"Clay, wait; I had a thought," Omi announced.

The big cowboy bit back a witty retort.

"You saw you believe Johnny Betty Pecos could be converted to the side of good; we should find out if she is truly open to this idea," the little monk continued.

"That fer sure is a good idea, li'l partner, but I'm pretty darned sure she's willin' t' come over t' th' side a' Good," Clay offered. Yeah, if the dark and smouldery look in her eyes had been any indication, she was willing to try new things.

"We should be certain!" Omi insisted.

"All right . . . . what did you have in mind, li'l partner?"

"We should speak with her directly! Somewhere away from Chase Young and Jack Spicer!"

"That sounds like a fine idea, sure enough," Clay admitted. "How we gonna find out when and where that's going to be?"

There was a pause of only a second, and then both monks said in one voice:

"The Crystal Glasses."

Johnny Betty leaned over the leather strap in front of her, using a wooden mallet and a steel stamp to imprint a pattern on the smooth material.

"Whatcha doing?" Jack's voice asked.

Johnny Betty looked up and blinked.

Jack was standing by her elbow, looking down at her craft with interest. Just for clarification it would be noted that he was wearing nothing but an elaborate loincloth, a dog collar and a big grin.

"I'm leathertoolin' a belt. What th' hell are you doing?" The dark-haired girl asked.

"Playing 'chase'," the albino youth reported with a wicked grin.

JB gave Jack's attire another long look.

"That requires a costume, does it?"

Jack giggled wickedly.

"I'm a naughty slave boy who's trying to run away from his master!" the albino reported. "If you think this is nice, you should see the altar boy costume I have! And Chase is so hot in his priest's cassock!"

The Apache girl shuddered.

"I'm surprised it don' burst int' flames when he puts it on. That's so wrong."

The tech wizard sighed and patted his bodyguard on the head condescendingly.

"Oh JB, you just have no idea," he said. "You don't even have a prospective lover. . . . maybe some day you'll understand."

Johnny Betty blushed hotly and hunched back over her belt in progress.

"You find a nice, sweet, guy at least six foot an' strong enough to break through a supernaturally strong hymen an' then you can nit-pick," she growled.

Jack doubled over howling with laughter.

"S-super hymen!" he squealed. "I never thought of that! B-but why does he have to be six foot?"

"I ain't datin' a guy who's shorter than me!" JB blurted, picking through her leather stamps.

"Oh man, that's priceless!"

"If you're playin' chase – an' I'm just assumin' Chase is the one doin' th' chasin' – why you hidin' in here?"

"I needed a break from running and Chase hates you," Jack reported. "This is the last place he'll look."

JB sighed again.

"Thanks, that's good t' know."

"But, eventually I would look here," a mellow voice interjected.

Jack let out a delighted squeal and tried to hide behind his bodyguard.

"Eeee! Oh no, Master! Please don't beat me!" he cried melodramatically.

"You'll take whatever punishment I prescribe, cur," Chase growled.

Johnny Betty took one look at the Roman toga the ancient warrior wore and buried her face in her hands. Chase noticed the gesture.

"It is increasingly difficult to play love games with you underfoot, half-breed," he announced.

JB looked around the chamber they were gathered in, just in case it had changed in the last minute.

"This is my bedroom!" She protested.

"Get out of the palace. Go hunting or something," Chase flicked his fingers and a hickory bow and quiver full of arrows appeared in JB's lap. "Hunt squirrels; they're a nuisance in the Land of Nowhere."

"Hunt squirrels? With a bow and arrow?" JB asked.

Jack snickered.

Chase raised his hand again.

"Wait! Let me get my boots on!" Johnny Betty protested. It was for naught; the next thing she knew she was in the middle of a dark, deep forest with no shoes on.

"Damn it," she sighed.

"I am . . . having second thoughts about this idea," Omi admitted, peering out of the window of the Silver Manta Ray.

"You said it yourself, partner; we need to see JB again," Clay offered, piloting the craft down low over the trees.

"I said we needed to talk with her," Omi corrected. "Although . . . . I would like to see her. She's very attractive. Um . . .this isn't close to where the squirrels were, is it?"

Clay gave his friend a sidelong look.

"Don' worry about th' squirrels, Omi," he chuckled. "You beat 'em once, you can do it again." The big cowboy gave his friend another sidelong look. "Johnny Betty sure is pretty, ain't she?"

"Oh yes!" Omi agreed. "She has large hips and a bountiful chest and she takes pleasure in showing them off!"

Clay bit back a laugh at his young friend's words. It was so funny to hear Omi going on about pretty girls and breasts and hips. After a moment, Clay's amusement died.

"I like her eyes," the Dragon of the Earth offered.

Omi turned away from the window, giving Clay a puzzled look.

"Her eyes?"

"Yeah. Don't she just have th' prettiest blue eyes you ever did see?"

Omi looked confused and for a moment Clay felt bad that he had thought his friend so shallow.

"Yes, her blue eyes are very pretty. I still prefer her chest and hips."

"Johnny Betty has brown eyes," Clay informed the smaller monk coldly.

"Who cares what color her eyes are?" The Dragon of Water asked.

The big cowboy gave his small friend a disbelieving look.

"Omi, old son, you are never goin' t' have a girlfriend with that attitude!"

Before the yellow-skinned monk could ask why, Clay veered the Silver Manta Ray sharply and brought it down among the trees in the Land of Nowhere.

"You have got t' be fuckin' KIDDING me!" Johnny Betty howled. "Squirrel huntin' with a bow?! I shoulda known!"

In hindsight, she was glad she didn't have her boots on, because it made it much easier to scale the thick, ancient trees that dominated the countryside. Strangely enough, the squirrel-like creatures that surrounded her preferred to take their fight to the ground. Maybe reaching lengths of nine feet and weighing a good three hundred pounds put a dent in their arboreal abilities.

JB leapt from branch to branch, dodging errant fireballs and trying to remember why this was better than being back home in Texas.

The Apache girl ran along a branch, intending to leap from the end for the next tree when a big boar squirrel landed heavily in front of her, making the tree sway dangerously. JB's brown eyes widened.

"They glide?!" She rolled her eyes briefly. "Of course they do! Why th' hell not?!"

The creature screeched hellishly and reared up, taking in a big breath. JB knew from previous nasty experience that it was about to breath fire, but for the first time she noted two bulges at the creature's throat that pulsed alarmingly.

Not bothering the think anything through, Johnny Betty notched an arrow in her bow and put a shaft through one bulge.

The squirrelzilla howled in agony as its fire-gland was punctured, spraying chemicals across its own chest that ignited the second they hit oxygen.

Johnny Betty's moment of triumph was short-lived.

A large splash of chemicals used the shaft of the arrow as a leaping off point and followed it back to its mark. Since the dark-haired maven was barely six feet from the magically mutated squirrel, flaming slime splattered down one leg of her jeans and began burning merrily.

"Sh – shEEEEEE-Iiit!" JB shrieked, beating at the fabric frantically. In her panicked state, she slipped off of the branch she stood on and plummeted sixty feet to the ground, leaving a trail of burning denim and the sort of language that was lost on anyone who didn't have a robust country upbringing, or at least an intimate knowledge of the finer points of animal husbandry.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she hoped she would land on something soft and cushy, but knowing her luck, she'd probably land in a briar patch.

She landed in a briar patch.

Above her, the remaining squirrels began to descend.

Clay and Omi were witness to Johnny Betty's fiery descent from the tree. When the rest of the pack began to head towards where she lay, the Dragon of Water popped out of the window of the Silver Manta Ray.

"Eye of Dashi!" he cried, shooting lightning at the creatures.

What few were shocked were enough of a warning to the others. The pack scattered, gliding off through the branches and leaving the two monks behind.

Clay guided the Silver Manta Ray down to land near where Johnny Betty was just sitting up.

"Daaaaaamn," she groaned, rubbing her limbs. "I feel like I been shot at an' missed, but shit at an' hit."

The magically induced napalm on her jeans, having guttered down briefly when she hit the ground, flared up again. JB slapped at the flames, feeling the long cords of the briar bushes tighten around her legs.

"Omi! Use th' Orb a' Tornami!" Clay cried, leaping out of the Silver Manta Ray and running towards Johnny Betty.

JB lurched, trying to roll her burning pant leg into the dirt to quell the flames. The briar vines tightened around her legs again.

"Orb of Tornami!" Omi yelled, dousing the girl in cold water.

She coughed and spluttered, shaking off excess water. Then the vines tightened around her again. With her leg not on fire, Johnny Betty could focus on the fact that they shouldn't be doing that. Not since she stopped moving.

"Johnny Betty! You okay, li'l lady?" Clay asked.

Before she could answer, the vines snapped tight around her legs and pulled.

JB yelped as she was dragged through the underbrush, the thorns digging into her already scorched flesh. She only had time to note that the briars were dragging her towards a hole that reminded her of a gaping maw and not in a good way.

The dark haired girl flipped onto her stomach and clawed at the dirt. Clay pounced on her and tried hauling her out of danger, only succeeding in bringing her to a halt. More vines slithered out of the underbrush towards the large Texan's feet. The Dragon of the Earth did a hasty calculation and decided to break up the tug of war at its weakest point.

One arm snugged tight around Johnny Betty's waist, Clay reached down with the other and popped open the buckle of her belt, unsnapped and unzipped her jeans in record time.

JB and Clay fell back in a heap as Johnny Betty's pants flew off down the hole, dragged there by intelligent vines. The Dragon of Earth quickly carried the stricken girl back towards the Silver Manta Ray, where Omi waited, eyeing the treetops nervously.

"Not that I'm complainin' for a second, handsome, but what are ya'll doin' here?" JB asked breathlessly.

"Lookin' for you," Clay answered honestly, setting her back on her feet. The big cowboy kept one arm around her waist and put the other hand on her hip, tilting her so he could inspect the leg that had been on fire.

He grimaced at the fresh burn marring her dusky skin.

"Oh, honey! That's going to scar!"

"I – it's okay. I don't scar easy," Johnny Betty said, more stricken by the fact that Clay had called her 'honey' than the fact that she had been injured.

"Omi, Orb a' Tornami Ice this for her!" The cowboy cried.

A small, somehow very disturbing noise came from where Omi was standing. Johnny Betty didn't even look around. She simply gave Clay a look that was very tired.

"I think today was not th' day t' wear the see-through lace panties," she confided.

Clay looked down. A second later he forced his eyes up and away, pulling the brim of his hat over his eyes.

"Omi, you turn around right now!" the Dragon of Earth hissed.

Obediently, the yellow-skinned warrior turned 360 degrees, ending up in the exact same position he started in.

"Omi!"

"Why would a girl wear such undergarments if she did not wish someone to see them?" the monk inquired.

Johnny Betty said nothing, just gave Omi a mournful look and tried to cover her rear end with her hands. The quick rustle of cloth made her look around. She was startled to see Clay removing his blue shirt just as fast as he could. The blond cowboy stripped down to his undershirt and held out the other shirt, trying not to look at her.

Johnny Betty gave him a blank look. A shirt? She didn't need a shirt, she needed pants.

When JB didn't take the proffered garment, Clay sidled closer and carefully tied the arms around her waist. She ended up wearing a very misshapen skirt.

"Thank you," she said, at a loss for what else to say.

"What are you doin' out here all by your lonesome?" Clay asked. "Th' Land a' Nowhere's dangerous."

"I didn't get a choice. Chase told me t' go hunt squirrels an' threw me outta th' palace so he could play games with Jack."

Clay made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat.

"You need t' leave those two queer ducks right now, darlin'" he growled. "Omi, ice this!"

With Johnny Betty's hind end covered, the yellow-skinned monk produced the Orb of Tornami and summoned a garter of ice to cover JB's burn.

"There, that should make you feel better," Omi said, patting one dusky knee.

Johnny Betty sidled away from the little monk's touch.

"Ah . . . thanks," she growled. "An' maybe I wanted t' wear pretty undies 'cause I want'd t' wear them."

The lecherous, hungry look Omi gave her made her skin crawl.

"Dagnabbit, darlin'! You ain't even got shoes on!" Clay blurted, oblivious to the tension between his two companions.

Johnny Betty looked around to the sounds of scuffing in time to see Clay slipping out of his boots.

"You put these on, honey, you can't run around out here half naked." The big cowboy set his boots on the ground right in front of JB's feet.

Johnny Betty stared at the boots as if trying to ascertain their meaning. She looked over at Clay's sock feet and his undershirt, then at the blue shirt wrapped around her waist, then back down at the boots at her feet.

It was at that moment that Johnny Betty Pecos, unwanted child of legendary heroes, ceased to simply be attracted to a sweet, cute boy and fell in love for the first time.

One broad hand nudged the small of her back as the Dragon of Earth coaxed her to step into his boots.

A lump started up in the back of her throat. JB's cheeks burned and for a moment, she was afraid she'd start crying. Clay's hand nudged her forward again and she carefully stepped into his large, well-worn boots.

"They're – they're too big," she gasped, fighting back tears.

Clay blinked in confusion at the sudden moisture in JB's eyes. Before he could ask any questions, Omi piped up.

"Clay, why do you bother giving her clothing? She clearly likes showing off her body to anyone who cares to look," the Dragon of Water declared.

JB's misty brown eyes went wide. Clay's bright blue eyes went wide as well.

Both warriors turned beet red. JB whirled towards Omi, her expression one of rage.

"I like wearin' pretty clothes! An' I just happen t' have a nice body! An' if you can't wrap your tiny li'l mind around that, then you can just—"

What Omi could do would never be known, because Clay reached over to where one of the squirrelzillas had fallen, lifted the body and tossed the still-warm corpse in front of, and partially on, the yellow-skinned monk.

The resulting scream echoed off of the trees. Omi fought his way out from under the body and tore off through the forest, rebounding off of tree trunks like a small yellow pinball.

"I'm so sorry. . . . uh, . . . we're pretty sure he has Tourette's," Clay muttered.

JB snorted.

"You're a lousy liar, Clay. He just said what he thinks," JB sighed.

The Dragon of Earth simply stood and looked at the young girl in front of him for a moment, then reached out and took her hand.

"Come with us," he murmured.

Johnny Betty took a long look into the pretty blue eyes she had just fallen in love with.

Omi floundering through the underbrush caught her attention.

"Not with him," she answered.

Clay frowned.

"Now darlin', I know hearin' Omi talk about you makes your skin crawl, but – HEY!"

The Dragon of Water was starting up the Silver Manta Ray, looking as if he had every intent of leaving his fellow warrior behind.

JB watched as Clay ran for the magical device and clambered inside just as Omi lifted off. The Silver Manta Ray flew jerkily, as if the two monks inside were fighting over the controls. Presently it made its way up and over the tree line.

Johnny Betty watched it go, and then turned her attention to the dead squirrels surrounding her. She'd have enough leather to keep her in belts and bags until she was thirty-five.