"Uh oh," Juppo sighed.

"YOUNG MASTER!!!" Gremio cried, dropping to his knees. He had an expression of utter horror on his face, while Krin just
giggled in his own little maniac way. The spot where Young Master McDohl stood sizzled a little.

And in an instant, he was gone.  The hero of the Toran Republic, the one who led everyone to victory over the emperor which oppressed them for decades, was now gone.  Gone forever!!!!  Never to return.  And the everyone in the world cried.

Well, oppressed everyone else, that is.  Oh, and I guess only the Toran republic cried and the rest of the world didn't really care, did they?  Oh yea, and he's probably not gone FOREVER, though maybe for a long time.  Actually, I really didn't know anything about Barbarosa, or even the Scarlet Moon Empire until I teleported there by accident.  But he was nice enough to let me stay at Toran Castle during the revolution when I got lost on this foreign continent.  Although I forgot why I needed to hide at Toran.

But now he's gone!  That was a really powerful teleportation spell I was casting.  He must be really far away by now.  I'd better get him before everyone gets mad at me.  It shouldn't be too hard to envision where I teleported him.  But why is Gremio staring at us like that?

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE YOUNG MASTER?!?"

"Eh?  I... um... HUH?" was all Viki could say.

Viki could almost swear that Gremio's eyes were glowing an evil red color....

"Hee hee, he's gone now."  Krin goofily remarked.

And Gremio's hair stood up like fire, too...

"Um..... this is just a joke!"  Juppo pleaded.  "We know where he is, we're just joking right now!"

"THEN BRING HIM BACK!" Gremio roared like an enraged demon from hell.

"Why yes, of course we will!"  Juppo replied.  "All we have to do is RUN AWAY!"

That said, Krin and Juppo shot off like rockets through the dusty Toran basement, leaving a stumped Viki behind.

"YOU DIE NOW!!!!  FOR THE YOUNG MASTER!!!"  Just as quickly, Gremio shot after them, swinging his axe like an axe maniac.

"Um... huh?"

Juppo and Krin stopped in front of Viki and pointed at her.  "It's her fault!  Her fault!"

"I'LL KILL YOU!!!"

"Uh...." Viki thought to herself.  "This is BAD!"

Viki was no where near as fast as the wilely hunchback Krin or the Kefka clone Juppo but she was able to keep away from Gremio with her teleportation.  Fortunately, just as she got tired and expended all of her magic power, some nice Toran guards entered the room and stopped Gremio.... for two seconds before they were plastered on the floor as Gremio ran them over.  It took twenty guards to take down Psycho-Gremio before he finally calmed down to the point where instead of trying to kill Krin, Juppo, and Viki, he just stood there held by the gaurds with a look on his face that said someday, he'll kill Krin, Juppo, and Viki.  The guards then carried him off to drown him in one of Sansuke's bath houses, hoping that would calm him down.

"Hee hee," Krin snickered.  "He'll never catch me."

"I'm not sure."  Juppo wiped some sweat off his brow.  "I think he'll go to the ends of the earth to hunt us down now until we find McDohl.  But how will we find him now?  The only one with any idea of where he is is..."

Juppo and Krin both looked at Viki.

"Huh?"

Just then, Sheena burst into the room holding onto several bottles of ale.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?  Come on!  We're celebrating the first year anniversary of the Toran Republic!  The party just started!  Let's get crazy!!!  Although I think Gremio overdid that part.  Wonder what happened to him."

"But McDohl..." Viki stuttered...

Sheena wasn't paying attention to Viki as he quickly looked out the window.  "But wait!  Juppo, is that Meg coming over here?  Wow, look at all that expensive anniversary jewelry she's wearing!"

"Wh... What?  Oh no, not now!  I don't have time to deal with her!"  Juppo cried.

"Hee.... Hee?  Expensive ceremonial jewelry, you say?"  Krin grinned.

Juppo quickly charged out of the room with Krin following him drooling as Sheena walked up to Viki and put his arm around her and smiled.

"So... Viki, how about you celebrate with me?"

Celebrate with him?  Why does Sheena want me to celebrate with him?  What exactly is so different about me celebrating with him than celebrating with anyone else?  Am I missing something here?  Does he want me to celebrate with everyone including him or just celebrate with him in private?  But that's boring, only being with one person during the entire anniversary celebration of the Toran Republic!  Let's see... if I were to just celebrate with Sheena, then we'd basically sit across a table drinking champagne... but maybe I'd rather just get lost in a crowd instead.  Of course, then again, maybe he'll be nice enough to pay the check for the food.  Whenever I have a meal with some other guy, they always pay the check for the food.  I never could figure out why, but it's always nice to not have to pay for food.

"Um, Viki?  Hello?"

"Who what when where why how huh HUH?"

"Well?"

"Um..... okay?"

"Great!"  Sheena took two chairs and a table that were lying around inside that basement of Toran Castle and poured some champagne into Viki's and his glass, then put a candle on the table and lit it.

"Um... where did you get this stuff, anyway?"

"Oh, I found it hidden in dad's room.  I'm sure he won't miss it."

"OKAY, WHO STOLE THAT SPECIAL CHAMPAGNE THAT I WAS SAVING TO CELEBRATE WITH EILEEN?!?"  Lepant's angry demand rang throughout the entire castle.

"Er, you should ignore that."  Sheena nervously commented.  "Now anyway, I guess we should start this by giving cheers to the Toran Republic, huh?"

Sheena lifted his glass up to give respect to the Toran Republic then noticed that Viki already finished drinking from hers.

"Um.... oops?"

"Ah whatever, that's not a big deal."  Sheena smiled as he refilled Viki's glass.

"T... This is pretty nice."  Viki somewhat drunkenly replied as she quickly drank down more champagne.

"Hey, you're pretty nice."  Sheena said in a pathetic attempt to hit on her as he refilled Viki's glass again.  "Say, are we done here?  Care to go out with me on a date tomorrow?"

Viki wasn't really paying attention as she drank another glass of champagne.  "Huh?  What?"

"Are we done?"

"Done celebrating, already?  *hic!*  That was fast.  Shouldn't we give one more toast or something?"

"Whatever.  Here's to McDohl!"  Sheena said as he raised his glass.

"Oh... um, yea! *hic!*  To McD... WAIT A MINUTE!  OMIGOSH, I forgot about McDohl!  I still have to find him.  Now let's see... what direction would he have teleported to when Gremio bumped into me, then?  I was aiming for the south, but I messed up the spell and... he must have went.... north?  That seems to be the direction on my mind right now..."

Viki stopped to concentrate for as long as her drunken drowned-in-alchohol brain could tolerate it.

"Ah ha!  He must be in that city country state like nation thingy up north, Houston!"  Viki exclaimed.

Sheena was rather perplexed.  "What are you talking about?  And don't you mean Jowston?"

Sheer coincidence at that moment... or maybe fate... had allowed Gremio, who only broke out of the asylum moments ago, to burst into the basement seeking revenge on Krin, Viki, and Juppo.  He didn't notice Sheena as he charged at Viki, who quickly ducked underneath the table as Gremio slammed into it.

"I have to go now.  N... nice celebrating with you." Viki stuttered because of a combination of fear from Gremio and being drunk from too much champagne which she wasn't even old enough to legally drink.

"Wait!"  Sheena yelled.

"Shoot, I forgot the spell."  Viki tried to remember her teleporting magic but was too drunk to think clearly.  So she just muttered a bunch of lines and concentrated all her drunken focus and in a flash, was gone.

"Damn damn DAMN!"  Sheena stomped his foot on the ground as Gremio got to his feet and picked up the champagne bottles.

Gremio was rather shocked after looking at those champagne bottles, enough to temporarily make him forget about McDohl.  "You and Viki were drinking this?"

"Well, actually, only she did.  I was too busy refilling her glass all the time.  Wow, I never knew Viki could drink so fast."

"This is some of the most powerful alchoholic champagne in the Toran Republic!  The only ones who can even handle the responsibility of this drink and have legal permits to get it are high ranking officials who are known for their ability to withstand mass amounts of alchohol!"

"Hey, what harm could a few drinks do?"

A lot.  Two years later, miles away from the Toran republic at the Kyaro inn, Viki had quite a bit of trouble going to sleep.  The fact that storm clouds were brewing outside and it had started to rain AND there were "war jitters" all over the town didn't help..

Two years... I've failed, again.  Why do I always end up doing this?  Lousy stupid waffu magic.... always making me teleport years ahead in time just when I think I've found a nice place to live where everyone likes me.  But the innkeeper said that McDohl was coming, so I'll just wait for him here.  Oh wait... all he said was that I could stay here and wait for McDohl.  Or did he say that McDohl was coming but wasn't waiting?  I can't remember!  Oh well.  At least I got a free room for tonight.

Viki closed her eyes as a man and woman appeared in her room.  Both were about eighteen years of age, and the yellow robes they wore were designed similarly to the light blue robe that Viki wore.  The girl had black short hair while the guy had long black hair which reached down to nearly his waist.

Looking around, the young man let out a cheer.  "Hail there, oh wonderful magi master!!!"

The young lady quickly punched him to make him shut up.  "Be quiet, Renal!  She's asleep!  The last thing I want to do is piss off one of the six magi masters by waking them up."

"Hey, she's pretty cute, Metry.  It's rare that you find one of us who hasn't resorted to artificial beauty through magic.  I rather like it."

"She looks too young.  I'm sure she must have casted some youth illusion spell on herself.  It's impossible for one to become one of the master magi at such a young age.  She doesn't even look eighteen, yet.  But I'm sure she's a magi master, otherwise my magic tracking wouldn't have picked her up."

Renal looked closer at Viki.  "Eh?  But I don't sense any youth magic on her.  Wow, she must be one hell of a good magician to hide any essence of magic cast on herself from such great magicians like us."

"Well, of course, that's why she must be one of the six great magi.  I think this one is Nikki.  She has the jet black hair that Nikki is famous for, Renal.  That, and her wand has the words, "Nikki", on it."

"I didn't know Nikki looked so young.  And why would she come out to this lousy far-off war-ridden ruined garbage pathetic excuse for a continent?  Do a magic check on her.  And are you sure that inscripton says "Nikki?"  It's rather dark.  I can't tell."

Metry held up a crystal ball and it glowed, lighting up the whole room.  Viki covered her eyes until the crystal ball exploded.

"Whoa!"  Metry exclaimed.  "Her power is unbelievable!  I didn't think even the six magi had THAT much power.  Those legends about them don't do them justice.  Hand me a blinking crystal.  There's no need to wake her up.  I'll attach it right now.  It'll help her channel her teleportation abilities as a lethal weapon."

"Are you sure that's okay?"

"Of course!  The six magi requested these blinking runes.  I don't think they care whether they're awake or not when they recieve them."

Viki was staring at Metry and Renal rather confusedly, now.

"You can attach it, right?"  Renal asked.

"Of course!  Attaching runes is child's play, compared to the other magics we've learned.  We have the power to raise the dead back to life without the priest having to be undead!"

"Yea, but the raised will still be a bloodthirsty zombie who'll eat the brains out of your head."

"We have the power to change one's emotions and create love potions!"

"But the hangover is immense and those rape accusations were intense."

"We have the power to teleport across the world!"

"Although the trip will make you definately hurl."

"We even can transfer pain from one to another!"

"Which is cool when you want to hurt each other."  Renal joked as he punched himself hard in the head.

"OW!"  Metry quickly put her hand to her head in pain, then glared at Renal.

"Oops, sorry.  Hey, let's just get back to whatever we were doing."

"Our magic is powerful enough to do anything!"

"Except travel through time. But that doesn't rhyme."

Metry glared at Renal again.  "We'll master time travel some day.  In fact, I hear the six magi have already figured out how to and now only need two research components to do it!  But for now, I have to give Nikki her blinking rune."

With a snap of her finger, Metry had imbedded the rune in Viki's right hand.  At the exact same moment that Metry and Renal noticed that Viki was staring at them wide-eyed, lightning and thunder flashed and roared outside the inn, which had startled both Metry and Renal.

"OH NO!  We woke her up and that loud thunder is representative of her incredible anger!  Let's get out of here before she decides to make our heads explode!"

Renal and Metry quickly teleported away, leaving all their blinking crystals behind.  All Viki could do was stare and blink.