Balthazar entered the shop cautiously. He didn't see the Grimhold right away, but then again he hadn't been expecting to. It might even be disguised, though he hoped not. A disguise over it would mean that he was dealing with another sorcerer, possibly even Horvath. He held his hand out over various objects in the shop, feeling for the energy of the Grimhold.

An old Chinese woman entered the shop a minute later. "Can I help you?" she asked kindly.

Balthazar laughed gently. "Well you see, this is going to sound strange. I'm looking for a nesting doll, about so high…" he explained, holding his hands about a foot apart. "Angry looking Chinese gentleman on the front."

"Nesting doll... Maybe. I collect so many interesting things." She said as she started looking around the shop intently.

Something struck Balthazar as wrong about the whole situation. With a smile he decided to try something.

"You hair is very beautiful." Balthazar complimented in Chinese.

She turned to him with a broad smile. "Ah, you speak Mandarin?"

Balthazar leaned back a little, crossing his arms. He seemed about to reply in Chinese again, but then he suddenly moved into action, blasting her against the door to the shop.

"That was Cantonese, Horvath." Balthazar said with a mild frown.

The woman transformed into Horvath who glared at Balthazar with hate before answering. "You know, an old associate of mine speaks impeccable Cantonese."

Balthazar sensed the Morganian appearing behind him as a swarm of butterflies converged into a human figure. The man wearing a very wide leather belt with a dragon on it, and a draped sarong made of leather as well. His hair was shaved, except for ponytail that came from the very top. His fingers were tipped with metal claws, and he had metal points on the tips of his ears.

"Sun-Lok. You remember him?" Horvath said with a wicked grin. He held out the empty shell of Sun-Lok's layer of the Grimhold. "Oops, opened it." Horvath added.

While Horvath had been talking Sun-Lok had gathered all the acupuncture needles in the shop and sent them flying at Balthazar.

Balthazar ducked using his leather duster as a shield. Most of the needles bounced off the coat, which had been magically re-enforced years ago. Some stuck in, but didn't penetrate to the sorcerer underneath. Balthazar returned fire with a plasma bolt that sent Sun-Lok flying out the widow behind him.

Balthazar ran to the window to see Sun-Lok stand up, right next to a stunned Elaine.

Elaine jumped as the strangely dressed Chinese man landed next to her. She looked at him with fear as he straightened himself up and glared around him. His attention focused on her for a second.

"Um… I'm just a bystander…" she muttered in the hopes that he would leave her alone. Her hands were held up in front of her.

Sun-Lok noticed the dragon ring on her hand and gave her an intense glare of hatred.

Balthazar leaned out the window and shouted, "Elaine, you should run." His voice was calm.

Elaine glanced up at him, then back at Sun-Lok. With a nervous laugh she took off, running away from the frightening looking Morganian.

Back inside the shop Balthazar had lost track of Horvath for a second. He noticed a couple of doorways with beaded curtains in the room. One of the curtains was swaying, as though it had been disturbed recently. He started towards it.

Horvath was hiding in the other doorway. He watched as Balthazar seemed to follow his diversion. What he didn't notice was the beads from the curtain near him snake around him neck until the last second. They tightened enough to keep him from moving, but not enough to choke him. He looked back into the room to see Balthazar stand there.

"Nice try," Balthazar said with a smug smile. He reached out a hand and the Grimhold came flying to it from Horvath's coat. With a wink he turned away and jumped out the window.

Meanwhile, Elaine ran like her life depended on it, which she suspected that it did. Balthazar was powerful and if he said to run from this guy she defiantly wouldn't argue with him. She ran into the crowd, coming out in front of the paper dragon dancers.

Sun-Lok saw a good opportunity and took it. He motioned to the dragon on his belt and brought it to life, causing the paper dragon in the street to transform into an actual living, fire-breathing dragon. It was linked to the dragon on his clothing, so he controlled it as it went after Elaine.

Elaine looked behind her as screams erupted from the crowd. She saw the dragon eye her then move forward.

"A dragon? You've got to be kidding me?" She exclaimed as she bolted away from the dragon. She headed towards the buildings lining the street.

Balthazar saw the dragon from the fire escape, and quickly reacted by causing the confetti that was all around to double, making a thick rain of the paper to cover the sight of the dragon. He knew he had to limit the amount of magic that the public saw here today.

Elaine noticed the confetti storm and ignored it as she ran. Whatever helped her escape the dragon was okay with her. Despite the limited visibility she heard the dragon roar from almost directly behind her.

"Oh that's not good…" She muttered and ran to the closest building. She stopped to grab a sword from a vendor cart on the sidewalk. She unsheathed it and tried to attack the dragon, but the sword was cheap and broke against the scales. "Crap!" She said flinging the broken sword away and then fleeing into the building, which appeared to be an apartment complex.

The dragon chased her relentlessly through the hallway of the building, and up the stairs. She ran through the second floor to the window at the end of hallway. The widow was open and she jumped out to the fire escape. She scanned the street but couldn't see anything through the rain of confetti.

"Balthazar!" She called for help, but he didn't show. Sun-Lok appeared on the street in a confetti free area and suddenly the dragon was after her again. She ran up the fire escape, but was dismayed to see the dragon crash out of the window and start climbing the wall to get to her.

She climbed the stairs as fast as she humanly could. When she was a few stories higher than the dragon she tried to use the ring to blast it with fire. Nothing happened.

Balthazar saw this from the street. He cleared the confetti from around himself and yelled out to her, "You skipped the first step… clear your mind!"

"Clear my mind…. Are you crazy?" She yelled back gesturing towards the dragon.

Balthazar thought about that for a moment, then on a whim he held up his fingers to indicate that he was a little crazy.

"A little bit…great… just great." Elaine mumbled to herself as she climbed higher.

The dragon seemed to be slowing down. It looked as though it were having problems getting a claw hold in the wall. Elaine managed to get to the top floor before she tried again.

This time she whispered, "Clear my mind…" as a mantra a few times before feeling it start to work. With a willed thought she set fire to the tail of the dragon. Within moments it was burning up and falling back into the street onto Sun-Lok, causing them both to vanish in a puff of smoke.

Elaine raced back down to Balthazar with excitement. She had done it, and it was the best feeling she had ever felt. She wanted more!

Balthazar turned with a smile. "Good job. Why the sword?" He asked her referring to her attempt to go medieval on the dragon.

"I took fencing in Junior High… I understand a sword better than magic." She answered just as the police arrived on the scene.

Horvath watched from the window of the shop. He was frustrated with the whole situation. When the girl made her way back to Balthazar he sneered at her excited expression. That's when he noticed the ring on her finger.

"It can't be." He whispered. "The Prime Merlinean?" This situation kept getting more and more complicated. He had to find some help, and soon. He waited till Balthazar was done fooling the local police. It was a classic move to use an illusion spell to dissuade the authorities away from a magical scene. Then he left to go find a minion he could use.

After dealing with the police and deterring them from the truth Balthazar lead them back to his car. There he turned to Elaine and held out his hand. "The ring please." At her confused look he added, "I'm a man of my word. You helped me get the Grimhold back, so you're done. You can go back to your normal life now."

Elaine looked thoughtfully at him and then clutched her hand with the ring to her chest. "I think…" she paused and looked pointedly at him, "I'd like to learn more." She finished with a stunning smile.

Balthazar grinned back, a little taken by her smile. "Alright then… We need a place to work."

Elaine thought about it then nodded. "I have a place."

*** Things are going to change from the movie a bit here now… hope you guys are ready for it ***