"So," Kevin cut back in, "which door?  Left or right?"

"Right," Nick decided for the group and walked over to the door on the right.

Nothing happened.

"Hey dumbass, I'm the only one who can open doors.  Weren't you paying attention?" AJ turned towards the door on the left, "I can open the doors, so I get to choose which ones we go through."

"Wait!" Howie yelled a little too dramatically, "Shouldn't we all agree on which door we go through?  I mean, we all had to be here for things to get started, so it stands to reason that we should work together on this."

"Hey, we did work together.  That was some awesome teamwork killing those bad guys.  Besides, we've already decided on a door," AJ grinned and turned the door knob on the left hand door, "We decided on left."

"No, you decided on left," Nick crossed his arms over his chest.

"Oh well, too late, door's already open.  We'll have a vote next time," AJ's voice was dripping with sarcasm and he walked through the door.

Having no other choice, the rest of the Boys followed him through the door.  It slammed closed behind them, sending the cramped area into complete darkness.

"Where are we?"

"Hey, who grabbed my ass?"

"You know you liked it!"

"Can we all just shut up for a minute?" Kevin's voice boomed over the commotion, "Anyone have a flashlight by any chance?"

"No, but Brian has a flame thrower," Nick suggested.

"I already told you, I'm not using this thing."

"Come on church boy, we need some light," AJ pushed.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," Kevin reasoned.

"How else are we supposed to get out of this fucking room?" AJ stomped.

"Ow!  That was my foot!" Howie cried out.

"See what happens with no light?"

"Fine!  Fine, I'll do it!" Brian pulled the trigger on the flame thrower.  A ball of fire shot through the group and hit the wall on the opposite side.

"Damn, a little warning next time?" AJ reached up to make sure his face was still there.

"Nice eyebrows Kev," Nick laughed.

Kevin scowled as he felt what was left of his singed eyebrows.

"Can we get back to business here?  I've got things to do," Howie pled.

Everyone looked around, trying to figure out what they were supposed to do next.

"Why do they have to make these fucking games so complicated," AJ groaned, "You're the video game guy Nick, what do we do?"

"Do you really have to swear that much AJ?" Brian sighed as he looked for any indication of their next task.

"Fuck yeah I do!"

"Hey guys, there's a tunnel," Howie pointed out.

"Let's go then.  AJ first," Nick volunteered.

"Why me?"

"You have to be the lead player, since you are the only one who can open doors and all, so you get to go first."

AJ glared at Nick, "If I die it's all your damn fault."

"Can we speed this up, my foot is throbbing and I want to get home," Howie insisted.

AJ took a deep breath and got onto his hands and knees, mumbling something about his pants getting dirty, before beginning his crawl through the tunnel.  The rest of the guys got down on their hands and knees and followed him through the tunnel.

"Watch for any sign of movement," Nick whispered once they had all gotten out of the tunnel.

The five Boys looked around the new open space they were in.  The dirt path led from the tunnel they'd just exited and into a group of large trees, grass of an odd greenish color covered the remaining land.  There were no clouds, just an oddly blue sky with light coming from an unknown source.  There was no sign of life, everything was still and quiet.

Each of the Boys wandered a little, not too far from his brothers, to explore their virtual reality.

"Blue shapes!" AJ called out.

"What?" Brian ran over to where AJ was.

"I saw blue shapes.  Over there, in the trees."

"Right, well I'm going over there now.  Have fun with those blue shapes."

"Those are pretty," Howie hobbled further away, his foot still throbbing from the stomp it had received earlier.

"What did you find?" Kevin called over to him.

"Flowers...Daisies I think," Howie grinned, "And you told me there weren't daisies in the first level!"

AJ rolled his eyes and walked over to the daisies where the Boys had begun gathering.  Howie leaned in and grasped a daisy, pulling it from the dirt path.  As he stood up the daisy disappeared from his hands.

"Whoa, what happened?!?"

"That was so weird!" Nick looked around, searching for the daisy.

AJ shrugged it off and went back to exploring.  One by one, the rest of the Boys did as well.  They moved closer and closer to the trees, not yet following the path in.

"Hey Howie, you're not limping any more," Brian pointed out.

"Hey, yeah, my foot doesn't hurt any more," Howie grinned, hopping around to test out his previously injured foot.

"Oooh, so that's what the daisies are for!" Nick exclaimed.

"Elaborate?" Howie raised his eyebrows.

Nick shook his head, "Keep up, will ya?  The daisies are like power-ups.  If you get hurt, find a daisy and it will help heal you."

Howie slowly nodded, trying to work through these virtual reality rules, "Do we get extra lives too?  They have those in these video games, right?"

"Probably," AJ called over his shoulder as he started venturing into the trees.

The rest of the Boys followed him, keeping aware of their surroundings, weapons in hand.  Less and less of the sky was visible as they ventured farther and farther.

"Leighanne?" Brian cocked his head to the side, "How did you get here?"

He stepped away from the group, letting go of the trigger for his flame thrower.

"Brian, stop!" Nick yelled.

Brian turned back towards them, "What?"

"I don't think that's Leighanne."

"Sure it is.  It looks exactly like her," Brian glanced back at the woman again.

"This chick's boobs are bigger," AJ supplied, "That's definitely not Leighanne."

"Why are you looking at my wife's breasts?"

"Why not?  Boobs are awesome!"

Nick grinned and high-fived AJ, receiving a glare from the remaining three Boys.

Glancing over their shoulders, Nick noticed the Leighanne clone moving towards them, "Uh, guys, we gotta figure out what to do about that chick."

"Shoot her?" AJ replied like it should have been obvious.

"Oh I'm so on that!" Nick cried, grabbing his guns from the holsters on his legs.

"Nooo!" Brian shouted and jumped in front of Nick.  Brian fell to the ground, his body limp.

"I think she shot him!" Nick crouched down to check Brian, "Leighanne shot Brian!"

"There's more of them coming!" Howie cried as an army of Leighanne clones appeared from the edges of the trees.  It was almost as if they were floating in, just to torture them.

"Fuck, just what we need, a million Leighanne's!" AJ groaned and whipped out his guns.

The four remaining Boys began aiming and shooting, but the Leighanne clone army closed in on them.

"It's not working!" Howie panicked.

"The bullets aren't doing enough damage," Kevin shouted over the gunfire.

"I don't know what to do!" Nick cried.

"Flames!  It has to be flames!" AJ holstered his guns and ran over to Brian, "I need his flame thrower!"

AJ and Nick got the flame thrower off of Brian and AJ went to work immediately.  Fire was flying everywhere.  All the Boys could hear were the high pitched squeals of the women hit with the flames.  Their flesh was melting away and they each dropped to the ground.  Those untouched backed away, retreating back into the trees for safety.

Finally everything settled and the Boys took a collective deep breath.  The sizzle of scorched skin could be heard all around them.  Nick grinned at the sight.  Women who had looked so much like Leighanne, lying burning on the ground.

"Dude that was awesome!" Nick yelled in excitement.

"Did you see how their flesh melted right off of their faces?" AJ joined in on the celebrating.

"Guys, we still have a situation over here.  Think you can save the party until later?" Howie scolded.

"I thought you said there were multiple lives in video games?" Kevin looked down at his cousin lying dead on the dirt path.

"I said probably," AJ clarified.

"You usually need to give them something to bring them back to life," Nick explained as he searched around for something that could possibly bring their friend back.

"I'm going to need something, too, though.  I got hit," AJ's shiny red pants were singed near the thigh, his leg had been hit by a counterattack.

There were no more daisies in sight, nor was their anything else that looked like it could be of any use.  Kevin stood over Brian, afraid to leave him in case something else showed up.  The other three separated.

Nick took the path back where they'd come in hopes of finding something.  The daisies were all gone, only a small mound of dirt left behind.  Howie looked around the path in the area they were currently at.  He ventured a few steps into the trees, but also came up empty handed.  AJ headed the opposite direction, following in the direction they were originally headed.

"Hey guys!  I found some flowers!" AJ called from the path ahead.

Nick sprinted back to them, ready to go up to AJ.

"Well we can't leave him here," Howie looked at Brian.

Kevin walked back to Brian and hoisted him up on his shoulders.  They walked together up to where AJ had stopped.  His pants still had a hole, but it was obvious that AJ was no longer injured.

"All we're missing now is the pink poodle and the Sound of Music," Howie laughed, pointing out a small fuzzy bunny.

The possibility of curing Brian with a daisy was forgotten.  Howie stepped towards the bunny cautiously-he'd learned enough by now to know better-and the bunny bared is razor-sharp teeth.

"Okay, fuck, I'm sorry I was wrong," AJ groaned and shot the small fuzzy bunny before it did any damage.

Several more bunnies came hopping out at the sound, teeth bared, ready to attack.

"Don't let Brian go!" Nick ordered, shooting at the bunnies.

AJ, Nick and Howie lined up in front of Kevin and Brian, shooting away.

"Over there!" Kevin pointed to their right where another group of fuzzy bunnies with razor-sharp teeth had appeared.

Nick turned, both guns cocked and began shooting.  Kevin continued pointing out new groups of fuzzy bunnies and the three continued shooting at them.

"Clear on this side!" Nick sighed.

"Here, too," Howie breathed.

"Fuck, those things were evil," AJ heaved a sigh of relief, "Everyone okay?"

Nick and Howie nodded.

"We still need to take care of Brian," Kevin reminded.  He hoisted Brian off of his shoulders and set him down on the ground gently.

"I don't think a daisy is going to do it," Nick confessed, "You usually need something more powerful than that to bring someone back."

"Like what?" Howie asked.

"A potion or something."

"Well where the fucking hell are we supposed to get a potion?" AJ threw up his arms.

"Over there," Kevin pointed to one of the trees.  It had a hole in the trunk, a small bag just barely in view.

Howie ran over to the tree, pulling the sac from the tree and opening it up.  He turned the sac over, shaking out the contents.  A small vial with an amber liquid fell into his palm.  Howie walked back to Brian, pulling the tiny cork out on the way there, and dropped a few drops of the liquid into Brian's mouth.

"How do we know that's what we wanted?" Kevin took the re-corked bottle and studied the remaining contents.

"Too late now.  Can't do him any more harm though, can it?" AJ reasoned.

**WHIZ**

"What the...?" Nick was knocked backwards as the sky popped and Brian was back on his feet, alive again.

"Church boy!  You're back!" AJ clapped Brian on the shoulder, "You okay?"

Brian nodded, "What happened?"

"You just lost a life because you're too pussy to use your damn flame thrower."

"And because he wouldn't let me kill the Leighanne clone," Nick added.

"Now that everyone is back, can we please keep moving?" Kevin directed the others in the correct direction on the path.

They tried collecting daisies along the path for further use, but the daisies each disappeared within seconds of being held.  So much for being prepared for later.  At least they had leftover life potion.

The trees dispersed and the Boys were walking in the open again.  They could see a castle up ahead.

"Hmmm, castle...that can't be good," Nick mumbled.  He hadn't intended on anyone else hearing, but of course they did.

"What does a castle mean?" Brian asked.

“Right.”

“Left.”

Both AJ and Nick replied at the same time.

“Okay, lets do this the manly way… jan ken po.” Nick said, getting into a stance.

AJ cocked an eyebrow, “Dude… are you serious?”

Nick shrugged, “Or… we could innie minnie miny mo it?”

AJ let out an exasperated sigh, “Now you’re just playing with our lives.”

“Yeah Nick, that’s a great idea!” Kevin said, sounding a little too excited for anyone’s liking. “Why didn’t I think of that? Ooh, and we can grab each other’s hands and play ‘Ring Around The Rosie’ while we’re at it!”

Nick stared at Kevin with an awkward expression, “Okay… was that sarcasm or did he really just mean that?”

Howie rubbed his hand over his face, “Can we just pick a door please.”

Brian shot Howie a look, “I don’t know about you, but I am really in no rush to continue on with this game.”

“Oh my gosh, that is sooo cool!” Nick suddenly blurted.

The four of them all shot their attention over to Nick. “What are you talking about?” Kevin asked.

Nick bit his bottom lip, suddenly feeling uncomfortable being the center of attention. “Well… it was just that… I was just thinking… you know that saying ‘you shouldn’t play with life, it isn’t a game’ or whatever, well Brian just made me realize that we’re playing with our lives because it is a game… or we’re in a game, and we’re playing with our…” Nick slurred off, their stares feeling as if it was burning holes into his body. “never mind.”

Kevin shook his head, “Okay, lets have a vote. Who thinks we should go through the door on the left, raise their hand.”

Besides Kevin, Nick was the only one that rose his hand. “Okay,” Kevin sighed, “who thinks we should go through the door on the right?”

Both Howie and AJ rose their hands. Kevin looked over at Brian, the only one who didn’t vote. “Um Bri, your vote?”

“I’m not voting.” Brian simply replied. “Cause I don’t want to go through either doors. I’m beginning to wonder if I’m the only one left with common sense to actually NOT want to go through with this stupid game. Here you guys are, prancing around with damn weapons thinking it’s the coolest thing ever to kill all these people when we should be thinking logically about this situation and think of a way to get ourselves out of here.”

They all remained silent after Brian’s little outburst. “So… why don’t you tell us how you REALLY feel Brian.” Nick snickered.

Brian shot a glare at Nick, “This isn’t a game Nick!”

The four of them looked down at themselves, holding their weapons out in front of them. “I thought this was a game. I mean, it was the last time I checked, and that was…” AJ held his arm out in front of him, looking down at his invisible watch, “couple seconds ago…” he looked down again, “and right now.”

Kevin placed a reassuring hand on Brian’s shoulder, “You need to calm down cous.” he looked over at the whole group, “We all just need to keep our cool. We can’t afford to drive each other apart with our nonsense. If we want to get through this, we all need to stick and work together because that’s the only way we’re gonna survive. Once we go through whatever door we decide to go through, we are leaving all this drama, all this shit at the door and we’re gonna go in there and get the hell outta this by winning, together.”

Nick jumped in and added, “Yeah, cause we’re unbreakable dawg!”

“Shutup Nick!” they all said in unison.

Nick frowned, “What just happened to sticking together, not picking on Nick and shit?” he grumbled.

Brian sighed heavily, “I vote for the right door.”

Kevin nodded, “Right door it is.”

Nick grinned and let out a maniacal laugh, “Alright fellas, lets get this kick ass show on the road!” he exclaimed as he started making his way towards the door.

As Nick began walking towards the right door and reached out for the knob, Kevin extended his arm out, stopping Nick mid-stride. “Alex, will you please?”

AJ walked past them, eyeing Nick as he did so. “This ain’t a Nick Carter world anymore.” AJ muttered with a grin as he reached for the door knob, opening it with ease.

“This ain’t a Nick Carter world anymore.” Nick mocked as he followed AJ through the door.

Once the five of them walked through the door, they were greeted by a beautiful, scenic environment, surrounded by lush trees and full, green grass. If it wasn’t for what they were still wearing, they would’ve believed that walking through the right door had them entering back into the real world.

“I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.” Nick mumbled out.

AJ rolled his eyes, “We never were in Kansas, dipshit.”

“Alex.” Kevin voiced in a warning tone. “That was to be left at the door.”

Nick chuckled and stuck his tongue out at AJ, “Yeah Alex, that was to be left at the door.”

Kevin shot a warning glance at Nick now, “Nickolas. Shut it.”

Nick’s eyes widened, “Why does AJ get a freaking reminder and I get told to shut it?” he pouted.

“We agreed that this nonsense was to be left at the door, so stop it and lets just go.” Brian spoke out, hauling his flamethrower up on his shoulder.

Nick smiled and patted Brian on the shoulder, “Yeah B-Rok, that’s what I’m talking about!”

AJ leaned over towards Howie and whispered to him, “Rok totally looks like Sean William Scott right now.”

The five of them began walking down the paved path, deciding to see where it led to. Time flew by, and they were still walking along the path, feeling as if they had been traveling for hours. The hot sun bore down on them, causing beads of sweat to bubble up from their prickled flesh and trickle down. Feeling extremely tired and weak, Nick was the first to stop.

“Hold up guys.” Nick said, hunched over trying to catch his breath. “Could we take a break?”

“Nick, are you serious?” Brian asked. “We ain’t got time to take a break!”

Nick straightened himself up, “Of course we do… that’s why they created a ‘pause’ button on game controllers. Besides, you were the very one that was in no rush to do this, now you’re suddenly gung ho to go and get the job done?”

Kevin sighed, knowing that the light bickering between Nick and Brian would soon escalate into another argument. “Look, I think we all could go for a break. What good would it be if we went ahead with no strength whatsoever left in us to fight? We’ll take a small break and then we’ll go on.”

While the others walked over to the grass to sit down, Howie walked up behind Kevin, “Have I told you how much I’ve missed your dictatorship within the group?”

Kevin chuckled and shook his head, “I could’ve swore before I left that I dubbed you with my dictatorship abilities?”

AJ laid back on the grass, lifting his arm up and placing it over his face to shield his eyes from the bright burning rays of the sun. Everything felt so real to him, from the hot burning sun to the exhaustion, and he honestly couldn’t remember characters in the videos games he played experiencing this. It was then that something hit him.

“Hey…” AJ drawled out, pushing himself up from the grass, “Game freak!” he chuckled to himself when Nick turned to his call. “In video games… isn’t there something that the characters collect to regain their strength or whatever? Or give them lives?”

Nick’s eyes widened and beamed brightly, “Shit, that’s right! Why didn’t I think of that before?”

AJ shrugged, “Because I’m smart and you’re dumb.” he muttered.

“What are you guys talking about?” Howie asked, wanting to understand this… foreign video game lingo.

Nick rose from the grass to give his explanation. “Okay, so in video games, whenever the characters get injured or die, there’s something in the game that they collect to replenish their health or give them more lives.”

“Yeah, like in GTA, the guy regains strength or more lives by running through a heart or some shit like that.” AJ added.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa… hold up.” Brian interjected, “Did you just say ‘whenever the characters get injured or die?’ When was anyone gonna tell me that there’s a possibility that we would lose our lives?”

AJ began to massage his temples, “I thought the whole ‘death’ thing was established a long time ago…”

Howie sighed heavily and glanced over at Kevin, “Here we go again.”

“What did you think Brian?” Nick asked, “That we’d go on in this game and not die?”

“Well, geez Nick… seeing as how this is a game, OF COURSE I THOUGHT THAT!” Brian replied in sarcasm.

“There’s death in video games Brian.”

“Yeah, and you would know cause you’re a game freak right?”

“What the hell is your problem man?”

“I don’t have a problem! You guys are the ones…”

“ENOUGH!” Kevin roared, immediately bringing the arguing to a cease. “I’ve had it with all this arguing and bickering and name calling… I’m tired of all this bullshit! We agreed that this was to be all left behind as soon as we walked through that door. I don’t know what the hell is going on between everyone, but you guys better drop this shit right now or we can all kiss our asses goodbye.”

They all remained silent, looking at each other in embarrassment. Kevin took a deep, steady breath in to calm himself, “Nick, continue on. And we will have NO interruptions this time.” He looked over at his cousin as he said this.

Nick swallowed hard, “Okay… um, as I was saying, there’s something out there that should help us to regain our strength or give us extra lives.”

“How do we find out what those things are?” Howie questioned.

Nick shrugged, “That’s what I don’t know.”

AJ looked around at their surroundings, “Well… maybe if we eat some berries or some shit that’ll help. I mean, seems logical enough.”

Nick shook his head, “It’s gotta be something more than that. We won’t find berries to eat on every level.”

“Well, it wouldn’t hurt to try.” Kevin suggested.

AJ began walking over towards a line a bushes that went right along the path they were walking on. He pushed his hand through the bushes, in hopes to find some type of berries, but came up with nothing. As he continued his search, he stopped when he noticed a lone flower near a tree that was behind the bushes. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the abnormal flower was floating.

“Anything?” Kevin asked.

AJ shook his head, “Nothing. But I found a fucking floating flower.”

“A floating flower” they all repeated in unison, sounding rather confused.

Nick’s eyes brightened, a light bulb turning on in his head. “That’s it!”

They all turned to look at Nick, “What’s it?”

“AJ, touch that flower.”

“Shit, the hell I am! I ain’t touching that fucking floating flower… looks kinda demonic and shit.”

“A demonic flower AJ?”

“Nick, if you want to touch it so bad, why don’t you bring your ass over here and do it yourself.”

“Just touch the damn flower AJ.”

Instead of fighting his point, AJ sighed heavily in defeat. Slowly, he inched his way through the bushes and towards the floating flower. “I can see it now… cause of a death, a fucking floating demonic flower.” AJ grumbled as he slowly reached out towards the floating flower. He closed his eyes tightly right when his hand was within reach, and as soon as he touched it, it disappeared.

“MOTHERFUCKER!” AJ screamed, collapsing back onto the ground.

The four of them quickly made their way over towards AJ. “Are you alright?” Howie asked in concerned, bending down to help him up.

AJ quickly scrambled up from the ground. “I told you that fucking flower was demonic! It just disappeared!”

Nick rolled his eyes, “How do you feel Jay?”

AJ calmed himself long enough to realize that he felt rather well. “Well… I kinda do feel better.”

“You see.” Nick beamed, “Told ya the floating flower was a good thing.”

Kevin cocked an eyebrow, “So… you mean to tell me, that along this quest we’ll need to run through… floating flowers in order to gain health or extra lives?”

Nick nodded, “I think once our health is replenished fully, running through these flowers will give us extra lives, but that’s only if we have full health.”

AJ gaped at Nick’s explanation, “What the hell? There’s games where the dude has to collect first aid kits or medicine or some shit like that to give them health and extra lives, and we’re stuck collecting fucking flowers? Hell, even a pretty pink heart would’ve been better than this! If anyone finds out about this game, we had to collect cannabis to regain health and give us extra lives, not no fucking floating daisies.”

Kevin rolled his eyes, “Alright you guys, go look for those flowers. Once your health is regained, we’ll meet back on the path and continue on.”

Three minutes later, they all regrouped on the path, reenergized and back to full health. They resumed their trek along the path, AJ volunteered by the others to lead the way all because he was the only one that could open the doors in the game.

Kevin rounded up the back, weapon armed and ready, looking around cautiously. “Anyone have an idea on what we’ll run into on this level?”

“Lions and tigers and bears, oh my.” Nick quipped.

AJ glanced over his shoulder at Nick, “Dude, what the hell is with you and the Wizard of Oz?”

Nick shrugged, “That’s what it feels like, doesn’t it? I mean, we’re walking along a brick road, and… AJ, you remind me of Dorothy, Kevin’s the Tin Man, Brian’s the Scarecrow, I’m the Lion and Howie… you can be Toto.”

AJ snickered, “I think you have that twisted. Brian should be the Lion and you should be the Scarecrow.”

Nick gave AJ a quizzical look, “Why?”

“Cause the Scarecrow was looking for a brain!”

“Ha-ha-ha.” Nick laughed sarcastically, “You’re fucking hilarious AJ.”

“Um… why the hell was I chosen to be Toto?” Howie asked.

“Because you…”

“Shh!” Brian silenced them, “Did you guys hear that?”

They all remained silent, trying to listen in for whatever it was that Brian heard. Just when Nick was about to say that he couldn’t hear anything, they heard something rustle from behind the bushes. They all turned to where the noise came from, weapons up and ready to fire. A few seconds later, a small teenaged girl rose from the bushes, pen and paper in hand.

“What the…” Nick whispered, nothing was making sense.

“Can I have your autograph?” the young girl asked, holding her pen and paper out.

“Could someone please tell me what the fuck is going on here.” AJ whispered harshly, none of them making a move towards the girl.

Kevin turned slightly, “If I knew myself, I would’ve told ya’ll a long time ago.”

“So what do we do?” Brian asked no one in particular.

“Yeah… I don’t know if I trust her, but we can’t just kill a girl.”

“So what do you guys suggest we do?”

“I don’t know but I don’t want to…”

As the guys continued to bicker amongst themselves, they all failed to noticed that the pen that the girl was holding had now transformed into a dagger. She rose the dagger and flung it forward, heading straight for her target, which happened to be Kevin.

Nick saw this and his eyes widened, “Kevin, watch out!”

Kevin slightly turned but wasn’t able to get out of the way of the flying dagger. It slammed into his chest, causing him to collapse to his knees.

“KEVIN!” Brian screamed as he rushed to his fallen cousin’s side.

“Kill the bitch!” AJ growled as he started firing his loaded gun at the girl that killed Kevin.

Nick looked around frantically, noticing that there were more young groupies coming out of nowhere. “Shit Jay, there’s more coming!”

“So don’t just stand there, KILL THEM ALL!” AJ exclaimed as he began shooting at the girls that were slowly closing in on them.

Brian was still on the ground, trying to keep Kevin alive. Kevin was still on his knees, teeth gritting as the pain continued to wrack his body. Knowing that he didn’t want to go on with this pain until they found a flower to heal him, nor would he be any good to them injured, he slowly reached up towards the dagger and ripped it out of his chest, ending his life faster.

“NOOO!!” Brian screamed as he watched his cousin’s body crumble to the ground and disappear. He slammed his hands down on the ground where his cousin was.

All of a sudden, Kevin reappeared, standing above Brian, looking good as new. “Fuck, now I only have four lives.” he grumbled.

Brian looked up to find his cousin, who he thought was dead, standing above him. “Kev?”

Kevin looked down at Brian’s torn form, “Aww shit Bri, we told you that we could die in this game, but as long as we collect extra lives, we’ll be fine.”

Brian pushed himself up from the ground, trying to compose himself. “I don’t want to play this stupid game no more.”

Kevin sighed, “I’m sorry but…” Kevin stopped mid sentence when he noticed a fan behind Brian preparing to throw a dagger into his back. Kevin grabbed Brian by his shirt and whirled him to the side, away from the fan who was getting ready to kill him. He whipped out his gun and shot the girl in the head, causing her to drop to the ground and disappear. Kevin looked down at Brian’s shaking form, his eyes wide. “We’re stuck in this game and the only way to get out of it is to actually go through with it. So I suggest you get with it and start killing some bitches.”

They all continued killing the herds of groupies, watching as their bodies dropped like flies and disappear. When the attack came to an end, they were all left standing there, breathing heavily and the scene looking as if nothing had happened, no bodies, no traces of blood, nothing.

Nick came up behind Brian and slapped a hand down on his shoulder, “Way… to man up… Rok!”

Brian smiled meekly, too exhausted to say much of anything. Kevin, who was still breathing hard, looked his four brothers over, noticing that they were all in the same state. “Lets go… find some… flowers and we’ll… continue on.”

“Cannabis!” AJ shouted, trying to correct the older man.

“Alex, will you not?”

When they all found flowers to regain their health, they met back on the path and stared ahead, seeing a castle further on.

Howie began to nibble on his bottom lip, “I suppose that’s where we’re heading to take on the main bad guy of this level?”

AJ nodded, “Shall I… lead the way again?”

They all continued on the path, AJ leading and Kevin rounding up the back once again. Nick looked them over and chuckled, “We’re off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz.”

“Shutup Nick!” they all shouted in unison.

"Red," AJ answered and stepped towards the chest that was encrusted with red jewels.  He flipped the lid open before the guys could object.  He was doing this his way.

When the lid flipped open, a reddish, smoky light came pouring out.  The smoke and light quickly filled the room and AJ immediately regretted his choice to take things into his own hands.

"Maybe...I shouldn't have done that?" he asked, though it wasn't as much of a question as it was a statement.

"I told you there was only supposed to be one prize at the end of a level!" Nick panicked, "You've opened the wrong damn chest!"

"How was I supposed to know that?  I don't know if I can handle another blue shape!" AJ cried.

"You?!?" Brian yelled, "You weren't the one that got swallowed by it!"

"Can we stop arguing and try to take care of this situation?" Kevin finally spoke up.

The smoke began to clear from the room, leaving the reddish light from the chest to illuminate the room.  When the Boys' eyes finally adjusted, they saw the smoke had completely cleared, leaving something in its wake.

"What the hell?" Howie muttered, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"It's an elf!" Nick exclaimed.

"I most certainly am not and elf," a little woman protested, "I am a fairy."

None of the guys said a word.  They were all too confused to do anything but study the small woman hovering in front of them.

The woman, or fairy rather, was short and pudgy.  Her pink, frilly ruffled dress fit snugly on her fat little body.  The guys each quietly wondered how she got in and out of that dress without ripping it.  The skirt flowed out slightly, coming down to her ankles.  They could see the little pink shoes that had to have been forced onto her feet.  She didn't hold a wand like the typical fairy godmothers did.  Instead her arms hung loosely by her sides, or gesticulated wildly when she spoke.

None of them could figure out how exactly it was that she was hovering, other than the fact that she was magic and this wasn't real.  No wings were visible from their frontal view of this so-called fairy, but there in the middle of her upper back were tiny pink wings.  That is what, surprisingly, kept this fat little fairy afloat.

Finally Nick spoke up, "So...fairy...what's your role here?"

"Why I fulfill the fairy role, of course," she responded.

"Of course," AJ replied sarcastically.

Kevin glared at the two, "I believe what they are trying to say is, is we're sure you have something for us?  Instructions maybe?"

"But of course," the fairy smiled, "I do have some instructions for you all to follow."

"Wonderful!" Brian breathed out a sigh of relief, "We'd be very appreciative if we could get those instructions and be on our way."

"Not so fast my young man.  There is much here to go over.  I, Pearl, am your fairy.  The five of you have been chosen for a very special mission.  I will dispense your initial instructions here and now.  Once the requirements have been fulfilled, your next instructions will be given."

"Great, can we elaborate here?" AJ impatiently prodded.

"Patience child," the fairy chided.

"AJ have patience?" Nick scoffed.

AJ glared at Nick, but Kevin shot them both a warning glare.  The fairy watched the group quietly bicker and just shook her head.  She knew she had a lot of work ahead of her with these five.  After working out their issues, the five finally turned quietly back to the fairy.

"Are we ready?" she patiently asked, and they silently nodded.

"Good.  As I was saying...I will give you your first instructions now.  I will find you again later, once you have completed this tasks."

Pearl paused here, expecting a comment or question of some sort.  When she received nothing, Pearl continued, "You must follow my instructions precisely, or suffer irrevocable damages..."

"Irrevocable damages?" Nick's eyebrows knit in confusion.

"Bad, bad stuff, buddy," Howie kindly clarified for him.

Nick's jaw then dropped, but the fairy paid no mind.  Instead she carried on, as if the news she'd just delivered meant nothing.

"Beyond these walls, through this door..." Pearl gestured to a small door and the Boys' eyes widened.

"That was so not there a minute ago!" AJ exclaimed, and he was right.  That door had appeared from nowhere.

Pearl cleared her throat and AJ shut up.  She began again, "Through this door, is a mighty forest.  You're mission will be to search this mighty forest for potions."

"Potions?" Nick questioned.

"Must you really interrupt me every three seconds?" Pearl was becoming agitated.

"Sorry," Nick murmured.

"Again, you will search for potions.  Five of them to be exact.  Now, listen carefully, because if you don't..."

They Boys all nodded in understandment and listened intently.

"You must NOT drink these potions," Pearl clearly stated.

"What happens if we do?" AJ asked.

"Have you not been listening to me?" Pearl groaned.

"Irrevocable damages!" Nick hissed.

"You know what, it will be easier this way...put them in your pocket and leave them there."

"What if one of the vials breaks?" Brian asked.

"My, my we have a lot of questions here, don't we?" Pearl sighed.  She took a deep breath and continued, "You must be careful not to break a vial or the potion will be lost and there is no replacement."

"And when we find the potions?" Howie questioned.

"This, my dears, is when your next instructions will be given.  Any more questions?"

"One more!" Kevin spoke up, "What if we need you before we find the potions?"

"Ah yes, I forgot about this one!" Pearl sighed in relief, "You may summon me at any time."  Pearl grinned now, as this was her favorite part, "All you need to summon me is the following words... ‘Pretty pink Pearl, please present your perfect pink plumpness'."

"Yeah, I can't say that," AJ protested.

"Oh, but you must, my dear.  I will not be summoned unless all five of you recite it in unison."

AJ glared, very madly, at the fairy, but he said nothing further.

"Off you go then," Pearl shooed the Boys, "And don't forget to work together!"

With that, Pearl disappeared just as quickly as she'd appeared.  The five were left in the cave illuminated only by the red glow from the chest.

"Let's get to it then," Howie suggested, moving towards the door.

"Someone's a little impatient," AJ groaned.

"Hey, the sooner we find the potions, the sooner we can get ourselves out of here!" Brian countered.

AJ sighed in agreement.  The guys all moved to the small door and AJ yanked it open.  Slowly, all five Boys stepped out of the cave into the bright sun.

"Damn it's bright!" Nick groaned.

"Quit your complaining.  Let's get on with this!" AJ demanded and began walking.

"So...these potions...how do you think we're supposed to find them?" Howie asked as they all walked.

"I guess we just have to keep our eyes peeled.  They can't be that difficult to find," Brian suggested.

"We don't even know what they look like!" Nick groaned.

"I think they look like this," Kevin help up his hand, a small bottle hung down from his hand by a string.

AJ, Brian and Howie hurried over to him, excited that they'd found their first potion.  Nick, however, was a little more hesitant.

"Um, guys, I'm not sure...that seemed a little too easy for a video game," Nick said.

"Dude, we found the first potion.  It's..." AJ began, but his voice quickly trailed off.  His eyes widened in shock.

Howie was the next to notice them, "Umm, guys?"

The other three turned to Howie and AJ, the newly found potion forgotten, and saw what AJ and Howie saw.  Tiny red...people?  That couldn't be, they were too small.

"What...are...those?" Brian whispered.

"Shoot them!" Nick exclaimed, yanking his guns from the holsters on his legs "I think...they're supposed...to protect...the potion," Nick explained as he shot at the tiny red people, "I told you it wouldn't be that easy!"

"This can't be that hard, they're tiny!" AJ decided as he, too, shot at them.  Retaliation was quick and AJ was hit in the middle of the forehead with a tiny red dart, "Ow!  Damn!"

The darts came flying from all directions, poking each of the Boys over and over again.

"Kevin!  Protect the potion!" Brian yelled as he hesitantly pulled out his flame thrower, squeezed his eyes shut, and pulled the trigger.

High pitched squeals surrounded the Boys, forcing them to drop their weapons and plug their ears.  The shooting stopped, the darts ceased and giant flames from Brian's weapon stopped.  And so did the squealing.  Slowly the Boys opened their eyes and dropped their fingers from their ears.

"Holy shit man that was a horrible sound!" AJ groaned, "Nice job with the flame thrower, Church boy."

Brian didn't comment, just stared in disbelief.

"Let's get moving before more of them come!" Kevin ordered.

All five quickly began following the path, keeping their eyes out for another potion and more "bad guys".  AJ led the group, carefully watching the path in front of them.  Kevin and Howie followed close behind, watching to the right and left of the path for anything.  Brian stuck close behind them, still in shock that he'd used his flame thrower to kill the little red people.  Nick was trailing behind everyone else.

"Hey guys!" Nick exclaimed, reaching out in front of him.

"Nick, we don't have time to stop, we need to keep walking!" Kevin said.

"I found another potion!" Nick yelled, trying to grab the potion hanging in front of him.

Everyone else stopped and turned around to face Nick, just as he reached for the potion and it was yanked from his reach.

"Damn!" Nick grunted, "What the hell?"

"Caw!  Caw!"

"Caw?" AJ laughed.

"What?" Howie's eyebrows knit together.

"Didn't you hear that?"

"Caw!  Caw, Caw!"

"What...the fuck...is that?" AJ followed the string the potion was hanging from up to a giant...what was that?  It was way too big to be a bird.

"Whatever it is, it has our potion!" Brian called.  He pulled out his flame thrower again.

"No Brian!  Wait!" they all called.

Brian froze, "What?"

"For someone who was so against using that thing at first, you're awfully fast at pulling it out," Howie said.

"Chill Church Boy.  We don't want to destroy the potion," AJ said.

"How the hell are we supposed to get that potion from that...that thing!" Nick cried.

Brian and Nick kept jumping up to grab the potion, but the giant bird-like creature kept yanking it away, taunting them.

"Maybe that fairy...what was her name?  Pearl?  Maybe she could give us a hint?" AJ suggested.

"Let's summon her then!" Nick yelled, a little too excited.

"Got a thing for the fairy there, do we?" AJ wiggled his eyebrows and burst into laughter.

"I just want the damn potion.  Then I can get the hell out of this game with you people!"

"Can we stop arguing?  AJ that's a good idea, let's see if we can summon her.  We all have to say it at the same time," Kevin reminded them.

"What was it?" AJ asked.

"Pretty pink Pearl, please present your perfect pink plumpness," Howie recited the phrase.

Everyone nodded.

"On the count of three," Kevin said.

"One...two...three, Pretty pink Pearl, please present your perfect pink plumpness," Howie, AJ, Kevin and Brian all said.

"Pretty plump Pearl please pretend your perfect purple...fuck" Nick groaned.

"Come on Nick!  It's not that hard!" AJ scolded him.

Howie repeated the phrase for him slowly, "Pretty pink Pearl..."

"Pretty pink Pearl..." Nick repeated.

"...Please present..."

"...Please present..."

"...Your perfect pink plumpness."

"...Your perfect pink plumpness."

"Got it now?"

Nick slowly nodded, really concentrating.

"Let's try this again.  One...two...three..."

And all five Boys recited the phrase in unison this time.

*Poof*

Pearl appeared in front of the group, waiting patiently.

"Uh, hi?" Nick said.

"Yes, my dear boys, what can I do for you?" Pearl asked.

"You see, we found the first potion..." Kevin began, "We're just having some trouble getting that second one."

Kevin motioned towards the potion that was hanging above their heads.

"My dear boys, you can do this.  Just remember, work together and you can climb to the top," Pearl smiled and with another *Poof* she was gone.

"Damnit!  That was no help!  I had to say that damn phrase twice, and she didn't do shit for us!" AJ complained.

"Just...shut up for a minute Aje," Kevin put his hand up to silence him, thinking quietly, "Work together...climb to the top."

The light in Brian's head flicked on, "I got it!  We need to climb to get up there and get it."

"With what?  The spare ladder I carry around?" AJ replied sarcastically.

Brian ignored him, "Just listen, it's up high, so we have to climb."

AJ looked like he was going to say something, but he held his tongue.

"If we have to work together..." Brian tried to think it through aloud.

"Maybe we have to help each other climb?" Nick questioned.

"We already knew that one!" AJ grumbled at Nick, "We could go all cheerleader and throw someone up there."

"Yeah, let's throw you up there," Kevin groaned at the ridiculous suggestion.

"Fine, what idea do you have?" AJ gave Kevin a dirty look.

"What if we climbed on each other's shoulders?" Kevin suggested.

"So...who's climbing on who?" Brian asked.

"Kevin is the tallest, I think he should be on the bottom," Howie reasoned.

"Hahahahaha!  Kevin is a bottom!" AJ burst into hysterical laughter, which sent Nick into hysterics as well.

"I don't get it..." Brian raised his eyebrows.

"You gay jokes aren't appreciated here AJ.  I'm married!" Kevin announced.

Brian caught on and rolled his eyes and them, "Can we please get back to work here?"

AJ and Nick settled enough to go back to planning.  And then it happened, a Backstreet Boys totem pole.  Howie climbed up Kevin, then Nick, Brian and finally to AJ's shoulders, topping off the totem pole.  He was finally able to easily reach the potions.

"Potions?" Nick asked, "I only saw one."

"Well, there's two up here!" Howie called down.  He tugged at the potions yanking them, and his totem pole, loose.

"Whoa!  Holy shit!  Oh fuck!" came a chorus of gasps and screams as all five Boys went tumbling down, some further than others, to a smashed pile on the dirt path.

"My arm!" yelped Nick.

"My ass!" cried AJ.

"What ass?" Nick grunted, trying to shove the others off of him.

"Pmmmph, emph umph!" Kevin groaned.

"Quit poking me!" AJ yelled.

"Get offa me!" Nick yelled.

Howie carefully climbed off of the pile.  He helped AJ up, then Brian and Nick.

Kevin was left on the ground, gasping for air, "I couldn't breath under there!"

"I guess Kevin doesn't like being a bottom," AJ snickered.

Kevin shot him a warning glare, but he was more interested in Howie, "Did you get them?"

Howie nodded and held up two potions, "Got ‘em...and they're safe."

Everyone hobbled over to Howie to inspect the potions for themselves.

"Guys, I think we should keep moving, it's starting to get dark in here," Howie suggested.

"Give the potions to Kevin, he has the other one.  We should keep them all together..." Brian said.

Howie nodded and walked over to Kevin, handing him the two vials.

"How come you're perfectly fine, and the rest of us got all fucked up?" AJ grumbled.

"He landed on top, though with your bony ass as his cushion I'm surprised he's not all banged up," Kevin laughed, satisfied he'd gotten his joke in.

"Let's just find some daisies and get out of here.  My arm hurts," Nick whined, holding up his mangled arm.  He began walking, his arm hanging oddly at his side.

A few yards ahead Nick found a small patch of daisies and began picking them and they almost immediately disappeared.  Nick's arm returned to normal.

"Hey!  Save some of those for us!" Brian cried.

"Sorry," Nick sighed as the remaining daisies in his hand disappeared.

"Good thing Howie's okay, because there's only three left..." AJ glared at Nick.

AJ, Brian and Kevin each took one of the remaining daisies and were quickly feeling better.

"How's the non-ass?" Nick laughed.  AJ punched him in the shoulder and walked away.

"Hey Aje, we were going this way," Howie pointed in the opposite direction.

"No, we were going this way," AJ insisted.

"No, I'm pretty sure it was this way," Howie insisted harder.

"I saw we go this way," Nick pointed to a third direction.

"Huh, that wasn't here a minute ago.  Wonder where it goes?" Howie pondered.

"Let's find out, I'm with Nick.  New path," AJ agreed.

No one could argue against the new path, so they started walking.  Pretty soon they came to a very tall stone wall.  They followed the path around the wall to an opening and they hesitantly entered.

A small woman moved around a patch of grass just inside the opening, waiting for someone to talk to her.

"Um, hi," Brian said.

"Hello there.  Welcome to Shine Sprite Village.  Please enjoy your stay."

"Um, yeah, thanks, but uh, do you know if there's any potions around here?" Brian prodded.

"My flowers haven't sprouted yet," the woman commented.

"Sorry about your flowers lady, but we're looking for a potion," AJ interrupted.

"Hello there.  Welcome to Shine Sprite Village.  Please enjoy your stay," the woman said again.

"Yeah, you said that already.  Potions?" Brian asked again.

Nick didn't wait to hear her second comment again, he'd already figured out what was going on, "That's all she's going to say.  She's a character in the game with no knowledge, just there to piss you off!"

"So...we need to find someone else?" AJ asked.

Nick nodded and the group moved away from the two-line lady.  They walked down the short path and came to a small house.

"Should we go in?" Kevin directed his question to Nick.

Nick shrugged, "Might find something in there, hard to say."

AJ opened the door to the small house and led the group in.  Inside there were small beds, and a large counter and a man standing behind it.

They walked up to the counter and the man spoke, "Welcome to Shine Sprite Village Inn.  Would you like a bed for the night?"

"No, we're looking for a potion?" Howie said to the man.

"Thank you, come again," the man answered.

AJ banged on the counter in frustration.

"Welcome to Shine Sprite Village in.  Would you like a bed for the night?"

"Oh for fuck's sake!" AJ growled.

"Let's get out of here before AJ kills an innocent character," Brian whispered and they all dragged AJ out.

"Let's try this house!" Nick called.

The other four went over to Nick and they all entered the next house.  There were no beds here, just several circular wooden tables and chairs.  There were a few people wandering in the small space, and yet another counter with a man behind it.

"It's definitely not an inn.  It's got to be something else, maybe something useful," Nick reasoned.  He stepped away from the Boys and went to the counter.

"Hello.  What can I interest you in?" the small man behind the counter asked.  A multitude of weapons then appeared on the shelves behind the counter and Nick's eyes widened.

"Um, guys, over here, he's got all kinds of cool ass shit!" Nick exclaimed.

The Boys rushed over and immediately saw the weapons.

"I want that one!" AJ pointed out a rather large black gun that looked like it did a lot more than shoot bullets, "There's gotta be something better for Church Boy than his flame thrower."

Brian rolled his eyes at AJ.

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea," Howie muttered.

"Doesn't matter, we don't have enough money for it.  I definitely need another gun though," Nick's eyes glazed over as he stared dreamily at the assortment in front of him.

"Nick!  No!  Back away from the counter.  We have a potion to look for!" Kevin demanded.

Reluctantly, Nick moved away from the counter, barely hearing the little man tell them "Thank you, come again."

Nick pouted in the corner, while the rest of the guys talked strategy.  He barely noticed the little girl walking around him.

"What's your line?" he rudely asked the child.

She turned to face him, "Deep in the village, beyond the flower meadow, lays a sleeping woman.  She holds your fate in her hands."

Nick's eyes widened.  He'd actually found the one freakin' person in this whole damn village that was helpful!

"Hey guys!  I found her!"

"Found who?" they all asked in unison.

"The person that can help us!" Nick exclaimed.

"What'd she say?" Kevin questioned.

"Something about a meadow...and sleeping...and a woman!"

"Of course you would remember the sleeping and the woman.  That doesn't exactly help us.  Get her to say it again," Brian said.

"Hey girl!" Nick shouted at the child.

Again she turned towards him, "Deep in the village, beyond the flower meadow, lays a sleeping woman.  She holds your fate in her hands."

"Okay, so we find the meadow," Howie said.

"Duh, captain obvious," AJ rolled his eyes.

Howie shot him a ‘shut the hell up' face, and they all walked out of the little house.  Well, everyone except Nick, who thought he might get another gun on the way out.

"Nickolas Gene Carter!" Kevin's voice boomed through the tiny door.

Nick dropped his head in defeat and left the ‘gun shop'.

Once the Boys were standing together outside, they began to plan their moves.

"We came from that way..." Brian stated as he pointed in one direction, then pointed the other way, "So the meadow has to be that way."

They all nodded and began walking in the opposite direction they'd come from.  Along the way they passed several houses and a few more people, who would undoubtedly give them useless information.

"There's no point talking to them, it's just a waste of time," Nick stated.

"But what if they have more information?" Howie asked.

"Then you talk to them, I'm finding the meadow," Nick said as he continued walking.

Howie shook his head and followed along.  Eventually the group came to a rather large meadow with millions of beautiful flowers.

"This is it!  There's a chick around here somewhere, and she's got our potion," AJ said.

"The little girl said beyond the meadow.  We've still got some walking to do," Kevin replied.

"Besides, I'm not so sure it'll be as easy as finding her and taking the potion," Nick added.

"Why not?  We had to find the kid to tell us where it was.  There's really more to it than that?" AJ asked.

"Video games are never that easy."

The five wandered through the never-ending meadow, some of them crunching through the flowers, and others *cough*Brian*cough* trying to gently push them aside so as not to crush them all.

"Over here!" Kevin's voice rang out across the meadow.  Each of the Boys raised their heads, trying to find him, and then ran in his direction.

As they approached, they each spotted the person lying just outside the meadow on a large boulder.  They walked cautiously towards the sleeping form, prepared for some kind of attack, but no attack came.  Maybe this would be easier than they'd thought.

"So, where's this potion?" Brian asked.

Howie and Kevin gently inspected the body from the feet up.  Her bare feet looked odd, but they continued.  The long dress she wore covered her from ankle to neck.  Her hands were folded together over her chest.  Her short blond hair fanned out around her head.  They gently poked at her, but they found nothing.

"Are we sure we have the right chick?" AJ asked, eyebrows raised.

"How many sleeping women do you think there are around this here meadow?" Brian shot back.

"How the hell am I supposed to know Church Boy?  It's not like I've played this fucking game before!"

"SHUT UP!" Nick yelled, "Stop arguing!  The fairy said we have to work together!"

"Nick is right.  We need to figure this out together," Kevin supported Nick.

"Thank you, Kevin.  That little girl said something about holding our fate in her hands..." Nick thought out loud.

"Good job, Nicky boy!" Howie clapped Nick on the back.

Immediately everyone went to the sleeping woman's hands.

"What if she wakes up!" Brian panicked.

"She didn't wake up when they poked at her, why would she wake up now?" AJ said as he reached for the woman's hands.  He yanked and pulled, and pulled and yanked, but nothing happened.

"What's wrong, weak ass?  Can't get it?" Nick laughed and went in to pull on her hands.  Again, nothing happened.

AJ smiled smugly at him.

"See, I knew we should've talked to one of those people.  Maybe they'd have told us how to do it," Howie grumbled.

"Go ask that one," Nick pointed out a person wandering a few yards to their right.  Everyone's heads snapped to the wandering person and Howie took off running.

"Can you help us?" he asked as he ran up to the child.

The child turned to him, "Her fair lips hold the treasure."

Howie groaned, not completely sure what the child was talking about, but it had to be helpful.  Maybe the others would get it.  So he ran back to the others and relayed the message.

"It's like Sleeping Beauty.  Someone has to kiss her," Kevin understood immediately.

"Sleeping Beauty?  I have so many issues with that..." AJ trailed off.  No one said anything.

"So, who's going to do the honors?" Kevin asked.

"All those who are married are out!" AJ announced immediately, "But I have no problems doing it!"

"What if I want to kiss her?" Nick countered.

"I called it first!" AJ argued.

"But I saw her first!" Nick argued right back.

"I think AJ is right-" Kevin began, but was quickly cut off.

"Of course you would take AJ's side!" Nick pouted, while AJ grinned happily

"I'm not taking anyone's side.  I just think...AJ's supposed to be the leader of this all, right?  So, it would stand to reason, then, that it would have to be him."

AJ grinned wider, very happy that he had won this fight, "Fuck yeah!"

Nick pouted more, mumbling under his breath, "Why the hell was he the damn chosen leader?"

The others shrugged silently, and waited for AJ to kiss her.  AJ, of course, took his sweet little time.  He wanted to drag this moment out as long as he could.

"Fuck, AJ, just kiss her already so we can get this over with!" Nick growled, clearly upset.

AJ flipped Nick off as he leaned in closer and closer.  Finally his lips touched hers, softly pressing them to her cold hard lips.  Well, they were cold and hard...all of a sudden, her hands unfolded and wrapped around him, holding him tightly.

AJ squealed, trying to push away, completely startled, but she held him close.  The potion had fallen to the ground, long forgotten by the now awake woman.  Kevin quickly leaned down to grab it, letting the woman molest AJ a little longer, before he cleared his throat.

The woman abruptly let AJ go.  AJ jumped back, spluttering for air.

"And I was just getting to the fun!" the woman pouted.

"You'll live," AJ growled at her, upset that she had grabbed onto him like that startling him.

"Yeah, so, thanks for the potions!" Brian called to her, motioning for the others to follow him.

AJ hesitated, but saw the look in her eye and knew that if he didn't run, he'd never get out of here.  A little piece of him wanted to stay back and make-out with Sleeping Beauty, but the logical part of him saw the crazy in her eyes and he decided to make a run for it.  The five dashed off through the meadow, hoping she wouldn't follow behind.

"AJ!  Come back!  I wasn't done with you!" she yelled after him, pushing herself up to her feet to chase him down.

That did it.  He knew he needed to get away from her, "Run!" AJ screamed, bypassing the others in his rush to get away.

"Please AJ!  Please come back!" she yelled.

"In here!" Nick called, holding the door open to another little house.

They all ran in and Nick yanked the door closed.  They stood just inside the door, hoping she wouldn't find them in there.

"Hello, welcome to Shine Sprite Village Potions.  How may I help you?" a little woman politely asked.

"We don't need any fucking potions!" AJ snapped at the woman.

"Thank you, come again," she politely replied.

"Wait!  What if she has our last potion?" Howie exclaimed.

Nick's eyes brightened and he went over to the little woman, "Hey lady?"

"Hello, welcome to Shine Sprite Village Potions.  How may I help you?" the little woman asked again.

"Um, what kind of potions do you have?" Nick asked.  Just like the ‘gun shop', a wide array of potions in vials and bottles appeared in front of them.

They each studied the vials, trying to see if they could recognize the potion they needed.

"That one!" Howie exclaimed, pointing to a small vial that was identical to the other four they currently held.

Nick exchanged what little money they had for the potion, "Talk about luck."

"Yeah, now we just have to figure out how to get out of this damn village without getting attacked by psycho Sleeping Beauty," AJ sighed, "Too bad she's crazy, she was really hot."

The others just shook their heads, headed back towards the door.  Nick cracked the door open, peeking his head out to see if he could see the woman.

"No sign.  Just stay close together, and close to the buildings," Nick directed.

"And move fast," AJ added on.

Quickly they all moved out of the house, not bothering to close the door behind them and made a run for it.  They dashed from house to house, hoping to make it out alive.

"I can see it!  I see the opening!" Brian whispered excitedly.

Everyone's faces lit up as they ran for it, sure they would make it out of the village without problem.

"Whew, I can't believe we made it," AJ sighed, "Where do you think she went?"

"Does it really matter?" Brian asked.

AJ shook his head no.

"So...this doesn't look the same as it did when we went in there..." Howie commented on their new surroundings.

"Maybe we should summon Pearl again, ask her what to do now that we found the potions?" Brian suggested.

"Oh no, not that damn pink plump fairy shit again.  Let's figure this out-" AJ was cut off.

"Don't like my summoning spell now, do we?" Pearl asked a little disappointed.

"Fuck!" AJ yelped, "Don't scare me like that!"

"Serves you right for dissing her spell," Nick commented.

"Now, now boys.  No arguing, I don't have the patience," Pearl advised them.

"You have no patience, but we're supposed to," AJ mumbled under his breath.

Pearl heard him, but chose to ignore his comments, "Anyhoo, I see you've found your potions.  They are all intact?"

The Boys nodded and Kevin pulled them all out.

"Good, good.  Just follow this path up through the trees and your next instructions will be there," Pearl instruction, and she was gone.

Kevin tucked the potions back into his pants pocket and they all walked up the path through the trees, finally reaching a wrought-iron gate.

"Umm...I think Pearl left something out?" Nick stated, a little confused.

"Yeah, I think we need a key," AJ rattled the tall gate.

"Oh no no no," a voice rang out from the trees to the right of them.

"Um, tree?  Is that you?" Nick's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

AJ, however, recognized the voice and froze.

"I'm not a tree silly boy!" she said, finally coming into view.

"Oh shit.  Oh shit, shit, shit," Nick whispered.

"Why did you run from me AJ?" she asked a little upset.

"I...uh...had some things to do?" he answered.

"Well I guess I could make those things a little harder to do then, since you didn't want to wait for me," she replied smugly as she held up a long blue ribbon, a key dangling from the end.

"The key!" they each exclaimed.

"Um, can we have that key there...what's your name?" Howie politely asked.

"I'm Tracy...Princess Tracy.  I'm not so sure I want to give you the key though."

"Damnit AJ!" Nick yelled at him.

"I'm sorry!  How the hell was I supposed to know!  She was going crazy on me!"

"Please Princess Tracy, can we please have the key?" Nick pleaded with her.

"Hmmm," she tapped her chin with her finger, "No...but you weren't supposed to get the key anyways..."

"So...what?" Kevin began the questioning.

"I have some instructions for you, but I'm not sure I want to share them since AJ wasn't very nice to me earlier," Tracy pushed her lower lip out in a pout.

Nick, Howie, Brian and Kevin all looked at AJ expectantly.

AJ finally gave in, "Fine.  Princess Tracy, I'm sorry I ran from you.  I was startled."

"It hurt my feelings," she said sadly, "You never run from a girl."

The others laughed at the truth in that comment.

"I'm so very, very sorry Princess Tracy.  What can I do to make it up to you?"

"Nothing," she grinned, completely satisfied, "An apology was all I wanted.  Here's your instructions.  Those potions you found?"

Kevin pulled them back out of his pocket and held them up.

"Each of you must take one, and drink it."

"But Pearl said not to drink it," Brian told her.

"You were not to drink them until now.  Now is the time to drink them."

"Well, what are they going to do?" Nick asked, receiving glares from Kevin, Howie and Brian, "What?  I don't know what these things will do to us?  How do I know she's not trying to trick us?"

"Why would I trick you, my dear Nicky?"

"I'm with Nick.  I'm not drinking this unless I know what it's going to do to me," AJ stood with Nick.

"Well then, I guess you're staying with me for a very long time," Princess Tracy grinned and wiggled her eyebrows.

"Sorry Nicky boy, but I can't hang out here!  I'll drink the potion," AJ quickly replied and grabbed a potion.

Nick groaned and finally gave in as well, grabbing a potion.

"On the count of three," Kevin said.

"What's with all this count of three shit," AJ poked fun at Kevin.

Kevin ignored him, "One..."

They all uncapped their potions.

"...Two..."

They each lifted their potions to their lips.

"...Three."

They each poured the liquid into their mouths and swallowed.

*Bang*

*Pop*

*Crack*

And then everything changed...kind of.  It all looked the same, just a little bigger.

"That didn't do sh..." AJ began, but his voice trailed as he looked at the guys...well he thought it must be the guys...standing around him.

"Umm...Kev..."

"Whoa, awesome!" Nick exclaimed.

Princess Tracy cringed and plugged her ears.

"Oops, sorry," Nick said to her.

"Are we seriously...wolves?" Brian questioned.

"I'm not sure she can hear us," AJ commented.

"Yes we're wolves, and she has to hear us, she cringed when I yelled."

"Um, boys...or should I say wolves, can we stop the barking and howling?" Tracy caught their attention.

"Howling?" Kevin asked.

"Barking?" Howie questioned.

"Ooooh, duh!  We're wolves.  We don't speak human," Nick explained.

"Speak human?  Okay then," AJ asked, "Explain?"

"It's easy!  We're all wolves, so we can all understand each other.  But a person won't be able to.  If Kristen was watching this on the tv back at your house she'd hear our howling and barking like Princess Tracy, and the words would probably scroll on the screen or something..."

"Wolves!  Over here!" Princess Tracy grew impatient and dangled the key in front of them.

The Boys...Wolves...whatever...they all went over to the Princess next to the gate.

"I will now open the gate and you may continue your journey," she smiled and inserted the key into the lock and gently pushed the gate open.  They five wolves walked through the gate, taking a few steps.

"So...which way?  We can go to that bright courtyard...or the dark creepy graveyard."