Chapter Twenty-six- Anger, Competition, and Surprises

~*~

Hiei was scared.

It was really hard to even make the Bishonen blink, most times, but right now he was pretty much scared out of his wits. He stayed as quiet as he possibly could, keeping himself alert, but made sure he didn't move much beyond the corner he was huddled in.

Why so scared?

His trainer, the experimenter, was pacing back and forth, cursing. Normally, she didn't scare him that badly. Usually, one would find her swearing a humorous thing, as she had little to no ability in cursing. However, she suddenly seemed quite fluent in it, sometimes mumbling, sometimes shouting the phrases that would make even the bravest of Bishonen cringe.

So there he sat, trying not to make a sound for fear that he would become the target for the harsh words coming out of her mouth. And he was worried that if she did that, he'd have to protect himself and hurt her in the process. No, it was much better to sit where he was.

Logan, however, was not bound by Hiei's concerns.

"Try to calm down," he said, walking over to the other trainer. "You won't get any further in your ideals if you don't take that first step."

"How CAN I calm down?!" the experimenter demanded, turning to glare at him. "Logan, LOOK AT THIS!" She gestured to the computer screen.

The trainer obeyed, and blinked at what was on the screen. "Looks like they messed with your formula a bit."

"Logan, I hadn't made a copy of this yet! That ***** you call your friend mixed up my formulas, and added in the STUPIDEST remarks. Look at this- what does she mean by 'Super-powered duck'?! Or..."

"Okay, okay. Just do me a favor and take a deep breath, will you?" Logan asked, raising his hands in defence. "That's all I ask of you right now. Can you do that?"

"...All right." She obeyed and took a breath, making Hiei relax. "Okay... I can handle this. I can." She took another deep breath. "But Logan, it took me months to find..."

"I know. But you've still got most of it in there. It's just a shame she didn't forget to exit your program or we could just undo it." Logan peered down, inspecting the screen again. "Well, first off you should delete all of the stuff you KNOW wasn't in the formula. Like the super-powered duck thing."

"Right." The experimenter sat down at her desk, staring at the screen again. "Damn it... Logan, I hope you know your friend's going to be my next target."

He sighed. "I was afraid you'd say that. Just so you know, if you go after Bry, I'm not going to help you on that one."

"Understood. Just don't interfere, got it?"

"...Yes."

The two were silent for the next while, the only sound being the clicking of the keys as the experimenter went back to work on her formulas.

Yet, while the room had become calmer than before, Hiei decided it was still best to get out of there and let his trainer steam by herself for a while. So leave he did.

~*~

"Aah, welcome to Treah City!" Anya announced after inspecting a sign. "Why don't we all get checked in somewhere and have a rest?"

"Sounds good to me," Jacky said.

"Me too," Kimiko said.

"What about you guys?" Anya asked, glancing back.

Abby gave a thumbs up. "I'm all for it." She then went back to thumb-wrestling Paul. "Damn it, give me Caramon!"

"Hey, just because I don't like him that much doesn't mean you can have him! HA! Beat you again!"

"No fair..."

Anya sweat-dropped. "Mmkay... Well, let's go on, shall we?"

As usual, someone stopped the group at the gate, who asked to see all of their Dexes before they were allowed into the city. Since Paul and Abby refused to show theirs to the man until they'd decided who would keep Caramon, this took a while. Finally, it took the other three trainers pulling them away from each other long enough to take their Dexes away.

Once inside the city, the trainers each got their own maps, and everyone's Bishonen (and Bishoujo) came out. Kenshin came into Anya's arms, while Shippy rested on Jacky's shoulder. Caramon helped along Raistlin, as usual. The rest walked along by themselves.

Chichiri, who'd stayed out, took a look around before pointing to a building. "That's a pretty good inn, no da," he said.

"Have you been here before?" Anya asked.

"Yeah. With my old trainer..."

"Ah. Well, sure, we can do that, I think."

"Sure it's big enough for all of us?" Kimiko joked.

"Yeah, we'll all be wantin' our own rooms wit' our trainers, o' course," Tasuki said, draping an arm over Kimiko's shoulders. He gave his trainer a wink.

Said trainer blushed and shoved his arm off. "We should probably have trainers pair off at the least, anyway."

Immediately Jacky, Anya and Kimiko said, "I'm not staying with Paul or Abby."

The named trainers glanced up, and pointed at themselves in question. Then Abby shrugged and turned back to Caramon. "Come on, you're so cool and awesome and can I please catch you instead of Paul?" she begged.

"Only if Raist comes with me," Caramon stated for the third time.

"Not a chance, brother," Raistlin whispered.

"But Raist, I need to take care of you-"

"And I need you to leave me alone for a while!" Raistlin snapped.

"Aw, Raist, that wasn't very nice, you know I need you for twice-times and divisors, while you need me..."

They were interrupted when Raistlin got into a coughing fit. It was bad enough for the entire group to have to stop, blocking the entire sidewalk for a few minutes.

"Raist! Are you okay?"

"Fine... my brother..." Raistlin wheezed.

"Damn, that's the twentieth time," Sano muttered. "Can't we leave them somewhere?" he asked Anya.

"Nope."

He sighed. "Worth asking, I suppose."

"Are you okay?" Jacky asked, peering at Raistlin worriedly.

"Will you all leave me- cough- alone?!" said Bishonen demanded. "I can take care of myself..."

Caramon wordlessly helped his brother across the street to the inn. The rest of the group followed.

Kurama, meanwhile, had caught up his trainer and was giving her a piggyback ride, ^_^ing all the while. Said trainer was turning a beet red and trying to think of a way to get down.

"Pay up," Kurama said to Tasuki.

Grumbling, the other redhead obeyed.

"You two never stop, do you?" Anya asked. "Poor Kimiko."

"Nah, no chance." Tasuki grinned, showing off his fangs.

Kimiko's Hiei glanced up at his trainer, shrugged, and continued on without commenting.

"Well, shall we all go on in?" Abby asked, giving a dramatic bow.

~*~

The lady at the desk looked up in surprise when everyone made their way into the lobby. "Um... welcome to Treah's finest inn. How many, erm, rooms?"

Anya glanced around, and decided it couldn't be helped- there were too many trainers. "Three rooms, please."

"Okay. Any special services or, ah..." The lady glanced pointedly at Chibi Kenshin before looking back at Anya.

"Oh. No, I've got his guardian with me so we're fine, thanks."

"All right. Let's see... Here we go." The lady handed over three keys. "Second floor, the last three rooms on the left of the hall."

"Thank you." Anya kept one key for herself, handed another to Paul, then after careful consideration gave the last to Jacky. "How much?"

"You'll pay when you leave."

"Thanks again." Anya turned to the others. "Okay, here's how we'll do this... Um, Kimiko, you're sane, so I'd like you to room with me."

Said trainer blinked from her spot on Kurama's back. "...Ano, sure."

Jacky waved her arms in protest. "Oh, no I'm not rooming with Abby! She goes with Paul!"

"Are you insane? They'll stay up all night scaring the rest of us to death!" Sano declared.

"Aww..." Both Abby and Paul hung their heads. "So much for talking to Caramon," Abby mumbled, while Paul said, "so much for the three-way, all night conversations with Excel..."

They both finished with, "This sucks!"

"You'll live with it." Anya turned back to everyone else. "Shall we head for our rooms?"

"Um, aren't all of you forgetting something...?" the lady at the desk asked.

"I don't think so," Jacky said, blinking. "Why?"

"Well, everyone else who's come here has registered for the big tournament that's coming up next week."

"Tournament?" the trainers asked at once.

"Yes... you didn't know about it? Well, it's not a very big event, mind you, but I'd think that everyone in town would at least have heard of it."

"We just came in," Jacky said.

"As you may have noticed," Anya said wryly. She gestured towards her clothing, which was dusty from the road.

"I suppose so... Anyway, if you're interested you can register in the gym about four blocks away from here. You can check in anytime today or tomorrow."

Anya thanked the lady yet again as they all headed up to their rooms.

"A tournament, eh?" Tasuki said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "That'd be pretty fun... Wonder if there'll be a Tama in it?"

"Even if there is, you will NOT flame him unless you're battling him. Understand, Tasuki?" Kimiko said.

"Aw, you're no fun at all Kimiko," the redhead complained.

"In any case, perhaps if I train enough, I may enter too, that I might!" Kenshin said, eyes shining.

Anya nodded. "We'll have to work on your training a lot, though, if you want to get in," she warned. "No matter how much you want to fight, you're not gonna until you evolve."

"I know, Annie-dono, that I do," the Chibi agreed. "And I'll work hard, that I will!"

"All of us must if there is a tournament or not," Heero reflected, "so such an event may come in handy for us."

Reminded of the problems at hand (trainers getting kidnapped), the group became silent for the rest of the way up to the rooms.

An inner door connected the first two rooms the group saw, while the third was on its own. Paul took up the first room, saying that he should at least be connected to another room if not rooming with someone else. Sighing, the rest of the group agreed. After must ado, everyone also reluctantly decided to let Abby and Jacky take up the second room, while Kimiko and Anya chose the last one.

"I hope you don't mind, but Kenshin and 'Chiri don't sleep in their Bish-balls," Anya said as they entered the room.

"No, no problem at all," Kimiko said.

"I can sleep on the floor no da," Chichiri said.

"Nah, there's a couch," Anya said, pointing to the furniture in question. "You can sleep on that. That's gotta be more comfortable than the floor."

"All right..."

"Na, I'll sleep wit' ya Kimiko," Tasuki teased.

Said trainer rolled her eyes and hit him on the head, though she was again a bit red.

Hiei sighed and shook his head. "Don't let him get to you so much. If blush any more your face might stay that way," the Bishonen advised. Her other two Bishies only smiled.

"So are we stayin' here for a while or what?" Sano asked, flopping on one of the beds. Kenshin took up the spot next to him, turning on the TV with the remote. Sanosuke tensed, but surprisingly didn't leave the room like he had in the past.

"I was thinking we stay here for the day, then go register tomorrow, if that's okay with you all," Anya said. She glanced at all of her Bishonen in question.

"Fine with me, no da," Chichiri said, setting his cloak and hat on the edge of the couch.

"Same here," Sano said, waving an arm.

Heero shrugged, and turned on his laptop.

Kenshin ^_^ed and nodded.

"I'll go with you," Kimiko offered. "Since Tasuki wants in, I'm sure I'll be registering too."

"Last minute registering can be tricky," Kurama noted. "However, if we can get in, I have no issues regarding it." He smiled.

"I'm fine with it," Hiei said.

"Sounds good," Anya said. "Until then..." She held up the phone. "Who wants room service?!"

~*~ Meanwhile... ~*~

"AAAH! GET HER OFF! RAIST! RAIST!"

"COME! BECOME ONE OF MY Bishonen! YOU ARE SO AWESOME!"

"RAIIIIST!"

"GET OFF OF MY CARAMON BISHONEN!"

"What?! You don't even LIKE him!"

Long pause. "That's true... but... HE'S STILL MINE!"

"RAIIST, HELP ME!"

The mage Bishonen merely sat on the edge of the bed, shaking his head with mixed amusement and disbelief at the trainer's antics.

~*~ Also meanwhile... ~*~

"I wonder where Abby went..." Jacky paused and listened intently for a moment. Then she shook her head as she heard one of Paul's new Bishonen screaming for help. "Never mind."

"We should leave all these strange people to their own devices," Inuyasha grumbled.

"And we're not strange?" Jacky asked.

"Feh. I give a good suggestion and it gets blown back in my face..."

"I did not blow anything in your face. I'm just saying, it's been kinda fun hanging around other trainers and Bishonen. A bit crazy, and with them..." She gestured towards the screams. "Well, it's been scary with them, but it's been fun."

"I still say we should leave." Inuyasha stood up from the floor.

"Why? I mean, you seem to be getting along fine with them..." Jacky trailed off when her Bishonen took her by the shoulders and regarded her for a moment, eyes narrowed.

"Because one of them lost their friend and her Bishies to some maniac who's trying to breed half-Bishies," he said. "If that crazy person caught her friend, there's a chance she'll come back for that girl, Kimiko, and then maybe for the rest of us..." He stopped, as though uncertain what to say.

Jacky's expression softened. "I'm concerned too, but we're actually safer in bigger numbers. Even a crazy will recognize it's stupid to kidnap people in public."

"I don't want you caught."

"I don't, either." Jacky smiled and picked up one of his hands, examining the claws on it for a moment. "I'm glad you're concerned, Inu-chan."

His face reddened, but all he said was, "Don't call me that."

She laughed. "Let's get things set up for the others, then go over to see what Anya and Kimiko are doing."

"As long as they're not with those insane trainers."

Jacky laughed again.

~*~

The next day, the group found their way to the gym that the lady in the hotel had mentioned. To the trainer's utter relief, the line wasn't that long; in fact, it didn't extend too far past the gym's door.

However, the Bishies, this was nothing short of a pain in the neck.

"I'm bored," Sano complained.

"It's been fifteen minutes," Anya said.

"Doesn't matter. I'm still bored."

"Go pick a fight with someone."

Sano started off.

"Whoa! I didn't mean it!" Anya said, grabbing his arm. "Come back here!" She began to be dragged away from her spot in line.

Chichiri caught hold of one of her legs and stayed firmly in place, a huge sweat-drop on his head. "Can't you two ever stop it, no da?" he asked.

"He started it," Anya protested. She was now clinging tightly to Sano's arms so she wouldn't fall to the ground.

"You suggested it!" Sano declared.

"It was a JOKE!"

"Suuuure, right."

"If I wasn't hanging off the ground right now I'd hit you for that!" she said.

"Would you now?" Sano smirked. "What if we keep you in suspension?"

"Ha. Like you could carry me for an hour."

"Try me."

"Guys, no daaaa..."

The two continued to quibble as Chichiri continued to sweat-drop. Paul, after a lot of arguments, had given in to letting Abby glomp onto Caramon for the duration of the wait. He entertained himself by draining three cans of soda he'd bought a while ago and talking to Raistlin, who obviously wished he were somewhere else by the expression on his face.

Jacky and Kimiko stood in silence, watching with amusement as their companions continued entertaining themselves and each other. Their Bishonen were currently in their Bish-balls so as not to make too big a crowd in the line. Also, most of the Bishonen had decided that standing in line wasn't really that interesting an idea.

Chibi Kenshin clung on to Jacky's hand, watching the entire thing with huge, confused eyes.

Nothing particularly interesting happened for the next half-hour or so. The only exception was when Abby or Paul would cheer if they moved up in the line a step or two. Things seemed like they were going to be pretty calm.

Then...

"AAAAAH!"

"OW!"

"ITAI NO DA!"

"AAAIYEEE!"

Three people fell on top of Chichiri, Kimiko, and Paul, apparently out of nowhere.

The entire line began to peer around to see what the heck was going on as the three people who had appeared moaned and sat up, looking around to see where they were.

"Wow, what a trip," one said.

"At least we're outta there," another replied, playing with her hair.

The third nodded, still looking mildly dazed. She tossed her hair back before realizing she'd been sitting on top of someone. "Oh, sorry!" She jumped up, and the other two girls followed.

"Ano... where did you guys come from?" Anya asked. She helped pull one of them off of Chichiri, who had gone SD and had @_@ eyes at the moment.

The one she had helped looked around, then back at her. Her eyes widened. "Anya?"

Said trainer stared back. "Miya-chan! What happened?! How did you-"

"This is Jessica, and Bryanna," Miya-chan interrupted. "We and our Bishies just escaped our captors, but we're all in serious trouble."