I'm so so so sorry for taking years to get back to this story. I know that this chapter isn't much but hopefully it will hold you over till I can write the next one. Once again, so sorry. Enjoy.

"Hey, I'm Nod by the way." Nod said over his shoulder to introduce himself to the girl riding with him. The girl looked at him like he was crazy.

"Hi M.K, yeah, could you just face the way the bird's driving." M.K said, half laughing nervously. Nod looked at the girl behind him and raised an eyebrow.

"Nah don't worry. She practically flies herself." Nod said his head completely turned around to look at the Stomper.

"Great. Because this whole bird riding thing is new to me. And uh…" M.K was at a loss for words. She didn't really know what to say at all. Yes, flying on the back of a bird was a very new thing for her but so was being the size of mythical fairy. It just didn't happen and it was very much freaking her out.

"Are you serious?" Nod asked. He thought she was just another Jinn. But to him everyone, that was anybody, should have been able to know how to ride a bird. It was the main most of transport anyways.

"We gotta fix that. Here put your arms around me." Nod demanded. M.K looked at him wide eye. Sure he had not just asked her to put her arms around him.

"I just met you." M.K protested weakly. Nod shrugged his shoulder.

"Okay but you're going wanna hold onto something." He said. He didn't want to argue. He thought he would have a better chance of just showing her and then she would instinctively wrap her arms around him. Just like he wanted.

"AH!" M.K screamed in Nod's ear. Almost breaking the inside of his eardrum, he flinched ever so slightly but continued with the path of flight. He swooped down to the very top of the tree branches that where below them and then back to General Ronin's side. Unbeknownst to him, General Ronin was not happy about the display. He glared at Nod, but Nod was too caught up in his world to notice the General's glare.

"What is wrong with you?" M.K shouted out once they were flying steadily in the air. Nod looked back at her like she was crazy and maybe she was.

"Do you know how hard it is to do that without falling?" He exclaimed. He was surprised she hadn't just fallen off the bird, kind of like he expected her to do.

"I do now." M.K said quiet annoyed with the guy's behavior. 'He was out of his mind' she thought. Of course then again the same argument could be made for her. Was she just as crazy as he was?

"Nod, perch your bird." General Ronin said firmly and with a stern glare to accompany it. Nod looked over to his former superior.

"Hey I'm just trying to keep things-…. light." Nod had started off cheerful but he soon became at a loss for words when he saw what lay before him. A barren waste land. It had burnt to a crisp and all that was left was charred remains of the once beautiful green trees and ash of everything that lay in its path.

"What did that?" M.K asked. She thought that maybe it had just been a natural forest fire. It happened all the time and she had heard that it actually did good for the forest, but something inside her head was telling her that that wasn't true. At least in this case that's what she thought.

"Mandrake." The General answered. He voice had hardened with hatred and anger. "Tara's power always kept him in check, now nothing can heal what he destroys, except that Pod." Once more the voice of the General softened when he spoke of the Queen and the pod but everyone seemed to notice the tone of his voice was laced with pain.

"We have to go around." The General decided. He kept looking around at the newly barren wasteland. He had seen this scene one too many times before. He knew of the potential risk he'd be taking if he went straight. He wasn't going to take any chances now that he had the Pod of the Forest with him. But Nod had a mind of his own.

"What? Just for one scout?" Nod said. He sounded like he was in disbelief of the General. He might have not been a Leafman as long as the General or as long as his father but he wasn't going to listen to the General anytime soon. The General looked over to younger Leafman and raised an eyebrow.

"Every see just one Boggan?" The General asked. He turned around to secure a bag on his saddle, but Nod had other things on his mind. Nod turned around to M.K and grinned at her.

"Hold onto me." He said. M.K looked at him like he was crazy. And if someone had asked his friends they would've agreed with them. Nod was crazy.

"Still barely know you." She squeaked out. Nod kicked his bird and spurred it forward, diving down towards a fallen log. General Ronin heard Nod take off with the girl and the Pod and call out for them.

"Nod, wait!" The General shouted out. He reached out for Nod, but it was too late. Just as Nod and M.K got the closest they could to the log, a large flock of screeching bats came flying out from under the log block Nod from his path of flight.

"AH!" Screamed out M.K. Instantly M.K's grip tightened around Nod's torso and The Pod.

"Whoa!" Nod shouted out. He was just as surprised as M.K. He pulled back on the reins causing the bird to flutter its wings from the sudden halt. General Ronin dove down after Nod and M.K. The slugs held on to each other as the General chased after the disobedient former Leafman.

"Get to the ground." General Ronin ordered, blocking Nod's bird from the imminent attack of Mandrake's bats. General Ronin and Nod both directed their bird to fly through the ferns and grass, hoping that it would provide enough cover for them to gain some time before the bats and Boggan scouts attacked.

"This way." General Ronin shouted out. Both of the Leafmen jumped off their birds, including M.K, and tried to make their way over to a fallen log to gain some cover but it was no use.

Nod was struggling to pull his bird into the log as a Boggan, on a raven, flew over them and took the chance of shooting an arrow at the pair.

"Other way." Nod shouted out Nod let go of his reign's moments before the Boggan released the arrow from his grip. He grabbed M.K by the hand and jumped into an open hole, hearing the arrow hiss above his head. He and M.K tumbled down the side of the hole and into the shadows where the light could not reach them, effectively keeping them out of sight from the Boggan scout.

M.K sat up instantly, panting hard from the fall, still clutching tightly to The Pod that was in her arms. She was shaken up pretty well. Her eyes were wide with fear and her breathing was uneven.

"What was that thing?" She questioned out loud, not even pointing to the open hole above, as she looked over to Nod's figure lying on the ground. Nod sat up at her question, looked over to her with on disbelief, and ran his hand through his hair.

"What, you've never seen a Boggan?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "Someone had a happy childhood." He commented, slightly under his breath. "Come on let's regroup." He told M.K as he stood up and adjusted the strap holding his sword. He looked up out of the hole and saw no Boggan threats.

"You mean up there with those things?" M.K questioned in disbelief. She was slowly backing away from the light, as well as Nod, taking the pod with her. "They almost killed us." M.K pointed out. Nod had finished brushing off the dust and turned around, suddenly stilling and lowering his voice.

"Don't turn around." He warned. Nod was now backing away slowly towards the wall. M.K let out a gasp and instantly froze.

"Is it a boogie?" M.K asked, her voice had softened as well. She hadn't moved an inch but her eyes were shifting side to side to try and figure out what was behind her, however fear had nearly paralyzed her from actually turning around.

"Walk towards me slowly." Nod instructed, motioning M.K to walk towards him. But M.K didn't listen. Curiosity got the better of her and she finally was able to turn around and see what was actually behind her. She couldn't see it right away but soon she could see two beady red dots coming at her. But as the creature came closer she realized it wasn't as scary as she thought. Her face instantly lightened up and her voice became one that you might use with a child or a pet.

"Aww, it's a mouse." She said, awing at the furry creature. "Hi mousey, I was gonna scare it away." M.K leaned down to inspect the creature closer and to try and pet the mouse's head.

"What are you doing?" Nod nearly shouted at M.K. He was bewildered by her actions. No one that he knew of in their right mind would be doing what she was currently trying to do with the mouse.

"Look at its little hands and little whiskers." M.K gushed. She reached out her hands to try and pet the mouse on its head but ended up brushing her hand against the mouse's sensitive whiskers. The mouse in response backed away from M.K and ruffled his own whiskers with his front feet, almost as though he was trying to clean himself. The mouse now stood at its full height, casting a towering shadow over the now very frightened M.K. M.K took a moment to stare at the now enormous mouse as it snarled at the scent of the two intruders. Finally M.K came to her senses and ran around the mouse towards Nod as she let out a shriek of fear.

M.K's attention, however, was so focused on running away from the mouse that she didn't realize that she had run right into Nod. Nod had started to back away but when M.K bumped into him he pulled her farther away and towards the burrows opening so they could both jump out. Or so he thought. Nod took the lead and jumped out of the burrow landing on his feet. M.K looked on in amazement. She had never seen anyone jump that high before, she didn't even think it was possible. When Nod stood up he took a quick look around him, assuming that M.K would follow him and be nearby; she was not.

"Hello other person." M.K shouted out to Nod, waving her free arm around to get Nod's attention. Nod looked over the ledge back into the burrow and internally shaking his head.

"Jump." Nod yelled out in advice. M.K's eyes widened more. Was he out of his mind?' M.K thought. He must be. That had to be the only reason that he was telling her to jump that high. Which last time she checked, was way out of the question.

"I can't jump that high." M.K shouted back. Nod looked down at her with an exasperated look. His mind was racking with all possible reasons as to why she couldn't, or rather wouldn't jump out of the way of danger and up to safety. He motioned to her once more, a last ditch attempt to bring her to her senses and jump out of the burrow. M.K looked over her shoulder and saw that the mouse was coming closer. At the last possible moment M.K took a leap of faith and jumped higher than she had ever done before. However she didn't fully pay attention to where she was jumping to and landed just behind the mouse a few steps away. Amazed by what she had just done she looked up at Nod with a large smile on her face and said.

"Did you see what I just did?" She said holding her left arm up as she had used it to help balance her after she had jumped away from the mouse; her other arm still securely holding on to the Pod.

"Out," Nod exasperated. "Jump out." He motioned with his hand to the ground above M.K. She her wide eye expression softened a bit and then hardened as she saw the mouse charge towards her. Now aware of how high she could jump she tried to get out of the path of the charging mouse. However she was not successful. She didn't look where she had jumped and hit her head on an overhanging root branch, knocking her unconscious.

"Oh, great." Nod groaned. The last thing he wanted to do that day was save a fellow Jinn from a mouse attack. He jumped back down into the mouse hold and started to wave his arms around.

"Hey over here, over here." Nod shouted out trying to get the mouse's attention away from the knocked out M.K on the ground. The mouse sniffed around in the air, trying to detect the other Jinn's scent. Nod started to run down the hold as the mouse gave chase, but Nod was met with a dead end. So he ran up the dirt wall and flipped over the mouse but then landed with a loud thud on his stomach; he also just so happened to land on the mouse's tail. The mouse screamed out in shock and pain. It swung its tail around as Nod grabbed a hold of it.

"Whoa, whoa." Nod said as he did his best to dig his heels into the ground to prevent the mouse from going over to M.K unconscious body and devouring her.

"Fuzzy mousey." M.K muttered out. For the most part she was still unconscious but it didn't seem like it would last that long. The mouse was still looming over M.K's body, clawing at the air above her. Nod was starting to run out of ideas as he was still holding on to the tail. The mouse then, seemingly feed up with Nod holding its tail, flicked it above them so Nod was hanging in front of the mouse's nose; close enough for the mouse to get a good sniff of Nod's scent.

"Nice tail. It's flexible." Nod nervously commented. He attempted a weak grin but the mouse didn't seem to understand his words. It flicked its tail back towards the ground, body slamming Nod into the dirt. Finally having let go of the mouse's tail, the mouse then crawled over to male Jinn and loomed over him. It started to snarl at Nod as Nod just screamed out in fear. At the exact moment that Nod thought he was done for, General Ronin jumped into the hold blade drawn and sliced of a corner of the mouse's whiskers. The mouse shrieked in pain and scampered away. For a quick second the mouse stopped, checked to see that the rest of their whiskers were still there and then ran down the rest of the hole.

"They have very sensitive whiskers." General Ronin commented. He sounded slightly annoyed that he had taken Nod so long to diffuse the situation. He had his blade resting on his shoulders for a moment before putting it away in its sheath.

"You know, I had this." Nod said, attempting a nonchalant manner. General Ronin gazed down at Nod, not believing him at all.

"Uh huh." The General grunted turning away from Nod. At that moment he noticed M.K laying on the ground slowly waking up.

"Are you alright?" The General asked as he walked over to M.K's body.

"Dad I had the most messed up dream." M.K said sleepily. She was slowly getting up and resting her body on her elbows as she becoming more and more aware of her surroundings.

"There were talking slugs and tiny little soldiers, and uh-" However she stopped mid-sentence when she noticed that her day was not in fact a dream but her actual reality. From her spot on the ground she saw the General and Nod standing over her and the slug and snail waving at her from above.

"Hello." Grub greeted by waving at M.K.

"Aww man." M.K groaned, hanging her head as she realized that none of what had happened that day was a dream.

"Now let's move," The General said looking towards the holes opening. "Where there's mice, there's bound to be chipmunks." General Ronin looked over to Nod with a cocked eyebrow but Nod didn't seem faze by it at all. He just smirked at The General.

"New seating arrangement." The General said looking over to Nod. He whistled for his bird and had him land behind Nod.

"You're riding with me." The General stated as he helped M.K to her feet.

"Ah thank you." M.K sighed in relief and started walking towards the hummingbird.

"You're with the slugs." The General commanded. Nod made a face before saying.

"Ah, disgusting." He took a step in the same direction as The General and M.K but was abruptly stopped by Mub's eyeballs staring at him.

"Do you and me have a problem?" Mub asked quizzically. He bumped his body up against Nod's, as though trying to challenge Nod to fight him.

"Ah, I don't think so." Nod said making a face at the odd behavior from the slug.

"What was that over there?" Mub jerked his eyeballs over in the direction of M.K and The General. "A little chit chat. That's real cute. You're trying to jump in." Mub kept dancing around Nod while bobbing his eyeballs all around.

"What, what are we talking about?" Nod asked, completely dumbfounded.

"There's a code amongst men." Mub commented. "It goes something like this. I saw her first." His back now towards M.K, who was struggling to get on to the back of General Ronin's hummingbird. She tried to jump on the bird's back, but had over calculated her jump and landed on the bird's beak; thus causing her to face plant into the ground again.

"Ow." M.K yelled out after having the hummingbird poke her in her rear.

"You're a slug." Nod said in disbelief.

"So?" Mub questioned, raising an eyeball at Nod. "You'd think she want you? Look at yourself." Mub exclaimed, doing a once over on Nod.

"Oh that's right you can't." Mub nearly sneered back. "Because your eyeballs are stuck all the way inside you head. What's wrong flat-face?" Mub, at this point, had pulled his eyeballs into his head and looks less like a slug and more like a nightmarish creature.

"Are you gonna cry? Do you want me to call your flat-face mommy?" He continued to taunt Nod, who in return didn't seem too fazed by the name calling from the slug.

"You know you're not insulting me, you're just grossing me out." Nod said making a face at the slug while leaning away from the short looming slug.

"You've been warned." Mub said narrowing his eyeballs at Nod before hitting Nod with one of his eyeballs right into Nod's eye.

"Ow."

Shortly after figuring out the finer details to the seating arrangement the small group left the mouse burrow and continued on their way to Nim Galuu's.

Meanwhile Lieutenant General Finn had made sure that Moonhaven was completely secured. No one was allowed in or out of the palace. Most of the Leafmen were stationed at the palace, while very few were left to patrol around the Kingdom.

Tarina was haunted by the silence of the palace. Just this morning the palace was full of noise and laughter. But now there was a deadly silence in the air. There was no music, no laughter, and no voices calling out anymore. Tarina thumbed over the hilt of her sword as she stood in the middle of the Grand Hall. This was where Queen Tara was supposed to deliver the Pod; where Moonhaven would finally get their new Queen. Now Tarina wasn't so sure that that would happen. If Mandrake got his way, Moonhaven would be done for.

The decorations still clung to the walls and archways. The floors still shone in the sunlight. The sweet perfume of the flowers still floated in the air. But by now, it was like Tarina had stepped back in time; to the last crowning, when Tara became Queen. At least this is what she thought it was like.

"Tarina," A voice called out. She picked up her head and turned around to face the voice that called her.

"Sir?" Tarina questioned when she saw that the voice belonged to Lieutenant General.

"Any word from General Ronin?" Lieutenant General Finn asked. Tarina shook her head. It had only been a few hours since she had last seen her friend and C.O. Normally she wouldn't have worried too much for them, but since she knew that they were traveling with the girl and the Pod, as well as the Pod caretakers, she was slightly on edge. Even the smallest distraction could cost her loved ones their lives against the Boggans.

"Sir, do you think they'll be alright?" Tarina asked her commander. She needed some reassurance that she would see her best friend again. The Lieutenant General let out a deep sigh. He knew that General Ronin was more than capable of taking care of himself and he also knew that if it came down to it; so could Nod. But he wasn't sure if Moonhaven would live to see tomorrow.

"We'll see them again, I know that. Right now I'm more concerned about the safety of Moonhaven." Lieutenant General Finn said somberly. Tarina nodded her head. She knew that the safety of Moonhaven was on every Leafmen mind. The last thing she could afford to think about was losing a loved one; whether that was her parents or her best friend.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'll try and write the next one quicker. See you next time.