With Dom Pyro gone Jinja continued looking for Bren in the direction he told her to go in. "Geez," she grumbled. "I hope not all the people here have a habit of just disappearing."
Suddenly, she heard voices. "One, two, three guard this forest for the queen! Four, five, six don't pull any stupid tricks! Seven, eight, nine do a good job or else she won't let you dine!"
What a strange little poem. Jinja peeked from behind a bush to see two men in uniform walking. They were wearing S.T.O.R.M. military uniforms with what looked like a heart sloppily painted across the front. Monsuno were strapped safely in their belts.
Jinja's eyes widened. Was that Commander Trey…and Jon Ace? Jinja wanted to run forward and hug the man with the scar above his brow, but she stopped herself. Jon had died in the mines when the meteor went nuclear. There was no way he could be alive now.
Misplacing her foot, Jinja snapped a twig. Both of the soldiers' eyes snapped in here direction. A smirk appeared on Trey's lips.
"Shall we go check that out my friend?" he asked Jon.
"Why yes, I think we should my fellow soldier."
They were coming to get her! Jinja backed up and quickly fled into the direction Dom Pyro had told her to go. That crazy cat wasn't kidding. There are soldiers! Jinja prayed they weren't as fast as Bren.
They were right behind her. The pounding of their boots against the forest floor boomed in her ears. They would be upon her any second. What would they do? Would they kill her? Or even worse, would they take her to Charlemagne herself so the woman could have her way with her?
As Jinja became lost in these fearsome thoughts a white gloved hand shot out of the hedges, pulling her into them. Jinja was face to face with Bren. She would have screamed if he hadn't put a gloved hand over her mouth and shushed her harshly. The pounding of Jon and Trey's footsteps came and went.
"Bren," began Jinja, but the boy cut her off.
"Hey, you're the girl who's been stalking me! You must be pretty stupid to be running around in this part of the forest alone. The queen's soldiers could have caught you!" The bunny Bren began shaking her wildly. "Are you out of your core!"
"St-stalker! It's me Bren. It's Jinja!" She couldn't believe the little runt.
Bren cocked his head to the side. "You must have me confused for someone else. I'm not Bren. I'm the White Rabbit."
Jinja sighed. "Ok, well White Rabbit. I want to go to the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. Can be so kind as to escort me?"
The White Rabbit gave a soft smile. "But of course. I'd love to escort a beautiful woman such as you."
Jinja blushed, but it subsided as she remembered this was just Bren in a crazy rabbit get-up. She took his gloved hand. The nerdy rabbit pulled out the Core Tablet and gave it a brief look over.
"We should be there any minute now," said the White Rabbit with confidence.
The Bren bunny moved a bush which led to a small clearing. In the middle was a long table set up with dozens of teacups, sugar jars, spoons, teapots, honey containers, and even a few coffee pots. Cakes and other sweets lay haphazardly on plates with knives and forks stabbed through some of them. Around the table sat what looked to be her other three team mates in crazy outfits just like Bren's.
Chase wore identical clothing to Bren except his swallow tail coat was blue. On the leader's head were black bunny ears to match his raven colored hair. Beyal had his head resting on the table. The little monk looked to be sleeping. On his head perched two big, round mouse ears while a tail swished from his rear. His tan colored hand was wrapped firmly around a half cup of coffee. Dax was the strangest of all. He wore a dark blue coat with only the top two buttons fastened. On his head was a top hat instead of his usual beanie. A light blue ribbon was tied delicately around it that held a piece of paper with "10%" written on it. He wore combat boots with torn jeans tucked into them.
Dax looked up from pouring a ton of sugar into mouse Beyal's coffee cup to see Jinja and bunny Bren arriving. He grinned and strode toward them.
"Hello White Rabbit, it seems you have finally arrived, but a few minutes late sadly," Dax grabbed Bren by his white rabbit ears and gave him a harsh noogie.
"OWOWOWOW! Stop it Mad Hatter! I'm sorry!" cried Bren.
"Not sorry enough to come on time though are you, mate?" teased the Mad Hatter.
"Hey, he said he was sorry!" snapped Jinja. Mad Hatter or Dax, this guy was still a jerk.
"Oh my my, White Rabbit, it seems you have brought a little guest," Dax clasped his hands together and smiled warmly.
"But Dax, it's me, Jinja. You're my friend," stated Jinja.
The Dax hatter only smiled. He kneeled on one knee. Grabbing Jinja's hand he gave it a light kiss causing her face to burn bright red.
"I'm sorry, dear. I have no recollection of meeting you before. But if you want I can be your "Dax", my little Alice."