In every generation, there is a chosen one. She alone will stand against the hentais, lechers, and perverts. She is the Hentai hunter. LOOK MOMMY! I'M RIPPING OFF BUFFY! Look, here's how it is. I was brought into this world as a normal chick, and survived that way for fourteen years, becoming a virtuoso prodigy at anything having to do with music, rhythm, and linguistics. And then I thought this camp might be fun. God damn, I was wrong. You see, sometimes, things don't always turn out as planned... Like going on vacation to a tropical paradise to find that there's a level five hurricane headed your way. That's kinda like my deal here. You see, I didn't expect anything to happen here. I expected two months of peaceful, leisurely study of my instrument and what do I get? I get to fulfill an ancient prophecy. (Note: See the ripped off quote above.) And this, my dearies, is my story. Cuz I'm... HENTAI HUNTER GAIA Original concept and this part by: Myth PART I: Happy Hardcore DISCLAIMER! WAI! WAI! THIS FIC CONTAINS NAUGHTY NAUGHTY BAD BAD COMMONLY USED FOUR LETTER WORDS TO KNOW AND SHARE!!!! If the lives of teenagers offends/scare/frightens/interests you in a bad way/makes you lose hair, please do not read this fic. Otherwise, enjoy! A shadowy figure rose in front of the rising sun, debating another day. "Ay, Bubbles! Today we will meet her!" "Who, Fli..." "THOU SHALT NOT CALL ME FLIDAIS!" *WHAP!* "Yes, Master Bates..." "Today, wa will meet the Hentai hunter! BWAHAHAHA!!! BWAHAHA!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA *COUGH**HACK**GAG!**WHEEZE**COUGH-COUGH-COUGH*... ahem... Gotta practice that..." ({*}) Into the well-kempt grounds that lay just on the outskirts of a well-kempt capitol turned a less than well-kempt car. It was a battered grey Hyundai, which had had one careful owner, but also three suicidally reckless ones. It made its way up the concrete driveway with a reluctant air as if all it asked for in life was to be tipped into a restful ditch in one of the adjoining meadows and there allowed to settle in graceful abandonment. But no. Instead of which, here it was being asked to drag itself up the concrete drive, and would, no doubt, soon be called upon to drag itself all the way back down again, to what possible purpose it was beyond it's wit to imagine. It drew to a halt in front of the entrance of the main building, where teenagers sat smoking on the front steps. It then began to trundle slowly backward again until its driver yanked on the handbrake, which evoked from the car a sort of strangled "eek." A door flopped open, wobbling perilously on it's one remaining hinge, and there emerged from the car a pair of the sort of legs which soundtrack editors are unable to see without needing to slap a hard goa/trance/rave/trip hop track all over, for reasons which no one besides sound-track editors has ever been able to understand. In this case, however, the hard goa/trance/rave/trip hop track would have been silenced by the proximity of the kazoo, which the same sound-track editor would almost certainly have slapped all over the progress of the vehicle. The owner of the legs followed them in the usual manner, closed the car door lightly, and then made her way to the trunk. She got her luggage and violin case out, and then went to the backseat to get her backpack. And all of a sudden, the point-of-view shot through a hole into my head, to bring you this story through the eyes of a teenager (and because the author didn't feel like writing third person anymore. Same difference.) "Now remember. You go that way..." the driver pointed to the left, "...to get to the audition, then you come back here. You're in room 257..." He threw me a pair of keys, "...now piss off." I grabbed the handle of my backpack as my escort sped away, leaving dark kohl colored skid marks on the ground where he was recently parked. 'Stupid asshole,' was the only thought on my mind as I dragged my bag onto the elevator. Just as the door was almost closed, a hand wriggled through at the last moment. "Hey, can we fit in here?" Thinking it was only a couple of people, I replied, "Sure." As the door opened, I realized how wrong I was. A stampede of slightly overweight adults crowded the small elevator. "Excuse me! I think we're over the 2200-pound limit! I think five of you are gonna hafta get off!" I exclaimed from my choked corner of the elevator. Some of the people got out, and I pressed the second floor button, then calmly leaned against the smooth metal wall. I heard a faint ding as the two above the sliding doors began to flash an off white light. Getting off the elevator, I was now presented with a new challenge. Finding my room. I followed a hallway and hoped for the best as I dragged my suitcase on the floor behind me. 'Stupid wheels,' I thought as the rolling noise gave way to another noise with a rather high-pitched frequency. Stopping, I picked up the 5-ton suitcase and hauled ass down the hallway. When I felt my arm was about to fall off, I let go and the suitcase fell to the ground, making a tremor that would be the equivalent of a five on the Richter's scale. I looked up at the number on the door, and was pleased to find that it was room 257. I pulled my key from my pocket and opened the door, once again making a high-pitched squeak as my suitcase "rolled" along behind me. Two other girls were already in the room. The sight I saw next would be my living nightmare for the next few months. Bunk bed. Very large AC duct above the bunk bed. "Aiyah..." I sighed, as I let the door shut behind me. I then noticed the other two girls were looking at me, as though expecting something. I looked around for a moment, then said, "Hi, I'm Gaia... expect me to say more?" Nodding. "...Too bad." A short girl with a very cute face came up to me and said, "Yo, I'm Ophelia." She spoke with a light Spanish accent, and had her arms crossed in front of her chest. "I'm from Miami." The girl lying on the bed across from my own looked up from her book. She was Caucasian, with brown hair. She was rather tall and thin, but she looked nice enough. "Hi, I'm Nikita." She smiled at me in a don't-let-your-guard-down manner, as I smiled back at her in a don't-even-try-it answer. Another girl came out of the bathroom. She was a couple inches shorter than I was, with shoulder-length black hair. She shook my hand as she replied, "And I'm Jenny. Nice to meet you!" I raised an eyebrow slightly, and answered to they're welcome with, "Where's the music building?" "Oh," Ophelia replied, "you haven't auditioned yet?" "The music building is just down the road, then you take a left, and when you get to a building that looks like it's under construction turn in and go into the KMU building. That's where the auditions are held," Jenny answered with a smile. I paused a moment, then said, "OK, then. I'm on my slap-happy way." I grabbed my violin case, slung it over my shoulder, and walked out the door, hoping for the best. ({*}) I walked along the wet sidewalk, trying my best not to step in the puddles on the uneven pavement. I had no idea how camp was gonna go down this year... It was pretty cool last year. Except for the fact that my boyfriend broke up with me... and my dog died... and my cat went to the hospital... OK, so this was probably going to suck. So sue me for trying to be optimistic. I could hear laughter behind me, and I looked back to see a rather cute boy in the middle of a small group of people. I turned back and smiled inwardly. They were catching up to me and soon, I found myself standing next to that rather cute boy. "Hi," I said to him as he looked at me. "Hey," he replied as he smiled. Cute smile. Oh boy, I'm a sucker for a cute smile... "What camp are you in..." I leaned close to his chest to examine his name-tag, "...Cedric?" "Symphonic band camp. What about you?" "String orchestra. What do you play?" We were now attracting giggles from one of his comrades, who quickly received a small punch in the arm. "Clarinet. And is that a violin?" "No...It's a cello. Of course!" "Well, where are you going?" I looked at him closely for the first time. Ear length black hair, dark eyes, and that smile...sigh. He seemed like a pretty nice guy. Main word in sentence: seemed. "Um...I'm looking for the music building." "Well then, we better let you on your way. It's right across the street there. Talk to ya later." "Yeah, bye." I heard a chorus of goodbyes from behind me as I made my way across the street. ({*}) I consider myself to be a fairly decent, honest, dependable person... When I'm not having hyper spaz attacks and whooping out various forms of my mad kung-fu skeelz. I guess I'm fairly attractive to guys, having over... well, I lost count at twelve, but who keeps track of exes anyways? Obviously not me. If you haven't been able to tell already, I'm boy crazy. B-O-Y C-R-A-Z-Y. Just like any teenage girl should be. I inherited a rather short temper from my mom, but a rather long attention span and rope of patience from my father... what happens when those two things meet is still unknown. I noticed that I was almost under the arches of the KMU building. I took in all the familiar sights from last year. The rocky path. The Opperman building. The CD guy. Opening the old and cracked doors of the KMU building with a creak, I felt a rush of cold air. Very cold. I wrapped my arms around myself trying to retain heat, to no avail, as the thin cotton T-shirt I was wearing was not exactly warm clothing. Hurrying up the stairs that led to the second floor, I noticed it warmed up a little bit, but not that much. A length down the hallway, I heard screeching violins. That was obviously where I was supposed to go. I walked briskly, keeping my pace up. I usually only get like this when I'm nervous....................OK, I am nervous. Don't shoot me! Anyways, I opened the double doors, and walked down the small stairway. Opening the next door, the screeching violin stopped, as its audition was over. I opened my case, took out my instrument and my music, and walked into the room. A chorus of three hellos greeted me. A rather small woman, a man I knew as Mr. Cole, and some other guy sat at the small table to my left. To my right was a music stand, so I set my music down. "Name please?" the woman asked. "Gaia Ceredwin." "And what will you be playing today?" Mr. Cole asked. "Um.....I'm gonna be playing Czardas, by V. Monti... the hard version," I stated nervously. I got into playing position, and started. Ouch. My, that was horribly out of tune. Luckily, I quickly recovered, and finished the 10-minute long piece with a minimal amount of screw-ups. "Splendid," the woman said, "Anything fast?" "Yeah, I got the Concertina... can't remember who it's by, but it's in the level seven Suzuki book," I quickly replied as I flipped through my music. I got into playing position and started the piece. I happily played as I realized I wasn't making any mistakes. I finished and looked up. They don't look to be in excruciating pain. YES! "Very good. Send in the next person." I gathered up my stuff and left the room, as someone else went in. ({*}) "Hi Gaia!" I walked in through the white-stained door of my room, and was greeted with the sight of my roommates (minus Nikita) hanging out with a bunch of other people. I paused for a moment before I ventured into the depths of the area, and when I did, I took in my surroundings. Nine people. Ophelia stood up. "Ok, tall guy with orange hair, that's Cody. Short girl with dark skin, she's Bao. Skinny girl with long hair, that's Celes..." A dark haired boy cut her off. "And I'm Ryder. That's Zack..." A blonde boy waved at me. "And that's Pan." A boy with spiked black hair nodded at me, and smiled. I smiled back out of lack of anything better to do. Suddenly, a loud knock on the door came to our ears, and without warning, it opened and a Taiwanese girl came into the room. Jenny smiled. "And that's Jade." We exchanged greetings and sat down on the roughly carpeted floor, when Zack started laughing. Celes cocked her head. "What's so funny?" "Heh heh heh... I fuckin' screwed the AC up in my room, dawg. HA!!! I can't believe... hahaha!!!... that I fuckin'... whew.... Screwed the ac, man!" And then I lost control of my body. ...My arms... tingling... My whole body felt empowered beyond belief... My aura glowing brighter than it had before... I knew I looked different now. I stood and walked... Can't remember which direction, all I know is that I felt a sudden pang in my chest... pain.... Tasted like steel like a snap from a knife... Turned my head to face the source... Saw Zack... Moved at lightning speed and broke his neck... Didn't even have time to fight back... And then I snapped back into my body. I also realized everyone was staring at me. "Oh Fuck." ({*}) Well, reaction in this case, are rather hard to explain, considering that they happened simultaneously... Damn that would be a bitch to write. So instead, look at this list, imagine that they're happening at the same time, and then you'll have a pretty good idea of what's going on. Here's what happened: Me: Stating "Oh fuck" multiple times in quick succession. Jenny: Looking at the corpse in horror, but not really saying anything. Ophelia: Looking calmly around the room, due to the fact that she wasn't quite paying attention, but when her eyes did hap upon the dead body, she giggled, asked if it was real, and when confronted with the answer, jumped up and ran to the bathroom. What happened in there is rather confidential. Cody: Looking at it in slight shock, then bringing a stick out of nowhere and poking Zack with it, while saying "Cool." Jade: Running as far away from the corpse as humanly possible while still staying in the room. Crying was most likely her best option, as well as constantly repeating, "Why, God, why?" Bao: Chanted a prayer quietly to herself. Pretty sure it wasn't Christian. Celes: Stuttering. Lots and lots of it. Ryder: Looked at me in shock. Didn't bother looking at the corpse. Pan: Laughing. Hard. ({*}) After everyone was done freaking out, cussing like an inebriated sailor fresh out of Cid Highwind's School for Gutter-mouthed Youngsters, and basically doing everything they could to release any stress from anything other than this particular event, we sat down and stared at the body. I was the first to speak. "Shouldn't we do something about it? It's gonna start to smell or something..." I was about to stand up when someone stuck his hand in front of me. I looked to see Ryder. He spoke in a harsh tone. "We're not letting you move until you tell us what the fuck just happened." "I... I... don't know..." "You're a hentai hunter." Everyone turned to look at the speaker who just so happened to be Pan. "A what?" I asked, an expression of doubt and confusion on my face. It looked like everyone else had the same expression. "Sure, you know. One who hunts hentais. Lechers. Perverts. Ecchi. Sickos. Freaks of nature. Libidinally over endowed. Sexually obsessed deviant who wipes his bum on gerbils. You've all known one at one time or another. It's just that... some of them are evil. Like Zack." He motioned towards the body. "And that's what Gaia's for. Now, you guys get your asses to orientation, and I'll take care of the bod..." There was a knock on the door. Everyone held their breath. The knock came again. "Oh fuck! Shove it under the bed!!!" Cody yelped as he hopped up from his seat. Celes, Ryder, and I proceeded to kick it, but it didn't seem very likely to move. "Just shove the bloody thing under!" Pan hissed as he pushed Zack's corpse under the bed. The person knocked again. "Hold up a second!" Ophelia yelled. I moved to open the door as everybody jumped for a seat. When I managed to stop fumbling with the locks, Nikita stepped into the room. "Hey guys, hurry up. You're all gonna be late for orientation!" We all looked at each other, then got up ushering Nikita out of the room. None of us noticed Pan rummaging under the bed, pulling out the corpse, and shoving it out the window. Then, after the body hit with a satisfying thud, Pan jumped out the window after it. ({*}) Orientation is evil. Not just a little evil, it is the complete and utter personification of the term. Orientation was basically a three-hour speech by the main Professor of the camp about the rules, why we are here, the rules again, what the consequences are, once again, the rules (This man must be getting senile...) and finally, a rundown of his childhood music career. I think it's safe to say that I was sleeping on Ryder for all three hours of it. Or at least I would've if Pan hadn't woken me up. "What the fuck... I was having the coolest dream, and then you just had to..." "Sh! We need to talk when we get out of here, ok?" "Fine, fine, just fuck off for now..." "Damn, you're a tiger spitting fire, aren't you?" Sitting back into Ryder's arms, I replied, "Leave me alone right now. Tired. When tired become PMSy. Goodbye." Pan shrugged his shoulders and took a seat next to Ryder. I wasn't able to doze off again, so I watched the professor for about three minutes, and that did the trick. Out cold. ({*}) While I was asleep, here was the rundown of the basic conversation between Pan and Ryder. "Hey, wanna switch seats?" "No..." "Please?" "No." "C'mon, man!" "No, screw off man! She's sleeping on me and that's that!" "Well, earlier you were freaked out that she killed a guy. That doesn't bother you anymore?" "Not really." "...She's cute, ne?" "...Yea." "She looks so cute when she's asleep... Can't believe that *SHE'S* the hentai hunter..." "How did you know about that anyways?" "I was born and raised to watch over the hentai hunter... and I totally suck at playing the viola." "I suck at the violin... hoped I'd get better here." "Prolly will. Hey, look. I think the guys done. Let's go." Ryder nudged me gently, and said in a soft voice, "Hey Gaia, wake up." "Nnnn..." I stated. "C'mon..." He pulled my arm, and I got up, but I fell on him again. He looked at Pan and Cody, who were talking to each other quietly about Buddha knows who. Pan urged him on. He had obviously forgotten about talking to me about whatever it was he wanted to talk about. "Aiight then..." he trailed off as he bent over, and picked me up. That woke me up. "GAA!!!" I grabbed around his neck for dear life. "I HATE BEING PICKED UP!!! IHATEITIHATEITIHATEITIHATEIT!!!" This somewhat surprised him, so he bent to put me down. "Don't put me down!" Yes, I'm acting indecisive. Got a problem with it? Call 1-900-KISS-MY-ASS. Again surprised by this, he stood up straight again and started walking. ({*}) When we managed to get back to the dorms, I was in a sort of daze for a short period of time. Then I realized my mom would kick my ass if I didn't call her, and so, the phone quest began. ({*}) The phone room was complete and utter chaos. It looked like a pair of rabbits had gotten busy in the arctic and the chaos factor swung that around to create a whole bunch of frantic kids calling they're parents the big thing on the FSU campus in Florida. This is probably the reason I hate camp. The girl in front of me had probably been on for a good hour or so, so I quickly eavesdropped on her conversation. "Like, yea. Ohmigawd! You lost his phone number?! Try calling 1-800-IM-DATING-A-SKANKY-HOE!!! I so hate his girlfriend it's not even funny... well... ok, if your mom's yelling at you... alright, like, toodles!" The girl looked like she was about to make another call, so I quickly pulled her chair away from the phone saying, "Your two hour time limit is up. Don't want your tongue falling out, now do we?" Kneeling on the floor, I dialed my phone number. No answer. So I left a message. I quickly got up and left the room, making my way back to my own. Noticing that both Ryder and Pan were in there arguing, I made tracks in the opposite direction to see if I could find any of my other friends. "Hi." I stopped and turned around to see a tall girl with short, reddish-brown hair and a cute dress on. She looked somewhat older than me, but seemed nice enough. "Hi, I'm Gaia, and you are?" "I'm Sarah." "What do you play?" "Viola... Ya know what?" I started walking with her. "What?" "You're kind of cute." That stopped me dead in my tracks. "Ano... in what sense?" She stopped with me. "In a cute sense, of course!" Then something came to mind. "Are you Sarah Druantia?" "Yea, how'd you know?" "Lucky guess, I guess..." "Well, how about you coming back to my room and we'll..." "No. No thanks, I mean. IreallygottagetbacktomyroomandhangoutwithmyroommatesandmaybesleepandIreallydon'thavetimetochillwithyousorryigottagobye!" And then I took off down the hallway. "Hm. Strange girl. New prospect. I'll try again tomorrow." ({*}) I'm not normally homophobic, but then again, they're not usually hitting on me. I talked it over with Ryder and Pan and they responded with sarcastic comments like "Hey! Hot girl on girl action!" and "Gaia, I'd seriously pay to see that." But I just remembered that Sarah Druantia is the one girl you want to stay away from if you want to stay straight. She got one of my room-mates last year. We had to tie her to a chair and flash pictures of guys from a teen magazine in front of her face for three days straight. We got her back though. That's all that matters. Pan suddenly grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the door. "Training time," he smiled as I managed a quick wave goodbye to Ryder. ({*}) "What about her?" "Naw, don't feel anything." Pan had taken me down to the lobby to observe some of the people at the camp. Checking out my senses, he had called it. "What about that guy?" "Besides the fact that he sleeps with his sister, he's not hentai... ew." "Ok, good. Him?" "Naw. Straight as a ruler." "What about..." While Pan was talking, I locked eyes with another guy. He infatuated me... he had amazing hazel eyes and dark brown hair with blonde streaks, cut about to the tops of his ears. He smiled at me. That smile. That smile was captivating. I can't say that I sensed anything hentai about him, but I couldn't rip my violet eyes away from him... the way he moved... the way he interacted with the others... God, damn, I'm scaring myself. Pan contented himself with looking at me. "Found another one?" I remained silent. Pan looked in the direction I was staring in. "Oh, that guy. That's Erik. Kind of odd... why don't you talk to him?" I finally managed to rip my eyes off of him, and I gave Pan the most strangled look I could manage. I finally choked out, "What is he?" "No idea yet. If that look he gave you didn't prompt you to kill him, he must be something powerful. He's certainly not evil in the hentai respect." I breathed again. That was certainly a good thing. I stood up to walk towards him, but on my way another presence turned my head. Another guy... but he had an aura of hentai around him so large it was hard to distinguish between his aura and the auras of the people around him. He gave me a sincerely evil look that chilled my blood to an extreme. Suddenly, a voice interjected in my head. 'Gaia, I'm gonna kill you.' And then that haunting smile... Evil! Evil! Bad! Bad! The last thing I remember was smacking into a wall and falling unconscious. ({*}) "Hey, look! I think she's coming to!" "Itai..." I groaned in pain. I noticed Erik was sitting at my side. Turns out Pan had picked me up after my little fiasco with the wall and Erik had insisted on coming with him to my room. It was about midnight when I had managed to come to, and everyone was just chilling around the area on the floor that I currently occupied. Erik helped me sit up. Pan jumped to my side. "What the fuck happened to you?!" "Wall... me... boom. Don't know what caused it... there was this guy tho..." Pan and Ryder jumped at me and clapped their hands over my mouth. "Mphh mm mrrph ggh!" I managed to get out. Don't worry, I don't know what I said either. Both Pan and Ryder made identical head movements toward Erik, who was most likely wondering why two guys, both bigger than me, had just clamped their hands over my mouth in an attempt to shut me up. "If it's about the hentai hunter thing, I already sensed it..." All eyes were on him. Pan let go of me and pounced on Erik. "Ok, what [ARE] you?!" Erik looked him directly in the eye. "I dunno! What are you?!" The two boys glared at each other for a good five minutes straight, then finally looked in opposite directions, almost oblivious to the other's presence. They looked towards where I was. Or, rather, where I was supposed to be. "Hey, where'd she go?" both boys asked simultaneously. ({*}) "It's just *SO* fucking confusing!" I had managed to escape from my room into my friend's room, which was occupied by Celes, Bao, and Jade. Celes was sitting next to me. "Hey girl, don't let it get you down. We've all had guy problems at one point or another..." "But this is different. Two chasing me, me semi-chasing one, and obviously another trying to kill me." "Well, just avoid that last one and you oughta be fine!" Everyone looked at her. "What?" Bao spoke up. "Well, if this guys so all powerful and shit, it might be a little hard to avoid him." "Well," Jade started. "Maybe we could find out who he is first and then we'll figure out what to do." "Ok, he was about 6'1", red hair, had these weird red..." *KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK* "GO THE FUCK AWAY!" Celes yelled. "...eyes, and shouldn't we see who that was?" "No," Bao said nonchalantly as she brushed her black hair over an ear. "Prolly just Ryder, Pan, and Cody. If they really want in, they'll use their mad lock-picking skeelz." I looked towards Jade who had flipped out a laptop and was furiously typing away on it. She looked to be concentrating really hard, her fingers making a *tap-tap-tap* sound on the keyboard. Everyone sat in silence, when she finally breathed, "Got him." My ears perked up. "Really?" I leaned over her shoulder to see the guy with the funky aura. "That's him!" "Ok," Jade replied. "His name is Flidais Bates. He's 16, plays the cello, and is enrolled in the string orchestra camp." "Aiight then." I cracked my knuckles. "I think that's all we need to know for now." I stood up to leave the room when another round of incessant knocking began. I heard Ryder muffled through the door. "Gaia, they posted the seating arrangements! Hurry!" Whoever was still sitting jumped up, and all of us were out of the room in less than a second. ({*}) Before I continue, I would like to explain the orchestra situation. There are two orchestra's. The Philharmonic (CRAPPY) and the Symphony (VERY GOOD). There are two divisions of each orchestra (String orchestra and Symphonic, which has the brass, woodwinds, percussion, etc.). There are also two conductors. First, there's Mr. Parsa. He's a very respectable conductor, very nice, and very meticulous on theory training, but he's generally an all around good conductor as well as a virtuoso viola player... But unfortunately for him, he has the campiest voice on the planet, which makes him the center of ridicule for a number of the students. The other conductor, Mr. Pahng, was also a really good conductor as well as a cello player... But he was somewhat overweight, also causing him to be ridiculed by the students. He was an extremely nice guy though... and he looked almost exactly like chef, from South Park! Finally making it to the HMU building (the building next to the KMU building. Yes, there's usually more than one building on a campus.), there was a large crowd gathered on the first floor, which wasn't really the first floor because of the sub-floor under it, containing the instrument lockers and one or two of the recital halls. Well, anyways, back to the point of this section, I tried to fight my way to the wall to check my standings in the orchestra. I did not succeed. So I decided to sit back and relax until everyone went away. "Like, ohmigawd! I didn't make concert master?! Not even second chair?!?!?! Like, aa!" "Well, like, who did make concert master of symphony?" "Some little bitch named Gaia Ceredwin! I'll kick her ass!!!" My ears perked up. "Wait... who made concert master?" I asked as I cut into their conversation. "Some girl named Gaia Ceredwin! I can't believe I didn't make it!" I tried again to fight my way to the front of the crowd, and this time succeeded by stepping on feet and crawling under people. The list looked something like this: String Orchestra Camp Symphony Alpha Violin Gaia Ceredwin (Concert Master) And I stopped there. I looked for Erik. Beta Violin Erik Sellama (Principal) Next I checked for Pan. Viola Sarah Druantia (Principal) Pan Adonis And then in the cello section. And I saw the dreaded name. Cello Flidais Bates (Principal) "Oh, fuck," I breathed. ({*}) It was an all nighter like any other all nighter. Hanging out in the hallways with my friends, sleeping on some of them for a short period, then realizing that all nighters require no, I repeat {{{[[[***NO***]]]}}} sleep. At about 4 A.M., we got bored and moved downstairs where we were once again confronted with the long-lived question: Where are we going to go? Erik suggested the practice rooms in the basement of the HMU building, considering that the counselors were probably too stoned to care if we were out roaming the streets, so therefore, we left. ({*}) "Damn, these rooms smell like piss and drugs, man!" Celes, Jade, Bao, Ophelia, Jenny, Cody, Pan, Ryder, Erik, and I sat in the small practice room. I had somehow managed to get on top of the piano and everyone else was scattered somewhere about the room. The room itself was rather small, probably six by five feet at least. "God damn I'm bored... and it's 4 hours till classes start!" I exclaimed. Cody got a wolfish grin on his face. "How bout we play..." Crescendo in music, signifying evil intent. "Truth or dare! BWAHAHAHA!!! BWAHAHA!!! BWAHAHA...*COUGH-COUGH-COUGH* sorry..." We looked at him. He backed into his corner rather quickly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it..." "Y'know... That isn't such a bad idea..." We all looked to the owner of the voice, who had just inherited Cody's evil grin. Erik continued, "Jade. Truth or dare?" Jade's head snapped up, her eyes open wide giving her that patented Dear-in-the-Headlights look. "Ummm... Truth?" "Ok, then. Who's the cutest person in this room... and if it isn't a guy, then I'll be forced to be afraid." "Oh yea. Gaia is the cutest person in this room!" I looked up. "Wha?" Celes was in on the joke now. "Oh yea, baby. Gaia's just a hot young thing!" I caught on. "Oh yea! Come here and gimme a kiss, baby!" Everyone laughed. Jade smiled warmly. "But seriously, I'd have to say... Ryder." Ryder blushed slightly, and cracked a small smile in an attempt to not laugh. "OK then. Pan, truth or dare?" "Huh?" Pan looked up and settled with squinting at Jade. "I lost my contact, man. I think it's around here somewhere... but, dare." "Dare, huh? Hmmm..." Cody whispered something in her ear, as she burst out laughing. "Tomorrow, you are so cross-dressing!" Pan's battle aura grew a thousand-fold. "NO!!! I'll take my swirly like a man!" "Oh, c'mon! Just a little makeup?" "...Do I have to go outside with it on?" "No." "Fine. Later today then." Everyone cheered. "AIIGHT!" Pan observed the faces around the room, then settled on my position. "Gaia... Truth or dare?" He looked me directly in the eye as if issuing a challenge. "Dare." I stared directly back at him with an uncontrollable fire in my eyes. He backed down slightly. I love being a chick. "I dare you to... kiss Erik." Everyone gasped as the music crescendoed and a lightning bolt which struck in the background for dramatic effect, misaimed itself and hit Pan, leaving him a charred humanoid figure with a criss-crossed band-aid on his blackened forehead. I looked at Erik. He looked at me. I glared at Pan. He laughed so hard, he fell on his side and smacked his head against the leg of the piano. Then I laughed. Erik stood up and moved towards me, his face mere centimeters from my own. I could feel his breath, and he moved forwards... And then, there was a really loud knock on the door and an extremely pissed off counselor yelling about, "I may be stoned but I still know when you guys are supposed to be practicing in the practice room! Now lemme in or I'll send you guys to the dean!" "What, did you leave your drug stash in here or something?" Bao yelled through the door. "...Yes. Now get out of there!!!" Pan opened the door and stepped out as did everyone else. I myself had to take a good jump off the piano when the counselor opened the top to get out the largest bag of drugs Pan had ever drooled all over. Under his breath, the counselor was heard saying, "I hate you, and you're all assholes..." Once we were well away from the smelly practice rooms, we settled on the first floor, right by the boards with the seating arrangements. A thought then snapped into my head. I should check out the schedule. I grabbed a yellow sheet of paper off of the bulletin board and here is what it said: FSU STRING ORCHESTRA CAMP SCHEDULE (SYMPHONY) 8:00-9:00 Sectional 9:15-11:15 Practice 11:30-1:00 String orchestra rehearsal 1:00-2:30 Lunch time 2:45-3:45 Practice 4:00-4:45 Ensemble 5:00-6:00 Symphonic orchestra rehearsal 6:00-8:00 Dinner/Free-time 8:00-9:00 and beyond Planned activity after hours Sleep/whatever Planned Activities Monday Concert night Tuesday Movie night Wednesday Concert night Thursday Movie night Friday Free night Saturday Free Day Sunday Free day or concert day on the last day Your pieces will be: (Strings alone, conducted by Mr. Pahng) Palladio, Princiapal violins duet as well as rest of orchestra accompaniment, by Karl Jenkins An orchestrated version of Csardas, concert master solo with orchestral accompaniment, by V. Monti Adagio for strings, by Samuel Barber Chapter one, by Carol Nunez (Symphonic, conducted by Mr. Parsa) The Lord of the Dance (Cry of the Celts/Lord of the Dance) by Ronan Hardiman The Pirates of Penzance, by Arthur Sullivan The Deuxieme Symphonie, by A. Borodine *NOTE: The above list is subject to change! Other activities are to be announced. The last Saturday of camp will be Ensemble concert day. Please check the Bulletin board in the Music Library to see where your ensemble will meet, as well as who is in it. Have a good day. I jumped up and ran through the double doors, down two flights of stairs to the basement, through another set of doors, and down at least three hallways and was met with the bulletin board in the music library. I searched for my name and here is what met me: Ensemble # 9 Alpha Violins: Gaia Ceredwin, Jenny Ts'ai Beta Violins: Erik Sellama, Wolfgang Reese Violas: Sarah Druantia, Pan Adonis Cellos: Flidais Bates, Ophelia St. Morphine Bass: Cody Kalmus I slumped against a wall, cursing my luck as I pulled my hand through my reddish-brown hair. I have to spend a lot of time with that Bates guy... and that severely sucked. The others finally caught up with me, and they set to work finding they're ensembles. Oh well. Time to face another day. ({*}) "Come, Bubbles! Fetch me my Spherical Glass of All-Seeing Power (TM)!" "Yes Master Bates. Coming sir." Bubbles soared around clumsily in search of his master's query. Really, sometimes it didn't pay to be a lackey. "Where did you see it last Fli-- "THOU SHALT NOT CALL ME FLIDAIS!" *THWAP!* "Sorry Master Bates. Ah! Here it is!" Bubbles calmly rolled a glass ball out of the cupboard and rolled it along the floor towards his master's seat. "Here Master Bates. Sorry for the wait." "Good Bubbles. Here's a quarter." Flidais thought to himself as he looked into the Spherical Glass of All-Seeing Power (TM) (Can't you just hear the thunderclap when you say it? Spherical Glass of All-Seeing Power! *THUNDERCLAP!* WAI! WAI! WAI!). 'Hmmm,' he thought as an image of Gaia sitting on the floor speaking to Erik all of a suddenly popped up. 'She's the hentai hunter? Looks just like a normal girl... Ah, oh well. We'll battle someday.' "Bubbles! Where's the remote?!" "Coming Master Bates..." An odd looking metallic device appeared in Flidais' hand as he pointed it at the ball and pressed a button. And voila! The image changed. Flidais was watching Sailor Moon. Sweet Buddha! What has the world of evil come to?! Flidais watched the glass surface contentedly. Flidais laughed. ({*}) NEXT TIME, ON HENTAI HUNTER... "What? I thought I was supposed to hunt hentais, not demons!" "Well, I guess this would be a slight change of plans then, ne?" ...OR NOT. ({*}) AUTHOR'S NOTES: Myth: In which the author thanks... and thanks and thanks and thanks and... H: *hits Myth over the head with a frying pan* ENOUGH ALREADY! Myth: Itai! Okies, I'll get on with it! ...and thanks and says "WAI!" more times than is healthy for a normal human being. Wai! Wai! Wai! Happy Hardcore is done! Wai! Wai! Wai! First, I would like to get my thanks done: PRE-READERS! (WAI! WAI! WAI!) Eslington, who wants some more people to sign up for Scarlett Marquee. MarkE, who told me my piece was excellent and basically all out flattered me. Dan Wood, who countered MarkE and told me about flow problems, which I haven't fixed. (Thank you thank you thank you very much though! I looked into it and decided that I didn't want it to flow that way!) HottCoffee, who was basically MarkE's female counterpart. OTHER THANKS! (WAI! WAI! WAI!) Douglas Adams, for writing The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul, so I could maliciously steal scenes from it. (ie. The third person intro in the beginning. Look familiar?) Epsilon, for being himself. Hey, who else is gonna be the perfect example of a severely comical baddy? #Improfanfic, for helping me through my not-quite-writers-block-but-rather-a-poorly-built-writers-dam phase. Your ideas helped me finish this! I love you guys! *sniff sniff* The people that actually participated in this camp, for your crazy antics gave me inspiration for the original story line... although I didn't go with it and turned it into this... odd... piece of literature. OTHER STUFF! (WAI! WAI! WAI!) If this does make it into getting somewhere, and you need information on anything musical, you can email me any questions pertaining to that subject. Well, I wish everyone the best of luck in the mini-sweeps... especially me. BWAHAHA!!! Just kidding. This probably isn't the best one, so I'll just save my evil laugh for later. Ja ne everyone! ~Myth "HELP! HELP! I'M BEING REPRESSED!" "Can't even shout Can't even cry The gentlemen are coming by Looking in windows Knocking on doors They need to take seven And they might take yours Can't call to mom Can't say a word You're gonna die screaming but you won't be heard..." Bru-ha-ha-ha... eeeeee-vil!