Hey, we're back with another chapter! So sorry for making you all wait for…a while, but it's taken a while to write this chapter and get it just right. Hope you guys like it!

We arrived back to where we left Vel about five, maybe ten minutes later. She was still unconscious, yet had stopped twitching; she looked so peaceful just lying there with her dress and long, curly hair splayed across the digitally-simulated grass. Subsequent to checking her pulse to make sure she was still alive – based on our experience this past day, I'm not taking any chances – I started to look around and figure out what we should do next. Um…well…let's see… About five minutes had passed by before I looked to Tecna to supply the answer. "So…what do we do now, Tec?" She looked blankly at Vel, then at me, and shrugged.

"I presume that Velocia, seeing as she has been out for a copious number of hours, will be hungry after she wakes up. Getting some food and finding an ample source of water would be a logical way of going about the situation." It was my turn to look expressionless. And we're back to where we started. Seriously, it's as if she was programmed or something, that's how robotic her language and voice are – or maybe she wasprogrammed like that…ugh, couldn't she act normal just for once? I mean, I know Zenithians act weird and all, but she's even weird to that standard.

"Okay…so…"

"I will go and look for some food to the north." Upon saying so, she pointed towards our left. Pointing her other hand at a forty-five degree angle to her right, she added, "and you search in the southeast zone for water."

"How do you know what direction we are facing? There are no indicators around here to show a difference in direction-"

Tecna interrupted me and pointed behind my head, "-except for the sun, which will be fading behind one of the mountains in that computer-generated display in exactly 109 minutes, or 1.8167 hours." I looked at her for a moment, then turned around to see the sun nearing a brown-tipped mountain that, as she had iterated to me, had the sun shining just a ways above it.

How in the world does she know that with such precision? I mean, she could have estimated from the sun, I will give her that, and she's a technology fairy, so that has some bearing on the situation, but otherwise, there's nothing to indicate that she can tell when the sun is to set. Maybe she guessed? No, too detailed a response for mere "guessing." Or, rather, maybe that's just part of her powers, knowing everything about everything at every possible moment…or, maybe-

"Come on, Timothy," I could barely hear Tecna's voice, for she had already started entering the northern end of the forest before turning around and yelling to me, as she continued, "we do not have any time we can waste idly standing there burns what so little daylight we have."

"Wha-oh, okay, I'm going, don't worry, I'm going, I'm going." I quickly set out into the forest, my pace quickening immediately after she spoke. Sheesh, my mind mused as my pace slowed down upon entering the deeper parts of the forest, all the kids at school are right – she does act like a robot. And to think, I thought she was acting human-like – well, somewhat-human-like – for a minute there before.

About an hour after starting my trek into the woods, bored was the only word I could use to describe my mood. Eventually, my mind shifted to Velocia, who, as far as I knew, was still unconscious on the woodland floor.She didn't look to be stressed or twitchy when we got back before, but then again, that could've just been a moment of rest in the cycle. Uh, I can't bear to just leave her like that, all alone and helpless. Wait, what happens if she wakes up while we are away – will she think we just abandoned her, leaving her there all alone to die? I'd better go back…I mean, I can't see any water or food here, and eventually I'm going to run into a city or the end of this simulation area, and that, depending on the city, could be dangerous. Yeah, I think I'll-

"Rrrrrr…" I turned around suddenly at the sound of something in the near distance. I could see nothing, however, thanks to the lack of light that could penetrate the thick trees and brush.

"What…who's there?" Slowly, my feet took me backwards from where I thought the sound was coming from.

"Rrrrrrrrr…"

For some inexplicable reason, my next reaction to this was to laugh. Was I going crazy? Maybe. Was it out of hysterics and anxiety? Absolutely. "Tecna, please say that you're trying to scare me-"

"Rrrrrrrrrr…"

"Or be funny for once and make me scream like a little girl-"

"Rrrrrrrrrrrr…"

"Because it is really working right now…"

"Rrrrrrrrrrrrrr…"

"T-T-T…Tecna…?"

Sadly, it wasn't a prank by the technology fairy; instead, I was greeted with the unwelcomed sight of three beastly creatures. Categorized by their matted, dark-brown fur, beating, blood-red eyes, and off-white fangs serving as teeth, they scared me to my core. In response, I stood there, paralyzed with shock by their appearance. They kept growling as they started to advance towards me, much to my horror – I, however, just continued to stand there. Come on, Timmy, do something – fight them like a Specialist should! I continued to stand there. Timmy, this is your chance to show yourself that you're really Red Fountain material. They're going to try to kill you if you don't do something, Timmy…why are you doing anything? Do something! I shook my head and blinked, finally seeing with a clear head the animals flashing their fangs not-that-far in front of me in an attempt at intimidation.

And so, at the last moment, I finally came to my senses and pulled out the only weapon I had on me at the moment: a Phantoblade training sword, a staple item given to all Red Fountain students at admission to the school along with their admission letter. It was a requirement for one to know how to use it on a basic level, and then, later on, get even more familiar with it. Though, I hate to admit, I'm not exactly the most…skilled person when it comes to sword-fighting. Not that I haven't tried – surely, I have practiced for hours on end to try to do it (at the expense of many pillows around my house and a few hologram bushes here and there). I can tell you how it works, how to make it, how to take it apart and put it back together, the type of metal and plasma they use down to the slightest detail, and anything else logistically-speaking about the silver-and-neon-orange device, but when it comes it how to wield and fight a monster with it…well, I'm clueless. I don't mean to make excuses, but I am just hopeless when it comes to sword-fighting, leading me to hope that I could trade it in for a less "physically-demanding" weapon when I get to the school. Sadly, that doesn't help out all that much in this scenario. Oh, well, I guess there's no better time to learn than in a pressure situation such as this.

"Oh-okay, d-don't come any n-nearer, o-or else…"

"Rrrrrrrrrrooooaaaaarrrrrrrr!" With only that sound as warning, the three wild beasts pounced up in my direction. My flight response kicked in, thankfully, and I was able to jump out of the way, but they were distracted only for a minute before they came attacking again. I got back up and started swinging my sword wildly – granted, I had no idea whatsoever what I was doing with the object, but I was trying (and hopefully succeeding) to defeat them. Eventually, I had given them a few cuts and, for one of them, a serious gash that went up its shoulder. Wow, I'm actually doing pretty well. Maybe I am cut out to be a Specialist after all…

However, just after I started to think positive thoughts about myself, the monsters gained the upper hand when one of them knocked into my back and made me lose grip of the sword. Or, maybe not. I surveyed the situation: my sword was just out of my reach, and the beasts were in front of me, inching ever-so-slowly towards me, their prey. Now, I can attempt to get my sword, let these things kill me, or figure out some other way to somehow get out of this situation. Well, the chances of me getting to the weapon without my arm getting ripped to shreds are so slim, it is ignorable, and I will not – cannot – let these things kill me, so Option C is the only viable option. Now, what is Option C…

"HEEEEELLLLLPPPPPPP!" I screamed it at the top of my lungs, hoping that someone would hear me. Of course, little hope was invested into the plan, but that speck of hope was all I needed to carry out what was, essentially, "plan C." My breath was held in my lungs as I waited…and waited…and waited…with no one coming to save me.

Well, I guess this is it…man, I thought it would end differently than this. I'm not sure how, but I thought I would at least get to Red Fountain before it happened, maybe even become a somewhat-acclaimed inventor like my dad or something and find out if Vel "likes" me as much as I like her. But, no, I never thought I would end up dying to a hungry pack of beasts in the middle of the simulation forest I did not know Zenith had with Meta being taken over by Velocia's uncle, Vel's parents dead at Cos' hand, Vel unconscious, and Tecna of all people virtually the only one able, sane-minded, and possibly powerful enough to defeat him at this point. Well, that last part I could have seen coming – Tecna is always sane, no matter the situation, and she's pretty powerful (not that I'd ever admit that to her or anything). No, I can't think like this right now…but how can I delay thinking about the inevitable? And, what about my dad – he needs me to be there for him; without me…I can't even go down that road at this point. But now, it seems like I won't be there for him. Please, just let my dad be okay, with or without me…please… At this point, I was just waiting for my end, watching for some reason my demise coming towards me, every painstakingly-long moment of agenizing fear and terror that went by passing with nothing but thoughts. I tried screaming out again, by it couldn't come out – I was too afraid to scream. They were but an arm's length in front of me when I put my hands above my head, squinting my eyes between the cracks in my hands to watch them creep closer.

"TIMMY!" What in Magix? Immediately, my head perked up to see two, neon-green bolts shoot at the two closest beasts, knocking them to the ground. Taking the opportunity, I squirmed up and grabbed the sword to the left of me, and, in sheer curiosity, my head hesitatively turned around to see who had saved me from certain death.

"T-Te…Tecna?" The pink-haired fairy in her purple t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers was unreadable bar the unmasked smirk gracing her mouth. I knew from the moment I saw her standing there that it had been her to come to my rescue – I mean, who else is in this forest and conscious other that her and myself right now? I silently thanked her for not letting me die, something which she could have easily done by not blasting those two monsters. Though my feet were putty-like, they somehow came to support me enough to allow me to run over to where Tecna was and engage in a battle position to her right.

"Who else did you think it was – Vel?" I might have been mad at her for her sarcasm if not completely indebted to her for my life (and completely scared of her on a new level, seeing her take out those two beasts just an arm's length in front of me). She started shooting a spell at the remaining beast; the other two were still down, but didn't look like they'd be that way for long.

Something clicked in my brain, making me turn to Tecna and realize something I probably should've realized earlier. "Tec, I thought you said that you might never be able to use your powers again?"

"Well, that is what I thought; however, it turned out that even with the gash in my arm and my overexertion of energy to get the three of us here, my magical abilities were not affected so much as to cause permanent damage. I am still weak, but otherwise normal." Well, I breathed a sigh of relief, that's good to know. At least now we have a chance at defeating Cos.

I wanted to respond, but I had no time to do so – the beasts came back and started attacking before I could. We both lashed back – Tecna with her powers, and me with my limited sword abilities. And, when they were regrouping, I had a moment to contemplate what had just happened. I tried thanking her for what she had done; of course, though, something to the tune of 'thank you for saving my life from those monsters' was not what came out of my mouth. "Um, T-Tec, I thought you were over on the other side of the forest." My eyes winced when what I had said registered in my brain. Great job, Timmy, she just saved your life and you're questioning her for doing so. Might as well just put a sign on saying "hey, wild beasts, eat me – oh, and please, don't try to save me, thank you."

"Well, I was, but I heard you shrilly scream and decided to investigate what was wrong." Surprisingly, she did not sound like she wished she had left me there to die – a little bit like she wanted to hit me with one of her most powerful attacks at that moment, but not that she wanted to leave me there to die. "Though I did not have to go far – it turns out you have no sense of direction, as you were inadvertently leaning your course towards the north. I would have hit you in one-hundred-fifty-seven yards if you had kept going." Wait, what? I was so not, it must have been her with 'no sense of direction,' leaning inadvertently towards me. Ugh, why does she always have to think she's right and-

Tecna brought me back to reality by nudging (well, more like punching) me in the arm. I came back to reality, seeing the three creatures on the ground and trying to get back up. "Ouch! What was that for?"

"Come, on, we have to defeat all of these monsters, and we're not going to do it if you're in dreamland this entire time!" Yep, that's definitely the Tecna I know.

With that, I brought my sword up to my chest and started swinging – it went unspoken, but I believe known by both of us, that I should get the closer monsters, considering my sword is not a long-range weapon, and that Tecna should attack the farther-away ones with her energy blasts' considerably-longer trajectory ability. We were actually doing pretty well: about ten minutes into the fight, we had defeated one of the beasts, and after fifteen minutes, two of the beasts had been defeated, and the other was nowhere to be seen. "Yes," I exclaimed, panting slightly from my exerting most of my energy throughout the fight, "Two down, one to go! Where do you think the other one is?"

"It could have gone anywhere; however, I suggest getting back to Vel is our main priority – it's almost sundown, and she should be waking up soon." I nodded, and we started following her towards where I assume Vel was located.

Once we had started towards Vel, it got extremely quiet – almost suspiciously-quiet. And, to make things even more suspicious, Tecna refused to walk next to me; I tried to slow down so she could catch up, thinking Tecna was just weary about me not thanking her for saving me, but that only made her slow down as well. "Um," I started, turning around to face her while still walking backwards, "so, how exactly did you find me?"

She did not answer me. "Um, Tec?" She still did not respond. I tried again, "hello, Magix to Tecna?" Then, I realized she was not even looking at me, let alone paying attention to what I was saying. In turn, I turned back around. She probably is mad at me for who-knows-what – oh, well, in a few minutes we will get back to Vel, wake her up, and go get this mission done with. Let's just hope tha-

"Timmy, LOOK OUT!" At that moment, everything seemed to go into slow-motion; in reality, however, it was over in the blink of an eye. I first turned to see Tecna, but she was nowhere to be found, and then, out of the corner of my eye, I see a mass of matted fur coming towards me at an alarming rate. I tried grabbing my Phantoblade, which was at my side in its holster, but I could not seem to move my hands to reach it. When I tried fleeing, it seemed as if my legs were stuck to the digital-grass ground. So, I was just standing there, looking like an absolute buffoon terrified out-of-my-mind at the beast charging for me, yet unable to do anything about it, as if my feet were frozen in place. Then, my body felt weight push up against it; the overpowering force put against me moved my feet out of their stationary position, then towards a nearby tree. I fell to the ground right next to it; my body was not cut up too terribly though I did feel sore on my right elbow a bit, and I was able to get up before much time had elapsed. I silently thanked Magix that little damage had been made – but then I sawwhy I was alright.

Tecna was on the ground, only a little ways away from me – from eyeing the clear tracks made in the ground from my back, I could tell it was extremely close to where I had been before I was pushed out of the way. She must've been the 'weight' I felt, I thought to myself as I ran towards the semi-limp body. I checked her pulse (something I've done too many times in the last day for comfort), and was relieved to feel the steady beat. "Come on, Tec, wake up." She did not respond. "Tecna, come on, wake up, please…Tecna, we need you to help us defeat Cos, just wake up."

"Ugh…" I immediately perked up, hoping that it was the pink-headed technology fairy who had groaned and not some figment of my imagination that had done so. Luckily, it was the former; in a moment, Tecna's head and chest were being supported by her undamaged elbow, and she opened her eyes.

"Tecna…are you okay?" She nodded. I didn't believe her, though, mainly because of her external injuries I observed whilst scanning over her body: blood was trickling from her head, abrasions were spread all over her arms, legs, neck, and head, and her original cut that she had gotten in the battle against Cos was open again, looking even gorier than before (if that is even possible). I decided it would be best just to move on from the subject for now rather than get into the gory details with her, and asked the one question really on my mind: "what happened?"

"The…the other beast…I knew it would come to try to attack us. It…it was behind you, and I saw it…so I tried to push…to push you out of t-the way." With that, her arm collapsed from under her, and Tecna's teal-blue eyes closed. If not for the pain-filled look she had on her face, she might have actually looked somewhat peaceful in what I believed was an unconscious state…in other words, the exact opposite of what I probably looked like at the time. My head was spinning; now that I knew what had happened, what I just couldn't get was why. "What have you done, Tec," I said aloud looking incredulously at her body. I guess you could say I was talking to her, but I was more so just trying to get my brain wrapped around the notion that she saved me. "I mean, what would compel you to do something so imbecilic? I mean, at least I would get it if it was Vel who was in trouble, as she's technically a princess and one of your only good friends (maybe the only one), but me, someone who you despise to all ends of the dimension? Ugh, Tec, come on, we need you to defeat Cos – Vel and I can't do it alone! Wake up, please, WAKE UP!"

Then, something else happened. I can't really explain what it was like so many of the events of the past few hours: a bright purple light…no, more of an aura – a bright purple aura glowed in front of me, emanating from the ground. Immediately, I shielded my eyes, looked down, and gasped; Tecna wasn't there. What is going on? How is that even possible, her being almost-dead one minute and just gone the next? Then, a light went off in my head: I think I might have seen this before at some time… Oh, yeah, when I first saw Vel transform, she glowed all sorts of oranges and pinks, and it was more of an aura than a light too – wait, does that mean that Tecna's finally earned her transformation as well?

I didn't have to wait long for the answer. The bright light ceased, and Tecna was standing in its place in full fairy attire. Her shirt and jeans were replaced with a sleeveless, purple bodysuit with light-blue, glove-like sleeves attached on each side and a green gem in the middle of her chest, her sneakers now light blue, knee-length boots. Her chin-length hair, messy and matted from this day's events, sat neatly under a pointy purple helmet with another green gem in the middle of it, and, protruding from her back, were two small, wire-like green wings, fluttering back and forth faster than one could track. All in all, she didn't look that bad for a technology fairy; actually, quite nice – granted, I've never seen a technology fairy before and probably never will again in my lifetime because of how rare they are, but I have seen Vel's and other fairies' transformations, and hers most definitely looks similar to theirs (except for their short skirts or shorts and "revealing" shirts versus Tec's full bodysuit). Slowly, Tecna levitated down and started looking at her outfit in awe and curiosity, pulling at her sleeve here and shifting her foot around in the high-heeled boots there and doing all she could to relish the moment.

"Congratulations, Tec," I told her as she was testing out her new wings. My mouth formed a smile; surprising even to myself, I was genuinely happy for her. I mean, it had taken her longer than every other fairy we each knew combined to gain her transformation, mainly because she hadn't had any formal training to help her gain it, and that had become another point which people teased her for (along with her robotic attitude and less-than-friendly demeanor). Plus, it was nice to see her happy for once instead of at-my-throat for something I did or did not do.

"Wow…I thought I'd get to Alfea and still not have my transformation, but this…" As Tecna was fiddling with one of her sleeves, her wings changed from the two green, metal-looking, wire-like things into a holographic, triangular glider with digital bars running horizontally and vertically throughout it, and she was extemporaneously whisked up into the air. She looked shocked at first, but then in awe; when she finally got the hang of it mid-flight, she flew seamlessly as if she had had her transformation for the last year or so like most other fairies her age. "This is amazing!" If I were to bet, I would say she was in that moment happier than I had ever seen her since making her acquaintance. After she had calmed down a bit, she landed, and her wings automatically turned back into the green, wire-like apparatuses they were before.

"What…what in Magix just happened?" Right after saying it, I severely regretted expressing my words – Tecna glared at me, daggers in her eyes for ruining the moment. Though, my reason for doing so was technically justified: I wanted to know what happened before my head exploded trying to figure it out myself. You don't just go and save someone from certain doom, then almost die, then earn your first-level fairy transformation…at least, I don't think that's what happens to normal fairies…

She moved past her moment of anger, regaining a bit of her smile as she responded, "there are three ways to earn a transformation: one, training. If you beat a fairy with their transformation, then nine-times-out-of-ten, you get your transformation. Another is by fervent training which was, as you know, how Vel earned her transformation." You aren't implying that's what happened, right? Because neither of those have happened in the last few hours that I have seen. "Then," she continued, "there is another way, in which the fairy, under distress, can…'will,' if you will, the transformation from them if it will help either them or another person. That, I believe, is what happened just now."

"Great! I mean…not great, since you still have that abrasion your arm and more, but great that you're not dead…not that you looked dead or anything, but, well… Can you use your power?" Man, I just started rambling on and on, and I honestly couldn't tell what was happening with me. Maybe it was that I was tired and my brain was not computing anything correctly (which it was), but rather spitting out random phrases or something, or maybe that I just saw her practically dead just now. Either way, I was just happy to have gotten something intelligible out in that confusion.

She looked at me in a strange way for a minute, then shook it off and continued. "I am not sure…I don't think I can hold on much longer in this mode." Then, Tecna's teal eyes widened. "Wait, I think-" And with that, she bolted for where I had come from without even finishing her sentence.

"Tecna, where are you going?" She didn't answer me. "Tecna…Tec, wait up!" I followed her, running at top speed as she was at the moment. My ears as I was running thought they heard something come from Tecna's mouth as she tapped the side of her glasses, but again, I couldn't tell what it was she had said and was too out of breath to even think about asking her. Zenithians in general always are more "computer-savvy" than "fit and muscular," but for me, that stereotype is true ten-fold. Basically, statistics and strategy are my strong points; brawn and fighting, however, are not – it's amazing they took me as a Specialist with my physical physique.

We ended up right back where we had started, with Vel lying on the ground somewhere within the Zenithian Simulation Woodlands. When I finally caught up to Tecna, my feet stopped and my body bent at the waist, my head resting down near my legs and my arms on my knees as I panted furiously. When I finished doing so, I looked up, and my eyes saw Tecna poking and prodding at Vel's limp body for reasons unbeknownst to me. "Tecna," I started, "…what are you-"

"Ah, here it is!" From where Tecna was probing near the top of the back of Vel's dress, the pink-haired girl pulled out a small, green chip with a blinking red light right in the top-left corner. I recognized it immediately.

"A GPRS chip?"

"Yes, the latest of Paxon technology (1)," she answered me. "A Global Pinpointing and Repositioning System – Cos is smart." She took the chip into her small fingers and started playing around with it. The red light stopped flashing. "Scanning the position of the tracker…" The tracker started beeping, and the green light blinked twice before turning completely off.

"Now," she muttered in a barely audible tone, "it's time to change this into an innocent, little, reverse tracker." I jumped a little as a light-green bolt of lightning surged out of her hands and into the chip. The light lit up again, this time in a greenish hue. "Lucky for us, I'm smarter than he ever will be." I chuckled slightly – cocky as ever. Figures.

Tecna looked from the chip to me. "There we go," she added in a louder tone then she was speaking in before, "now, we can track Cos' movements, and he won't know where we are at all." I walked towards her, taking the chip from her hands and examining its craftsmanship – it was an amazing rework, and done in such little time, even with her being a technology fairy. And, even more so, it was the perfect device to use against Cos.Now, maybe, just maybe, we actually have a chance against him.

After she told me that, she went silent, as did I. We stood there, looking at the chip for what must've been five minutes until my hazel-orange-ish eyes met her teal ones, which held in them all the pride she held from getting her transformation and impressing me with her technological skills.

She was the first to turn away from the uncomfortable situation. "Um…"

"Yeah…" I turned on my heel and walked a few feet away from her, rubbing the back of my head with my hand in the awkwardness. "Hey," we both turned around at the sound of my voice, "um, can you tell me what those things that attacked us were?"

She nodded and brought up this florescent-green screen – my eyes widened at the size of them all and how high-tech it looked, especially for it being magically-created. In an extremely monotonic voice, she stated, "search: Zenithian Simulation Woodlands, beast, dark-brown fur, fangs, red eyes." The screen started a search; web pages came up rapidly, whizzing by my eyes at astronomical speeds and being rejected by Tecna at a similarly-prodigious pace even too fast for my own eyes to compute.

This is it," she stated after a picture of a beast nearly-identical to the ones that attacked us headed one page, "the Ursus arctos (2), a very belligerent species of wild beasts most feared for their insatiable appetites. They prey on any and all animals and will ravage through a forest and annihilate half or more of its population, still being famished after doing so." The screens minimized into her own hand when she finished reading the page, and she turned to me, probably to see what I thought of it.

"That's…um, that's really cool. Nice." I smiled awkwardly, still in awe of what she had created – of what her powers had created. They truly were one-of-a-kind and extremelypowerful.

"Well, then, I think we should start trying to get Velocia up. I'll put the chip in my pocket so we always have it." As she stated she would, the magenta-haired fairy placed the GPRS-chip-turned-reverse-tracker in her pocket. She turned around and started walking back towards Vel's body, which we had moved a few steps away from while looking at the GPRS chip. I started following her and did so until she stopped abruptly, and I, unable to stop, ran into her. What did I just do? Oh no, she is going to kill me…she is so going to kill me.

She sighed, a look of annoyance crossing her eyes. "Um, Timmy?"

"Y-y-yes, T-Tec-Tecna?" On the inside, I was quivering with fear. Oh, man, she's gonna' kill me.

"I am…I-I just wanted to say…I'm s-s…" She took a deep breath and started again. "I am…sorry for the way I've treated you." I'm so dea- wait, what did she just say?

"Wha-what?" I did not just hear her correctly, did I? Tecna, saying sorry to me? Never.

"I said 'I'm…s-sorry for how I have acted towards you.' I have had no right, nor a logical reason, to say some of the things I have said or do many of the things I have done to you. I hope you can for…for…forgive me for my actions." My eyes widened as I stood there, speechless and in utter disbelief. So I wasn't dreaming – Tecna actually was asking me for forgiveness. I could have never imagined this would have happened in a million years…then again, in the last few hours of unforeseeable chaos, I am not sure of anything anymore. And, what do I even tell her: do I say, "oh, yeah, I forgive you, Tecna," and we just forget everything that has happened since we met, or do I tell him, "no way" and just let us both revert back to our old, mutual, "I hate you" relationship? Ugh, why is this so complicated?

"I…come again?"

"I am asking for your forgiveness for my actions in the previous days and, more so, years that we have been acquainted with one another." Now, I could tell, she was getting a bit annoyed, and I didn't blame her (this was the third time she was explaining it to me, though I should have gotten it the first time). "So, what do you say: truce?" She held out her pale hand in my direction. I hesitated – what if it is a trap, or, even worse, if she is just trying to get me to let my guard down so she can knock me down later? But, this would be good in the long run, considering we will be seeing each other in Magix, and having a "friend" (a term used loosely, of course) would not be a bad thing… Before I could muddle my thoughts any further than they already were, I grabbed her hand and shook it.

"Truce," I responded, nodding and smiling genuinely in her direction. For once, I actually felt a bit comfortable around her, as if she were my…friend.

"Did I just hear you two make a truce?" My eyes widened, hearing a voice I had not heard in hours (I believe less than 12, but I cannot be sure). I turned around, and sure enough, the girl with curly, brown hair and a pink dress was sitting up and rubbing her head right where Tecna had hit her. Vel had finally woken up from being knocked out by Tecna earlier.

"Velocia, you're awake!" I ran over to the countess and helped her up. "Do you feel okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, but my head does feel a bit dizzy…but did you guys just make a truce?" I turned to Tecna, and she nodded her head, leading me to nod my head as well. That, apparently, earned us a startled look from Vel. "Wow, that's something I never thought I would hear."

"Me neither," I muttered under my breath; I think, though, that she heard me, as Tec glared at me while Vel chuckled at both of us, I believe.

"Hey, I'm hungry – do you guys have any food?" Again, I turned to Tec, and she mouthed "I told you" to me. I shook my head slowly from right to left

Tecna looked to Vel and sighed, so I answered her question before Tecna could explain the last hour or so. "It's a long story. Come on, let's just go get some food." We all started walking – Tecna in lead, then myself and Vel behind her – towards…well, towards somewhere. I wasn't exactly sure where we were going, and neither was Vel (as I learned when she asked me the same question and I responded that I had no clue whatsoever). I mean, I felt somewhat confident in Tecna's inhuman sense of direction, but still, my doubts were there.

After wandering around for a little time longer, I could see Velocia was getting more and more peeved about wandering around without any direction – she, obviously, had never witnessed anything like Tecna's robot-like sense of direction. "Um, Tecna…" Velocia asked after what seemed to be ten, fifteen minutes of walking around seemingly aimlessly in the Zenithian Forest, "where exactly are we going?"

Tecna turned around to us. She looked stoic, just as always, but also extremely determined. Finally, after leaving us in suspense for a moment or two, she answered the Countess with the answer I expected, yet dreaded to hear from her: "Meta, Vel – we're going to defeat Cos."

Okay, let me just say that I am so sorry for keeping you guys waiting for so long for this chapter, but thank you for keeping with the story! As well, just to clarify, for Tecna's hair, think of it as her season 5 (or season 4 Believix) hair, not like it is in the 1st – 4th seasons. The reasoning behind this will become clearer later on in the story ;).

Paxon Technology Corporation (PTC): one of the major technology corporations in Zenith, and one of the most important advancers of technology in the magical dimension. Just keep this name in mind for later in the story (and that's all we're going to say…).

This is the scientific name of the Grizzly Bear – now, they do not have fangs or beating red eyes, but we had to exaggerate to get a "beast" meeting all of the requirements; mainly, it was chosen as the "monster" of this chapter for its brown fur, large figure, and voracious appetite, as well as so that we could have Tecna using a scientific name for the animal (exactly how we think she would in real life).

So, what'd you guys think? Please review – it's always great to hear what you guys have to say!