had been her childhood friend for as long as she could remember, he had always been a stubborn, possessive and somewhat problematic child. Once he owned something, he rarely did let go of it and he had such a temper that hardly any Fairy children would dare go near him.

The first time Crysta had met him, she thought he was an evil spirit or something. Constantly going around with a baby hollow reed in his mouth and bombarding anyone who upsets him with nuts and rotten berries. Almost anything would trigger him off.

For a couple of weeks, Crysta kept her distance from him, so not to be at the end of his temper but even though he was aggressive, rude and plain uncanny, she also thought he was funny, energetic and downright naughty. He was unpredictable and Crysta found herself always watching him to see what he would do next. He also ended up being a bad influence on her.

Once when her father and still alive mother took her to a family gathering she became so bored that took a piece of fruit with dark juices and instead of eating it, she painted on herself like what she had seen Pips do with dirt. It took weeks to wash out and in the meantime she was scolded by her parents and was receiving a lot of unwanted attention at school. She even caught Pips's attention.

Shortly after that with her cheeks still stained, Pips approached her and looked at her as though sizing her up. At the time Crysta was terrified but he just stood before her and said nothing. Later that day, Pips sat alone as usual while the rest of the class sat as far away from him as possible and he was unnaturally quiet. He didn't speak out or anything he usually did during class, it seemed that for once, he was actually behaving himself. However when the teacher turned his back to pick up the flowers he had spent the class explaining about, Pips smirked and all hell broke loose.

Suddenly the whole class scattered and covered their faces as the most horrible smell engulfed the area. Crysta eyes watered and she covered her nose and mouth as best she could. She fought the instinct to fly away and went to investigate just what Pips had done. Next to her unconscious teacher were the flowers he was about to show and inside them was a small nest of stinkbugs.

Crysta heard snickering and she turned to see Pips smiling with a small split twig pegging his nose. He matched her gaze, eyes challenging. His expression and body language clearly said "beat that."

Crysta was shocked as Pips flew away from the scene of his crime. He saw her as a rival?!

It was that incident that had begun a competitive and tolerable friendship. Crysta met his challenge with vigour and unfortunately for her teacher and classmates, the number of pranks drastically increased. However Crysta made a limit to how far she would go into a prank and when Pips crossed that line she admitted defeat. Pips looked disappointed at first but he quickly recovered and gloated over his triumph.

Although the battle of pranks was over, their relationship was far from it. Pips began to hang around Crysta, calling her his prankster apprentice and teaching her some of his techniques such as using a baby reed as a blow pipe. Since Crysta wasn't good at those kinds of things, Pips regularly gloated being the Master prankster and Crysta would wittingly remind him he was also a Master of failing classes. The witty banter would usually end with a mud fight and a quick dip in the river.

As their bond grew, Crysta helped Pips improve his magic and tried to sink some manners into him while she was at it, and he unknowingly helped improve her stamina with his pranks and games.

Through their teenage years they stuck together, gradually gaining experience and knowledge as Fairies. Crysta smiled fondly as she recalled the day she gave him that pan flute for his coming-of-age gift and his face had lit up like the sun breaking through the clouds. He had been so happy.

Then one day, Crysta's magical gifts were noticed by non other than the great Magi Lune herself and she was put under her teachings.

Unfortunately this gave her less time to be with Pips and this put him in a very bitter mood. Thankfully he had found some new friends…or more like followers to keep him occupied when she wasn't around and hence the Beetle boys gang was formed.

Crysta sat up as her attempts at sleep were futile. Even now she couldn't get Pips's face out of her head or the pain he expressed when he spoke those three words. Her heart fluttered and her cheeks grew warm in remembrance. If she really only had brotherly affection for him then why was she affected this much?

Crysta really needed to talk to someone. Not Pips, not Zack but someone neutral and would willingly listen to her problems. With her resolve back in place, she took off in to the early morning light.

Hmmm aren't the new two characters familiar :3 I hope you enjoyed my representation of Pips and Crysta's past. Have a few guesses on who Crysta is going to spill her problems to. Review :)