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"Do we even know where we're going?" Neil asked, trying not to trip over the large tree roots.

"We're going towards the mountain, aren't we?" Atlanta said, looking over her shoulder at their struggling friend.

Archie was walking in front, taking the lead towards the mountain. When Jay had asked him to watch over Atlanta, Archie had made a promise. He cared about Atlanta and was going to watch over her very carefully. Everynow and then, Archie would look behind his shoulder and watch Atlanta. He was being a little too much over protective towards Atlanta. He just wanted her to be safe. Once he made sure Atlanta was safe, in his point of view, he changed his view to the skies. He was nervous about Synara. Archie knew Odie was going to warn them if Synara was close, but Archie was stubborn.

"Archie!" Atlanta shouted, making Archie snap back into reality and spin sharply, facing Atlanta.

"What?!" Archie said, looking around quickly, trying to find the reason for the out burst.

"What's wrong, mister?" Atlanta laughed. "Come out of La La land!" she said, knocking Archie on the forehead laughing and taking the lead.
Archie laughed weakly. 'Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!' he though, turning away from Atlanta, feeling his face burn.

"Will you guys slow down!" Neil shouted. He had fallen behind badly and was having trouble trudging through the thick bush.

Archie and Atlanta stopped and watched as Neil struggled. He was trying to walk over a abnormally vigourious large bush, which he did but with some cuts on his pant legs. Next he tried to step over a large tree root, only having to trip over his own feet and fall forward.

Archie burst out laughing and doubled over, clutching his stomach. Atlanta laughed with Archie as she walked towards Neil and grabbed his arm, muffling her giggling.

When Neil stood up, Atlanta finished giggling and walked on. Walking past the still laughing Archie and took the lead, going a bit slower.

Neil straightened up and wiped leaves and dirt of his shirt and pants. "I hope this doesn't stain," he sighed, looking at a tiny blotch of mud on his sleeve.

Archie sighed and straightened up, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye.

"Oh, shut up!" Neil spat, fixing his shirt and stomping off, leaving Archie at the back.

Neil was as clumy when they kept walking, maybe more. Atlanta stayed in front and Neil worked his was back to the back. Archie moved in front of Neil and stayed protectively behind Atlanta, watching her every move and the sky. It wasn't until later in the day when they heard a faint buzzing noise.

"Does anyone else hear that?" Atlanta asked, smacking her ear. "Or am I getting heat stroke?"

"I hear it too," Neil said, finally catching up and looking up at the trees.

Archie started to look around, trying to find the answer for the high pitched buzzing.

"Wait!" Atlanta exclaimed, she rushed forward and grabbed at Archie's sweater, which was still tied around his waist.

"What are you doing?!" Archie shouted, feeling his face burning.

"You PMR, doofus!" Atlanta said, still trying to grab at the PMR.

"Hold on!" Archie shouted, putting his hand up in front of Atlanta, making her stop with her arms still outstretched. Archie dug around in his sweater pocket and pulled out his PMR. A high pitched buzzing was coming from the little speaker and a little red light was blinking. Archie pushed the "talk" button.

"It's about time!" Odie yelled, sounding extremely frustrated. "I've been trying to call you for ten minutes! You got rock for ears, or what?"

"Sorry Odie, the heat was making us delusional," Archie said, glaring at Atlanta. "What's the emergancy?"

"The emergancy is Synara is headed your way," Odie said, sighing.
Atlanta looked up to the mountain. Neil still seemed to be intrigued by the trees.

"What should we do then?" Archie asked Odie.

"Umm...either you can find a place to hide and try to capture her or you can fight her and then capture her," Odie said.

"How far away is she?" Archie asked, looking at his watch.

"Umm..." Odie said, thinking. "About 20 minutes."

"Ok, thanks for the warning, Odie. I'll call ya back," Archie said, already knowing the plan. He turned off his PMR and shovedit back in his pocket.

"So," Archie started, pulling out his whip. "Are we ready to fight?"

"You bet," Atlanta said, grinning. She was already spinning her bolos menancingly.

Neil sighed. "I guess we're fighting," he said.

"Do you even have a weapon?" Archie asked, looking Neil up and down.

"I do too have a weapon!" Neil said, putting his hands on his hips and
tilting his head to the side.

Archie and Atlanta waited patiently for Neil to pull out his so called 'weapon'. Neil looked around nervously and rummaged around in his pockets. He seemed to of found something because his face shone when he grabbed onto it.

"Aha!" Neil shouted, pulling out ... a nail file.

Atlanta stopped twirling her bolos and dropped her jaw. She stared at Neil, wide eyed. Archie had a blank look on his face.

"What?" Neil said, dumbfounded. He was filing his nails without looking.

"How are you supposed to protect yourself with ... with a nail file?" Archie raged.

"Well, what else am I supposed to use?" Neil sputtered.

"Well, whatever you use, use it now!" Atlanta shouted, running for cover towards a large tree.

A loud shriek surround the wood around them. Neil shrieked loudly and ran off for coverage under a small and stubby tree.

Archie looked up, quickly searching the skies. He heard a loud WOOSH from behind him, making turn sharply.

Synara was flying up higher to the sky. 'She's getting altitude!' Archie thought, searching the surrounding area. 'Where is she...' Archie thought, he stopped thinking all at once when he locked his attention on Atlanta. Synara was gaining altitude so she could dive. Dive straight for Atlanta.

All fears of what could happen to Archie's dear friend came like a bull to him. Rage and worry morphed together and rammed themselves at Archie's mind. All of his muscles flexed and his mouth opened in a yell.

"Atlanta get down!" he shouted, running hard towards Atlanta under the tree, raising his whip.

Atlanta raised her head up towards Synara. It took a fraction of a second for her to realize what Synara was planning. She ran out from under the coverage of the tree, took aim and threw her bolos at Synara. The flew at a incredible speed and caught Synara's calves. They twisted around her legs many times. Synara shrieked and lost her balance in mid air before she caught herself and started to claw at the twisted bolos.

"Hurry! Take cover!" Archie yelled, running faster towards Atlanta and grabbing her upper arm. 'Where the hell is Neil?' he screamed inside.

Another shriek filled there ears. Atlanta snapped her head up. Synara had ripped off her bolos and threw the ripped remains over her shoulder like a rag doll. Atlanta watched her bolos fall to the ground with a hard thump, her head was snapped back as Archie started to run.

Archie kept an iron grip on Atlanta's arm. He didn't know where he was going, but he wanted Atlanta as far away from Synara as possible. He made a promise and his mind was made up.

"Where are you taking me Archie? And will you loosen up!" Atlanta yelled; she was having trouble running. Archie had such a hard grip on her she was almost running sideways. "Neil! Where are you?!" Atlanta shouted, noticing how she wasn't getting an answer from Archie.

Above, Synara was flying faster. She was gaining up on them. Neil stumbled out from his hiding place. Neil looked up and spotted how close Synara was. He screamed very girly and followed Atlanta and Archie at a run.

Synara shrieked loudly and dived at a distance. She angled her wings and threw up her claws.

"Archie! Look ou-" Atlanta wasn't able to finish her warning call. Synara had dived and was at full speed towards Archie.

Synara threw up one of her clawed feet and kicked Archie squarley in the ack. Archie lost his breath as he went flying, along with Atlanta. Archie was shocked by how hard the force of her kick was. The kick had sent him flying, he had to break his fall, and only by instinct, he let go of Atlanta. Atlanta was sent rolling across the ground, away from Archie.

Synara took this advantage and dived at Atlanta. Synara locked her hind claws on Atlanta's shoulders. Atlanta screamed as Synara pumped her strong wings and took off in a flurry of dust and leaves.

Neil dived towards Atlanta and tried to grab onto her. He managed to get a hold on Atlanta's ankle, only for Synara to take a deadly swipe at his head. Neil shrieked and let go of Atlanta, falling to the ground.

"Archie!" Atlanta screamed, disapearing quickly as Synara flew harder, the extra weight weighing her down.

"Atlanta?" Archie mumbled, shaking his head, trying to clear his mind to figure out what happened. He put his hand up to his head and felt a warm liquid running down the side of his face. It was blood. He sighed and rubbed his eyes, trying to get rid of the blinking red dots dancing around in his vision. He rolled over onto his back, groaning.

"Archie! Get up! Synara's getting away!" Neil said, getting up from the ground and running towards Archie, grabbing his arm and helping him up.

Archie accepted Neil's help. Once her got to his feet, he turned slowly, fearing the worst. When he turned he saw Synara flying away, occasionally dropping but picking herself up again. Archie looked down an inch. Trapped in the claws of Synara was Atlanta. Synara and Atlanta had their backs to Neil and Archie, but Archie could see that Atlanta was fighting. She was trying to hit Synara, but her arms weren't long enought to inflict any damage.

Archie's heart sank. Synara and Atlanta were getting smaller and smaller. He couldn't do anything at this distance. Only watch as his dear friend was carried away by a monster. He had failed. 'I let Jay down. And more importantly ... Atlanta,' he thought, hanging his head.

Neil was grabbing for Archie's PMR. "I'm radioing Odie, should we tell Jay?" Neil asked, noticing Archie's change of mood.

"I don't care, both I guess," he said glumly, walking away.

"Odie, Jay. Umm ... we're in a bit of a pickle," Neil stuttered, his hands shaking as he followed after Archie. 'This is going to be hard,' Neil thought, wondering how he was going to break the news to his friends.

Archie walked slowly, not caring where he was going. 'I've failed Jay. I've failed Atlanta. I've failed myself.'

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I didn't know how to end this! I was running out of ideas and the headache was killer! It kind of killed me to make Archie give up like that, but like I said, I was running sparse on ideas. This one is super long and I'm very proud of it! It took me a long time, so now I deserve a well deserved break. But, I made you wait to much, so I'll get right onto Chapter 6! Jay, Herry and Theresa's journey towards the mountain. What will happen? Stay tuned!