While wandering through the net we found an interesting fanfiction challenge that someone had sent out. It involved being given a set list of phrases that had to be used in the fanfiction. We decided that was a cool idea and proceeded to steal the list. Then we decided it needed more wacky, so we added a few lines of our own (those below the line) The result is the first Okita clone fic we've made and possibly the thing that will get me writing again instead of being lazy and doing stupid things like schoolwork. Anyway here is the fic and the list of phrases used. I hope you enjoy.

1. "Can I stab you with a spoon?"

2. "I seem to have grown another appendage."

3. "A gopher ate my pants!"

4. "I suck." "I suck more." "I suck more than you all." "I'm the suck master!"

5. "Elvis has left the building!"

6. "____ has discovered the true meaning of slovenliness."

7. "I can shoot a pea three feet out of my left nostril, and catch it in my mouth."

8. "Get out of my head, you 14 toad sloth with triangular eyes."

9. "There is no end and no beginning. There is only custard pastries."

10. "Yellow daises in a vase."

11. "______ had the hairiest butt I ever saw!"

12. "Coffee and donuts are useful for hot-wiring a car."

13. "My Great Aunt Banana owned a peach farm."

14. "All right. Who fluffed?"

15. "I like marmalade."

16. "In a tight leather dress with strappy heels and a push up bra."

17. "What kind of crack are you sniffing?"

18. "Alfalfa and green leaf tea, followed by prunes."

19. "Two horizontal sheets."

20. "I know someone who can cry milk and pee water."

----

21. "Joey Lawrence and a wombat.

22. "Millennium hand and shrimp."

23. "'Hello,' thinks Mr. Happy Purple Cat."

24. "Escape using only two movie tickets and a stick."

25. "Blue wizard is dying. Needs food badly."

26. "Pink roses?"

27. "And today's lesson is..."

28. "HO. HO. HO."

29. "Excuse me, is this the French Foreign Legion?"

30. "Koallazilla smashed my apartment."

31. "It's Piro! It's Piro!"

32. "Waaaah! Mine!"

33. "We have sharp things, things that can get very hot, and things that can be both at the same time."

34. "Read or Die."

35. "Puffball Liberation League."

36. "Drink with a smiley face on it."

37. "Perpendicular lines."

38. "We may even find out why the duck billed platypus."

39. "I had a cousin who owned an anteater once."

40. "Mellon Mellon Mellon"

41. "Spin three times and transform into Magical Pretty _____!"

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, there was a soft breeze in the air, and all the flowers were in bloom. It was the sort of day you would spend having a picnic with your friends.

It was not, Quatre reflected, the sort of day you'd spend trapped in an oversized tube by some crazy girl with pink hair.

Not that he'd had much choice in that matter.

"I'm so sorry everyone. It's all my fault."

The others smiled disarmingly, but that was normal for all of them. (except Hibiki) Billy spoke up first. "There was no way you could have known that Koallazilla smashed my apartment."

Eriol nodded. "And it wasn't your fault I tripped over that anteater."

(Eagle paused. "I had a cousin who owned an anteater once."

"I didn't know they had anteaters in this town," Hibiki mused. )

Okita rubbed the back of his head. "And I think, in retrospect, trying to use the car to fight horseback style was a mistake."

("By the way, could you guys tell me what I'm doing here?" the figure in the tube marked Kaworu asked.

There was a pause as they all looked to see who would get to tell _that_ story. Okita and Yukito decided via Jon Ken Pon, and more power to them. "Well...." Yukito said. )

Quatre sighed. He knew the truth. "Thanks guys, but you don't have to hide it. I suck."

"I suck more!"

"I suck more then you all!"

"I am the Suck Master!"

The red haired girl, Washu, burst in about then. "Will you all shut up!? It's time to begin the testing." She burst into an evil laugh. About a 4.6, Quatre thought. "First. The new guy. Kaworu! Make a haiku with the middle line 'Two perpendicular lines.'"

Without hesitation the silver haired kid replied,

"Our futures, just like

Two perpendicular lines.

fated to cross paths."

Quatre heard his gasp mingle with his cloned brethren. This new one is quite powerful....

Of course Washu didn't seem to grasp this as she continued to cackle and type on her machine. "Now, let's see if we can transform Yukito while keeping his personality."

Eriol gasped. (He can feel fear?) "No you fool! Some things were not meant to-"

There was an explosion of... feathers? Quatre knew this was going to be bad.

Soujiro sneezed a few times trying to clear his nose. "All right. Who fluffed?"

A voice came out from the cloud of feathers. "Uh, that was me. I seem to have grown another appendage. Two, in fact."

There was Yue. But... "That voice, with that body.... It's not right!"

Washu made a face. "Yeah. You're right. Enough of that experiment." There was an implosion of feathers this time. "Hmmm, what now.... Guards!"

Out from the side room two figures approached. The first saluted. "Biggs and Wedge reporting for duty ma'am."

Washu fumed a bit. (They shoulda known better....) "I told you to call me Washu-chan!! Get it right, you idiots!"

Wedge saluted. "Yes Ma'am!"

Washu left muttering about how 'bad guards were hard to find' or something like that. In any case, now was their chance. "Okay, what do you guys have on you?"

There was shuffling as they each checked their inventory. "I have two movie tickets," stated Kaworu.

("What movie?"

"Fellowship of the Ring"

"So, which side were you cheering for?")

At this point Quatre was beginning to worry. Usually he had more to work with. "Anything else?"

Eriol nodded. "I have a stick."

Quatre hung his head in shame. It was impossible. "I'm so sorry. I can't do it. We can't escape with only two movie tickets and a stick."

Eriol smiled his 'I know many things you don't smile.' "But it's a very special stick. Now, Release!" And out of the palm of his hand....

Washu was happy, despite the fact that her guards had the brains of ants. The clones were confined, (at least the most dangerous ones) and her experiments were progressing nicely. She had almost broken the Orochi strain DNA code in fact. And while it may be that Wedge had discovered the true meaning of slovenliness, she was about to unlock the secrets of Soujiro's speed.

*Crash* Her chair fell over backwards as _every_ alarm in the building went off at the same time. "No, they can't escape! Not now!" She had to act fast. Whole worlds were in danger.

She ran to the clone room. Good, the two guards were still there. "What happened?"

Wedge saluted. "Well ma'am, the one in the tube marked Eriol picked up this stick and blew the place up. Then they all ran out the door here."

It took her a few seconds to accept what he had just said. "You let them run past you?"

Biggs nodded. "Looked dangerous. Like that gopher from before."

Wedge nodded back. "Yeah, I remember that. You were running around saying 'A gopher ate my pants!' Almost as bad as the time ol' Jeb started screaming 'Get out of my head, you 14 toad sloth with triangular eyes!' cause of those mushrooms he'd eaten."

Biggs muttered to himself. "Stupid rodent had the hairiest butt I ever saw!"

Washu stared in shock. "They escaped...."

This was no good. She had to pull herself together. "Go get them, you idiots!!!"

The two guards shrugged. "Yes ma'am."

"AND IT'S WASHU-CHAN!!!"

Billy wondered why odd world shattering events always occurred around him. Currently he was escaping (again) from that girl and now he had to carry Eriol, who seemed a little shaky after half of his spell had reflected back at him. "Hey guys. Blue wizard is about to die. Needs food badly."

Soujiro ran over. "I have some crackers in my pocket."

("Why didn't you put them in our inventory?"

"I stole it from the guards while I was waiting for you guys.")

While Eriol ate his saltines Billy looked for a way out. There, that will do, he thought. "Let's take that oversized truck. It's not an airship, but it'll do."

He helped pull the reviving Eriol into the back along with Yukito and Eagle. Hibiki and Kaworu grabbed the middle and side seats and Okita, Soujiro and Quatre went for the driver's seat.

Hibiki looked at Soujiro. "Do you know how to drive?"

Soujiro laughed. "Of course! Here's the wheel thing and... uh... the stick thing... and that's the cassette deck!"

Hibiki grabbed Quatre and pulled him in. "You drive."

Billy thought for a bit. Something was wrong. Then he heard a revving noise. As one he and the others turned.

"Look what I found!" yelled Chris over the noise of a high powered motorcycle.

Okita peered intently at the English writing. "Ha-ra-rii Da-bi-do-san?"

Billy shook his head. This stuff wasn't important. "Let's just go!"

Quatre nodded. "Right."

The truck smashed straight through the front entrance. Billy ducked as the 'please use other door' sign ricocheted near his head. As the smoking truck and motorcycle sped off into the sunset, Chris whooped with excitement.

"Elvis has left the building!"

("Hey, Quatre."

"Yeah?"

"Who's Elvis?"

*sigh* )

Chris was thoroughly enjoying a pancake breakfast. The rest of the escape was hardly worth mentioning. Those motorcycle cops didn't stand much of a chance against the Orochi fire. It almost made him miss the old KOF days. Being a special striker just wasn't the same.

Eriol seemed to be doing much better. "I'm glad we got this far before they remembered to use the destruct device on the van. My guess is that it'll be two hours before they make it here."

Yukito smiled wider. "Good, then I can have another order. Waiter! Another dozen pancakes please!" Kaworu was the only one who reacted to that. Ah well, Chris thought, he'd catch on in time.

"Special news flash! A giant mecha is destroying Tokyo." There was no reaction at that.

Billy looked back down at his plate. "Darn. The next show looked interesting."

"What was it about?"

"Joey Laurence and a wombat, I think."

The TV reporter paused to get a new handout. "Wait. This just in. An odd man seems to have destroyed the mecha along with several buildings. Here is a enlarged picture."

Chris looked up at the screen. That face looked sort of familiar....

Quatre interrupted his musing. "Okay. We'll have to leave soon. What's our inventory now?"

"Looks like... Yellow daisies in a vase."

"That's it!?" Quatre did not look pleased.

Eagle came in from the back room. "There's some marmalade back there."

Quatre seemed to sink in on himself. "Marmalade?! Oh... just... forget it."

"What?! What's wrong with marmalade?"

Quatre walked over to the counter and looked at the menu.

Eagle followed. "I mean, I like marmalade."

Yukito stood up with his pancakes. "Me too." He walked into the back room.

Quatre seemed to peer over the menu for a long time. Chris decided to speak up. "They only have pancakes, donuts, and coffee."

Quatre looked up. "Donuts and coffee?"

"Yeah. Glazed ones, too. Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Hey, coffee and donuts are useful for hot-wiring a car."

"Oh really? How'd you find THAT out?"

Eagle materialized behind Quatre with a bag of donuts. "I want to SEE this."

Wedge looked over at Biggs. "Heard the people who chased after that lot got set on fire."

Biggs grimaced. "Bet that hurts. See, if you don't fight people like that you don't end up crying for your mommy."

There was an appreciative silence.

Wedge spoke up. "I know someone who can cry milk and pee water."

Biggs looked over at him. "Yeah? Hmm.... Well, I can shoot a pea three feet out of my left nostril, and catch it in my mouth."

There was another appreciative silence.

"Do you think the red haired girls gonna fire us?"

"Probably."

"Too bad. Guess we'll have to start looking for work again."

Yukito slowly awoke from his sleep. It had been a long ride in the van and since Quatre and Hibiki wouldn't stop for snacks, sleeping was the next best option. Not that there had been many places to stop in the desert. It seemed that they had gotten somewhere now, though. He saw a large sign saying "SAHARA." He blinked a few times. "Excuse me, is this the French Foreign Legion?"

Eriol shook his head. "No, Las Vegas."

As Yukito blinked the sleep from his eyes, Quatre pulled up behind one of the smaller casinos. "Millennium Hand and Shrimp. What kind of name is that?"

("Actually, it's Millennium Band and Shrimp."

"Whatever." )

Quatre turned off the engine. Though the parking lot was quiet it was obvious that they could all easily get lost in the crowds on the street. "Alright. We hide in this casino until Eriol can teleport us all back." Quatre hopped out of the van. "With luck Washu won't be able to track us, but just in case go with a buddy."

Yukito smiled a little at that. He knew what was coming. Two near identical voices said "Okay!" and Soujiro and Okita were gone. Quatre realized the mistake he had made just a little too late. "No! Wait! Someone go with them! Oh no...."

Chris and Kaworu were halfway across the parking lot by then, idly chatting. Eriol and Billy likewise had paired up.

"So how do you get healing spells to affect mecha?"

"Well you see..."

Yukito waved to get Quatre's attention. "Quatre. You do know Eagle is missing right?"

Quatre stared straight at him with horrified eyes. "WHAT? Oh no... Eagle wait up!" Then he too was gone.

Hibiki got out of the car and sighed. "So shall we start rounding them up?"

Yukito shrugged. "It would probably be easier if we let them have some fun first."

Hibiki sighed, again. Yukito worried that she took things too seriously. Oh well, she had lightened up a lot since they all had first met. She looked over at him. "So what's there to do here for someone under 21?"

Yukito held up a quarter. "When I go to visit the Kinamoto's, Kero-chan challenges me occasionally. And I hear you have a PS2."

Meanwhile Soujiro and Okita had wandered into some of the less well tended areas of Vegas. As Soujiro looked about, somewhere in the back of his mind the part of him that tried to avoid fights was saying something about going back towards the lighted areas. He ignored it.

Okita tapped him on the shoulder. "Soujiro, could you help me with my English? What does that sign say?"

Soujiro squinted at the board. "What do you think it says?"

Okita shook his head. "I think it says 'HO HO HO,' but that can't be right."

Soujiro squinted at the sign again. He was seeing the same thing. "I think we should ask someone like Quatre about this one."

Okita nodded. "We left them back in the casino, right? Lets go."

Eagle looked at the strange machine. He had figured out the way it operated. You put in money and pushed the button. After that point he was a little hazy. Ah well, some things you only find out by doing, right? He put in a coin and pressed the button.

"There you are, Eagle." said a voice that sounded suspiciously like Quatre's from behind him. "Why'd you..."

Eagle watched the whirling pieces fall into place. "One sec... Mellon, mellon, mellon." A light began to flash and coins fell into a tray. "Huh? Does this thing have a self destruct device?"

Quatre blinked. "I don't think so. I mean, I know some people who like self destruct devices a lot, but they don't do things like this."

Good, Eagle thought. Getting blown up was not on his list of things to do.

It was at that point that something caught his eye. "Well then, how about we go get some food?" He stood up and started to head towards a restaurant which claimed to serve Japanese food.

Quatre had recovered from the first non sequitur just in time to be hit by the next. "But, wait, don't, where, Hold on I'm coming too."

Eagle smiled to himself; sometimes Quatre was easier to work then Zazu. With luck he could get back in time for tea with Hikaru and Lantis.

Eriol nodded in agreement. "Yes, I have been feeling some changes in the magical field. I think there will be another gate opening soon."

Billy suddenly looked slightly to his left. Then his hand started to slowly slip to his gun. Eriol put down his tea cup. "You sensed them too, I take it."

Billy nodded slightly, keeping his eyes on the approaching figures. "I don't suppose you know any spells for getting rid of men in black?" Eriol smiled. He stood up and looked straight at the approaching figures, who were currently competing with Billy to see who could look the most surprised. "For men in black? Alfalfa and green leaf tea, followed by prunes."

Eriol noticed that now everyone was looking at him in surprise. A very long second dragged by. This was of course part of the magic.

The next second several things happened very quickly, as if to make up for the stretching of the previous moment. Billy said "What?" The men in black drew their guns. And then were covered by alfalfa, HOT green tea, then prune juice in rapid succession.

Eriol grabbed Billy's arm, who then recovered enough to follow Eriol as he ran out. The two of them headed for the back exit as the back up troops gathered behind them.

Billy drew his gun as they exited the hotel. "That was a good spell."

Eriol smiled a smile that would send most running to hide under the furniture. "Thank you."

Chris sipped the coke he had managed to liberate. He hated places with age requirements. "So that's how it ended for you? Fairly messy."

Kaworu shrugged. "I did ask him. And I didn't have to worry about my friends or anything like you did."

"Well we all made it out in the end, so everything's okay." Chris stretched, then paused as something caught his attention. "Uh, Kaworu?"

Kaworu strained to see what had caught Chris' eye. "Wha.? Oh. Interesting."

A small crowd had formed around the "Sakura Taisen Collums" machine. (No, they don't have them in Vegas. But they should.) They seemed to be watching a effeminate figure beat everyone who challenged him. As they moved closer they saw Yukito drop the final attack on his cowering opponent. *San-nin-tachi ganbarimasu* the machine said. Yukito shrugged off the complements. "I get good practice."

The larger crowd, however, was around the DDR machine. Hibiki was standing before the latest model head bowed, eyes closed, concentrating. Chris tapped a nearby kid on the shoulder. "Why's everyone so quiet?"

The kid looked over and whispered back, "She's doing the hardest song on the fourth difficulty level."

Kaworu blinked. "Aren't there only three difficulty levels?"

The crowd shushed him. Then the music began. Immediately there were 50 arrows on screen all scrolling up at max speed. Hibiki began to blur as she rapidly followed the arrows, and the chain meter climbed into the three digit range. The crowd watched in amazement as Hibiki kept up with the 64 beat steps the arrows demanded of her. As the song continued the few that had attempted this song on a lower level realized it was ending. Finally the final steps appeared on screen.

The crowd looked in shock. 'Three arrows?' 'That's impossible' 'How cheap.' However as Hibiki reached it she jumped on the two side arrows and slammed her saya on the other arrow. She then stepped off the platform as the crowd cheered.

Chris met her at the edge of the mob. "Nice work. You and Soujiro must be fairly good at this game."

Hibiki shook her head. "Soujiro breaks the machine. He moves too fast."

"Oh..."

Hibiki began to look around the games. That had been her second quarter. She had used the first to teach the people at the KOF machine to _fear_ Leona. Then a UFO catcher box caught her eye.

Chris looked it over. "That one looks like it might actually work."

Kaworu joined them. "You think they imported it from Japan?"

Hibiki shrugged. "I don't know." She dropped in her quarter and looked for a target. She tried for the cabbit, but her claw fell down at an angle behind it.

Hibiki sighed. "Oh well." She started to reach into her sleeve for another quarter then stopped when she saw what the claw had caught.

Kaworu squinted at it. "A fish?"

Chris blinked a few times. "No clue. It's looks just like a puffball."

Hibiki pulled it from the prize slot and hugged it tight. "Kawaaaaaaai!"

Kaworu looked at Chris who sweatdropped. This was definitely odd behavior for her. Not that she was wrong...

At this point two incredibly similar figures wandered in. Soujiro quickly scanned the room, then pointed to where the others had gathered. "It's Piro! It's Piro!" Okita looked about. "Where? Whe... oh." The two quickly joined the rest.

Soujiro looked about again. "Do any of you people know where Quatre is? We want to ask him some questions."

"Eh? What kind of questions?" Yukito had moved to join the group.

Okita pulled out a flyer. "Something about ho's. The picture is a girl in a tight leather dress with strappy heels and a push up bra, but I can't get a lot of the English words."

Hibiki stopped hugging the puffball and looked over at the picture incredulously. "What kind of crack are you sniffing??"

The three more modern people gave each other sidelong glances. Chris took a few steps back. "Do you want to explain it?"

Yukito was saved from embarrassment by the arrival of the rest of their party. Eagle, Eriol and Billy looked pleased, Quatre looked resigned. He immediately waved to get their attention. "Hey guys."

Eagle waved back. "Hey. We got rid of the last group of people tailing us. It was easy. Hey, what's that Hibiki?" He pointed at the puffball. "Kawaii ne?"

Eriol squinted at it. "That thing looks familiar." He reached out quickly to take it. "If I could examine"

Hibiki jumped back holding the puffball closer. "Waaaah! Mine!"

The others all looked at each other then took two steps back. 'Do you think it's mind controlling her?' 'Is it even alive?' 'It's not normal for Hibiki to act like this.'

Hibiki glared at them. "It's not messing with my mind. It's just cute. Aren't you."

The puffball wiggled it's fins in response.

There was another period of uncomfortable silence.

Yukito broke it. "How about we get some food? I'm famished."

When Soujiro was bored his mind tended to wander very far, very quickly. With his tenken skills he was almost never surprised, and paying attention didn't help increase his chances beyond their normal heights. With Quatre preventing them from wandering out of this café, Soujiro had become very bored.

He stared at the remains of Eriol's spell. At the front of the store a small beckoning cat had been prune juiced throughly. *'Hello,' thinks Mr. Happy Purple Cat.* He sighed and turned back to where Eriol was studying, from a distance, Hibiki's new friend.

Eriol finished his spell. "I believe that thing is actually alive, though I'm not sure how. It also appears to have no magic abilities. Congratulations Hibiki, you have a perfectly abnormal puffball."

Hibiki held it up to her eye level. "I'll call it Pon-chan!"

Quatre smiled. "That's a cute name."

Yukito returned with a large amount of food. *Why is it Quatre always makes me and Okita stay in sight? Well, other then we're the ones always getting in to trouble.* Yukito held up an odd bottle with white liquid. "It's a drink with a smiley face on it." Sure enough, the bottle had a large smile on it.

Chris looked at the puffball, then at the bottle. "You know, their smiles look very similar."

Hibiki hugged Pon-chan closer to her. "That's not funny."

Soujiro waved a hand to dismiss the matter. "No one could do something that cruel to something that cute. I'm sure it's just marketing."

Yukito laughed then looked down at the bottle again. His face slowly turned white. "Um, look at the ingredients."

Everyone crowded around him. "Made in Nevada. Contents, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, water, pa-fu-ba-ru.."

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"

Quatre picked himself off the floor. "I guess we'll be working on a plan to help Hibiki."

Kaworu helped Yukito and Chris get out from under the table. "That seems reasonable."

Okita began to look around. Quatre looked over at him. "What did you lose?"

Okita began collecting some silverware. "Nothing. Just looking for extra weaponry. Don't worry about it."

Yukito dusted the remains of a powdered donut off his uniform. "So does anyone know how to assault a puffball farm?"

Quatre thought for a bit. . "My Great Aunt Banana owned a peach farm. But I don't think they're all that similar."

Chris shrugged. "I guess we'll just have to use the Zen assault strategy."

Kaworu nodded. "There is no end and no beginning. There is only custard pastries."

Yukito smiled "So begins the Puffball Liberation League."

Quatre sighed. "I guess we'll just have to improvise. Let's head out."

Hibiki looked over the hill at the farm. The puffballs were in a tiny corral at the opposite end. Nearby was the guard barracks, and next to that a small mansion. They would all have to pay.

She crept down trough the broken terrain. The barbed wire would be easy to pass through, and the guards would be a joke. She should be done in an hour, even without the others' help.

The world suddenly spun around her. She slammed into the ground. Looking up she could see pieces of the camouflage that had covered the pit top.

As her vision faded she thought, maybe it would take a bit longer.

She awoke to find her wrists and ankles chained to a wall. A bulky man in a cowboy outfit faced her. "So, I guess your some kind of animal activist or somewhat trying to steal my product, huh."

Hibiki glared at him. "How could you do such horrible things? Let those puffballs go!"

The fat man snorted. "Heh. Good joke. I'm making good money off these things, and you aren't going to stop me. In fact I've thought up a little something to reward you for trespassing on my land. "

Hibiki continued her glare, making sure her voice carried the proper level of contempt. "Oh, what's that?"

The man clapped his hands and a small cart came in. He turn to it and began to rummage around. "You see, we have sharp things, things that can get very hot, and things that can be both at the same time. Do you want to help me find out which is which?"

Billy looked down on the ranch. "The lights are out. Is this really the place?"

Kaworu looked about. "Hey! Over here." The group ran over to where Hibiki's puffball was slowly bouncing low to the ground. Kaworu listened to it's bounces. "What's that, Pon-chan? Hibiki fell down a pit trap??"

Okita surveyed the premises quickly. "Looks easy, let's go!"

Quatre grabbed his arm. "Wait! If it was that easy Hibiki would have won already. Give me a second." He pulled out some starlight binoculars and swept the field a few times. "Hm, pit traps and secondary guards. Best plan of attack would be the West gate."

Chris squinted over at the gate in question. "There are still two guards there. We'll have to take them out quietly."

Soujiro nodded. Then he turned to Yukito. "Hey, now might be a good time to spin three times and transform into Magical Pretty Yue!"

Yukito smiled but shook his head. "That would draw attention."

Eriol nodded in agreement. "It's a big magical signature. And there are lots of feathers."

Quatre waved his hand for attention. "Don't worry about the guards. I've got a plan."

The group slowly made it's way to the side entrance. The guards were having a quiet chat about hamsters when the clones materialized around them. Quatre held a paper in front of them. "Read or Die."

Biggs and Wedge looked over the paper carefully. "Ah right then. We'll be running away now." "Right-o. Oh, the boss is in the manor. Good luck then." They dropped the paper and ran into the wilderness.

Chris looked at their fleeing forms. "That was easy."

The sound of dogs barking cut off any replies. "Damn. We've been seen," Billy said as he pulled out his gun.

Okita pumped his fist. "Yes! Finally! Aku! Soku! Zan!" He rushed out to meet the dogs. They halted, uncertain as to what was going on. In a charming innocent voice Okita asked, "Can I stab you with a spoon?" and produced one. The dogs stared for a bit, then whimpered and sulked away.

Billy lowered his rifle. "So that's why they call them Miboru's wolves."

The fat man pulled the poker out of the fire. "Now my guess is this is hot, but you'll have to tell me so I can be sure."

Hibiki was ignoring him. She heard the dogs barking, and the sudden cut-off there of. It was time to get out. She stretched, then snapped the cufflinks holding her to the wall.

The fat man reeled back, holding the poker before him in a defensive manner. "How? Those were solid steel!"

Hibiki simply shrugged. She rolled her wrists a few times to get the kinks out. Then she faced her 'captor.' "The last person who irritated me this badly got pounded into two horizontal sheets."

The man blinked in confusion. "Two sheets?"

There was a whoosh of air and Hibiki seemed to disappear. The man turned and saw Hibiki across the room picking up her sword.

As she put Echo through her belt she allowed her eyes to meet the ranchers. "Two."

The group of would be rescuers reached the mansion just as it exploded into flame. The guards hadn't already begun to flee did so. Hibiki exited the burning building as the right wing collapsed.

Chris changed some of the flames to purple with a wave of his hand then turned to Hibiki. "Are you okay?"

Hibiki nodded. "Yes. Thanks for asking, Chris." She stepped out to a safe distance from the building using one hand to keep her hair out of her eyes.

Quatre looked about. "Well, it looks like we won."

Billy did a quick scan of his own. "Yeah. Now there's only one question."

"What are we going to do with all these puffballs?"

Quatre sipped his iced tea. Things hadn't been fully solved yet, but Quatre felt he had done enough for one day.

Okita and Soujiro were being given pointers by Yukito for one thing or another. Everyone else had gone back to their normal activities with friends and family. Speaking of which, it had been a long time since he had seen his sisters or the Maganacs. Maybe he would invite some of them over. Then he remembered the last time he did that and frowned. He'd have to think about it.

He couldn't help but overhear the end of the lesson Yukito was standing in his best school teacher pose. "And today's lesson is...?"

Okita raised his hand. "Not to act on assumptions based on languages we barely understand?"

Yukito nodded. "Good Okita."

Soujiro nodded to display comprehension. "We're learning a lot. Soon we may even find out why the duck billed platypus."

Yukito smiled. "Someday."

It was at this point that the back door opened and the doorbell rang simultaneously. Quatre decided to head for the front door, figuring the back was probably Saitoh.

Eriol looked up from his book as Quatre reached the hallway. "Another shipment of pink roses?"

Quatre blushed and ignored the question. Kaworu, who had just come downstairs blinked a few times. "Pink roses?"

Opening the door he saw a short haired girl in a school uniform with a large dog at her side. She looked at him and then down at the address slip she had in her hand. "Anoo. Is this the Winner residence?"

Quatre blinked a few times in confusion. She looked to be about his age but he was pretty sure he didn't know her. "Yes? Why do you ask?"

The girl smiled and sprung up to her full height. She seemed to be very genki. Bowing slightly she said, "I'm Yuzuriha Nekoi. I'm from Clamp School. We heard you had our mascot and we'd like it back."

Quatre sighed. "Would your mascot be a fluffball about so big with a stupid grin on it's face?"

Yuzuriha nodded. "Yeah! That's it!"

Quatre pointed towards the back yard. "This way, please."

As he led her down the hallway Yuzuriha saw his expression. "If you've grown attached to it I'm sure you could visit it at our school. You look like you could join actually. Or maybe you'd like some Pockey?"

Quatre shook his head. "That's not the problem." He opened the door.

There was a huge mass of puffballs bounding about, though quite a few had congregated together in two places.

One was where Hibiki was sitting. He heard her just barely over the bouncing saying, "and this one's Fluffy" In the other corner a stifled voice was yelling, "Okita-kun! Get them off of me!!!"

Quatre turned to the girl. "Which one is yours?"

"Oh my."