Chapter 3- Unofficial Orientation "Hey! You!" Naomi paused from her trudging through the woods, her eyes darting back and forth among the trees. A few drops of cold rain hit her forehead, but she ignored it- she was going to get sick anyway. Unfortunately, her "companion", the guy with red hair, only quickened his pace at the voice. "Hey! Girl in the green! Guy with red hair!" This time the guy stopped, turning about as Naomi heard something splashing their way towards them. Suddenly, panic gripped her. What if it's the person who got me out here? I wanna go home… I'm sorry for sending the project late, really! She thought this as hard as she could at the treetops, hoping that someone would hear her and send her home. Thankfully, she did not have long to worry. Soon, a young woman who appeared to be a few years older than her appeared from the brushes. Most of her body was concealed underneath a long, dark blue cloak covered with white bubbles. She did not appear to be intent on harming either Naomi or the unknown guy, so Naomi relaxed a bit. After all, there was only so much one could do with mud-covered pajamas while standing barefoot in the rain. Something tickled at her mind when she saw the cloak, but she couldn't quite place that, either. "Who are you?" Naomi asked, hoping it would help jog her memory. "I'm Anya. Who're you?" the girl responded immediately. The younger girl blinked. "Naomi. Well. That was easier than with him." She glanced at the red-haired guy, who stood nearby with his arms crossed and shoulders slumped, his eyes showing obvious exasperation. "Him?" Anya glanced at the guy, too, and then shrugged. "Eh, Half-Bishies usually aren't that receptive to trainers. What are you doing following him anyway?" "Well, he insulted me and kept saying something about- hey, what are you talking about? Half-Bishie? Trainer?" Naomi asked. "What's going on?" Anya smiled a little. "I've got a cave nearby. We can explain where it's dryer, if you'd like. I might have something to let you change into, too." Naomi blinked, and then blushed as she tried to brush off some of the mud on her front. Of course, that only served to get it all over her hands. "You may have a good idea there." "I've always got good ideas." Anya glanced at the guy. "So, wanna come with?" "No thanks. My whole plan was to get away from you people," the guy grunted. Then he turned and continued to trudge through the woods. "Hey! I didn't even get that guy's name." Naomi turned to Anya and said, "I think he was trying to kidnap me." To her surprise, Anya's eyes twinkled and the older girl's mouth stretched into an amused grin. "Really? Half-Bishies usually don't get involved with humans. Come on. Let's get you into a semi-dry place." She started to walk away, and Naomi quickly followed suit. "Sounds good. So are you going to tell me what's going on?" "Sure. All right. You remember the website?" "What website- oh." Naomi stopped, and paled. "Oh God…" "Yup. Welcome to the Bishie World. Home of hot guys, sexy girls, and grumpy half-Bishies. Too bad you came on a rainy day. Though I met a girl who ended up in the middle of nowhere in a snowstorm, so that's not quite too bad." Anya had continued to walk through the mud, prompting Naomi to follow as quickly as she could. "Come on." Sano raised an eyebrow as Anya and the new girl entered the cave. Anya marched in, wringing off Chichiri's cloak (mostly flinging the wet stuff onto Sano in the process). New Girl came in a bit more shyly, glancing around as though wondering what she should do. "Everyone, this is Naomi." "You know, you shouldn't pick up strays, Anya. They might bite," Sano offered. He got a handful of mud to the head for that. "Oi, Missie! What was that for?!" "Come on, Naomi, I think I got a couple things you can wear. Not a hell of a lot that won't drag on you, but oh well." Anya tossed the cloak onto the still upside-down Chichiri, who immediately leaped up and away from the cloak to avoid getting soaked. Then she turned around to see why Naomi was so quiet. The girl was currently staring at Kenshin. "You… I know you," she stammered. Kenshin blinked out of his reverie and looked up at her. "Perhaps you do, but I do not know you, de gozaru yo," he replied slowly. "W-wow. Himura Kenshin, right?" She got a nod in return. "Oh my God." "Stop that and come over here." Anya pointed at the darker parts of the cave. "Go back there and change. 'Chiri chased out all the snakes, so you shouldn't get bitten by anything dangerous back there." "Gee, thanks," Naomi muttered. Then she blushed, realizing for the first time that she was in the presence of four Bishonen. With wet pajamas. "Oh, my God." "Da? What's wrong?" Chichiri looked up, eyebrows raised. Naomi stared. "You're the one whose cloak that was!" she announced, as though realizing something important. "So that guy back there.. He must've been Tasuki?!" "No, actually," Anya interrupted, handing Naomi a towel and the clothes. "Now change before I change you for you." Naomi blushed again, accepting the clothes, and went around a small rock ledge to do as Anya bade her. "What do you mean by no, actually?" "That was a half-Bishie. Half Bishonen, half human." "You mean we're compatible?!" Anya slapped her own forehead. "Why does everyone find that so hard to believe? Or such a big friggin' deal?" "I think it is," Sano offered, smirking. He got another handful of mud to the head. "OW! Damn it, Anya…" He jumped to his feet and scooped up his own dirt. "Yeek! Heero, save me!" Heero looked up from his keyboard for a moment. "It's just dirt," he said, with just the slightest hint of exasperation in his voice. Then he returned to his laptop. Naomi rounded the corner, dressed and warm again, to see Anya getting a face-full of dirt from her Bishonen. "Ew! Jeez!" Anya brushed off the dirt, then tackled Sano. "I'll get you for that!" "Ha! You're no good at wrestling, Missie. You're going down." "Oh yeah?" "Wha- hey! N-n-not fair! Cut it out!" Naomi blinked as the two continued to tumble around, swearing and generally making a bigger mess of themselves than before. "They're always like that. Don't worry about it, no da," Chichiri said, surprising her. "Oh. Really? She seemed so calm…" "Calm? No one can stay calm after hanging around Sano for as long as she has, n'da," the blue-haired Bishonen said, smiling at her. "I guess you've got a point," Naomi conceded. She turned, and looked at Heero. "So what's your name?" The Bishonen continued to type away, merely grunting, "Heero." "Huh." Naomi blinked. "Sorry, I've never heard of you," she told him. She only got a shrug of the shoulders. At this point, Sano and Anya stopped, getting to their feet and brushing themselves and each other off, grumbling good-naturedly. "Sorry about that," Anya apologized with a sheepish grin. "Sometimes we get carried away with things." "Uh-huh. Okay." Anya looked around, and then sat down again, this time on her bedroll. She motioned for Naomi to do the same with her, and the younger girl obeyed. Then the experienced trainer said, "Okay. What do you want to know about Bishies?" "A lot, really." "Shoot. You have until the rain stops. Then we head to town." "So everything's basically the same as before. Just the technology is different," Anya finished. "You can actually buy a belt and set of Bish-balls that'll act as dorm rooms for the Bishies. They can access each other when they're all inside. I don't remember the actual name for it. I call it Bish-dorms. And the Dex, well, it's like an ultra cell phone slash mini computer now. You can voice activate it, and you don't have to deal with it being as annoying as it was for me." Naomi sat there, trying her best to take everything in. It was amazing to her, how simply she could walk outside and run into Bishonen and Bishoujo she'd dreamt of meeting for months, or even years. She would have considered it, too, if Anya hadn't mentioned something else that was new around the block. Monsters. Apparently, one could buy a clip to add to the Bish-belt that added in "random encounter attacks" from monsters, much like in the Final Fantasy games. Usually, one needed said clip. However, the world-which was part real, part digital, and part fantasy- had occasional bugs in it. Naomi shuddered, struck with the idea of running into an Ochu monster. "Finally stopped raining," Sano observed. During the conversation, he had plopped himself behind Anya and had been busy either playing with her hair or giving her a neck rub. Anya rolled her shoulders back and gave him a grin of appreciation. "Really? That's good. We can get going, then. It's only midday." "Are you serious? It was nighttime when I clicked on the link!" Naomi exclaimed. "Yup. Time works differently. For some reason, people almost always show up in the morning here. I guess it's so they don't freak out about being alone in the middle of the night." Anya looked over at the younger girl. "What were you doing, anyway?" "Nothing important." Naomi blushed. "Late project." "Aah. Well, let's get going. With luck, we'll reach a town by nightfall." Ochu is a monster from the Final Fantasy game series. It's generally a giant, evil plant that gives you lots of annoying status ailments like poisoning and blinding your characters. (smacks the Ochus in all games EVER.) Meh. That afternoon, Naomi had her first experience with the world growing due to the existence of a new set of Bishies. The group was walking along together, Naomi walking close to Anya, said older trainer close to Sano, and everyone else walking along behind. Since Naomi had gotten over her awe, she hadn't been able to speak to any of the Bishonen, having been struck with a fit of shyness. Thankfully, the Bishonen didn't seem to notice. They didn't prompt her to talk to them. Anya had one of the monster clips with her, but she turned it off as they had left the cave in order to avoid slowing themselves down while on the road. Instead, she had her own, updated Dex out, looking at a small set of directions. "Lost?" Sano grunted. "No. It's just there's a warning here about something, that's all. I can't figure out what it is. Maybe it's a monster-boss attack nearby." "Monster-boss?" Naomi asked. "Like monsters, but stronger." "Oh, right." "Heero, would you look at this?" Said Bishonen walked up to Anya and took the Dex, inspecting the small map on the screen. Naomi guessed he was some sort of technical Bishonen. "Don't know," he said. "Maybe a change in weather?" "Ugh. It better not rain," Anya groaned. "I-" "-hate rain," the Bishonen all chorused together. "We noticed," Sano said dryly. Anya rolled her eyes, then took back the Dex. She pointedly ignored Heero's small smile. "Let's keep going. We'll see soon enough." "Right," Naomi agreed. The group soon did see what was to happen. Instinctively, Sano grabbed onto Anya, as did Heero and Kenshin. Naomi, not knowing what was going on, blushed deeply when Chichiri put a hand on her arm and reached out for his trainer as well. Too late. In what looked like an instant, Anya and the other three Bishonen were gone, as well as the forest they had been walking through. Instead, the two stood alone in the middle of a huge field. Chichiri sighed, lowering his arm and releasing Naomi. "Well, looks like that was it, n'da," he said, shaking his head ruefully. "What? What happened?" Naomi asked. "Where's Anya?" "They're to the northwest, the direction we're headed." At Naomi's confused look, Chichiri said, "It's just that the world expanded again. Does it all the time, no da. Thankfully it's only four miles to get to Anya and the others, n'da." "Four miles? Don't you feel ill, though? Anya said-" "That's only over extended time periods, n'da. I'm fine as long as we get there. Come on. Can't leave you alone or Anya will have my head, na no da." He then pulled off his hat and held it out to her so she could see the inside. She blinked. "Hop in, n'da. If you know any of my abilities, then-" "Oh! Sorry, right!" Naomi smiled sheepishly at him, then reached one hand out for the hat. She hesitated, suddenly feeling a bit silly, not to mention lightheaded. Here she was, standing in the middle of nowhere in someone else's clothes, talking to a character that wasn't supposed to exist. And he was asking her to jump into his hat. How weird is this? part of her mind whispered. "Da? Miss Naomi, you okay n'da?" Chichiri asked, wondering at her hesitation. She blinked. "Oh! Sorry!" With that, she moved her hand towards the inside of the hat. Her hand went right through the straw material, and kept on going. Then, her other one followed of its own accord, until her body up to her shoulders was in the hat. For a moment, nothing happened. Naomi began to fidget and squirm, wondering if she had somehow managed to get herself stuck, half in and half out of the hat. But before she could worry for very long, she felt a gentle shove from behind. And, before she could really get comfortable about the thought of actually falling into a stranger's hat, she felt the rest of herself sucked into the darkness. "EEEK-!"