AN: Major edit here, hahahaha. The entire chapter has to be changed. So enjoy the non-serious chapter now! Not saying that it's not serious now. Just not like "theres-a-nuclear-missile-bomb-and-we-need-you-to-retrieve-it-and-here-have-a-crowbar" serious.

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Matthew was drinking a small amount of whisky. He was slightly underage, but a small amount would help him calm down after the hectic events of tonight.

Everyone was in the restaurant, silent and pondering about what happened that night. Karis was okay as well. Jenna, Garet, and Isaac were in deep discussion with Mia, who had just appeared and found out that her son was missing and her daughter had run off with Piers. Oh dear. Matthew thought he was going to get a shellacking.

"May I have everyone's attention please." Isaac stood up and everyone turned towards Isaac. He was still the leader after thirty years.

"Alright, we've decided on our plan of attack. Firstly, we need to find Matthew's friends. No doubt they're now scattered everywhere around the world, so we need to split ourselves up. We'll discuss teams later. Secondly, we need to bring our abilities back up to speed. Thirdly, we need to make sure we save the world… by probably doing some random dungeons and getting plot items."

"Piece of piss then," Garet stated. "We've been doing this every single time haven't we?"

Sheba glared at him. "Yeah, and it seems like you don't understand how much trouble we have here. If you're going to be sarcastic, don't join in."

Garet's eyebrow rose slightly, and Sheba was fuming silently. Jenna stepped in before all hell broke loose. "We don't have time to argue. We have to get to work immediately and get the job done. We clear?"

Garet nodded and Sheba gave her a thumb up. Jenna breathed a sigh of relief, then went back and sat down.

Mia asked Matthew, "Where did the ship sink? We can see where they landed from that."

Matthew walked over to the map with Karis, and marked the spot.

Isaac took a deep breathe. "Alright, I'm going to split the groups now, and you can then choose your respective regions…"

Matthew and Karis didn't talk much on the journey back to the Island town of Yamata while sailing on the boat, both lost in their own thoughts.

For Matthew, they were predominantly thoughts about the upcoming mission and the warmth that was enveloping his own hand. Holding hands seemed something so naïve and innocent, something they would do as children eight years ago to not get lost, not as lovers.

For Karis, she was thinking about the upcoming mission and the relationship as well. Karis loved Matthew so much that at times it felt her heart was expanding in size… with the expansion filled with thoughts of Matthew kissing her, holding her, sleeping together in bed, him being tied up by her and not being able to resist whatever she wanted to do…

She shook her head, being careful not to fill her head with too many fantasies. Although it was all good tying Matthew up and doing whatever she wanted to him, it wasn't the best way to go for a healthy relationship, so she dropped it out of her mind.

Matthew stood up. "Looks like we're here. Hopefully there will be SOMEONE here, we do need some luck."

Karis stood up and took his hand. "Don't worry, they're still alive. We'll go to the ends of the Earth just to find them again, don't worry." She kissed him, and they were about to get started again before the Captain interrupted them. "Yeah, we're at the destination, so if you could save your interactions for only the two of you to see, that would be great."

Karis and Matthew both went tomato-faced as the rest of the crew chuckled.

It was night-time when they landed, and they were pretty tired from the whole journey, so they decided to book a room in an inn. Unfortunately, because they weren't in a party EVERYONE thought that they were a "young, cute, married couple. Here, have a free room upgrade on us! The bed doesn't creak!"

Although they liked the room upgrade (and the bed really didn't creak, so Matthew and Karis both made separate mental notes that when they were ready to go that far they would come back to here) they went to shower (separately) and then got into bed and had an uneventful night.

Okay, I lied. They didn't have an uneventful night. Umm, let's see if I can get an ingredient list…

1x scented aromatic candles

1x teenage Karis with hormones

1x teenage Matthew with hormones

1x large king size bed

And here's the procedure list:

1. Stare at her eyes. Stare at his eyes.

2. Embrace each other passionately.

3. Move towards kissing.

4. Move towards French kissing.

5. Get turned on. Start exploring each others bodies.

And I'm going to stop right there before I get arrested for breaching the T rating. Don't worry, they didn't go that far. They fell asleep before they got that far.

They woke up the next morning, extremely refreshed and ready for adventure. They headed towards the local bar (because that's where all the information is. Wait, they're underaged…) and entered. To make up for their lack of ID, they walked in with their most badass outfits and sunglasses. It worked, but Matthew and Karis figured it was best if they hided their faces by kissing each other while walking in there. (Hint to those seventeen year old kids that want to enter bars – I haven't tried this, so I don't know if it works. Sorry. I don't go to bars.)

They sidled up to the barkeeper, and ordered some whiskey. "By the way, have you seen anymore passersby that were… slightly strange?"

The barkeeper frowned as he poured both of them whiskey. Karis smelled hers, wrinkled her nose in disgust and for the rest of the conversation poured her amount slowly into Matthew's as he kept sipping.

"Och, I think I know what you mean," the barkeeper said in a Scottish accent. "I saw a person that had blue hair…I don't know where they are now. Another one, mah bonnie lad?" (To all the Scottish people who read this, I am so sorry. -.-)

Matthew and Karis stared at each other.

Alex?

"Oh, for he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good FEELLLLOOOOOOOOOWWWWW… I don't know why I feel so happy," Karis exclaimed.

They tottered out of the bar after being filled with whisky and all assortments of alcohol. Karis tried walking straight, but she fell in a heap. "Oopsie," she giggled.

Matthew picked her up and carried her on his back. "Ooh, my shining white knight in armour," she purred. Matthew also tried walking straight, and he succeeded before he collapsed in a dark alley two hundred metres later.

"Oh poor baby," Karis pouted. "Are you okay?"

Matthew turned around and he realised that their faces were really, really close. The hormones in him were raging badly, and he slowly getting turned on. He could smell Karis's scent from here. Feel her body heat. And see her crystal eyes.

Karis also stared back at Matthew. She could smell his scent. Feel his body head. And see his clear, honest eyes.

They both knew the alcohol and hormones were talking, and knew they shouldn't give in, but their willpower collapsed and crumbed. They started kissing at first in that alleyway, before Matthew had his hand sliding down Karis's shirt.

Karis groaned as Matthew slid her hand around her belly area, and in return slid her hand into Matthew's shirt, feeling his clearly defined muscles…

They were both panting rapidly now, knowing they were doing something extremely wrong but unwilling to back down now…

AN: As you can see, this chapter underwent a large revision! The mention of the shadow is gone, Matthew and Karis are doing slightly less (but still) dodgy actions, and… yeah, otherwise just polished up the dialogue.

R & R, commenting on whether you like the new changes or the sexually charged ones from before.