Reaping and Sowing [You! Yes You!]

[Shinku]

It was a good thing he hadn’t touched any of the alcoholic drinks that were served here aplenty, Dan decided. Some of them had looked very colorful, sweet and definitely tempting, but the lightweighted man had wanted to keep his wits together for eventual negotiations with the Queen. That was probably not the right time to start them though, but Dan was glad that he wasn’t drunk nevertheless. It wasn’t that he was against drinking (in moderation), but not now when stupid teenage boys were making trouble all around.
The blue-haired man felt oddly responsible for the boy, even though they had only met each other today in the Arena. And none of them had gotten along well with the other. There really was no reason to help him out, cause it was his own problem if he was stupid enough to pick a fight with a prince and his guards.

“Oh gods! Now he’s taking off his clothes.”

Dan let out an inwardly groan. Shouldn’t there be a limit to stupidity? What had the boy lined up for, when fate had handed out intelligence? Ice cream? That seemed very likely.
Not wanting to see any more of this foolishness, Dan covered his eyes with a hand, the one that wasn’t holding the plate with the food. It really hurt just to watch and cringing inside he tried to shut out the memories of what had happened just now. There was no way to shut out the sounds though and the audience was not going to be quiet about a show like that.
Some sounded aghast, but others were clearly enjoying themselves. Maybe he should offer some clothes for the boy to cover himself? A pair of briefs was not proper attire for ballrooms after all. Dan wasn’t sure if he really wanted to get involved in this mess though. Maybe he should flip a coin to decide on his next move? With all the people pushing from all sides to get into a position from where they could get a better look without getting too close to the armed guards, that was a bit hard to do. It was difficult enough not to drop the food plate or dirty any overprized dresses.

“I should just flip the boy and see which side he lands on. If he lands on his face, I’ll give him something to wear. If he lands on his back I’ll just leave him alone.”

A honey-sweet voice rang out before Dan could make up his mind. It wasn’t talking to him, but it was attracting attention, like its red-dressed owner. Slowly he opened his fingers to glance through before he removed the hand completely.

“Are you all right Prince Near?” The woman in red held out a hand to help the Princeling up. “It seems to me that you have made a little mistake there.” She giggled, but it didn’t sound as if she was making fun of his misfortune but was merely amused by the situation.
“I know I told you, that you could recognize me by the red dress I will be wearing, but if your eyesight is that bad, then maybe you’d be more comfortable with wearing glasses? It’s not like someone as handsome as you, could look any worse by wearing them.” And then she smiled.

The room melted. Unfortunately the smile was completely wasted on the nearsighted prince, who couldn’t see it at all. Princes weren’t known to be lenient after being punched and this one seemed to be no exception. There was no way he would just let it go, no matter how many attractive women smiled at him.
Next to Dan, the girl in the yellow dress who had forgotten or lost her invitation card, was eyeing the prince and the red-dressed woman with an expression that was too easy to read. One didn’t have to be a genius to see who she had planned to confess to, yet with the woman in the red dress showing interest in the prince, her chances of success seemed minimal.
Barely at an age where she could be called a woman, she lacked the refinement of the older woman. Tears were forming in her eyes. Dan let out a sigh, he could see another potential problem forming up right here.

[Flame]

With his fists raised and a smile upon his face Kano looked forwards at the guards surrounding him pointing spears at his face, past them he looked out at the guests in the ballroom. The room had gone silent for the most part, only the occasional whisper could be heard passing from person to person. Kano's smile grew, the situation was getting even more fun it seemed. He had been getting bored of this dancing and eating, he wanted to do a little fighting. That would definitely be fun. But first, he turned to the dish of food sitting next to him at the table. Grabbing a piece of meat off the table he shoved it quickly into his mouth. Tearing at the meat he ripped it off its bones chewing and swallowing in a short quick motion.

He did not even worry for a second that he was basically naked. With the guards circling in around him Kano carelessly grabbed a piece of bread, mindlessly he chewed on it as the guards came closer. Then paused as he noticed the lady in the red dress from earlier approaching. Still he did not worry about the incoming guards, instead he watched as that lady approached the prince and began talking to him. Kano could not pick up exactly what they were saying but based on her posing the red lady was looking rather ... attractive. Kano's mouth turned to a frown for a moment he did not know exactly why but there was a little gnawing feeling inside. It made him hunger, made him want to take action, to attack these guards who were marching towards him from every side.

Then he felt it, the coldness of metal pressing against his chest, looking forward he saw that a guard in front of him had his spear pressing gently against his chest. "Hands in the air, kid. You are under arrest for assaulting the prince." Kano sucked his lips frowning a little before going into a grin. Kano stepped back relieving the cold metal feeling on his breast. Bringing his hand down he gripped the spearhead which had been very recently touching him. "Sorry, arrest is not something that I do." Kano gave him a smile and then pushed the spearhead away. Blood dripped off his hand as the spearhead cut into his hand. Then pulling it back towards him but to the side the guardsman stumbled forward. Kano lifted his knee into the forward stumbling guardsman hitting him straight in the chin knocking him out immediately. The guard's grip loosened and Kano moved his hands closer to the center of the spear's shaft.

Twisting so that the spearhead was on the ground he placed his foot on it and cracked off the spearhead. It would break the balance and Kano was in the end a much better staff fighter. Spinning the staff he finally put it behind his back twisted his other hand and beckoned for the rest of the guards to come forward. "Come. I'll take you all on!" Kano's smile widened as he turned around to face the most guards at once. The guards seemed hesitant but they all pulled their spears down to point at Kano. Together they bristled at Kano trying to form an impenetrable barrier for him.

Kano sighed if they would not attack he would. Kano stepped towards them twirling the staff in one hand. That was until he heard a slam as the large doors of the ballroom were pushed open and another man stood in the entrance. It was someone whom Kano recognized. But Kano could not place him, where had he seen this guy. Kano paused the twirling and slammed the butt of the spear into the ground. The man was dressed nicely, that being said he looked out of place in them. The black suit had a professional look that really did not suit him. The guards before him immediately raised their spears and stood at attention. Something was up, Kano gripped the spear and took a step back for a moment taking in everything that was happening. The man in the doorway stepped forward into the room, eyes were now focusing on Kano and on the man. Tension filled the room, all Kano knew was something was about to happen.

[Shinku]

Again the attention shifted and Dan got the feeling that he was in a classroom with hyperactive elementary school pupils who would take any, really ANY, reason to be distracted and be it just so little. These people are nobility, he reminded himself. They are used to be entertained, so

they take anything as entertainment that sparks their interest. Like little squabbles between guests or people entering the room at the right time, or maybe the sparkling light that was reflected from the wine glass and danced over the floor. No wait, that last thing was cats, not people. HEY! Someone even brought CATs to the dinner!
The little fur balls walked around as if they owned the place, tripping people who didn’t expect them in front of their legs and stealing food from the buffet. Or maybe just taking what they deserved. Nobility yeah, did he already mention?

With some effort, Dan took away his attention from the cats. As much as he wanted to pet them, for this royal dinner he had only packed a minimum of first aid stuff since he couldn’t just bring a cram-full bag with him and the small man didn’t want to waste the emergency amount to bandage a scratched or bitten hand. Though the little fluffy paws and the high lifted tails and the big green or yellow, but in any case bright, eyes were tempting him to pet them. Just a little pat on the head and a stroke over the soft and velvety back… NO. There would be time for that later. Now that the people’s focus had shifted again, there was a window of opportunity.

“The Queens honorable guest Mr.-“ the announcer started, but he never got to finish the sentence because Dan who was already trying his best to look nonchalant and confident, entered the ring of guards. Smiling brightly and amiable, the little man with the long blue ponytail pushed away the spears and walked calmly over to Kano.

“Please, don’t go and punch me, young hothead.” He prayed silently in his head as he put an arm around the boy’s shoulder. It felt awkward since the youngster was taller than him. And probably because the boy wasn’t wearing much at the moment.
“HERE YOU ARE!” he exclaimed loudly, causing the heads to turn again, this time in his direction. “Can’t leave you alone for even one second.” Dan shook his head exaggeratedly. “My nephew. A bit strange in the head. Large crowds confuse him.” He explained to the audience at large, hoping that the boy would play along as he tried to pull him to the exit. “If you excuse us. I’ll bring him outside to calm down.”

Still smiling he tried to walk out of the circle of guards. To his delight, an older woman, maybe one of the oldest in the room, took pity on them and handed Kano a long and broad scarf to cover himself. It was semi-transparent, but it was probably better than nothing.
The guards however weren’t as easily moved and one of them put a spear in their way. Unlike some other idiot, Dan wasn’t about to try and touch it. The weapon was well maintained, so much was clear from just one glance and the cursed thing was sharper than he liked.
“Who are you?!” he wanted to know and Dan got the feeling that the only reason the guard didn’t add a swearword was because Ladies were present.

“THE QUEENS HONORABLE GUEST-“ The announcer tried again but the “honorable guest” simply pushed him aside and walked inside. It was unmistakably the pirate captain that had shared the balcony of the queen in the arena. The big man was dressed better than before but there was a sense of wrongness about him.
“He looks far too comfortable in those clothes.” Dan thought. And then he frowned about his own thought, because they didn’t make any sense. The pirate captain did try hard to look uncomfortable in them, no wait.. what he meant was that he did look quite uncomfortable in them, not that… ugg… this seemed complicated. Pirates should just look like pirates and not like dogs with a mustache and sunglasses. And his walk was wrong…
“And what is going on here, huh? Some thugs messing up the Queeny’s little party?” The pirate’s voice was loud and accustomed to command. Without getting distracted by anything, he made his way to where the commotion was, though Dan noticed that the newcomer had glanced through the whole room right at the beginning, probably taking everything in before deciding on his actions.
“You’re both from the arena, heh? Probably trying to lighten up the mood of this stiff gathering by bringing in some action?” It sounded both amused and stern, but then the pirate broke out into laughter.
“You really shouldn’t do that guys, though I can’t fault you for trying. What are your names?”

Dan was still feeling a bit mistrustful of the new guy, but he really didn’t have any choice.
“Delion.” He told him. “Dan Delion.”
It wasn’t his fault.

[Flame]

Kano's eyes were set upon the man who had just walked into the room. They recognized him as someone to be weary of, he looked familiar even if Kano could not place it. Noting someone walking up behind the familiar-looking man Kano turned his attention for a moment, it was an announcer, perhaps he could shed some light on who it was. The announcer's voice rang out as he started his introduction, the man was the queen's honorable guest. And ... ? There was no and because the announcer was immediately cut off by action happening. The feeling of someone's hand resting on Kano's shoulder alerted Kano. Who? Unconcerned Kano turned his head to notice a familiar face once again. It was that guy from the arena ... what was his name? Kano couldn't remember whether he just did not know it or he had never learned it.

He was slightly shorter than Kano so it looked rather odd that he was reaching up to place his hand on Kano's shoulder. And that became only stranger as he began to address Kano. A confused look stretched over Kano's face as he could not comprehend what this guy was talking about referring to him as his nephew. As far as Kano knew his only uncle lived on Karate Island, this was definitely not him that was for sure. "What are you talk-" Kano's voice was cut off as his 'uncle' started talking again trying to explain what was happening to the audience. He grabbed Kano's hand and pulled on it trying to bring him away from the guards. "Wha-what are you doing?" Kano now asked quite confused about what was going on. Still he allowed himself to be dragged along a little by the man, Kano was curious about what was happening. In any case it really could not hurt. Unceremoniously Kano followed his 'uncle' in nothing but underwear well that was until finally someone approached them.

It was an elderly lady, she bore in her hand a thin fabric, long and light it seemed to be some sort of scarf. Kano smiled at her nodding his gratitude, while he was comfortable walking around in his underwear, even he understood that this was not the most ideal look. He took the scarf, for a moment he just felt the fabric and then finally hung it over his neck. It hung loosely on his neck, he did not wrap it, it just hung from either side going over either one of his all too visible nipples and then finally all the way down to just past his waist. It was a scarf made for someone much shorter than Kano thus looked a little odd at this moment. Grabbing onto either end Kano adjusted it slightly finding it a little odd that he was wearing a scarf anyways. His irrelevant thoughts were broken by the sound of a guard talking to the guy pulling him along.

The guard held the spear out in front of that guy, Kano walked up to the guard, he had dropped the spear he had borrowed earlier when that guy had pulled him away. But he was stopped, once again, it was actually starting to get on Kano's nerves a little. Why couldn't he be allowed to just do as he wanted. It was the announcer once again trying to introduce this 'honorable guest' of the queen's. His voice was once again cutoff and Kano heard a soft thud turning around to see the announcer laying on the floor rubbing his ass. Above him stood the aforementioned guest, Kano furrowed his brow still unable to put his finger on who this guy was.

Finally that guest spoke and Kano figured it out. It was the pirate guy from the arena, his style of speech said it all. Referring to some commotion that was happening with thugs Kano turned his head looking around confused what the pirate was saying. As far as Kano saw there were no thugs here and nothing crazy was happening perhaps apart from what was happening around him. It clicked and as if to confirm the pirate came down to stand before both Kano and the other guy from the arena. He was referring to them as the thugs, Kano frowned. He was no thug, he was indignant now, how dare this guy refer to him as such.

The pirate continued to speak with them in his own all too self-important manner. It was almost as if the cross could be seen popping out of Kano's head as he tightened his fist. Kano was about ready to burst as the pirate asked for their names. The guy next to him answered, calling himself Delion, Dan Delion. If Kano had been in a better mood he probably would have found the name amusing, it sounded like a flower. But he wasn't, Kano cracked his neck by twisting it to one side and the other. As the kinks broke he relaxed slightly and looked straight at the pirate. This whole thing had gone a little too far for Kano.

"I don't think you've earned the right to know." Kano said indignantly to the pirate. Then making a quick face he gathered saliva in his mouth and spit it out onto the floor at the pirate's feet. The pirate's face distorted with rage at this comment.

"Why you..." the pirate's voice rose. His hand went to a the hilt of a sword which hung from his waist. In return Kano raised one of his fists. Around the two of them the guards were preparing with their spears pointed at them. "Scared? You know what you deserve? One of these!" Kano launched himself forward with his fist extending forward. In return the pirate began to draw his sword. The two of them quickly closed the short distance, but right before the conflict a voice shocked them into stopping only a few inches from each other.

It was the queen's voice as she spoke in a loud authoritative voice.

"STOP!"

Her voice rang through the ballroom. She was standing now at her table, her hands were placed on the table to steady her, at her side stood two guards even they looked surprised. She was breathing heavily now and thus took a few slow breaths. "All of you will stop with this nonsense at my party. If you really want to have something to do ... the main attraction will be starting soon." The queen smiled, it was the kind of controlled smile that monarchs specialized in. It gave away nothing about what was about to happen. Kano took one look at the pirate who shrugged back at him. The anger in the pirate's face had disappeared curiously. He took a step back and so Kano dropped his fist and stepped back as well. Now he was excited, excited for what was about to happen. Apparently, something fun!

[Shinku]

“The pirate still wears his sword, even though everyone else had been required to leave their weapons behind.” Was the first thing that went through the little man’s mind, while his unwisely chosen companion did his very best to pick a fight with the still unnamed pirate guy. As if the spunky boy was determined to not let a single opportunity pass of getting into trouble.
“I’m standing much too close to trouble and we’re still inside the circle of guards.” A second thought followed the first, pointing out that while the guards had let him in without much protest, they weren’t as likely to let him out without making a fuss. He really should have chosen to not involve himself. Just when would he learn to not stick his ponytail into things that weren’t his business? Hopefully before he ended as a hedgehog whose quills pointed the wrong way.

With slow movements that wouldn’t attract too much attention, Dan tried to move out of the way. The man with the long blue ponytail didn’t want to confront the guards, but fortunately there was still enough room in the circle of spears to get away from the teenage boy, who probably wouldn’t learn even if Dan gave him lecture that would last for hours. Equipped with the attention span of a normal teenager for pieces of advice from wiser older men, the boy probably wouldn’t hear more than the first few seconds anyway and it was even less likely that he would follow the advice. So Dan could just save his breath for something that made more sense on using it, like maybe talking to one of the guards. They looked stern and probably followed the rules with accuracy, but they still offered a better chance of success.
However, before Dan could even raise his voice, another took the initiative. It was the Queen, calling for a halt of all action. And wonder after wonder, it worked even on the spunky boy with the deep red eyes.

“I wish I had a voice like that.” Dan thought. “The kids would follow rules and orders a lot faster and more willingly if they came from a voice like that.”

The image of a five year old girl with dark blonde hair and a cheeky grin floated through his mind. “Or not.” He admitted. For a moment he was even sure that he could feel one of her bugs crawling over his back, being stuck beneath his shirt. Just the thought made him shiver. Nana and her love for bugs had gotten him into uncomfortable situations quite a few times.

On her table the Queen stood up, leaving a half-eaten meal behind without any thought about little starving children, her face a perfect image of collected royal air. Then she spoke to the pirate.

“I really hope you have a good excuse for your tardiness Mr. Wodewick Wackham. Because of you we had to wait with the main event and as you can see, people are obviously becoming unsightly ill-mannered.” She crossed her arms in front of her and Dan was nearly sure that he could hear her foot tapping on the floor under the cover of the floor-length dress. The Queen didn’t really look annoyed, but she made her point clear. Punctuality was appreciated by the nobility.


“Do you have everything ready?” she asked the pirate captain.
“Of course. I made certain that everything will be to your satisfaction.” Wackham answered her, actually sounding respectful.
She nodded, then waved the guards away that had formed a circle around Dan and Kano. They sprang to attention and then retreated to the doors, half to the front entrance and half to the door in the back.
“My Queen!” The voice of the nearsighted prince Near de Saight of Myopian resounded. “This man attacked me and I demand that he’ll be-“ They never found out what the Prince wanted because the Queen silenced him with one single energetic movement of her hand. With him being quiet, the Queen obviously had lost all interest in the man as she didn’t even give him an answer.
“We will start then.”

With a queasy feeling, Dan noticed that the palace guards on the front door, were joined by heavily armed pirates, who closed the big doors behind them. The newcomers looked even less friendly than the palace guards and Dan would have described them as spiked jellyfishes with a faint of sour milk.

“My drear [sic] Ladies and Gentlemen, you have the honor of being my precious hostages.” The Queen proclaimed as she took the ballroom prison. Her voice sounded almost cheerful now.
“Worry not. If you stay quiet, behave yourselves and don’t try to run, then no harm will come to you. You have my word as your Queen for that. You all have more than enough food and hostages or not, this is still my banquette and I organized a firework for you later this night. I hope you will enjoy yoursef.” She waved her hand at the large balcony that stood high above the ground and gave a good view of the nightly sky. No guards were guarding it. One had to be mad to try and escape from there.
“But now you need to excuse me, I have things to do.”

And with that she left everyone to gawp stupidly as she made her way outside through the backdoor. The pirate captain was accompanying her and they both were talking quietly, as if nothing outrageous had happened at all. The doors closed and bolted. They were big and sturdy doors and the bolt sounded heavy. They were trapped.

[Flame]

The Queen held a type of majesty that immediately commanded the attention of everyone. It was that air of command, even for Kano who usually did not respect such things it was impressive. It calmed his inflamed anger but not only that his breathing slowed and in general Kano began to relax. This was strange even for Kano, but he went with it, it was not a particularly bad feeling at the least. Kano took another step away from the pirate whom he had been about to fight. Instead he turned his full attention to the Queen he stood up at the head of her table having taken full control of the room. Her relaxed smile seemed to hide nothing and Kano could do not but smile back.

Then she spoke, addressing the pirate next to Kano it seemed. She reprimanded him for his tardiness and named him for the first time, Wodewick Wackham. Kano's lips immediately pressed themselves firmly together, that name was absolutely hilarious and it took everything in him to stop from expressing that sentiment with his whole body and voice. As his lips pressed together the rest of his body also stiffened for the same affect. I would not laugh, not here Kano thought to himself speaking to himself as firmly as he could. The name resounded in his head such that Kano had to try and distract himself, he latched onto the first thing he caught, the rhythmic sound of a foot patting upon the floor. It held him for a moment as he brought his attention back to the conversation which was rapidly proceeding between the pirate and the Queen.

As the conversation went on Kano began to notice people appearing, or were they moving, in any case armed men were at all of the exits to the ballroom. He was curious what kind of game was coming up, another fighting game? Kano could go for that, even without that ability which he had gained so very recently. Then the Queen announced the start of the game, at that very moment the exits for the ballroom all opened up and from them marched a rabble of men. They were no guardsmen, no they looked much more like pirates. In fact even Kano knew that these were pirates, he could tell from the garble on their faces and the natural roughness of their looks. Kano smiled, pirates now that would be fun. He wondered intensely what kind of game would abound, he was always the fan of fighting and pirates always gave him an interesting fight. Like that last time with the big guy at Pirate's Market, that was a fun fight.

The Queen paused before speaking once more. She explained the situation, all of the contents of this room, the men, the women, Kano, they were all now 'precious hostages'. She then proceeded to give some spiel about how if one did not struggle one would not find themselves in any danger. Now that was boring, obviously she wanted them to struggle, otherwise this would not be a game. Otherwise this would be no fun right? But before struggling Kano was interested in the one last thing she mentioned. The fireworks show ... fireworks, now that perked Kano's ears and his stomach. It growled, a different growl than his hungry growl but it was a growl nonetheless. It gave a feeling akin to that feeling of lack he had felt when he tried to use his abilities and they had failed. A thought came to Kano's mind, no it could not be, he threw the thought aside. There was no way that could be true.

Before making her final farewell the Queen waved at an open air balcony which was up a flight of stairs. It was situated fairly high up but gave a view of the night sky, and though the lights of the palace were great Kano could still make out the faint light of the stars above. Now that was what he wanted, completely ignoring what had and was going on in the ballroom below. He picked up his plate of food and went off, climbing the flight of stairs to the balcony.

As he stepped out onto the dimly lit balcony he turned his head upwards and almost squealed with joy. Since the palace was set away from the city, their was a nice unobstructed view of the night sky from here. "WHOOOOOOOO" Kano yelled his excitement as he took in fully the grandeur of the night sky. Yes he got to see it all the time, but for a budding astronomer like himself, this was a sight that never got old. This was the dream, he swung his arms out around him and spun himself in circles on the all but empty balcony. Whereas the rest of the 'hostages' were overcoming themselves with worry and fear, Kano was having the time of his life. There was no fear in him, only excitement, pure unbridled excitement.

He spun, round-a-round he did, his feet rotating slightly and setting down once again. Arms outstretched on either side he turned, not in place, but instead across the entire balcony as he reveled in this view. It was then that he felt it, the product of all his spinning, the sense of imbalance and slight nausea. Catching him by surprise it caused Kano to stumble, fast feet did not let him fall to the ground. Instead it led him into a rather hilarious shuffling of his feet as they danced upon the ground trying to find a stable footing. As Kano stumbled across the balcony he finally found himself finally stable as he landed with a rough thud against the balcony's balustrade.

With his eyes spinning Kano allowed his body to rest limply against the balustrade. Kano's eyelids closed as he tried to calm his body. Slowly and surely he took a breath in and then a breath out. The nausea and spinning in him slowly began to subside. So he chanced it opening his eyes, for a moment he thought something might well up and brought his hand to his mouth but it was nothing. But something else caught his eye as his head hung over the balustrade looking down onto the palace grounds below.

In the shadows people were moving around, they were carrying boxes and cartridges around in a hurried manner. They were definitely setting something up down there. Kano was curious. His nose perked up as it recognized the smell of ... food? No it was not the same food as what he was eating, it was another food it was that growling from before. An idea came to mind, he considered it, should he do it? Kano stepped up onto the balustrade , teetering upon it he looked down to the ground below. It was quite the ways down from where he stood. So for the moment he stood there, the soft breeze of the night pressing against him. He looked down to the ground and then back up to the sky. The question ran through his mind, everything in his right mind told him no, don't jump. But then there was something else telling him to jump. Right now Kano went through one of the few moments when he was not sure what to do next. Right now he did not have an impulsive move to make. It was strange.

[Shinku]

This hostage situation was totally unexpected. It was scary and on the same time oddly exciting. The evil Queen had made her first move in order to… to… to do what exactly? To proceed with her evil plan! Yeah, that sounded right. And now it was in the hands of the hero to stop her and save the day.
For sure this would become a story he could tell his children and grandchildren about. Once he had some. If he ever found a woman to marry and have kids with that was.
Not falling in love with already married women would probably help with that matter, but love was just so impossible to control. You didn’t get to choose the object of your affection, it usually chose you. It wasn’t really worrisome though. Dan was only starting his journey and the enthusiastic man had no doubt that sooner or later the right woman would cross his way after all. Maybe there was a young widow in search of a good man?

A loud thump took him out of his fantasies of heroic stories that just had to be told and pushed him back into reality. Prince Near was lying on the ground again, after getting punched into the stomach. The aristocrat had tried to get past the guards, who hadn’t done anything damaging to the prince but hadn’t held back either.
“Stay down and don’t make problems.” The guard grumbled, obviously annoyed by the futile resisting attempt of the hostage. Still not getting the “hint” the nearsighted prince wanted to complain, but a very elegant hand on his shoulder stopped him from doing anything foolish. The Woman in Red bent down to the prince and whispered something into his ear. Whatever it was, it didn’t calm the man’s anger but at least he turned around and went to the middle of the room, but not without giving a glare to the unfriendly guards.

The Woman in Red didn’t follow him but instead turned around and approached Dan. The little man was very surprised about this until he noticed that she wasn’t heading over to him but to the girl in yellow who stood next to him and was staring at Prince Near with a worried face. Well… that was strange. What sort of connection did the two women have? Dan couldn’t think of anything. Still smiling widely, the Woman in Red put a hand on the young girl’s shoulder, very much like she did before with Prince Near. She reminded Dan of a snake watching her prey, which fitted very well because the girl looked very much like a pink, shivering mouse in yellow.
“Leave the Prince alone little girl. He’s mine.” The woman said with a quiet voice that sounded more tempting than threatening. To think that she’d feel threatened enough by a little country girl to make such an announcement surprised Dan, but then again, she looked like a woman who knew what she wanted and who’d do anything to get it. He had hardly finished that thought, when a faint ripping sound could be heard. The yellow girl’s eyes went wide and her hands flew up to secure her torn dress which was about to glide down from her shoulders. Her face was turning bright red at an alarming speed but she didn’t say a thing. Probably too shocked to say anything, Dan thought as he watched the red-dressed woman walk away. He too was taken aback and didn’t react at all at first. Only when he noticed the tears forming in the yellow girl’s eyes, tears pleading for help, action came back to him.

Gently the story-obsessed man led her to a quiet corner, picking up the discarded cheongsam on the way. Then without any hesitation he ripped the hemline of her dress.
“Don’t worry and trust me.” He told her as she gasped for air. “I’ll fix your dress in no time.”
Probably not the most believable statement as he was tearing off pieces of her dress while he spoke. But then Dan took out needle and thread and began to work on the cloth.

All around Dan, the guests were whispering in nervous or even fearful voices, but no one had noticed what had happened. They were all too concerned about the guards and the Queen to pay much attention to anyone who didn’t belong to their clique.

It hardly took any time for the transformation to happen, but what had been a very long, old-fashioned and girlish gown turned under the dexterous hands of Dan into something modern and charming. It wasn’t as mature a dress as the Woman in Red was wearing, but that would have been overdoing things.
Before the girl could protest, the little man had his scissors out and was trimming her light brown hair and pinned it up to a stylish hairdo.

“All right, all done! Take all your courage and go confessing. It’s now or never!”

For a moment she just gave him a very confused stare, but then she nodded and whispered a single word before she ran off.

Dan was sure that he had done his best to bring out the girl’s charm. Now it was up to the girl to confess. A feeling of proudness rose inside him. The work he had done here was very well done. Almost magic!
Dan paused. Something felt wrong. This wasn’t the story he had imagined.
Rather than into a hero, Dan had turned into the Fairy Godmother. That was a complete different story from what he wanted to tell. There was no way he could go home and tell that story to his kids. Or maybe he could if he left out the part with his involvements. As things stood, the hostage situation was still unresolved. Was it really a good idea to focus on things like confessions in a situation like this?
But then again, the Queen had no bounty on her head that could be claimed and she had promised that no harm would come to them if they stayed silent. The island’s political situation was of no concern to Dan and he wouldn’t be able to change much even if he wanted to. Soo… all things considered, it was probably all right to focus on the nice part of the story and help along the nice little girl with her confession.
Dan wasn’t feeling like a Fairy Godmother however. No. When it came to fairy books, there were more interesting characters than Fairies. And there was still the Woman in Red who had acted in such a mean way that it clearly demanded a punishment. Dan smiled…

[Flame]

Kano took another look down, the ground was so far away, in the darkness he could not really tell what it was he was looking at. Was it a pond? Or just grass? Kano squinted but he could not make anything out at this distance. He leaned forward slightly, his body tilting over the edge of the balustrade upon which he was standing. It was a long way down, he had never made such a jump before, honestly he did not know whether he would survive it. It screamed danger, and even with Kano's semi-deaf ears he heard it. For a moment fear scrolled through Kano's bright red eyes and he suddenly felt imbalanced as he stood upon the balustrade. His arms began to swing wildly in the air as he fought to find a better balance.

However the force of his arms moving pulled a leg free from its grasp upon the earth. His body tilted and both feet left the flat top of the balustrade as Kano tumbled over. He dropped, over the balustrade and down. Fear, again it claimed Kano. "AHHH-THUD" Kano's head smashed itself with a thud upon the floor of the balcony. There for a moment he lay sprawled upon the balcony floor his legs still up in the air resting against balustrade. Kano took a moment, breathed in, and then allowed a smile to cross his face. Kano might have been a bit more bashful about what had happened but there was no one else here to see him. Realizing exactly what had happened Kano let out a great laugh. Without a worry about his continued state of undress and without changing his position he let out a continuous and hearty laugh.

His life had for a moment flashed in front of his eyes, and in the end it had been all for nothing. The laughter continued for a while as he laid there staring up at the sky. With his momentarily misplaced lease on life now firmly in his hands Kano simply enjoyed the moment. The cool breeze blew over the balcony causing Kano to shiver, reminded that he was wearing only underwear and a very thin scarf he decided it was probably for the best for him to change into something new. But where would he get it, part of the game was them not being able to leave the ballroom and his clothes and the other changes of clothes were not in there. The breeze came again and he gave a shivering laugh as his arms crossed over his chest. What was he to do ... he could, hmmm he wondered. Perhaps he could take one of the table cloths and make it into a makeshift robe. Yes, yes that sounded like a good idea, Kano nodded to himself.

"Finally I found you." A sweet voice that Kano recognized rung from the balcony's entrance. Kano turned his head up to get a better look at who was talking to him. There standing in the entrance resting comfortably against the frame was the woman in red. Her arms were crossed as were her legs which revealed an amount of leg which pulled an immediate reaction from a place deep within Kano. Becoming overly aware of the position he was in, a little red blush poured onto his face as he scrambled to his feet. The woman was smiling at him, a mischievous look was printed all over her face. She gave a short laugh at Kano's desperate movements.

Kano's heartbeat rose, sweat appeared on his forehead and he fumbled his answer. "Yo-You were lookin wit- uhh for me?" Kano gave a nervous laugh, the redness on his cheeks only burned a little harder. The woman in red looked at Kano for a moment before giving a brilliant smile and stepping out on the balcony towards him. She was unperturbed by Kano's odder-than-usual actions and stepped out on the balcony towards him. A small breeze caused her air to float in the air, she brought a hand up to keep some of it out of her face. "Yes, I have a request to make of you." Kano tried to pull himself together as he tried to piece together a response. He did not understand why he was fumbling words like this, it was very unlike him. Kano did not like it one bit.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and tried to gain a handle of himself as the masters at the dojos had always taught him to do so. Opening his eyes once again he looked back at the woman in red who was advancing towards him. Her uncovered arms hung laxly at her side, her red dress held tight to her body still caused that reaction from Kano and reflexively he stepped back. One step and then another until he found himself backed against the balustrade. Trapped Kano looked left and then right not knowing what he was going to do. All the while she continued to advance towards him until she stood an arm's length away. Raising a hand to Kano's chest she pressed a finger against his exposed forearm and trailed it downwards. "You are quite strong, I've seen that, you should join my cause." Kano fidgeted nervously as her finger trailed lightly down his arm but at her words stopped and frowned.

"Your cause?" He asked confused now. He turned his head confused to one side. The woman smiled at him "Yes, but first I need you to promise not to repeat anything I tell you, swear on your life." She said to Kano. There was a seriousness about her as she said that, it brought Kano back to reality for a moment. With a more serious voice he answered, he wanted to be in her good graces so he agreed. He would not, that was enough to satisfy her, she knew Kano's type, if he was told to keep a secret he would keep it. He was just that kind of guy. She leaned in, her body pressing up against Kano's slightly as she brought her mouth up to his ear.

"I'm trying to take over the island for the Revolutionary Army, you should join us." She whispered into his ear. The feeling of her breath against his sensitive ear caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up and made him blush even further. The request confused Kano and he tilted his head as he looked at her. "No thanks." Kano said with his matter-of-fact voice. He answered almost immediately, there was no hesitation, the answer had come into his mind the second the statement had been made. He had no desire to rule or to dethrone people, Kano just wanted to be himself. The woman in red looked at him frowning now. Then unexpectedly she closed the distance again pressing her lips against his. Caught by surprise Kano could only look at her face as it was before him his eyes wide with disbelief. He could feel her leg twisting around his.

She pulled away and Kano took in a breath still in shock from what had just happened. "Then I can't have you here, you just make too much of a mess ... " The woman in red immediately went to work, her hands both pressed against his chest unbalancing him against the balustrade. His leg which was entwined with hers was lifted in to the air and he found himself without anything to balance on. "Sorry, hope you survive the fall." She gave a final push, his body found itself immediately airborne as Kano fell off the balcony and into the air. He was falling, straight off the balcony and down to the grounds below him. There was only one thing to do, he screamed.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~~~~~~~~~~"

[Shinku]

On his way to the dinner tables, Dan passed the granny with the handbag of doom who, unconcerned about their situation, was wrapping considerable amounts of food in plastic wrap before pushing it into her bag, obviously intending to take home as much food as possible. Probably so save on the living costs which got higher and higher all the time. Nowadays most people had to carefully balance their budget and free food was very welcome for those who knew to appreciate it. That being said, the wifely man would have loved to take his share as well, before all the good slices were all gone, but right now he had more important things to do.

In front of one of the smaller tables Dan stopped, examining the furniture in front of him. It was a round table with a floor-length white tablecloth, lots of little plates of canapés and some glasses of wine that overexcited guest had left behind when they’d gone to talk to their friends about the Queen and started pieces of gossip that were big and juicy enough to last for at least half a year before they got boring or replaced by novel news.
In secret Dan had always wanted to try this. A big smile graced his face when he grabbed the ends of the tablecloth with both hands, paused a moment to gather his concentration and then pulled it downward and away.
The result was predictable. A few plates stayed where they were but most got pulled along with the cloth, the ones nearest to the tables edge falling to the floor and all of the glasses, filled or empty, toppled over with no exception, leaving dirty red stains on the white tablecloth.
The nobles closest to him, gave Dan disapproving glances but he didn’t care. The wine stains were more of a problem. Using the cloth in this condition would be tricky, so he went over to the next identical table, where he carefully removed all the plates and glasses by hand.

Still not completely finished with the tables, the little man, now equipped with a clean white cloth, went to one of the big table, raised the tablecloth, but this time he ducked down and hid himself under it. No one could see him down here and so he considered that no one was likely to disturb him either.
The man began to work on his second masterpiece of the evening.

When Dan emerged from under the table after a few minutes, he was wearing a beautiful white evening dress with red highlights. The red cloth had come from the cheongsam, the white had formerly been a tablecloth before it got an upgrade and turned into woman’s clothing. White wasn’t exactly a “witchy” color and there was no way to get a proper hat, usually an absolute necessity if one wanted to be recognized as a witch, but as long as he himself knew what he was, Dan considered it to be acceptable and all right. This was his story after all and he could do in it whatever he wanted.
Certain things had to be abided by however or the story would not sound right.
From a roasted suckling pig that had already lost a considerable part of his eatable body, Dan stole an apple. Since the apples in the pigs mouth are mostly considered decoration rather than food, no one had touched it yet.

“Apple = Witch” Having now at least one attribute of a common fairy tale witch, Dan was content and went to search for his prey.

A few heads turned as the Lady in White made her way through the crowd. She wasn’t as beautiful as the Woman in Red, but neither could she be considered ugly. The deep blue hair was pinned up to a very elegant hairdo and the little paintbrush that kept it together gave it a playful finishing touch. The paintbrush was more than just a normal paintbrush and was fulfilling another purpose than just holding things together, but other than Dan no one could know about that. Unlike Kano, Dan had made a point of hiding his legs under billowing cloth that went down to the floor and his face was feminine enough to let him pass as a woman, maybe not a striking beauty but attractive enough in a homely way. Homely in the sense of “house-wifely”, “plain” or “cozy” and not in the meaning of “ugly” as it’s used in other parts of the world. A description Dan was feeling comfortable with. He wasn’t trying to look beautiful enough to start a competition, looking female would be enough. The reactions of reserved politeness and occasional nods into his direction, confirmed him that he wasn’t standing out. Smiling whimsically Dan set out for his task.

The Woman in Red hadn’t followed Prince Near but had gone to the balcony instead so Dan smoothed his dress and headed over there as well.

[Flame]

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~~~~"

It was a rush, perhaps not a happy rush, but it definitely was a rush. Tumbling through the air seeing the ground accelerate rapidly toward, the adrenaline rushed through his body. It was exhilarating, scary, and so many other things that rushed through the usually slightly barren landscape of Kano's mind. He hurtled downwards through the darkness, as he did what was before just the flat ground began to take shape before him. Rising from the ground was a hedge, actually a maze of them. There it was, rapidly approaching, foot by foot, inch by inch, closer and closer until. It hit him literally, his body as he twirled in the air crashing into the brambles of the hedge.

Had he been clothed, the fall probably would not have done much apart from perhaps tearing his clothing and leaving a few bruises after bouncing off of the hedge. But in his state of undress as he crashed down upon it Kano could feel a wealth of small cuts open up all across his body. All over his body itchiness and burning sensations came screaming through his nerves, pain streaked across his body to form a low intensity burning across his body. Groaning from the pain he rolled left, the small branches and sticks dislodging from his body Kano dropped from the hedge onto the soft grass below. It was a welcome change as the blades of grass tickled his open wounds. Kano groaned once again even with the soft touch of the grass it was quite painful. Weakly he got to his feet, exposed to the cool open air his wounds stung. But that was not what concerned him at the moment, he had survived the fall for that at least he was happy.

Then he heard it, the soft stamp of feet coming toward him, one? no there were two people on the way. Kano smiled as he tried to ready himself to meet them. Getting into position he could feel all of those wounds burning a little, but they were coming. In front of him two dark figures appeared in the 'alley' he was in. They wore cloaks, dark ones, at their sides he noted swords. "What are you doing here?" the unwelcoming question was prompted at Kano. The two men already had their hands on the hilts of their swords, in Kano's mind there was already only one possibility to what was about to happen here. Kano did not give them a heads up immediately charging them down. Kano was quite tenacious the small wounds that would probably end with him bleeding to death would not stop him here. Kano barreled towards the pair who immediately drew their swords. One of them stepped forward to meet Kano his sword swung in an arc diagonally across Kano's path.

Without missing a beat Kano rolled out of the way straight into the lunge of the second guard. Thinking quickly his hands came forward catching the blade between them as he was pushed back. For a moment him and that guard stopped, the point of the blade only inches from the bridge of Kano's nose. Not to let him rest the second guard came upon him now, swinging his sword horizontally towards Kano. Immediately Kano fell backwards pulling guard and sword with him tumbling atop him as Kano found himself laying on the ground but thankfully not slashed. Redirecting the sword still between his hands he led it into the ground just over his shoulder. The two swordsman were currently mixed up as one had nearly sliced the other with his sword. Kano took full advantage, from his position on the ground he launched his right leg straight up into the guardsman above him. The guardsman above him shot into the air from the force of the kick and Kano quickly came back up to his feet to intercept the falling guardsman and knock him into the other. The pair crashed into the hedges on the left side of the alley. Weak, they had had good team play but it seemed under the threat of Kano's odd style of fighting it had fallen apart. Not that Kano thought he had done anything very impressive.

For a moment Kano just stood there over the two unconscious bodies as he pondered something. He looked at them, fully clothed and armed and then back down at his-self. Only wearing somewhat dirtied underwear and a torn up thin scarf. A fresh breeze finally decided it for him as Kano felt the bite of the cooler nights. No it was decided he was definitely doing it, taking a look at the pair of guards he chose the one who seemed more Kano-sized. Divesting him of his cloak and pants he left the man his shirt and underwear for some level of decency. Pulling the pants over his leg he felt the momentary burn of his wounds, the same was for the cloak, both were dark and honestly Kano didn't know if they fit him well. But nodding his thanks to the more-exposed and still unconscious guard Kano headed off in the direction they had come from. Hopefully that would get him out of this place.

Turning the corner he found himself staring at another hedge. His smile fell a little until he noted that this hedge was not very long. In fact it was only a little longer than the opening Kano has walked through. Looking to either side Kano suddenly found himself relieved. On either side he could look down and only see hedges on one side. In fact he was standing in a cute entrance to this hedge maze. Kano walked to the other side looking at the fairly open grounds of the palace. It was filled with the dark shadows of what were probably sculptures and fountains. But not only that, Kano could see them now, small boxes with black figures dressed as he was being distributed about the grounds.

"grrrrr" a low rumbling came from his stomach. Hunger, which was odd given that he had just eaten. His stomach led him, walking forward Kano found himself moving toward the closest black box. It was not too far away from the hedge maze. And soon Kano find himself standing before it, hunger bursting in his stomach. The black box on closer inspection was a box surrounding a bunch of small cylinders with what seems to be metal pieces in them. His stomach rumbled again and a thought popped into Kano's mind that had come into his head before. Looking down at the black box, and then for a moment he considered it. His stomach continued to command it of him. So Kano gave in, bending down he reached into one of the cylinders pulling out a small item. Opening his mouth he stuffed it down, tasted like crap, but Kano bore through it and swallowed the thing whole down his stomach. Once he did there was an odd feeling of satisfaction. 

Slightly grossed out but wanting that feeling again he grabbed for the contents of the next cylinder. "Oi! What are you doing!??!" The voice yelled out towards Kano as he stuffed the second cylinder's contents into his mouth turning his head. A guard was running towards him. 

[Shinku]

It was remarkable to see how fast the normal ball vibe had returned after the gloom of the Queen’s first proclamation had vanished nearly completely, leaving only excited talking groups and bored guards with not much to do. The nobles were discussing politics and some of the younger ones were even dancing again. There weren’t any attempts to leave the room. Why would anyone leave while the party was still going and there was food to have? And there was the promised firework…

Dan shook his head about that foolishness that let those nobles ignore their dire situation and focus on trifle things instead. With eager steps the longhaired man stepped out to the balcony in order to fulfil the task he had set himself for the sake of being able to write a good story later.
A group of young men was already surrounding the Woman in Red again and she was talking to each of the admirers in turn. Smiling at each one just enough to get full attention, but turning to the next guy before it looked as if she had a special favorite, keeping them all on a string.
“And what do you gentlemen make of this political development? Surely this is the time for brave men to size the power for the greater good?”

The “brave men” mumbled politely, not outright consenting to anything but showing their agreement to being thought of as reliable figures of social interest. As it should be, of course.
Some of them looked up as Dan approached and the more considerate gave the Lady in White a polite nod. Not because they had any interest in her, who would have interest in such a plain girl when a woman like this striking beauty was standing next to you, but because it was expected to treat other nobility with respect. You could secretly poison their father, mother, granny and even the dog or talk bad behind their backs, but it was unthinkable to be rude on a social gathering!

“AH! HENRY!! THERE YOU ARE!!!” The approaching Lady cried out loudly, making sure that everyone could hear her. “I’ve been looking for you for ages!” The young man dressed in a white and elegant evening gown didn’t bother to change his voice. Most men who pretended to be women did that mistake, using a voice that was much higher than the average woman’s and sounded very shrill and unnatural, which was practically the best way to announce that you were a man in disguise.
“Oh my! It looks like one of you gentlemen has left his girlfriend behind. How naughty of you.”
It wasn’t a rebuke. If anything it sounded as if the Woman in Red was enjoying herself. What better could there be than to be chosen over the official companion. Some men smirked faintly. They weren’t Henry and so they could enjoy the sight of a fellow gentleman getting embarrassed by his angry girlfriend. They hadn’t yet noticed that none of them was named Henry or had any connection to this Lady in White.

Dan frowned slightly, turned his head to the side, put a hand on his cheek while supporting that arm with the other hand and tried to look convincingly sulking.
“How can you laugh like that Henry! Don’t think there are other women here who would overlook your cross-dressing habit just like that.” The Lady in White let out a deep sigh.
“It’s hard enough if the husband looks cuter than his wife, but to think that you’d ditch me to flirt with those gentlemen. Sometimes I really wonder why you married me.”
By now, everyone was staring at him with aghast faces. They couldn’t really wrap their heads around what was going on. The Woman in Red was the first to gain her composure and speak.
“What the hell are you talking about girl?! Have you lost your mind?”
It didn’t seem as if she had recognized in him the man who had been standing next to the Girl in Yellow who she had harassed just a few minutes before. Turning abruptly Dan looked her directly in the eyes, making sure that there was no doubt who he was addressing.
“That’s MEAN Henry! How can you say such a thing.” The Lady in White was now close to tears it seemed.
“Stop calling me Henry stupid girl! My name is Auri and I’m definitely NOT your husband.” There was anger in her voice. It was anger on a leash, carefully restrained from biting anyone, yet, but one could hear it pulling forcefully on the restraint.
“Ignore that girl my dear sirs. She’s probably just jealous and tries to undermine me out of spite. A laughable plan, but definitely not a plot that could work on intelligent gentlemen of noble blood like you, of course.”
“Plan? What plan…” The confused look on the Lady in White’s face softened and took a pensive touch as it passed over the assembled gentlemen. Suddenly a bright smile appeared on her face. It was really very BRIGHT and didn’t fit with the previous reactions. The Woman in Red frowned, what was that girl up to now?
“Perfect!” Dan clapped his hands, smiling happily. “That’s such a great plan Henry!”
“Would you stop that Henry already before I get really angry.”
“Of course you’re not Henry. What am I saying!” Winking at the Woman in Red in a not at all inconspicuous way to underline his words, Dan was outshining her as an actor. Not even the sparkling boy from before would have been able to act out an idiot so well as he was now. Thinking about him, where did that boy vanish to? A person in underwear should usually be a tad more noticeable, strange…
“Anyway. I’m going to leave you and those charming men alone. Make sure to properly distract those guys so our son can get the chance to strike a good union with one of the major houses without getting disturbed by rivals. Very well-thought-out. And now this mom is going to do her best as well!”
And with that he left the balcony with as much graceful speed as he could master without looking like he was on the run. Dan was sure that he could feel death glares in his back now and wished that he could speed up even more, but a lady didn’t run, never! Even if she was in a hurry.

Back on the balcony, the group of assembled noblemen assured the Woman in Red that they didn’t believe a word of what was spoken just now. Not one bit! Oh, but they just spotted someone they absolutely had to talk to. Business that just couldn’t wait, you know. Anyway it had been a charming evening and they all hoped to see her again.

“Hopefully I can reach one of the guards before she catches up.” Surely she wouldn’t start trouble in front of their captors. So as long as he placed himself next to the entrance, but not too close to not make the guards think that he was up to something like an escape, but close enough for them to intervene if the honored guest made a ruckus. As long as he could do that he should probably be save enough.
That woman sure had a temperament and sharp claws. She had distinguished herself in the arena after all, so he should assume that she knew how to fight. Probably better than him. She was also very nasty mean and didn’t hold back from crushing her competitors merciless, no matter how small of a threat they were to her.
The woman would undoubtedly make a very good mother. Maybe he should ask her for a dance?

[Flame]

He swallowed, a large gulp went along with it as the contents of that second cylinder dropped down his throat and into his stomach. The taste was not particularly appetizing, in fact it was down right horrid. Yet somehow it gave him a certain level of satisfaction, it gave him a feeling of fullness that he had been missing. And thankfully Kano was proving to be pretty adept at swallowing them whole. It seemed that this was actually going to be a particularly useful ability. The guard raced down towards him, now with more concern in his eye, his sword was drawn and ready. Kano smiled, that feeling of fullness was telling him something. It was time, he could do it.

Kano swung one arm backwards, and it happened. Just as it had used to, now he had made the connection. That emptiness was his reserves being empty, that emptiness meant he was out of ammo. It was something that needed to be remedied every now and then. But now that he had a little ammo, everything should be fine. The plan was already in his head, he would fill up on the contents of all these black boxes that were placed on the grounds. Kano threw his arm forward, happy to see that where one would normally expect to see Kano's forearm there was instead a bottle rocket of medium size. It came out of his elbow and sat in place of his actual forearm and hand. The guard had come closer now he was absolutely sure the person he was charging was not one of his colleagues. Kano smiled, it was one of his usual overly happy, untroubled, wide smiles that just said that he had not a care in the world. "ROCKETUU PUNCH!!!" Kano yelled out the name of what was becoming his most signature attack.

The bottle rocket launched from his arm straight at the guard who was of course taken off guard. By some mastery of reflexive movements the guard managed to skip just out of the trajectory of Kano's bottle rocket. Of course that meant nothing as Kano was not here to give him a moments rest. After firing the rocket off Kano had followed in after it, his missing forearm reappearing its in still scratched up form. So as the guard skipped away he turned straight into Kano as Kano grabbed onto his sword wielding arm. Twisting on his foot Kano swung around and proceeded to throw the man straight over his shoulder and onto the ground. The guard landed with a groan his blade dropping to the ground beside Kano where it had been wrenched from the mans' hand. Kano stood over the guard laughing for a moment before giving the man a quick knock to the head to make sure he was unconscious. Placing his hands at his sides he laughed for a moment.

Then it happened, a little bit away an explosion was heard. His first bottle rocket had made contact and exploded. But the crazy thing was what happened after, the bottle rocket had smashed into one of the black boxes that was laying in the open.

BANG~~ BANG~~ WHOOSH~~ BOOM~~ BANG~~

The sounds of fireworks being set off covered the grounds and the skies above. From the small black box an array of fiery trails could be seen as the firework shells flew into the air. In a beautiful array of colors and shapes the sky was lit up by those that Kano had just set off. The light illuminated for a moment Kano against the grounds, not only that it alerted all of the workers and guards who were currently setting up the fireworks displays across the ground. Kano could only look up and smile, it was great, he would do that, he wanted to be able to do that. And with his ability he knew he would be able to.

"Oh boy!! That was GREATTT!!!" Kano exclaimed laughing at his handiwork. The sound of his voice cut through the grounds and immediately the guards were aware of him. They did not know his voice, so he was immediately suspect even with his guard-like outfit. Tentatively they started to move towards him, not only that but from all directions, Kano was in essence trapped. But this was the game was it not, he really should get back to the main party to. He at least needed to get his own clothes back he really liked his clothes. As he looked around noticing the approaching men he figured he might need the extra ammunition, so first things first, the black boxes.

Running back over to the black box he had been eating from before he ingested the contents of the remaining cylinders. Then looking around he looked for the next one, specifically he avoided the direction he had fired his first bottle rocket. Across the grounds he went, from black box to black box knocking out and defeating the guards and workers as he found them. Two, four, six, nine, he consumed his fill of fireworks, each time he found that he was not getting fuller. Even when he had ingested far more than his body would seem to be able to handle nothing seemed to matter. Instead it made him feel stronger, then he came upon it. The mother-load, he found a shed from which a worker walked out carrying one of those boxes of fireworks. His gut told him it was it, there was a feeling of hunger that was insatiably strong. Standing before the doors of the shed were two guards, Kano smiled as he stood behind a statue watching quietly the dimly lit entrance of the shed.

Kano drew a bead with his arm as for a moment he thought about firing off a firework at the guards to take them by surprise. He didn't even he was not so stupid to fire a fireworks at what he assumed to be a shed of them. So instead Kano did the only other thing he knew how to do, make an entrance. Kano charged toward the pair of guards, barreling in towards them they did not seem to notice him. Closer, and closer he came and still no reaction. Approaching the one closest to him at top speed Kano realized right before he was about to land a punch that him and the other guard were asleep at their posts. They stood there leaning against the wall amazingly not crumpled up on the ground. At the last moment Kano was able to redirect himself stopping himself by pressing both of his heels firmly into the ground. Looking to the first guard and then the second they were both the same, asleep on the job. Amused at his own good luck Kano silently walked up to the door to the shed slid it open and walked inside.

"Holy moly ..." Kano said under his breath. Before him was a massive array of fireworks. They came in all shapes and sizes, large, small, circular, bottle-like, shells, balls, everything and anything Kano could have imagined. Truly it was a feast.

[Shinku]

“What now?” Dan asked himself. The short man hadn’t thought that far.
Now he had completed the revenge for the ripped dress and had a very angry woman on his heels and the only reason he was still alive was likely because the woman refrained from drawing too much bloody attention to herself and maybe because like everyone else she had been asked to leave her weapons behind at the door. Surely they would have checked the women as well as they did the men? At least that was one small hope that he could entertain while looking for a safe place to hide amidst the crowd or maybe outside the crowd.
There was a bit of empty space in between the front door with the guards and the people in the ballroom and now Dan headed for it. For a moment he had considered to just change into his tuxedo again, but the male clothing would do nothing to hide his long dark blue hair and while the Woman in Red had not recognized the man from before in the Lady in White, Dan was still sure that she would recognize him now. It was a complete different thing to overlock someone you had no interest in and to overlook someone you were searching for furiously.

With a smile to the friendliest looking guard, the choice felt on a pirate man who looked more sympathetic than the palace guards, the Lady in White stepped into the open space making herself an outsider that stood out from the crowd quite literally.

If Miss Auri wanted to do something mean to the cross-dressing Mr. Delion, she would have trouble to keep her vicious nature to herself and the damage to her image would be completely irreversible. Even the last loyal men that still clung to her despite everything, would find themselves appalled by such unladylike behavior. It was surprising enough she still managed to maintain a few followers, even with her face being quite enraged as it was. One middle-aged man, Dan noticed, seemed to show even more interest in her than before. When Dan had first seen him on the balcony, he only seemed to be there cause it was expected of him, but looked pretty bored otherwise. Now the gentleman was smiling brightly and doing his best to attract the woman’s interest.

Odd that.

Dan felt a little spark of annoyance watching the man making such a fuss around Henry. Was the man really seeing the beauty in the woman’s fierceness or was he just acting like that because he hadn’t noticed her true nature yet? For sure the man couldn’t see as much as Dan could, Dan was convinced. But be that as it might be, there was the unmistakable fact that the charming Woman in Red’s attention was solely on Dan Delion (or rather the Lady in White who had ruined so much plotting). Happy about Henry’s attention, the short man turned to wait for her to catch him.

“You…!” Henry seemed hardly able to get out anything more than that, but anger and spite dripped out from her voice. And yet she had herself under control. The face was angry but not distorted, keeping up the appearance of the beautiful seductress and the eyes had given the guards a fast but measuring glance, analyzing the situation and possible options. Yes, Dan agreed with himself, Henry was a lovely name for her, strong and confident sounding, the name of a ruler, so much better than the lovable but weak sounding name Auri.

Without as much as a conscious thought, the short man’s mouth opened to ask for a dance. Surely an impossible task considering the situation, but what was one to do when faced with so much charming anger, but simply smile and ask?
However, before he could do so, the Woman in Red addressed the guards behind him, making sure that she would be heard by both guards and noble guests. And somewhere in the background the explosions of fireworks could be heard, but it wasn’t enough to distract attention from her risen voice.

“Guards! Guards! This person has just tried to incite a riot against the people guarding us and risks to bring harm to everyone here even the ones who keep quiet and do no harm to anyone without any consideration! Isn’t that right Duke Donald?”
The middle-aged man beside her nodded enthusiastically, happy to be able to support her.
“I demand that this girl will be taken care of, for the sake of everyone here.”
Dan was speechless. What a clever ploy to turn the situation around and against him. Not only had she alerted the guards to his present, she had also created a rift between him and the other hostages. The guards were already moving in his direction and the nobles were giving him angry looks for endangering their precious lives. He would get no help from them.

“Oh that cursed woman!” He might just fall in love with her.

[Flame]

It was a feast, of sorts, well it might not have tasted the best but there was definitely a lot. Kano got to work immediately, his thought process simple, if he ate all of this now he'd definitely have a large amount stored up for the future. What he had been forced to eat at the Pirate's Market was a minuscule amount in comparison to what lay before him in the shed. Kano looked down rubbing his belly for a moment, he had yet to experience fullness from eating these fireworks. But then again never had he tried to eat so much, even when it came to regular food. There was easily more than his body weight in the fiery explosives within this room. Rubbing his hands together Kano gave himself a second to prepare.

Stretching his arms and shifting his shoulders to crack his neck Kano had his moment. Having fully prepared himself Kano stepped forward, or more specifically to his right as he started to eat every firework he could grab. At first he held a decent rate, chewing them down or swallowing them whole if he felt that he could. But as he went on, that feeling of being bloated started to come up from within him. His stomach grumbled, You can do it stomach, power through! it was starting to get unsettled. Stopping for a moment Kano brought his hand to his mouth stifling a burp. Looking around him he had steadily ingested one fifth of the contents of the shed. There was still a lot to do. Suddenly Kano felt he probably would not make it all the way through. He shook his head, no he could do this. This was his decision he was going to go through with it.

Bumping his fist into his chest he reaffirmed it to himself standing a little taller. Like a warrior going to battle he waded into the mess once more. Back to work he went, if one could call it work. He continued to stuff himself silly suddenly wishing that the fireworks tasted better than they did. For a moment he wondered if it'd work if he mixed them with something sweet, but of course he had nothing of the sort here. Shaking off those distracting thoughts he went on consuming the food. Going on, he pushed forward constantly eating them. It was almost like a second wind, a gruesome grueling second wind in which his stomach protested his determination to continue eating. It fought him every step of the way, calling on his body to throw up. But he bit down and closed off any chance that that would happen. Kano was stubborn, his body would submit to his mind. In this he believed.

When he was nearly halfway through something new caught his attention. "Oi! What are you doing?!" Came the voice from behind him. Turning he noted not one but three guards at the door. Two of them still seemed a little sleepy, in fact he realized it was the two he had seen before sleeping on duty. It was a little amusing to see now, so Kano turned around looked at them and laughed for a moment. "BURRRPPP~" the sound belched out of his throat as he opened his mouth feeling the pressure. He felt renewed, ready and even a little bloodthirsty.

A smile spread across Kano's face as he stepped forward towards them. Kano raised his hand up to the side, immediately his forearm and hand disappeared replacing itself with a sparkler. Sparks flew from it lighting up the room of fireworks. Flourishing his sparkler-arm Kano smiled with a giddy grin that showed all sorts of amusement. The guards before him all stepped back with a look of concern. A little more so then before, the sound of the crackling sparkler was like music to Kano's ear. Slowly it seemed to increase in intensity, until Kano had to look around and with surprise noted that he had lit the fuses for a few of the fireworks in the shed. Now Kano's eyes widened realizing what exactly what was going to happen and understanding the guard's concern.

No longer a flourish Kano charged out of the shed completely ignoring the now fleeing guards. With one foot out of the shed, the first firework exploded. Then the second, the third, soon all the fireworks within the shed started up. Kano unfazed by the heat turned around to watch the spectacle. The wooden walls of the shed disintegrated under the barrage and suddenly all the rest of the fireworks flew out in every direction out in the air. The sounds of all those fireworks exploding echoed across the grounds which Kano took much pride in. He did not mind that he would not be able to eat more fireworks, he was quite full and feeling all powered up already. Next was to get his clothes back which meant he needed to re-enter the palace. Kano looked up to the balcony, or where he thought balcony was, for a moment he considered whether he could get up there.

Instead he decided to go to the palace front. He knew what it looked like he could get there again. Simply he had to follow the edge of the palace to its front. Taking off at a jog he slowly made his way around the palace. The clothing he wore hiding him from the searching guards who just figured him to be one of them. Surely he made it to the front of the palace, the same entrance he had come in from before. The doors were sandwiched shut with four guards, halberds in their hands standing before it trying to look menacing. Kano stopped a little bit away, slowing down and straightening his posture a little.

Walking out before them he spoke "Sorry, I got a little lost, I need to get back in for the party." Kano said giving a gleaming white smile. Clothes, and what not it was time.

[Shinku]

“Chapter 23: about a troubled girl who wasn’t a girl but who wound up in trouble nevertheless…”
Maybe that wasn’t the time to think up titles for chapters that weren’t even written or even properly numbered yet as the story hadn’t even reached its end, though it might be close to its climax, but when you got the habit of writing stories, stories that would sometimes be based on stuff that had happened to you or around you, then you’ll sooner or later would find yourself composing sentences in your head for later use. One of his problems was that the mental writing distracted him from the things he had to do until he no longer could ignore them and had to act, which in turn would distract him from the already build sentences and made him forget them before he could write them down. It was a shame, Dan mused, for he was never really able to recreate them fully and was sure that whatever he wrote on a second attempt was undoubtedly inferior to the first one. The short man often found himself struggling with the perfect wording and knew full well that his effort to pack everything he had thought of into the story resulted in many run-on sentences that were hard to comprehend, even for him sometimes. But no matter how he tried, often he didn’t found another way to say it and neither did he want to censor his thoughts.
What was the point of writing if you couldn’t say what you wanted?

Alerted by the Woman in Red’s statement, the guards cautious approached him. They took the possible threat serious, it was their job after all, but on the same time the professional palace guards would not break out in panic and rush. The instigator in question was only a little lady after all and no one wanted to create an unpleasant incident by resorting to violence before even getting the proper orders from their higher ups. When nobility was concerned, stuff like this could turn tricky very soon. The ruling guys might have a habit of killing each other secretly, but woe betide you if a simple guard like you laid a hand on one of them without the proper backup from above. They’ll soon cease all their squabbling and would turn to slash at you.

To the captain of the guards’ annoyance, the pirates that had joined them in their task of keeping an eye on the hostages were less disciplined than his own men. One of them grabbed the Lady in the white dress and smiled nastily.
“What do we have here? Are you trying to make trouble for us little mouse?” said the spindly pirate who wasn’t exactly tall himself and Dan tried to look convincingly intimidated. That wasn’t hard at all. It wasn’t like Dan was really scared or anything. No… of course not! A Delion would not get scared so easily by a meager pirate! He was merely cautious, which was what the situation demanded. In his head, various plans and possibilities clashed against each other, quarreling about the best way to get out of this trouble.

“What’s the meaning of this Auri?!” a haughty voice demanded to know. The snobbish princeling was wearing a pair of glasses now but his air of elegance was still the same. As was his obliviousness to the situation. The Girl in Yellow towing after him with an alarmed look on her face, but no chance of stopping the prince from what the idiot had set out to do, looked quite miserable. Her confession probably hadn’t go well.

“Prince Near?” The Woman in Red sounded and most of all looked surprised, but Dan thought that he could detect a nuance of irritation in her voice as well. It was hard not to be annoyed about Prince Charming, who probably had waited in line for beauty when they handed out brain. Two attributes which were usually handed out at the same time for some reason. Maybe to prevent that someone got too much of both, though in Prince Near’s case it was probably his surroundings that would profit from him getting some savvy.

“How can you just run off after asking for my support and why are you helping these pirates?” The now bespectacled prince wanted to know from the Woman in Red who’s name was presumably Auri rather than Henry.
“Didn’t you say that you were a Marine spy? Why haven’t you contacted your subordinates and ordered them to take those insufferable discourteous pirates into custody yet?!” Lowering his voice to address her personally so they wouldn’t be overheard was obviously beneath him and the glasses too did nothing to improve his perception for the situation.
“Do you know that Mira here claims that you are a fake and that she’s the real one?”
The Girl in Yellow looked very distressed now and her posture suggested that she would have preferred to be somewhere else, practically everywhere else but here. For a moment the gaze of the two women met and there was a silent message passed between them. It spoke of an acknowledgement of their common misfortune and that despite them being foes they understood the other ones suffering and could feel pity about it. Or maybe it just simply meant “Men…”. With non-verbal communication it was often hard to catch the exact message sent.

“How interesting…”

The guards began to move with more purpose now, intending to surround the whole group and take them into custody before things got out of control, true to the motto that it was better to first act and ask the questions later. But again the pirates, untrained in the ways of proper teamwork, got in the way and messed up their cooperation.
Dan took this moment of unorganized confusion to ram his elbow into the side of the crud pirate who had just grabbed him in a place where Dan didn’t like to be grabbed at all.

“Chapter 23: Of a near-sighted prince who is confused about who is a Marine and who is not and about three very annoyed women…”