I looked out into the night, the cool, refreshing evening breeze rustling my hair as I sat on the roof of the dorms, dangling my feet over the edge of the building. The sky was jet black except for the bleeding moon, huge and full, suspended in the night sky. The moon had always interested me, the constantly changing phases, the fluctuating colors, the mystery... I could kind of relate to it. When I was a child, a friend had told me a story. It was an ancient Chinese legend, about a woman and her husband, Hou Yi, Master Archer of the Skies. He had been presented with a magic peach by the Queen Mother of the Western Skies. This peach was the peach of everlasting life. Vowing to fast for a year, Hou Yi left after he hid the peach in a box. His wife found the peach and promptly ate it. As soon as she began to soar, her husband returned and shot her with an arrow, banishing her to the moon. From then on, she was the Moon Lady. Perhaps it's true. Perhaps there *IS* a woman in the moon... But enough of that. I was here to think, dammit! That bitch Morgan and her new super Hentai Hunter were what I had to worry about at the moment. At least Morgan was going to get what she deserved, though I kinda felt sorry for her for a minute. For a minute. I smirked as I looked up at the sky and the bleeding moon it held. Someday, somehow, I'd figure everything out. Figure out... why me? Why was I chosen? Why was I... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hentai Hunter Gaia Part VIII: The Death of a Hunter Started by: Myth This chapter by: Myth Disclaimer: You've made it this far. I think you would've been scared off by now... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ryder sat cross-legged in the center of his dark, deserted room, the single candle casting shadows to play over the many cracks and crevices of the small room. Firelight played across the boy's well defined and rather attractive features. His room-mates had gone to some chick's room and were probably getting their proverbial "groove" on. You know, getting their "swerve" on, knocking boots, relieving the Riot of the Nookie, doing the horizontal tango, "relieving the stress"... They were having sex. THERE! I SAID IT! Are you happy now?! His eyes closed and his eyebrows knitted in concentration, all his energy focused on the candle in front of him... Then his eyes snapped open and the flame flared towards the sky, singeing the ceiling fan nicely. The black-haired boy jumped to his feet and rushed to the door, exiting quickly. Remembering the candle, he reentered the room and with a flick of his wrist, snuffed it, leaving only wisps of silver smoke in the now empty room. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pan tilted his head slightly sideways as he listened to the wind howl outside his window. Sitting up in bed, he realized why he couldn't sleep. He felt incredibly... Lonely. He hadn't felt this way in a while, but now he just wanted someone here with him. Preferably not a proud owner of the Y chromosome. Yuck. Gaia. It was her fault he felt like this. Sure, being with her was ... well... to put it lightly, interesting... But the after effects were bad. Bad bad bad. He wanted more, he wanted... No. He couldn't do that to the Hentai Hunter. It would disrupt the trust in their relationship. The Watcher and the Hunter were not supposed to become involved like this... The Watcher was supposed to be able to overcome the primal urges of the body... The Watcher wasn't supposed to get any. As long as nothing got out of hand, everything would be okay. Pan sighed and looked out the window, his head in his hands. He kinda didn't want things to be okay. Watching rain begin to pelt the glass, he felt a pang of something in the back of his mind. He sensed something on the roof. It needed to be checked out. If he felt it, Gaia probably would have felt it too. Good, because he needed to talk to her... Slipping on a pair of baggy black pants and a wrinkled Slipknot t- shirt, Pan quietly slipped out the door, fingering the silver chain around his neck. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Erik stared at his dreamcatcher, the crystal in the center of the intricate array of strings sparkling and glistening even in the lack of light. It seemed to be channeling energy from the blood red moon outside... Wait... blood red moon? That wasn't supposed to happen for another ten years. Vaulting upright, Erik bounded (quietly!) to the window and looked out at the full sphere in the sky. "Oh, shit..." Jumping into some clothes, Erik gave himself a quick look-over in the mirror. 'GAH!' he thought. 'Loincloth! That's the *LAST* time I get dressed in the dark...' After dressing again, he gave himself another quick look-over, surveying the big, baggy Jnco jeans and a definite lack of shirt. "Okay, this'll do..." he mumbled. Then Cody groaned. Before Erik could hear anything else, he bolted out the door, following where his senses told him to go. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I stretched my arms above my head and yawned. Squinting at my wrist, I found no watch. Damn. Looking back up, I was surprised (VERY surprised) to see Erik directly in front of me, his face mere centimeters from mine. "Uh, hi?" Erik looked into my eyes and I looked into his. "Gaia, was gotta talk..." I looked up a little, then smirked playfully. He continued, "Gaia... I--" Erik was about to say something else when he saw Pan emerge from the door. Cursing quietly, he seemed to acknowledged Pan. Speaking softly, almost cooing, Pan came up behind me. "Something's up. We gotta talk." I turned to look into his eyes... they seemed to capture all that they looked upon. "Gaia... I--" "Gaia, we have to talk!" "Ryder?" I asked as the boy stumbled out of the door, obviously wanting to get somewhere fast. "Listen, Gaia--" he started. "Something bad's going to happen!" All three boys said in unison. I sweatdropped. "...Right." Erik silenced the other two and stepped up to me. "Look, I've been studying up, and prophecy says that the Hentai Prince--" "That's Flidais," Pan cut in. "--will gain enough power to steal the Hunter's essence of life on the night of the Blood Red Moon--" "Which is today," Pan commented again. Sweatdropping momentarily, Erik continued. "You are going to have to fight him. Soon." I paused for a moment, then stated, "Come on, I just defeated Laura, like, yesterday!" Now that I think about it, it sounded more like a whine. "The forces of Hentai wait for no man..." Erik trailed. "Hello! I'm NOT a man!" "Yes, I've checked," Pan quirked from where he was standing. I just stared at him, trying not to attack. Erik grabbed me by the shoulders and made me face him again. "Just tell me you'll be careful, okay?" I looked into Erik's beautiful hazel eyes, and saw something I had never seen before. Fear. "Yeah," I said quietly, looking down. "I'll be careful." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Flidais strode purposefully through the hall, breaking his step only to ogle pretty young girls that passed his way. And gorgeous older women. And the dean's seventy-year-old secreta-- But that was not the point! The point was that he was on a mission! A mission to destroy that blasted Hentai Hunter!!! BWAHAHA! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! KYAHAHAHA*HACK! HACK! HACK!* Bleah... Bubbles tagged along behind his master, careful to not get in the way of the many feet that threatened to stomp him into the carpet. Not really noticing anything, Bubbles seemed to be in his own little cloud. That girl, Jade, has been so nice to him. It was a definite change in the way he was usually treated. Only being stomped on seemed to rouse him from his reverie. It was about five in the morning, and the place was still pretty lively. "Are we almost there, Fli--" "THOU SHALT NOT CALL ME FLIDAIS!!!" *Sounds of Bubbles being stomped into the carpet.* Flidais felt the world grow quiet, as the eyes of at least forty teenagers centered on him. "Eh... cockroach?" he offered, as he twisted his foot in the carpet for emphasis. Then the sound started back up again. Flidais continued on at his usual gait as Bubbles removed his crumpled and mis-shapen form from the carpet. "Now that was uncalled for..." Flidais didn't seem to notice as he smirked at a girl running down the hallway. When she got closer, he could make out words: "THEY'RE TRYING TO HAVE SEX WITH MEEEEEEE!!!" "MORGAN DARLING! COME BACK! WE WON'T BITE... Hard..." another girl yelled as she followed the one running away. Flidais smiled affectionately and continued to walk down the hallway. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pan walked down the hallway with his hands in his pockets. Humming to himself, he thought. Not so hard that he hurt his brain, but he thought none-the-less. Passing by the 'He-Sure-Drank-A-Lotta-Milk-As-A-Kid-Cuz- Goddamn-He's-Tall' figure of Alex, Pan waved weakly and continued on his way. Suddenly, Pan stopped. Walking backwards a few steps, he looked into the open door and began to drool. Just inside, stood the half naked figure of the hottest girl he had ever seen. Blinking audibly, the girl turned around and smiled, biting her lip. "Hey cutie. You busy?" "Not really, but I will be in a few minutes," Pan would have said if he hadn't been babbling incoherently. The girl smiled as she brushed her black hair over her shoulder, looking at Pan through hungry blue eyes. "Wanna come in?" "Urk?" Pan offered. Pulling Pan in by the hand, she winked at him as he followed her in. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Alex, where's Pan?" I asked. Alex looked down at me. Yea, way down. He's tall, dammit! "I think he went into that room with some really attractive girl." "...What?!" Alex shrugged and grunted. "She didn't have very much clothing though..." Before he could finish his sentence, I had stampeded over to the door and began to pound on it relentlessly. Could it be true? Could Pan be in here? With a girl? Who wasn't me? Would he really do that to me? Suddenly the door opened, and there stood Pan. His hair and his clothing were messed up, and he had lipstick marks all over his face. "Uh... Gaia... This isn't what it looks like!" I crossed my arms over my chest, pouting at him. Suddenly, a girl came up from inside the room and draped herself over him, nibbling on his ear. "Pan, dear, come back," she purred. Emitting a sharp growl from the bottom of my throat, I turned around and walked away, as calmly as I possibly could. Ever faithful tall puppy boy Alex tagged along behind me. I managed to keep from running for about two hallways before I lost it and started to sprint back to my room. Managing to get there a good ten seconds before Alex, I fumbled with my keys. Damn, when I was pissed, my coordination went to pot. Alex grabbed my wrists and took my keys from me. I looked at him. No, scratch that. I glared at him evilly. Then, he released my wrist and opened my door for me. I just looked at the doorknob, then back at him, then at the doorknob again. As he ushered me inside, I found that my roommates weren't in. Good. I probably looked like a total wreck. I sat on the floor next to the closet. Alex just kind of loomed, like what all tall guys do to shorter people. Then he looked down at me, his hair falling down, framing his face. "Is there anything I can do to help?" I stood up, my face totally straight, a total contrast to the agony I felt inside. Then I did something I don't think Alex quite expected. I hugged him. Nuzzling into his shoulder, I started to cry. Momentarily, Alex was stunned. After the stunned phase, he launched directly into the confused stage, then realized what was going on and got the "There's-a-girl-crying-on-my-shoulder" look on his face. Then realization hit him like a ten-ton mallet and he wrapped his arms around me, patting my back and making little shushing noises. Sobbing into his shoulder, it felt kinda good to let it all out. When I had finished crying, I sniffled a little, then grabbed Alex by his shoulders and pushed myself away from him. He held me around my waist and smiled a little. I smiled back. "Thanks Alex. Thanks a lot," I said quietly as I kissed him on the cheek. "You're not so bad after all." He smiled as I turned to the door and walked towards it. I needed to talk to someone. Erik, Ryder, maybe the girls. I needed someone I knew better. Sure, Alex was a nice guy, but he didn't *KNOW* me. I needed someone that knew me well. Opening the door, I was greeted by the sight of Erik getting ready to knock. "Oh, hi Gaia. We need to talk." "Yeah, I'm up for talking," I said as I looked away and sniffled. His features softened as he put a hand on my shoulder, "Gaia, what happened?" I looked at the floor and said nothing. Obviously, this irked him for some reason. Geez, guys sometimes. "Gaia. Tell me what happened." He grabbed my chin and directed my face towards his, so that I looked directly into his hazel eyes. "Please?" So I told him. I told him everything that had happened. With Pan, and that weird chick, and with Alex. Although nothing had happened with Alex, so that wasn't really a big part of my monologue. Alex had just hugged me like a tall guy. After I had finished venting, Erik led me back into the room and sat me down on one of the beds. He then went about ushering Alex out of the room, assuring that nothing would happen to me. Damn, Alex was protective. Returning to the room, Erik knelt in front of me and fished something out of his pocket. It was a dreamcatcher. He held it out to me and it started to spin. "Do you know what I am now?" "The loon in the loincloth?" Erik nodded. I was silent for a moment, then I started to laugh. Quietly at first, it started as a giggle and grew until it racked my body. I couldn't stop. It hurt. It hurt to know that I couldn't stop myself from laughing, that I couldn't control myself. It hurt to laugh so hard. It hurt to be laughing at someone that I... Suddenly my laughter transformed into sobs as I fell forward into Erik's arms. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I cried into his shoulder for a good half hour as he rocked me back and forth in his lap. I was just too damn emotional. I couldn't handle anything without crying. Damn Pan and his stupid male hormones. I rested in Erik's arms until I had collected myself. Taking a deep breath, I looked at Erik. He really was kind of cute. I really should stop looking at boys. Boys are evil. "Thanks Erik," I tried to smile. It didn't work. He patted me on the back as we walked to the door. "Be careful, Gaia," he said as he opened the door to see Ryder, about to knock. "Uh, hey guys," he smiled nervously as he looked at us. Erik looked at me one more time, then left to go do whatever Erik did all the time. Ryder grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into the room. "Gaia, I need to tell you something. It's about me." "If you're going to tell me that you're well hung, you can stop right now," I said, blinking. "Err, no. Not even close," he replied, giving me an odd look. I nodded as he closed the door. "Look, it's what I am." "Okay, what are you? A sixteen year old boy with thousands of raging hormones?" "No, I'm a fire spirit." I sweatdropped. "A what?" "A fire spirit. See?" A stream of flame shot from the palm of his hand. It arched around the room, changing colors. Colors that fire was not supposed to be. The fire then shot back into Ryder, who convulsed when it hit him. Straightening up again, he looked at me. "See?" I stood in silence, stunned. Ryder waved a hand in front of my face. "Gaia? Hello?" Snapping out of it, I just looked at him. "You're... a fire spirit." "Yes." "And you expect me to accept this like it was nothing? Like you were telling me that you have a dog named Thingamapuppy?" "Actually, Sarah has a dog named Thingamapupp--" I silenced him with a look. Ryder quickly looked away and happed upon a clock. "Hey, classes are gonna start in an hour." Sighing in relief, I smiled slightly. Something to take my mind off everything that was going down. Good. Leaving the room, I left Ryder alone. What would Jade, Celes, Bao and the others do to him when they found him alone in their room? I had no idea, but it would probably be fun to watch. That is, if he stayed. Oh well. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Okay. I'm on my last nerve with this teacher. If she asks us to play eighth notes one more time I'm gonna... "Okay! Play the eighth notes one more time!" ...Now this was too much. I stood up from my seat while the teacher glared at me, burning a hole through my soul. That is, if I had one today. Damn I'm PMSy... "Ms. Ceredwin, if you would please have a se--" "No. I don't think so. Sit *YOUR* ass down and have a nice glass of SHUT THE FUCK UP! If you keep making us play the simple parts, we are going to suck. Do you hear me? We will SUCK. S-U-C-K," I spat at her. The woman shrank back. Heh. This was kinda fun. "It'll be all your fault, because you're standing up here waving your bow in the air like a freak screaming about playing eighth notes! What about the hard stuff? The double-stops, the sixteenth note runs, the thirty-second note runs, the high parts? Huh? What about those? Are you just gonna let those rot because you don't feel like working on those?" "I-I'm sorry," she said as she took a few steps backwards, a single crystalline tear rolling down her cheek. Suddenly, she turned and walked out of the room, dropping her violin on the hardwood floor. The bridge made a nice little snapping sound as it broke. For a moment, there was silence. Then I heard clapping. I turned to see who it was and Jenny stood up. "Good show Gaia!" Then people started murmuring. "Yeah, show her who's boss!", "Kick her ass, Gaia!" I smiled as I set my violin down on my seat. I walked up to the podium up front, and opened the score. "Now, let's hit that nasty run in the Borodine..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quickly walking down the hallway, I found that I was late to ensemble. Very late for ensemble. A routine chant of 'Shit shit shit' was running through my head. I wasn't quite looking where I was going, and thus was rather surprised when I ran into something tall, hard, and more than likely Flidais. "Oof!" I exclaimed as we crumpled into a heap on the floor. Immediately vaulting up again, Flidais powerposed in front of me. "Fear me Hentai Hunter! For I have [POWER]!" I sweatdropped. "Yeah. Now put away the sunset background and the cheesy music, Flidais. People are staring." Flidais looked around, then sweatdropped. Grabbing me by the wrist, he pulled me up and held me close to him. Ick, this was disgusting being so close to this pervert. I struggled to get out of his grip, but amazingly, he was too strong. Stronger than I had thought he was. He pulled a crystal sphere out of his pocket. Holding it in his hand, he growled, "Amor, pulsus, poena, excessum, vita, vicissitudo, substantia." Suddenly, Flidais looked me directly in the eye, his own eyes blazing. Grabbing me harshly by the chin, he kissed me, grinding his lips against mine, forcing his tongue into my mouth. It was, well, weird, to say the least. It wasn't physically disgusting, I mean, Flidais was just a person. But the thought that it was him and the ferocity... Tearing himself away from my mouth, he smiled wickedly and said, "Animadverto tu inter deinde mundus, venator." At his sword, the crystal sphere in his hand began to glow and I felt like I was almost choking. I coughed up a small white ball of energy, followed by a black one and a violet one and they floated around for a few moments, like really big fireflies. Then all at once they were sucked into the glowing sphere, which promptly stopped glowing, returning to the form of a crystal sphere, except it now had three impurities in the center. Snorting cruelly, Flidais smirked at me, then threw me into the opposite wall, knocking the wind out of me. I collapsed into a heap as Flidais ran away, clicking his heels with every third step. I felt incredibly light-headed, and I couldn't move. It was as if I was frozen. I groaned in pain. My back, my head, and everywhere else seemed to ache. I managed to blink my eyes open to see Alex kneeling in front of me, trying to take my pulse. Strange, I didn't feel any hands on my neck. Then I managed to make out him saying, "Come on Gaia. I'll take you to your next class." Not really being able to say anything to stop him or thank him, I just blinked weakly as he picked me up like I weighed nothing at all. I rested my head against his shoulder. Okay, I was regaining basic movement. Let's try a limb! I moved my arm up and around his neck. Good job Gaia! You're recovering! Content to just let him take me to Ensemble, I closed my eyes and waited. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "GAIA-CHAAAAAAA-- Oh, wait. You're carrying Gaia. WAH! What happened!?" Of course. Sarah had to be here. Alex set me down lightly on a chair and I immediately stood up. Alex tried to steady me but I pushed him away. I wobbled a little bit, then stood straight. Then Pan entered the room. I gave him an intense glare of hatred, from which even the darkest of beings would flinch and the most evil creatures cower in fright. I gave him the most evil stare my human body would allow me to give without turning me into some evil bitch monster of death. I gave him a look that seemed to scream, "How could you do this to me, you useless walking hard-on?!" I gave him... THE LOOK! Everyone in the room gasped as Pan shrank back in barely contained fear. Then, I turned away from him. "Gaia, I'm sorry," he cooed. "It's no what it looked like. Seriously." He tried to wrap his arms around me. Spinning on my heels, I backhanded him across the face as hard as my body would allow. Growling slightly, I grabbed him by the throat and pinned him to the wall, making a loud *THUMP* when he actually came into contact with said surface. "Listen, Mr. Adonis. I don't want you to touch me. I don't want you to look at me. I don't even want you to speak to me, you fucking loser. You don't even qualify to be a loser. You're the SHELL of a loser. How could you do this to me?! AND WITH A GIRL YOU DON'T EVEN FUCKING KNOW, YOU WALKING HARD-ON!!!" Pan's eyes widened then he looked down. I grabbed his chin with my free hand and made him look directly into my eyes. He was going to pay. Dearly. Pulling him down so his face was mere centimeters from mine, I hissed, "You fucking rat bastard. I can't believe you had the grapes to do this to me. You're supposed to be my Watcher. Trust is supposed to... abound. I don't even know if that's the right word for it, but you get it, right? Right, bitch?" I released him, and slowly took a step backwards. "You're not my Watcher anymore." I stopped, standing about two or three feet away from him. "Fuck you Pan. I hope you rot in Hell." Pan looked almost as if he were about to cry, but managed to speak without any cracks in his voice. "Gaia, you can't do this. I'm your Watcher. You have no choice. You can't turn your back on me and the Watcher's Council." Glaring at him through narrowed eyes, I stated emotionlessly, "I'm here. Your Watcher's Council is wherever the Watcher's Council is. I don't think they can see which way my back is turned." Pan was about to say something else, but must have gotten a chill from the cold look that I was giving him. Strange, the anger was so hot, so fiery that I wondered why it didn't melt the cold exterior that I was projecting. Pan shook his head, and momentarily rubbed his temples with one hand. "Okay Gaia. Whatever." With that, he turned and left. Sighing, I collapsed into a nearby chair, then realized someone was already sitting in it. Someone that I didn't know. Someone that didn't know what I was. "Umm... Hello," the guy waved. "I'm Wolfgang." He was actually kind of cute. He had messy black hair and was kind of lanky. He was also pretty tall, even though I hadn't seen him stand up. He wore a long-sleeved black shirt that kind of flared at the ends. He also wore baggy black pants. All the black kind of clashed with his pale skintone, as well as the dark circles under his blue eyes. "I'm sorry," I said quickly as I removed myself from his lap. Looking around the room, he quickly asked, "Now, what was this about a Watcher's Council? Exactly what are you?" He looked at me, his left eyebrow quirked. Sighing, I replied, "I'm a Hentai Hunter. Yanno, I kill evil perverts. It's just a whole big cycle. Hentai comes to town, hentai attacks me, dead hentai results." I shrugged, then continued. "It's a dirty job, but--" --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-- --stepped towards it, and it walloped me with one of its tentacles, sending me half way down the hall. I got up and approached it more cautiously. Caution pays off, this time I managed to avoid the tentacle it tried to wallop me with. Then I learned that it can use more than one tentacle at once as it promptly walloped me with a different tentacle. I couldn't shrug this hit off quite so easily. A couple moments later as I forced myself to my knees, I looked up to regard-- --the FSU Music Library for over 2 hours, I had finally found an adequately challenging piece. God, it would feel so good to go back to my dorm and lay on my soft, soft, plastic-covered bed... But as I opened the door, I realized that that wasn't gonna happen. Blood. Blood everywhere. And in the middle of all the gore lay the corpses of Nikita and Ophelia. On the wall, there were words printed in the dripping red substance: 'You're next, babe.' And this time, it wasn't stage blood. My breath got shorter... I was having trouble drawing in air... I made my best attempt to hold back my tears but failed miserably as the water ran from my eyes. I clapped my hand over my mouth, as I slammed the door and-- --jumped forward and kicked, which he blocked, but then threw a low punch that he didn't even see before it sank into his stomach. Then I aimed an elbow at his neck. The hentai tried to put up a defense, but it was basically over as I bashed my elbow into his head and then brought my knee up to break his nose. He fell over, so I kicked him lots of times (mostly in the crotch area)...then I sort of came back to myself as my anger ran out. At this point Mike was basically a wreck, so I grabbed his head and snapped his neck to finish him off. After that I just sort of stood there for a while. Two people I knew had died, and I got revenge for them...now I just felt tired, or maybe- - --depraved. Girls, boys, chains, leather, hentais everywhere... I strained not to get too sick over some of the sights. Oh god, that girl... and a dog... putting hamsters in... I held back my stomach contents and focused on the only thing in the room that wasn't covered with hentais; a simple, featureless chair, standing on a small dais in the middle of the room. A figure, wreathed in shadow, sat on it. As I approached, stepping around (and occasionally ON) the hentais on the floor, it turned its head-- --to get a kiss. So the laws of Drama would probably make one of his roommates walk in right about... now. Okay, now. Any second now. Ah hell, I'm wasting time. I leaned forward and kissed him. His eyes popped open and he stared at me... for about one second. Then he reciprocated. Suffice to say, we didn't talk about either demons or hentais for some time. Or anything else, for-- --I fell to my knees, clutching at my ears, my eyes screwed shut. I was screaming and sobbing. Everyone in the room had jumped up. Jenny, Erik, and that new Wolfgang guy were trying to calm me down. I stayed low to the ground, crying. Pan was in the doorway watching things happen. Sarah was clinging to Cody, who just looked on in shock. And then I passed out. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WARNING! WARNING! PERSPECTIVE CHANGE IN EFFECT! DO NOT PASS GO! DO NOT COLLECT $200! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wolfgang: I just kinda sat there after that weird screaming chick passed out. This was quite possibly the weirdest day of my life. I mean, Watchers? Hentai hunters? I don't even know what language hentai comes from! God damn, I really hope that I'm stoned or something. Suddenly, this guy tapped me on the shoulder. Hazel eyes, brown hair, tan. If I was a girl, I'd boink him. He said, "Hey, Wolfgang, right?" "Yeah, that's my name," I replied while quirking my eyebrows. "Umm, could you take that girl--" He pointed to the unconscious chick "--to room 257? Jenny'll take you there." Shrugging as a stood up and brushed off my clothes, I smiled wolfishly. "Sure, why not?" He nodded to me. "I'll tell Mr. Parsa where you guys are." Shrugging, I picked up the unconscious girl. She was actually pretty light. Then an Oriental girl of medium height came up to me. "Hi, I'm Jenny," she said with a smile. Beckoning me to follow, she turned quickly and started walking, making her shoulder length hair bounce as she moved. I smiled inwardly. I was going to miss classes today. Kickass. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pan: Oh, miserable life! Tainted love that I have bred! Veritable treasure trove of woe and pain! Why have I committed to such deceit against my beloved Gaia? Why! WHY?! WH-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ryder: Hearing what had happened, basically due to all the screaming and stuff, I sprinted down the hallway and into the practice room that noise was coming from. There wasn't anymore screaming, but more talking. Conversation. Discussion. Stuff like that, yanno? Upon entering the room, I took in the situation. Erik, Cody, and Sarah. Talking. Discussing. Conversing. When Erik saw me he stood up and walked towards me, grabbing me by both upper arms. "Ryder, Gaia's out cold. We have to figure out what happened." I nodded at him slightly, then he led me out into the hallway. "Look," he said. "I think Bates has something to do with this." I face-faulted. "You think? Bates has something to do with everything that's wrong with Gaia." Erik sighed, "You're right." He then pulled a scroll out of his pocket. It seemed to be written in... Latin? Erik started reading from it. "Olim infit Venator substantia, venator vita III somnium mundus per antea letum." "And that means...?" "Once the Prince absorbs the Hunter's essence, the hunter has 3 hours to live in the dream realm, then shall be killed." "Well, fuck." "We gotta go find Bates." "...DUH." Grabbing Eriik by the wrist, I started to sprint down the hallway. Suddenly, Erik pulled me back. "Look. Pan." I turned to look and saw Pan lamenting to himself while sitting in the corner. "Oh woe! What tainted vile things hath I done?" "I... think he went insane." "...Yeah." Suddenly, I felt a looming presence behind us. Or rather, I saw a looming shadow. It was Alex. "Hey, Alex," I said as a turned around. "We're gonna kick Bates' ass. Wanna come?" Alex shrugged. "Sure, but wouldn't it be obvious if all three of us went?" Erik and I sweatdropped. We hadn't though about strategy at all. Alex then said, "Okay, Erik? You go to protect Gaia and see if anything happens. Ryder, you come with me and we'll take Bates. Okay?" We both nodded dumbly. We had never seen Alex be... commanding. It was weird. We all headed off in the direction of wherever it was we were going. God, I hoped we would succeed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jenny: I don't know what the hell is going on. First Gaia freaked out at Pan, then she sat on this guy that's sitting by me in my room giving me a weird look. Or is that a normal look? I'm not sure, but he's really giving me the creeps. Looking back at Gaia, I sighed. She looked so pale, so sick. So weak. I bet this was all Flidais' fault. Everything's his fault. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and Wolfgang stood up to go get it. I looked up a few moments later to see Erik coming into the room. Good, I didn't have to be alone with that weird guy anymore. "Hey Erik. Gaia's doing... Well, she's being unconscious at the moment." Erik nodded at me. 9.5. Definitely a 9.5. Kneeling next to the bed, he just kinda looked into Gaia's face. He didn't even blink. I don't see how he could do that, I mean, most normal people have to blink at LEAST every ten seconds... right? I stood up and patted him on the shoulder. "It's okay Erik. D'you want anything? Teevee? Soda? Me?" Erk. Didn't mean to say that out loud. "...Re company?" You suck Jenny! You suck you suck you suck! Smiling at me, he replied, "No, but thanks for the offer, Jen." Erik turned away from me and looked back at Gaia. Slowly, he grasped her hand. Dammit, Gaia got all the cute ones even when she was incapacitated! Oh well, as long as she's happy. Turning, I came face to face with Wolfgang. "Err, hi. Would you move please?" Shrugging, he obliged. "Say, do you want to go downstairs and get a soda or something?" Free drink, freaky guy. I was kinda thirsty actually. And he wasn't *THAT* weird looking. He was just pale, and gothic, and lanky, and stuff. Sighing, I nodded and smiled. "Sure, why not?" He nodded and smiled back at me, leading me out the door. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sarah: Oh, sex sex sex. I'm gonna make Gaia-chan some toast! Wai! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ryder: Dammit! Alex and I had searched high and low for Flidais for about two hours and fifty minutes. We were never going to-- Oh shit. Two hours and fifty minutes?! I saw Alex inspecting a piece of paper stuck onto some door with a piece of gum. "Umm... Alex? What are you doing?" He looked at me slowly. "The sign says 'Flidais Bates is not in here! Shoo! Go away!'" We stood in silence for a moment just in time to hear, "Do you think the sign'll work Fli--" "THOU SHALT NOT CALL ME FLIDAIS!" *THWAP!* "Ow." I smiled to myself. How STUPID could people be? Really? Nodding to Alex, I swung open the door. Flidais looked at me, then at Alex, then let out a little comical, "Eep." Suddenly, Alex lurched forward and pinned Flidais to the ground. "Allright Flidais," I smirked. "The gig's up." "Wait! You can't kill me until you hear my pre-memorised biography symbolizing the hard-ship and weirdness of my life!" I sighed. "Fine fine. Have at it." Flidais looked past Alex, who was still pinning him down. Putting his fist over his heart as best he could, he got a nostalgic look on his face. "My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a 15 year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink, he would make outrageous claims, like he invented the question mark. Sometimes, he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy - the sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical: summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring, we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent, I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with a large stick. Pretty standard, really." I sweatdropped. "Right. Now we kill you!" "No! If you do, you'll never find your precious little dog, Thingamapuppy!" I sweatdropped again. "I don't own a dog." Sighing, Flidais replied, "I should've guessed. You don't really look like the Barrschnitzferiffic-owning type..." "Okay, now you die!" "No, wait!" Alex sighed mightily. "Look, you're trying to distract me aren't you!" "No!" "Yes, you are. Because now I only have thirty seconds to save Gaia." I paused, then jumped. "THIRTY SECONDS?!" I pounced on Flidais, and plunged my hand into his pocket. Smirking visibly, Flidais laughed. When I pulled out the crystal ball, he paled. "No! Don't break it!" And then, time ran out. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Erik: I put my head on Gaia's chest, and just listened to her heart beat. Then, it stopped, and the steady rise and fall of her chest ended. I bolted up, amazed. Was she, dead? Really truly dead? I couldn't stop myself. I started flipping out. Trying to revive her with CPR, anything! Please, Goddess. Let me succeed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ryder: Suddenly, Something possessed me. I say Something, because it was a thing. I know I didn't know what it was, but it certainly wasn't me. I threw the crystal sphere to the ground and it shattered to a million pieces, four small balls of energy floating weakly out of the mess. One white, one black, one violet, and one red. I watched as they rocketed down the hallway. Damn, I knew I was late, but I prayed that I succeeded. Please. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blackness. Darkness. I couldn't see. Then there was this blinding light... And now I'm in my body again. I took a sharp breath in and snapped my eyes wide open. Erik looked stunned as he watched four small balls of energy shoot down my throat. Coughing, I sat up. Erik helped me out some there. Good ole Erik. There when you need him. He just kinda kneeled there and looked at me for a few moments, then lunged forward and embraced me. Hard. I feel back onto the bed from his weight. Coughing over his shoulder, I quipped, "Air. Air is good! Please..." Then he kissed me. My eyes went wide for a moment, then I inwardly smiled. Damn this was a good way to return to the world of the living. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pan: Oh woe is me! I am forever damned! Oh damnable hormones! Why hath thou betrayed me?! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I looked out into the night, the cool, refreshing evening breeze rustling my hair as I sat on the roof of the dorms, dangling my feet over the edge of the building. The sky was jet black except for the bleeding moon, huge and full, suspended in the night sky. The moon had always interested me, the constantly changing phases, the fluctuating colors, the mystery... I felt different somehow. I felt more power in my frame, I felt deeper than I had before, I felt different. I don't know exactly how to explain it. It's all just too confusing. When I was a child, a friend had told me a story. It was an ancient Chinese legend, about a woman and her husband, Hou Yi, Master Archer of the Skies. He had been presented with a magic peach by the Queen Mother of the Western Skies. This peach was the peach of everlasting life. Vowing to fast for a year, Hou Yi left after he hid the peach in a box. His wife found the peach and promptly ate it. As soon as she began to soar, her husband returned and shot her with an arrow, banishing her to the moon. From then on, she was the Moon Lady. Perhaps it's true. Perhaps there *IS* a woman in the moon... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEXT TIME! ON HENTAI HUNTER GAIA: "What do you mean the solo recital is tomorrow?! I haven't even practiced my solos..." "Well then, you better get to work on The Four Seasons! That's what you're playing, you know." ...OR NOT. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Whee! Now that was fun! I did say I was going to kill Gaia. I didn't say for how long, though. ^.~ Anyways, thanks to my pre-readers, John Evans, Yamamato Keori, and Stephica. You guys helped me out a lot. Danke! ~Myth