My name is Pixie, formerly of Moo's Big Bad Four. Ever since the day Genki defeated us at Northtown, Big Blue and I have traveled on our own journey. We stay close to Genki and his friends, but we're not searching for the Phoenix. We're searching for…something else. Even I don't know what. It's just a feeling that I have, that we both have. Something is missing…

"Hiya," said a voice from the side of the road, breaking my chain of thought. I snap my head around in annoyance. A teenage human girl stood there, smiling at me. She had jet black hair and startling green eyes.

Great, just what I need. Some stupid human twit.

"Get lost, human," I said. I fixed her with a menacing glare. "That is, if you know what's good for you."

She didn't stop smiling. "Sheesh, all I did was say hi," the girl said, apparently unconcerned by my threat. "Ya wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning or what?"

"What part of 'get lost' don't you understand?" My anger crept into my voice. This human was starting to get irritating. And she still had that slight smile on her face.

"How can ya hate me already, when all I did was say hello?" This only angered me more, partly because it was true.

"Big Blue! Take care of her!" I ordered. Big Blue slowly stepped over to the girl. She backed away, into the forest.

"No need for that, big guy, I'm going," she sighed. "Ya know, the saddest part is, you're the nicest people I've met all day." And with that, she disappeared into the trees. I was just glad to see her go.

"I wonder what she wanted?" Big Blue said as he scratched his chin.

"Who cares? Let's go, Blue." He continued walking along the road with me sitting on his shoulder, as usual. Humans. Who needs them? Especially annoying ones like that girl?

Not ten minutes later, we heard her voice again. "Just to warn you, there's a bunch of Red Eyes up ahead. They're hiding by the side of the road, and they don't look too friendly. In fact, they look even less friendly than you two," the girl's voice continued. "I think they're waiting for you." I looked all around, but the girl was nowhere to be seen.

"I thought I told you to get lost," I said coldly. She was really getting on my nerves. "Why do you care so much, anyway?"

"Just thought I'd tell ya before ya walked straight into them. But…if you're too stubborn to listen to me, that's your problem. Go ahead, walk straight into an ambush. Just don't say I didn't warn ya." There was a slight movement in the trees, and I assumed the girl had left.

"Should we trust her?" asked Big Blue.

"Do we have much of a choice?" I replied. "We can't afford to take foolish chances. And if she's telling the truth…" I let my voice trail off.

Big Blue nodded and began walking in the forest instead, keeping the road in sight. We walked for a long time without seeing anything, and I had just decided that the girl was a lying little brat when we spotted the Red Eyes. They wore Moo's symbol and watched the road intently. Suddenly, one of them glanced up and saw us.

"Captain! The-"

"LIGHTNING!" I shouted, launching myself off Big Blue's shoulder and frying the Red Eye in mid-sentence. The battle began in earnest as the confused Red Eyes began to realize what was happening. I flew over them, zapping several of them with another Lightning. Big Blue swatted at them left and right, but they kept on coming. There seemed to be hundreds of them. I narrowly dodged a Tail Attack, then turned and zapped the Red Eye with Bolt.

"Master Pixie! Watch out!" Big Blue called. I turned, but not fast enough. The Red Eye was practically on top of me when suddenly…

THWACK!

The Red Eye went flying in the opposite direction. I looked down, expecting to see Big Blue. Instead, I saw that pesky human girl, holding a large stick and looking very pleased with herself. She looked up and smiled.

"Didja miss me?"

"There's just no getting rid of you, is there?" I sighed as I fried a few more Red Eyes with Flame.

"Nope," she grinned, then sent another Red Eye flying. Finally, the captain realized that they were way out of their league.

"Red Eyes, retreat!" he bellowed, and they all went hopping off as fast as they could. That is, the ones who weren't already Lost Disks did. When they were gone, I turned to the girl.

"Alright," I said angrily. "What do you want?"

"Isn't it obvious? I want to come with you."

"What?!" Big Blue and I exclaimed as one.

"You don't even know where we're going," I said. We didn't even know where we were going.

"Ya think I care?" the girl asked. I flew back to Big Blue's shoulder.

"What should we do with her?" he asked me.

"Let her come along if she wants. She'll probably get tired of it in a few days anyway." Quieter, so only he could hear, I added, "If we say no, she'll probably just follow us anyway. I'd rather have her where I can see her. I want to know what she's up to." She had to be up to something.

Annoying girls didn't just pop up out of nowhere and insist to join you for no reason. "Alright, come on then!" I shouted back at her. "Just one question: Who are you, anyway?"

The girl looked puzzled for a moment. "Oh, you mean, like…what my name is? I haven't got one." Her face resumed her usual grin. "Name me."

I turned away. "Hmph. Why would I want to name you? You're nothing but a thorn in my side, kid."

The girl only laughed. "Thorn it is, then. And you're Pixie, and he's Big Blue, right?"

"Right," I said, irritation creeping into my voice. "Let's go, Blue."

He trudged off down the road, Thorn walking quickly to match his pace. Later, we came to the edge of a cliff. The road continued to the north, but Big Blue paused for a moment, looking at the sky.

"Sunset," he said simply. The sky was streaked with vivid reds and oranges, and the sun was just a large crimson disc, sinking slowly in the sky. The clouds were tinted with light touches of pink and purple.

"Beautiful…" Thorn half-whispered. Thorn in my side…somehow, she was even more annoying when I agreed with her.