NOTE: Just so there is no confusion, I just want to clarify that this story kind of runs backwards. The sequence of events is from the present to the oldest event. It's what makes the story fun!

Territorial Disputes

Present

"C-Cornelia?…Sweety? Can we…can we talk about this?"

Caleb shuffled back into a corner as his girlfriend kept coming towards him. Her glare was so intense, he was sure she'd scare even Phobos.

"Sure" she said mockingly, "let's talk"

A vine shot out from one of the cracks in the floor of the Silver Dragon's basement. Quick as a whip, it wrapped itself around one of Caleb's ankles and grew upwards. Caleb found himself looking at Cornelia's face much closer and upside down.

"Start talking" she demanded, crossing her arms.

Ten Minutes Earlier

"So how are things going with you and Cornelia" Drake asked as he, Aldarn, and Caleb made their way casually to the space fold Blunk had opened to Earth.

"Great" Caleb stated. Suddenly suspicious, he added, "Why?"

"Do you know what happened four months ago on this day?" he asked, nudging his friend.

"Trying extremely hard not to" he responded with a nervous glance at Aldarn. Aldarn rolled his eyes and said offhandedly, "Don't worry, I'm not holding a grudge"

Caleb smiled in relief as the three stepped up to the fold.

"Well, not that big of a grudge" Aldarn muttered under his voice right before stepping through. However, Drake and Caleb were close enough to him to hear him perfectly.

"Why on Meridian did you have to bring that up for?" Caleb asked Drake angrily, after Aldarn went through. He hit his arm.

"Ow!" Drake winced. He rubbed his arm as he spoke, "I just wanted to see if you guys had settled your territorial dispute already"

"I'm over it enough" Caleb said defensively. "Aldarn's just being a sore loser"

"You have something on your boot" Drake stated completely off topic. Caleb looked down at his shoe to see a wad of dirt on his shoe. At least, he hoped it was dirt.

"Gross" he hissed kicking it off as Drake laughed and went through the fold. Caleb rubbed the boot against the back of his other pant leg in an attempt to get the mark off. He absentmindedly stepped through the fold still looking at his shoe as he spoke.

"Look, Drake, I won the rights to Cornelia fair and square and Aldarn's just not accepting it"

He looked up and froze. Instead of being at the City Dump where they were supposed to be, he was in the basement of the Silver Dragon with W.I.T.C.H. staring at him. They had heard every word he'd said.

"WHAT?" Cornelia barked at him. Drake and Aldarn who were half-way up the stairs stopped and glanced at each other and then at Caleb.

In a flash, they were up the stairs and gone.

Roughly Four Months Ago, Around the Episode "The Key"

Aldarn's head snapped to a side as Caleb's fist made contact with it. He fell to the ground in pain and dizziness but got himself up rather quick trying to regain his bearings. He quickly sent a punch to Caleb's guts and missed due to his blurry vision. Seeing Caleb loose balance as he sidestepped, Aldarn dropped to the ground and tripped Caleb. Caleb groaned as he landed on his back.

Watching the whole scene from a nearby chair, Drake shook his head.

"I've got to learn to keep my mouth shut" he sighed as he raised his head to continue watching the fight.

Three Minutes Before

"Chlaritore Mech" Aldarn announced, crossing his arms.

Caleb raised an eyebrow. "Chlaritore Mech? You think you can beat me in a fight for the rights to a woman?"

"Sure as hell I do. Get up" he demanded, getting up himself and taking off his coat. He took a fighting stance shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"You're on" Caleb responded, smirking with confidence as he took off his own coat and put his sword on the table.

"Um, guys…?" Drake started, obviously worried. But he didn't get a chance to finish as Aldarn started the fight with a round kick to Caleb's ribs…

Ten Minutes Before, How This All Started

"So, who do you think is the hottest Guardian?"

Aldarn and his two best friends were sitting around a circular table playing a Meridian card game. Drake was the first one to speak up.

"The Water Guardian's definitely my number one" he stated with a mischievous smirk. "Three by five, goose, fucia" he announced dropping two cards and picking up a couple of Glalock teeth at the center of the table. "Her outfits sexy and I love her hair"

Caleb groaned and picked up the rest of the teeth while putting down about twenty cards and four smooth pebbles.

"What is it with you and brunettes?" Aldarn asked picking up the pebbles and the cards Caleb put down. He shuffled through them, found six he liked, kept them and placed the rest of them down in a circle. "Tricks, 4X"

"I don't have a fixation with brunettes" Drake responded defensively as he threw the teeth on the table and picked up the cards that the teeth fell on. "I think the Air Guardian is cute too" He pulled out a match from his coat pocket and set the remaining cards on fire.

"'Cute' isn't the same as 'Hot'" Caleb stated, throwing two cards into the now blazing fire in the center of their card table.

"I think the Earth Guardian's the hottest" said Aldarn as he blew away the ashes of the cards and dumped a bag of red sand over the charred center of the wood table.

"That is not fair!" Caleb exclaimed, burying five cards under the sand. "I was going to call the Earth Guardian!"

"You said you thought the Keeper was sexy" Drake brought up. He drew a weird symbol in the center of the sand as at the same time, Aldarn laughed as he threw a couple of blue colored berries on top of the sand.

"I said she was sexy. It's not the same as the hot." He added on to Drake's design and picked up of the berries. He popped it into his mouth and tossed two green ones onto the table from a bag in his coat. Drake contributed one red one for a green and a blue.

"Well, too late. I called dibs" Aldarn announced proudly as he ate the red berry. His confidence disappeared as he puckered his lips and spat the berry back out in disgust. Drake snickered from behind his hand of cards.

"Well, you're the one that's too late. I called dibs before you" Caleb declared with a glint in his eye that both his friends knew meant he was going to start something.

"You're such a liar" Aldarn said with a taunting smirk.

"I met her first" Caleb pointed out, putting his hand of cards face down on the table. His eyes were serious but also had a taunting playfulness to them which got on Aldarn's nerves.

"So? I've talked to her just as much as you have" He too put his cards down.

"I heard what you said!" Caleb shot back, "She thinks you're insane!"

"But I didn't need to be rescued by teenage girls"

"You don't even know her name!"

"What does her name have to do with anything?"

"Guys," Drake interrupted, "you sound like bickering teenage girls. You want to resolve this? Resolve it like guys!"

Aldarn glared at Caleb. Then he broke into another confident smirk.

"Fine. Lowest amateck wins" He picked up his cards.

"Fine by me" Caleb picked up his cards too. Drake looked at them both and muttered, "This will not end well…"

With lightning quick speed, both boys laid down three cards. Drake observed both pairs and groaned.

"Tie" he declared. But Aldarn hadn't lost his confidence.

"I know just the perfect tie-breaker…"

Present, Once Again

Caleb cringed at the look on Cornelia's face as he finished recounting.

"You mean to say you claimed me like a piece of property after winning a card game?" she asked him through gritted teeth.

"Well, we tied the card game. I won you because of the f—Ow!" he cried out as the vine holding him up loosened and he dropped to the floor on his back.

"When I'm done with you, The Tracker isn't going to be able to find your remains!" she shouted. "Will!"

Will, who had been sitting in a corner trying to figure out why on Earth or Meridian Caleb would find her sexy, snapped to attention and pulled out the Heart to transform Cornelia.

Caleb, fearing for his life, grabbed Blunk's tonga tooth and opened a space fold to Meridian himself. He jumped through it quickly, pulling Blunk along due to the fact that he was on the other end of the tooth's chain. Cornelia finished transforming and shot through the fold, hot on his heels just as the fold closed.

There was silence as the remaining four Guardians stared at where the space fold had been. Hay Lin spoke up first, her voice an excited squeal.

"Let's go after them, Will! I just have to see how this plays out!"

"I think they just need some time. I really don't think Cornelia will—Sexy? If Cornelia's his type, how can he find me sexy?" Will switched mid-sentence and her baffled/frustrated look returned.

Irma got up and skipped merrily past Hay Lin and Will and up the stairs past Taranee who was sitting on the fifth or so step, grumbling about how none of the guys had chosen her.

She reached the top of the stairs and stuck her head out into the restaurant.

"DraAaAaAaAaAake!" she called out in a sing-song voice.

The End