Six Will Stand (First Draft)

Chapter 24

The redhead groaned as he woke up, the continuous monotone sound filling the room. "Eeehhhhhhhhhhhh....." He slowly lifted himself up in his bed, then, when he was sitting up, he stopped his annoying groaning and pointed his finger at the person who had woken him up. "Stop yourself."

"Oh, come on!" Josh scoffed. "It's eight in the morning, that's not early at all."

"Eight in the morning?!" Fai flopped back down. "Wah, eight in the morning..."

Josh rolled his eyes. "You've woken up at the crack of dawn before, give me a break."

"'Ey, I'll take what I can get." The redhead rolled over and put his pillow over his head. "Ehhhhhhh eight in the morning..."

Josh yanked the pillow from Fai. "Get. Up. Idiot. We're leaving in fifteen minutes."

The redhead whined again, and rolled back over onto his back. He shot up, then clutched at his head. "Ow...head rush..." Groaning, he turned and placed his feet on the floor in front of Josh. "Ehhh..." The weirdo stood up and stretched a bit, then said, "Where are we leaving again...?"

"Yrin's." Josh threw the pillow back at Fai. "And you don't want to be late."

"Maybe you think I don't..." Fai rubbed at his eyes and yawned, "Ehhh..."

Josh cocked an eyebrow. "You haven't dealt with Yrin when he's in a bad mood. Trust me, you don't want to deal with him if he's in a bad mood."

"Never said I wouldn't get ready," the redhead stretched again, then walked over to where his fresh clothes were. "Is everyone else up?"

"Yep, they're downstairs."

Fai yawned again, "Okay, I'll be ready in a--Timothy?!" The redhead giggled as he looked at his folded clothes. "Look, Josh, it's Timothy!" The little green lizard was half-hidden in between the folds of Fai's clothes. "He wasn't squished!"

"Yay...." Josh sounded none too pleased at this discovery and looked at the lizard in disgust.

"Haha, lizards..." Fai patted Timothy's little head with the pad of his thumb. "Hey, buddy. Here..." The redhead picked the little lizard up and encouraged him to go into one of his bag pockets. "There." Fai turned to Josh, "Now I'll get ready."

"Good. Be down in a few minutes, okay?" With that, Josh turned and left the room.

After 'a few minutes', Fai stalked down the stairs. "Ninja Fai, ninja Fai, does whatever a ninja Fai does..."

"What have we said about real names, Matthew?" Josh was sitting at the table, Marion, Cade, Rin, Tam, and Silvia also sitting around the table.

Fai straightened himself and stuck out his tongue. "Ninja Matt, ninja Matt, does whatever a ninja Matt does." He trotted over to the table. "Anywho, good morning everybody!"

Josh rolled his eyes, earning a stern glance from Silvia. "Joshua, be nice to your guest."

Josh sighed. "He's not my guest. And believe me, Silvia. I stopped trying a long time ago."

"That's not the young man I raised." Silvia's tone was that of a mother speaking to her child.

"No it's not." Josh took a sip from the mug in front of him. "It's the young man I've become over the years of dealing with rude and annoying people."

Silvia sighed, but didn't say anything for the moment, instead placing a plate of food in front of Fai as he sat at the table. "I try."

Josh winked, his eyes twinkling playfully. "I know, Mom."