Unsettled Virginia, a.k.a, "The New World"- Day

"Never-again-" Riot hissed as she pulled herself out of the bushes. "I don't give a damn what those testosterone-punching-bags say, I am never letting either of them drive the Gummi ship again!" You see, on their way to a new world, Max had wanted to try steering the Gummi ship. Riku said yes- Riot said no. Riku said:

"Let him try."

Riot said:

"I am not taking advice from a crappy driver like you."

A fight broke out, they lost control of the ship, and crash-landed into their destination. In the crash, apparently, Riot, Riku and Max had been separated. Now the female member of the group was wandering aimlessly as she searched for her friends. "Riku! Max! I'm going to strangle those idiots…" She hissed.

Riot paused for a moment, leaning against a tree and looking around. What world are we in, anyway? She thought. There were many trees- it was a forest, after all- that she identified as cedar, oak and pine trees. This would have been an opportune time to start looking for a Cornerstone piece, but Riku had the only shard they were using.

He'd better not waste time… She thought dangerously. Usually, Riot was very placid- the term 'calm, cool and collected' could have been made with her in mind. But in just the right situation, she became snappy as a crocodile and twice as dangerous. Ironically, most of these situations notably involved Riku. "Riku! Max!"

Suddenly, she heard a loud cry from somewhere nearby. Riot tensed, and listened for the cry again to pinpoint it. When she did, she turned and dashed to a nearby clearing. A group of shadow heartless had a young woman surrounded. She was unarmed, and had no choice but to back into a tree. A quick Thundaga spell took care of the Heartless, and Riot was left alone with the woman.

Slowly, she approached. The woman in the clearing was no longer backed against the tree, but studying this newcomer with suspicious eyes. The woman was tanned, with long, black hair and brown eyes. She wore a deerskin dress, no shoes, and a blue necklace. She was very tall, though she couldn't have been too much older than Riot.

"Hello," Riot said. The woman paused, and then said something back in a language the teenager couldn't understand. "Sorry… I didn't catch that." She said. The woman stopped, as though thinking. Then, a moment later, she said- in clear English-

"Hello. My name is Pocahontas." Riot's eyebrows shot up. Wow. Either she knew English and didn't know I spoke it, or she just magically learned English in under a minute. "What is your name?"

"Ah… Riot." The warrior said. "Nice to meet you, Pocahontas." Pocahontas nodded.

"What were those shadow-creatures?" She asked.

"Heartless. I suggest you stay away from them. They'll kill you if they get the chance." Pocahontas nodded again, and stared at Riot a little more.

"Are you… from here?" She asked.

"No. I'm new. I was with two boys, Riku and Max. Did you see any boys my age wandering around today?"

"I am afraid not. Have you seen a raccoon and a hummingbird in this area? They are my friends, Meeko and Flit."

Talk about finding a needle in a haystack- there must be hundreds of raccoons and hummingbirds in this forest. Riot thought dryly, but held her tongue and shook her head. "No, sorry." She glanced around again, and then asked, "Where am I?"

Riku was in the doghouse, and he knew it. He had violated one of his many incredibly important rules of survival:

Do not, under any circumstances, piss off Riot.

You can, and you will get your sorry ass kicked all the way to the Underworld. Heaven and Hell knew he was in for a thrashing when he found her and Max again. And undoubtedly, she would- in her own, subtle way- rub it into his face that she had been right about his judgment when it came to driving. Groaning, he slapped his palm against his forehead. He wasn't going to hear the end of this for days.

Suddenly, something moved off to his left. He heard the snapping of a twig. Riku froze on the spot, but did not move to look at what was there. He was sorely tempted to summon his keyblade right then and there, but that would alert whoever was there too easily. It obviously wasn't Max or Riot- he would have heard some sort of sarcastic remark if it was one of them. Twitching his hand forward so that it was in front of him, he allowed some dark energy to gather in his hand. Not enough for it to be conspicuous, but enough to hurt if someone was blasted with it.

Riku continued to walk forward, though a bit more slowly now. As he thought about it, this obviously wasn't a member of Organization XIII, either- if they had seen him stop, they would have known they had been discovered and simply attacked him. Not a Heartless or Dusk, either, because they would've had no need to sneak up on him. No, this was someone else.

Now that he attuned his hearing to it, Riku could hear very soft footfalls moving behind him. He tensed.

Three… Two… One…

Riku suddenly whirled around and sent the dark aura energy shooting in the direction of his pursuer. It slammed into something- the stalker, undoubtedly- and sent it flying back against a tree. In a split second, Riku had his keyblade out, charged through the bushes, and had his blade pushed against the throat of the stalker.

Well, he was right- it wasn't a Heartless, Dusk, or member of Organization XIII. It was a man- a blonde man, with a silver chest-plate and helmet. When Riku caught side of a rifle the man had dropped when he was hit, Riku found himself glad he'd attacked. Glaring at the blonde man, he said, "Who are you, and why are you following me?" forcefully.

The man held up his hands defensively. "I'm sorry- I thought you were an Indian." Riku stared at him.

"And how does that give you a right to stalk someone?"

"Look- I'm sorry. Can you please get the blade away from my throat?" Riku didn't move.

"Swear you won't try to shoot me."

"I swear." The man said. Riku paused… and then pulled back. The man slowly leaned over and picked up his gun, swinging it onto his back. "Thank you." He held out a hand. "My name's John Smith. I'm with a group of Englishmen that just landed here. And you are?" Riku hesitated yet again, and then shook John's hand.

"Name's Riku. Hey- have you seen anyone else around here? Another boy, with black hair, carrying a shield? And a blonde girl, dressed in gray and white?" John shook his head.

"Sorry. I haven't. Are they your friends?" Riku bit his lip sharply to hold back a sarcastic remark. He was tired and irritated, and searched to avoid angering John. But seriously, who else would he be talking about? His worst enemies?

"Yes," Riku replied. "We got separated when… Er… We got here." He purposefully shied away from the subject of the crash landing- he'd get enough of a reminder of that later. John pulled his helmet up and put it back on his head.

"Well," He said decisively. "I'm just exploring around here, and the settlement isn't that far off. Chances are, your friends found their way to it. Come on- I'll take you there." Riku nodded.

"Thanks." He said. As they walked, he began to think of artistic replies he could come up with to counter the ones he was going to get from Max and Riot…