Fanfiction World

by Shadowlight0982

FFW, a world where people can not only write stories but can also create avatars with powers of their favorite shows. When something deep inside begins to stir, it is up to a group of heroes to protect both this world and FFW.

26. Summer Filler

Hello everyone and finally we have an update, even though it may not be what you all were expecting. Yes, this is a filler but a filler for everyone to have fun with as they read and to keep coming back to and laugh as I prepare the next arc to go underway. So many things happened and so many things went into this filler to make it long overdue but I know August is still summer so we still have that going on. So everyone enjoy the Summer Vacation Filler as I get the next chapters worked on.

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Bella sighed in boredom as she lay still on her bed. Even since meeting Aetherion, all Kurotsubasa has done was focus primarily on preparing for the Guild Wars. While it was nice to know that they had a potential ally for the time ahead each member of the small guild had to work on preparing and growing stronger. While training was a way to keep the random toon girl occupied, doing it for days at a time were beginning to bore her. Looking out the window Bella could see the clear summer day.

"Ugh! Today is so boring, if I end up spending another day in the Training Room or sparing in an area I'm going to explode!" Bella finally said.

"Hey now, no exploding you got that! There are plenty enough idiots in here that can do that!" Grey Matter yelled from inside her head.

"Then give me something to do that doesn't involve transforming, hitting, or blasting a target for hours!" Bella complained to her toon friends.

"Maybe you can get a vacation?" Spiderman offered.

"A vacation" Bella repeated, interested in the idea.

"As much as I would like to not admit; heroes, villains, and even those like me do enjoy a day away from causing mischief." Yami Bakura said agreeing with the Web headed Hero. "I'm used to hotter climates where I'm from but summer is only for a few months, you should enjoy them while you can." The grave robber told her.

"Hold on, there is still one thing that could get in the way of your dream vacation." Jack Spicer interrupted and pointed to the picture of her friends that were on the nearby dresser, more specifically at Shadow.

Bella then sighed, "That's true, the way this is shaping out we won't be able to even enjoy summer with Shads keeping us on lockdown…wait! Maybe I can convince to give us these last few days off to enjoy the season, not even he could resist a summer of fun!" The toons returned to the back of her head as the girl jumped out her bed. Bella then retied her hair back into its ponytail and went to find the black clad leader of Kurotsubasa.

Inside a spare room in the base Shadow was working on one of the important part of the Guild's equipment: their van. When they arrived at the Eclipse Tournament, the vehicle was reduced to almost nothing due to the actions of Bella and Ravena so he and Key took time out of each day to repair it back to its former glory and it would soon be finished. As Shadow worked off on a table was Amaya sitting in a bed made from Shadow's jacket as he didn't want it getting dirty as he worked.

"Hey Amaya, can you hand me that wrench near you please?" Shadow asked his small assistant as he stood up, finished working on the bottom of the van.

"U-Pyon!" The baby Manju was happy to help as she used her ears to grab the wrench and hopped up to hand it to Shadow. The Acrobatic rabbit was able to hand him the tool and flip jump back to her spot on the work-table.

"Thanks, lots of work went into this thing but now it's just about done." Shadow smiled as he was about to open the door and finish work on the van's interior. Just before he could get to work he heard a bang from the outside door that got his and Amaya's attention.

"U-Pyon?"

"Give it a moment."

Following his prediction, the door to the room slammed opened frightening Amaya, making her hide herself within the jacket as a human sized Bulkhead walked into the room and changed back into Bella.

"You could've knocked you know." Shadow said to the shapeshifter.

"Who has time for that anyway?!" Bella said before walking over to Shadow to plead her case. "Anyways Shads, we have an emergency!"

Shadow hunched a brow. "Oh really, let's hear it then." Amaya popped her small head up seeing that it was only Bella and slowly snuggled out of her hiding place. "This better be a real emergency Bella, I was just about to finish up the repairs." He told her.

"This is a real emergency, we are wasting away training when we can spend it doing something actually fun!" Bella argued.

"Uh-huh…I'm going to begin ignoring you now." Shadow said as he opened the door to the van, Bella saw that he was already trying to push her away so she continued trying to plead her case to him.

"Come on Shads! This is great weather and everything and you're going to have us waste it just for preparing for the competition?!" Bella whined seeing Shadow continue to work on finishing some of the inner workings of the van as he began folding to seats to help move them around. "Summer is a time of excitement; a time when friends meet together and run on the beach splashing each other and throwing sands in others shorts! It's unforgivable that we're going to miss the best season in the year just because of something that might happen!"

Shadow sighed and then gets out of the van so that he could stand and face Bella. "You know Hyna this summer isn't going to be all fun and games. The Guild Wars are really close and there might be hundreds of Guilds setting their sights on us; I know none of this is your definition of fun but there are things that need to be done." He tried to explain it to her.

"We can always finish another day! Summer only comes around for a short while, the only thing not making me snap are a few pranks here and there and even that's getting boring Shads!" Bella said teary eyed.

"By the way, I had to almost waste a day trying to get you out of those charges for what you did to those Guards. Trust me; it won't all be boring once we're up to our necks in battles." Shadow then went back to work.

"I know you can be a workaholic sometimes but think about the rest of us, think of little Amaya!"

"Pyon?" Amaya said questioning as she was then pulled out from her spot and held up in front of Shadow thanks to Bella.

"Keeping Amaya cooped up inside isn't doing the girl any good, she needs to get outside and hop around! Enjoy her childhood; you would starve an innocent girl of fun would you?" Bella pouted with big eyes visible.

Shadow stared dully at Bella's attempt to turn his judgment and just took Amaya out of her hands, much to the confusion of the Manju for how she even got there. "Look you know the rules Bella, when it comes to an argument we always put things up to a vote. I'm willing to let everyone vote to see if we need a vacation." Shadow said.

"Every time we vote, it always ends with me not getting my way it's not fair!" Bella continued to whine. "My men and pets don't count so it usually ends up being a tie most of the time with the guys on your side and the girls on mine."

"Majority rules, you have to move one of us to your side and you're not getting anywhere with me." Shadow said with Amaya now sitting on his head. "You got two more chances and Key is out right now so I suggest finding DB if you really want your Summer Break."

"Come on, Shads! PLEEEEEASE?" The toon then used her power to turn into Beast Boy who in turn changed into a small kitten with large eyes.

"I'm the wrong person to be trying to use the cute tactic Bella. Besides, you have ways to go to beat Amaya….or Punnya," Shadow petting the baby manju on her head causing Amaya to squeak happily.

"U-pyon~!" Amaya said enjoying how Shadow scratched behind her ears gently.

Bella then changed back with a huff. "Fine then, if I have to play it your way then I will!" She said before stomping out of the room. Once the toon girl was gone, Amaya hopped back to her perch looking up at Shadow with a questioning look.

"Yeah I know, but all of this preparing is so nothing bad will happen. I hate not knowing what would happen in the future so I'm a little bit cautious." Shadow said to Amaya as he went over to the work-table and opened a pack of strawberries he had brought in the room with him. He fed one to Amaya who began eating hers as he also took one for himself. "Maybe she's right, but I'm not about to change what I just said." Shadow then finished his quick snack and then looked back to the van and something else.

"Now the van is pretty much done, time to get to work on my personal project." Shadow said grabbing some tools and some spray paint as he began walking to something covered with a large blanket.

(Scene Change)

Bella was still storming her way out and stomping down the stairs so loudly that she didn't notice Ravena and Illu until they walked into the front door. Following behind the two girls were their pets Punnya and Mukurowl, along with Nyoka who was now around Illu's neck as opposed to her wrist as she usually is.

"Thanks for helping me train with my Dress-spheres Ravena-chan, but like I told Nyoka-chan I rather not have to use the Thief sphere unless I need to." Illu blushed, thinking back to the skimpy outfit the dress-sphere left on her when she transformed.

"Nonsense Illu-tan, next time you need help don't be afraid to ask. Though, you shouldn't be embarrassed just because your power ends up showing a little skin." Ravena tried to comfort her. "Besides in this case don't the benefits of the Thief skill outweigh the negatives nya?"

"Punnya nya!" Punnya said, agreeing with Ravena. The Neko Manju didn't understand the embarrassment when it came to clothing, even in her Nekomimi form she wanted to wear as few clothes as possible.

"I have to agree with your friends Illu-sama; you shouldn't be embarrassed by your power rather you should be using them to their fullest potential." Nyoka said to her more shy and reserved Mistress. 'Though if that was from Ichiya-sama I don't think she'll like with else Orochi-sama has given her.'

"Those dress-spheres are powerful tools from Orochi-sama and as his summoner you are expected to use them when drawing on his power." Nyoka informed her.

"I know that…but I'm not used to moving around in that thing even if it is for better movement. I don't know how I would even fight in a competition if I feel like I'm wearing nothing but a bathing suit." Illu said.

At the mention of bathing suit a light bulb appeared on Bella's head as she smiled making her way to her fellow female friends. "Owl girl, Kitty; I have something important that I need your help with." Bella said catching their attention.

"What is it Bella-chan?" Illu asked wondering what the girl could need help with.

"It's not another prank is it, Hy-nya?" Ravena also asked.

"Not this time, but save some ideas from when we come back Kitty." Bella said before getting serious. The girl then ran to one of the windows and opened it up to show them the bright and sunny day outside the guild base. "Look outside and tell me what you see." The Toon girl began.

Ravena and Illu exchanged dubious looks but complied.

"Um…good weather-nya?"

"Blue skies?"

"EXACTLY! There is a perfect summer day out there calling our names and yet here we are, INDOORS!"

"Ano, that's really isn't a crime Bella-chan." Illu said.

"No Illu…it IS a crime!" Bella yelled causing the purple haired girl to sweatdrop. "Come on, what we need right is sun, sand, surf! Not whatever we've been doing this whole time."

Ravena was the first to agree with the girl's plan. "You know while she is spinning this up way more than she needs to nya, we could use a break from training and something like this is exactly what you would need Illu-tan." The catgirl said was a smile on her face.

"Huh, what do you mean?" Illu asked. She felt nervous about the look on Ravena's face; it reminded her of when the nekomata had dressed them back in the maid outfits for the café.

"Your Thief Dress-sphere is basically like you're wearing a bikini right? Well since you're embarrassed about moving around in a bathing suit why not give you practice moving and playing around in a real one nya?" Ravena said voicing her idea. "It doesn't have to be as skimpy as that one; we can always get you a more modest set."

"I don't know Ravena-chan, I just don't think…" Before Illu could finish a small chibi Bella then popped in front of her floating before her eyes.

"Pwease Illu, don't you want to have fun in the water with your friends?" The chibi asked playing to Illu's weakness. The girl had to steady herself and tried desperately not to just scream out kawaii at the top of her lungs.

"W-well when you put it that way, I-I guess having a vacation at the beach wouldn't be hurting anyone. We all deserve one." Illu blushed as she said that, trying not glomp the chibi version of Bella.

Bella then changed back to her original form (much to the shy girl's chagrin). "I have to thank you for showing me that trick Rave." She smiled.

"No problem nya."

"Now that we have 3 votes, we just have to sway one of the boys onto voting for our cause and then the vacation is a go. Shads is an obvious bust and he just told me Key is out somewhere so that leaves us with just DB." Bella informed them. "We just need D to…"

"You just need D to do what?"

Surprising the girls a bit, DB walked out of another room and into the café part of the base where the girls were. He didn't hear the conversation but was only able to catch part of the end when he saw them. "So what kind of project do you need me for this time Bella?"

"Oh no project this time, I was wondering if you would vote with us on going on a vacation for the last few days before the Guild Wars instead of just training the whole time." Bella said sweetly, accompanied by Ravena and Illu.

"Naw, no thanks."

That answer caused Bella's face to hit the floor, Illu and Ravena were also confused thinking that the vampire would be one to agree on a day off. After peeling Bella off the wood DB voiced his reasons why.

"Look, after all the crazy things we've been through if course we deserve a few days of R & R but I think this Guild Wars thing is actually something we can't slack on." DB said. "Some of the other guilds out there are dangerous; I hate to be a voice of reason but it's better that we spend all we can preparing."

DB was about to leave the room before Bella quickly grabbed one of his legs to prevent him from escaping. "Oh come on DB….Pretty please~?! I won't bother you for a week!" pleaded Bella desperately as she began getting dragged across the floor still hanging on to DB's leg.

"I highly doubt that Bell! Now let go!" yelled DB trying to pry Bella off him.

This comical pathetic scene went on for a few seconds when Ravena suddenly folded her arms and clicked her tongue loudly is disappointment. 'Well this got bad really fast…guess it's up to me to pull her out of the fire.'

"Please tell me your plan is something relatively simple and not some elaborate scheme." Felis said from within her head. "Do you even have a way to get that vampire to vote on your side?" She asked Felidae again.

'I have my ways, just watch.' Ravena then cleared her throat getting the two fighting members attention. "My dear Hy-Nya, I can't believe you of all people are not doing what you do best," Ravena said.

"Which would be...?" asked Bella a little irked.

"Exploiting his Number One weakness of course-nya~!"

"Which is...?" DB asked curiously to which Ravena responded with a grin that instantly gave DB a clue.

"Uh-oh….Now wait Rave don't do anything rash!" DB said starting to get worried.

"You had it coming, Sweetie," said Ravena as she pulled up her menu and then made a call. Illu, Bella and the pets all exchanged looks of confusion while DB was beginning to sweat buckets.

"Hello?" a familiar voice could be heard from the other line.

"Hey Oneesama, did I catch you at a bad time nya?" The catgirl asked making sure DB could hear the call as well by turning up her volume.

"Not at all, I'm right now taking a break at home after finishing a few missions." Naenia's voice sounded in the room. "Is there something you want to ask me?"

"Just wondering if you would want to join us at the beach for the day nya?" Ravena asked.

"Yeah, like I would fall for a trick like that Ravena." DB scoffed, starting to not believe the call was genuine. "There's no way I'm going to fall for that trick, for all I know you got a clone on the other line emulating her voice Bella."

"I'm all right here DB." Bella said, disproving that statement.

There was a small pause, which seemed like Naenia was taking time to think the idea over. "Well, that does sounds better than how I was planning to spend the day. Have you planned on which area to go to?"

"Not yet nya, any suggestions?" Ravena asked.

"From what my friends have told me Ember Island Resort is the place to be right now. White sand, clear water, not a cloud in the sky and home to a rather lovely inn. It even has open air hot springs." Naenia told her.

"Great, that's not too far away, can you meet us there?" Ravena asked starting to get DB's attention again. Seeing the innocent look on both her and Bella's face showed him that this time it wasn't a trick

"Sure, that place is better with company than alone; I'll finally be able to wear the new two piece I bought just for the season." That sentence especially got DB's attention momentarily. "DB's coming right?"

At that moment DB finally got free and tried to make a break for it but Bella quickly turned into Hyna-Wolf and tackled the vampire to the ground before dragging him back to the room.

Ravena smiled brightly. "Of COURSE he'll be there~! See you there Onee-sama!" Ravena said cheerfully then ended the call and turned to DB who Bella had put in a hold so that he couldn't run any more. Ravena gave DB a sickly sweet smile that obviously poorly masked the slyness she was giving off.

"So you were saying nya?" She asked innocently to the now frozen DB as the girls sat back and watched DB begin his inner conflict to give his answer. In the depths of Ravena's minds, Felis was proudly applauding her other half.

"Wonderful, I couldn't have done it better myself DeeDee." Felis said to her other self.

After a while DB spoke up as he looked up with a nervous blush on his face. "Well…we always seem to work things out in the end, how are the Guild Wars any different? Sure you got my vote." He smiled.

"Must we really go through with this?" Illu asked.

Raven then patted the shy girl's back. "Hey don't forget this is also to help build your confidence nya. Why don't we all go and pick out swimsuits at the same time Illu-tan." The catgirl told her the plan as she then looked to Bella and Punnya. "Make sure to tell Shadow-kyun the news Hy-nya, and Punnya…be a dear and go get Amaya-chan too! This is an all-girl's shopping trip nya!"

"Punnya!" The Neko Manju then took off, flying to where Shadow was.

"Right, I'll be back in a flash!" In a flash of light XLR8 was racing up the stairs going to inform the news to Shadow.

With Shadow he was just about finished with rebuilding the van and was now working on another hidden project. He then placed a large blanket over the project and wiped the sweat off his brow. "Well, that's shaping up into something soon."

"Pyon?" Amaya asked, curious about what Shadow just hid under the cover. Her curiosity then vanished with another petting from her owner/father.

"It's supposed to be a surprise, besides I don't even know if the thing is ready yet." Shadow then moved the covered item into the trunk of the finished van. "That should be the best place to keep that for now." After he said that he then heard something crash through behind them, shocking Amaya into jumping on his head and hiding in his hair. "Darn it Bella would it kill you to use the door? You scared Amaya!" Shadow said trying to calm down the scared bunny.

"Sorry, but I was in a bit of a hurry!" Bella then changed back with a grin on her face; following her into the room was Punnya who was hovering next to the toongirl. "I got 4 votes for the beach, looks like we're taking a vacation after all."

"Really, who did you sucker onto your vote?" Shadow asked.

"Actually you'd be surprise on who did the suckering; just make sure to pack some shorts and towels!" Bella said with a smile. "Is the van ready to go or are we walking?"

"Yeah, I was able to finish it after you left. Right now I'm just working on a personal project." Shadow said after calming Amaya down. "So you get your beach vacation, do you know where we're going?"

"Way ahead of you, Ember Island…oh and we need to borrow Amaya." Bella said, Punnya was already ahead of her and with little resistance was able to pull Amaya from Shadow's head. "Sorry, it's just something Kitty wants to do with all of us girls."

"Fine, just try not to corrupt her too much." Shadow sighed after they left; he then opened his menu and sends a message to the absent member of the Guild.

(With Key)

"Run that by me again Shads." Key asked getting the video message from Shadow.

"We're going on summer vacation for a few days; Bella was able to get enough votes for it. Probably why I found DB walking around with a blush on his face" Shadow explained. "It's only for two days but it should be enough to end Bella's whining."

"Those days should be enough for us to get there and back and still be prepared." Key then sighed but in a way he did agree with Bella. Everyone needs a vacation and after what they been through they deserved one. "All right then, I'll be on my way." He then ended the message.

"Who was the call from?" Key turned around as Rina walk into the room. The Analyst had asked for his help in some of the work in the Admin base. "You have to go back to Kurotsubasa?" Rina asked.

"Yeah, Bella was able to convince Shadow that we all need a vacation and we'll be heading out soon." Key answered as he gathered his things.

"A little summer break after all the craziness you guys have been through?" Rina asked giving him a teasing grin. "Any clue where you're going?"

"Shads said that the girls already planned it out so probably a good beach or something nearby that we can reach. Maybe farther out if our van is rebuilt." Key answered.

"Oh yeah, I still remember your entrance to the tournament." Rina said with a smile. "Well you go on and have fun."

"That's it, have fun? No plans on having me stay or trying to find out where we're going?" Key asked.

"Please, if I needed to find you I could easily track you down." That sentence made Key instantly sweat-drop. "Just take your time and enjoy some relaxation, and make sure you bring suntan lotion." Rina advised him.

"Ooookay… sure…" Key said nervously and then left the office.

After the Beta had left, Cast then entered the room seeing the smile on her cousin's face. "I know that look anywhere Cuz..."stated Cast bluntly.

"What look dear cousin of mine?" She said innocently.

"The look that says you have something planned."

"I have no idea what you're talking about Cast." Rina said with such innocence causing her cousin to look at her suspiciously. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

Cast still gave her a suspicious look. "That depends."

"How would you like to take a little vacation?"

(With Kurotsubasa)

"I have to hand to you Rave, that was a pretty sneaky thing you did with DB," commented Bella as she and girls made their way down the stairs with their stuff.

Ravena simply grinned and waved her tail about. "You'd be surprise at what I'm really capable off~nya!" she said before inwardly adding to herself. 'Plus it's not like you'd give up on the idea….'

"What was that?"

"Nothing~!"

Illu laughed a bit watching the two tease each other. "By the way Rave-chan, I understood why you wanted to bring Punnya with us to the shop but I didn't think Amaya-chan would be able to do the same."

"Yep, Punnya's been teaching her a few tricks though admittedly, I was surprised too that the little girl could use magic. You should've seen Shads face when he found out too." Ravena said as she saw Amaya with Punnya.

"So that's why you asked me to bring you some of my old clothes?" Illu asked.

"Yep and thanks again Illu-tan" Ravena smiled.

"Where did you get the material to make the hood Ravena-chan?" Illu asked.

"You know, I would like to know that too, it looks mighty familiar." Bella also admitted.

Ravena scratched the back of her head and blushed a bit. "Well it involves some asking but it was one of Shadow-kun's old jackets I found Amaya sleeping in. After bringing it to a tailor shop they were able to make it, it made her comfortable and kept her calm."

"So Shadow doesn't know you borrowed it?" Illu asked.

"Eh, well he doesn't know…"

"Doesn't know what?"

The new voice caused them all to jump though it left Shadow confused. Amaya seeing Shadow quickly bounced over to his shoulder and nuzzled against his face. "So are you girls done with your shopping?" He asked curiosity.

"Yep, why did you want an early peek?" Ravena teased him.

Shadow turned his head, hiding the blush on his face while he rubbed Amaya's head. "Just hurry outside so that we can pack up. Where is DB anyway, I know Key is on his way."

"He ran off somewhere, I wonder why?" Ravena said with a knowing look on her face.

"DB should be back soon" Illu answered his question.

"All right then, all we can do is wait then." Shadow said as they all went outside to look at the newly built van. The van was large, or at least looked larger than it did last time and was a sharp cobalt blue with Kurotsubasa's symbol on each side.

"Wow, I'm impressed Dark Knight you and Key really went through all the stops in building this thing." Bella said as she began to circle around the vehicle.

"Yeah we had to make it sure that you two couldn't easily tear this one apart and we got a bunch of cool new features in it. You would be surprised what kind of people I've met that owe me a favor" Shadow said before he paused. "Or five…"

Illu also took a look and opened the back doors and noticed something in a covered bundle in the back along with a few pieces of equipment from the base. "It's almost like a portable base; you got a terminal in here and everything…what's this thing over here?" Illu asked.

"Something I've been tinkering with, maybe I can test it out once we leave." Shadow said.

In a flash of light, Key then appeared next to the van with a small backpack on his back. "Well I got everything taken care of, had to make sure the base was secured after we leave and made sure Rina didn't need me for any last minute things."

"It still took you a while, is that all what happened Ani-Key?" Ravena asked.

Key nervously scratched his head. "I did run into a friend on the way back, seems like she's on her way to the beach as well. She said that she was going to a place called Ember Island Beach." The Beta said.

Bella and Ravena exchanged looks with each other and smirked. They had a pretty good feeling they knew who it was.

"Well now that Ani-Key is back from talking with his girlfriend" Ravena continued to smirk as she made her way to the van. "Let's get this vacation started, I call shotgun nya!" The catgirl then rushed for the passenger seat.

"Hey no fair!" Bella called but it was too late as Ravena was already in the seat with Punnya on her lap. The nekomata waved innocently from her seat causing the toon girl to sigh in defeat."

Illu went over to comfort Bella. "It's ok Bella-chan, the van looks much bigger now and there's more than enough room in the other seats. Did you guys increase the size of it?" She asked the two who worked on it.

"Yep, figured that we might as well make it wider to avoid any more cramp fits; if we had made the van any bigger we would have to upgrade and build an RV." Key told her. "Well let's all get into our seats; Shads are you driving this time?"

"No, not this time, I got a special way of traveling now." Shadow then looked to Ravena. "Hey can you keep an eye on Amaya while we're on the road, I don't think she's ready for the ride I have."

"Sure, but what are you going to do if you're not riding with us?" Ravena asked as Amaya hopped over to her and sat on Punnya's head.

Shadow smirked and then opened the back of the van and then slowly rolled something from out of the van that was under a blanket. He then took off the sheet and to their surprise it was a jet-black motorcycle with crimson red accents; on the wheels was Shadow's symbol outlined in crimson. Bella and Ravena let out a long impressed whistle while Key nodded in approval.

"Wow…how much munny did it cost to buy this?" Illu asked.

"Less than you think, I was able to get this thing in a bargain as I was buying tools and parts for the van. I just had to fix her up and make it look pretty." Shadow said as he pulled off the helmet that was on one of the handle-bars. "I was looking for a reason to test this thing."

"So we all end up riding in a van and you get to ride a motorcycle all the way to the resort, how fair is that?" DB asked.

"It's a test drive, I don't know how well I am on repairing a motorcycle so this is a good time to see if it's ride-able." Shadow said, "Now let's get going don't you have someone waiting for you at the beach?"

"How did you…"

"The walls are thin; I was able to hear how they tricked you into your vote. Plus having an all Seeing Eye helps a bit." Shadow said causing DB to blush a bit.

"Yep what are you waiting for; let's get this show on the road!" Bella said getting into her seat in the van. DB then followed after her; Illu reluctantly went in the van and the Guild then took off towards the beach resort/ Shadow placed the helmet over his head and followed behind them.

(Ember Island Beach Resort)

"What did I tell you guys, isn't this place great?!" Bella said with her arms up high as Kurotsubasa made it to their destination. They had made it to the Ember Island Beach Resort, a very popular spot from the amount of other players already out on the beach in their summer wear. Shadow had to hold the girl back before she ran straight towards the beach.

"Hold on Bella, we have to sign in and all that. A place like this must cost a lot of munny just to stay for a night." Shadow said looking at the outside of the registration office. Before any of them moved to try and find if they had enough to stay at the fancy inn out of the building walked Naenia.

"Looks like you guys made it, and here I thought you wouldn't be able to make it on the first day." Naenia chuckled a bit at her own joke. "You did bring everything you would need right?"

"We got everything Onee-sama, though we might have to find another place to stay. This place looks a little bit too expensive for us to afford to stay." Ravena told her. The Guild made a good bit of munny with requests and jobs but not enough to stay in the expensive Inns that Ember Island provided.

"Nonsense, you're a part of my party." Naenia said shocking them. "I already have the rooms reserved and ready for us, all I had to do was wait for you all to show up." The Bounty Huntress informed them with a smile.

"I don't know, doesn't feel right for you to spend munny on us." Shadow said.

"It's fine, I insist" Naenia said walking over to the guild and standing next to DB so that she could whisper to him. "Besides, you can pay me back later DB." She purred softly.

That caused the vampire to blush leaving the rest of them confused as Naenia smiled to them. "All right, go and sign in. By the way, you all need these." She then gave them all a small scroll.

"Sealing scrolls, what do we need these for?" DB asked snapping out of his stupor.

"Ember Island is a vacation spot and also a no conflict zone. Fighting is prohibited in this area, that's why destructive abilities won't work on the resort, also no weapons are to be carried so they have to be sealed and registered." Naenia explained. "Once you put your things away follow me inside." With that she then left the Guild to themselves.

"To pay for all of us to stay with her; Naenia-san is cooler than I thought." Illu said surprised she would go that far for the guild. Meanwhile, Ravena literally had stars in her eyes and a big excited smile on her face as she nodded vigorously while Punnya helped the girl out by sealing her whips and shackles away into the scroll.

"Yep, who knew DB's girlfriend was so cool." Bella said with a smirk.

"Don't even start Hyna!"

As the two argued Shadow was already sealing most of his things in his seal and had placed it in his pocket. After he was finished he then got Illu's attention, "Hey Illu…this may just be my eyes playing with me but isn't that Aetherion over there?"

"Nani?!" Illu then followed Shadow's gaze and then saw that Aetherion was there. "Chocobo~!" called Illu excitedly.

Seeming to hear her shout Aeon also turned from where he was and saw that his sister was happily running towards him.

"Illu, what are you doing here?" The Dragoon of Aetherion asked as Illu gave him a big hug.

"I should be asking that; I thought you guys were still moving things from the mountains in the Asian Server! What are you guys doing on a beach?!" Illu asked wanting to know why they decided to come to the beach on the same day that Kurotsubasa did.

Before Aeon could answer Sol came up with an arm around the man's shoulders. "I guess the same reason you guys had, getting a little break and breather before the Guild Wars start up!" Aetherion's Salamander said with a full grin on his face. "That is why you're here right Illu-chan?"

"S-sort of" Illu admitted. "I never thought you would get Chocobo to take you on vacation or Gany-nii to come to a place where he has to take off his mask."

"Same could be said for your boyfriend Illu; since you got Shadow to come with you here." Ganymede pointed out making the owl girl blush.

"It's not like that!" She yelled to the masked warrior.

"Uh-huh, sure," Was the reply she got.

Out of the registration office Malachite had walked out. "All right, I got us all registered in. We just have to give them all of our weapons and we'll be set." It was then that the blond noticed Illu. "Well, what a sight for sore eyes, I didn't think we've be seeing you until the Guild Wars kicked off Illu-chan, with you hanging out with your new friends."

Illu nodded her head. "We're just here for a mini-vacation, where are Zephy-nii and Saphir-chan I haven't seen them yet?" She asked wondering where the two could've gone.

"That's a good question, they went with me to sign in and then Saphir-chan gave them her and Zephyrus' weapons before she started dragging him somewhere." Malachite said causing Illu to sweatdrop at the wolf girl's behavior.

"Here's another good question, what is Aeon doing now?" Ganymede got their attention he pointed to see Aeon walking over to Kurotsubasa. Illu looked on in fear wondering what her older brother could possibly be doing as she saw him basically stomp his way over to her friend/crush.

(With Kurotsubasa)

Shadow had just only began gathering his stuff when he felt a familiar aura looming over him, prompting the boy to turn to see Aeon giving him the stink-eye.

"Aeon, it's been a while," greeted Shadow casually.

"I see you're in an awfully relaxed mood. Not slacking off are we, Shadow?"

"Right back at'cha," replied Shadow when Aeon suddenly glared at the boy.

"Since we're here, I'm warning ya'… if you try anything funny on Illu I swear to god I will-!"

"Will what, Chocobo?" asked Illu warningly as she suddenly approached from behind making Aeon jump a bit. The look on Illu's face pretty much showed that she suspected what he was going to say.

Aeon quickly forced a grin on his face. "Give him such an enjoyable vacation experience~!" he said in a bright happy tone, obviously lying through his teeth. "We're gonna have such an awesome time here, right Shadow! Shads~! Pal~! Bro~! Buddy~!" he squeezed some more through gritted teeth as he quickly put an arm around Shadow's shoulder.

In the meantime Shadow quirked an eyebrow at Aeon like he was crazy while Illu suddenly smiled. "It's nice to see you guys are getting along~" said Illu happily as she went off to get her stuff while Aeon waved goodbye.

As soon as Illu was out of earshot, Aeon gave Shadow the evil-eye once more. "I'm warning you, Shadow…"

"Alright, alright! I get it, she's off limits, happy now?" replied Shadow obviously irritated causing Aeon to narrow his eyes as he began to walk away but not before turning to Shadow one last time.

"I'm watching you…." He warned again before heading to his group.

Shadow simply rolled his eyes as he followed the rest of his guild into the inn.

"Aeon giving you problems again?" Key asked having caught sight of the two leaders' confrontation.

"Yeah but it's not much of a problem, I think he's still on me for the Christmas incident." Shadow said as the guild all gathered in front of the Inn. "Honestly, it's like he thinks I would try and share a bed with her or something while he's here."

"It's just how he feels as an older brother; he just needs time to get used to you." Key smirked.

"Don't talk like we're about to become in-laws or something…speaking of problems how's yours going Key?" Shadow asked.

"Huh?"

"The problem waving at you at the surf…both problems." Shadow said pointing to a sight that left Key frozen in shock. Out in the distance the Beta could see not on, but two girls waving at him with big smiles on their faces.

"KEY~!" both girls called out making Key begin to sweat.

"You have fun with that man." Shadow said as he went with the others.

"Wait you can't just leave me with…YIPE!" Key was then pulled back by two sets of arms.

Shadow waited until Key was dragged away before speaking. "I didn't know the Admin could take breaks, it's a surprise seeing you here Cast and without Leon with you." He said seeing the lone Admin by herself.

"Well I couldn't trust anyone else to run in my stead and Rina really wanted to leave for a vacation but now I can see why." Cast said as they both looked at Key's predicament.

"So she dragged you over here on her vacation plan, guess she can't be trusted to roam on her own." Shadow said,

"On the contrary, Rina is very reliable, but she sometimes needs someone to…stop her from taking things too far." Cast tried to explain. "And here where no violence is allowed she can't cause much damage but I still want to watch over her."

Shadow nodded understanding that reason. "Well you two have fun, you may have to drag her away from Key though." He said.

(With Key)

Key's mind was now in a complete mess as he got dragged through the sand and was now the unfortunate victim of "Human Tug-O-War".

"Rina," greeted TPB curtly as she hung on tightly to Key's right arm.

"T," replied Rina in a similar fashion while clinging onto Key's left.

"Ladies…" greeted Key politely forcing a smile on his face, although the twitch in his right was a clear indicator of his discomfort. 'I'm getting major déjà vu here….'

"So what are you doing here, I thought you would still be doing work at the Admin building Rina and T, I thought you were going out on a few errands for the day before meeting up with some friends?" Key asked, trying to avoid a fight before it broke out and they all get kicked out the resort.

"Oh I finished up all my work and everything else that was on the backburner; everything else I just threw into my subordinates' hands to finish. I needed a well-deserved break." Rina said, her grip not even loosening.

"I finished with my friends when they told me they were on their way to a resort to spend a few days. We decided this place would do, although I never thought I'd see you here." TPB smiled, her grip not loosening either.

'Yeah right! You probably knew he would come here after you got him to tell you. Creeper!' Rina thought with a hidden glare.

'Knowing her, she probably tracked Key to this area and just decided to drop her work to follow him. Stalker!' TPB glared as well, causing sparks to fly between the girls.

Key began to feel even more uncomfortable as they each tried to pull him over to their side. Any feeling he had in his arms was now gone thanks to blood circulation the girls had cut off. Salvation finally came in the form of someone quickly snatching the Beta up and taking him away unbeknownst to them until they could no longer feel his presence.

"Sorry girls, we have to get to our rooms. Have fun with lover boy when we hit the beach." Bella was able to use Ghostfreak to turn the boy intangible to slip from their grip before Four Arms held him up over their reach. As the groups all went inside the check in they were instantly greeted with a resort worker.

"Welcome to Ember Island Beach Resort, my name is Lo and I'll be showing you the cabins you will be staying in." The black haired, kimono wearing woman said. "The Naenia party and Aetherion parties can both follow me. Another worker will come and show the rest to your rooms." Letting the information set in she took the two guilds away to where the Inn's cabins were.

The two guilds were on the same floor but not in the same rooms. Lo opened the door and showed a large room for Kurotsubasa plus Naenia to enter. "This is your party's room; it's a large style room with large living-room and patio with two large family rooms."

"Two rooms?" DB asked looking to Naenia for an answer.

"One for the girls, one for the boys; it made the most sense for me to buy and they also have cages and places so they allow pets as well. I actually got a good deal on the room." The woman answered.

"Now you all know the primary rules for the area but I'll repeat them for business sake. No violence of any kind will be permitted in this area, deadly weapons, powers, and abilities are all sealed away and shut down." Lo explained. "The island is a place for unforgettable experiences. You don't want them to be off with you being thrown out."

"So we're basically normal here right?" Bella asked wondering if it implied her as well due to her unique genetic structure and the Omnitrix.

"Oh yes, powers such as yours Miss Hyna, such as your Omnitrix, we ask you not to activate during your time here. You can't remove it but you also can't use it." Lo answered.

"Rats!" The girl snapped her fingers.

"The numbers you will need for services are on the coffee table as well as minibars are provided so long as you pay the munny fee. We hope you enjoy your stay." Lo bowed before leaving them to help Aetherion.

Shadow then decided to break the silence. "Since the rooms are separate, I'm going to go pick a bed and then change before trying out these white sands. Later guys," He said as he left to claim a room for the guys.

"What's his hurry you think?" DB asked his fellow male.

"There are probably enough beds, why go and try to snag one first?" Key asked him back.

"Um boys" They both turned to a slightly chuckling Naenia. "When I saw the rooms I knew of you three, so the boy's bedroom only has a single bed and a bunk bed. My guess is he took an early peek and decided to claim it." She explained not even trying to hide the humor she felt and the boy's next reaction almost made her explode in laughter.

"THAT BASTARD!" The two then dashed to try their chance at the single bed.

All the girls were laughing as they went to their room. "Naenia-san, I think they would have found out about it eventually but that was…" Illu struggled to finish as she was continuously laughing.

Naenia just gave the girl a happy smile. "Even so, it was a way to get them to go to their room to unpack and leave us girls to our time."

"Might as well meet them outside then nya!" Ravena said after leaving a sign on the other side of the girls' door. She also still had Amaya with her as she set the Usa-Manju down next to Punnya. "Now we all need to dress for the beach vacation!"

Naenia looked at the little Usa-Manju with interest. "And who is this little cutie?" she asked as she gently held her hand out to Amaya who looked at it as she patted the woman's hand a bit with her ears before smiling and hopping on to it. "I thought you were a cat-person Ravena?"

"I am, but Amaya's not mine, she's Shadow's," explained Ravena as she watched Naenia scratch Amaya behind the ears while the baby Usa-Manju squeaked in delight.

Naenia raised her eyebrows as she began rubbing Amaya's head. "You don't say? A tough guy like him with a sweet little darling like this?" she cooed as Amaya gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and bounced back to Punnya who began grooming the young Manju.

Illu, having finished her laughing fit, found a paper on one of their dressers and began to read them out loud. "Beaches, spas, contests, Luaus, this place has a lot of things! Will we be able to try all of them in just two days?" The hybrid girl wondered.

"Hey you just need to know how to manage your time Illu, now come on let's go change and meet them outside! I got a special something I like to try out on the guys while I'm here!" Bella said as she began digging through her bag throwing other articles about.

"I don't agree with her methods but she does have a point; besides…don't you both have someone you want to impress with your swimsuits?" Naenia asked causing the two girls to blush fiercely.

"N-no, n-no-one in pa-particular!" Illu stammered to say.

"I don't know what you're talking about nya!" Ravena defensively said waving her tails about as she averted her eyes.

Naenia smiled knowingly before her eyes gleamed as she advanced on the two. "Whatever you say…now let's look and see what you two are hiding underneath those coats." She said as she pounced on the two girls to 'help' the two change into their suits.

"KYA!"/"NYA!" both girls squealed while Bella still was sorting through her bag.

(Beach)

"Man, I can't believe you took the single bed Shads, that was sneaky." DB complained as he stood with the three in their beach-wear. The vampire was clad in only swim trunks that were black with red trim and displayed flame patterns over them; he also had some swim goggles that were strung around his neck at the moment with his hair tied in the back giving him a spiky ponytail. He also carried a red cooler under his arm.

"Why did we come out here before the girls anyway Shadow?" Key asked curiously as he also stood with them on the beach. The usually cloak wearing Beta now was wearing an open sky blue short-sleeve jacket with a white shirt with a blue cartoon key emblem on the front. He had black trunks as well but with just blue strips on the side, a light blue hairband that pushed his fringe back and unlike the vampire he wore sandals.

"To get a good spot before they were taken." Shadow said pointing to where they set up their chairs and towels causing the two boys to face fault into the sand. "Also to avoid paying for the nosebleeds I know would dirty the room when the girls come out." He also answered; Shadow was dressed in blue drawstring trunks with his symbol on the left side and sandals. Although shirtless, he also had his jacket still on despite the hot weather.

"Wow Shads, I didn't know you were that excited to see the girls in their swimwear." DB smirked as he wrapped an arm around the boy only to receive a punch to the jaw.

"Shut up, I was mostly talking about you. Key has two other girls to worry about and you've got Naenia, don't think I didn't notice the whispering and blush from before." Shadow said with causing DB to stammer.

"And there isn't anyone you're even remotely interested in seeing?" Key asked, blushing on how he was dragged into the topic. "Ravena said something about having a surprise ready for you too right?" The Beta asked.

Shadow simply gave a shrug when suddenly-"Pun-Nyaaaaaaaa~~~~!" a familiar mew called out prompting the boys to turn.

It all happened so fast Shadow barely had time to react. All he recalled was seeing a flash of pink before suddenly finding his face buried into a pair of soft lumps as a pair of arms wrapped around his head and a body tackled him to the ground.

"Found you~ Punnya~!" he heard as the boy began struggling to push the now transformed Beast-Manju off.

Key and DB exchanged looks with each other, unsure whether to laugh or be jealous of Shadow's predicament. Hugging the boy in a rather "over-affectionate" way, Punnya was now in her cat-girl form, clearly oblivious that she was smothering Shadow with her…"Lady Lumps".

"Geffum offu muy!" was Shadow's muffled cry as his face was literally glowing red.

"Un-Nya! Punnya, no!" the boys heard Ravena cry as the said girl suddenly dashed in and peeled her pet of a red-faced Shadow who gratefully took in a huge breath of air.

"I'm so sorry Shads, but Punnya got excited and bolted off before us-nya!" apologized Ravena as she held a chibi Punnya by the scruff of her neck as the pink cat-girl smiled obliviously while her two tails waved about.

"Ravena-chan! Did you get her?" asked Illu as she came up from behind with the other girls.

"Hai~desunya~!"

Now it took a while for the oxygen to get back to Shadow's brain but just as soon as his vision cleared he noticed Key had widened his eyes and was blushing a bit while DB was rendered speechless with his mouth hanging open a bit.

Initially curious, Shadow turned his head and realized that the girls had arrived in their beach-wear.

Bella was wearing an army green sports bra with thin yellow and brown horizontal stripes and camouflage drawstring trunks. She had released her long hair from her ponytail and held back her fringe with a yellow bandanna and wore a pair of black sunglasses. Strapped to her back was a large black and green water gun with a yellow container.

Shadow's eyes popped open particularly when he saw Illu's and Ravena's new appearances.

Ravena had one a bright red one-piece swimsuit that matched that was similar to the shirt she usually wore with her trademark black collar and golden bell. The girl had brushed her hair into to ponytails and tied them with red bands that matched the two red hair-clips that held her fringe up. Under her arm, Ravena held a black surf-board with a red trim and her symbol adorning the front.

Illu stood next to her best friend wearing a one-piece swimsuit as well except it was light-blue and designed differently with dark blue lining. Slung on her left arm was a large dark blue beach bag with white accents and strap while a purple transparent wrap was tied around her waist in a short sarong. A big brown sun-hat with a purple ribbon sat on her head with Mukurowl perching on top.

DB in particular was checking out Naenia's form in her Chinese inspired two-piece swimsuit. It had a white Chinese collar with yellow buttons and purple and yellow trimming while the rest of the outfit was black. Although Naenia was not wearing her usual purple lipstick it did not dampen her stunning beauty one bit, especially with the red hibiscus she wore in her hair by her left ear.

Naenia smiled coyly at the boys. "So, boys. Like you what see?"

Key simply swallowed and nodded slightly and closed DB's open hanging mouth while the vampire blinked a few times. "Uh-huh…." Said DB dumbly much to the girls' amusement.

Shadow was finally able to compose himself as he gave a small cough. "Well…it's not bad…" he mumbled while averting his eyes, poorly covering up the blush on his face. "Hey where's Amaya?" he asked quickly changing the subject.

Ravena smiled proudly. "That's your surprise! Bring her out Punnya!" she called.

Punnya, who wore a simple pink bikini smiled and saluted as she walked over to a nearby tree and brought out a shy looking little bunny-girl who was hiding there. The child appeared to be around 5- 6 years old with shoulder-length blackish-blue hair and matching ears that flopped on either side of her face. The child wore a pink bathing suit with white straps and matching skirt with a red bow on her front and matching colored lines running down the side.

If it weren't for the familiar ear-cuff adorning the girl's right ear and her blue and white heterochromatic eyes, the boys would probably have not recognized the true identity of the child.

"Amaya?" asked the boys unsurely.

The girl smiled as she blushed and nodded her head vigorously before she trotted up to Shadow and twirled about a bit before looking at her "father" expectantly.

"You look great Amaya," complimented Shadow as he smiled and rubbed the child's head lovingly. The small girl smiled, happy to know he liked her outfit. After they had their moment Ravena decided to explain.

"While we were training in magic Punnya decided to try and teach Amaya some tricks of her own. While she may have this form, unfortunately she can't speak because of her age." Ravena explained. "So she's basically mute nya."

"Either way this is some surprise," Shadow said as they all gathered. "Now that all the shocks are out of the way, we are on a beach so let's go out and have fun." He said as they all looked out at the vast sand, surf, and ocean waiting for them.

"Yeah, I got this new toy to try out!" Bella smiled as she took the item she had into her hands.

Key took notice of the gun in the toon girl's hands. "Hey Bella what are you doing with that? No weapons allowed on the beach, you'll get us kicked out." The Beta reminded her.

"Chillax Key it's not a real gun, it's this cool state of the art water gun that I bought while we were all out shopping for bathing suits. I need to have my fun some way since I can't use any of my powers or pranking tools." Bella explained as she rubbed the gun against her face and let a mischievous look grace her face.

"Right, just don't go overboard and end up in trouble." Key sweat-dropped and with that he was suddenly gone in a blur of sand leaving everyone else confused on the boy's disappearance.

"Someone tell me I'm not the only one to see that." DB asked seeing the large dust cloud.

"You're not, but trying to guess what happened would take too much time and it's too much hassle." Naenia answered as she took DB's hand. "Now come on, we don't want to waste anymore sunlight and you promised to give me a hand with something."

"Uh…. sure that's right!" DB said as he allowed Naenia to lead the way to their spot.

Seeing him being led away Shadow just shrugged. "Guess we can go our separate ways now, I'll be here waiting at our spot. I'm not in any hurry to get wet." The leader of Kurotsubasa said.

"So you'll keep an eye on things nya?" Ravena asked.

"Yeah unless someone else is going to be sitting down here with me" Shadow said as he began to set up his beach towel and rest some things down like a large basket and a parasol. "I have everything under control and was able to get this setup whenever everyone gets tired." He then turned to Amaya so that he can pat her head playfully. "And I can't really go far and leave Amaya unsupervised."

"Already being a responsible parent aren't you nya?" Ravena teased him. "Well I'm going to try the water, come on Punnya!" The nekomata said as she began dragging the now human Manju with her by the tails as she struggled to get a grip on the sand by digging her claws.

"Nuuuuuuu~! But I want to stay here-PUN!"

"And cause trouble? No way!"

"SHA-DOOOOOOOOOOOW~…!" wailed Punnya as Ravena dragged her through the sand.

As the remaining three watch as Ravena dragged Punnya away, Illu just took a seat in the chair next to the parasol. "I'll just stay here and keep you company. That way you wouldn't be the only one watching our things." The hybrid said as she took off her hat now that she was in some shade. Mukurowl flew off and landed on one of the arm-rests on the chair as Nyoka took the time to sunbath out on the hot sand.

"Finally, a place for me to warm up after that cold trip to this area" Nyoka said causing Illu to giggle. Seeing that Shadow just shrugged and let Amaya go off to play in the sand; he then lay down on the towel out in the sun after taking off his jacket.

"Fine by me then, the more the merrier." Shadow said as he closed his eyes.

"Well then, I hope you don't mind if we join you as well."

Shadow opened his eyes and Illu turned to see the new arrivals; the sight then made Illu light up in embarrassment. "Chocobo, what are you doing here? Didn't you guys go off to find your room?"

"We did and then we decided to come out here, it was just…coincidence that we saw you both here and we decided to take the free space." Aeon said as he and Ganymede set up their spot to rest on the beach.

Aeon had on sandals and a pair of black trunks with a white dragon design that worked its way across contrasting on the black fabric. The Dragoon of Aetherion was also bare-chested with his hair still tied up in its signature style.

"By coincidence, he means he had me track down where you two were." Ganymede said bluntly causing the Dragoon of Aetherion to facefault as he was opening the parasol they brought. The normally masked member of Aetherion had forgone his mask so his face was visible to show his pale skin, slender face and electric blue eyes. On his head was a brown bucket hat with a blue strip in the center helping to keep him out the sun, out the back ran his surprisingly long turquoise hair that led down his back and tied at the end in a ponytail. Ganymede also had on a large turquoise kimono and brown obi that covered his body along with sandals.

"You're seriously that paranoid?" Shadow asked as Aeon rose himself from out of the sand.

"Well you are out here alone with my little sister in her bathing suit so why wouldn't I be paranoid. Who knows what you or anyone else's intentions are towards her." Aeon said after brushing the sand off his body.

Illu picked up her hat and tried to hide her face with it out of embarrassment. "Chocobo, it's not like that at all. Shadow offered to stay here first and watch our stuff so I decided to keep him company. I didn't feel like swimming at the time."

"Hmm" Aeon said as he then sat down on his towel as Ganymede rested underneath the shade provided by the parasol. "Well keeping an eye on you isn't the only reason I'm here; we also needed to get away from Sol's antics."

"What did Sol-nii do?" Illu asked. As if to answer her question, a blast of water came out of nowhere aimed at Ganymede only for the robed man to dodge causing the spray to hit Aeon and get him wet. The rest of them then looked to where the water came from and saw Sol with a red and yellow water gun.

"Darn it! I missed, even without our powers on this beach you're still good at running and dodging Gany." Sol said seeing he had missed his once sitting target.

"Just give up Sol, there's no way you can hit me with that." Ganymede said while tipping his hat.

"Not a chance, there's no force in this area that can make me give up this mission." Sol said eagerly pumping his gun with a sinister look on his face.

"You wanna bet?"

Everyone then looked to Shadow who was pointing to something behind Sol. The Salamander only had a split second to get out the way of a large torrent of water, Sol then turned to see the insane smile on Bella's face as she was preparing for another burst. "So… you think you can start a water war on my beach without me noticing, now that sounds like a challenge to me!" Bella said, almost done and ready to take another shot.

"You might want to run…" Aeon advised as he dried himself off. "Before I hold you down so that she has an easier target." With that a chibi Sol ran off trying to look for cover as an equally crazy and chibi toon-girl chased after him trying to take aim with her gun.

"Come back here and fight like a man!" Bella yelled.

"Easy for you to say!" Sol yelled, making a horrible mistake and had to dive out the wave of another torrent. As the two of them played hit and run both sides of Kurotsubasa and Aetherion were taking silent bets on who would win.

"Eat this, Flame Boy!" yelled Bella blasting out a fury of water blasts at Sol.

"Gah! Mercy! Mercy!"

"Sorry! Fresh Out!"

(With Ravena)

Meanwhile, Ravena stood on the beach with her surf-board planted in the sand to her right while Punnya stood next to her staring at the giant waves rather apprehensively.

Ravena inhaled the sea air as she felt the cool summer sea breeze blowing through her hair. "Ah~! Just look at that awesome surf out there, Punnya~!"

Punnya shuddered as she got hit by a bit of the spray. "Yeah….awesome….."

"Well, well….I thought that tasteless shade of red seemed familiar…" said a new voice from behind that Ravena knew all too well.

"Hi Rosie…." Greeted the girl bluntly as she turned around and looked at her old rogue mate.

Rose gave a little smile in greeting. Like Ravena, Rose wore a one-piece black swimsuit with red lines accenting the sides under her usual sleeveless blue hoodie. Her long hair was also tied up into a side ponytail to the left of her head. Coincidentally, Rose also was holding a surfboard under her arm that she planted in the sand next to Ravena's. It was a dark blue with a crimson flaming border with a picture of crossed daggers decorated the front.

Punnya was looking particularly excited when she spied who was coming up behind her. "MAAAA-ZYYYY~!" she called excitedly as she ran up to her boyfriend and threw her arms around the tiger's neck.

Mazareth growled affectionately as he nuzzled against his girlfriend's face. "Hey," he rumbled as Punnya planted kisses on his nose.

"Ugh, get a room you two!" scoffed Rose as she rolled her eyes to Ravena. "So if you're here I guess that means, he's here too."

"And the rest of the guild," confirmed Ravena. "So what gives, Rosie? I'm pretty sure you're not the vacation type."

Suddenly Rose blushed and immediately frowned looking incredibly flustered. "D-don't be ridiculous! I'm just here to train that's all!"

Ravena appeared unconvinced. "Uh-huh….whatever you say…" she replied when she felt a hand rub her hears causing the girl to purr and smile. "I know that hand~nya!"

"Looking good Rave~!" greeted a certain pony-tailed, white haired boy. Grim was shirtless wearing a pair of Akatsuki printed trunks and had a red bandanna tied around his head.

"Grim!" said Ravena happily as she turned around and playfully punched the guy in the arm.

"I see Rose found you," he noted glancing over to the red haired girl who rolled her eyes again. "When she heard that Shadow was coming over here she practically drag-"

"SHUT IT GRIM!" snapped Rose whose face had completely gone red.

"Speaking of shadows, where's PG-nya?"

Grim answered by simply tugging on a chain he apparently had been holding. Ravena then looked down sweat-dropped when she saw said shade was tied up in chains and was also constricted by two black inner-tubes. He was dressed exactly like Grim but with a black bandanna, but unlike Grim, Doppelman had a look that could turn milk sour.

"Don't ask," said Grim.

"Wasn't gonna….." Replied Ravena, raising her eyebrows.

"Hey! If isn't Ravena!" a new voice exclaimed at a distance.

"Rave-chan~!" called another voice cheerfully, this time female prompting the group to turn.

DP in particular suddenly lit up again with hearts in his eyes as he saw the blond beauty coming their way.

Ravena smiled and waved at the familiar face. "Zephyrus! Saphir!" she called back as the two members of Aetherion walked over to them.

Zephyrus was wearing his trademark yellow scarf along with a tan colored shirt bearing a yellow hurricane and brownish gray boxers. His goggles could be seen on his head, glinting in the sunlight while he held his skyboard under his arm.

Hanging on to his arm was the lovely wolf demon Saphir who wore a stunning tan-colored bikini showed off her cleavage, obviously to match Zephyrus with a decorative medallion and matching bandages around her ankles.

"Rose, Grim, meet Zephyrus and Saphir-Heart. They're from a guild called Aetherion, located in the Asian Server. They're Illu's….very close friends-nya" introduced Ravena to the bounty hunters.

"Hi~!" said Saphir perkily.

"Zephy, Saphi, these are my friends, BloodXForXMyXRose and Mister Grim," she introduced the bounty hunters in turn. "And that drooling little Grim look-alike is Doppelman, a Shade…"

"Watch out for that one, he's a slippery fellow," Ravena whispered that last bit to the two Aetherions as Grim smacked DP on the head.

"Behave yourself," Grim said warningly.

"But Grim….fish gotta swim…." Whined DP before a warning look from Rose caused him to shrink back in fear.

Zephyrus happened to spy the two surf-boards by the girls and smiled. "Hey, you girls were planning to surf too?"

"My…what gave it away…?" Muttered Rose sarcastically. "Too? I don't see your surf-board."

"Its right here!" said the wind-user as he pressed a button on his board, causing it to glow and instantly transform into a long white surf-board. "So how bout' it girls? A little contest with the Surf-Master? First one to wipe out buys shaved ice!" he challenged as he pulled

Rose and Ravena exchanged looks with each other and smirked. "You're on!" they both said as Rose removed her hoodie and tossed it onto Grim's face while Zephyrus took off his scarf and shirt, much to the utter delight of Saphir who took the clothes eagerly as a wagging tail appeared behind her.

The two girls quickly grabbed their boards and got ready while Zephyrus donned his goggles and took his place right next to the girls. "Saphir?" called the wind user.

"HAI~!" answered the wolf girl excitedly as she raised her hand. "On your marks! Get, Set! SURF!" she piped prompting the trio to dash into the ocean and begin paddling on their boards. "Good Luck, Zephy-sama~!"

"Show him how it's done Girls!" cheered Grim while DP whistled in encouragement.

It didn't take long for the trio to encounter a gigantic wave as they flipped their boards around and began riding it like pros.

"NYA! ALRIGHT!" cheered Ravena as she and Rose surfed the wave tube.

"WHOO!" whooped Rose as well, obviously enjoying herself while Zephyrus rode the top of the wave.

Meanwhile amidst all the excitement, no one had noticed Mazareth and Punnya had decided to wander off on a date. As the surfers made their way back to shore they notice the lack of audience due to the pets disappearance.

"Of all things, those two must have run off somewhere again!" Rose said noticing that Mazareth wasn't there. The raving bounty huntress took her jacket back from Grim as she tried to look around for the tiger and manju if need be.

"Relax Rosie, Let the two sweethearts have a little 'Alone' time. I'm sure that those two wouldn't go out to cause any trouble." Ravena said knowing that they have to reappear at some point. "Still…I didn't know you had skills on a board." The catgirl complimented her.

"I can say the same thing about you as well," Zephyrus said getting their attention as he stood by Saphir, who had hearts in her eyes while her tail wagged happily at Zephyrus's wet shirtless appearance. "I don't usually have much competition to go by, it's nice to see someone who can keep up; even though it's not the air." As the three of them continued on talking about their boards and their tricks, Saphir was able to point out something in the far distance.

"Hey what is that, it looks like…a stage?" Saphir said redirecting them all to the stage setup and curtains close to the boardwalk on the beach. "What's something like that doing here?"

Grim took an eye at the stage and began to explain. "That's for the Ember Island Beauty Contest event they're having today, girls sign up and try to earn the title. They get a special item and the title of Ember Empress during their time here."

"How do you know so much about that?" Rose asked.

"I had some missions where I would have to run 'Pervert Patrol' for the Inn's hot-springs and I heard about it while I was working. It's a tradition they do the beginning of every summer, a way to get more tourists to come here." Grim explained. After that was said, Saphir had sparkles in her eyes while Ravena and Rose looked indifferent.

"Do you have any idea what the item is?" Saphir asked.

"It changes every year, though most of the time it's one of the rare gems that can only be found in this area." Grim answered. "The only way to get one is to win anyway, there's no other way to find these gems."

That was all Saphir needed to hear as she then wrap her arm around Zephyrus and proceeded to drag him towards the stage and the gathering crowd. "Come on Zephy-sama, be sure to root for me so that I can win and take the prize home!" The wolf girl said already having visions of jewels and gems in mind.

"Wait, why do I need to go?!" Zephyrus asked as he tried in vain to squeeze out of her grip as she dragged him off through the sand.

After the two were gone Grim decided to ask to the girls. "So are you two also going to enter?"

"I think I'll pass on this on Grimmy." Ravena answered, not interested in the contest.

"As much as it surprises me, I'm with the cat on this one. If I win it would just end up being a mere trinket that I'll just sell it for a pretty penny or trade it with someone." Rose said, not caring a bit about the contest.

"Well, well, it seems you two have a lot of sense to know when you'll be beaten. You made the right choice staying out of the contest, especially you kitten…" said person approached the group.

The three of them turned to witness their guest but then they were shocked to see who it was. The woman that approached had long dark purple hair and malevolent purple eyes. She had fair skin and wore a pink ribbon in her hair and a black two-piece swimsuit with pink trims and decorations inspired from a sailor fuku.

Ravena narrowed her eyes and gave out a not so silent hiss as she remembered who the girl was. "Sakura… what is someone like you doing here?"

Sakura smiled coyly, hoping to rile the nekomata's fur. "I came to see what all the talk about this area was about. I got to say, sand, water, a few waves…it doesn't take much for you people to relieve your boredom." The girl said. "As for my personal reasons; it's to enter that contest and leave with the gem. Also to claim my rightful title as Ember Empress."

"And how do you know it is a gem?" Grim asked as he also kept Doppelman away from the evil player.

"A little researching and surveillance, and the gem for this year's winner is said to increase one's magical abilities. A treasure like that can only belong in my hands." Sakura said. "So you'd best to stay out of a fight you can't win."

"You said the same thing at the Eclipse Tournament," Ravena reminded with a smirk as she placed her hands on her hips. "Now who was it that won that match again?" taunted the cat girl causing Sakura to scoff and glare at the catgirl.

"That battle was one thing, but if I have to show you your place then it's only fitting that it should be in a contest of beauty!" Sakura said flipping her long hair as the two proceeded to glare at each other with static flying about.

"Well, while you two bicker, I'm going to sign up!" That comment caused the two girls to stare at Rose who was walking off while Grim and DP look at the girl in confusion.

Before anyone could ask Rose stopped to explain her reasons. "What? I still have a score to settle with you Boobcat, so I'm not going to let this hag beat you before I do. Besides, better me than that Bringer of Destruction bitch walking off with that gem." Rose explained.

The three girls then narrowed their eyes as they stood in a triple face-off. It could the boys' eyes playing tricks on them, but they could have sworn they saw a snarling cat, a growling tiger and a spitting cobra poised to strike where Ravena, Rose and Sakura once stood. Trick or not, Grim knew the best thing to do was to not get caught in a cat-fight crossfire as he took one giant step back.

Doppelman however, was not so wise as he unwittingly got closer to the group.

"Butt out, little girl! Let the real women fight," snarled Sakura as she took a step forward, unaware that she had stepped on Doppelman's head, forcing it into the sand.

"Oh please, like a grandma like you has a chance of winning?" retorted Rose as she took a step on DP as well who's silent screams of pain were only heard by Grim who already was beginning to pray for the shade.

"You're right, the only one with a chance of winning is me-nya!" declared Ravena with smirk as she also stomped on DP who by now was already one with the sand.

"As if!" snapped the other two as the trio resumed their face-off as they angrily stomped DP harder into the ground making Grim wince from his spot.

"THE BATTLE BEGINS NOW!" declared all three girls as they did one final stomp and smashed DP into a small crater before they all made a dash to the stage.

Grim watched the girls disappear into the distance before he walked over to the hole where a white flag could be seen waving. The boy slowly looked into the hole before recoiling in horror.

"YEEE!" he grimaced in disgust at the damage, which for our readers' sake we shall not described so as to spare you from nightmares and to keep your last meal down.

(Scene Change)

"I can't believe Sakura dragged me all the way out here; all this place has is sand, sand, some water, and then more sand! This place is boring!" The bundle of destruction, Raiden, raved on as he was stuck wandering the beach after his 'partner' ended up ditching him for some old rivalry. The small boy was wearing a pair of electric blue trunks with small yellow thunderbolts decorating them along with the orange water wings he wore on his arms.

"Just great…Sakura's most likely gone off to start fights and the rookie went and ditched me…I should've stayed back home." As he continued to walk in boredom he suddenly spied a large pile of sand stacked up, half of it being converted into some kind of building.

"Who built this?" Raiden asked aloud, tilting his head slightly. As he kept looking around the sand building in process Raiden stumbled and fell on his face. A shadow was suddenly cast over the boy as he felt someone poke him.

"Hey quit it!" snapped Raiden suddenly sitting up when he found himself staring face to face with a pair of huge surprised sparkly pair of blue and white eyes. The owner of the eyes was a young bunny-girl with large black bunny ears, who had porcelain skin and naturally pink cheeks. Before the boy could realize it, his heart had begun to race as color flooded to his cheeks.

While the boy stayed frozen and flustered, Amaya tilted her head a little in confusion before shrugging and returned to her building with a new bucket of water.

After a while, her ears then twitched alerting her to turn and noticed she still had an audience, the bunny-girl tilted her head seeing Raiden standing still. Once Raiden realized she was staring at him he got even more flustered and scratched his head while giving her a crooked smile.

"Oh sorry, I was just walking around and saw your sand castle. Yeah, that's it!" Raiden said with an embarrassed laugh.

Amaya blinked a little in confusion and suddenly walked up to Raiden and handed him a purple bucket. Raiden looked at her confused until she gestured for him to come and play with her before sitting down to play in the sand. Raiden nervously sat down with her and began to awkwardly pat some sand in place. Amaya then looked from the sand to Raiden's blushing face.

"So I-I'm Raiden, what's your name?" The still blushing boy asked.

"…?" Amaya pointed you herself.

Raiden nodded, "Yeah, your name."

Amaya had a sad look on her face as she struggled to answer the question. As she continued to think Raiden thought back to how she didn't speak before; the boy then smiled scratching behind his head awkwardly causing Amaya to look confused.

"I get it…you can't talk." Raiden said bluntly. "Well…I gotta call you something…." He thought out loud when he glanced at Amaya's bunny ears. "How 'bout I call you…Mimi, because of your ears! Will that work?"

(Translation: Mimi means "Ears" in Japanese)

Amaya then looked up at her ears and then giggled a bit before nodding causing Raiden to blush once more and get flustered. In his flustered-ness, Raiden accidently slipped and fell into the sand causing the building to collapse. Amaya gasped and showed a look of disappointment until Raiden quickly got up even more flustered than before.

"Ah! I'm Sorry! I'm Sorry! I didn't mean too!" sputtered Raiden in panic while waving his arms about wildly. 'Aaah…..what's happening to me?!'

Upon seeing the boy's flustered expression and antics, Amaya couldn't help herself as she began laughing in amusement making Raiden all confused.

Suddenly Amaya got up and went over to the boy as she began dusting the sand off him with her hands and ears before patting his head with a reassuring smile as if to say "It's ok".

The color still did not leave the boy's face as he looked at Amaya still confused. "Y-you're not mad?" he asked curiously prompting the girl to frown and suddenly place her hands on his cheeks as she stretched his face into a smile while he squealed a little in pain. With that, Amaya released his cheeks with a satisfied smile as she gestured him to help her rebuild the castle.

"Ok…"said Raiden shyly as he rubbed his cheeks before he sitting down once more and resumed patting sand back into place.

While he did, Raiden stole a glance at Amaya who cheerfully upturned a bucket of sand on top of the mound when she suddenly noticed the boy's eyes on her. Amaya blinked a little before she tilted her and gave him a pure innocent smile causing Raiden's face to suddenly explode in red as he quickly looked down at the sand and fidgeted a bit. Amaya giggled in amusement before returning to her work leaving Raiden sitting there with his face glowing like a red beacon while steam could actually be seen rising out from his hair. After the blond recovered they steadily went to work on rebuilding the large sand castle.

(Scene Change)

All across the beach; the beach goers heard the event alarms and banners telling them that the contest was beginning now. As all the vacationers gathered at the stage, the host of the events then began to introduce the event.

"Guys and Gals, welcome to the Annual Ember Empress Contest!" Malachite said exciting the crowd though he did get a surprised look from a few of the onlookers; mostly from Shadow and Illu as they stood with Aeon and Ganymede in the crowd. "These eight beautiful ladies were randomly selected from the entries to show their stuff to you! Yes, you the audience are the judge for this completion as they compete for your approval!"

"Illu, can I ask how one of your brothers is allowed to MC a beauty pageant; especially that one?" Shadow asked in wonder while the rest of the crowd began to feel pumped up by the blonde's words.

"I don't really know, Mal-nii always had ways of finding pay and gaining munny but I had no idea hosting was one of them," Illu said, equally as confused as her friend.

"Malachite may be a flirt sometimes, but he's one of the few that doesn't have women calling for his blood in the next five seconds." Ganymade explained. "As a matter of fact; when we needed the funds to build our headquarters since it was Malachite's idea to create a 'Host Club' from our old spot that brought in the most munny for the project."

"I still have nightmares about that day; I never knew how many fans we had until he came up with that plan." Aeon groaned. "However; he could also be up there to be eye-candy for the women not competing." As he spoke, they saw that Malachite was shirtless, showing his muscled chest, and was only in his bluish-green tropical swim shorts with black drawstrings. Malachite continued to talk sometimes accompanied by sparkles causing both members of Aetherion to groan.

"W-well, Mal-nii was always popular with the women back at home." Illu sweatdropped.

"So, let's get the show started and bring out all the competitors one by one!" Malachite said as the screen at the top of the stage played fanfare as it displayed the image of a golden bell with black wings on it.

"Contestant number 1 lives in the ever popular Tokyo City! Her magic may make you tremble and her claws might scare you but her charm and smile will have you all drop to your feet!"

"Don't tell me…" Shadow said.

"Here she is, Ravena Felidae!" Malachite said as a spotlight came down illuminating the neko for all to see.

Ravena walked forward with a smile on her face as she waved to the crowd. "Minnya! Be sure to cheer for me guys! Nyaaa!" She called out to the crowd with bright eyes and a sparkling smile, instantly hitting the crowd with moe. As she leaned forward and winked, several men instantly passed out with nosebleeds or blushing fiercely at the cute catgirl; even those who were unconscious clapped for her.

"Looks like Ravena-chan is a popular pick." Illu said, clapping for her best friend.

"I'll admit she has charm." Ganymede said.

"She has more than that, seeing how most of the guys are passed out like that…Aeon included." Shadow said with a subtle but visible blush on his face but he still clapped in support for Ravena.

"Niisan-no-baka…." Illu added bluntly as she looked down to see her brother passed out with a blood fountain spurting from his nose.

"He'll come to, just leave him be." Ganymede advised them as the announcer kept going.

"From that cheer looks like you're a fan favorite, but she's just the first of a whole lineup of beauties." Malachite reminded them as Ravena left the stage. "Onto Contestant #2! She may spend her time in the lab but this smart girl sure doesn't lack in beauty; the technical marvel RinaMelody!"

The spotlight then came down on Rina as she gave a modest wave to the crowd as well, though her eyes and attention was towards one person specifically. The Analyst was dressed in a white two-piece set with red suns decorating them similar to the hairpin she wore. "This isn't really my thing, but be gentle with me ok everyone?" Rina said with a smile like that of the sun receiving applause from the crowd.

"So that's what happened to them…." Illu stated.

"They kidnapped Key and needed an excuse to model in front of him; problem is where did they have him prisoner?" Shadow asked.

"If you can call being held by two girls who are attracted to you being held prisoner." Ganymede said.

"They're competitive"

"I see."

"With those lovely words from her, we have to change phase's people. If Rina is the sun, then she is definitely the moon, the Admin who steps down and joins the world of Players. Contestant #3 is Cast49!"

Cast stood on stage slightly blushing from the introduction she received; she stood shyly in the spotlight as she addressed the crowd. The Admin was dressed in a white one piece with blue moons decorating her swimsuit that was clearly to match Rina's with her hair braided. "Um, this really wasn't my thing so please don't judge me so harshly." Cast said bashfully with a slight blush on her cheeks, not really wanting to be on stage. As the people clapped for her Shadow noticed another familiar face in the crowd.

The person wore a white and blue sleeveless hoodie over a white singlet with dark blue shorts with a white line tracing down the sides. With his long hair tied in a loose ponytail and sunglasses shading his eyes, there was no mistaking that particular person as Shadow walked up from behind.

"Shouldn't you be watching over an area or doing some Admin duties Leon?" Shadow asked seeing a man with long white hair jump in surprise that he was so easily spotted.

The once armored Admin Guard regained his composure and coughed a bit before turning around to Shadow.

"Ridiculous as ever, Shadow. It is also the duty of an Admin Guard Captain to watch over his Admin," stated Leon in a matter-of-fact tone as he pushed up his shades.

"Oh I can see you're watching Cast alright…." Said Shadow with a smirk while folding his arms as he watched Leon stumble for a brief moment before regaining his composure and pushing up his glasses once more.

"Well what pray-tell are you doing here; finding a way to cause some trouble I bet?" Leon said as he tried to change the topic quickly.

"Just a change of scenery, we're here on vacation. And besides what harm can we possibly cause without our powers here?" Shadow asked almost sarcastically as it was rhetorically.

"Knowing your group, a lot" Leon answered as their attention was brought back to the announcer.

"That's just a sample of her legendary modesty, but we still have a good plethora of women to show you all!" Malachite said and began to introduce the next one. "Here she is, to some of you she may seem plain but she's as bright as the constellations she carries; she brings a new meaning to 'the girl next door!' Here she comes…TurquoisePeanutButter, TPB everyone!"

TPB was now on stage happy in receiving the cheers from the crowd. The girl had chosen to wear a two-piece purple swimsuit where the top wrapped around her neck right under the key she always wore. Her hair was also tied up using barrettes. As the girl got some cheers, she blew some air kisses from her rose colored lips.

"Thanks for your support everyone!" TPB said as she was waving out to the crowd.

"Guess it's easier to perform on stage if the one you want to impress is tied up somewhere and forced to watch you." Shadow said.

"I hope Key-kun is alright…." Illu said worriedly.

Shadow shrugged, "I'm sure he'll be fine, those two haven't killed him yet." He still looked at the stage in confusion. "Still who else is still up on the stage?"

"Malachite said eight girls signed up and that girl was the fourth so we still have four other girls to go through." Ganymede said.

Malachite then ended the applause as TPB left the stage. "Looks like you guys are all enjoying yourselves but we've only just reached the halfway point! For instance Contestant #5 is a bombshell in her own right, I should know because I'm in a guild with her so good thing my votes don't matter!"

"And speaking of girls, I think I guessed the next one." Aeon sweatdropped.

"Ho….I see your back up already, Baka Ecchi-Niisan…." Stated Illu bluntly as she eyeballed Aeon who flinched in pain as a boulder with "Baka Ecchi-Niisan" inscribed on it fell out of the sky and landed directly on his head.

"She hails from the Server of the Rising Sun though she is just as much a beauty as the rest of world's women. This girl's a wolf on hunt whose fur sparkles like diamonds, everyone hands for Saphir Heart!" Just as Aeon finished introductions, Saphir cheerfully walked to the stage inspiring claps.

"I'm a one Zephy-woman, so please don't hold this against me." Saphir teased with large puppy dog eyes that instantly drew in more blushes and cheers from the crowd.

"That will be tough to be, I think Rave was the only other who ended up with the same amount of cheers…and nosebleeds." Illu said as she clapped for her guild sister.

"I think it's because if you're a specific type of beast avatar you get more points to charm, then again some are just naturally moe like Ravena." Shadow guessed. "Whose next, they must be running out of personalities to show.

"This girl's a fiery redhead with her eyes on the price, trust me this girl knows what she wants and isn't afraid to fight for it!" Malachite said causing Shadow's eyes to widen.

"Wait don't tell me…" Shadow said.

"Here she is, red as roses herself, BloodxForxMyxRose!" At that call, Rose had walked out into the stage. He arms were wrapped in front of her as she tried to avoid looking at the crowd, revealing her face had a light shade of pink.

"B-baka! Who told you to give me an introduction like that?!" Rose yelled, still embarrassed. As her blush increased she also unintentionally gotten a few more claps from the audience who was digging the "Tsundere" quality.

"R-Rose-san is up there too?" Illu said in realization.

Ganymede looked to Illu. "So you two know that girl? All I know about is that she's a bounty hunter from this Server; has she planned an attack on you guys."

"It's a long story; I'll tell you when the crowd stops cheering for the tsundere on stage." Shadow quickly tilted his head to avoid a slipper hitting him; he looked back up at the stage meeting Rose's eyes and smiled as he clapped embarrassing the girl more.

"T-that…" Rose said under her breath as she left the stage to hide her face which now matched her hair.

"Well folks, we get all types on this stage…even Tsundere ones!" Malachite; however, was not as sharp as Rose's other slipper met his head causing him to buckle in pain. "Ouch…got it, only one guy can call you that." Before he faced any retaliation Ravena quickly appeared and held Rose back before she could hurt the announcer and in turn get kicked out.

Rose quickly cast Malachite a threatening look before finally walking off with Ravena. The MC sweat-dropped briefly as he got the message. "Ooookay…moving on to Contestant Number #7! She calls herself the Goddess of Beauty! The Mistress of Magic! The Damsel of Discord! She is Sakura!"

A quick hush falls over the crowd as said person casually paraded on the stage as she looked on the crowd haughtily. "You needn't trouble yourselves with a decision boys for your real Empress already stands before you! OHOHOHO…~!" declared Sakura with a haughty laugh as she flipped her hair.

"So they're here too." Shadow said narrowing his eyes.

"Just lowly criminals taking advantage of this area; unfortunately, thanks to the no conflict zone they cannot even be arrested. I have to make sure to get them as soon as they leave the area." Leon said. As the two contemplated there were numbers in the crowd that were applauding her. "Do any of them even remember the damage they caused?"

"Well I believe that someone else showed up to be the bigger threat." Aeon said as Illu then clutched her chest where her heart would be. "A threat that I still want to rectify, as soon as I find those CHAOS bastards."

"Aeon-niisan," Illu said sadly as they all looked to see Sakura leave the stage. "Still to think someone like Sakura could get some support from this crowd."

"It helps when most of them are hot-blooded guys and the swimsuit she has." Ganymede commented. "It's shame, but that's how it works some guys can't resist a girl in a swimsuit."

"Hear that, eyes away from Illu."

"Chocobo!"

"Says the one who passed out in a nosebleed moments before."

"…Shut up Ganymede….."

"And now for our final contestant…a write in candidate who seems to come from out of nowhere. She may be number 8, but she has nine lives; the beautiful kitten Punnya!" Malachite announced. Shadow and Illu's eyes widened in shock as Punnya walked out to the stage in Nekomimi form instantly getting cheers and wolf-whistles from the crowd.

"That's the same girl who greeted us at your guild's base." Ganymede said, remembering Punnya.

"And she has the same name of your best friend's pet, what are the odds of that? Maybe she's a fan of hers." Aeon said.

"Um…" Illu tried to work out a way to explain only to see Shadow shake his head in exasperation.

"We'll explain later Illu." He said as he awkwardly clapped for Punnya.

The cat-girl stood there on stage and looked to crowd blinking a bit in confusion. She didn't know what was happening but she was enjoying the attention. "Punnya~!" was all it took for Punnya to say followed by a big innocent smile.

Suddenly it was like a switch turned on for everyone, guys and girls, whose eyes suddenly brightened and turned into hearts as Punnya's appeal suddenly struck them like lightning bolts. It wasn't flirty, sexy, or any kind of appeal act. Punnya just possessed a natural, pure, bright innocence that waved on to the crowd with little effort.

"Kya...KYA-WAIII…~~~!" everybody chorused in unison as Punnya waved before walking off stage.

"Wow….go Punnya…." Was all Shadow could in amazement at the effect Punnya had.

Illu cupped her face as she squealed at Punnya's cuteness when she suddenly heard a thud next to her. Looking down, Illu sweat-dropped once more when she saw that Aeon had passed out again with a red face and a goofy smile while pink hearts and kittens were prancing about in a circle above his head.

"Good grief, Gany-niisan -wait! Are you blushing?" Illu wanted to call out to her other brother when she noticed that even the very stoic Ganymede had lowered his hat on his head to cover his face. The hat however failed to cover his ears which were glowing a bright pink.

"N-no it's just…the weather must be getting to me; I'm going to go sit back underneath the parasol." Ganymede said leaving to try and cover more of his face leaving Illu to sweatdrop at the reactions her brothers were having towards the Neko Manju.

'Good thing they don't know Punnya-chan is just a Neko-Manju.' The girl thought with a sigh. "Well it looks like Punnya won this one."

"Seeing the crowd I don't see why not, though what she'll do with the prize is a mystery." Shadow said. "I'll help move Aeon back with you to our spot; after that I'm going to go back and look for Amaya."

"Amaya-chan has been off on her own for a while, has Ravena-chan told you how long the transformation will hold for her?" Illu asked.

"Well Amaya-chan isn't like Punnya but Ravena said she does have some good magic potential. If it's anything like when Punnya first changed then it would be sometime over an hour." Shadow said as he grabbed Aeon by his foot and proceeded to drag him across the sand. "Let's go, we'll all meet up soon before heading back to our room."

"Hai" Illu said before following after the two.

Backstage with the other contestants some were happy that Punnya won as Malachite placed a tiara on Punnya's head as well presenting her with the first place prize while others were less than enthusiastic at the thought of losing in the competition.

"I can't believe I lost..…and not even to another person, but to a mangy feline!" Sakura seethed as, in her mind, her victory was taken from her. While she steamed by herself before storming off, the others were busy talking with each other.

"Definitely didn't see that last bit coming but at least Punnya won…." Ravena said seeing Punnya hold up her prize as the crowd cheered for her again for her victory.

"At least it ended up in the right hands, who know what that hag could've done with it." Rose said. "Least this stupid competition is over with."

"Why's that, didn't want a certain someone to see you in your swimsuit?" teased Ravena as she nudged Rose.

"Shut up! I could say the same for you!"

Ravena gave a smirk. "Ara~! Getting defensive aren't we?"

"Shut it, Boob-Cat!" snapped Rose even more embarrassed than before as Mazareth came up to the two of them carrying a very pleased Punnya on his back.

"I had no idea what just happened but Mal-pun just gave me this really pretty tiara and this shiny gem~ Pun! He's so nice~!" exclaimed Punnya, amazingly oblivious that she had just won a contest.

Rose gave Ravena a look while the Nekomata just shrugged in response as Punnya handed her mistress the Gem that was shiny amber with a warm glow.

Ravena sniffed it and looked it over before holding it to the sun briefly. She then let out an impressed whistle.

"Well what do you know? It's a Sala-Amber-nya."

"A Sala-Amber?" echoed Rose and Punnya.

"It's a unique Gem of the Ignis Class! Found only in the Ember Island Volcanoes. It's created when lava mixes with the slime of a Fire Salamander. They can only be harvested once every decade!" exclaimed the excited voice of Saphir who had appeared out of nowhere and staring at the gem with big sparkly eyes. "But look at that glow~! This one has been aged to perfection~!"

"I thought that BoD bitch said the gem was a magic enhancer?" asked Rose in confusion.

"Well she's not totally wrong….The Sala-Amber only enhances Fire-based Magic-nya… not exactly useful for my type of magic but I'm sure it'll go at a high price…"explained Ravena before handing back to Punnya.

"Ooh! Ooh! If you don't need it can I have it?! Can-I-have-it?! Can-I-have-it?! PLEEEEAAAASE?!" begged Saphir excitedly with her tail wagging and the stars in her eyes getting larger and brighter.

Ravena and Punnya exchanged looks with each other before Punnya shrugged. "Sure, I don't mind~pun!" said Punnya as she handed the Gem to Saphir who squealed happily.

"AWHOOOOO! WAN~ WAN ~ WAAAAN-DERFUL~!" cheered as Saphir jumped about happily with gem and ran off leaving the group to sweat-drop.

"I guess she really enjoyed the present nya." Ravena said awkwardly seeing the dust-cloud Saphir left behind. Punnya in the meantime glowed a light pink and reverted back to her original form, fluttering into Ravena's arms.

"And it seems like she isn't the only one who bailed." Rose said seeing that Sakura was nowhere to be seen as well. "I was thinking I could earn some munny bringing Sakura in for some information but it looked like she dipped out the moment our backs were turned."

"It wouldn't have made much a difference." The two then turned to see Rina and Cast walking towards them. "On this area there's no need for Admin authority so there aren't any Guards here and the Admin can't get involved without good reason." Rina explained. "She's out of reach as long as she's in this area."

"And she mustn't be alone either, considering they came in a small group last time." Cast said. "Speaking of crimes, Rina when are you going to let go of the Beta you kidnapped." She said sternly.

"Once I make sure TPB won't get in my…wait she's not here! That Cheater!" Rina then dashed out of backstage leaving the three of them to themselves.

"Sometimes I worry for Ani-Key." Ravena sighed.

Cast then sighed. "I have to go and stop her; it was great seeing you here Ravena." The Admin gave a small bow before walking in the direction her obsessed cousin had ran in. As Punnya hopped out of Ravena's arms to join Mazareth on another date that just left the nekomata with the red head bounty huntress.

"Well now that this adventure is done with and it looks like the tide is letting down; I'm going back to my room." Rose said preparing to leave. Before she took a step she was stop by Ravena placing her hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Now hold on Rosie, I can't in all good conscious leave you alone without any more fun. How about you come with me back to our room, Naenia has something fun planned for us tonight. You should join us-nya." Ravena offered.

"Forget it, anywhere you and the rest of that guild goes spells trouble and I rather not be involved in it." Rose said taking the catgirl's hand off her shoulder. The girl was then about to take steps away before what Ravena said caught her attention.

"Oh that's a shame; then you won't be able to meet Shadow-kyun's little girl." That one sentence caused her to freeze in her tracks.

"L-little girl…what are you talking about; last I checked he wasn't married to anyone!" Rose sputtered in shock.

"Well you should still see Amaya-chi; she's so cute and already grown for her age." The more Ravena talked the more she could see steam rise from Rose's face. It wasn't hard to tell what the girl was thinking which prompted Ravena to push further. Ravena slowly turned away from Rose and shrugged. "But if you still don't want to come then…"

"To Hell with that! Show me this kid or whatever!" Rose yelled as she pulled Ravena having force her to lead her back to where Amaya was.

(Scene Change)

"And~...done!" Raiden said as he and Amaya finished their new sand castle. The two smiled though Raiden had to hide a blush once Amaya looked at him again. "All we need to do is add a flag and it will be done Mimi." Raiden said.

Amaya nodded and the stood up showing that she was going out to find things they could use for a flag. Once the small girl was gone Raiden automatically felt a presence behind him and turned around with a neutral look on his face. "What do you want rookie, can't you see I'm trying to have fun here?"

"Aren't you a bit young in this form to try and get a girlfriend?" Whiskasfriskas teased the small boy; he was able to catch a sight of Amaya before the small girl ran off. The card was dressed mainly in black trunks with crimson red streaks and images of skull and bones printed across them. "Anyway I'm actually here to pick you up; Sakura was bitching about losing some contest and wanted to leave and naturally she can't leave us behind. We're heading back to our room at the Inn." He informed him.

"Go back yourselves, I'm waiting for someone," said Raiden as he sat down by the sand castle and sat cross-legged while folding his arms in a huff.

"No can do Romeo, Sakura's in a bad mood as it is."

"Like I care what that witch thinks…" grumbled Raiden stubbornly.

Whisk arched an eyebrow at the kid before suddenly getting a sneaky grin. "Fine, be that way. I'll guess I'll just destroy this sand-castle th-"

"Don't you dare!" snarled Raiden threateningly as he stood up got between Whisk and the precious sand-castle. "I won' let you destroy Mimi's hard work!"

Whisk raised his eyebrows when it hit him, causing him to grin. "Oh-ho….I see what's going on here…..You like her!" the boy teased in glee causing Raiden's face to light up.

"W-w-what?! NO!" sputtered Raiden in protest as he suddenly lowered his gaze when Whisk bent down to look and grinned even more.

"Yeah you do~!"

"Do NOT!"

"You're blushing~!"

"Am NOT!"

"You look like a hot tomato~!"

"It's sun-burn!"

"Uh-huh, and I'm wearing concealer."

"SHUT UP!"

"Hey everybody! Rai-Rai's gotta CRU~USH~!" teased Whisk in a sing-song way making Raiden boil over in anger.

"I will KILL YOU ROOKIE!" yelled Raiden as he began chasing Whisk away.

Meanwhile, Amaya had just returned with a purple flag and looked about in confusion for Raiden. She felt a bit sad but shrugged it off as she placed the flag on top and smiled a bit before looking a little sad again. When she heard a whistle.

"Hey Amaya! Time to go!" called Shadow from a distance causing Amaya to glow a light blue and revert to her original shape.

"U-Pyon!" replied Amaya as she hopped back to where Shadow was and bounced on to his shoulder as the group returned back to the Inn.

(Scene Change)

"Oh it's you Rose; to be honest I thought you being on that stage was the sun playing tricks on me." Shadow said seeing Ravena walk up with the girl in question, he seemed to be ignoring the look of anger on Rose's face but then again it was a face he was used to seeing directed at him.

"Yeah right, then what about that comment you made back at the stage?!" Rose yelled, still both angered and flustered from the Tsundere comment moments ago.

Shadow shrugged his shoulders. "Just needed to be sure, one thing that can't be copied is your temper." Instead of dodging the thrown sandal this time he caught it and then tossed it back to the red faced Rose.

"Idiot!" Rose said as she put her sandal back on before getting back to the point of her anger. "So what's this I hear about you having a kid, didn't expect you to be one to tie the knot so early on." The girl said, though her tone was still one of frustration.

"Tie the knot, what are you talking about?" Shadow said confused.

"Don't act all ignorant, the feline over here already told me about you having a little girl!" Rose then stepped closer. "So where is she, where's this Amaya I heard about?"

"U-Pyon!" Amaya cried out at the sound of her name being called. Rose then stopped her raving to see the small manju resting on Shadow's shoulder, catching eye of the new person Amaya backed away shyly at first as if trying to hide but still gave Rose a curious and innocent look.

"Huh?" Now it was Rose's turn to be confused; Shadow then looked at the Neko standing next to her who innocently was averting her eyes and whistling. "So you told her about Amaya but didn't consider to also tell her that she's a young manju?"

"She didn't actually give me time to explain nya, Rosie kind of jumped to conclusions and then dragged me here to meet you." Ravena answered with an obvious sly tone in her voice.

Rose quickly caught on and turned to Ravena with her face a bright crimson while jabbing a finger at her. "You! You misled me on purpose!"

"Ara~nya? Did I?" asked Ravena with innocent sparkling eyes while doing a "Goody-Two Shoes" pose.

"Don't act cute with me!"

"No acts here, just all Naturale~nyanyo! But think of it this way, now you can join us on our vacation."

"Like hell I am!" Rose objected.

"Oh come on nya, what fun is there that you can have by yourself?"

"More fun than to have my vacation be spoiled by you all!"

Shadow sweat-dropped at the two girls argument as he saw everyone else begin to walk back to the Inn's entrance. "Well you both look red, but I guess that would be from different reasons." He said seeing DB and Key walk up.

DB's blush then grew. "Yeah, Naenia asked me to rub some lotion on her back and…"

"I think I know where that's going D" Shadow stopped him before he could finish; he then turned his attention to Key. "So what happened to you? It was like you all but disappeared. Cast said that you were being held up somewhere." He said thinking back to Rina and TPB.

"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up." Key said. "After I got here they both dragged me all over the beach getting me to spend time with them; though it mostly turned into a tug-a-war match between those two." The Beta said as he massaged his sore arms. "It was one contest after another, the whole beauty pageant was number 3."

"What were the first two?" DB asked.

"Sand sculpting and volleyball." Key answered with a heavy sigh.

"Wish I could help you out with that man, but it seemed like something I shouldn't get involved in." Shadow said.

"And I would help but I enjoy living." DB said not in a hurry to get in-between Key's love triangle. As everyone gathered up Naenia walked up to the group.

"Good so everyone's here, I have something special planned out for us tonight but…" The ice wielding priestess then had a sly smile on her face. "There's something here that all of us girls have to enjoy. You boys are free to join us tonight if you want."

"You're talking about the hot springs here right?" Key asked.

"Right in one, this area is famous for a lot of things and these hot springs are one of them. Not only do they help with relaxation and stress they also have the ability to heal wounds and conditions; they're one of the best hot springs around." Naenia explained.

"Well who wouldn't say no to…" Before DB could finish his answer Shadow pulled him back.

"They're no mixed bathing here DB." Shadow said.

"What really?!" DB said in surprise….and a tad bit disappointed.

"This area used to be, and I quote 'Perv Attraction zone.' To solve those problems they set up the walls and took away mixed bathing." Key explained.

"That's not technically true." Rose said getting their attention. "It's true they got rid of mixed bathing and made the walls to steer away perverts but if you pay the managers in the front, they'll allow a party to have a private mixed bath."

"Really, how did you find out about that Rose-san?" Illu asked.

"It was something Grim said; it was a way for the Inn to not lose as much money as they did when mixed bathing was cut away." Rose answered.

"Well then," Naenia clapped her hands, gaining her focus now. "It will be sunset soon so use the time for whatever, but once the hot spring bathing is done then we'll be ready for what I have planned."

"Great, but first things first…Where's Bella?" asked DB looking about for the toon girl when suddenly as if on cue some victorious haughty laughing could be heard coming their way.

Everyone turned to see Bella come marching in looking victorious as she carried her water gun under one arm while over her left shoulder what appeared to be a wrapped up squirming bundle. "I'm back people~!"

"It took you long enough," said Shadow as he eyed the twitching bundle. "I'm afraid to ask but what's that?"

"My trophy~!" said Bella proudly as she plopped the bundle on the ground to reveal a squirming Sol all tied up to the mouth in wraps.

"Mmm-Mmm! IIII-WUUUU!" wailed the teary-eyed boy muffled to his sister as he wiggled up to Illu like a worm.

'Poor Sol-nii….' Illu thought in her head as she sweat-dropped before she turned to Bella. "Ano…Bella-san…"

Bella sighed a little in disappointment. "Yeah, fine I had my fun…" said the girl as she walked up Sol and gave a loose bandage a sharp tug, sending Sol to go spinning in the air before he fell back down, finally free.

"WAAAAAH~! ILLU-CHWAAAAAAN~! SHE WAS SO MEAN! MAKE THE BIG STINKY MEANIE-PANTS GO AWAY!" wailed a chibi Sol tearfully as he jumped into Illu's arms.

Illu simply sighed and smiled as she hugged him comfortingly and stroked his head. "There, there….it'll be fine dear; you'll be ok sweetie…." She said gently like a mother consoling a child.

"Tch, grow a pair….." scoffed Bella as she rolled her eyes.

"Kya-Kyawaii~…." muttered Ravena softly as she stared mesmerized at chibi Sol.

"I seriously need some normal friends." Shadow sweatdropped at the scene.

"I've been telling you that for a while now, I swear that these guys' brand of crazy is contagious." Rose said with an equal amount of sweatdrop at the back of her head. Shadow sighed as they decided to move the party along.

"Come on we're wasting daylight; Ravena can I trust you to take Amaya with you when you girls go to the springs?" Shadow asked.

"No problem nya!" Ravena said as Amaya bounced over onto the girl's head.

"I better take Sol-nii back too." Illu said still holding the small quivering chibi in her arms. "I'll just find Chocobo's room and drop him off before meeting you guys again." Illu then carried Sol off, hoping that he wasn't traumatized for life.

"I'm going to go get some sleep while I can, Rina and TPB wore me out." Key said as he walked back to the boy's room when the Beta was suddenly stopped by DB.

"Hold on man, we're on vacation and you can't just sleep it away just because a couple of girls dragged you cross the beach." DB said bluntly. "I say before the bathing starts we all should go and have some fun guy time."

"Guy time, are you serious?" Shadow asked.

"Why wouldn't I be, now let's go change so that we can hit the strip. We'll meet you girls later." DB said as he began to lead the way back to their rooms so that they could change. Shadow just shook his head slightly but decided to follow him anyway.

"Well it looks like the boys have their plan, which means it will allow us girls time to enjoy the rest of the Inn's wonders before they get back." Naenia said.

"Inn wonders; what are you talking about?" Bella asked.

"You're talking about the Ember Island Treatment right?" Rose asked.

"Right in one." Naenia answered.

"What's the Ember Island Treatment Nya?" Ravena asked curiously while Amaya tilted her head.

"It's another name for the full spa package that this area is known for; the hot springs are just a part of it." Naenia began to explain. "The package is a five course relaxation and rejuvenation treatment with the hot springs being provided at the end. If the guys want to have their own fun, then so will we."

"Yeah, I don't know about getting a makeover." Bella said sternly.

"It's just a spa treatment Hy-Nya, it's not like they're going to force you into a dress or anything like that." Ravena tried to reassure her. "It's just things like massages, mud baths, and things like that. They're good for the skin and the body nya."

"Well I think my body's perfect the way it is."

"I wouldn't think so Hy-Nya."

"And why so?"

"Just that the staff may have a hard time thinking that you're a girl."

"Hey!"

"Now, now no fighting." Naenia tried to quell the fighting before one could break out between the two.

"Normally I would be against spending anytime near any of you." Rose began with saying. "But since I already booked the treatment for this time, I wouldn't really have any choice if you girls decide to go anyway."

"That's good, because our party's time is booked for now." Naenia said surprising Rose.

"What's booked for now?" Illu asked as she just now heard the woman when she returned from dropping off her brother figure.

"Naenia planned for us to go on a spa treatment." Ravena summed up.

"Spa, but what about the others?" Illu asked.

"DB is dragging the boys out to the town for some reason." Naenia answered though she did had a look on her face that caused the three girls to look at her suspiciously. "In the meantime we might as well pretty ourselves up for when they get back."

"Please don't say pretty." Bella grumbled out in defeat.

(With the Guys)

After dressing back in their clothes the three mean of Kurotsubasa were walking through the small town looking at the many attractions. "Hey DB, why did you decide to drag us out here with you; shouldn't your vacation be spending time with your girlfriend?" Shadow asked suspiciously.

"What I can't just hang out with my friends because I want to?" DB was then met with the stern faces of Key and Shadow showing that they weren't buying it; the vampire laughed nervously before clearing his throat. "Anyway I took us out here because I didn't think you guys would be into Spa treatments."

"I really could've used one. I'm still feeling sore." Key said rubbing his shoulder. "Next time just tell us the truth."

"Simple, I planned to leave once we got out here." Shadow said. "I knew DB was lying because usually guy's night out would involve him taking us to a bar when he knows we don't drink."

"Wow, dynamic deduction Sherlock." DB playfully said. "Still, you should at least try drinking once. You and Key need some other ways to lighten up and it's not like the hangover carries out into the Real World."

"Not all of us have your inhuman tolerance." Key said.

"Whatever man, I'll be exploring the sights, see you guys later." Shadow waved goodbye before leaving.

"Guess that just leaves us, huh Key?" DB said.

"Look I know you have something planned but tell me this; will it lead to us being thrown out or probably arrested?" Key asked.

"Nope."

"Then go for, now do you even know what fun there is to do here is? This is the first time either of us have been to this area." Key asked.

"Soon as we find an area map it will have everything marked for us, now let's go we have to be back at the Inn by sunset. Let's not waste this time." DB said leading the way. Key then shrugged and decided to follow the vampire forward.

(Girls)

"Nya….Nee-sama….My body….it feels so hot…." Panted Ravena with a flushed look on her face as she appeared to be lying down.

Naenia was sweating too with a red face and panting slightly as well. "Bear with it a little longer… the best part is yet to come…."

Bella slowly ran her fingers through her long hair with a face just as red. "Aaah…my body feels so weird…It feels like I'm melting…."

"M….me too Bella-chan….I just can't describe this feeling…I feel like I'm gonna- …." Panted a flushed face Illu.

"COME ON! Would you girls stop talking already! We're in a freaking sauna! It's supposed to be HOT!" snapped Rose irritably, her face red and sweating as she looked at the other girls who like her were only clad in towels. Amaya was sitting next to Illu in Human form also wrapped up in a towel.

Sure enough all five girls plus Usa-Manju were currently sitting in a sauna room as the second course of their treatment after some quick pedicures.

"Go-gomenasai!" squeaked Illu timidly while Ravena sat up properly on the bench and fanned herself with one of her tails.

"Jeez Rose…. I would tell you to chill out but I don't know if it's possible in here…."sighed Bella wiping sweat from her brow.

"Oh dear…." Sighed Naenia in exasperation.

(Small time-skip)

After the sauna, the girls all visibly began to calm down and relax into the following treatments of facials, mud-baths, and most relaxing shiatsu massage until the most anticipated part of the package, hot springs.

"I have to admit, I am feeling pretty good right now!" exclaimed Bella as she and the rest of the girls were walking towards the hot springs. Right now, all the girls were wearing robes and were carrying towels along with other bath items.

"I told you so, Bell-nya~! Right, Amaya?" said Ravena cheerfully as she looked to the rabbit girl who was holding hands with her. Amaya looked up at Ravena and nodded while smiling brightly.

"Well aren't you girls looking fresh," exclaimed a familiar voice suddenly, alerting the group to the speaker who stood guard outside the Women's Bath.

"Grim, it's been a while~" greeted Naenia with a smile.

"Likewise Naenia, Ladies," replied Grim with a nod to the others.

"Placed on Perv Patrol, Grim?" asked Rose bluntly.

Grim shrugged a bit. "Hey, whenever Doppelman's about, I'm always on guard. Right now, he's tied up at the moment, if you get my drift. But just in case, watch out."

"Will do! Come on girls!" exclaimed Bella as she marched into the changing room with Amaya tucked under her arm.

Naenia and Rose both nodded a bit to Grim while Illu respectfully bowed to him as the three followed in after Bella. Ravena was about to go in when she paused a bit before turning back to Grim.

"Hey, Grim?"

"Yeah?"

"When you get off duty… you should join us back at our room, we're be having a small party or something-nya," offered Ravena shyly blushing a little.

Grim averted his eyes a bit as he scratched his cheek. "Um…sure…I'd like that," he replied with a small smile.

Ravena returned the smile before she made her way inside to the open-air bath, playfully tapping Grim's shoulder with her tails as she did so.

(Inside the springs)

"Well, it's about time! Done flirting with Grim yet, Boob-Cat?" teased Rose who had already sat inside the hot spring with Bella and Naenia with Illu just ready to enter.

Ravena blushed a little more before frowning a bit as Amaya who had gone back to her original hopped onto her shoulder. "Shut up, Tater-Tots. I just invited him to our room later. That's ok with you right Nee-sama?"

"Of course," replied the woman with a smile as Ravena went to wash herself and Amaya first before the two joined the others in the hot-spring.

"Aaah…..hot-springs are always the best….." sighed Illu in content as she dipped a little further into water.

"You said it Owl-girl…. Right Mr. Quackers?" asked Bella to a rubber duck she had brought with her. Bella squeezed it a few times, to make it squeak in response.

"U-Pyon~….." squeaked Amaya in relaxation as she floated on the surface of the water using her ears as a floating bed.

Naenia, Rose and Ravena all took a deep breath and sighed happily as well before looking up at the evening sky that was slowly changing colors with the sunset. For a while nobody said anything and soaked in the silence when suddenly a rustling was heard coming from a nearby tree. It didn't take much for the girls to figure out what it was.

"May I?" offered Bella.

"Be our guest…" replied Rose not even bothering to open her eyes.

"Ducky ATTACK!" yelled Bella suddenly as she flung Mr. Quackers hard at the direction of the sound. A loud squeak followed by a male scream was heard as Doppelman fell out of the tree branch he was on.

BAM! Was the loud sound of the impact as the perverted Shade landed face first on to the bath floor. "Ow…right in the kisser…." Groaned Doppelman when suddenly five shadows towered over him.

Doppelman gulped as he looked up to see five very menacing silhouettes with sinister glowing eyes glaring down at him through the thick steam. "Uh-oh…"

At that moment, Grim stood leaning casually against the wall outside the Women's Bath with his arms folded as he whistled a tune while he could hear Doppelman's cries of pain mixed with painful sounds of angry women beating up. Grim waited a little before he began counting down.

"3…2…1…." CRASH! Went Doppelman as he came flying out from the Bath entrance and crashed into the opposite wall. Grim clicked his tongue loudly as he looked down at the Shade's bloody, beaten and bruised form.

"Worth…it…." Was all the Shade could squeeze out before passing out.

Elsewhere, DB and Key were walking around carrying unknown crates; at least to the Beta while DB knew full well what they were carrying, they stopped hearing the sound of pain coming from the Inn. "What do you think that was?" DB asked.

"No clue, but if you asked me it sounded like someone got what they deserved." Key said as they continued walking down the road carrying their merchandise.

Elsewhere on the boardwalk Shadow was looking out on the setting sun when he heard the pain filled screams followed by silence. "It's as if one perverted voice suddenly cried out in terror and was suddenly silenced…or however the joke goes." Shadow said as he looked to see the orange of the sky beginning to fade into purple, he was able to capture the sunset along the horizon of the wave.

"Sometimes I hate when Bella's right, but a vacation might be exactly what we need considering what we're going to be facing soon." Shadow spoke to himself, he glanced around seeing the only ones enjoying the Sunset Boardwalk now were just a few couples enjoying their time or small game families and NPC's. He then took another look over at the setting sun before deciding to leave.

"Might as well head back, I wonder what Naenia has planned for us."

(Scene Change)

"Why am I not surprised that the scream we heard was Doppelman's?" Key asked as everyone sat in the large living room, whether on the two couches or on separate chairs that was brought into the room. Everyone was seated and the boys listened to the girls' tale of what happened in the hot springs.

"Well we don't know anyone more perverted then that lump of shade over there." Rose angrily said as she was reminded of the incident.

"Nya, actually…"

"Please don't go there, just don't."

"Well I want to know what's with the crates." Shadow asked seeing two large empty crates at the side of the room. "I know they weren't there before and Key told me that he and DB carried them over to this room. So do you know what's inside?"

"I have no clue." Key answered.

"Naenia said it was a surprise for tonight." DB said.

"Still for Naenia-san to plan this entire party out for us; she's done so much I feel as though that it's wrong for us to do this without paying her back." Illu said. "Rose, are you sure our pets will be fine in your room?" She asked a bit worried.

"For the third time, it's all right. I bought a room with a separate area for pets so Mazareth would have an easier time, I don't exactly have travel sized pets such as the rest of you." Rose said. "They'll be fine and the room's secured and locked, I'm the only on with a key." Illu nodded her head in thanks, knowing that Mukurowl and the others were safe for the night.

"I'm sure Mazzy can keep them all safe and fed too nya, so what's this all about?" Ravena asked.

Grim shrugged his shoulders as he kept Doppelman chained up. "Who knows, Naenia's been in the kitchen for some time now and she got here first right so none of you saw what she had in the crates?" The girls then shook their heads as most of them either dropped their pets off or went straight to the room to change.

"If I had my Omnitrix activated I know a hundred different ways to find out!" Bella whined as she once again felt powerless.

"For some reason, I enjoy you when you're without your watch. You're more…I guess controllable would be the word." As Shadow finished, Naenia then called from the kitchen.

"Can some of you give me a hand; I just need to pass these out to everyone!" Hearing the girl called DB was the first to stand up followed by Ravena, they then walked into the kitchen seeing Naenia standing with a tray of drinks on the counter, a glass for each person in the room.

"Nya, Neesama what are these?" Ravena said looking at the light orange beverage for a bit as she took a tray while DB took another.

Naenia had a small on her face that she tried to hide as she waved them off. "Now I don't want to spoil it, just pass those out to everyone. Everyone needs to take a full drink of it before we can start." Ravena looked over and saw that there were two extra bottles visible, she figured the rest were in the fridge cooling as the ones they were carrying had ice in them.

"Come on Rave, we'll know in due time." DB said as he walked out with his tray. Ravena still felt a bit uneasy but followed the vampire out towards the others and they began passing out drinks.

"One for everyone, Naenia said to drink up and finished this first one before we start nya." Ravena said as she placed the tray in the center of the coffee table in the middle as she experimentally sipped her cup.

"Finish our drinks, what kind of rule is that?" Rose stared at her drink as if trying to see if there was something physically wrong with it.

"It looks like one of the drinks you can only get here in the area." Grim said as he began drinking his down with no fear. He then picked up an extra glass left by DB and gave it to Doppelman who happily accepted it.

"Tastes as normal as I'm used to; now quit being paranoid will you?" Doppelman shot at the redhead.

"If I were you I'd be more paranoid of when I kill you." Rose said before she downed her drink as well.

"Still, the shade has a death wish trying to peep on all of you." Shadow said as he took light sips of his drink. "The fact that he is a shade is probably why he's still alive, though I bet he was trying spy his eyes on something few are lucky to see."

"Aww was that a compliment Shadow-kyun?" Ravena asked causing Shadow to look away blushing slightly.

"You know what I mean by that, besides I still need to take care of Doppelman for the fact that he peeped on all of you, even Amaya." Shadow said.

"I-It's fine, I'm sure all that we did we paid him back twice-over for you." Illu said a little read in the face from Ravena's teasing as she took a few sips of her drink. "This is really good, DB did you and Key really find this in a shop?" She asked amazed at the taste.

"Yeah, Naenia placed an order early on today and we had to pick it up and carry it. The ones who work here calls it Frenesí de Naranja, all they said is that it's usually reserved for parties and that it's not dangerous." DB said as he drank his down in one.

"Frenesí de Naranja, I'm sure that I've heard of that name before." Key said as he drank from his cup. "The place we went to wasn't really a drinking place so I don't think this is alcohol."

"Of course it's not, do you think Naenia would have us carry beer back to the Inn?" DB joked as he set his empty glass down. A few of the others had finished their drinks just as Naenia walked out the kitchen with another bottle and what seemed to be a cup full of sticks.

"Well it looks like most of you finished your drinks." Naenia said.

"We sure did and boy are these great!" Bella said as she waved her empty cup around. "Are there any more of that lying around?" The toon girl asked.

"Of course, that's why I brought the bottle so that you can refill whenever. There is plenty that are in the fridge cooling now." Naenia said as she set the bottle on top of the tray letting those who wanted a refill to pass it around and fill their cups.

"The drink is good Neesan, but what exactly is it nya?" Ravena said as she smelled the rest of her first cup, she didn't know why but something smelled off. Grim and Key, likewise didn't finish their first cup right away as the others were getting done with their second cup.

"DB said that it's not beer but I'm sure Frenesí de Naranja is from something." Grim tried to think as he handed over a newly filled cup to Doppelman. "I just can't figure at what it is." The mercenary sighed defeated.

"Frenesí de Naranja, that's Orange something…oh, Orange Frenzy is what that translates to." Shadow said though there was a bit of a blush on his cheeks as he tugged a bit on his collar.

"Naenia-san, those sticks….don't we're going to play-" Illu was about to say when Naenia cut her off.

"JA-JA! KING'S GAME BEGINS NOW~!" declared Naenia excitedly much to the surprise of everyone.

"King's Game?" DB said confused.

"We can't have a party without a game, and what better way to kick off a vacation than with the King's Game." Naenia explained as she took a sip of her beverage. "And the drinks are also the perfect way to get everyone in the mood to play."

"The drinks…wait you mean these are alcoholic?!" Grim asked seeing the varying blushes on the others faces that continued to drink the orange liquid.

"Nya, I knew these drinks smelled weird." Ravena said as she quickly set her drink on the table, not wanting to continue. "DB said that it wasn't beer, so what is it? Wine?"

"Correct; Frenesí de Naranja is a strong potent drink that can only be acquired here and can only be consumed in this area. The drink can't be taken out of the area so it isn't that well know; only those who know their wines knows it exists here." Naenia said.

"Still how does Shadow know what the drink is, he isn't a drinker." DB said. "In fact, I think this is the first time I ever seen him drink."

"More like Shadow-kyun knew how the name translates and not what the drink is." Ravena guessed and then looked to Naenia. "Maybe we should wait for everyone to sober up a bit mor…" The catgirl was then interrupted by the loud slamming of a glass on the table; everyone then turned their attention to a slightly red faced Rose.

"Lesh get thish game started already!" Rose yelled out. "Don't think you can try and call thish off thinking we can't handle it cuz I'm young; well I'm playing the King's Game and ain't nobody stopping me! I'm grown too dammit!" The bounty huntress proclaimed.

"Oh God, is she drunk?" Grim asked.

Naenia waved off the response with a smile. "Well if that's not an invitation I don't know what is, so let's get started." She said as she held up a cup with the sticks inside.

"So for those of us who don't know, what is the King's Game nya?" Ravena asked looking slightly nervous. The one who answered her was the cheerful voice of Illu who had now finished her second drink.

"Its eaaaasy~ Ravena-chaaan~ everyone draws a stick, straw, or whatever that have numbers marked on them. One of the sticks, however, is marked red and that makes them King~!" then blushing hybrid then giggled a bit. "The other sticks have numbers on them, the King gets to order the numbers to do whatever they want…but they won't know who is who until they called an order." Illu finished her explanation on the Adult Drinking Game.

"Woohoo, who would've thought the shy girl, would know so much about adult games." Doppelman said, causing Grim to sweatdrop as he saw his shadow was possibly under the drink's influence as well.

"Looks like the lot of them are drunk." Grim concluded.

"Wonder how Chokobi would feel knowing that Illu-tan is drunk right now nya?" Ravena's ears then twitched hearing the sound of sniffling; the nekomata then turned sights to Bella who had tears streaming down her face. "Bella, are you ok?" She asked concerned for her friend.

"N-no I'm…" Bella stuttered out, with the tears becoming small waterfalls. "I'm just happy to have such good friends, waaaaaaaaah!" The girl continued to cry.

"Ok…now this isn't normal." DB said.

"All the better reason to play the game, everyone pick your poison!" Naenia offered the cup in the center for all of them to reach and pull out. As everyone now had a stick in their hands Naenia then asked the important question. "Ok, so who's the King?"

Doppelman then broke his bonds and then held up his stick in the air triumphantly as the end was marked red. "Lady Luck is with me tonight, I'm the King baby! Now to give my first order as your magnificent king" The shadow said, obviously happy with his role. Grim grumbled as he hoped this night wouldn't turn into one that they would regret.

"Great, we're already doomed since Doppelman's in charge." Grim said.

"As your royal highness, I hereby order…Number #1, to plant a big wet one on the King tonight!" Doppelman said to a few of the Sober ones shock.

"Oh my, such a daring and bold order indeed" Naenia said in surprise.

"Does that mean the Ice Goddess is my Number #1?" Doppelman asked. Excitedly before DB could say anything Naenia calmed him down by showing the number on the straw that read #4.

"Sorry, but I'm already taken." Naenia smiled.

"Pity my princess would be in another castle, so what about the rest of you?" Looking around the room Ravena and DB showed their sticks showing they weren't the ones chosen; Illu was laughing at the King's puns but the stick in her hand read #2. Doppelman looked in worry that his 'Princess' might be a 'Prince' but Grim, Key, and Shadow all showed sticks with different numbers. "Well it's good that I won't be kissing any guys, but this isn't right, where's my Princess?!" The shade whined wondering who the mysterious holder of the winning stick is (or in his eyes, the winning stick).

"Uh…" Everyone then saw Bella holding the stick marked with the number one across the side. "Yeah the number is me." The toon girl said, seeming to have recovered slightly from the tears she was producing moments ago.

"Well the King's words are absolute." Naenia said.

"YEAH KISS HIM, KISS HIM!" Rose and Illu cheered on in unison as they both were now definitely hammered as the few sober ones saw that the girls had somehow refilled their glasses a third time.

"This might get out of hand nya." Ravena said.

"Oh I wouldn't say so my dear." Key said, catching Ravena's attention as she noticed that he also had the telltale drunk blush across his face. "An order like that was much to light, the one called should have performed a much more daring feat." The catgirl noticed that the Beta was fiddling with his shirt as if trying to remove it while he leaned in closer to the girl.

"And what would be more daring than a kiss?" Ravena asked swallowing nervously.

"I'm glad you asked, the one order could perform a service to the King. Maybe a full seven minutes in heaven in the King's Courtroom." Key said, with a lecherous grin on his face. "Or maybe not even the Courtroom; there are two rooms with plenty of beds with vacancies in them now."

'I really hope Key doesn't end up becoming King nya.' Ravena thought as her ears dropped a bit in worry.

"Well I wish I would've gotten a better selection, but the only thing that can be done now is to pucker up." Doppelman said as he and Bella stood up from their seats and in front of one another. The other participants either cheered or looked on in anticipation. Seeing that Bella was slowly closing the gap Doppelman closed his eyes and received his kiss. Once the kiss was over Doppelman's eyes was still closed but the drunken shade seemed to have enjoyed it. "That…wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

"Oh my heart is all a flutter…though I'm a skeleton so I have no heart!" In shock and horror, Doppelman opened his eyes and paled to see the one standing in front of him now was the skeleton Brook standing in front of him. "Skull Joke, YOHOHOHOHO!" The skeleton raved.

Doppelman then held a hand to his mouth as his pale face then turned a sickly green. "What the hell…I'm going to be sick!" Doppelman then ran off, probably towards the nearest bathroom.

"Come on, doesn't the king have another command?" The Skeleton then pranced after him.

"Stay the hell away from me!"

As the rest of them heard the crashes as the two chased each other out of the room, Rose was the one to call their focus back to the game. "The first round ish OVER~! We've got two people thash out." The drunken redhead slurred.

"Pfft….HAHAHAHA, Skull Joke, AHAAHAHAHA!" Illu fell back in laughter, almost sliding off of her seat on the long couch. "Bella-chan, yaoi…ahahaahahaha!" The girl said, seeming to not stopping to laugh soon.

"Looks like your guild can't really hold their liquor DB." Naenia commented as she slowly sipped her glass, still on her face as she knew the correct way to drink the wine.

"Hey some of them I expected to not have drunk before, besides Rave's doing just fine." DB objected. "Still, didn't you expect this when you decided to have this game; I thought you could see into the future?"

"Now now, let's not point fingers; besides I wouldn't have spoiled this moment." Naenia laughed causing the vampire to groan.

"Well we might not be the only ones sober nya, Grimmy still up with us and Shadow-kyun hasn't done anything weird yet." The nekomata said noticing that Shadow was still on his second cup, still drinking slightly.

"I'm quiet…because I'm waiting for them to hurry the hell up!" Shadow suddenly yelled causing the catgirl to jump back a bit in shock; he then grabbed two sticks out of the cup and tossed them aside. "They're out right, now let's continue on; pass the sticks already! I'm ready to be King!" The leader of Kurotsubasa continued his rant.

"I think you created a monster Neesama." Ravena said in a low breath.

"Guess we have to start the next round then." A second later, after checking to make sure the numbers were in order, the entire group each had a new stick and was checking to see what they had. "So who's the King now? Naenia said.

"About time!" A stomp on the table caught everyone off guard as a stick was tossed up in the air and then coolly caught by Shadow who was standing with one foot on the table still displaying the red tipped stick. "Was there any doubt…the King would be me?"

"Please tell me this order wouldn't be as bad as the last one." Grim said, shivering a bit as he recalled the last order. He wondered how the girl found a loophole in the no powers used, but then again the powers wasn't be used in a harmful way and Doppelman didn't count as another human.

"What do you mean Grim-chaaaaan~ that's not how the game works." Illu said. "The orders have to get more and more extreme, that's the fun part!"

"So if the last King just wanted a kiss, then the next King can ask for something even more." Key then began to chuckle, creeping Ravena a bit as she slowly slide away from the boy's now perverted eyes that were suddenly looking at her.

"Ooh, ooh; you should make the one called have to sit on your lap!" Rose called on.

"No they should more extreme, they should have to hug him~!" Illu suggested.

"Or maybe fullbody contact!"

"Great idea!"

"Kill…me…now." DB slowly said feeling like his world was just turned upside down.

"Come on, what's the order already?!" Key asked, getting excited from all the proposals the two girls have given out.

"Silence commoner, for it is the King who gets to speak!" Shadow said as he then sat down lounged on his spot on the couch. "All right then, since all of those ideas were so good I'll take one of them…Number #5, sit on my lap." The King ordered.

Three of the sober ones' eyes widened at the order. They all then noticed how silent Ravena was, as the girl was now blushing red with her tails all fluffed up; however, it was not from the wine but rather the fact that she was holding the Number #5 stick. "I g-guess that's me nya." The catgirl said nervously.

"The King's orders are absolute." Shadow said as he sat patting his lap, waiting expectantly.

"He does have a point there Little Sis'" Naenia said. Ravena was still blushing but she still stood up as she was being cheered on by the drunken cheerleaders: Rose and Illu. Once she reached the couch, Ravena quickly turned around and sat in her new seat on Shadow's lap, still blushing from embarrassment.

"Wow, I can't believe you did it Rave-chan!" Illu giggled a bit, but what she said next surprised the catgirl more. "Ok my turn!" It happened so fast that Ravena didn't even noticed that she was now sitting next to Shadow as Illu bumped the girl off and was sitting on the boy's lap, only the hybrid girl seemed to enjoy her position as she was hugging against him, pressing her generous C-cup chest as her arms were around his neck.

"See Ravena-chaaaan~ you have to really enjoy yourself. Hug him too!" The drunken hybrid said causing the nekomata to sweatdrop. "Huggy-huggy~HAHAHAHA~!"

"Now hold on there!" Rose said with an angry frown on her face. The others thought that maybe the sight had reverted her back to her senses but they were horribly mistaken. "If anyone ish going to enjoy Sensei's lap ish going to be his first disciple!" The redhead then hip checked Illu who now had an annoyed look when her hug time was cut short. Rose now had a look of bliss as she rest her face next to his, holding his arm against her chest.

"Ahhh~! Sensei-chan is soooooo cuddly~!" squealed Rose unnaturally making Grim and DB exchange looks with each other. Shadow on the other hand held a straight face the entire time.

Naenia let out an impressed whistle seeing that Illu had taken her spot back when Rose hadn't noticed and that Ravena just sat next to them trying to let her blush die down, though she looked as though she wanted a quick picture of then scene and maybe using her Visor to screenshot. "Well isn't he popular, could it be he has noticed their feelings before?"

"I doubt that….If there's one thing Shadow doesn't know, it's when a girl has feelings for him." DB said and then noticed someone was missing from the room. "Hey, where did Key go?"

"He left right after Ravena sat on Shadow's lap." Grim answered them, "He said something about, wanting to feel what it's like to have two girls sit on his lap so he left the room. You two have any idea what he was talking about?"

"I think I have a clue." DB said, mentally wishing for Key to return the next morning safe.

"Well the game haves to keep going, so I'm afraid I have to break up the love fest." Naenia said as she walked over to separate the girls from the former King's lap so that they could start round three.

"Booo…." Pouted Rose while Illu continued laughing as Ravena dragged her back to her seat.

Naenia finally got rid Key's stick before handing out the cup again. "Now who's the King?"

"ISHA ME~!" squealed Rose happily holding up her stick with pride. "AND I COMMAND NUMBER #3 TO BOW DOWN AND BECOME MY LOYAL STEED!"

Ravena nervously turned over her stick before sighing in relief that she had gotten Number #1. Next to her Grim also sighed in relief seeing that he had a different number. Shadow, Illu and Naenia also appeared to be safe which only left one person.

"Seriously…Kill me now…." Groaned DB as he face-palmed himself. Sure enough, the vampire held the unfortunate Number 3 in his hand.

"Come on! Number #3~! I'm waiting~!" called Rose teasingly as she stood up while Illu fell on her back and continued laughing.

With a pained look he tossed at Naenia, the vampire had no choice but to get on all fours and give Rose a ride around the room.

"Hiya! Horsey! Hiya~! Giddy-up!" cheered Rose as she tugged on DB's hair making the boy cringe in pain as he got forced to pick up the pace.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAH, DB'S A HORSEY! KYAHAHAHAHAHA~! Hic! " laughed Illu uncontrollably, tears already pouring out from the corners of her eyes.

"Hey Grim, filler up!" commanded Shadow as he jerked his cup at the player who sweat-dropped.

"Nee-sama! Please I beg you let's stop the game before we get kicked out-nya!" pleaded Ravena desperately, clearly freaked out at the scene before her.

"Come now Sweetie, you're just exaggeratin- " Naenia was about to say when suddenly she heard DB yelp in pain.

"OW-OW-OW! Get her off me!" yelled DB as Ravena and Naenia turned to see Rose was now clinging on to DB and was chewing on his head. (A.N. Imagine Maka when she chewed on Chrona's head.)

"OM-NOM-NOM-NOM-NOM~!" went Rose as she happily continued chewing on the vampire's head.

"KYAHAHAHAHAHA~! Hic! ROSE-CHWAN-hic- LOOKS FUNNY~! HAHAHAHAA…..! Hic!" laughed and hiccupped Illu hysterically.

"Gimme the bottle Grim!" demanded Shadow as he tried climbing over the bounty hunter who was using his right leg and hand to hold him off while Grim was doing his best to hold the bottle out of reach.

"Forget it!" yelled Grim through gritted teeth as he held the bottle out further.

Ravena folded her arms and cast Naenia who sweat-dropped and scratched her cheek. "Well, uh…I guess we should end it here…."

"Gee, ya think?!" yelled Grim, Ravena and DB in unison making Naenia flinch.

"Anyway we got to deal with these drunken nutcases before we go catch DP and the other two!" said Grim who now had progressed to wrestling Shadow for the bottle that held the rest of the alcoholic beverage.

"Don't worry, I got this-nya!" Ravena quickly volunteered as she quickly made her way over to Shadow. "I'm so sorry Shadow!" she apologized as her hands began to fly in a flurry striking Shadow's chi points making freeze before falling limp on top of Grim unconscious.

"Thanks Rave," said Grim as he pushed the Guild Leader of him.

"I could use some help here!" called DB as Naenia quickly went up and tried to pull Rose off the vampire, but the rogue clung tightly.

"I'm a KOAAAAALAAAAA~Hic! Hic!" exclaimed Rose deliriously as she wrapped her arms and legs around DB.

"Rave!" called DB loudly as Ravena quickly ran over and struck Rose's chi points knocking her out as she did with Shadow so that she fell limp in Naenia's arms.

"That's two down," noted Naenia before everyone's attention turned to the hysterically laughing owl girl who was now rolling and hiccupping all over the floor.

"The world is SPINNING~! WHEEEE~! HEE-HEE-HEE~!" squealed Illu loudly.

Ravena hesitated a bit at striking her best friend as she stared at the girl briefly at a loss.

"OH COME ON!" Felis exclaimed in annoyance as she suddenly took over Ravena. Ravena's eyes flashed into Felis's eyes briefly as the girl suddenly grabbed Illu by the collar. With a loud thud, Felis gave a single hard head-butt to Illu effectively silencing the hybrid as she collapsed on to the floor with swirly eyes and a steaming bump on her forehead.

"AAH! I'm so sorry Illu! It was Felis I swear!" exclaimed Ravena in a panic when she suddenly regained control of herself.

Naenia and Grim both looked at DB who just shook his head. "Don't ask, look we have to go out and gather Bella, Key, and Doppelman before they get into any more trouble." The vampire said, getting them to agree as he got Ravena to release Illu.

"That's a good idea, Ravena since you can disable them you can come with me to search for the runaways and Grim since Doppelman is your shadow you should be able to better track him down then any of us." Naenia planned out. "DB, why don't you put everyone to their bed, I think it would be best if they all thought of this as a bad dream."

"More like a nightmare, I think I still feel bite-marks on my scalp." DB said, glad that his healing was still taking effect. "Seriously, we are never getting them drunk…EVER."

"I'll keep that in mind, ok let us go." Naenia said as the three of them ran out the door in pursuit. DB stayed where he was and rubbed his abused head as he looked at the three passed out players; he made a move to do as Naenia planned but then an idea caused him to smile deviously.

"Sorry Naenia, but this is too good to pass up, besides she owes me for the ride and the bite anyway."

(Scene Change)

"This place is huge, how are we going to find them nya?" Ravena asked as they started their search. Grim had taken the lead seeing that Bella was chasing after Doppelman; said person was looking around using his connection to find the runaway shadow.

"Well they're not far, I feel Doppelman up ahead." Grim said as he opened a door that lead them outside. The three then came to the sight of Bella lying down in front of a tall tree, after checking her friend Ravena let out a sigh of relief that the toon girl was still breathing judging from how loud she was snoring.

"Thank goodness nya, she's just out cold." The catgirl said.

"Well that's one less person to track down, Doppelman!" Grim called out, sensing that the shadow was still around.

"Not so loud! Before you wake her up!" They all then saw the shadow hanging from the tree quivering in fright.

"What are you doing up there?"

"What do you think, hiding from that monster?"

Grim just placed a palm against his face and groaned at his shade's ridiculous attitude. "First of all, Bella is out cold and second you're a shadow just sink back into the ground!" The reaper said; he didn't know if Doppelman was still drunk or he deliberately was doing this out of fear.

"You think I'm going to fall for that fake sleep trick, it's all a trap! A Trap, I tell ya! There is no way I'm going to fall for-" WHACK!

A solid blow to the head later caused Doppelman to slump over unconscious and then fall out of the tree. After collecting Doppelman, Grim just looked over to Naenia who was now tossing a rock in her hand.

"We don't exactly have all night Grim and that was the quickest way to get him down." The priestess said. The two then saw Ravena carrying Bella, the girls decided to have Grim take the girl back to the room so that they could search for the final member of their drunken party. "Now Grim said something about Key wanting to experience…the same situation Shadow was in, do you have a clue what that means Ravena?" Naenia asked.

"I think I have an idea, but hopefully I'm wrong." Ravena said. "Let's find Ani-Key before he ends up arrested." The catgirl said to Naenia's confusion but the girl decided to follow Ravena as they continued to scour around for the runaway Beta. Following Ravena's intuition, they ended up near the front asking the receptionists some questions.

"So you believe that Key has run off with someone from the Admin?" Naenia asked as they were walking to the room number they were given.

"Something like that, if he's not with Rina then I don't have a clue where he is since I don't know where TPB is staying." Ravena said. "Nya, something inside me knew this was a bad idea when I tasted that drink."

"Well, think of this as an experience you can't take back since it looks like you and DB will be the only ones from your guild to remember this night." Naenia said. "Besides all the chaos that followed, how was your seat?'"

"N-neesama!" Ravena blushed brightly. Naenia laughed as they made it to the door; before they could knock Cast had already opened it and was surprised to see the two girls at her door.

"Oh, it's you two, Ravena I think you owe me an explanation." Cast said, folding her arms.

"Nya, we can explain later but please tell me that Key is here." Ravena pleaded to the Admin.

"He's here…and he's also brought a guest over, I tried to talk Rina out of it but things got out of hand quickly here." Cast began to explain. "Then your friend…placed his hands on my chest, so then I needed the quickest way to knock him out."

"Did you hurt him nya?" Ravena asked.

"I wouldn't know it was Leon who knocked him out." Cast said surprising Ravena. "I had to knock out Rina and the girl Key had brought over, it seemed he had more planned than just the make out session he had." She said with a small blush on her cheeks.

"If Leon didn't kill him, we'll take him back now." Ravena said with Naenia nodding. They then walked inside to collect an unconscious Key from an annoyed Leon's grasp. The two girls widened their eyes at the sizeable throbbing lump protruding from the back of his head and the glowing red hand-prints that decorated his cheeks.

"Next time, try and keep a tighter leash on him." Leon said sternly as he handed him over to Ravena.

"I'll keep that in mind" Ravena said. After making sure they weren't going to report the Beta on account for his drunkenness they then were able to carry him back to their room.

"Well this night could've gone better." Naenia said taking full responsibility. "All we need to do now is just rest for the night."

"I agree I'm sure Punnya wouldn't mind spending the night since we can't exactly find Rosie's key." Ravena said. The two went inside and saw Grim helping to clean up after the disaster. "Hey Grimmy, mission accomplish, where's DB?"

"Still taking blackmail shots." Seeing their confused looks he just pointed to the boy's room, they decided to check it out only to see DB standing with a camera taking pictures.

"Oh you two are just in time." DB smiled as he showed off the scene. Ravena and Naenia sweat-dropped as they saw Rose and Illu still knocked out but were cuddling against Shadow in their sleep. The vampire took a final snapshot and then turned back to the girls. "Well what do you think?"

Ravena and Naenia opened their mouths wanting to say something but exchanged looks with each other and sighed, waving DB off. "Forget it… I don't even care anymore….I'm going to bed…" said a worn out Naenia.

Ravena released a big yawn and nodded sleepily. "Send me copies D…."said the catgirl before yawning a second time as the two girls trudged back to their room.

(The next day)

"Oww, my face feels so sore. Does anyone remember what happened last night?" Key asked, wincing as he felt the sore and sensitive parts of his face. "Last night was a blur; I can't remember much of it." The Beta said as he thanked DB as he accepted the cup of water the vampire gave him.

"I can tell you this, you didn't miss anything special." DB said, as he was trying to cover up last night's fiasco.

"Really, well something must have happened for my face to feel this sore and I have a pounding headache too." Key said.

"Trust me it was nothing, maybe it was just the way you slept." DB said.

"Speaking of sleep, I think I was still dreaming because when I woke up I thought there was more than one person in Shadow's bed." Key said not noticing DB sweating nervously. "Though my head was pounding so hard I didn't even bother to check, maybe that was just whatever weird dream I had last night."

"We all have those kinds of dreams sometimes, hey maybe you should hit the hot springs or something to deal with your headache. It's our last day to enjoy our trip before heading back to Tokyo City." DB reminded them. "You know, I'll join you; go on ahead and see if it's open for guys yet. I'll wake up Shads and see if he wants to go."

Key seemed to agree with that and walked out the door, still clutching his head in slight pain. DB then breathed in relief, not noticing he was holding his breath for so long as he turned to the boy's room. "Now to the Lion's Den."

"They're still like that DB-chan?" DB looked and saw that Ravena was awake as well. Seeing as they were the only ones who were sober last night they didn't sleep in like the other members did. "I thought one of them would've woken up last night nya."

"Apparently not," DB said.

Ravena nodded but then smiled as she waved him forward. "Well, you were the one who thought it would be funny so you're the one who has to wake them up." The catgirl said cheerfully.

"Well don't be so happy, I'll be lucky of the redheaded demon girl doesn't kill me." DB said as he entered room. Ravena decided to follow after him to be, in her words, moral support; though she made it clear that DB would be the one to wake them seeing as it was his fault they were in that position. The two saw that during the night both girls were asleep on both sides of the beds, each with an arm to themselves, as the boy was also asleep.

Ravena took out a camera and decided to take a picture for herself before she sent DB forward to wake them up. The vampire sighed dejectedly as he looked for something around the room to use to try and poke them awake; he settled for using a stick Ravena gave him and went to poke the first one, Rose, who suddenly grabbed the stick and yanked it forward so that she could kick DB out of the room.

"Serves him right…damn Doppelman trying to sneak in here" Rose drowsily stated as she began to stretch, just now waking up. "Argh, my head hurts…is this what a hangover feels like?" The girl said rubbing her temples.

"Kind of nya" Rose then opened her eyes and saw Ravena standing there next to the open door where she unconsciously kicked DB out off. "What are you doing in my room Boobcat; more importantly how did you get a key to my door?"

"Guess again, Rosie." Ravena said when she saw that Rose was still confused she just pointed in finger back down to the bed. "You might understand more when you see who you've been using as a pillow."

"Pillow what are you talking abou…" Rose then froze in shock as her face turned completely red as she stared back at the bed and saw Shadow still asleep. "Wha-wha-what the hell…how and why…"

"Long story really…." Ravena tried to explain. "That drink that Naenia-neesama had you drink, well it was a really strong wine and…"

"That doesn't explain why we were suddenly in bed!" Rose yelled as she checked herself to see if sleeping was the only thing they did; the girl let out a breath seeing as they didn't go further though she was confused at the string of black hair that she found in her mouth after her search.

"Ummm….Chocobo, not so loud~" Illu groaned as she then rolled in her sleep, ended up on top of the sleeping Shadow to the others shock. Feeling that she was no longer on the soft cushion of the mattress, Illu opened her eyes and steam formed from her face as it lit up; before she could scream Ravena placed a hand over her mouth and quickly dragged her out of bed.

"Take calm deep breaths Illu-tan." Ravena said, as she got Illu out of bed hoping that the girl's embarrassment would fade soon. Seeing her this way, the neko could guess why Illu was so embarrassed, not from the fact of sharing a bed with a boy but her coat was completely open. Ravena thought back to last night and remembered Illu had unzipped her coat back when she was drunk.

"Mmm cmmmhm, yhm hmm mm om mm mmouth mavena!" Ravena understood what she was saying and took her hand off allowing Illu to take deep breaths of oxygen. Once the girl was calm she then clutched her head in pain. "Owe, my head hurts…even more than back when we were training. What happened, how did I end up in bed with Shadow?"

"That's exactly what I want to know." Rose said as she was now angry. "And I'm sure Naenia is to blame for the fact that she brought the drinks; wait until I give her a piece of my mind!" she growled before suddenly cringing in pain again.

Suddenly, Shadow gave a small groan and stirred, causing the Rose and Illu to panic as they quickly (albeit clumsily) scampered out the door pass Ravena. Looking back to the Guild Leader, Ravena sighed and shook her head as she walked up to the bed to try and wake Shadow up by tickling him with her tail but all that was get Shadow to grab it and hug it like a pillow.

Just then an idea struck the cat-girl as she suddenly cleared her voice and knelt down next to Shadow's ear. "Sweetie…..it's time to get up~…" she whispered in a motherly tone.

"Oh….Five more minutes Mom….." groaned Shadow a bit before rolling over.

"Come on Honey….or you'll be late for school…breakfast is on the table~…."

With a defeated groan Shadow rolled back to his original position and slowly opened his eyes to see blurriness. After blinking a few times, his vision finally cleared to seeing Ravena's face close to his.

"WAH!" THUMP! Shadow exclaimed as he pulled back, falling off the bed in the process making Ravena laugh.

"Morning Sunshine~" greeted Ravena cheerfully.

"RAVENA?! What are you doing in my ro-Arrgh!" yelled Shadow before the headache suddenly attacked him.

"It's morning Silly, and the last day of our trip, so look alive Great Leader!" declared Ravena making Shadow cringe again in pain.

"Uggh…I had this weird dream…. Doppelman was dancing with Brook…Illu was laughing and spinning…DB turned into a Horse was giving a ride to a Giant Koala dressed like Rose….."

Ravena suddenly averted her eyes and turned away much to the confusion of Shadow. "Uh…wow…weird dream…yeah! I'm gonna go now!" said the catgirl hurriedly before dashing out the door.

Shadow sweatdropped at the girl's actions but decided to get out of bed and stretched a bit feeling how sore his body was as well. "Must have just been a dream, but then again I don't remember much of last night." As the guild leader went to leave the room he saw DB slump on the ground. "DB what are you doing?"

"I was going to see if you wanted to come with me and Key to the spa, since he said things like he wasn't feeling well when he woke up." The vampire explained.

"You don't exactly look 100% either D, why are you on the ground?" Shadow asked.

"Because, stuff…" DB said as he stood to his feet. "Anyway let's hurry up an meet Key so that you can deal with that headache."

"How'd you know I have a headache?"

"Lucky guess, come on let's go!" DB said, dragging Shadow along with him.

(Time Skip)

After the men went off to the springs and the women gathered everything up and made sure the guild wasn't missing anything. They all soon met back in the living room where they saw that they all had received outfits left on the table by the staff members. "So you don't remember what happened last night either Illu?" Shadow asked, seeing as both he and Key couldn't remember much.

"Not really, last night was all a blur and Ravena-chan and Naenia-san wouldn't tell me much." Illu said, with Mukurowl and Nyoka perching on her shoulder and wrapped around her neck respectively. The hybrid took the time to go to Rose's room and brought their pets back with her.

"It's really nothing nya, we were just having so much fun it wore you three out!" Ravena said and then quickly brought attention to the clothes they had all received. All the boys had Hawaiian shirts and cargo shorts, while the girls all had sundresses. "So why do you think they left us these clothes nya?"

"Well on the way back there was a sign talking about a Luau and that all the guests were invited." Key said. "It's in a little while but if we want to get back to the base in time we may have to miss it." The Beta said.

"What, the vacation was for two days and it's the last day we can't just leave early!" Bella reminded them. "We still have the rest of the day; you promised two days so you can't just cut it short!"

"I know that Bella." Shadow said, wincing at the volume. "We do have to get back, but I did promise we would have two days of vacation before returning back to Tokyo City." The guild leader said as he proceeded to compromise. "How's this, it looks like the Luau will take up most of the day by itself so we'll stay for that if everyone can get ready to hit the road afterwards."

"Now that's what I want to hear!" Bella smiled and then she looked down to the dress she was given to wear. "Though I don't like the fact that I have to wear this dress to the Luau," The tomboy toon girl said as she placed her dress back down.

"But you need to wear it to go to the party nya." Ravena said, to Bella's displeasure.

"Punnya-Punnya-Nya~!" mewed Punnya in agreement as she bounced on Ravena's head.

Illu came to behind Bella and patted her friend comfortably on her back. "Cheer up Bella-chan, this is the last day we have on vacation and we have to make the most of it." The hybrid girl said. While she can't remember the night before she still wanted to have some good memories with her friends at the Inn.

Bella sighed. "Fine, but I don't see why. Can't I just go and swap it for one of the guys outfits?"

"You can try but we'll see how far you get." Shadow said. "I'm going to go change and then make sure to collect our things from the front desk; I'll put in the van so that we can leave easier." Shadow then went into the room to change into the shirt and short combo; after he was done and left with Amaya on his head the rest began to pack up their things as they all agreed to meet back in front of their room.

"Well girls, let's go get ourselves pretty…." Muttered Bella in obvious disdain as she and others went back into their room to change.

Naenia was already in before them having already changed into her sundress, simple with a long flowing skirt. It was a light pink with sakura flowers and petals adorning the bottom of the skirt with a single pink flower adorning the left strap.

"Good timing girls, could one of you help me with the ribbon please?" she asked as she turned around.

Illu nodded as she stepped forward to help Naenia while Ravena and Bella went to change into their dresses.

(Scene Change)

Soon, all of Kurotsubasa and company met again in the front lobby and decided to go to the Luau as one group. When the girls arrived they even were able to convince Rose to join, though the girl refused to meet Shadow's eyes to his confusion; when he tried asking the others he got no responses though he did spot a small blush on Illu's face. The guild leader decided to dismiss it as they got to their table out on the beach which coincidentally was next to Aetherion's table.

"Chocobo, you guys decided to stay awhile longer too?" Illu asked, surprised to see the whole guild was still there. However, the owl girl had a guess as to why her protective brother would want to stay.

"Hey even if the Guild Wars are tomorrow, that doesn't mean we still can' live in the now and enjoy our vacation." Aeon defended himself seeing the accusing look on Illu's face. "And will it kill you once to call me Aeon in public?!" The dragon hybrid asked, trying to change the subject quickly.

"Nya, I think we both know the answer to that Chokobi!" Ravena answered for her, causing Aeon to lower his head in defeat. "Still I figured you guys would at least leave to check out your base, don't you have another one in the Asian Server to look after?"

"That's my job and I know for a fact that our Headquarters is well protected," Ganymede answered. "All we need to do is relax and count down the hours until the Guild Wars begin; Aetherion is certainly ready for the competition, can I say the same for the rest of you?"

"Guess we'll find out when the day comes." Shadow answered. As they all sat, several Inn workers walked around the tables handing out flower pins for the girls to wear in their hairs and leis made of bright colored flowers for everyone to wear around their necks. "I'll say this; for once Bella had the right idea that didn't involve too much collateral damage. Guess we really did need this vacation."

"Told you so!" The toon girl said, smiling. "And I'm glad you said that, because I've been thinking that we take vacations like these each year! I know a great spot for us to go during the holidays."

"No thanks, last time you had us stranded in the middle of the North Pole." DB dully said.

"Hey we made it back didn't we?"

"We almost froze to death!"

"The North Pole, my you've been to some out of the way places. I figured you would all keep your bearings in Tokyo City." Naenia said.

"We have to go where work takes us, just because we accept the jobs in Tokyo City doesn't mean the jobs are always in that town." Key answered. "We've been to a few corners of this Server and back."

"I see; I'll have to ask DB to tell me those stories." Naenia said.

"You know, the one thing that wasn't right about this vacation was last night." Sol said, not noticing Ravena, DB, and Naenia tense up. "Did any of you hear any of that strange noise that was going on?" He asked them all.

"Sol I told you before that it was your imagination." Malachite said. "Anyway it was probably someone who had their TVs on too loud." The blonde then turned to the others. "He's been saying things all night in our room about hearing strange sounds around the Inn at night; please tell him he's wrong."

"I wish I could Mal-nii, but last night was kind of a blur." Illu said. "I can't even ask Muku-chan or Nyoka-chan what happened because they weren't with me at the time." The girl said about her pets as they remained on her person as opposed to Punnya who was with Mazareth; Amaya decided to keep her spot on Shadow's head.

"Well we mostly had to put up with the cats flirting over there." Nyoka said. Punnya seemed to have heard her causing the Neko-Manju to stick her tongue out at the small snake. "Trust me Illu-sama it was unbearable."

Ignoring the snake's words, Zephyrus decided to continue the conversation. "Anyway…I didn't even hear whatever Sol was talking about; all we've pretty much done if not relax on the beach or order room service was fight over the sleeping arrangements. It's not really fair when you have five guys and one girl in a room." The Wind user explained.

"But Zephy-kun, I already told you we could've shared the room together. Wouldn't that have been much easier than having to fight over who gets what bed and who sleeps on the floor or the couch?" Saphir asked.

"That's all right Saphir-chan; I just didn't want anything embarrassing to happen to us and even in a game it would still be frowned upon for us to share a bed here." Zephyrus said to Saphir's frowned look.

"I see Saphir-chan is still trying to have pups with Zephy-nii." Illu said causing the two to blush. "Though I didn't hear anything, we all had a party in our own room last night but the strange thing is I can't remember anything much after we got our drinks." The girl explained.

"Drinks…what kind of party were you all having in there?" Aeon said with a brow raised.

"Come on Aeon, Illu-chan is a big girl and she knows not to do anything wrong. Besides look, she doesn't even look to have a scratch on her." Malachite said, before Aeon could enter protective brother mode. As Mal and Aeon proceeded to check Illu's body for any marks Ravena sighed in relief knowing that the bump on Illu's head, that Felis left, was healed.

"Next time, try not to go so out of control in your games." Ganymede said silently, shocking the catgirl.

"How'd you know about that nya?" Ravena asked.

"I specialize in stealth and I have my own ways of looking after Illu, and besides…" Ganymede then slid out a small picture from his robe which Ravena saw was a picture of Illu in Shadow's bed. "It's good teasing material to use on Illu later." He said causing Ravena to sweatdrop.

"Nya, well Mister Know-it-all, do you happen to know why they still have the stage set up?" Ravena asked. That question got everyone's attention as they saw that the stage from the pageant had not been removed but the decorations from before was gone and a large white curtain kept it from view.

"Must be some event the Inn has planned; you guys know you aren't the only ones who are going to be leaving tonight." Rose answered; as the rest were going to ask her why their answer was given from Grim as he appeared out of nowhere with Doppelman behind him.

"She's right; the Guild Wars catches the attention of everyone, even those not in guilds. It's featured even on the Game Channel in the real world so it's highly anticipated; a lot of people are going to be paying close attention when the event starts." Grim explained. "Anyway, the stage is for some event the staff has planned but I don't know anything about it." As Grim sat down in an empty seat Doppelman also found one that was empty.

"Speaking of things we don't know, when we were on our way here we heard the staff talking about how the people in the room next door disappeared. They were saying something about a little boy, a sailor scout, and a pale guy, any idea who they're talking about?" The shade asked.

"Well if the Sailor Scout is Sakura, then they might be talking about BoD since we did see her today." Ravena concluded.

"And the little boy was probably the kid from the tournament, but who would the third one be?" Before they could think any further they heard fanfare from the stage that made everyone present look on as one of the staff walked up with a microphone.

"Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen, we hope you are enjoying the accommodations the Ember Island Inn has provided you thus far." Hearing the sound of applause, the speaker stopped to allow them to finish before she continued. "Now we know a lot of you will be leaving us tonight to catch the upcoming events but we can't allow you to leave the Inn without some memorable moments." At that signal, the curtains were peeled back to reveal the stage which now had a full karaoke system set up. "So before we can leave you with some of our magic, might someone feel brave to step up and lend us their voice?" The woman asked.

"Ooh, why not us?" Bella asked to Shadow's surprise.

"Karaoke really?" Shadow sighed.

"Come on Shads, they're asking for only just one song! We go up there we sing and then they continue with the rest of the party." Bella said. "Besides I don't think anyone else is a rush to get on stage." The toongirl pointed out to all the nervous faces in the crowd; before shadow could object Bella was already on her feet waving to the stage. "Hey is there a chance we can get a group song?!"

"Well that would be a first for a large group to sing a song; I trust you have one short enough?" The Inn member asked.

"Of course!" Bella said, giving her friends a thumbs up to the rest of Kurotsubasa as they were being applauded on by the rest of the vacationers. While Bella went to choose the song the others followed up after her.

"Be sure to put on a good show, I want my recorder to capture everything." Rose teased them as they got on stage.

"That's a bit cruel isn't it?" Grim asked.

"You remember all of last night don't you?" The redhead asked; seeing that Grim didn't speak she decided to take it as a yes. "Well I don't, and I ended up waking up in an unusual situation so this is my way of payback." Rose said.

'Well at least she doesn't remember everything she did last night.' Grim thought as he turned his attention back to the stage.

On stage, each member of Kurotsubasa was waiting as Bella walked over to them smiling with a mike in her hand. Seeing as they had no other choice with the crowd Shadow sighed as he waited for them to play the song Bella chose. "Bella what song did you choose?"

"Trust me; you'll know once you hear it." Bella said with a smirk, when the rest were about to ask what that meant they soon heard the beginning of the song play catching them off guard at the song.

(Play: Teen Titans Trouble in Tokyo Karaoke)

"Oh you didn't." Shadow said, hearing the song play.

"You bet I did, not less talk and more rock!" Bella said as she held the mike up and began the song. Giving the rest only seconds to decide on the order as they decided to pass the mike around.

Bella: "I will obey~ the traffic rules. TEEN TITANS!"

DB: "I will eat everything without likes or dislikes. TEEN TITANS!"

Illu: "Earth, Wind, Lightning Fire, Dad."

Ravena: "Grammar, Math, Science, Social Studies~Nya!"

Illu and Ravena: "There is nothing I am afraid of~~~! TEEN TITANS GO!"

Key: "Holla, Holla, Holla, Holla, Holla, Holla, Holler my name! TEEN TITANS!"

"Half of your troubles will be gone!"

"TEEN TITANS!"

Shadow: "Papa's schedule control. Mama's weight control. Wishes are endless~."

"TEEN TITANS GO!"

All: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5…TEEN TITANS!"

Just as soon as the song ended, all the guests began to cheer and laugh in amusement for the group. Bella flew flying kisses to the crowd enthusiastically while the others took a bow and left the stage.

Once back at their table Ravena couldn't contain herself and began giggling uncontrollably causing the others to look at her.

"That was…..crazy! Hee-hee-hee!" giggled the cat-girl, her face all flushed. "I'm so sorry, I giggle when I get excited sometimes~!"

"See! I'd knew you guys would like it!" said Bella proudly while Grim began to pat Ravena's head to calm her down as the speaker went back on stage.

"Thank You! For our next singer, we have a lovely lady ready to serenade you!" declared the announcer as a familiar girl got up on stage.

"ZEPHY-SAMA~! THIS SONG IS FOR YOU~~~!" called Saphir excitedly as she bounced a little on stage.

Zephyrus who was drinking water from a glass did a sudden spit-take as he quickly looked at the chair beside to see it was empty. 'When did she…?"

"Whoa, she got up there fast!" commented Sol while the rest of Aetherion nodded in agreement. Illu simply sighed and sweat-dropped at her 'sister'.

"Hit it!" commanded Saphir as the familiar drum intro began to play.

(Play Ouran High Theme Song: Sakura Kiss)

Saphir: KISS-KISS, FALL IN LOVE~!

(HEY! HEY! HEY!)

Saphir : Kizukeba itsudemo,

Soba ni iru keredo

Honto wa kirai? Suki?Mousou na no?

Jibun no kimochi ga~Kuria ni mietara!

Lady demo, Hosuto demo,Kamawa nai yo!

Suki ni natteku~

Riyuu wa minna

Chigau yo ne kedo ~….

MAYBE YOU'RE MY LOVE ~!

Aitai ima yasashii kimi niSAKURA KISS~!

Tokimeitara ranman koishi yo!

Mirai yori mo ima ga kanjin,

Uruwashi haru no koi wa~!

Hanasaku otome no bigaku!

(HEY! HEY!)

"MAYBE YOU'RE MY LOVE~!" finished Saphir with a flirtatious wink and a peace sign as the crowd began to cheer for her. As Zephyrus sat in his seat stunned by the song, the rest of the party was clapping at Saphir's performance.

"I'll say this Zephyrus, that's some girl you got up there." Shadow said as the wolf girl had returned to her seat next to the stunned, silver haired Aetherion. After a few more songs, they all saw the equipment was being moved now as they began to set up the closing event.

"Thinking about finding someone for yourself?" Malachite asked, curiously.

"Aren't you?" Shadow dodged the question as he drank from his cup.

"There are too many wonderful flowers out there for me to settle on just one; at least for now." Malachite said, much to the rest of Aetherion's annoyance at his flirtatious nature. "And from that answer I see you haven't found that one person yet, that's good."

"Oh and why's that?" Shadow asked.

"That means Illu-chan still has a shot." Malachite said, causing Shadow to spit out his drink and Illu to blush red.

"MAL-NII!"

"Relax; it's just a simple joke." The blonde continued to smile.

"U-pyon?" Amaya asked, seeing Shadow recovering from the shocking spit-take.

"Don't ask Amaya."

Soon, as the sun continued to go down, torches were being lit around the area providing light as the performers got on stage. Music began to play as several performers got on stage with all of them holding flaming torches; the fire dancers then began their show having everyone look in awe in their performance.

"And to think we almost missed this, its one thing to see it in person than just seeing it on TV…if virtual reality counts?" Shadow said.

"Glad I decided to push for this vacation now?" Bella asked.

"Don't press your luck Bell….." Shadow said as he got another refill of his drink. "But yeah, this was a good vacation."

"I'll say nya, cheers!" Ravena raised her glass and all of Kurotsubasa clashes theirs together, symbolizing the end of their vacation. The whole group continued to watch the show until it was over as they then walk to check out of the Inn before heading back to Tokyo City.

"Wait hold on!" DB stopped them as he fished out a camera. "Can't leave yet without getting a group picture right?"

"Well it wouldn't hurt if we took one, how else are we going to remember the fun times we had here…even if one night was blurry and hard to remember." Key said.

"Cool idea DB, hmmm…" Bella then began thinking of how the picture should be taken.

"Let's take it on the boardwalk; it should have plenty of light for us if we go by one of the torches." Illu suggested.

"Nya, leave the picture taking to me. I'll make sure we get a great shot." Ravena said as she used her magic to make the camera float out of DB's hand into hers.

"More memories to add to the album huh?" Shadow said as they all began walking to where they would take the picture. "Of course we can't forget Mukurowl, Nyoka, Punnya, and Amaya too." He said scratching Amaya behind her ear.

"U-pyon~~~!"

Soon they were all set up, standing around each other with their vacation clothes still on. Punnya was perched on Ravena's shoulder while Mukurowl was on Illu's head with Nyoka around the girl's neck. Amaya was still on her spot on Shadow's head. No one was taking the picture however; because Ravena controlling the camera through magic.

"You sure this will work Ravena?" Key asked.

"Don't doubt my magic skills nya, just stand still and look pretty." Ravena promised them. "Now at the same time; one…two…" The camera flash then went off as each of them said their own goofy remarks as it captured that moment in time. After seeing the picture come out great, everyone then headed to the van to make their journey back home.

(Elsewhere….)

Back at the castle, Raiden looked dazed as he stared at the setting sun and heaved a heavy sad sigh. In his hand, was the purple flag he managed to pull from the sand-castle he made back at the beach with the pretty Bunny-Girl he called Mimi. He didn't even get a chance to say goodbye. All he had were the brief but good memories he had the mysterious girl. Suddenly, a vision of Mimi's smiling face flashed in his head as Raiden looked at the flag and gave a small smile.

'I hope we meet again Mimi….' He wished hopefully looking towards the sky.

---

Until Next Time…