Chapter 8

Arrows, Wagers, & Funksoul Brother

"Ok that was a complete waste of time." Lan stated as he, Mega, Roll, Whisper and Proto exited the mall. It was about two hours later and the group still hadn't found Chaud and Terra. Although Maylu had gotten some shopping done. "And I can't believe you made us lap the whole mall ten times." Lan said as he looked at Mega.

"I was just trying to be thorough." Mega replied trying to defend himself.

"You've never been that thorough in your life." Lan said back. "It's not like they're five, I'm pretty sure they can handle being in a foreign city alone."

"So what are we going to do now?" Whisper asked adding another voice to quell the approaching argument between the twins.

"How about we go to a carnival?" Maylu asked out of the blue.

"A carnival?" Lan asked as he turned to look at his friend.

"Yeah look," Maylu replied as she picked up a flyer that was in a nearby stand handing it to him. "Can you think of anything better to do?" she asked. "That doesn't involve netbattling? You could use something different."

"First you change my clothes, now you're going to change what I do for entertainment? What are you trying to do assimilate me?" Lan asked.

"No, it's called I'm bored and I'd rather do something we can't do that often at home." Maylu replied. Lan was about to say something again when Whisper spoke up once more. It seemed as if she was going to be the mediator with her sister gone.

"How about we just go?" she asked.

"I agree." Proto added as he joined in the conversation.

Whisper looked back at Proto after his statement; he hadn't spoken up in a while, but she didn't have a lot if time to think about it when she spotted a taxi. And apparently Proto had seen it too.

"It'd probably be best to call a cab and get everyone out of here before someone throws a punch." He suggested.

"You just read my mind." Whisper replied as she placed her thumb and index finger in her mouth and let out a shrill whistle. "TAXI!" she called.

"Little Mexico?' Terra asked from her vantagepoint on the bike as Chaud slowed down once he found a place to park.

"Yeah," Chaud replied, "I know how you take an interest in other cultures, I thought you might find this interesting."

"Well to tell you the truth, the Hispanic culture sorta freaks me out," Terra admitted as she got off the bike. "I mean it cool with all the amazing architecture they had; but with the whole worship of the dead and ripping out of people's hearts for human sacrifice- that disturbs me."

"Why?" Chaud asked, "People worship their ancestors back home."

"Yeah, but no one we personally know," Terra replied, "and they don't eat and make candy skulls, there's a difference. But I guess there is a silver lining, their clothes and food isn't half bad." Terra replied as she and Chaud walked along the streets soaking up the atmosphere. She couldn't believe how much things had changed. Just 20 years ago this was one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in all of LA, ruled by gangs and drug dealers, now it was one of the most popular tourist spots for those who were interested in Hispanic culture. Homemade food stands were everywhere selling anything from tacos to enchiladas. Fabric looms and homemade jewelry seemed popular too.

"Wow this is pretty," Terra commented as she looked at one of the booths and picked up a stretch bracelet set that was made from a darkened metallic silver with multi colored crystals insets, one of the bracelets being made of circles and the other squares. When she flipped over the price tag she found that it was only six dollars. "I'll take this por favor," Terra said as she handed the bracelet and her debit card to the girl who was manning the booth.

"We'll be taking this too." Chaud stated about a second later.

"What?" Terra asked, soon finding her answer when Chaud pulled a snow-white cowboy hat over her head. Terra turned to look at Chaud just as soon as she pushed the brow of the hat out of her eyes with her index finger. Maybe a normal Chaud wouldn't be so weird after all.

"Step right up and ride the Titan Terror! The craziest roller coaster on the West Coast!" that along with carnival music and the smells of food was the atmosphere of the carnival when Lan, Maylu, Roll, Mega, and Proto arrived. All of the sound and excitement soon reminded the six friends of home.

"So, what do we do first?" Mega asked after the group had made a couple of rounds and figured our where everything was located.

"I don't know I didn't even want to come here." Lan said still sulking.

"I bet you still scream like a little girl when you're on a roller coaster." Mega stated almost randomly, causing both Whisper and Proto to raise their eyebrows, Roll to look confused, Maylu to smile, and Lan to stiffen.

"You are so on," Lan replied taking the bait and Mega's challenge, walking off with him toward the biggest and baddest coaster that the park had to offer.

"Well they're gone." Whisper commented as she looked at who remained, Maylu, Proto, and her. Suddenly she had a great, if not underhanded idea, "Come on Roll lets go see how loud Lan'll scream!" Whisper suddenly said as she grabbed hold of Roll and practically dragged her off.

"Ok," Roll replied a little unsure of the suddenness of Whisper's interest.

Once Whisper and Roll were gone Maylu and Proto came to terms that they had been set up, although they didn't know the other knew it too.

After looking off in the direction that Whisper and Roll had ran off in Maylu turned and looked up at Proto, she wasn't sure what she should do so she said the first thing that came to her mind. "Are you good at archery?" Maylu asked, the question catching Proto off guard.

"I have a little experience; why?" he asked.

"You'll see, come on." Maylu replied as she beckoned the navi to follow her. She needed something to melt this iceberg.

"Hey there they are!" Whisper called out as she and Roll came to the fence that lined some of the rides noticing Lan and Mega almost right away sitting at the head of the first car.

"Why are they doing this again?" Roll asked as she looked at the coaster.

"What do you mean? They're playing chicken." Whisper replied, "It's just a game."

"Yeah I know it's just weird." Roll commented, "Mega's never been this way with Lan before."

"What do you mean?" Whisper asked.

"Just the form of the challenge I guess," Roll stated. "Mega would look out for him, challenge him, nag him, but they were never this systematically intertwined you know?" Roll asked. "They've changed in the past couple of months, especially Mega, I don't know how to explain it. You wouldn't know why would you?" Roll asked.

"No…not really, but then I haven't been all that observant as of late. And to tell you the truth I don't think I've even been around long enough to notice changes in anyone's behavior. But I'll see what I can find out if you'd like." Whisper lyingly replied as she watched the coaster start coming toward the big drop, the spot were if you were going to scream like a girl you would. Whisper then took notice of the controller cables that were exposed right beneath their feet in the grass; she had an idea. "Roll have you ever head Hu-uh…-Mega scream before?" she asked.

"Pain filled scream or scream scream?" Roll asked back.

"Scream, scream."

"No," Roll asked when she thought about it. "Why?" she asked.

"Just wondering," Whisper replied as she kneeled down and sunk her fingers into the power cords for a few seconds.

"What'd you do?" Roll asked once Whisper placed her arms on the fence keeping her eyes ever on the head of the roller coaster. Whisper only smiled.

"So you ready to scream your head off?" Mega asked as the coaster approached the big drop.

"In your dreams bro," Lan replied as the coaster began to crest, although he did grip the bar just a little bit tighter. The next second the air was filled with the screams of practically every girl on the coaster, Whisper watched as the coaster continued and counted down the seconds, "3, 2, 1, and…"

"AAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" But that wasn't one voice, that was two.

"That's what I did," Whisper said as she watched the holographic image of the Grave Virus Beast fade in a flash just as fast as it had appeared. Since the momentary excitement of hearing both Lan and Mega scream at the top of their lungs was over Whisper turned around and leaned against the fence just in time to see Maylu and Proto walk past. Letting them slightly dissipate into the crowd the turned to Roll. "Well now that that's over how about we do something else?" she asked.

"Like what?" Roll asked in reply.

"Well it is a carnival." Whisper replied ever keeping her eyes on her two friends, "we can find something."

"Here we are," Maylu called out as she led Proto over to one of the gamming booths.

"So this is why you asked about archery," Proto stated as he checked out their destination that was a bow and arrow type game where you had to hit a certain number of points on a dartboard to win different prizes.

"Yeah I thought we could do something that wasn't so foreign to you, I always found if fun." Maylu replied as the young man who was manning the booth walked up.

"Interested in playing a game?" he asked.

"Yes, two please." Maylu replied as she handed the boy a couple of tokens.

"Ok, here you go." The boy replied as he took the coins and handed them their bows and a few arrows. "The higher the points you score the better the prize."

Maylu was the first to take a shot, she pulled the arrow back as far as it would go and then released, with the projectile striking the outer rim. Proto cocked his eyebrows. "Never said I was any good." Maylu stated.

"Proto was next to try, he drew the arrow back, closed his right eye, anchored his right hand to his mouth and released; the arrow striking the exact center of the bull's eye.

"We have a natural," The booth boy commented impressed.

"Well that was challenging," Maylu said once all her arrows were gone. In the end she had managed to hit the bull's eye, although it was off to the right, she would need to have Roll teach her. Totaling up her point she saw she had just enough to get a set of hot pink sparkly bangles she had spied out before. Proto, on the other hand had done much better hitting the bull's eye 10 out of 10 times.

The booth boy was speechless, "Wow," he finally said, "I've never seen anyone do that before. Do you hunt?" he asked.

"Something like that." Proto replied.

"Well you can choose anything," the boy replied, "take your pick."

"You pick something Maylu," Proto stated, "It's not like I have any use for anything."

"Ok," Maylu replied as she looked at the different prizes until her eyes fell on a huge stuffed panda bear.

"Well take the panda," Proto said once he saw the sparkles on Maylu's eyes.

"Ok, here you go," the boy said as he unhooked the bear from where it hung and handed it to Proto who handed to Maylu.

"So what next?" Proto asked as he and Maylu walked away.

"I don't know, we could check out some of the rides." Maylu suggested.

"You're a pretty patient person aren't you?" Proto asked suddenly.

The question caught Maylu off guard. "What?" she asked.

"Being Lan and Terra's friends and everything. Sometimes there are things they can't tell you. You never seen to pry."

"Usually I don't need to." Maylu replied, "being around them as much as I am, I usually find out sooner or later." Maylu said as she looked into the crowd and spotted Lan and Mega, she smiled.

"I guess that Hub Hikari falls into the later category?" Proto asked.

"That one… yeah, it was a surprise, that along with Skyler Javedson." Proto looked at her a little strange. "Terra needed to vent."

"So she told you everything?" Proto asked.

"Not everything," Maylu replied, half-lying. "She stopped once it came to your and Chaud's territory, why? Do you have something to hide?" Maylu asked jokingly.

"I really wouldn't call it something I hide, as much as something I choose not to address." Proto admitted.

"Oh and that would be?' Maylu asked feeling that it was safe to continue on the direction that the conversation was going.

"The fact that Lan and Terra aren't the only ones who have a sibling that literally cheated death."

"So you're related to Chaud?" Maylu asked slowly looking up at the navi, she wondered what was really under that ski cap and behind thoes sunglasses.

"Yeah," Proto replied, "He's my little brother."

"Well that was fun," Terra commented as she watched the yellow-orange California sun dip below the horizon and night start to set in. She and Chaud had seen all the sights in Little Mexico and had managed to work their way up to LA's mainstream.

Terra looked around at the sparkling neon lights that were starting to turn on as the sky grew darker relaxing a little as it reminded her of Tokyo back home; and like Tokyo, LA didn't sleep. The avenue that they were on was as alive as ever, it's restaurants, stores, clubs, filling up with people all the time. Terra's smile soon started to fade though when dance and techno music started to fall on her ears. She watched as the last color vanished from the sky leaving it black as the stars started to come out one by one. The bet was starting to take effect. At that moment Terra's mind began to spin. What if she had underestimated Chaud? What if every move that had made had been planned from the get go? Was Chaud even capable of doing anything on impulse? Or was he so good at planning things that he could make things appear that way? After all, what could the chances be of the very subject her sister had been pestering her with be her exact location now?

It wasn't that Terra didn't like dancing- on the contrary that was one of her favorite pastimes- and Chaud knew that… and Skyler knew that. Terra's eyes widened, so that was why Sky had seamed so sure that she and Chaud might end up at a club that night.

That snake.

Terra looked into the sky at first star that she had seen appear, she couldn't believe that she was actually going to this but what other chance did she have? She could let fate take its course and go through with the bet, but that would mean…no, no way was that ever going to happen. Clasping her hands she looked into the night sky and pleaded. 'Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, please, don't let Chaud suggest we go dancing tonight!" Terra was so into to her pointless wishing that she didn't notice that Chaud was looking at her.

"What are you doing?" Chaud asked when he noticed Terra staring almost blankly into the sky, hands clasp.

"Nothing!" Terra said quickly in reply as she whirled around and continued walking down the street.

"So what do you want to do now?" Chaud asked as he walked beside her. Do you want to do something else or try to find everybody?"

"I wouldn't know." Terra said as she laid her eyes on yet another club, the music permeating the air. Terra stopped in her tracks almost hypnotized. Sky just had to form the bet around something that she already enjoyed.

"You want to go dancing?" Chaud asked as he followed his friends gaze.

"NO!" Terra replied abruptly swinging around, eyes wide.

"Ok," Chaud replied slowly unsure of how to take Terra's strange behavior, "Why?" he asked.

"I just don't want to, do I have to have a reason?" Terra asked back. "Besides I never took you to be the dancing type."

"I'm not, but at the moment I really don't have a type." Chaud replied as he looked back at Terra noticing that she was once again gazing at the entrance. "Look it's obvious that you want to go," Chaud continued, "I don't understand why you keep saying you don't."

Terra continued to look at the club torn. It was true, she did want to go, but if she did she would loose the bet and that would mean…'Come on,' a voice inside her head stated, 'you're already here, you might as well go in, after all you know you want to.' After that Terra quickly found herself beginning to cave and loose her resolve. It was then that she wondered whether the voice inside her head was that of her conscious or her sister trying to pull some strings. "Because," Terra said aloud, "if I go in there I'll loose the bet."

"What bet?" Chaud asked looking totally lost.

"A bet me and Sky made," Terra admitted, "You were acting to strange earlier, and Sky came to the conclusion that you might take me to a club tonight. I wasn't really thinking about where she was coming from; I had forgotten that you knew how much I liked dancing. I thought she had gotten the idea from watching to many American movies, but the bet went on from there. And if I go in there I'd loose. I am impressed though, Whisper got me good, she knew I wanted to hit a club over here before we went home."

"What's so bad about the bet," Chaud asked, "what would happen if you lost?"

Terra cringed at the thought. "I'd have to kiss you." She stated.

"Say what now?" Chaud asked.

"Yeah, I know it was stupid, but I honestly didn't think I'd loose and you tend it put the stakes up high when you don't think you're going to loose." Terra replied.

"Well it's not like I planned this." Chaud stated.

"Doesn't matter," Terra replied, "that wasn't the bet, the bet was if you took me not if you planned it," Terra said as she finished than she thought about what she had just said. "Why that little…." She started.

"The tride and true sister not as innocent and caring as you thought?" Chaud asked.

"No," Terra replied as she thought about the bet, and how she had stuck her foot in her mouth in the way that she had stated the conditions. Sky had led her on into a trap of her own making. This meant war.

"Well before you call in the infantry have you decided what you want to do?" Chaud asked.

Terra thought about it and then allowed a sly smile to work its way across her face once she noticed that not only had she lost the bet but Whisper had too, and all thanks to a thing called technicality. "I'm going dancing," Terra replied as she left the dark street for the dark yet illumined club.

"So what were the terms if Sky lost?" Chaud asked as he followed his friend.

"She would have to kiss Emery," Terra replied as a mater of factly, "on the lips, and with his shades off. Oh come on we both know that Sky has a crush on Proto, even he knows. I just wanted to see how he would react."

"No one's safe from you are they?" Chaud asked as they made it into the main area of the club where it was practically pitch black except for the multi colored strobe and black lights.

"Of course they are, Sky's the one who stuck her foot in her mouth," Terra replied when her eyes fell on the hall that led to the restrooms which reminded her of the mysterious club outfit, she might as well ware it now, she was already here. "Hey wait for me a second ok?" Terra asked as she split off from Chaud and headed down the hall to the restrooms. Once inside she opened up the materialization program and depixelized Whisper's Balkan Trouble. When it came through Terra noticed that it was the same as the flash of material she had seen earlier that day. When she unfolded the neat stack she found that the outfit consisted of a black slim fitting halter top, a flowing shimmering metallic silver mini skirt, a glittering teal satin sash belt, matching stockings that came a couple of inches shy of her skirt -once it was on- and a pair of black boots. She had to admit her sister had great taste. After changing, twisting her hair up and dematerializing her second outfit of the day she headed back out to find Chaud leaning against a back wall. "Hey," Terra stated announcing her presence.

Chaud gave her a look over, cocking his eyebrows; obviously at her appearance.

"Well before you call the men in white coats, I didn't pick the outfit, my evil clone did."

"Then why are you wearing it?" Chaud asked.

"Because jeans and a cowboy hat aren't all that appropriate," Terra replied as she pointed to the crowd of kids, pointing out that not a single girl had on a pair of jeans. "And as much as I like standing out I don't feel like sticking out like a sore thumb tonight." Terra said as she pulled Chaud from the wall and into the crowd.

"You know before you freak out again I need to tell you something," Chaud said as he got pulled deeper and deeper into the crowd.

"What?" Terra asked completely unsure of what else he had to tell her.

"You remember when my mom was teaching you and Sky how to dance and I would always run back inside saying dancing was stupid?"

"Yeah…" Terra replied slowly as the memories came to mind.

"I always had her teach me after you guys left."

Terra stopped in her tracks.

"Say what now?" she asked.

"Well this has been a pretty interesting day." Maylu stated as she and what was left of the gang which just happened to be Mega, Lan, and Roll –Whisper and Proto had disappeared earlier- began to walk down LA's main strip.

"Interesting is one word for it," Lan said as he looked around, "we've been ditched twice in one day. What kind of sense dose that make?"

"Maybe it proves that you're just really no fun," Mega jokingly suggested.

"Yeah sure," Lan replied back catching on to the sarcasm that was in his brother's voice, "no seriously."

"Who knows?" Mega asked with a shrug of his shoulders, "it's summer, maybe love's in the air."

"I thought that was spring," Lan replied, "besides, you do know that we're talking about Chaud and Proto here."

"And they're not capable of having a crush of falling in love?" Mega asked.

"Noooooo," Lan replied as he drug out the answer, "and speaking of falling in love are you ever going to tell Roll the truth?" Lan asked referring to the pink navi who for the past hour had remained silent.

"I'll get around to it," Mega replied, "and believe what you want, but whatever the case you're going to have to deal with some matters of the heart before long."

"Why?" Lan asked.

"Because," Mega replied mentally, "if you haven't noticed Maylu's been taking a special interest in you lately, not to mention that she hasn't said a word since we started this conversation."

"So what?" Lan asked, "What dose that have to do with anything?"

"So what?" Mega replied restating the question, "So what, I think she has a crush on you."

"WHAT!" Lan asked back, being totally enamored in the conversation that he didn't notice that the pole of the street light was directly in front of him.

"Lan watch out for that-" Maylu started to say once she saw what was coming but it was too late, "pole."

"And that's it for Switchfoot Will Smith's smash hit, now lets go even further back in time with Kryptonite," That was the announcement of the DJ at the club. Terra had stopped dancing as soon as Switchfoot had ended and even though she loved Kryptonite she was way too tired right now to take another steep, not to mention that she was a little disturbed. Chaud could actually dance, and that was just plain freaky.

"Come on you can't stop now, you're the one that wanted to come in here." Chaud stated as Terra started to walk off the dance floor.

"Yes I can I'm tired," Terra replied as she continued to leave the dance floor with Chaud following her, "I still can't believe that you can dance though."

"Well you couldn't have thought that you were the only one with a secret hobby." Chaud stated in reply.

"Well I know I'm not," Terra replied, "but I guess I never pictured you having one. With everything that happened after you moved, your dad, him preparing you to be the VP of Blaze Quest, and then how I personally saw how much you had changed at the N1 Grand Prix, I pretty much thought that that part of you was gone. Or at least under an avalanche of emotional snow that would never melt."

"And now?" Chaud asked.

"And now I might be changing my opinion." Terra replied as they continued to make their way through the crowd until someone bumped into her. "Excuse me," Terra roboticly stated for about the millionth time.

"No you're not excused," was the other persons reply, which caused both Chaud and Terra to turn to the person which had stated it until with a toss of her hair she stalked off.

"Wasn't that Sinde Wii?" Terra asked as she watched the oriental teenaged girl walk off.

"Yeah," Chaud replied, "I'd know her bad attitude anywhere."

"Amazing how big your head can get just because your grandfather has money." Terra stated as she continued to watch Sinde walk toward the dance floor as the crowd began to part for her like the Red Sea. "You know, you don't have to follow me everywhere," Terra stated as she walked around the club, "you are fully capable of sentience and independence."

Chaud took a quick look around him, "This really isn't my field of expertise."

"Well trailing me all night isn't going to change that," Terra replied as she gently started to push Chaud away. "Go, intermingle, or just walk around; you obviously staged this holiday because you wanted to see what normal felt like again. And so far you've been controlling everything, don't tell me you're going to chicken out the very second things aren't exactly in your control."

Chaud's eyes widened for a second. It was true, "normal" people did slightly freak him out. "Fine," he stated as he turned and started to walk through the crowd in another direction.

"Bye," Terra said as she waved him off, once he was out of sight she reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out her PET switching it to camera mode and followed Chaud into the crowd. Smirking to herself she snapped the shutter and took a few candid pictures of Chaud by himself looking like nothing less than a lost kitten, she was fully enjoying herself until she head a couple of familiar voices.

"Are you sure they're here? This doesn't really seam like a place Chaud would be." The voice was Proto's.

"Believe me, both 2-Tone and Airie are here," another voice replied which was none other than Whisper's.

Terra only had a split second to react once she spotted the two in the crowd and she ducked down and started to work her way back through the crowd to the back wall just managing to slip into the shadow of a pillar when the two walked by.

"And you're sure they're here?" Proto asked again as he and Whisper stopped in a nearby corner.

"Positive," Whisper replied as she looked around, "this club would attract Terra like a bee to honey, she loves music from the late 20th and early 21st century and that's all this particular club plays. She wouldn't be able to resist coming in here."

"And Chaud?"

Whisper smiled, "You might not believe me and he wouldn't ever admit it, but he would like it too. It was your mom that taught me and Terra how to dance, and even thought Chaud always said that dancing was sissy and stalked off when his mom would try to have him join in with us, I'd bet you anything she taught him after we went home. He's probably just as good as she was, he's a lot like her."

"I remember that about her," Proto said as a memory came to mind. "She always loved to dance, could hardly ever stay still. She didn't really fit into the corporate world."

"Did she teach you?" Whisper asked.

"Teach me what?" Proto asked.

"To dance." Whisper inquired.

"One of the last things she did," Proto replied, and even though you couldn't see his eyes once could be sure they were misting.

Whisper gave a sad smile as she gently tugged on Proto's arm leading him to the dance floor. "Well then come on, show me what you've got."

Terra's jaw practically dropped to the floor when Proto willingly followed her sister into the crowd, and she was so into her impromptu spying that she didn't even notice that Chaud was right behind her.

"What are you doing?" he asked catching his friend totally off guard almost making her jump out of her skin.

"She's here." Terra replied in a low hushed tone.

"Who? Skyler?" Chaud asked.

"Her and Emery," Terra replied.

Chaud blinked at the sound of his brother's name. "Emery? What's he doing alone with her?"

"Who knows? All I know on that my dear, dear sister is about as loving as Shademan." Terra replied thinking about how this whole time she had been set up. She was so going to get Sky back.

"That bad huh?" Chaud asked, "What do you think she's up too?"

Terra looked at him; "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me." Chaud replied.

Terra took in a low breath, "She's trying to set us up." She stated.

Chaud was the one to give her a weird look this time. "Dose she have a pixel loose somewhere?" he asked.

"She must have." Terra replied being cut off when the DJ began to speak again.

"Hey, hey, hey, that's it for Kryptonite and Broken Ave. Now it's time for the main event and you all know what that means! (the crowd erupts in screams and cheers) Yeah, it's time for our dance contest and you all know the rules. Choose a partner and come on down to the dance floor if you think you can shake it, if a white strobe light shines on you like 'beam me up Scotty' you're out. Now let's get this party started!" the DJ said as he finished and suddenly all the lights went completely out except for the colored strobe lights that were on the dance floor and Riehania's Pon da Replay started playing.

Terra smiled, "Come on let's go," she suggested as she pulled Chaud into the crowd again, she had the greatest idea for revenge.

"Lan are you sure you're ok?" Maylu asked as they continued to walk along, he still seamed to be a little disoriented. "We might need to check to see if you have a concussion."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lan replied just as his head stopped spinning.

"Are you sure?" Maylu asked again.

"Believe him Maylu he would know if he had a concussion," Mega interjected as he thought about all the times that Lan had run into things in the past years. Especially when they were little and they were learning how to skate. As they continued on neither Roll, Mega, or Maylu had noticed that Lan was no longer with them.

"OMG," Lan stated randomly out of the blue, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"What?" Mega and Maylu asked as they stopped walking to see what Lan was looking at. Once they saw what he was referring to everything went black…..

"Guys?" Roll asked.

Meanwhile...

"Aren't you worried that Whisper'll see you?" Chaud asked as Terra led him deeper into the crowd and started dancing again.

"Not really," Terra replied as she once again took out her PET from her pocket and turned on the camera.

"What are you doing?" Chaud asked.

"Creating blackmail." Terra replied, "You should try it sometime, you'll be needing it sooner or later," Terra continued as she hit the zoom key focusing on a couple that was a few yards away. After taking a few frames she hit review and handed the PET to Chaud. "Now that's what I call a Kodak moment wouldn't you agree?" she asked.

Chaud eye's widened as he looked at the people in the picture. "Proto can dance?" he asked in almost disbelief.

"Obviously he's not the only one with a secret hobby," Terra said as she took her PET back and put in her pocket and at the same time coming to a realization. "Speaking of which, when did he have time to do that?" she asked. Chaud gave her a looked with a slight drop of the head and an arching of one of his eyebrows.

"Never mind let's just have some fun," Terra suggested as she let her previous statement drop as she pulled Chaud once again into the crowd even deeper this time which was continually getting thinner and thinner toward Whisper and Proto.

"Never thought I'd see you two here, or together for that matter…alone." She stated when they got within earshot, grabbing the two navi's attention. To say the least they were a little bit surprised. "Hi," Terra said with a short wave. Chaud wore his smirking grin. The look on Proto's and Whisper's face was priceless.

"How did you…?" Whisper started to ask as she trailed off wondering how Terra had managed to her so close to her with out her sensing it.

"Get right up on top of you two without you knowing I was here? It's not very hard when you're distracted." Terra stated just as the music changed from Pon da Reply to Funksoul Brother (a/n: you know the song from the prom dance segment of She's All That?) "Check ya later," Terra added as she and Chaud walked off.

"You ok?" Proto asked as he looked down at Whisper who still seamed slightly transfixed.

"Yeah," Whisper replied still not believing that Airie had gotten the jump on her like that. Then she took notice of the music that was playing. "Emery?" she asked.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"Did your mom ever teach you to dance to this?"

"That was very unexpected," Chaud stated as he and Terra found yet another place on the ever-clearing floor.

"No kidding," Terra stated in agreement, "It's still weird to see Proto interacting with anyone besides you, and then for it to be with Sky and looking like he was enjoying himself….that's almost as scary as you were earlier, only I don't think he's faking it."

"The sun must have gotten to them."

"Can the sun get to a navi?" Terra asked.

"I was speaking metaphorically." Chaud replied his voice switching gears, "There's still so much I don't know about him." He said in a lower tone.

This took Terra by surprise.

"Chaud it's been weeks," she stated, "how much talking have the two of you been doing?"

"Not as much as we should have," Chaud admitted, "It's just hard, I mean Lan and you, you guys already had a relationship with Hub and Sky, however brief. With Emery and me it's different, neither one of us is use to talking about our feelings. Not to mention the circumstances we were put in, I mean, he may never admit to it but I know that he resents me. For whatever reason our father excepted me, even the shallow respect that he has for me is more that he ever got."

"Than you need to talk to him about that." Terra said in a consoling voice, not pushing the subject any further seeing that Chaud didn't want to get anymore into it. It was then that she took notice of the music that was playing. "Hey I know this song." she stated.

Chaud listened more closely noticing that he recognized it too.

"Mom loved that movie." He stated.

"You mean She's All That?" Terra asked.

"Yeah," Chaud replied.

"Did she ever teach you the dance that they did during this song?"

"That depends, did she teach you?"

"Maybe," Terra replied as she picked up on the song replaying the movie in her head as well as what Chaud's mother had taught her and then picking up on the dance steps. "Oh come on don't leave me out here alone I know she taught you too." Terra said urging Chaud to join her.

"You tell anyone about tonight and I'll deny it." He stated.

"My lips are sealed." Terra said as Chaud joined her.

"I see you're wearing the "forbidden outfit. Chaud was underestimated wasn't he?" came the mental statement into Terra's mind. Looking over her shoulder Terra noticed that her sister was right behind her, practically back to back. Terra smiled, she was surprised that Sky had managed to last this long without calling her out.

"Not really." Terra replied, "It wasn't in the plan, it just happened."

"Yeah maybe, but that wasn't the bet, I said you just had to wear the outfit, I never said that it had to be Chaud's idea to come."

"But I did, and you agreed to it." Terra said back deciding to keep the best part to herself. "We both loose." Terra concluded letting her mental smirk make it's way through the link.

"That's why you were so calm." Whisper said aloud.

"What?" Proto asked.

"Oh nothing," Whisper stated once she realized that she had just said that out loud, she had really trapped herself. She should have known that Terra would have a failsafe.

"Bingo."Terra replied mentally right before the DJ spoke again.

"Hey, hey, hey we're nearing the end of our dance contest with the last remaining five couples. (it was then that Terra looked up and paid attention to her surroundings seeing that there were only five couples left- herself and her sister included- she kinda wondered how they hadn't been eliminated since for the most part they hadn't danced at all) It seems that all of you like shaking it to the oldies, so lets just see how far back in time you can go…and do it correctly." The DJ said as he finished speaking and the music changed once again, this time dramatically but it only took Terra a few seconds to realize that it was big band music native to the large American cities in the 1920's and 30's, she looked at Chaud.

"Swing?" Chaud asked.

"You're about 20 years off." Terra stated.

Chaud thought for a second, "Jitterbug?" he asked again.

"Oh yeah," Terra said smiling and looking at the other couples seeing that they had no idea what was going on, only she Chaud, and Whisper did- and maybe Proto if he looked up the music algorithms in that extensive matrix of his- that or he remembered from his mom. That brought a through to Terra's mind. Did Chaud even know how to do this dance and if he did could he even lift her? It wasn't like she was heavy or anything, she was 5'3½ " and only 110 lbs, but still.

"You don't know how or are you just going to let Sky beat your for once?" Chaud asked.

"What do you mean?" Terra asked. Chaud's statement bringing her from her thoughts.

"Take a look," Chaud replied as he briefly pointed up ahead, Terra following his gaze her eyes falling on Sky and Proto already dancing hand in hand legs moving in sync, that was an odd sight, no she took that back this whole day had been odd.

"Well you just going to stand there or are you going to show her how a pro does it?" Chaud asked.

"Pro?" Terra said in reply.

"Yeah, I know about your lessons," Chaud replied. "Grace says you're the best dancer in the class, and that you have a thing for early 20th century American styles."

"How do you know that?" Terra asked in surprise, it wasn't like it was some secret but she never broadcasted the fact that she took dancing lessons.

"She's my private instructor," Chaud replied, "She was first hired by my dad to teach me ballroom dancing for his events, I just decided to keep her around."

"Secret hobby," Terra stated quietly with a smile, "Well I guess we should get a move on if we don't want Scotty to beam us up," Terra said as she took Chaud's hands in hers.

"And if you breath a word of this to anyone-" Chaud started.

"Yeah I know," Terra said as they started dancing replying to the same threat for the 2nd time for that night, "you'll deny it, besides who'd believe me anyway?"

"Whoa ho ho seams like someone knows their American cultural history," the DJ commented as he watched the two couples that were now dancing. "Unlike the six of you, sorry but you're disqualified," the DJ said as the put the strobe light on the three clueless couples who left the floor. "Looks like we've got our finalist…and twins…" the DJ stated once again as he took a closer look at the four teens that were left on the floor. "Hope they're not competitive." He finished as she music stepped up. Yeah right.

Terra smirked when she heard the DJ's statement, she would like to see one instance in which a pair of twins weren't competitive. That just came with the territory. Although when it came down to it Terra and Whisper weren't that competitive with each other; but when it came to dancing all that went strait to Hades.

As the music continued to climb Terra began to cringe despite that the dance was heading to her favorite part, the acrobatics. In dance class she was always lifted by someone who was at least seventeen and perfectly capable of lifting her without a strain, Chaud however was another story. Chaud picked up in her vibes once he noticed the rise in tempo and when they were headed.

"Worried?" he asked.

"You had to ask?" Terra replied as she looked over at her sister in which they were keeping pace with realizing that they would have no problem. "Its not that I don't trust you, but its not as though were in crossfusion, superhuman strength isn't a factor here. And I really don't feel like busting my butt; or skull."

Chaud smiled, "Just trust me," he stated, but in truth that all she could do, it was that or run off the floor. She smiled shyly and looked over her shoulder once again at Sky, she just had to be sure. And she was, she felt sorry for Proto, he had no clue what was going on.

"Well," she stated once more trying to reassure her self, "if it's a dace contest they want, it's a dance contest they'll get." Terra concluded as she broke away from Chaud to do a solo during a slight recession in the music right before it would reach it's climax, winking at Whisper when she passed.

"Seams someone's looking for recognition," the DJ stated when he noticed Terra, but it wasn't very long before the recession was over, it was now or never. Terra spun around into Chaud's arms and held her breath, once she noticed that she hadn't hit the floor she relaxed as Chaud lifted her into the air spinning her over his back, once her feet hit solid ground her confidence had returned. (this is just about the time that Lan looked in the window) She glanced over at Whisper. /You are so on./

"And that's it for our dance contest!" the DJ exclaimed once the music finally ended. "Give it up for our four finalist! But as good as these guys are only one couple will walk away our winners tonight, so how many of you think that couple number one are the winners?" the DJ asked as he placed the spotlight on Whisper and Proto resulting in loud clapping and cheering. "And now how many of you think that the winners are couple number two?" the DJ asked as he shinned the spotlight on Terra and Chaud, the result was deafening. "Well it seams like we've got out winners!" the DJ called out as he stepped down from his platform and down to the dance floor. "Since yall proved that you two can really shake it no matter what decade you're in you two are the winners of two Visa check cards worth $500 each, courtesy of Club 21. Enjoy." The DJ said as he handed Chaud and Terra the cards. "Now it back to free dance, please dance safely and legally." The DJ concluded as the music automatically started again and everyone started to move back to the floor.

"I still got it." Terra said with a smile as Whisper and Proto walked over.

"It's not polite to brag." Whisper stated.

"Is there something that I should know about?" Proto asked as he looked at the twins. Terra and Whisper looked at each other.

"No," they replied simultaneously.

"I think it's time to go don't you?" Terra asked mentally without looking at her sister.

"I couldn't agree more." Whisper replied.

"Yeah." Terra said back as she and Whisper started walking toward the exit leaving both Chaud and Proto behind. Chaud looked up at Proto finding him looking at him. "I'll tell you later." He stated.

"Well that was fun," Terra stated as she pushed to door open as she and Whisper exited the club.

"Yeah," Whisper agreed, "even if it was a little weird."

"They're the sons of Blaze, what do you expect?" Terra asked.

"Yeah I guess," Whisper agreed as she looked around noticing a familiar pink navi on the ground not very far from them, "Roll?" she asked as she walked toward her prompting Terra to look over seeing the pink navi as well. "What are you doing- what happened?!" Whisper suddenly exclaimed in question when she saw Lan, Mega, and Maylu all laying on the ground out cold.

"Oh, Whisper I'm so glad you're here!" Roll exclaimed when she saw her friend. "I can't get them to wake up I've tried everything!"

"Why'd they blackout?" Terra and Whisper asked together, causing Roll looked at them oddly for a second.

"We were just walking down the street looking for you guys when Lan looked in the window, he called Mega and Maylu over and the next thing I know they're all on the ground unconscious."

"What did they see?" Whisper asked.

"They saw you two dancing, that's it." Roll replied.

The two sisters looked at each other, "So much for secrecy." Terra stated as both Chaud and Proto walked outside.

"Hey what going on?" Chaud asked when he saw Roll and the worried expression on her face. Terra turned around and moved just enough so Chaud and Proto could see the three unconscious teens.

"You wouldn't happen to have a mind wiping ray gun would you?" she asked.

TCB