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"AAAAAAAARRRRUUAAAGHH!!!!" On a red sunset evening, it had finally come. Its cry echoed though the dense trees, ringing the ears of every animal, sending all the birds into flight. Everywhere, frogs were jumping into their swamps, rodents were dodging back into their holes, and boars were charging back through their shrubs. Even the flowers seemed to pull back into their petals, hoping not to cross the terrifying monster. None wanted to deal with it, and even none wanted to stand it way. By the time the sun touched the mountain, only the bugs were left. Through courage or plain lack of any intelligence, they stood their ground, buzzing like they always did. They flew around the monster, making her angrier, and angrier, untilâ€¦

"I HATE THIS @#$% JUNGLE! @#$%@$@##%#$#$!" Several dozen charred little wings dropped to extinguishment on the rainforest floor.

"Do you ever quit complaining, Chalcer? Nobody's enjoying this more than you," a blonde not far away said. Her hair which was kept in a bun instead of the usual braid had stray hairs that begun to erupt, and as she navigated the acre of foot deep mud with the rest of the group her clothes weren't fairing much better. Such was the trouble of going on this quest.

"What you say?" asked a darker skinned comrade ahead of them, who walked briskly through the hard, sticky clay as though it were chocolate pudding.

"Nevermind," the Ulrien knight sighed.

"Hey, at least we're approaching town. We can rent a room and get some rest soon," said another man in the group, his blue hair and clothes just as soiled and messed up as anybody else. There was a glance at his loud adopted sister, trying to see if that quelled her fury any. Alas, the one-eyed girl was still walking with her head low and teeth in a snarl.

"@#$%#$# bugs. @#$%$#$% trees. #@$#$#% mud," Zita muttered, as she stomped through the mud. If only it didn't glue her feet to the ground, she would kick the stuff all over the place, which she did try once, before failing. Ahead of the loud thief, a small frown appeared on Kannar's face. Catching sight of a rather interesting plant, he decided to at least help preoccupy her from the frustration. With ease, he popped a very unusual looking flower off its stem, and slowed his gate to let the girl catch up.Â

"Look."

"Huh? Whoa, what the #$@% is that?" With Zita distracted for the moment, Rhys gave a relieved sight and turned his attention back ahead. The fiber thatched roofs were in sight, and it wouldn't be long now.

"So how much longer do we have to go?" asked the man, the last one in the group, pulling up the rear as he violently shook a muddied boot. The blue haired thief blinked, looking back at him before back to the town to judge the distance."Well, the town is in sight soâ€¦"

"No, not to the town. I meant to those flowers. I really want to see these flowers! They sounded so awesome from what that man told us back in Vingard! I mean flowers that float over to the beasts that will save us? Isn't that so cool?

"Well," Cecine said, joining in, "We just reached Rindrir's outskirts about 20 minutes ago and the Deep Basin is on the other side of the nation, so I sadly don't think it's going to be soon. Either way, we have to make it there by the summer solstice or it won't matter."

"So does it do it anything?" Zita asked Kannar, quickly starting to lose her interest in the funny looking plant. The man fell silent, as he looked down at it and tried to think. No, it really didn't. He wasn't going to just give in though. He looked around, trying to find something better, more interesting. They were just about out of the deep part of the mud, but that wouldn't stop the bugs, or Zita, once the mud wasn't holding her in her tracks. Seeing another somewhat funky looking plant, Kannar started heading for that, but stopped, seeing something way more interesting. There were few people out in the outskirts of town, but one was carrying something particularly interesting. With his maroon coat drifting in the wind, there was a young red-haired man with eyes hidden under a hat and not a day older than twenty. Around his shoulder was a slung a large leather pack filled to the brim, and in that pack, just barely shaded from the sun by the pack's flap was the most interesting flower of all. It had yet to blossom, but Kannar knew exactly what it was."Flower! He has fireflower!" he yelled, dropping the plant in his hand to point at the teen."WHAT!?" came certain yells from the group. Rhys blinked, jerking his head to the direction Kannar was pointing at in surprise. They couldn't have found the plant already. They were no where near Deep Basin. However, in the man's pack was indeed an interesting looking flower. "Whoa, really?! Can I see?" asked Tierri as he tried to push his way forward to see.

"Wait. Why is that idiot keeping carrying so close to out in the open!?" Cecine yelled, stepping forward, "Doesn't he know what will happen if it touches the sunlight?" After a second though, she found a herself squinting a bit. That man carrying it, he looked familiar. However, before the knight was given a minute to ponder when suddenly the usual ball of action charged forth, nearly knocking her aside.

"Hey dumb@#$!" Zita yelled as she closed in on the redhead, "Over here!"

"Zita!"

"Chalcer! You moron! Get back here!"

The man turned, eyes narrowed at the name calling and ready to tackle anybody who wanted a fight. Those were the eyes that left Cecine letting out a small gasp. "I knew it! That's Ulrien's hero," she said and let out a sigh, "Well, of course, I guess I should have figured our hero would get to the flower first." And now Tenfana's hero was about to mess it all up. In a hurry to keep the rash thief from doing anything stupid, the knight tried to work her way through the rest of the mud as fast as she could.Though Cecine wasn't the only who recognized him. Zita was bit taken a by surprise as the redhead turned to face her.

"Huh? Hey, you're that other hero guy!" she said, jabbing a finger at his face.

"Apparently," Seto said, twitching a bit.

"Well, listen guy! Where did you get that flower?" Zita asked, putting hands on hips.

"What flower?" Seto asked, playing dumb.

"The one in your @#$%#$% pack, dumb@#$!" the girl yelled, leaning to her right to try and get a better look at it, only for Seto to move accordingly to prevent her.

"I found it somewhere in east Rindrir," he said, shrugging his shoulders, "Does it concern you?">

"@#$% yeah, it does! We need that flower!" Zita said, leaning the other direction, in attempt to still try and get at it. Seto moved once again to prevent her.

"We?" he asked, looking up slightly to catch sight of the entire group who were starting to catch up by now. "What for?"

"Because..." Zita started, but came to a silence. The guy actually looked completely ignorant to the fact that he was carrying Escantha's hope in his pack. Maybe, maybe he didn't even know what was going on, and this little bit of info left a grin on the one-eyed woman's face. "You know what, you're right. It's a useless flower. It will just die out in a day or two. If you give it to me though, you won't have to worry about it leaving wilted flower sh!t in your pack later on." She moved to the right again and tried to reach for it, but once again, she was stopped.

"Uh... Thanks, but I can clean out my own pack when that happens," Seto said, moving again. Zita was starting to get irritated. It was time to give up the sweet talk.

"Give it to me!" she said, moving to the right. Again she was blocked.

"No."

"Give it to me!"Â

The pattern repeated.

"No."

"GIVE IT TO ME OR I AM GOING TO KICK @#$%ING @$# FOR IT!" Zita screamed, and without warning, Seto was tackled hard and kicking to the ground.

"AUGH! GET OFF OF ME!"

"You idiot! Get off of him!" Cecine shrieked, jumping on Zita in hopes of prying her off while everybody else came up the rear. For that moment it was just a mess of limbs, dust, and yelling. The tussle didn't last long though.

."Uh... you guys," Tierri's cracked voice came. For that moment, everybody stopped and time stood still. The flower, the poor innocent flower, was not but a few feet away, sitting in the shadow of Seto's pack and only centimeters away from sunlight. The wind was starting to pick up.

"Nobody... make a move," Cecine said, as she slowly got off of Zita and Seto who were staring in horror and puzzlement respectively. The one thing standing between them and a long journey to Deep Basin was sitting there, feeling the air push its petals. The flower rolled to the edge of the shadow, and it jumped back. The knight reached out, and her fingers spread out as though it would lower the chance of it taking off. Her tips were just about to graze its stem. Then it took off.

"AAAH! NO!"

"@##@ %$$# %#@$ #@#$ #%$#!"

The flower flew from the shadow of Seto's pack, to the connecting shadow of a nearby grave. It hovered among the shadows of trees on the outskirts before catching a ride on the shadow of one of the town's traveling commoners. Having just watched the action play out before, Kannar knew it was now his turn. He sprinted forward, following this woman and her hitchhiking fire flower, but soon enough, the woman grew suspicious of the man chasing her enough to stop and turn. The wind however, carried right on with its toy right along the shadow of a wooden fence. "Excuse me, did you need-" she began to ask, but Kannar continued right past. Not long after, the leaves touched down under the shade of a building, rolling to stop, and the Rindrir native slowed down, giving a relieved sigh by their luck. After all that panic and danger, somehow, the flower hadn't touched a ray of sunlight, shining green and healthy. He bent down to grab the reward for his efforts when he noticed two white and furry little paws.

---------------------------------

Everybody was back on their feet now, brushing off the dust and rubbing the scrapes. Cecine had her fists clenched and teeth gritted, and her back was kept to the people around. She couldn't tell after it had floated so far away, but she had already figured by now that flower was nothing but a goner. "You just had to tackle him, the person holding the fire flower, didn't you!?" she yelled, striking at the first person she knew of, "And you're the hero of Tenfana!?"

"Hey, maybe things would have gone better if Red here just gave me the @#$%ing flower in the first place!" Zita yelled back, briefly giving Seto the evil eye.

"You were in the sunlight! If he gave it to you right there, it wouldn't have mattered anyway!"

"Aww... come on guys. Don't give up hope yet. I'm sure it's still around!" Tierri said, trying to stop the quarreling.

"Okay, forgive me for not knowing what is going on here, but what the hell is going on here!?" Seto asked, working his hat back on from the fall, "Why was I just tackled for a flower?"

"Look, it's okay," Rhys piped in, trying to bring a bit of reason to the group, "We can still travel to Deep Basin. I know it's..." The voice of guidance trailed off as just then, running at him top speed and screaming was a certain dark skinned man. Not a second later the blue-haired man nearly fell to his behind as the built man charged into him and struggled around to hide. "..Sir?" Rhys asked, blinking a bit in surprise.

"Dog. Dog has fire flower," Kannar replied, clutching Rhys's shoulders a bit tighter. Sitting there, still in the building's shadows, was a snow white akita with the flower in mouth. She stared from the edge of its shade, wagging her tail and looking quite ready to get out and have some fun in the sun.

"Aww, see! I told you it was alright!" Tierri said, stepping forward to get a better look. Everybody else was braced, knowing the slightest move could send the dog and their flower out of the safe zone. Seto however, was tired of this game. He had no idea why the 'idiots' wanted the flower, he had no idea why they were acting like clowns, and heck, what he wanted to do here came so natural he didn't even think about.

"Esca come!" he called, and the dog started to trot over. Eyes bulged.

"No! Don't come! Don't come!" everybody else yelled, waving their arms at the dog.

"Don't come?" Seto asked, raising a brow.

"Don't come!" Cecine said, "Other way!"

"Stay! Staaay!" Rhys went, palms raised.

"Shoo! Shoo!" Kannar pleaded from behind Rhys, as he flicked his wrist at her.

"Nono, boy! Stay right there!â€ Tierri yelled.

"GET LOST YOU STUPID MUTT! NOBODY LOVES YOU!" Zita yelled. The dog finally stopped, lowering its ears and tail, before turning to go the other direction. Everything seemed to be solved for that moment, before she reached the end of the building and its shadow.

"AAAHH! Come back! Come back!"

"No! No dog! Shoo! Shoo!"

The dog stopped and looked back around, now it was becoming quite confusing for her. She wandered back to the other end of the building, but her confusion hindered her. What did they want her to do? He ear twitched a bit, and turning her, caught sight of something. Four paws, short grey soft fur, whiskers, yellowish green eyes, and a little pink nose. It sat in the middle of the sunset-stained road, licking itself and completely unaware of the white beast not far off. Esca's back began to bristle, a low rumbling erupted from her his chest.

"Oh no! No!" Rhys said, seeing about what was to take place, "Stay! Staaaay!"

But the dog took off. Cries erupted from the group as every person lunged but the dog was already at the end of the shadow. SCREEEEEEEE!!! A cry broke out from the sky, and soon as the oblivious dog reached the end of the line, the bird shaped shadow took over her. It was a great metal hawk. With some rubbing their eyes and a "WOW! @#$%ING AWESOME" from Zita, the group turned their attention to the only person who could be responsible. Seto stood sharp and battle posed. "Okay, problem solved, now what is up with this damn flower?" he asked, with a rather tense tone.

"No time, get that flower!" Rhys said, running off to hopefully catch up with the dog, and the rest of the group followed.

"HEY!"

Esca took her sweet time chasing the poor feline up and down the roads. However, it wasn't long before her wild pursuit ended up in front of the hooves of a frightened cart-pulling donkey. A loud bray erupted from its throat as it reared up just enough to startle the poor akita herself. "Hey! Stupid dog! Get out of the way!" came the yells from the cart rider. As soon as Esca scurried out of the way, the cart carried on, and so did here pursuers. However, with the hawk following what they thought would only be the flower, most missed subtle little problem. Tierri stopped just in time to see that a certain cart now had a very unique floral decoration. He looked between it and the others as both sides split into very different directions."Hey! You guys! You're going the wrong way!" he yelled before shooting off after the cart. Rhys, Cecine, Zita, Kannar, and even Seto all stopped in their tracks, just in time to notice Esca no longer had the fire flower in mouth. It was now rolling down the road, entwined in a cart wheel and barely covered by the vehicle itself.

"@##$%%%! @#$%ING FLOWER!" Zita yelled, before leading the group after him in the new direction. The cart and its owner went down the street, oblivious of the pursuers, until the group eventually did catch up.

"Hey! Wait! Stop the cart!" Rhys yelled, and the man pulled the strains to look over his shoulder.

"Huh? W-what is it?" he asked, blinking at the very surprising group that had been tailing him for the last couple blocks. Tierri was the first one over, but by the time he got to the wheel, bent over and it, he was left with dismay.
"Aww... where did it go?" As everybody caught up, gasps of breath were abound. Cecine leaned on the cart, as Rhys wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"What...? You're telling me it @#$%ing fell off!?" Zita snapped, feeling the pangs of her throbbing legs. Though, as tired as she and the rest of the group were for chasing that dang flower, none were more so than Kannar, who was beginning to find this chase very trivial. He carried up the rear of the group, going only at his own sweet pace.

"Stop chasing flower. No matter. We go to Deep Basin and I know place with many fire flowers," he said, desperately motioning to a nearby inn. For a moment, the group thought.

"Okaaaay. So that flower that you all made me lose was a... fire flower?" Seto asked, still quite a bit miffed that nobody still hadn't told him what was going. Looking between the two, Rhys was the one to give a sigh.

"Yeah, Deep Basin," he said, and turned to Seto, "You see..."

"OH! Look! Look! I found it! Come here, guys!" And like that, all the hope Kannar had for a decent easy way out of the race came to an end with the loud thump of Tierri trying to tackle to flower. The wind carried it once again out of reach, and once again, it was a sprint to catch the plant. The Rindrir native let out a sigh in defeat, and continued to follow at his own pace.

With the sun setting ever faster, more shadows had appeared to keep the flower safe as the wind carried it through the shade of the old buildings. Eventually, it lost air again and fluttered to a stop in front of the town inn, just in time for certain young woman to come out. She inhaled the cold evening air, and shut her eyes. Though she would much rather be at home or at least in a library of some sort, it had been her duty to spread the word of the elusive fire flower that could save them all. For a minute, Simala wondered if anybody had found them by now. Would they know what to do with it? How to keep it hidden from the sun? She took a step forward with these thoughts in mind, and to her surprise, something crunched under her foot. "Ah!" She jumped back and looked down, finding her eyes squinting in vain as she tried to see what it was at her foot. It was long and green. She bent down to pick it up. "Huh? Wait a second," she said, once the flower was up to her face. She rubbed her eyes. It couldn't be, not so far from Deep Basin, not with the sun out, and certainly not with such rarity.Then she heard something. There was a big fuzzy, multicolored blur in the distance. It was loud and growing bigger with every second. A closer look and it seemed to be a group of people, a group of very angry people, and it was headed straight to her.

"HEY! GIVE US THAT FLOWER!"

"KYAAAH!" Simala screamed, jumping back in shock. The flower in her hand went flying, and before it hit the ground, there came just the right hungry black bird to swoop in and carry it away. At least, before the poor bookworm was trampled by the insane crowd. "GET THAT BIRD!" Simala stood up, shivering at the her near death experience. Up came a man with dark skin and various scars, still at his own walking pace.

"You okay?" He asked. The traumatized girl nodded, recognizing the face.

"W-what was that?" she asked.

"Fire flower," he said, and gasp escaped her.

"That... You mean to tell me..." the girl said, absolutely stunned, looking back and forth. The man nodded, and the girl shot off.

"HEY! WAIT FOR ME!"

Kannar sighed.

Meanwhile, the group was closer than ever. Despite the bird now carrying their prize, nobody was letting that flower escape them. Seto's hawk was back and fought to keep the bird under shade as it flew through the giant trees, while the other's plotted ways to shoot it down. With Zita in the gang however, obviously nobody had to wait long. "HEY! EAT THIS YOU @#$%ING PIGEON!" She yelled, sending a sizable fireball right it's way.

"NONO, MISS CHALCER! YOU'RE GOING TO BURN THE FLOWER!" Tierri yelled, but it was a second too late. In shock of the eminent barbecuing it was about to receive, the black bird let out a shrill cry, dropping the flower right before the fire ball engulfed it like a monster. The flower, now free again, fluttered to its left, then fluttered to it's right, then fluttered some more until it landed spot on into a large creek.The five pursuers stopped at the edge, and watched in bafflement as it simply floated by, mocking them. However, Zita Chalcer was NOT to be defeated."DFHGFDJDGFKLDSJ!" She jumped in after with a splash. What was left of her brave attempt came in the form of a few bubbles which eventually subsiding into silence. A pained sigh erupted from Rhys. For him, it was just another day.

With no time to delay, Cecine took off down the creek and the others followed. "Come on," she muttered in frustration, the flower floating farther and farther from their grasp. She ran as fast as she could but while knight training sustained her, she had run out of energy long before. To make matters worse, the knight could hear the roaring of waterfall not far off. A gasp escaped her, seeing the end in sight. They had no time to waste at all. "Sir Samu! Get your hawk ready to grab that flower before we lose it!" she shouted over her shoulder.

Well, this had been a very crazy day for Seto. Tackled, prevented from calling his own dog, chasing around his own damn flower because he was tackled, and he still didn't know why he was chasing it around. Still, the Ulrien hero didn't need to be told twice. It was his time to shine, and did he enjoy it. At least, when the ground was solid under him that is. It was too quick to think, to quick to save himself. Before he could send his golem down, the ground beneath him crumbled, and slipping on the loose soil, the redhead met water. "Augh!" Cecine slowed and grit her teeth. He was losing them time, but when she expected a recovery, things just became worse and worse. A frenzied splashing erupted as Seto struggled to keep his head above water."@#$%! I CAN'T SWIM!"

"WHAT!?" she yelled, sliding to a stop. Rhys and Tierri slowed down a bit in concern as well, but the knight wouldn't have any of that. After having a dozen heart attacks over losing the flower, she was not going to let it go. "Keep going!" she yelled, jumping into the water, "I'll take care him!" Without argument, the two, quickly nodded and sped off.

With half the group out of the picture, it was up to them to catch the fireflower. However, even as Tierri and Rhys tried their best to keep up with the floating flower, they were falling farther and farther behind, and the waterfall was growing closer and closer. "Come on! We can do this!â€ Tierri yelled back, trying to boost his speed, but he was gasping. They both were.

The rare flower was only thirty feet from the falls now.

"@#$%!"

The flower was only twenty feet from the falls.

"Come on!"

Only ten. "

COME ON!!!"

SPLASH! It came when nobody was expecting it. Like an angel, she emerged, a beautiful mermaid enveloped by the spray of her splash like a shawl. The strands of her dark, thick, voluptuous hair shined gold in the sunset behind her. One visible eye shone like a diamond, piercing into the souls of the men that lay on the bank. In her hand was the beaten and battered flower they nearly lost. Throwing her hair away from her face, her thick, moist lips opened gingerly. She stood up out the water and with a voice untainted with evil said, "YEAH! EAT THAT! I @#$%ING WIN!"

Rhys slowed down to a stop and brought a hand through his bangs, sighing with relief as a smile came over his face. Just another day. Further back, after Cecine had grabbed ahold of the previously drowning hero, both could relax a bit at the sight. Finally, no more chasing or worry. However, the two couldn't help but notice something was odd about Zita. Was sheâ€¦ standing? The knight looked at Seto, and Seto looked down at the stream. A second later his torso came out of the shallow water. "Oh."

"Hey! Are you people okay?" a voice called out, from the brush. Out came Kannar and Simala, at last, having just caught up. They stopped for a moment, trying to register the unusual scene before them. "Uh... Did you get the flower?"

-----------------------------

"Okay, so to recap. The flower I picked up on sudden urge back in the Deep Basin was actually a fireflower. Every summer solstice they bloom and fly to beasts that can save us from the invading evil, which is why they're being sought for. When they hit sunlight they die, so in order to find the beasts over a few day journey, they have to be shaded from it. Did I miss anything?"

"Nope, that's it," Simala chirped to Seto, "You know, you guys are real lucky to find it so soon and to preserve it for so long."

"Well, you know..." Tierri started to say, but soon was interrupted.

"Wait. You guys? Ahah. No. I solely found the flower so I'll be keeping it," the redhead said, quickly reaching out to nab it from the Tenfanian hero, but the thief pulled it away without missing a beat.

"Yeah, right! Sorry dumb@#$, but if it wasn't for me, it'd be downstream right now. Finders keepers!" Zita said, holding the flower tightly away.

"If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have lost it in the first place," Seto said, moving in dangerously.The mage blinked in confusion at this show.

"What? Why can't both of you have it? You have the same goal, don't you?" she asked, and there fell a silence between the two heroes.

"She has a point," Rhys said, with a nod, "If there's only one, I don't see why we can't travel together, at least until we find the beasts""

Wait, excuse me?" Seto asked, not real thrilled with the idea of traveling with anybody but himself.

"Yeah! No @#$%ing way," Zita even added in herself.

"Deep Basin! I know where more flowers are!" Kannar said, trying once again to talk some sense into them, "Travel together, get more flowers."

"Kannar's right, and I admit it's great we found the first flower, we should probably collect more of them, just to be on the safe side," Cecine said with a sigh. Seto was quiet for a bit, but eventually, from all the hopeful stares he got, he caved in.

"Eh. Fine. Whatever," he said, looking away. However, as the talking went on, Zita noticed something unusual on the fire flower.

"Is that a bug or...¦" she muttered to herself, trying to feel the small little black spot. As much as she squinted and twisted her head though, it was just too dark to see in Seto's shadow. She needed some light. "Hey, Red, could you move a little to the side. I'm trying to examine the condition of this thing."

After a long evening's run, Seto had little energy left to think. "Whatever," he said, stepping aside.

"NO!" everybody screamed.

It was too late though. At last, the red sunset touched down on the little flower, warming every fiber in its leaves. It looked quite beautiful in the gold sunlight, shining so beautifully. It actually glittered, like tiny little embers were all over it.It promptly burst into flame. Everybody stood there, gaping in horror at the flaming flower in Zita's hand.

"Oh, it was just a burnt spot. Nevermind."

Description

"AAAAAAAARRRRUUAAAGHH!!!!" On a red sunset evening, it had finally come. Its cry echoed though the dense trees, ringing the ears of every animal, sending all the birds into flight. Everywhere, frogs were jumping into their swamps, rodents were dodging back into their holes, and boars were charging back through their shrubs. Even the flowers seemed to pull back into their petals, hoping not to cross the terrifying monster. None wanted to deal with it, and even none wanted to stand it way. By the time the sun touched the mountain, only the bugs were left. Through courage or plain lack of any intelligence, they stood their ground, buzzing like they always did. They flew around the monster, making her angrier, and angrier, untilâ€¦

"I HATE THIS @#$% JUNGLE! @#$%@$@##%#$#$!" Several dozen charred little wings dropped to extinguishment on the rainforest floor.

"Do you ever quit complaining, Chalcer? Nobody's enjoying this more than you," a blonde not far away said. Her hair which was kept in a bun instead of the usual braid had stray hairs that begun to erupt, and as she navigated the acre of foot deep mud with the rest of the group her clothes weren't fairing much better. Such was the trouble of going on this quest.

"What you say?" asked a darker skinned comrade ahead of them, who walked briskly through the hard, sticky clay as though it were chocolate pudding.

"Nevermind," the Ulrien knight sighed.

"Hey, at least we're approaching town. We can rent a room and get some rest soon," said another man in the group, his blue hair and clothes just as soiled and messed up as anybody else. There was a glance at his loud adopted sister, trying to see if that quelled her fury any. Alas, the one-eyed girl was still walking with her head low and teeth in a snarl.

"@#$%#$# bugs. @#$%$#$% trees. #@$#$#% mud," Zita muttered, as she stomped through the mud. If only it didn't glue her feet to the ground, she would kick the stuff all over the place, which she did try once, before failing. Ahead of the loud thief, a small frown appeared on Kannar's face. Catching sight of a rather interesting plant, he decided to at least help preoccupy her from the frustration. With ease, he popped a very unusual looking flower off its stem, and slowed his gate to let the girl catch up.Â

"Look."

"Huh? Whoa, what the #$@% is that?" With Zita distracted for the moment, Rhys gave a relieved sight and turned his attention back ahead. The fiber thatched roofs were in sight, and it wouldn't be long now.

"So how much longer do we have to go?" asked the man, the last one in the group, pulling up the rear as he violently shook a muddied boot. The blue haired thief blinked, looking back at him before back to the town to judge the distance."Well, the town is in sight soâ€¦"

"No, not to the town. I meant to those flowers. I really want to see these flowers! They sounded so awesome from what that man told us back in Vingard! I mean flowers that float over to the beasts that will save us? Isn't that so cool?

"Well," Cecine said, joining in, "We just reached Rindrir's outskirts about 20 minutes ago and the Deep Basin is on the other side of the nation, so I sadly don't think it's going to be soon. Either way, we have to make it there by the summer solstice or it won't matter."

"So does it do it anything?" Zita asked Kannar, quickly starting to lose her interest in the funny looking plant. The man fell silent, as he looked down at it and tried to think. No, it really didn't. He wasn't going to just give in though. He looked around, trying to find something better, more interesting. They were just about out of the deep part of the mud, but that wouldn't stop the bugs, or Zita, once the mud wasn't holding her in her tracks. Seeing another somewhat funky looking plant, Kannar started heading for that, but stopped, seeing something way more interesting. There were few people out in the outskirts of town, but one was carrying something particularly interesting. With his maroon coat drifting in the wind, there was a young red-haired man with eyes hidden under a hat and not a day older than twenty. Around his shoulder was a slung a large leather pack filled to the brim, and in that pack, just barely shaded from the sun by the pack's flap was the most interesting flower of all. It had yet to blossom, but Kannar knew exactly what it was."Flower! He has fireflower!" he yelled, dropping the plant in his hand to point at the teen."WHAT!?" came certain yells from the group. Rhys blinked, jerking his head to the direction Kannar was pointing at in surprise. They couldn't have found the plant already. They were no where near Deep Basin. However, in the man's pack was indeed an interesting looking flower. "Whoa, really?! Can I see?" asked Tierri as he tried to push his way forward to see.

"Wait. Why is that idiot keeping carrying so close to out in the open!?" Cecine yelled, stepping forward, "Doesn't he know what will happen if it touches the sunlight?" After a second though, she found a herself squinting a bit. That man carrying it, he looked familiar. However, before the knight was given a minute to ponder when suddenly the usual ball of action charged forth, nearly knocking her aside.

"Hey dumb@#$!" Zita yelled as she closed in on the redhead, "Over here!"

"Zita!"

"Chalcer! You moron! Get back here!"

The man turned, eyes narrowed at the name calling and ready to tackle anybody who wanted a fight. Those were the eyes that left Cecine letting out a small gasp. "I knew it! That's Ulrien's hero," she said and let out a sigh, "Well, of course, I guess I should have figured our hero would get to the flower first." And now Tenfana's hero was about to mess it all up. In a hurry to keep the rash thief from doing anything stupid, the knight tried to work her way through the rest of the mud as fast as she could.Though Cecine wasn't the only who recognized him. Zita was bit taken a by surprise as the redhead turned to face her.

"Huh? Hey, you're that other hero guy!" she said, jabbing a finger at his face.

"Apparently," Seto said, twitching a bit.

"Well, listen guy! Where did you get that flower?" Zita asked, putting hands on hips.

"What flower?" Seto asked, playing dumb.

"The one in your @#$%#$% pack, dumb@#$!" the girl yelled, leaning to her right to try and get a better look at it, only for Seto to move accordingly to prevent her.

"I found it somewhere in east Rindrir," he said, shrugging his shoulders, "Does it concern you?">

"@#$% yeah, it does! We need that flower!" Zita said, leaning the other direction, in attempt to still try and get at it. Seto moved once again to prevent her.

"We?" he asked, looking up slightly to catch sight of the entire group who were starting to catch up by now. "What for?"

"Because..." Zita started, but came to a silence. The guy actually looked completely ignorant to the fact that he was carrying Escantha's hope in his pack. Maybe, maybe he didn't even know what was going on, and this little bit of info left a grin on the one-eyed woman's face. "You know what, you're right. It's a useless flower. It will just die out in a day or two. If you give it to me though, you won't have to worry about it leaving wilted flower sh!t in your pack later on." She moved to the right again and tried to reach for it, but once again, she was stopped.

"Uh... Thanks, but I can clean out my own pack when that happens," Seto said, moving again. Zita was starting to get irritated. It was time to give up the sweet talk.

"Give it to me!" she said, moving to the right. Again she was blocked.

"No."

"Give it to me!"Â

The pattern repeated.

"No."

"GIVE IT TO ME OR I AM GOING TO KICK @#$%ING @$# FOR IT!" Zita screamed, and without warning, Seto was tackled hard and kicking to the ground.

"AUGH! GET OFF OF ME!"

"You idiot! Get off of him!" Cecine shrieked, jumping on Zita in hopes of prying her off while everybody else came up the rear. For that moment it was just a mess of limbs, dust, and yelling. The tussle didn't last long though.

."Uh... you guys," Tierri's cracked voice came. For that moment, everybody stopped and time stood still. The flower, the poor innocent flower, was not but a few feet away, sitting in the shadow of Seto's pack and only centimeters away from sunlight. The wind was starting to pick up.

"Nobody... make a move," Cecine said, as she slowly got off of Zita and Seto who were staring in horror and puzzlement respectively. The one thing standing between them and a long journey to Deep Basin was sitting there, feeling the air push its petals. The flower rolled to the edge of the shadow, and it jumped back. The knight reached out, and her fingers spread out as though it would lower the chance of it taking off. Her tips were just about to graze its stem. Then it took off.

"AAAH! NO!"

"@##@ %$$# %#@$ #@#$ #%$#!"

The flower flew from the shadow of Seto's pack, to the connecting shadow of a nearby grave. It hovered among the shadows of trees on the outskirts before catching a ride on the shadow of one of the town's traveling commoners. Having just watched the action play out before, Kannar knew it was now his turn. He sprinted forward, following this woman and her hitchhiking fire flower, but soon enough, the woman grew suspicious of the man chasing her enough to stop and turn. The wind however, carried right on with its toy right along the shadow of a wooden fence. "Excuse me, did you need-" she began to ask, but Kannar continued right past. Not long after, the leaves touched down under the shade of a building, rolling to stop, and the Rindrir native slowed down, giving a relieved sigh by their luck. After all that panic and danger, somehow, the flower hadn't touched a ray of sunlight, shining green and healthy. He bent down to grab the reward for his efforts when he noticed two white and furry little paws.

---------------------------------

Everybody was back on their feet now, brushing off the dust and rubbing the scrapes. Cecine had her fists clenched and teeth gritted, and her back was kept to the people around. She couldn't tell after it had floated so far away, but she had already figured by now that flower was nothing but a goner. "You just had to tackle him, the person holding the fire flower, didn't you!?" she yelled, striking at the first person she knew of, "And you're the hero of Tenfana!?"

"Hey, maybe things would have gone better if Red here just gave me the @#$%ing flower in the first place!" Zita yelled back, briefly giving Seto the evil eye.

"You were in the sunlight! If he gave it to you right there, it wouldn't have mattered anyway!"

"Aww... come on guys. Don't give up hope yet. I'm sure it's still around!" Tierri said, trying to stop the quarreling.

"Okay, forgive me for not knowing what is going on here, but what the hell is going on here!?" Seto asked, working his hat back on from the fall, "Why was I just tackled for a flower?"

"Look, it's okay," Rhys piped in, trying to bring a bit of reason to the group, "We can still travel to Deep Basin. I know it's..." The voice of guidance trailed off as just then, running at him top speed and screaming was a certain dark skinned man. Not a second later the blue-haired man nearly fell to his behind as the built man charged into him and struggled around to hide. "..Sir?" Rhys asked, blinking a bit in surprise.

"Dog. Dog has fire flower," Kannar replied, clutching Rhys's shoulders a bit tighter. Sitting there, still in the building's shadows, was a snow white akita with the flower in mouth. She stared from the edge of its shade, wagging her tail and looking quite ready to get out and have some fun in the sun.

"Aww, see! I told you it was alright!" Tierri said, stepping forward to get a better look. Everybody else was braced, knowing the slightest move could send the dog and their flower out of the safe zone. Seto however, was tired of this game. He had no idea why the 'idiots' wanted the flower, he had no idea why they were acting like clowns, and heck, what he wanted to do here came so natural he didn't even think about.

"Esca come!" he called, and the dog started to trot over. Eyes bulged.

"No! Don't come! Don't come!" everybody else yelled, waving their arms at the dog.

"Don't come?" Seto asked, raising a brow.

"Don't come!" Cecine said, "Other way!"

"Stay! Staaay!" Rhys went, palms raised.

"Shoo! Shoo!" Kannar pleaded from behind Rhys, as he flicked his wrist at her.

"Nono, boy! Stay right there!â€ Tierri yelled.

"GET LOST YOU STUPID MUTT! NOBODY LOVES YOU!" Zita yelled. The dog finally stopped, lowering its ears and tail, before turning to go the other direction. Everything seemed to be solved for that moment, before she reached the end of the building and its shadow.

"AAAHH! Come back! Come back!"

"No! No dog! Shoo! Shoo!"

The dog stopped and looked back around, now it was becoming quite confusing for her. She wandered back to the other end of the building, but her confusion hindered her. What did they want her to do? He ear twitched a bit, and turning her, caught sight of something. Four paws, short grey soft fur, whiskers, yellowish green eyes, and a little pink nose. It sat in the middle of the sunset-stained road, licking itself and completely unaware of the white beast not far off. Esca's back began to bristle, a low rumbling erupted from her his chest.

"Oh no! No!" Rhys said, seeing about what was to take place, "Stay! Staaaay!"

But the dog took off. Cries erupted from the group as every person lunged but the dog was already at the end of the shadow. SCREEEEEEEE!!! A cry broke out from the sky, and soon as the oblivious dog reached the end of the line, the bird shaped shadow took over her. It was a great metal hawk. With some rubbing their eyes and a "WOW! @#$%ING AWESOME" from Zita, the group turned their attention to the only person who could be responsible. Seto stood sharp and battle posed. "Okay, problem solved, now what is up with this damn flower?" he asked, with a rather tense tone.

"No time, get that flower!" Rhys said, running off to hopefully catch up with the dog, and the rest of the group followed.

"HEY!"

Esca took her sweet time chasing the poor feline up and down the roads. However, it wasn't long before her wild pursuit ended up in front of the hooves of a frightened cart-pulling donkey. A loud bray erupted from its throat as it reared up just enough to startle the poor akita herself. "Hey! Stupid dog! Get out of the way!" came the yells from the cart rider. As soon as Esca scurried out of the way, the cart carried on, and so did here pursuers. However, with the hawk following what they thought would only be the flower, most missed subtle little problem. Tierri stopped just in time to see that a certain cart now had a very unique floral decoration. He looked between it and the others as both sides split into very different directions."Hey! You guys! You're going the wrong way!" he yelled before shooting off after the cart. Rhys, Cecine, Zita, Kannar, and even Seto all stopped in their tracks, just in time to notice Esca no longer had the fire flower in mouth. It was now rolling down the road, entwined in a cart wheel and barely covered by the vehicle itself.

"@##$%%%! @#$%ING FLOWER!" Zita yelled, before leading the group after him in the new direction. The cart and its owner went down the street, oblivious of the pursuers, until the group eventually did catch up.

"Hey! Wait! Stop the cart!" Rhys yelled, and the man pulled the strains to look over his shoulder.

"Huh? W-what is it?" he asked, blinking at the very surprising group that had been tailing him for the last couple blocks. Tierri was the first one over, but by the time he got to the wheel, bent over and it, he was left with dismay.
"Aww... where did it go?" As everybody caught up, gasps of breath were abound. Cecine leaned on the cart, as Rhys wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"What...? You're telling me it @#$%ing fell off!?" Zita snapped, feeling the pangs of her throbbing legs. Though, as tired as she and the rest of the group were for chasing that dang flower, none were more so than Kannar, who was beginning to find this chase very trivial. He carried up the rear of the group, going only at his own sweet pace.

"Stop chasing flower. No matter. We go to Deep Basin and I know place with many fire flowers," he said, desperately motioning to a nearby inn. For a moment, the group thought.

"Okaaaay. So that flower that you all made me lose was a... fire flower?" Seto asked, still quite a bit miffed that nobody still hadn't told him what was going. Looking between the two, Rhys was the one to give a sigh.

"Yeah, Deep Basin," he said, and turned to Seto, "You see..."

"OH! Look! Look! I found it! Come here, guys!" And like that, all the hope Kannar had for a decent easy way out of the race came to an end with the loud thump of Tierri trying to tackle to flower. The wind carried it once again out of reach, and once again, it was a sprint to catch the plant. The Rindrir native let out a sigh in defeat, and continued to follow at his own pace.

With the sun setting ever faster, more shadows had appeared to keep the flower safe as the wind carried it through the shade of the old buildings. Eventually, it lost air again and fluttered to a stop in front of the town inn, just in time for certain young woman to come out. She inhaled the cold evening air, and shut her eyes. Though she would much rather be at home or at least in a library of some sort, it had been her duty to spread the word of the elusive fire flower that could save them all. For a minute, Simala wondered if anybody had found them by now. Would they know what to do with it? How to keep it hidden from the sun? She took a step forward with these thoughts in mind, and to her surprise, something crunched under her foot. "Ah!" She jumped back and looked down, finding her eyes squinting in vain as she tried to see what it was at her foot. It was long and green. She bent down to pick it up. "Huh? Wait a second," she said, once the flower was up to her face. She rubbed her eyes. It couldn't be, not so far from Deep Basin, not with the sun out, and certainly not with such rarity.Then she heard something. There was a big fuzzy, multicolored blur in the distance. It was loud and growing bigger with every second. A closer look and it seemed to be a group of people, a group of very angry people, and it was headed straight to her.

"HEY! GIVE US THAT FLOWER!"

"KYAAAH!" Simala screamed, jumping back in shock. The flower in her hand went flying, and before it hit the ground, there came just the right hungry black bird to swoop in and carry it away. At least, before the poor bookworm was trampled by the insane crowd. "GET THAT BIRD!" Simala stood up, shivering at the her near death experience. Up came a man with dark skin and various scars, still at his own walking pace.

"You okay?" He asked. The traumatized girl nodded, recognizing the face.

"W-what was that?" she asked.

"Fire flower," he said, and gasp escaped her.

"That... You mean to tell me..." the girl said, absolutely stunned, looking back and forth. The man nodded, and the girl shot off.

"HEY! WAIT FOR ME!"

Kannar sighed.

Meanwhile, the group was closer than ever. Despite the bird now carrying their prize, nobody was letting that flower escape them. Seto's hawk was back and fought to keep the bird under shade as it flew through the giant trees, while the other's plotted ways to shoot it down. With Zita in the gang however, obviously nobody had to wait long. "HEY! EAT THIS YOU @#$%ING PIGEON!" She yelled, sending a sizable fireball right it's way.

"NONO, MISS CHALCER! YOU'RE GOING TO BURN THE FLOWER!" Tierri yelled, but it was a second too late. In shock of the eminent barbecuing it was about to receive, the black bird let out a shrill cry, dropping the flower right before the fire ball engulfed it like a monster. The flower, now free again, fluttered to its left, then fluttered to it's right, then fluttered some more until it landed spot on into a large creek.The five pursuers stopped at the edge, and watched in bafflement as it simply floated by, mocking them. However, Zita Chalcer was NOT to be defeated."DFHGFDJDGFKLDSJ!" She jumped in after with a splash. What was left of her brave attempt came in the form of a few bubbles which eventually subsiding into silence. A pained sigh erupted from Rhys. For him, it was just another day.

With no time to delay, Cecine took off down the creek and the others followed. "Come on," she muttered in frustration, the flower floating farther and farther from their grasp. She ran as fast as she could but while knight training sustained her, she had run out of energy long before. To make matters worse, the knight could hear the roaring of waterfall not far off. A gasp escaped her, seeing the end in sight. They had no time to waste at all. "Sir Samu! Get your hawk ready to grab that flower before we lose it!" she shouted over her shoulder.

Well, this had been a very crazy day for Seto. Tackled, prevented from calling his own dog, chasing around his own damn flower because he was tackled, and he still didn't know why he was chasing it around. Still, the Ulrien hero didn't need to be told twice. It was his time to shine, and did he enjoy it. At least, when the ground was solid under him that is. It was too quick to think, to quick to save himself. Before he could send his golem down, the ground beneath him crumbled, and slipping on the loose soil, the redhead met water. "Augh!" Cecine slowed and grit her teeth. He was losing them time, but when she expected a recovery, things just became worse and worse. A frenzied splashing erupted as Seto struggled to keep his head above water."@#$%! I CAN'T SWIM!"

"WHAT!?" she yelled, sliding to a stop. Rhys and Tierri slowed down a bit in concern as well, but the knight wouldn't have any of that. After having a dozen heart attacks over losing the flower, she was not going to let it go. "Keep going!" she yelled, jumping into the water, "I'll take care him!" Without argument, the two, quickly nodded and sped off.

With half the group out of the picture, it was up to them to catch the fireflower. However, even as Tierri and Rhys tried their best to keep up with the floating flower, they were falling farther and farther behind, and the waterfall was growing closer and closer. "Come on! We can do this!â€ Tierri yelled back, trying to boost his speed, but he was gasping. They both were.

The rare flower was only thirty feet from the falls now.

"@#$%!"

The flower was only twenty feet from the falls.

"Come on!"

Only ten. "

COME ON!!!"

SPLASH! It came when nobody was expecting it. Like an angel, she emerged, a beautiful mermaid enveloped by the spray of her splash like a shawl. The strands of her dark, thick, voluptuous hair shined gold in the sunset behind her. One visible eye shone like a diamond, piercing into the souls of the men that lay on the bank. In her hand was the beaten and battered flower they nearly lost. Throwing her hair away from her face, her thick, moist lips opened gingerly. She stood up out the water and with a voice untainted with evil said, "YEAH! EAT THAT! I @#$%ING WIN!"

Rhys slowed down to a stop and brought a hand through his bangs, sighing with relief as a smile came over his face. Just another day. Further back, after Cecine had grabbed ahold of the previously drowning hero, both could relax a bit at the sight. Finally, no more chasing or worry. However, the two couldn't help but notice something was odd about Zita. Was sheâ€¦ standing? The knight looked at Seto, and Seto looked down at the stream. A second later his torso came out of the shallow water. "Oh."

"Hey! Are you people okay?" a voice called out, from the brush. Out came Kannar and Simala, at last, having just caught up. They stopped for a moment, trying to register the unusual scene before them. "Uh... Did you get the flower?"

-----------------------------

"Okay, so to recap. The flower I picked up on sudden urge back in the Deep Basin was actually a fireflower. Every summer solstice they bloom and fly to beasts that can save us from the invading evil, which is why they're being sought for. When they hit sunlight they die, so in order to find the beasts over a few day journey, they have to be shaded from it. Did I miss anything?"

"Nope, that's it," Simala chirped to Seto, "You know, you guys are real lucky to find it so soon and to preserve it for so long."

"Well, you know..." Tierri started to say, but soon was interrupted.

"Wait. You guys? Ahah. No. I solely found the flower so I'll be keeping it," the redhead said, quickly reaching out to nab it from the Tenfanian hero, but the thief pulled it away without missing a beat.

"Yeah, right! Sorry dumb@#$, but if it wasn't for me, it'd be downstream right now. Finders keepers!" Zita said, holding the flower tightly away.

"If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have lost it in the first place," Seto said, moving in dangerously.The mage blinked in confusion at this show.

"What? Why can't both of you have it? You have the same goal, don't you?" she asked, and there fell a silence between the two heroes.

"She has a point," Rhys said, with a nod, "If there's only one, I don't see why we can't travel together, at least until we find the beasts""

Wait, excuse me?" Seto asked, not real thrilled with the idea of traveling with anybody but himself.

"Yeah! No @#$%ing way," Zita even added in herself.

"Deep Basin! I know where more flowers are!" Kannar said, trying once again to talk some sense into them, "Travel together, get more flowers."

"Kannar's right, and I admit it's great we found the first flower, we should probably collect more of them, just to be on the safe side," Cecine said with a sigh. Seto was quiet for a bit, but eventually, from all the hopeful stares he got, he caved in.

"Eh. Fine. Whatever," he said, looking away. However, as the talking went on, Zita noticed something unusual on the fire flower.

"Is that a bug or...¦" she muttered to herself, trying to feel the small little black spot. As much as she squinted and twisted her head though, it was just too dark to see in Seto's shadow. She needed some light. "Hey, Red, could you move a little to the side. I'm trying to examine the condition of this thing."

After a long evening's run, Seto had little energy left to think. "Whatever," he said, stepping aside.

"NO!" everybody screamed.

It was too late though. At last, the red sunset touched down on the little flower, warming every fiber in its leaves. It looked quite beautiful in the gold sunlight, shining so beautifully. It actually glittered, like tiny little embers were all over it.It promptly burst into flame. Everybody stood there, gaping in horror at the flaming flower in Zita's hand.

"Oh, it was just a burnt spot. Nevermind."