Half Demon Swordsman
Chapter Thirty Five: The Party

Asagi

The morning started out how every morning did: Serena was late. There was a big traffic jam because the police were making security checks. How weird.

Once Serena got to school, Melvin informed her that Princess Diamond was in town and was having a big party to show off all of her family's jewels.

"Who's Princess Diamond?" Serena asked, confused. I was wondering the same thing.

"Only the heiress to the largest jewel collection ever." Melvin informed. "Everyone's dying to see her Imperial Crystal."

Imperial Crystal? Could that be the Imperium Silver Crystal we were looking for? But then I remembered Queen Serenity's words: we wouldn't find the Imperium Silver Crystal until we united the Rainbow. And we definitely hadn't united the Rainbow yet.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to check it out.

"I think it'll be a huge bore." Molly declared. "My mother's making me go. They invited all the jewelry store owners from all over town."

"You could just think of it as patience training." I suggested.

Molly sniggered. "Like your patience training Asagi-chan?"

"Humph."

Later, we all met at the Cherry Hill Temple to discuss the Scouts Swordsmen and Rangers, aside from Molly, were going to get in to the party.

Luna wanted us to be there because she thought this Princess Diamond might be the one of the princesses we were looking for, but then I reminded her that according to Queen Serenity, they were 'hiding in plain sight.' Molly had her way in, but that left the rest of us scrambling for a way in.

"There are only so many of us who can go with you Molly." Moegi said. "Although I think that at least one of us should go."

"How to convince my mom though?" Molly pointed out.

"I have an idea." Moegi declared. "I discovered a new power."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

She grinned. "Remember that old movie we watched the other day when you were 'sick?'" She asked.

I nodded. "Baby Geniuses. I remember. What about it?"

"Remember what Sly did to the workers at Babyco?" She continued.

I snorted with laughter. "Which workers? The ones he hit in the forbidden spot with the ski, or the ones he made to chant 'the magnificent Sly and the Bobbins babies have a vitally important errand at Babyco,' and stick their tongues out at the end?"

The others burst out laughing.

"Man I wish I could do that." Jedite said wistfully. "Imagine all the embarrassing things I could do to Neflite . . . wouldn't that be awesome?"

We all rolled our eyes, by now, used to Jedite's rivalry with his 'most hated brother.'

"The ones he made chant 'the magnificent Sly and the Bobbins babies have a vitally important errand at Babyco.'" Moegi replied. "I discovered that I can hypnotize people. Molly, I can hypnotize your mom into believing she told you to invite a friend along. Of course, we'll have to draw straws or something to figure out who goes, but at least one of us has a way in."

"Another few of us could ambush guests and assume their identity." I suggested.

"Good idea. Okay, how many of us are going to do that? There are so many of us. Four Scouts, five Swordsmen and three Rangers. That's," Mica stopped to do a few calculations on her fingers. "Twelve of us. And that's assuming Shion and Shiori don't become Swordsmen, in which case we'd have fourteen of us."

"And the other Scouts don't show up." Ai put in. "Even if it was just the Inners, we'd have sixteen, if Shion and Shiori become Swordsmen."

"That would be a nightmare." Sammy sighed, rubbing his temples. "Sixteen people to sneak into a party we're not invited to."

"We'll figure it out." Roku promised. "Anyway, who's going with Molly and who's going to ambush random guests and take their places?"

"It should be me that goes with Molly, or Asagi." Serena suggested. "Because we're her closest friends. Even hypnotized, Molly's mom would get awfully suspicious if she brought along a friend who hasn't been her friend forever."

"I have an idea." I announced. "Moegi, why don't you hypnotize Molly's mom into thinking she told Molly that if she wanted she could bring Serena and I along. That way, less of us have to ambush random guests, that no one knows of course, and we can get in without having to disguise ourselves. Sound cool?"

"Yeah!" Everyone declared. So for the next half hour, we laid out plans for who would be sneaking in by way of the disguise pen, and who would ambush random guests. Serena and I found a pair of dresses on sale that would work for a big party.

When we got home, we discovered that Dad had been invited to the party. We told him we were going with Molly. He wished us a good time.

Neflite, naturally posing as Maxfield Stanton, asked Molly to dance and despite the fact that they were enemies, she agreed.

I grinned. "She hides it well," I said aloud. "But she's got a major crush on him."

Serena looked at me. "You think so?"

I laughed. "Hell yes I do!"

"Well then that's just more of an incentive to purify him." Serena declared. "Do you remember the words?"

"'I say these words before the shrine of Selene so that the spirit of the moon may hear and approve my choice. We ask of you to break this spell and bring our friend back to who he was. Separate the red from the black and cast the darkness out!'" I recited.

"How do you remember that?!" Serena demanded.

I shrugged. "To be honest with you nee-chan, I have no idea. Anyway, we should check out this Princess Diamond. I doubt she's one of the princesses we're looking for with the hiding in plain sight message and all, but it doesn't hurt to look. Come on."

Serena laughed. "Alright imouto, I'm coming, I'm coming." And with that, we went to investigate the princess that had captured our attention.