PRESENT FOR RIKU!! 2 NEW CHAPTERS!!

At the end of the day, Jing sat under a tree near the abandoned house they were staying as he waited for Kir to come back with any news of something of value to steal. He probably can't find anything, Jing thought as he let out a sigh of boredom and leaned against the trunk of the tree, gazing up at the sky, wondering what Dark was going to steal and if he should steal it just for the sake of depleting Dark's ego a bit more.

Jing didn't usually take joy in stealing the spot light from others, but with lack of interesting event in the world, it was all he has to keep himself occupied. Because to be honest; this place was weird and boring. No clock work guards, no talking birds, no rare and exotic treasures, just gems, gem incrusted goblets, statues of gold and jade. Not even a single Porvora, Jing thought remembering the small adorable, and dangerously explosive fur balls that were used as dynamite in his world. The vacation is nice but the only problem is that he had no clue how to get back, because going back the way he came seemed to be out of the question.

A few weeks back

"This way, Jing!" Kir said disappearing around a another corner in the maze like castle.

Sped up a bit before rounding the corner, and glancing back at his pursuers, One was a rather scrawny lizard-man with pale blue scales and glazed over eyes that gave the appearance that he was blind, and the other was a large muscular dark green lizard man, it's skull protected by a metal plate in the form of a helmet with only it's lower jaw exposed.

Then glancing down at the silver wings he clutched in his hand, then followed Kir around yet another corner.

"Are we losing 'em?" Kir asked flying just ahead of Jing. Jing glanced back again only to see that the guards had actually gained on them. "Far from it, Kir!" Jing called to his partner.

After that no one spoke to intent on running/flying for their lives to strike conversation. After running through several twists and turns they came to a fork in the path. Jing skid to a halt and looked at the right path then the left.

"Jing! What are you doing? They'll catch up!" Kir yelled, annoyed the Jing would chose a time like this to stop and think.

Jing shook his head, still in deep thought, "They're not behind us anymore," He said quietly.

"What do you mean they're not beh-" Jing grabbed Kir by his neckerchief and ran down the path to the left just as the lizards ran burst from the right.

He ran for about four minutes, dragging Kir with him, before he was forced to stop, due to a gaping hole in the floor. Too wide to jump over and too deep to land unharmed. Peering down the hole, Jing could barely make out the floor below but he could just make out that is was another series of mazes. Hearing footsteps behind him Jing snapped into action He stuck his hand into the circular space between the wings, clutching the rim, and jumped into the hole as they started to glow.

"Jing! What are you doing?!" Kir called before diving after him., but when Kir reached the bottom he was blinded by a bright light. Well, it wasn't the bright but they'd been in that dark castle for hours. As Kir's eye adjusted to the light he was able to make out Jing, standing there unharmed, Then he noticed that the once cold silver wings had become a pair of soft silver feathery wings. As the light died down the wing reverted back to their original state.

"C'mon, Kir," Jing said walking down the tunnel. "It's only a matter of time until those guards get down here too,"

"How did you know the wings would fly. Jing?" The albatross asked, catching up with Jing.

Jing smiled at him "What good are wings," He said indicating to Kir's black feathered wings. "if you can't fly with them?"

"Huh? But wh-" Kir stopped when he heard the sound of claws scraping against hard stone. "Jing! They found us," He said.

Jing didn't waste any time, he broke into a run, and Kir flew faster when he heard a loud frustrated hiss from somewhere behind him.

After running for what seemed like hours they came to a dead end. Jing slid to a halt, lost his footing, and fell on his ass, just before hitting a stone wall with a large painting of a statue, Jing had seen a similar statue in one of the towns he'd been too. It was a statue of the three elemental symbols, a Phoenix, a mermaid, a fairy, and a Golem. Knowing that at the speed Kir was flying he would not be able to stop in time to avoid hitting the wall. Just as he thought Kir flew over his head, but instead of hearing the thud of Kir hitting the painting… there was silence. When Jing stood up and looked, There was a significant lack of Kir, and for the first time in a long while, Jing was confused. He was brought out of his confused daze by the sound of the guards claws on the stone floor. They were still pretty far off and he figured he was safe for a bit. Slowly, he walked towards the painting, put hand against it, and watched it sink into the painting. He pulled his hand back out and looked back, just able to make out the outline of the large ones shadow. Looking back at the painting, Jing shrugged tightened his grip in the silver wings and flung himself into the painting, and was almost immediately engulfed by light.

The next thing he knew he was once again on a cold floor. Jing stood up and looked around. At first he thought he was back still the maze, but soon realized that he was outside, standing in front of the very statue in the painting, but the thought that he was back I the town were he had first seen it quickly vanished when he realized, this is NOT somewhere he had ever been before.

"Were do you think we are Jing?"

Hearing the familiar voice of his partner made Jing relax a bit, but he didn't answer right away. He continued to look around trying to find anything at all that might give a clue as to were he was. After surveying the place several times and coming to no conclusion, Jing walked over to a nearby tree and leaned against the trunk, in deep thought.

"Jing?"

"I have no idea,"

Back to Jing.

The painting they had fallen from had landed them in front of the statue that had been on the painting, but the portal had either closed or it was a one way portal. For the statue was solid cement when Kir attempted to use it again, succeeding in nothing but earning himself a new bump on his hard head.

"Jing?" Kir had sat there in front of him for five whole minutes while he daydreamed. "Jing," Growing annoyed, Kir ruffled his feathers so he looked bigger the he was. "JING!"

Jing looked up at Kir. "Oh, there you are. Did you find anything"

Kir shook his head. "Nope. Not a thing worth stealing,"

"Dark up to anything?"

"He's stealin' somethin' a painting of some form or another tomorrow night." (Note: A painting I am too lazy to name)

"Should we go?"

"Why not? I could do with a little exercise. Couldn't go on being the famous King of Bandits if you got fat, could ya?"

"No, I guess not Kir," With that Jing walked into the abandoned house.

They were only going to stay there until they managed to raise enough money to get a small apartment. Jing was working on certain days of the week as a waiter at a restaurant a few blocks down, but that was simply for the sake of keeping himself busy. Kir was the one actually making the money. While Jing was at school Kir managed to keep himself occupied by sitting in a tree in the park, watching people, and when he spotted someone who looked rather wealthy he would swoop down and take rings, necklaces, bracelets, anything that caught his eye. They even managed to find an old run down jewelry store down town the would take anything that some much as looked real. Business for them had picked up considerably since Jing came around so the owner doesn't ask were it came from, as long as there's nothing on it that would hint that it had belonged to someone that's not Jing.

Jing flopped down on the old dusty couch as Kir emptied out his neckerchief, which he had previously been holding like a small pouch, and watched as three rings, a silver bracelet, and a diamond necklace fell out and into a small pile of jewelry.

"We should take this stuff in before the pile gets suspiciously big," Kir said clipping a pair of very small black pearl earrings to his neckerchief, completing the Zigzag pattern he had started one day out of pure boredom and became obsessed with completing.

"We'll take them in tomorrow,"