[Freezair]

"Heh! You dance pretty good!" Avani said. "Me, I got two left feet."

"You've got--huff--two right feet too!" Krii shot back.

"And I'm left-clawed as it is!" She spun around, holding her tail close so as not to whip Sta. "What the devil am I talking about, anyway? Alright. I've got four right feet! There, now, that's more like me!"

Sky leapt above me, and flashed her wing at me. She was laughing. "Never change, Avi! Fluffy doesn't seem to be doing too bad, and I don't know what any of his tentacles correspond to!"

He was offering one of the big ones to Terra for a slow dance. Again, Fluffy always amazes me in that you wouldn't think a big metal thing with ten longish things stuck to the bottom would be so agile. I don't know if the song really fit his intentions, but I don't think anyone cared.

"I downloaded instructions for waltzing off the Internet!" he said. "I want to try this program out!"

[438, 111]

[GrayGriffin]

"Alright," agreed Terra, taking Fluffy's tentacles more carefully. "So how shall we dance?"

"Yeah, wouldn't that be hard with tentacles?" asked Truce, skipping closer to them, along with the Velix.

"Waltz?" asked the robot. "There is...no...music."

"It's okay!" added Terra.

"Yeah!" agreed Truce. "It's just fine."

"This is rather nice," added Gray, swooping overhead. Nin laughed, still soaring higher in the spray, while Coco and Tono continued to circle each other.

"A good dancer? I guess I am..." agreed Sta. "But you're not bad either!"

[168, 158, 29, 56, 29, 247, 4]

[Freezair]

Fluffy laughed and swept up his metal, tentacly love, and shuffled around with her in a slow, surprisingly adroit dance. He even put his tentacles together in a rough approximation of feet. I laughed and continued my boogie with Sky, shimmying left and and right.

"Hey, whaddiya know," Krii remarked while he did his best impression of the kids in A Chombone Brown Christmas. "Tentacles can cut a rug after all!"

"But there isn't any rug!" Fluffy laughed. "And if there were, Terra and I have no desire to damage it."

"You never know," Avani said. "Maybe she does! You can't speak for her, can ya?"

I rolled my eyes. Robots. Even magically intelligent ones. What were you gonna do?

[439, 112]

[GrayGriffin]

"Yah!" agreed Gray, grinning as she swooped over Terra and Fluffy.

"Fluffy," laughed Terra. "'Cut a rug' is some sort of slang for dancing, I believe."

"Affirmative," added a voice. It was the Velix, which was still playing music as it danced with Truce, the two now moving in some sort of strange synchronization.

"Heh heh," laughed Nin. "See Gray, you're having fun!"

"I guess I am..." agreed the griffin. She looked down. Sta was now prancing, still leaving spots of ice everywhere, but at least he looked cheerful now.

"Whee!" added Coco, swooping down suddenly. Tono followed after, the two moving in a train of sorts. Laughing out loud, Nin joined in.

[169, 159, 30, 57, 30, 248, 5]

[Freezair]

"You need to update your idomatic dictionary," I chuckled.

"Oh, all right," he sighed, while dancing. He didn't sound out of breath like anyone else, for obvious reasons. "I'll do it when we have a spare moment."

"See? Dancin's not so bad!" Krii looked up at Gray. "Even I can manage!"

I looked up to do another twirl with Sky, but she'd landed. She was looking off into the distance strangely.

Avani noticed, too. "Hold on, Sta," she said. She joined her "sister" from where she stood, peering oddly off into the water.

"Sky? What is it?"

Sky shook her head. "...Nothing. I thought I saw something, was all."

[GrayGriffin]

"Saw something?" asked Gray, landing. "You sure it was nothing?"

The spray continued to fall, but it seemed that an image was appearing within it. In a flash, the image became solid, a large Fellox leaping gracefully from the falls.

"Greetings," he said, bowing. Coco froze in midair, and Tono stopped to match her.

"What is it, m'dear?" he asked.

"It's...it's...it's him!"

"What?" demanded Tono. "Who, exactly?"

"I've never seen him before," added Nin. "Yet...he seems familiar somehow."

"There is...a strangeness...in the newly appeared entity," added the Velix, its voice sounding strained. "Not...there."

"Not there? Are you a ghost?" whimpered Truce, trying to hide behind the Velix.

"How dare you crash this wedding?" demanded Sta, advancing, hooves glowing.

"Stop!" cried Terra. "Don't be so hasty!"

The Fellox, however, seemed to ignore them all, instead turning to Avani.

"Greetings, Daughter," he added, bowing once more. "You have grown into a fine creature."

[170, 160, 31, 58, 31, 249, 6, 1]

[Erm...he calls her "daughter" because she is, in a way, the personification of Earth, and he's a spirit of nature itself...so yeah.]

[Freezair]

Well... shoot.

Here it was, a fine wedding and everything, and suddenly, out of nowhere... there it comes. A Fellox. The whole shebang: The long, pointed muzzle, the pointed ears, and the tiny, shiny claws at the end of the narrow paws. I'm not sure how to describe the noise I made. Something kind of like, "Yuuaaah!"

I think I skittered behind Sky. She tensed too; she knew me well. Krii swore bitterly underneath his breath. The others were, at least, wisely indignant. The little Velix said there was something off about it, and I agreed. It felt... otherworldly. Even worse than normal.

Oh, no! It turned to Avani! Was it going to give her bad luck? Avani only understood this side of me vaguely. I'd kept my distance from canines since moving away from my parent's farm, and we hadn't discussed my phobia much. A tiny portion of my brain understood the irrationality of it. My muscles didn't care.

And she was nonchalant! A little bemused, even, as we all were. "Uhh... Have we met before, Mister? I don't... think I know any Fellox. Aaand I'm not one, so I couldn't really be one's daughter..."

"Sir, I don't know what you're doing here," Fluffy said calmly. "But you're being very impolite. This is a wedding, and a private celebration. As well, you are terrifying my friend Jimmy, who is deathly afraid of dogs. Please be brief, or else Terra and I may have to forcibly escort you away."

His deadpan was so icy, I thought for a minute Little One had taken her ear back.

[441, 114]

[GrayGriffin]

"I apologize, Paragon of Earth," continued the Fellox. "Perhaps you are not familiar with my nature."

"Okay!" growled Gray. "You just come barging in this wedding, and think you can act like nothing happened?" She hadn't known about Jimmy's aversion to canines, but she'd had enough of wedding crashers for one day!

"You say this is a wedding," said the Fellox, turning to Gray. "Who is it for?"

"I-it's mine. Mine and Tono's," replied Coco, clinging somewhat nervously to her mate. "Well..."

"Do you know him?" asked Tono again.

"In a way..."

"I walk all worlds," added the Fellox. "She was haunted by creatures of the dreamland, and it was I who defended her from them. For many nights, she watched me fight them and fall, only to rise again the next night. She must have had been more affected than I imagined, for she wished at the well for me to come to her."

"Then...that was so long ago!" exclaimed Coco. "Why has it taken so long for you to come?"

"Yeah!" agreed Truce. "You don't make my sister wait like that!"

"I was...conflicted. I am a free spirit, with no desire to be bound to one. Yet...you were so earnest in your plea. So in the end, I came."

"You were in love with him, weren't you?" asked Nin, looking at Coco. The Polly nodded, then shook her head.

"I...if I was, it was but a crush. I...I would rather be your sister, and Tono's mate," said Coco, looking nervously at the Fellox. "What is your name?"

"Call me...Anonomastos."

"Analyzing name..." added the Velix. "Name is of Latin origin. Syntatic meaning-'nameless.'"

"Nameless?" asked Terra.

"Of course. For a long time, after all, I have been but a spirit of the earth, of the air, of the water."

[171, 161, 32, 59, 32, 25, 7, 2]

[Freezair]

"Friend or no, you were hardly invited," Fluffy said. "You are still a wedding crasher. And impoliteness will not stand. There will be time for you to discuss your issues later. You are making Coco uncomfortable as well as Jimmy and Gray. I am going to ask you to leave... now."

"Oh, a spirit," Avani sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you people--I'm a commedian, not a mystical hoopty-loopy..."

"Hey. At ease, Fluff," Krii said. "Let's let him speak his peace before we go medieval--"

Sky stuck out one of her wings protectively behind Gray, too. Her eyes gleamed. If no one else did, Sky certainly had the willingness to give this prismatic interloper what for.

[441, 115]

[GrayGriffin]

The Fellox turned his head. "I was speaking," he growled slowly.

"You...are more egoistical than you sounded in dreams..." Coco said slowly. Anonomastos turned to her.

"I am?"

"Yes, you are!" snapped Tono. "Don't think you're the center of the world!"

"Ah. But as a spirit of nature, that is my very being." Tono growled, nearly exploding.

"Stress levels rising," noted the Velix. "You would do well to calm down."

"Which one of them?" asked Sta.

"The Battlefield Garudor's levels are rising sharply, but the...*kzzz*...Fellox's are as well."

"Huh," said Nin. "I think the Velix's right." Truce, still hiding behind it, glanced at it in wonder. His little radio was so useful!

"Really?" asked Gray.

"I think so too," said Terra, looking at Krii. "Both of you should calm down."

"I merely came to watch my...sister's wedding. After all, I am everywhere, in a way, and have only appeared in physical form, because of your dreams and hopes." This last sentence was directed to Coco herself.

[172, 162, 33, 60, 33, 26, 8, 3]

[Freezair]

"The ceremony has ended," Fluffy said. "So you're quite late for that."

Avani rolled her eyes. "Oh boy. One of those. Look, I'll admit that I love being the center of attention, but at least have a sense of irony about it! Jeebs!"

Krii looked between me, with my furrowed gaze, and Sky, with her ruffled wings, and everyone else. He even looked at Fluffy, with all his tentacles tensed to strike. Disbelief dawned in his eyes.

"...Is it really gonna fall to me to be the voice of reason here? Call the newscasters; I think the world might be ending!" He mopped his brow dramatically. "Look, Mr. Animal Axis, I can appreciate you wantin' to look after your sister and stuff. But you showed up at a bad time, chose a not-very-good way to introduce yourself, and we've already had a tough day. It'd be better if you left for now and maybe talked it over with Coco and Tono later."

[442, 116]

[GrayGriffin]

"Yeah, what Krii said. Dramatic, but not-so-appropiate introduction," said Tono, glaring. The Fellox seemed taken aback.

"Drama...does not always equal good," agreed Gray, thinking back to another time.

"I appreciate this, really..." said Coco. "But you really are late as well."

"Well...none of you are awed? I am an avatar of the wildness of nature itself..."

"Perhaps, if you'd arrived at a more appropiate time, we'd be more suspectible to listening, and awing," added Nin. Her voice sounded a bit bitter, or maybe sarcastic, as she put out a wing to protect the trembling Truce, as well as his Velix.

"Don't hurt us..." pleaded the Shartile.

"I will not."

"Then prove it," snapped Terra. "Leave. Now."

[173, 163, 34, 61, 34, 27, 9, 4]

[Freezair]

Fluffy stood proudly by Terra. You could feel him beaming--literally. His CPUs got really got, and I felt the waves coming off him.

He wasn't the only one dripping heat. Krii was too, and I felt fireballs welling in his heart. "Yeah! What they said I said! ...I think. We don't wanna fight you either, pal. So you wanna go hash this out at a later date?"

"We don't mean to bully you," Sky said, looking somewhat reproachfully at the others. "But we aren't afraid to stand up for our friends. Some, perhaps, are a little too harsh... But as, yes, Krii said--you must understand..."

"Sweet mother of Mercy! You really are a piece of work," Avani groaned. "Lookie here, pal. In terms of naturalness and spiritness, I think I can same with some assurance: I outrank you. And you know what? I never asked nobody to awe at me because I thought I deserved it just by standin' there, goin', 'Oh, look at me, I'm the Paragon of Earth! Whoop dee loop de loo!' If I want 'em to look--well, I do--it's because I wanna entertain 'em by actin' funny. So maybe you'd better start doing vaudeville if you want the awe, man. Else you just look stuck up."

[443, 117]

[GrayGriffin]

"I will not back down," replied the Fellox. "It is my right to be here, with my sister..." His body began to glow, and small droplets of water formed a mist in front of his face. Terra, trying to remain calm, suddenly remembered something.

"Janie is brave, he will stay to fight..."

The front door flew open in a spray of wood chips and sawdust. A ferocious-looking Leebra anthro bounded through, shaking his mane free of the dust. His eyes fastened on the Fellox, and he lunged, sinking his fangs into the fox's throat before he could react.

Terra shuddered, falling to the ground in a kneeling position.

"Terra!" called Gray.

"What did you do?" demanded Tono. Truce was trembling now, holding on to both the Velix and Nin, the only two supports he had left.

"I did nothing!" cried the Fellox.

"No...not again..." whispered Terra, covering her face.

"Terra?" whispered Coco softly, trying to get closer.

"It is the memories," said the Fellox. The mist cleared, and he walked closer to the Khalmar-woman.

[174, 164, 35, 62, 35, 28, 10, 5]

[Freezair]

"Terra!" Fluffy rushed down beside her. I could see his eyes flickering. "Ugh... I... I feel it in my circuits... The memories... something that happened in the past... Something painful." You know, you tend to forget that Fluffy had powers like that, but he did. And it did come in handy. But what was going on now?

I turned toward the Fellox and snarled. You didn't need to tell me twice. "You did this!" I shouted, fist balled. "What did you do to her? Leave her alone! She doesn't deserve this! GET AWAY FROM HER!"

I rushed forward, but snagged. I felt an immense body behind me, and the cool of her beak pressed into my neck. She delicately held on to my shirt collar. "At ease, Jimmy," Sky said to me.

Krii stood by, watching fearfully. Avani, however, knelt in sympathy. She hadn't known Terra like we had, but I think she'd come to like the amiable female Khalmar. Not to mention, I could feel her dislike for Mr. Fancy Rainbows like flecks of oil from a frying pan.

[444, 118]