Garet and Co. strolled through town, Garet as the lead. He was still ghostly white after his experience, and the other two sniggered behind him.
"Its not funny!" Garet said, rounding on his friends. However, he had lost his respect due to Jenna's revenge, and instead of being intimidated, Ivan and Felix started to laugh. "Stop laughing!"
However, they continued to laugh, and Garet through his arms up in disgust and stomped on, huffing irritably. As he walked away, Felix and Ivan started chortling to themselves.
"To be fair, it was pretty nasty," Ivan admitted reasonably. Felix snorted.
"If you ask me, he deserved it." Ivan looked at him accusingly. "What?"
"_He_ deserved it?" Ivan said with a note of disbelief. "You had a hand in his little hoax too, remember?"
"Yeah, well, I -" Suddenly, Felix pager beeped inside his pocket (Don't ask me why they have those things...). Ivan looked at it curiously.
"What's that?" he asked, continuing to peer at the small blinking contraption.
"Er... some kind of electronic message thingy," Felix added slowly. "Kraden gave it to me," he added quickly, when Ivan gave him the raised eyebrow. "Anyway," he said, looking at the pager, "I'll be off. Important business to attend to."
And with that he sped off, leaving Ivan slightly confused, and highly suspicious.

@

Felix stopped in the forest, and immediately his eyes searched left and right, as if he was looking for something, or someone. Soon he started to tap his foot impatiently.
"She'd better not be leaving me here to be bored to death," he muttered to himself, but he bit his tongue in the process. "Oww!"
Suddenly, he heard a snigger in the bushes. Raising an eyebrow, he strolled over to them only to be zapped unexpectedly. He fell onto the ground, twitching, and the culprit revealed herself.
"Well, well," she said, observing the results, "I didn't expect such a puny bolt to have this sort of effect." She thought for a second. "Oh yeah, he's a Venus Adept... oh, oopsy," she added sarcastically as Felix got up, his face still twitching involuntarily.
"To be honest, that's a good look for you," Sheba said, still smirking. When he had at last regained control of his facial muscles, Felix glared at her.
"There are more subtle ways of saying hello," he muttered, to which Sheba simply shrugged dismissively.
"You have your way, I have mine."
She sat down on a tree stump as Felix stood against a tree, arms crossed.
"What kind of business is this, anyway?" he asked, frowning.
"Oh, just details on our little bet," Sheba said coolly, fidgeting with a twig in her hands. Felix looked at her strangely.
"What details?"
"I'm afraid there have been certain events that have taken place. You know what I mean. Anyway, these events have significantly affected the bet we made initially."
"What do you mean, "significantly affected the bet"?"
"Shh!" Sheba hissed, and she looked around apprehensively. "C'mere, we can't let anyone hear..."
Felix crouched to Sheba's level (quite painfully), and together they discussed the details of their bet.

@

Garet entered the markets as the colour returned to his face. Unfortunately for him, Jenna was staring as an armoury display just a few metres away (why, I have no idea). Garet spotted her immediately, and started to backtrack, but Jenna looked up and spotted him as well.
"Oh, Gaaaaareeeeeet!" she sang, and dashed after him. Garet spun around and sped off, screaming desperately. As Isaac and Mia strolled into the markets together (Isaac with an arm around Mia's waist), Jenna zoomed past them, yelling, "Wait, Garet! I love yoooouuuuu!!!"
Isaac and Mia glanced at each other, sweatdropping, as Garet's desperate screams and yells for help faded into the distance. Mia suddenly grabbed Isaac's wrist, and dragged him to the clothing section - in particular the dresses.
"Er... what are we doing here?" Isaac asked awkwardly, eyeing the other people nervously. Mia looked up at him, surprised.
"I thought it didn't matter where we went together," she said, continuing to look at him using her true, tried and tested powers of seduction. Isaac wavered under this mysterious power, and nodded obligingly.
"Yeah, I guess," he said, and immediately Mia darted between the displays. Isaac wouldn't have minded so much, because there was a Psynergy demonstration nearby. He slipped between the other shoppers to get to the demonstration as Mia gave a squeal of delight.

@

Felix gaped at Sheba, mouth open like the clown games at fun fairs. Sheba stared back plainly, unaffected by Felix's reaction.
"What's the problem?" she asked. Felix continued to gape, but he finally recovered and picked up his jaw.
"You can't be serious!" he objected.
"Times, and circumstances, have changed," Sheba replied plainly. "As such, conditions have been altered to adapt to the circumstances."
"Yeah, but -"
"Are you chickening out?"
"No! I... fine."
Felix threw his arms up in defeat, which was pleasure to Sheba's eyes to see Felix out for the count. She got up and walked back to down, and Felix, after a small pause, followed her.
'This is too much trouble than it's worth,' he thought bitterly to himself, as Vale came into view.

@

"And now, I shall attempt to make the earth shake beneath me!"
The crowd watched in awe as the man closed his eyes, and for a few seconds the stage beneath him shook gently. Although Psynergy wasn't an oddity in the town of Vale, everyone clapped the demonstration enthusiastically, except for Isaac. On the contrary, he seemed highly unimpressed and snorted loudly, causing everyone to spin around and look at him. He looked back at them without any change of expression.
"That was nothing," he said. "This is how it's done..."
He closed his eyes and once again the ground began to shake. However, the effect grew greater. Instead of cups simply rattling on the benches, they fell over and spilt the tea and coffee they contained. People struggled to stay on their feet, and somewhere a young female voice screamed shrilly. Immediately, Isaac ceased the show and sweatdropped.
"... I'm in trouble."

@

Ivan was still standing at the exact same spot as half an hour ago. Passers-by glanced briefly at him, and children pointed and said, "Look at the statue, Mummy!" However, he remained motionless until Sheba spotted him on her way to Isaac's house.
"Excellent, time for payback," she said, remembering the babysitting misadventures and Ivan's nasty trick. She quietly snuck up on to him, and when close enough she mouthed, "Spark Plasma!" At once, lightning shot straight at Ivan, and he shot up in shock and pain as it dinged his behind. Sheba smirked to herself, but she forgot an important law in life: What comes up, must come down.

3... 2... 1...

"OOF!"
"ARGH!"
Ivan expected his landing to be hard and painful, but to his surprise it was soft... and fleshy, he thought to himself.
Below him, Sheba recovered from being used as a mattress, and she shot another plasma straight up at Ivan, who yelped again and fell onto the cold, hard nature.
"What was that for?!" he demanded at Sheba, rubbing his thoroughly burnt butt {"Yeah, I know what you're thinking: "Fire burns, not lightning." Explain how trees are zapped and burnt down, hmm? 'Nuff said."}. Sheba grew yet another smirk.
"The first one was a wake-up call," she replied coolly, then added, "and the second one was for payback."
"Right..." Ivan gingerly got up. "Geez, you're not very gentle, are you?"
"All's far in love in war," Sheba said. "Especially war." She smirked more broadly, but when Ivan opened up his mouth to comment, a red flash crashed into him.
"WHOA!"
Crash.
"Gaaaaa - oh!"
Jenna, who was still persistent in her pursuit, stopped immediately when she saw the tangled mess.
"Whoa, what happened?"
Garet and Ivan groaned with despair, then Garet shouted, "What are you doing just standing there?! Help us!"
Jenna and Sheba looked at each other, shrugged, then started untangling the red porcupine and blonde mop.

^

Ten minutes later, through lots of grunting, yelping, cursing and a lot of accidental hair-pulling (as Sheba claimed), Garet and Ivan were free of their predicament. They dusted themselves off and looked relatively relieved, but they kept glaring at each other out of the corner of their eye.
"What the heck were you running for?" Sheba asked, turning to Jenna and having chosen to ignore the other two's non-verbal bickering. Jenna turned to Sheba, and a sly smirk crept across her face.
"Oh, just having some much-needed exercise before our wedding." She turned on her cute-as-a-button face. "Isn't that right, dear?"
She glanced pointedly at Garet, who took a few seconds to notice this and stuttered meekly.
"I told you... I don't wanna get married."
Jenna chose not to believe this. "Oh, you're just saying that because you don't wanna admit it in public." To Sheba and Ivan's amusement, she suddenly half-squeezed Garet to death in a tightening hug, and he struggled desperately to get loose. "You can't wait, can you?" she said in her strawberry voice. Garet cringed - or he would've, if he hadn't been struggling for air.
It was quite an amusing sight to see, Jenna continuing to tighten around Garet like a serpent. Sheba and Ivan looked sideways at each other, and sneaky grins spread across their faces.
"Say, Jenna," Sheba said to her as she continued to strangle Garet in the hug, "can I help you with your wedding plans?"
Somewhat surprised, Jenna released Garet from her death grip, and he collapsed onto the ground, exhausted and out of breath. No one seemed to show any sympathy for him.
"That was a prank, remember?" Jenna whispered to Sheba, but they noticed Ivan watching them curiously. "What do you want?!" Jenna barked, and Ivan shook his head hurriedly and stared at Garet's unconscious form.
"I know," Sheba whispered, making sure that Ivan was preoccupied. "But I wanna help you keep Garet freaked out."
Jenna thought this over, then looked at Ivan, who was trying to poke Garet awake. She turned back to Sheba, an evil smirk on her face for the 268th time that day.

@

Isaac started to fret as Mia barged her way through the stunned crowds toward the stage. As she approached, he panicked and used Sand (which he learned from Felix) to melt under the ground. He just managed to conceal himself when Mia finally arrived.
"Okay, who was it?!" she demanded at the bewildered crowd. They looked at each other, then spun in all directions to try and look for Isaac. Since he was virtually underneath them, he remained hidden, and everyone turned back to Mia.
"Well?" she asked. When no one said anything, she made her way to the stage. She was halfway there when she heard a yelp of pain. Confused, she stomped on the spot.
"Oww!"
"I recognise that voice," Mia pondered. "Isaac, show yourself!"
At once, Isaac's form arose from the ground, sporting a limp He winced for a second, but when Mia gave him a cold stare, his face turned into a look of terror.
"H... Hello, Mia," Isaac said meekly.
"Look at this!" Mia shrieked, holding up some ripped rags. Isaac peered at them apprehensively, but not close enough for Mia to rip his head off.
"Er... a bit wrecked, aren't they?" he commented stupidly. An anger vein on Mia's forehead bulged, and Isaac suddenly shrank.
"A little wrecked?" she said slowly, then she erupted. "A little wrecked?! This is the result of your showing off! These won't magically sew themselves back together!"
"Well... they could, y'know..." Isaac started quietly. "I mean, perhaps there's a, um... an, um... a 'sewing' Psynergy we don't know abou - OWW!"
Isaac hushed immediately when Mia grabbed him by the ear. As she pulled him away, he was thankful that he hasn't proposed to her yet, or she might've taken it back.

@

Jenna and Sheba were huddled together and talking of more revenge as Ivan continued to try and poke Garet awake.
"No... I'm not eating a dead gorilla!" he mumbled in his sleep. Ivan sweatdropped and pokes him again. "I told you, I won't eat it!" Poke. "No!"
Suddenly, he started to glow, and Ivan stepped back in alarm. Jenna and Sheba stopped their discussion in time to see Garet's eyes pop open - furious red.
"I'll teach you to question my appetite! Fireball!"
Balls of fire erupted from his hands (while he was still lying down, mind you), and were sent skywards.
"I hope they won't mind if I stop by for a visit," Piers said to himself, as his boat floated idly over Vale. Suddenly, balls of flame headed straight for him. "What the-"
BOOM
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..."
The boat fell towards Vale in a cloud of smoke, and collided onto the roof of the Great Healer.

@

"... wow," Sheba said. "And I thought Garet would eat anything."
"... what... who... where..." Garet was conscious once more, and he sat up, shaking his head. He suddenly noticed the fading cloud of smoke from Piers' boat, then his eyes followed it to the smouldered hull of Piers boat (the only section of the boat not wedged completely into the roof), then to Piers, who had been thrown onto the roof of a porter potty. Everyone smothered their laughter as a man walked out of the porter potty to find a stranger unconscious right above him. Eyes bugged out, he suddenly turned his head to the teenage Adepts, and they looked away quickly, some coughing to hide their true intentions. The man shook his head and walked away, and that's when Ivan burst out laughing.
"Did you see the look on his face when he saw Piers?" he breathed, and that's when Piers finally woke up. He seemed rather discombobulated {"Confused for you little kiddies.").
"... uh... where am I?" He looked at where he was. "... How did I get up here?!"
He looked at the others, confused, as their collapsed on the ground with uncontrollable laughter.

@

Isaac's face was stuck in a wince as Mia dragged him by his ear back to his house. Little kids passing by sniggered rudely, but Isaac ignored them and asked timidly, "Where are we going?"
Mia glowered at him, causing him to fall silent again.
"We're gonna take a withdrawl out of your wallet, because you're paying for that dress, wrecked or not. Capishe?"
She finally let go of him, and Isaac nodded silently, rubbing his throbbing ear. They'd arrived at his house by then, so Isaac didn't have to ask why he'd regained his freedom.
"Wallet. Now," Mia demanded. "And don't try to run off."
Isaac nodded again and entered the house. Within two minutes, he'd returned with his (still) bulging wallet. Mia looked at it and her eyes widened.
"How did -" she started, but Isaac placed a finger on her lips and handed her the coins from his other hand. However, a small box fell out of a pocket of the wallet, and Mia grabbed it curiously. "What's this?" she asked.
Isaac looked at the box then sweatdropped. "Oh, it's... it's nothing," he said all too quickly.
Mia gave him a raised eyebrow and a mischievous smile, then noticed a name tag attached to the box. "Oh yeah? This tag reads 'Mia'."
Isaac hung his head in defeat. "Yeah, it was my second surprise for you. Go ahead, there's no point in hiding it from you any longer."
Mia looked at him hesitantly, but he nodded encouragingly and she glowed and opened the box. Inside was the ring Isaac had bought, and when she saw it, Mia's face lit up like a neon sign.
"This is beautiful!" she cried, hugging Isaac in a Jenna-like tight embrace.
"Oh, but there's something I want to ask you, now that you have the ring," Isaac said, and Mia withdrew, looking at him curiously. He bent down on one knee, and for a second Mia thought he had a cramp. "Mia, will you do the honour of marrying me and being my wife?"
Mia froze like a statue, and Isaac thought he'd blown it again, but he was wrong. Instead, she suddenly burst into tears of joy, but Isaac couldn't tell the difference between Ivan talking properly and using sarcasm and apologised hurriedly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean... it was a bad idea, I shouldn't have..."
Mia shook her head and kissed Isaac on the lips again {"For the sake of ending the repetition of saying that, I'll just call it smooching... ergh... makes me feel dirty"}, silencing him once again. When they released (about 2 minutes later... geez...), she had a smile like the sunshine on her face.
"Of course!" she cried, and Isaac's face became a look of relief and joy instead of horror and shock, then he pulled her closer and they shared another long, passionate, vomit-inducing kiss {"Gee, don't I sound like a hypocrite saying that..."}.

@

"So, what brings you here?" Sheba asked, after everyone had calmed down. "I was thinking of coming down for a visit," Piers explained slowly, "but someone's fireballs made that decision for me."
Although he had no idea whose they were, eyes were on Garet, who sweatdropped, rubbed the back of his head embarrassingly and said, "Eheh... whoopsy."
Jenna shook her head exasperatedly. "Oh well, you're here now. What'll you do until the boat can be wedged off the roof?"
Piers thought for a moment, then looked at his wrecked vessel and sighed. "Well, while I'm here I might as well get a job."
"Job?" Garet piped up. "What job?"
"I dunno," Piers said. "Whatever I can find."
"Heh, good luck," Sheba said. "In the meantime, Ivan and I have some other business to attend to. Let's go."
Ivan nodded, and the two Jupiter Adepts departed.
"I didn't know you might be looking for a job," Jenna said to Piers after Ivan and Sheba had gone.
"Oh, you know," he said casually, "I'm sure a Lemurian's knowledge of the seas could come in handy."
"Speaking of Lemuria," Jenna said, a devious smile creeping onto her mouth, "I'm sure Garet would love to know your real age, right, Garet? I mean, it's not really 24, is it?"
The Mars Adept in question, who was trying to sneak away, froze on the spot. He spun around to find Jenna waiting and tapping her foot impatiently, and sighed heavily. Looking at Piers, he nodded, but even if Garet hadn't been acting on Jenna's orders, Piers wasn't amused.
"It's none of your business how old I am!" I explained that to you when we left Lemuria, and you're not gonna change my mind on that! Now, if you excuse me I also have business to attend to."
With that, he stomped off grumpily, leaving too confused Mars Adepts (no mean feat for Garet) watching after them. After the initial confusion though, Garet finally managed to slip away from Jenna, which infuriated her greatly.
"I'm not finished making him sorry," she muttered. "I have lots more planned for him..."

Chapter 4: "Isaac's 2nd-worst nightmare"

Piers stomped through the streets of Vale, cursing and muttering under his breath. Passers-by stared bewilderedly as he randomly froze statues with his Psynergy.

"How dare they," he grumbled. "I am a respected Lemurian, they don't need to know my age... disgraceful..."

As he passed the artillery store, a figure crept out from behind some bushes. He looked exactly like Piers except for one thing: He had the mark of a Mad Demon on his forehead. He watched Piers walk away in disgust and grinned malevolently.

"My plan has already been set into motion... next stop, Isaac's house..."

He proceeded to jump out of the bushes when someone's fireball hit him square in the back, sending him crashing into the side of the artillery store.

"Sorry, mister!" A child called from a short distance away. The Piers look-alike groaned with exasperation.

"This will be harder than I thought," he muttered as he peeled himself off the wall. He scowled when the kids nearby sniggered rudely, then he headed off to Isaac's house.

@

"When there's no one for me to turn to, all I see if you..."

Inside Isaac's house, inside Isaac's bedroom, inside Isaac's closet, Granite and Tonic were at it again. Wait, no, not like that... sick puppies. Down, down!... okay, I'll keep quiet.

"You're eyes are bright like the stars in the sky, my love for you I could never lie," Granite recited lovingly to his Mercury Djinn love. Tonic was cuddled up next to her boyfriend, and they settled further onto a fur coat that Granite had tugged off its coat hanger. Like his Romeo-esque Adept owner, Granite had taken to showering Tonic with gifts and endless declarations of love. {"Sappy little... oh, the microphone's on?... er..."}

"I'll always be here by your side, in the darkness I will be your light," Granite continued to recite. Tonic swooned, but the closet door suddenly opened.

"Granite?!"

"Tonic?"

"Huh?"

After creating a short dramatic scene involving the words, "The light, the light," Granite looked up to see blue eyes staring straight at him, which was the same case for Tonic. Both blinked in confusion, then it registered.

"Um, hello, Isaac," Granite said nervously. Next to him, Tonic barely squeaked a hello of her own to Mia.

"Well, well," Isaac said, grinning slyly. "Like Adept, like Djinn."

"I guess so," Granite said. "Tonic definitely gets her beauty from Mia, y'reckon?"

Both Mia and Tonic blushed, and Isaac and Granite grinned at their girlfriends. Tonic became the first of the Djinni to notice Mia's ring.

"Ooooh," she cried in astonishment. "That ring's beautiful, Mia. Where did you get it?"

"Well, actually," Mia said, blushing a deeper red, "Isaac proposed to me."

Granite raised an eyebrow as Isaac rubbed the back of his head embarrassingly. Tonic's eyes sparkled as Mia showed her the ring in all its glory.

"So, when's the big day?" Granite asked.

"We haven't decided yet?" Isaac said, wondering the same thing himself. "We're trying to join Garet and Jenna together so that we can have a double wedding."

"Easier said than done," Granite muttered to Tonic, who giggled. Something suddenly returned to the corridors of his mind, and he smirked. "Say, what are you doing here? I would've thought the closet in Mia's room would be big enough for you two."

The redness on Isaac and Mia's face matched the coats of Jenna and Garet's Djinni's fur, and they stared horrified at the Venus Djinn. Tonic even looked at him like he was going to turn into a Mimic.

"Er, well, that is," Isaac stammered, then he regained his composure. "This is my room!"

"But not for long, eh?" Granite said slyly. Isaac raised an eyebrow. "I bet your mum wants Mia to move in here, right?"

"Um..."

Isaac became speechless as he and Mia started having flashbacks...

*

As Piers departed on his boat, Isaac and Mia looked into each other’s eyes. Before anyone could duck into the shrubs to puke, the two lovebirds were sharing another kiss. Watching her son and his girlfriend, Dora's mind was already working towards something.

"I'll need to buy a bigger bed for Isaac's room," she said. "I want some grandchildren as soon as possible."

Everyone ducking to puke fell over themselves into the bushes, and Isaac and Mia froze in mid-kiss, scarlet with embarrassment.

~

A large truck pulled up to Isaac and Dora's house early the next morning. Unlike their late-sleeping Adept counterparts, Granite and Tonic were wide-awake - pashing in Isaac's closet. Upon hearing the truck outside, after falling off the top shelf in shock the Djinni scrambled to the window to see what the noise was.

"I've never seen a truck here before," Tonic whispered.

"Neither have I," Granite whispered back. "I wonder why it's here?"

Tonic was about to say something else when Isaac grunted in his sleep. The two Djinni sweatdropped nervously as Dora's voice called from downstairs.

"Isaac! Mia! Come look at the new bed!"

Isaac grunted again and rolled out of bed - onto the floor. Cursing to himself, he gathered himself off the floor and stumbled out of the bedroom. Immediately in the corridor he met Mia, who was wearing a starry nightgown, very unlike her common wear of robes. When their eyes met, Isaac looked Mia over and she blushed bright red when he grinned. He wrapped an arm around her waist and they walked together downstairs.

"About time," Dora said as the two teenagers finally arrived at the front door. "The new bed's come."

"Huh?" Isaac finally tore his eyes off Mia to look at his mother. "What new bed? For who?"

"You of course," Dora said, as if it was obvious. Isaac and Mia stared at her, and she added, "Your bed's way to small for you and Mia to sleep in together, so I got a double."

"W-What do you mean?" Mia asked timidly when Isaac became incapable of human speech.

"What, you haven't talked about it yet?" Dora asked, surprised. "I thought you'd already be -"

"Mum!" Isaac's face was burning red by now. "We've only been going out for nine hours!"

"Well!" Dora huffed, but she remained dignified. "Your father and I only needed ten minutes before we knew we wanted to get married."

"How old were you?"

Dora chose to ignore this, but she said no more on the subject. Upstairs, Granite and Tonic were listening to every word.

"Well, well," Granite said. "Looks like our two turtledoves might be living in the same nest soon, so to speak."

*

"We've both known for a while now," Granite drawled. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we have business to resume."

Isaac seethed and looked like he could fry a Grypphon's egg on his head, but Mia gripped his arm and he cooled down. Glaring at his Venus Djinn, he left with Mia so that Granite and Tonic could be alone again.

After the two Adepts left, Granite turned to Tonic with a stupid smile on his face, misreading the horrified look on Tonic's.

"Now my darling," he said. "What were we up to - oww!"

Tonic whacked him on the back of the head, making him fall out of the fur coat onto the floor.

@

"Come on Isaac. Let us go before you do something you'll regret."

Isaac and Mia walked down the stairs, Mia still with her arm around Isaac's. Isaac was still ticked off about their conversation with their Djinni, but he remained silent for the meantime.

"Don't worry about Granite," Mia reassured him gently. "If I know Tonic, she would've made sure that he didn't get away with it painlessly."

Isaac thought about that as they walked to the front door, and to Mia's relief a confident, albeit malicious smile spread across his face.

"Y'know," he began, "it seems that those two have followed in our footsteps to the path of true love. Like Adept, like Djinni I guess. To tell you the truth, I didn't know any of my Djinni had a romantic muscle in their bodies."

"Well," Mia said, smiling, "they must get it from you, because you're the sweetest guy I know."

Isaac blushed modestly, and Mia smiled again as he went to open the door, but he was bowled over by a red streak that collided with him and rolled into the TV room. As Mia fretted over her unconscious fiancé, a loud thump came from the other room when a leather couch halted the red streak's rampage.

"Ow!" cried a voice from the room as Mia revived Isaac with her Psynergy. After he regained consciousness, Isaac glanced at Mia in confused and she pointed to the TV room. Eyebrows raised, Isaac crept into the TV room to find Garet rubbing his head in pain.

"Damn couch," he cursed. "Stupid piece of cr -" He stopped in mid-sentence and looked up to see Isaac and Mia staring at him. "Er, hey guys. How you two doin'?"

He sweatdropped when Isaac and Mia gave him (- -); faces, and he removed his hand from his head to reveal a large throbbing bump on his noggin. Isaac and Mia took one look at it and turned, trying desperately to hide their laughter. Garet scowled.

"Do you mind? I'm in a bit of pain," he growled angrily. Isaac and Mia cleared their throats and tried to apologise, but one glance at Garet's bump and their dissolved into laughter again.

"Sorry buddy," Isaac said between laughs. Garet growled again and got up to leave when the front door rattled. With a yelp, he dove behind the couch just as a steaming Jenna burst into the house.

"All right, where is he?!" he demanded. Although their wore nervous (^_^); faces, Isaac and Mia were thoroughly confused.

"Where is who?" Isaac asked. He jumped back in alarm at the mingled glare Jenna was giving him.

"Garet, that's who!" she shrieked, making Isaac and Mia both fall over sideways. As they recovered and got back up, they gave each other "So that's why" looks while Jenna stalked around the house searching for her dim male counterpart.

"'I'll distract Jenna while you get Garet out of the house," Mia whispered to Isaac, who looked back at her in a mix of surprise and disappointment.

"Why?" he whispered back. "It'd be really funny to see what Jenna would do to Garet if she found him, wouldn't you agree?"

"Well, yes," Mia said, smiling slightly. "But I don't think your mother would be too pleased if she came back to find this place in ashes after Jenna's through with Garet."

Speaking of the two Mars Adepts, Garet was hiding in a cabinet while Jenna prowled around the kitchen. She nearly ripped open cupboards as she continued to search for the redhead.

"Yes, you're right," Isaac said after briefly thinking it over. "All right, occupy Jenna while I find Garet and get him out of here."

Mia nodded, and gave Isaac a quick peck on the cheek for good luck. He gave her the thumbs up and a wink and she disappeared into the kitchen. Now wearing a sneaky smile on his face he crept around the TV room quietly.

"Hey, Garet!" he hissed, tiptoeing between some chairs. "Garet! Where are you?"

The cabinet in the corner shook violently, and for a second Isaac thought it was haunted. Giving himself a mental punch in the arm and a physical shake, he crept over to the cabinet and stared at it, brows furrowed.

"Either it is possessed," he thought aloud, "or a certain redhead has made it his refuge."

Smirking, he decided not to spring Garet (yet) and turned his back to the cabinet. However, before he could walk away, Garet burst out of the cabinet, gasping for air. Isaac turned around to be crushed when his childhood friend collided with him for the second time that day.

"Look out -"

"What t -"

"What was that?" Jenna asked sharply, hearing the collision. Mia sweatdropped nervously, hoping Isaac wasn't in some sort of strife.

"Isaac must've tripped over something," she said quickly.

"Hmm..." Jenna wasn't completely convinced, but she spotted a flash of red at the top of the stairs. Thinking it was Garet's hair, she charged like an angry bull up the stairs, and Mia hurried after her.

'I hope Isaac can hurry,' she thought desperately as Jenna began to speed hungrily up the stairs.

"I'm seeing stars... and tomatoes... lettuce... cheese... mayonnaise... a juicy meat patty... all in a sesa -"

Garet snapped back into reality to find that he was sitting on something soft that wasn't the carpet. He got up to find Isaac unconscious on the floor.

"I'd better wake him up in case Mia comes back and thinks I did something to him." Garet scratched his chin thought, then an idea popped into his head. He crouched next to Isaac and whispered in his ear. "Alex is back, Isaac, and he's proposed to Mia. She accepted his proposal and they're getting married next we -"

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Garet didn't get to finish his sentence before Isaac shot up in shock. He was as white as ghost as his blue eyes darted around the room, and Garet already started to regret his nasty joke.

"What in the world was that?!" Jenna exclaimed, halfway through searching a broom closet. Mia also heard the scream and, having recognised it as Isaac's, fretted about what could've happened.

"I've gotta go downstairs," she decided, forgetting about her and Isaac's plan and rushing downstairs. Jenna watched her run downstairs, then, figuring she could get revenge on Garet later, followed her Imilian friend downstairs.

"Isaac! Calm down, buddy!"

Garet was having difficulty getting Isaac to relax, because the blonde Venus Adept was running around the room like a child fed too much caffeine. Garet had already unsuccessfully tried to stop Isaac with a flare wall... but he'd missed and roasted a side table.

He was about to give up when Mia rushed into the room to find Isaac still running around like the Energiser Bunny.

"Isaac!" she called loudly. "What's the matter?"

Isaac froze in his tracks, blinked and stared at Mia in uncertainty.

"M... Mia, is that you?"

"Isaac, what's wrong?" Mia repeated. "Did you hear something horrible on the news?"

This caused Isaac to rush over to her and hold her tight. Jenna finally arrived into the room to find Garet sweatdropping and leaning on the left wall, Mia looking at her fiancé worriedly and being crushed by Isaac who seemed speechless. She caught Garet's eye and he tried to shrug casually, making her raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Is... is it true?" Isaac gasped. "You're going to marry Alex instead of me?"

"Huh?" Mia and Jenna both became confused, and Mia said, "What are you talking about? I'd never marry that jerk!"

"Y-You wouldn't?" Isaac stammered. "But -"

"Listen, Isaac," Mia said sternly, and Isaac looked into her face. "You're the only one I love, the only one I'll marry. You are my fiancé, and I'll marry no one else. I don't know what you've been told, but Prox will be melting before my love for you will end."

Isaac relaxed at last, released Mia so that she could move, and smiled, making Mia smile in relief as well.

"I'm-I'm sorry," he said. "Garet told me that -"

Garet's eyes widened as Jenna gave him a twisted face but Mia only heard the first of Isaac's words.

"Don't apologise," she said gently. "The fact that you care so much to be worried about a stupid rumour is more than enough for me."

"Eheh..." Isaac's rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment and Mia giggled and kissed him on the cheek. He blushed and held her tightly in his arms and they swayed on the spot.

Meanwhile, Jenna was giving Garet the glare of Death three times over.

"Why did you tell him that garbage about Mia and Alex?" she hissed angrily, being careful not to disturb Isaac and Mia's special moment.

"He was unconscious," Garet said in self-defence. "I thought it would be the best way to wake him up..."

He backed towards the open front door in fear when Jenna's face twisted into a freaky dagger glare. 3... 2... 1...

"GARET!!!" Jenna screamed, almost breaking the china. Garet streaked out the door, a fuming Jenna behind him, cursing at him and shooting too many death threats at him to count.

Inside the house, Isaac and Mia were lost in their own world as they continued to sway on the spot.

"You know," Isaac said, breaking the silence, "I would never let you marry Alex anyway."

"I know," Mia said. "That's why I refused his proposal a few days ago."

"What?!" Isaac's face went pale as a ghost again. "H-He propos-"

"Relax," Mia said, smiling and ruffling Isaac's spiky blonde hair. "I was only messing with you."

"Mia -" Isaac began, but Mia stopped him.

"Yes?" she asked, smiling seductively at him, and once again he wavered under the Mercury Adept's other power besides Psynergy. {"And for the record, a girl's second-most lethal weapon, other than a swift kick in the gona - er, yeah."} He kissed her tenderly on the lips and they remained in each other's arms.

Chapters 5-6; GO!