'Bye! Safe travels!' Erika called to us as she and Scott watched us leave. We waved back, some more enthusiastic than others before focussing on the path ahead.

'Nice couple.' Vincent chuckled 'I'd like to see them again in the future.'

'Me too!' Hunter agreed, throwing her hands up in the air 'And they better invite us to their wedding!'

'Agreed.' Jet smirked.

'Even Silver seemed to get along with them.' I stated, pointing to the redhead with my thumb 'That's saying something.'

She clicked her tongue 'You make it sound like I hate everyone I meet.'

'Don't you though?' Jet questioned.

'... Well yes--'

'Boom! I rest my case!'

Silver glared at me for a moment, before huffing and speed walking ahead of us all. Jet and I snickered.

'Wow,' Vincent's voice was filled with sarcasm 'You guys are so nice to each other.'

'She'll get over it.' I shrugged, and Jet nodded at my statement. I pulled out something from the pouch on my belt, holding it between my thumb and forefinger 'Now if only I can figure out what this is.'

'It looks like a crystal.'

'No shit, professor.' I scoffed at Hunter.

Vincent walked up to me, resting his elbow on my shoulder and staring at the pinkish gem. 'Where'd you get this?'

'Erika gave it to me, why?'

He reached over to grab the item, inspecting it by turning it over in his hands 'This isn't any normal crystal.'

I groaned 'Great, his know-it-all mode's activated.'

'This is a transportation crystal.'

'Wait what?'

Jet, Hunter and I stop to stare at him as he continued 'Erika must've put magic in here to send us somewhere.'

'Lemme see that.' Hunter snatched the crystal from the brunette, who just sighed and turned to me.

'Did she say anything when she gave it to you?'

'Um, just that she hoped it would help us on our journey.'

'Then...' Jet began 'Wouldn't that mean it'll teleport us to Alzdrak?'

'It's a possibility.' Vincent nodded 'But it could be a trick and we end up in Yoganis or--'

We were suddenly blinded by a white light, causing us to shield our faces. Once we lowered our arms we were somewhere totally different. We looked to our right to see Alzdrak's walls, before turning to Hunter who held the now clear crystal between her two thumbs and forefingers.

'Um... oops?' She smiled sheepishly.

Jet facepalmed 'Dammit, Blondie.'

'Hey, we got here right?'

I shrugged 'She's right. I mean, we didn't end up in Yoganis.'

'See? Iris gets me--'

I snatched the gem out of her hand 'But I'm still salty at you for messing with my crystal!'

'Wha- Fight me bitch!'

Vincent and Jet gave each other side glances, their lips pursed in a straight line as Hunter and I went at each other.

'Women.'

'Yup, can't live without them.'

I grabbed Hunter's arm and twisted it behind her back, before kicking her legs and making her fall on her stomach. I sat on her back, my sword against her neck.

'I win~'

'Fuck off...'

The gates suddenly opened, causing the four of us to turn our heads. A man stood there with a hand on his hip. He was buff Foxeen with pale and severly scarred skin, crimson red hair, ears and tail. His eyes were a cold grey colour, and the majority of his face was hidden behind a mouthguard. Though I could still tell he was smiling.

I stood abruptly, saluting at him before running over to hug him 'Lieutenant Crimson!'

'Cadet Iris!' he laughed, pulling away and holding my shoulders at arm's length 'I missed you!'

'I was only gone for a few days.' I rolled my eyes playfully.

'Still, it's boring at the academy without you.'

We both laughed.

'So,' he looked around 'Where's my stone-faced twin sister, eh?'

I raised an eyebrow 'She's right over--' I paused, looking around the area before remembering that the girl had stormed off 'Oh shit...'

My companions exchanged worried glances, all of us yelling the same thing as we slapped our hands over our foreheads:

'WE FORGOT ABOUT SILVER!'

(Timeskip)

'So yea that's basically the entire story of our 'journey'.'

Crimson pushed off the floor into sitting position, as he had toppled over in a fit of laughter somewhere during our explanation. We were currently in the Alzdrak guard academy lounge, talking about you know what.

'Oh man, that's precious.' the male wiped a few tears away 'Must've been a blast.'

'You could say that.' Hunter lifted one of her arms, which were hanging behind the couch, and ran a hand through her hair.

'I didn't scream like a girl...' Jet muttered under his breath, arms folded with his back against the couch.

Vincent suddenly cleared his throat 'Uhm, Lieutenant?'

Crimson's ear twitched and his attention turned to the brunette 'Yea?'

'What are we going to do about Silver?'

'Oh, I already sent two guards to retrieve her. But I wouldn't worry about her, she's pretty capable. She'll be along soon enough.'

*CRASH*

'Huh. Didn't think it would be that soon...'

Just then, the door swung open and a flash of red came barreling towards us. It jumped on top of me and pinned me to the floor with my arms above my head, making me shriek and squeeze my eyes shut from the impact. Slowly I opened one, only to see a familiar redhead alcoholic. She... was a mess to say the least. Her face was covered with dirt and scrapes, as well as her arms. Her cloak was slightly torn, and her hair was messed up with twigs and leaves sticking out of it. This meant I could see the eye she usually covered up- Or at least, where it was. Now it was just an area of scarring over the socket, from when it had been sliced open. Ouch.

'Oh, hey Sil.' I grinned sheepishly 'Run into any trees on your way here?'

The Foxeen growled 'You demonic bitch! How dare you disappear like that and leave me IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WOODS!'

Okay so maybe she isn't always stone faced when she's sober, but it's pretty common to see her that way. Also is that smoke coming out of her ears? Yeesh.

'Yeeeeeaaaaaaaaah, about that....' I dragged, tearing my eyes away from her piercing gaze to glare at a certain blondie 'Someone, not pointing fingers -cough- Hunter -cough- messed with my transportation crystal and sent us here without warning.'

Silver raised an eyebrow and sat up on my stomach 'When did you get a transportation crystal?'

'How did you get here so fast?' I shot back.

'Flame riding. Your turn.'

'Erika gave it to me for 'assistance'.'

'Assistance with what?'

'That should be obvious.' I propped myself on my elbows and pointed around the room we were in. Silver sighed and got off me, before pulling me up to my feet. She ran her long fingernails through her hair to rid it of the forest 'accessories', and returned the strand that had been over her 'eye' back to its original position.

'You've already been here for two minutes, Silvy, and you still haven't said hello to your own brother.'

Silver's ears twitched at the gruff voice, causing her to grind her teeth and glare at the male from over her shoulder. Crimson didn't even flinch.

'You're only my brother by blood, and therefore I have no obligation to address you as such.' She spoke lowly 'You and I are acquaintances. Nothing more, nothing less.'

Ouch...

Crimson sighed and ran a hand through his red hair, before pulling off his mouthguard. It revealed the flesh that had been burnt off near his lips, showing the inside of his mouth in a rather horrifying way. Though as I had seen it so many times before, it didn't affect me or my friends.

'I honestly don't get why you're holding a grudge against me.' He frowned at his sister 'What have I done?'

'Nothing.' Silver narrowed her eye 'And everything.'

'That definitely clears things up.' Jet muttered to Hunter, who snorted in response.

'We both very well knew father's intention with us, yet you still went with him all those years ago.' The fox's gaze fell to the floor 'You could've reached out to mother and I. You could've prevented all the suffering you so visibly went through... But you didn't. You stayed with him.'

Crimson ran a hand down his bare arm, which exposed a few of the scars 'given' to him as a child. 'I didn't have a choice, Silver.'

'Everyone has a choice, Crimson.' Silver shot back, before storming towards the door 'You know what, forget it. I'm going to the bar.'

'I'm coming with you!' Crimson called to her as soon as she was out of sight.

'No you're not!'

'I'll pay~!'

She didn't answer this time, but her heavy footsteps seemed to be getting louder as she backtracked to the doorway 'Really?'

Her brother smirked 'Yup~'

'Fine, come on...'

'Yes! Alright!'

And with that they were both gone. I sighed, placing my hands on my hips.

'Her worry comes across as hatred. It's a good thing Crimson can speak her language.'

'What was that?' Jet's confusion was clear in his voice. I turned to him with a smirk

'That right there,' I pointed towards the door 'Was a casual greeting between the Vixen twins.'

'You call that casual?' The male scoffed.

'For them, yes.'

Vincent spoke up 'They had a rough childhood.'

Hunter rolled her eyes 'Haven't all of us?'

'I mean apart from Scarfie over there, yes.' I answered, making my best friend let out an offended noise.

'Yeah, just call me out why don'tcha! And for your information, thinking I lost my closest friend to an invasion seems pretty rough to me!'

'Come on, I'm sure you were fine.'

'On the contrary, I was absolutely distra--'

'Woah woah woah, woah!' Hunter slid in between Vincent and I, pushing us apart and keeping us at arm's length 'Be nice, you two.'

I crossed my arms, blowing a raspberry at the brunette before turning my head away. In return he brought down his eyelid and stuck his tongue out to make that lovely mocking face. Hunter sighed.

'I swear, sometimes I feel like I'm the only mature one in our friend group.'

Vincent and I snorted.

She growled, whacking us round the back of our heads 'Shut it, dweebs!'

We laughed painfully, rubbing our sore skulls and secretly winking at each other. Hunter plonked herself onto the couch next to Jet, who was currently running his fingers through his hair to re-style it.

'Worried you're not beautiful enough, Jet?' I smirked.

He gave me the middle finger without even looking at me.

'Um, excuse me?'

We all turned our heads to the door, to find a white haired male in training armour giving us a slightly confused look.

'Is there an... Iris Kester in here?'

I cocked an eyebrow, before slowly raising my hand 'That'll be me.'

He scanned me with his pastel green eyes and cleared his throat 'The General wanted to see you. She sent me to escort you to her office.'

I hummed 'Why would she send an escort if I know very well where her office is?'

'No idea, but orders are orders so move it.' He clapped his hands together, causing my eyes to widen slightly.

'Okay jeez, I'm coming. Later guys.' I waved to my friends before waltzing over to the boy's side. We began walking down the hall side by side.

'By the way, the name's Darius.' He stated, giving me a flirty wink.

I scrunched up my nose 'Charmed...'

I examined the boy for a moment. His skin was an olive colour and his lips were pretty thin. He had short white hair that covered his forehead and sharp green eyes. His ears were pointy, and one had an piercing that looked to be made of onyx. A single grey horn sprouted from the middle of his forehead, and he had a long tail with fur at the end.

Huh... so he's an incubus. That explains a lot. Wait, is he staring at my... Oh hell no!

'Quit eying my ass, dipshit!'

'Okay, Damn! Shit!'