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Merri stood just outside of the forest trying to make up her mind which path would be the best for finding unicorns. After hearing Gino speak about the elegant creatures she had been plagued by the desire to go find one herself. Should I go north or perhaps east? Closing her eyes she pointed towards the middle most path then chanted, "Eenie meenie minie moe which path should I pick?"

Peeking open her eyes, she saw that she had selected the western path into the forest. "I guess this is the path to unicorns! She declared as she slipped beneath the shade of the trees and hurried down the path.

After jogging for several minutes the path disappeared and she slowed to a brisk walk. Catching her breath she finally took a good look around at her surroundings. The plants and trees here were gorgeous and she felt extremely at peace in the forest, surely this is a sign that unicorns could be nearby.

Gino stood up. "Alright! Time to look for the unicorn."

It was quite a difficult terrain to venture with. There were lots of slopes and big trees with their huge roots serving as obstacles along the way. They kept walking and walking and walking and climbing and crawling until they arrive at a remote area within the forest. It was calming and peaceful place where a little body of water resides in the middle. There were tall trees around the area which seems to serve as a fortress or some sort.

"Hmm.." he began to wonder. Narrowing his eyes and observing the place thoroughly.

The group reached a peaceful place with a little body of water that can be found in the middle.

She tapped Gino's back, "This could be a good place to look for a Unicorn. Good job" she remarked.

"Should we wait somewhere under a shade or right there in the middle" she said pointing to the small body of water.

Merri giggled as she wiped her wand on the bottom of her coat. "I'll try to be a little more calm." She nodded thoughtfully and followed Gino further into the forest.

This sure is difficult finding unicorns! She thought as she crawled through another dense part of the forest. When she was able to stand she hurried to see what Gino and Rin were looking at. "Do you see unicorns yet?" she asked as she skipped over.

"Oh, wow." Her eyes grew wide as she stared at the area in front of them. "It's so perfect!" She smiled and began to walk towards the middle of the clearing.

Shuyin was mesmerized upon seeing such a beautiful scenery as soon as he stepped foot on the area everyone was pointing at.

He saw Merri walked towards the middle and sighed "There she goes again" raising his right hand and waved at her "Oi! Be careful"

Suddenly, a slight movement caught Shuyin's attention. He elbowed Gino and asked him to look right. The tall bushes at the right somewhere near the pond started moving as if something's about to show up.

As everyone arrived at the area, Gino looked at Rinoa as she asked him, "We should stay out of.." but before he could finish what he would say, Merri was already at the clearing, "..err.. sight" he replied.

The he felt Shuyin elbowed him as he pointed to the direction of the tall bushes. "Hmm.. maybe its the unicorn." he replied. "We should hide. Actually, Shuyin and I should hide." he added.

Knowing that unicorns mostly respond only to females, Gino decided to hide in the bushes first and let the girls go near the unicorn if it revelaed itself.

Rinoa followed Merri just to be on the safe side. She grabbed a hold of Merri's coat. "Wait up" she said then looked back at the boys wondering why they were hiding.

"The boys seemed to be looking at something...." she said then shifted her attention towards the right direction. Rinoa noticed a slight movement but wasn't sure.

She looked at Merri and shushed her.

As Rinoa shushed her, Merri grew very quiet and stood as still as possible with her eyes focused on the bushes to their right. "What do you think?" her whispered died away as a small golden unicorn appeared from the forest and slowly approached the two students.

The creature cautiously walked towards the girls then stopped and pawed at the ground a few times.

Merri could resist no longer. She crept near and held out her hand to pet the beautiful creature. "You're just a baby unicorn." She cooed as she touched the nose then the mane of the magical animal.

Shuyin hide along with Gino and watched the girls as they approached the water body in the middle. He was also watching the area where he saw a movement. Finally, after the long journey, a golden unicorn approached the two female on the open area.

He whispered "They should be alright? If it's just a baby unicorn" asking Gino that was also hiding.

Seeing the baby unicorn in sight, he wasn't bothered with anything that may happen to them. Besides, unicorns are pure magical creatures.

"They'll be okay." he replied tapping Shuyin's shoulder.

Rinoa felt warm and fuzzy as she watched Merri touch the baby golden unicorn. "How beautiful" she commented, then reached out her hand to touch the unicorn's mane.

Rinoa looked at the boys hiding in the bushes, "Why are they hiding?" she asked Merri.

Merri was lightly scratching the baby unicorn on the nose, which it seemed to be enjoying quite a bit. She paused and looked back towards the two boys. "I don't know?" She giggled as the unicorn bumped it's nose against her arm as if begging to be petted more. "Hey boys, come on over. It's just a unicorn."

She suddenly paused and glanced back over towards the bushes the unicorn had emerged from. Is there another unicorn in there? The bushes moved again then stopped. Maybe I'm imagining things.

Shuyin stood up and waved lightly when Merri called. He smiled and decided to take a step, "Come on" he said to Gino. He pulled him up and repeated what he said "Shall we?"

"Okay." he replied as Shuyin pulled him up. "Just try to be calm as much as possible so as not to scare the unicorn." he added.

He walked towards the girls and the unicorn. He waved at Rinoa and Merri letting them know that they approaching.

Rinoa waved back when he saw the boys walking towards her, Merri and the baby Unicorn. "Come on. Join us. He won't bite" she jokingly said at the two.

Just as when the boys were just a few steps away, Rinoa noticed another movement from the bushes where the baby unicorn came from. She titled her head and looked curiously at it. She wanted to make sure if it was actually a movement or just something she had imagined.

Merri looked to Rinoa and noticed she was also looking over at the bushes, "You saw it too? What could it be?" She felt the unicorn nudge her in the back as if trying to push her out of the clearing. What's going on little guy? She smiled at Shuyin and Gino when they approached the creature.

Suddenly the ground began to shake as if something very large was approaching them. The baby unicorn took off, clearly spooked by whatever was behind the trees. "Uh what's that?" Peeking over the tops of the trees was a very large, very tall, and extremely ugly forest troll and he did not look happy. Merri stood there for several moments staring at the creature.

Shuyin started walking towards the two girls. When he was just 5 steps away from them, he felt the ground shake. It was so sudden that he almost lost his balance. He opened his arms wide to keep him upstraight from the ground shaking.

When he heard Merri, he looked left and right to check what she was trying to tell. On his surprise, he have set his right foot backwards. There it was, a large and tall troll. But this time the troll was not peeking anymore. The creature has lifted its right foot forward and when it hit the ground, another shake has been created. Shuyin snapped back, and alerted himself immediately that this could be a danger. Trolls have always been labeled as something dangerous.

He looked at the girls who were stunned at the creature at the moment then he instructed Gino to get moving. "Oi! The girls!" he said as he rushed towards them.

As the huge troll revealed itself, he saw that the girls were stunned by its presence. Then he heard Shuyin called out to him.

Gino ran towards the girls as fast as he could. He took his wand out and gets ready to cast a spell against the troll.

He didn't think about anything else aside from the safety of the girls as he ran. He quickly casts "Fire ball!" at the troll. Sending numerous fire balls directed at the location of the troll.

Rinoa nodded at Merri's inquiry. She was about to respond and tell what she "think" she saw when the giant ugly troll had made it's appearance. She looked at the unicorn as it goes off, her heart was troubled if the unicorn would be safe running away. But also she needed to make a move.

She was completely distracted as the troll shook the ground by just merely walking towards their direction. She snapped back when she saw a number of fire ball hitting the troll. The troll blocked the shot with it's arms, crossing them in front of him. She looked at where it came from and saw Gino and Shuyin running towards them. The troll grew more furious because of Gino's attack, it released a loud groan producing a terrible strength of wind gushing towards the students.

Rino shielded everyone when she advanced in front, raised her wand as high as she could and casted a much more advanced "Protego!". A shield was created in front of them somewhat protecting them from that strong wind. She looked back and asked "Run!" just as when the shield immediately vanished.

As soon as the Protego charm went up, Merri sprinted towards the cover of the forest. It was difficult since the troll was stomping towards the group and she continuously lost her balance due to all the shaking. "Out of all creatures to run into, why a troll?"

Stumbling over a large fallen branch, Merri grew frustrated and turned to face the troll, "Hey you! How do you like this?" Freeing her wand from her jacket pocket, she narrowed her eyes at her target and waved her wand in a quick jab, "Conjunctiva!" The spell cast a bright white light, that appeared like stars towards the face of the troll.

Merri grinned triumphantly while the beast groaned loudly, it was clearly in pain as it rubbed at it's eyes. She hopped up and down in a victory dance then stopped. The troll was still in obvious pain, but was clearly much angrier than before. "Uh oh. Better run again guys!"

Shuyin ran away from the troll's direction together with the group just after Rinoa's spell went out. It was hard since the ground was shaking as the angry troll kept on chasing them. They kept running as a few branches hit his face he frowned "Oh come on!".

He noticed Merri stopped running and faced the troll but after her shot, it made the troll more furious than before. The troll was punching it's chest in an uproar. "Run!" he said as he turned around and started dashing.

"Oi Gino! You're the master of the forest. How do we fight something like that?" he asked him while still running. "Come on, you should have something up on your sleeves."

While running, he heard Shuyin called out to him. "Master of the forest - yup!.. Troll Slayer - nope!" he replied. He began to think of anything that could keep them safe from th rampaging troll. Hmm.. if we can't beat it to dust, why not just try to make it unconscious, he thought.

Gino began to shout as he ran and tries to explain the plan he thought of. "Guys! try to aim at the trees ahead! It may buy us some time to escape if we block the troll's way!"

Rinoa heard the Master of the Forest's suggestion. She blinked a couple of times while running trying to think of a spell. Rinoa grabbed her wand, looked back though still running. A fire ball would be a no-no since it can burn the whole forest if misused. She had to think of an alternative spell to replace fire but will also blast the trees down. She grinned as a spell crossed her mind.

She extended her arm and aimed for the troll. "Wind Gust!" she chanted and a strong wind bursting out from the tip of her wand that went straight to her target, the troll. The angry formation of wind blocked the troll's view while it was running. Accidentally, having no vision at all, a large root which was hanging out got one of the troll's foot causing him to trip. He hit his head hard leaving him unconscious.

"Guys! Hey, guys!" Rinoa called out as she slowed down from running then finally stopping. She pointed out her wand to the now unconscious troll and said "Knock-out".

Merri raised her wand, if she timed it correctly she could use a spell to knock down a few trees and like Gino said, that would certainly buy them a little time. Her eyes narrowed in on the approaching trees until she heard a loud crash. Afraid that one of her friends were hurt she whipped around and pointed her wand. "Rin?" She tilted her head, confused at how her friend had successfully stopped the troll.

"You did it!" Merri gasped out a soft cheer then gave a thumbs up and quickly sunk to the ground. She didn't like doing all the running and now she was hungry too. "Stupid troll ruining my fun with the unicorn." Merri frowned and continued to mumble to herself for a while before noticing the bushes behind them where moving again. She froze, her eyes wide as she prepared to run, and then a squirrel popped out. She sighed in relief then burst into a fit of giggles.

Shuyin stopped when Rinoa called out. His hands were on his knees trying to support his upper body as he tries t catch up with his breath.

"Finally" he said. "I need to head back to the academy and have some nice shower. All this little adventure of us makes me really want to go and have some nice warm bath" he said when he finally stood up in an upright position.

Then he noticed Merri's reaction to the moving bushes and when a squirrel popped out, he laughed seeing Merri's face.

Gino heard Rinoa yell and when he looked back, he saw the troll on the ground unconscious.

"Nice job Rin!" he commented. "Finally! we could all go back to the dorm." he added sighed in relief. Then, he heard Merri screamed and saw a squirrel go out of the bushes. He laughed at Merri's reaction.

"Maybe we should go back now. It's already getting dark anyways." he said then he walked heading back to the dorm.