Starburst Crystal
	Created by Ardweden
Legend Nineteen: Cinnamon Hearts
	Written by Capfox 

	Kyouji sat sullenly on a bench near the outskirts of town, 
mulling over the day so far. The silence from the townspeople had 
grated on the group, but at least the villagers weren't outright 
hostile. Still, they'd all felt run down, and so they'd stopped to sit 
for a while. It was supposed to be relaxing, Kyouji mused.

	It wasn't.

	Tsugiko glared at the girl sharing Kyouji's bench. "Don't you 
have somewhere better to be, red girl? We're trying to work out our 
plans here."

	Twizzler smirked back at Tsugiko from her spot, nestled next to 
Kyouji's shoulder. "All your plans amount to being ignored, right? 
That's not so hard to figure out. Besides, I'm right where I belong," 
she sniped back. She tried yet again to meld into Kyouji's side, 
purring happily.

	"Maybe I should put you right where you belong," Tsugiko growled. 
Her eyes flashed with anger.

	"Tsugiko-chan, please, calm down," Yumi pleaded, and placed a 
hand on Tsugiko's knee. This was already the third time since they'd 
sat down that she'd had to restrain Tsugiko.

Kyouji kept trying to think of ways that he could improve the 
situation between the girls, but nothing was coming to mind. Twizzler 
was very warm and soft, pressed right up next to him, and try as he 
might to place that fact out of his considerations, he just couldn't. 
It had been a while since anyone had paid that kind of attention to 
him, and he couldn't say that he wasn't enjoying it at all.

Twizzler looked up into Kyouji's face, and put on an alluring 
expression. "Kyouji, I know a great restaurant in the next town 
over. They've got terrific food, low lights, and private seating. It'd 
be so romantic!" She licked her lips. "Wanna go with me?" she asked, 
her eyes begging him for an affirmative.

"Kyouji can't go with you," Tsugiko snarled. "We need to figure 
out what we're doing to get this crack fixed, not set up your private 
life. We need him here to plan. Not in some restaurant with you."

"It's not my fault you don't have your priorities straight," 
Twizzler returned. "Love's the most important thing." She giggled at 
Tsugiko. "But then, you wouldn't know that, would you? And my Kyouji's 
not about to give you your first experience."

"WHAT did you say?" Tsugiko snarled. "He's NOT your Kyouji, and 
I, I..." She trailed off as she surged a bit off the bench, trying to 
head over to the pair.

Yumi grabbed the back of her shirt, and held on. "Tsugiko-chan, 
please. Don't fight here. Just keep yourself under control. Please?" 
Yumi strained to hold Tsugiko back, and barely succeeded. Tsugiko 
stopped, and just stared at Twizzler with enough heat to melt an 
iceberg. Her aura was starting to rise from the jabbing, a very faint 
green showing around her.

Kyouji was starting to get a headache from the bickering. It was 
bad enough when he was managing to infuriate Tsugiko on his own. Now, 
with Twizzler here, he didn't even have to try. She seemed to get as 
much pleasure from taunting the violence-prone Priestess as she did 
from having him next to her. There was more tension in watching them 
argue, too, than when he was involved directly in the fight himself. He 
let his head slump forward; wasn't there anything he could do to make 
things less strained?

His face came to rest on top of something soft and fragrant. He 
noted the consistency of where his head had landed. It felt like a fine 
collection of thin strands. He didn't realize where it was, however, 
until he heard a girlish squeal come from directly beneath him.

Kyouji jerked his head up out of Twizzler's hair, to her sigh of 
dismay. Tsugiko was staring at him, now, with that look of hurt 
blossoming to anger that he'd come to know all too well. Tsugiko broke 
out of Yumi's grasp, and rushed straight over to Kyouji. He only had 
time to close his eyes and wince in advance.

WHAM!

Kyouji grunted as he took Tsugiko's delivery on the cheekbone. 
Everything seemed intact on him, but his head was spinning. He leaned 
back away from Twizzler, letting his head rest on his shoulder.

The redheaded girl scowled up at Tsugiko. "How dare you ruin our 
romantic moment like that! Just leave us alone, and fix your problems 
yourself!" she snapped. A small globe of cold power could be seen 
forming between her hands.

Tsugiko got ready to move her hammer off of her back. "Kyouji's 
NOT yours!" she hissed. "You don't even belong with us! We've got 
enough problems without you!"

"Hello there!" said the small man that walked past their benches, 
carrying two bags full of manufactured goods.

The whole group froze for a second. After hours of being ignored 
by everyone and everything in this village, being greeted so cordially 
was so much of a shock to the mind that even the fight faded away. The 
magic dissipated from Twizzler's fingers, and Tsugiko's aura died down, 
her fists uncurling from the hammer's shaft on her back.

Yumi was the first to recover. She burst up from her bench, and 
chased after the man. "Wait!" she called.

The man turned, with a baffled look on his face. He was about 3 
feet tall, with course brown hair and a small mustache. His green eyes 
shone cordially out of his face. He was wearing what looked to be 
livery of a strange sort. The suit was purple, with gold piping and a 
deep red belt. He looked up into Yumi's face pleasantly. "Yes? What is 
it?"

Yumi's face flushed red a bit. "Well. Um...you said hello to us 
back there," she finished lamely.

The small man looked puzzled. "That's a natural thing to say, 
isn't it? You know, you walk past someone for the first time in the 
day, you greet them. It's quite normal, I assure you," he replied.

Yumi blushed deeper, as the rest of the group came up behind her. 
Kyouji still had Twizzler attached to his side, and Tsugiko steered 
quite clear of both of them. They moved to form a semi-circle around 
the purple-clad man. "Well, yes, but-" Yumi stammered.

Kyouji took over for her. "You see, no one's paid any attention 
to us at all since we got into this town. No words, no looks, no 
acknowledgement of existence. And we've been here for hours. Your 
greeting was a surprise, after all the time that we've been ignored," 
Kyouji explained.

The small man blinked. "I know the townsfolk can be rude, but 
that kind of treatment for visitors is beyond the pale! We of Wonka's 
employ would never be so unmannerly," he stated.

Tsugiko started a bit as the name registered. "Did you say 
Wonka?" she asked pointedly.

"Yes, I did." The man placed his bags on the ground. "Allow me to 
introduce myself. My name is Mr. Goodbar, or Goody, for short. I am the 
head of the Oompa Loompas, who are in the employ of Wonka." He bowed 
sweepingly over his bags.

Yumi smiled, and bowed back. "It's nice to meet you, Goody. I'm 
Yumi, and these are Tsugiko-chan, Kyouji, and Miss Twizzler." She 
pointed out each of her companions in turn.

After Goody had acknowledged each of them with a polite nod, 
Tsugiko stepped forward. "Goody, we've been looking for Wonka for a 
while. Is he in this town somewhere?" she asked pointedly.

Goody fidgeted a bit. "Actually, the master's house is rather a 
ways out into the woods. He finds it easier to work out there, since he 
doesn't have to worry quite as much about offending the townsfolk."

Tsugiko cocked her head to the side. "Why would he have to worry 
about the townsfolk?"

Goody blushed, and stammered a bit. "Well, Miss Tsugiko, it's 
like this, you see. A few of the master's experiments didn't quite work 
out, if you will. And the people of the town have held this against 
him. Somewhat unfairly, I might add."

One of the people that had hitherto been ignoring the group 
walked by them again, and spotted Goody among them. He sneered down at 
the undersized man. "Munchkin! Get back to your `master' out in the 
woods!" he said snidely.

Goody blushed bright red. "As you can see, their dislike of the 
master spreads to his humble servants, as well."

Kyouji sighed. "OK, Goody, so what did Wonka do to these people? 
That was some grudge that guy's holding against you."

Goody looked down at his feet. "Well, how shall I put this. That 
man was one of the hardest hit, I suppose. A few years back, Wonka was 
contracted to set up the fireworks for the town festival. He rigged 
them up beautifully, I must say. There was nary a person who wasn't 
ooh-ing and aah-ing over his creations." Goody shuffled his feet back 
and forth for a few second before continuing to say, "Unfortunately, 
the last few were arranged badly, and when they went off, they flew at 
the buildings and blew off bits of the storefronts."

Kyouji nodded slowly. "That would be a reason, yeah."

Goody looked up imploringly. "But no one was hurt, no one at all! 
And the master sent all of the Oompa Loompas into town to fix them up, 
better than new! We repainted them, lovingly, and restored them 
beautifully, if I do say so myself."

	Yumi nodded. "All right, that makes sense. I can see why he'd be 
mad about that. But that was a few years ago. That's a long time to 
hold a grudge."

Goody turned his face away from the group again. "Then there was 
the time when the master was experimenting with dyes to make our 
uniforms a brighter purple. It was supposed to remain clear until 
contact with fabric. Then, a tiny little bit of it got into the water 
source. Unfortunately, by the time we realized that it also turned 
bright purple on contact with warm flesh, most of the town had already 
drank from the well. They were a fantastic shade of dark wine purple 
for weeks." He coughed loudly. "I thought it was relatively becoming, 
myself. And the master did apologize very nicely."

	Kyouji grimaced a bit. "All right, now I think I'm beginning to 
understand why they don't like this guy."

	Goody looked up imploringly. "Please, don't mistake me. I don't 
think that the master is truly terrible, and I don't think they should 
either. The worst that he has done is annoy them, and he has been ever 
so regretful afterwards. Truly. Don't judge him harshly, as they do."

	Twizzler stepped out from next to Kyouji, and faced Goody from 
closer up. "You're wrong," she declared. "That Wonka's done far worse 
things than those."

	Goody turned to her, befuddled. "What do you mean, Miss Twizzler? 
The master hasn't done anything else bad. Well, besides the rain of 
jelly beans. I don't know how he managed that, but we cleaned it up 
right away afterwards, and he did apologize, so-"

	Twizzler interrupted him, flatly. "You know what I'm talking 
about, Goody." She turned to the three Crystal Warriors, her back to 
Goody. "I've heard far worse things about this guy. And from what he's 
said, I can see it. He doesn't care about these people at all."

	Goody spluttered at her outburst. "Now, see here, Miss Twizzler, 
but the master does indeed care, and-"

	"Oh? He cares?" She turned to Kyouji, and gave him an intense 
look in the eye. "I heard that he invented a chemical that summoned 
gobstoppers down out of the mountains, so he could perform some sort of 
experiment on them. But on their way through, they trampled the fields 
of the town. I heard half the people here starved that year," she 
recited. Her voice had taken on a sing-song, accusing tone as she told 
the story.

	"Miss Twizzler, I must insist that you stop spreading these-"

	Twizzler spun on her heel to face Yumi, and broke into Goody's 
sentence again, with the same mocking tone. "And I heard that he keeps 
jars of dried Skittles and dried Sprees. Just to play with, to make his 
machines that much more interesting."

	An image of Snickers flashed before Yumi's eyes, and she put a 
hand over her heart. "No..." she whispered, as her knees fell a bit 
slack.

	"Miss Twizzler! There is no truth at all to this slander! The 
master would never even think of using the flesh from other sentient 
creatures in his work! Why, I've half a mind-"

	"Oh, so it's all a lie, is it? I'm not a liar," she snapped. 
"Here, I'll prove it." She grabbed the arm of a passing villager. He 
was darker-skinned than most of the others in the village, but he wore 
all the markings of the town.

	She smiled impishly up at him. "Hi! I was wondering if you could 
tell me a little about Wonka."

	The man visibly cringed back at the mention of the name, and his 
face winced. "Please, don't bring him up. Every time he comes up, I 
think of my poor daughter. She died the year the gobstoppers came, and 
I just..." He trailed off, tears forming. His voice wracked with 
sadness, he continued, "I just don't want to think about him anymore. 
That she's gone, and he can still play with his experiments, it's got 
to be the most laughable tragedy on Mars."

	Twizzler let go of his arm, and the villager stumbled on. She 
turned triumphantly to the group. "See? This Wonka guy isn't someone we 
can trust. Who knows what he'd try to do to people like you?" She 
gestured at the gems on their heads.

	Goody angrily gathered up his bags. "I'll not stand here and 
listen to you spread your filth about the master any longer. We Oompa 
Loompas know what a great man he is, and we are honored to serve him." 
He looked at the Crystal Warriors, standing hesitantly together. 
"Please, feel free to come to visit our house. It's out in the woods, 
but it's not that hard to find." He smiled warmly at them.

	Kyouji looked slightly pained. "Thanks, Goody, and I'm sure he's 
a fine man for you, but, well... I just don't know."

	Goody's manner became more clipped, suddenly. "I see. Well then, 
if you will excuse me. The master does need his supplies."

	Yumi raised an arm slightly as he stalked off. "Goody," she said, 
drained. Her arm fell back down as the quiet street engulfed the four 
once more.

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	Riesen leaned up against a tree deep in the forest, and waited. 
He thought over the events of the day, yet another time. While he hated 
being under someone else's command, besides his Queen's, orders were 
orders. If Wintergreen wanted him to cooperate, then he would. So he 
had done what Twizzler had asked. He admitted to himself, bitterly, 
that she had come up with a good plan. She'd managed to scare off the 
Crystal Warriors, and not waste a single second fighting over it. That 
gained her his begrudging respect, but he'd never admit that to her. 
Especially now that she was so late.

	Crunching sounds were heard, and finally Twizzler twirled into 
view. "Hiya Riesie! Been waiting long?" She grinned brightly at him.

	"A little while, but I don't mind. After all, waiting in the 
middle of the woods at night for you has been my fondest dream," Riesen 
replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

	Twizzler missed it entirely. "Awww, Riesie! That's so sweet of 
you."

	Riesen shook his head disgustedly. "Why are you so late, 
Twizzler? I thought we agreed you'd be here a good hour ago."

	Twizzler pursed her lips. "Well, I had to make sure that after 
they set up the camp for the night, that that Green...Green...oooh, she 
makes me so mad! Can you actually believe she has designs on my 
Kyouji?" Her demeanor changed dramatically as she spoke his name, 
caressing it as she let it go. She sighed dreamily. "He's even better 
than Clorets said! And I just know he's going to love me. Did you see 
us back in town? He rested his head on mine! It was so romantic!" She 
started bouncing around the small clearing, going in circles around 
Riesen.

	"Yes, yes. It was gloriously fine, and Kyouji's the hottest thing 
on two legs," Riesen deadpanned. "Can we please get down to business? I 
don't want to waste any more time on this than I have to. I have other 
matters to take care of."

	Twizzler pouted at his back. "Oh, fine. Well, I think we're in 
good shape," she said. "Your costume fit you so well! And you acted so 
nicely. You're the perfect peasant, Riesen. Really, I wanted to burst 
out laughing when you cringed at the thought of that guy."

	Riesen swelled a bit from the praise. "Well, I do pride myself on 
my ability to fool people, even if it's not my..."

	Twizzler took that moment to pounce on his back. "Right! It was 
my plan, and it worked so well. Wintergreen's going to be so proud of 
me. Those stories I came up with were so scary that they're too afraid 
of Wonka now to deal with him. Now there's no way they'll get out that 
girl's crystal fixed." She jostled up and down on him. "You couldn't 
have done any better, right, Riesie?"

	Riesen growled, and tried to shake her off. She giggled and cried 
out with glee as she poked him around, kicking him in the thighs and 
elbowing his ribs. She thrust herself off his shoulders to the ground 
and slipped past him just before he smacked back first into a tree.

	Twizzler grinned widely into his face as he fell to his knees, 
winded by the tree. "Aren't you proud of me, too, Riesie? Aren't I the 
best?"

	Riesen struggled back to his feet. "Yes, you're wonderful, 
Twizzler. Second only to me. Is there anything else?" he said, 
exasperated. Running into the tree like that was embarrassing.

	She looked back up at him, and frowned cutely. "No, that's it. 
I'll see you tomorrow night, OK? We can figure out what we're doing 
next then. For now, I've got to get back." She winked at him. "I've got 
to give Kyouji a kiss good night."

	Riesen started fuming as soon as the sounds of Twizzler scurrying 
back into the woods faded away. Why did Wintergreen trust that girl 
with so much authority? It should have all been his; he'd waited, and 
he'd earned it. And then Twizzler stepped in, and laid his plans to 
waste. Again. Worse, now he was at her disposal. Life was so unfair.

	"I'll show that cutesy little brat what it means to be tricky," 
he muttered. "I've got tricks of my own. And then I'll be second in 
command, for good."

	He looked up at the moon, and smiled coldly. "Just you wait, 
girl, just you wait."

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

	Kyouji sat near the fire, poking at it. While they'd been setting 
up the camp, Twizzler and Tsugiko fell to fighting once more. It had 
with Twizzler calling for something called "Flambe" and beaching 
Tsugiko on the rock that she'd been sitting on while the shrubs around 
it burnt down from the blast of the spell. After that, Twizzler had 
turned off to walk through the woods, leaving the still enraged Tsugiko 
without a way to attack. After the fire had died down, Tsugiko had just 
stormed back into her tent without even looking at him. Yumi had tried 
to follow her in to talk, but Tsugiko turned her out again quickly. Oh 
well, Kyouji thought. At least I have company.

	All Yumi was doing, though, was staring into the heart of the 
embers. Kyouji's conversational tactics so far had failed. On the other 
hand, it gave him time to think about how the trip had been working 
out. If Wonka was as bad as Twizzler made him out to be, he couldn't 
let them go there. But if they didn't go there, then Tsugiko's crystal 
would keep cracking, and in the end, she'd lose it completely. But if 
they did go, and Wonka wasn't willing to help, or attacked them, it 
wouldn't make a difference anyway. He sighed softly. Maybe if they 
didn't go, they could get Kit Kat to find them a different way to fix 
it.

	Kyouji blinked. Where was the little critter, anyway? He tried to 
recall the last time that he'd seen their guide. Was it before Twizzler 
showed up? He concentrated harder, looking off towards the tents.

	Yumi cocked her head to one side, her focus still on the glowing 
distraction provided by the fire. "Kyouji?" she asked distractedly.

	Kyouji started at the sound of her voice. "Huh?" he replied, 
dazed.

	Yumi still didn't shift her gaze. "What are you going to do about 
Miss Twizzler?" she asked dryly. Her voice was soft, almost a husk of 
its normal bright tone.

	Kyouji gulped deeply, and sneaked a quick glance over at 
Tsugiko's tent. This wasn't a topic he wanted to discuss right now, if 
at all. "I don't know," he said softly. "She's not here just now, and I 
don't really want to think about it." He quickly changed the topic. 
"Hey, Yumi, have you seen Kit Kat recently?"

	Yumi pulled her eyes from the fire, a thoughtful look on her 
face. "No, actually. I'm not sure I've seen him in the past couple of 
days. I wonder what he's up to?"

	"It's kind of strange," Kyouji reflected. "I'm not sure he and 
Twizzler have been around together at all. If he was just scouting 
ahead, I could understand that, but to not have seen him at all is just 
weird."

	Yumi nodded, as an soft rustling started to become audible 
overhead. "He usually comes back to check on us, once in a while." She 
smiled, her voice strengthening. "He's sweet, that way."

	The rustling grew louder over Kyouji's head. "I don't think I'd 
describe the furball as sweet, Yumi. He's sly, and cunning," he 
groused. "He lives to bother me, I can tell." He looked up as the 
noises from above reached a crescendo. "What the?"

	Kit Kat bounced lightly out of the tree and onto Kyouji's 
shoulder. He let the multi-pointed fruit he was holding in his mouth 
drop to the ground, where it rested on four of its points.
	
	Kit Kat rubbed himself next to Kyouji's ear. "Gika!" he greeted.

	Kyouji yelped loudly. "Aaah! Yumi, get him off me! Please!"
	
	Yumi giggled, and took him down. He started to rub back and forth 
between their two sets of legs. "Well, speak of the devil. What have 
you got here?" Yumi bent down, and picked up the sticky fruit. She 
sniffed the air a couple of times. "Hey, this smells like an apple! 
Where'd you get this, Kit Kat?"

	Kit Kat looked pointedly at the tree he was in. "Gika."

	Yumi looked far up into the tree's branches, and saw many of the 
pointy apple-like fruits. "Well, I don't know how we'll get up there, 
but it's another food source." She smiled down at the carret. "Thanks, 
Kit Kat!"

	"Kaaa," Kit Kat replied. He suddenly stopped his quick circles, 
and looked deep into the woods. He stood stock still, and raised his 
hackles.

	Yumi looked down at the carret. "Kit Kat? What's wrong?" she 
asked, concerned.

	Kit Kat continued to just stare at one spot in the forest, where 
rapidly approaching crunches were coming from. Kyouji turned to face 
it, his hands moving towards his sword. There was certainly something 
headed their way.

	Just as he would have been ready to draw, the unknown beast flew 
out of the forest. A red meteor flew across to Kyouji, knocking him 
down hard and sliding him down to where Kit Kat was.

	As Kit Kat fled behind Yumi's legs, Twizzler pressed herself down 
on Kyouji. "Hi, Kyouji. Miss me?" she purred, her face mere inches over 
his. 

	Kit Kat hissed at the newcomer from behind Yumi. "Please, Miss 
Twizzler. You nearly crushed poor Kit Kat," Yumi scolded. She looked 
over towards Tsugiko's tent, which remained closed. Yumi decided that 
was probably just as well; if Tsugiko hadn't noticed, or didn't want to 
fight, that would spare her nerves nicely. "Not to mention Kyouji," she 
added softly.

	"Ready for our date? No more trying to find that Wonka, so we can 
just head to the inn now." She giggled into his ear.

	Kit Kat perked up out of his hissing at the mention of abandoning 
Wonka. "Gika!" he squealed, and ran to the edge of the clearing. With a 
further agitated "Gika gika!" at the edge, he disappeared into the 
woods.

	Yumi scurried to the edge of the campsite, and looked out after 
him. "Kit Kat? Where are you going? Come back!" She started into the 
forest, following the noises the carret made.

	Tsugiko finally poked her head out of the tent, to see Yumi 
disappear into the woods, and Kyouji and Twizzler on the ground. She 
snarled at the sight. "Kyouji, if you're not going to do the protecting 
here, I'll give it a try." She strode purposefully into the tracks left 
by Yumi.

	Kyouji struggled for a bit, then pushed Twizzler off of him, 
despite her disapproving sigh. "Damn it." He surveyed the camp, and 
decided he had to follow. Twizzler popped up next to them, and then 
they too started following the rogue carret.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

Kit Kat scampered to a halt in front of a very big house. He 
looked up at it.

	"Gika! Gika gika!" he said anxiously.

	Yumi was the first to stumble out of the woods, followed closely 
by Tsugiko, and then finally Kyouji, with Twizzler running alongside. 
As each emerged from the forest, they stopped and gawked up at the 
edifice before them.

	The building before them looked almost like a giant log cabin. It 
was set solidly into the ground, and was made up of lots of trees 
stacked and slotted on top of each other. They looked up at the top, 
what looked to be about three stories above. The top logs were 
festooned with banners that looked to be made of golden fabric. The 
same golden color was painted on the panes of the windows that were 
placed seemingly helter-skelter around the face of the building. The 
rest of the building was still the natural deep red of the tree trunks 
that composed it, except for the giant, two-story door in the middle, 
which was painted purple.

	"Wow," Yumi breathed. "It's tremendous." She knelt down to pick 
up Kit Kat. "What is this place?"

	As if in answer, one side of the large door started to 
ponderously swing open. The group tensed as one, waiting to see what 
would come out. Tsugiko removed her hammer from its sling on her back. 
Kyouji, a few steps to her right, readied his sword for drawing, 
putting his right hand onto the sword hilt, while holding the sheath 
with his left. Unfortunately, this was a bit complicated for him, as 
Twizzler hid behind him with her arms wrapped around him tightly enough 
to restrict breathing, let alone arm movement. Yumi, at the front, 
cradled Kit Kat to her chest with one hand while steadying her wand 
with the other.

	The door finished opening with a resounding smack, causing them 
to jump. They waited breathlessly, as one, as the being beyond moved 
forward out of the shadow and into the light.

	Goody moved out into the sunlight, carrying a tray full of 
beakers and flasks. "Honestly, why does the master make me do this? He 
has all those other servants to clean the glassware, and I'm the head. 
I should be doing better and more important tasks," he complained 
softly.

	"Goody!" Yumi cried, as she rushed forward to meet the diminutive 
man.

	Goody jumped in the air, causing the tray to rattle, and one of 
the small flasks to break. "Oh dear, how clumsy of me," he said, 
flustered. He looked up at Yumi, and grinned. "Miss Yumi! Whatever 
brings you out here? I wasn't expecting you to come see the master."

	Yumi's smile faltered. "Well, to tell you the truth, Goody, I 
didn't really come for that. Kit Kat led us here." The carret looked 
contently up at Goody as she looked at the building with awe again. 
"This is certainly quite a building you have here, Goody. I've never 
seen anything quite like it."

	Goody beamed up at her. "Well, the master has a certain sense of 
style, and he needs a lot of space for his work, Miss Yumi. I'm afraid 
the master doesn't do anything on a small scale." He hesitated for a 
second, and then looked pleadingly up at Yumi. "The master doesn't get 
many visitors from the town, and I think the company would do him some 
good. Won't you all come in? I can make you some refreshments, too."

	Yumi bit her lip, thinking of how best to refuse. "Thank you, 
Goody, but I'm afraid we just can't. We've really got to keep on 
traveling, and we've got to get Tsugiko-chan's crystal fixed somehow. 
But I'm sure it would have been lovely."

	Goody peered beyond Yumi at Tsugiko's forehead. Tsugiko, mindful 
of the earlier warnings about Wonka, quickly looked down at her feet, 
hiding her crystal from view. Goody frowned slightly at her reaction to 
his gaze, and pondered. "Well, I'm not completely sure, but the master 
could certainly take a crack at fixing that," he mused. "Oh, no pun 
intended, of course, Miss Yumi. Still, please. Come in and talk with 
him. Even if he can't help you, it would do you good to be somewhere 
more pleasant than that town was."

	"It's a very nice idea, Goody, but I don't know. It seems, well." 
Yumi trailed off. She looked lost in thought for a second, then slowly 
started up again. "Goody, I was wondering. Well, it's kind of hard to 
ask, but I've been thinking about it, and, well." She bent down a bit 
towards his face. "Goody, you're so nice, and your master sounds so 
mean. Why are you here?" she asked haltingly.

	Goody's face reddened. "I'll not have you talking about the 
master that way, Miss Yumi! Wonka is the most wonderful man I know! 
Why, if it wasn't for him, all of us Oompa Loompas would still be under 
Clorets' control!"

	"Clorets?" Yumi asked confusedly. Twizzler pressed herself 
further into Kyouji's back at the mention of Wintergreen's pawn 
princess. A soft sound that was a cross between a gasp of surprise and 
a grunt escaped her lungs, but Kyouji didn't notice.

	"Yes, Clorets. Back in the beginning of the civil war with her 
father, we were her foot soldiers. She sent us into battle, but we were 
badly equipped and ill trained, and the King's forces were far larger 
and stronger than we. We were no better than sacrifices for her, little 
annoyances that the enemy would have no trouble killing if they set 
their minds to it, but that they couldn't ignore. After they tired 
sufficiently, her elite troops would come in and rout the king's 
forces. We were merely little wind-up toys, cannon fodder," Goody 
explained bitterly, shaking his head.

	Yumi's face paled, as did Tsugiko's behind her. "That's awful," 
Yumi whispered. "What did Wonka do for you?"

	Goody smiled genuinely. "The master heard the rumors that came 
over the mountains and through the forests. He was still on fair terms 
with the townspeople, then. He built up a force of clockwork machines, 
just to get into Clorets' camp. It was glorious. The machines weren't 
smart, no, but they were strong enough to mount a short attack. Without 
us to fight, the guards that she put on our camps were overwhelmed, and 
we escaped quickly over the mountains. By the time we got here, we were 
far enough away that Wintergreen decided we weren't worth the effort to 
chase."

	Goody spread out his hands in a gesture of gratitude. "Without 
the master, I don't know if we'd ever have survived. It's far more 
likely that we would have all died in the war that's raged for years. 
We all owe our lives to him. He's a great man." He glowered up at Yumi. 
"So don't say bad things about him. All the really nasty things that 
that lady in red over there said about her were false."

Twizzler's face reddened, and she poked her head out from around 
Kyouji's shoulder. "The townsman supported me. I'm not making these 
things up! You just want to lure us in, for Mars knows what purpose," 
she retorted.

 Goody stared coldly at Twizzler. "I don't care what that peasant 
man said, he'd never really hurt the town. He's annoyed them, but he's 
always apologized. The master's a gentleman," he replied heatedly.

	"But-" Twizzler sputtered, then fell silent, at a loss for words.

Yumi blushed, surprised by the depth of the feeling that the man 
held. "I believe you, Goody. Such heartfelt words, you must believe 
them," she said gently. She smiled more fully now, her eyes tearing a 
bit.

	Goody settled down again, Twizzler's outburst forgotten. "Well 
then, will you all join the master? It'll be wonderful, I assure you," 
he enthused.

	"Yes, I think I will. Thank you," Yumi agreed.

	Goody smiled, bowed slightly over his tray, and turned to lead 
the four in. Yumi followed on his heels.

	Twizzler came out from behind Kyouji, and stared at the ruins of 
her plans. "Wait! You can't go in there! The man is evil! He's got 
dried Sprees and Skittles! He left the town to starve! Don't you 
remember?" she pleaded loudly.

	Yumi looked back over her shoulder at Twizzler. "Maybe. Maybe 
not. Goody convinced me, anyway. We'll see, won't we, Miss Twizzler?" 
she clipped off.

	Kyouji strode up past Twizzler towards the door as Yumi got 
inside. Twizzler grabbed at his sleeve just as he was about to move out 
of her reach. She pulled herself up to him, and looked up into his 
face. Putting on her cutest pout, she started in. "Ne, Kyouji, you 
believe me, right? We can't go in there. That Wonka's a monster. You 
can't go in there, he'll experiment on you."

	"Maybe, Twizzler, but Yumi's already in there. If she's in 
danger, at all, I have to protect her," Kyouji said, determinedly. 
"It's what I do. You can come, too, but I have to go." With that, he 
brushed off her touch, and strode through the door.

	Twizzler was left to sputter as Tsugiko moved to stand framed in 
the doorway. Tsugiko smiled back down at Twizzler acidly. "It's all 
right, Twizzler. Just stay out here, and leave Kyouji to us. We can 
protect him just fine. We did fine without you all along."

	Twizzler's face hardened. "I can't leave my Kyouji to you. Never. 
Move aside, Green. I'll brave this for my love." She sighed again, then 
chased Kyouji inside. "Kyouji! Wait up!"

	Tsugiko shook her head, and looked back out at the woods. 
"Twizzler," she growled under her breath, then turned swiftly for the 
door.

	As soon as she had entered, the door swung slowly shut, leaving 
the woods quiet once more.

Author's notes:

Wow. This was an quite a harrowing experience. This thing is mostly 
rewrite, in 12 hours. Sigh. And yes, it's an apple jack. We have crunch 
berries, why not more fruits. =P

Thanks to Ardweden and Nathan for keeping me sane, and for going over 
ideas. Oh, and Ard for giving me time, and Nathan for polishing parts 
of it. The good parts. Thanks aren't enough, really...

Comments? I really could use them.

-Moti
tsuwabuki@utena.org