My brain cells are diminishing. I swear I can feel myself growing dumber as minutes pass. Hanging out with these three will be the death of me... and think of all the catastrophic events that would lead to. The world would cease to exist as we know it. Or maybe when all of this is over I could kill my comrades. It wouldn’t be all that hard and, quite frankly, I could justify it rather easily by saying it was done out of mercy. And I wouldn’t have to worry about anyone finding out because, hey, I’m the hero! Da da da, I saved the day!! Still, just listening to them is slowly but surely killing me. I’ll be dead by morning. Ah, sweet release, come sooner. Please don’t make me wait… please…

“I think we should go that way.”

“Yeah, well I think we should go that way.”

Camry and Alero stood facing one other, determined looks on their faces. Each was pointing in a different direction. This debate had been going on for hours. Hour upon endless hour of this and it was no wonder I was hanging from a tree limb by my knees. The rush of blood to my head might make it explode…

“Which way do you think we should go?” Alero asked me.

I had to pause a moment to make sense of what he said. Meanwhile, Camry snorted. “What difference does it make what she thinks? She’s just a girl.”

“A girl with an opinion that can move mountains, dear boy, so you should take care to watch what you say.” I shot him my best ‘you’re lower than dirt’ glance which had to look really strange upside down.

He smiled knavishly, mocking me to no end. “So answer the question, precious.”

I couldn’t feel my legs anymore. That was my answer. They were numb. I was going to make myself a paraplegic… “I really don’t care one way or another. And until we get a Hero Boy, Miata is in charge anyway. Why don’t you ask him?”

“He’s at a meeting with all the bigwigs. Something about bonuses for kawaii guardians. Apparently they’re debating going on strike if they don’t get what that want.” Camry replied.

I rolled my eyes. “Well, that would be just perfect. We’ll have to do this by ourselves?”

Alero shook his head. “Nah, we’d get to take an early vacation.” Just then Miata appeared in a little puff of pink smoke. “Did we decide where we’re going?” he asked right away. I rolled my eyes again. “You left the decision up to Tweedledum and Tweedledee and you thought that somewhere along the line they’d actually came to a conclusion? Really, Miata, maybe you should go on strike. You sound like you need a vacation.” Numb, numb, numb. Pleeeeaaaase make my mind numb already. They all tactfully ignored me. “I want to go this way.” Alero pointed to the left. “There’s a bath and body emporium I’ve been dying to go to and we’ll pass right by it.” He smiled eagerly, his eyes shining with hope. “I want to go this way.” Camry pointed to the right. “It’s passes over scenic, gently rolling hills, past a sparkling spring and then into the city which is out next stop.”

At this point I couldn’t roll my eyes enough. Dear God...

Miata began pushing buttons on a tiny computer. “If we go Alero’s way we’ll be able to pick up our Princess. If we go directly to the city we’ll get our Hero Guy.”

No one spoke. I could see I was the one who was going to have to make a decision here. I didn’t really care which way we went. Either one added a new and possibly more annoying person to the group.

I released my grip on the tree and somersaulted gracefully to the ground… where I promptly fell and rolled about three yards only to stop at my comrade’s feet. Yeah, that was almost slick. From my position on the ground I could still see them all, at least.

I poked Camry’s leg. “Think about Alero’s way... meet the princess.”

“The princess who’s inevitably going to be an untouchable because she’s into the Hero Guy.”

I shook my head. “No. The princess who has yet to meet the Hero Guy. You’ll have plenty of time to corrupt her before he comes along.”

Camry point to the left. “That way!” he cried.