Of Mina and Magic
Finally, after much monster slaying and a good two hours of walking, the group crossed a long bridge into the city of Windia. Well, not exactly. From the bridge, they actually entered a dark passageway underneath the city.
"Who goes there?" A guardsman asked from behind the gate. Mina stepped forward.
"It's me, Zack. Can we pass, please?"
"Absolutely." Zack flipped the switch on the wall, and the gate was lowered. "Just be careful. A maze starts here."
Nina seemed to know her way through the maze, so she led the way. Soon they came to a flight of stairs, and when they ascended, they found themselves in the castle garden, surrounded by soldiers.
"Mother, I'm home!" Mina cried, running over to the queen. "I had my sister and her friends bring me home!"
The queen, Hina, raised an eyebrow. "Sister? What do you mean? You don't have a sister."
"Yes I do! Tell them, Nina!"
Hina became quite anxious at the sight of Nina, but she maintained her composure. "Guard. Escort these people from the castle, and thank them for bringing our princess home."
A group of soldiers motioned for them to follow, but Nina bowed her head as Mina cried after her.
And so it was that Ryu, Katt, and Nina found themselves outside the castle.
"That's not right," Katt wondered. "Nina, aren't you a princess?"
"I told you to forget it." She said sternly. Katt promptly shut up.
"Hey what's going on over there?" Ryu asked, pointing to a small tent south of where they stood. The owner of the tent noticed them looking, and motioned them over.
"Come on over, ladies and germ! Come see the great Sten work his magic!"
Since they had nothing better to do, they walked over. A small group of people was already gathered.
The man, Sten, was obviously a Highlander, perhaps a bit more in touch with his primate blood than others of his home country.
"Now, I'll need a volunteer!" Sten was saying. "Anyone? Anyone? How about you, mister?" He grabbed Ryu's hand and pulled him forward. "Come on, dude! Let's not be a chicken in front of all the hotties!"
"Um, wait a second…" Ryu started to object, but it was too late. Sten had already shoved him into a large box marked with a "?".
"Okay, folks! I will now make the box disappear! Ready… here we go!"
Ryu felt the box begin to quake, and then he felt severe pain in his body as the roof of the box collapsed and pushed him downward.
"There you have it!" Sten cried. "Show's over!" The group of people quickly dissolved, save for Nina and Katt.
"Hey! Where'd Ryu go?" Katt asked. "Bring him back!"
"Oh, I'm sorry." Sten said with mock concern. "Is he your boyfriend or something?"
Katt turned beet red. "No… But we need him. So cough him up."
"I can't." Sten said, matter-of-factly.
"And why is that?" Nina asked in the same fashion.
"Well, it's rather difficult for me to say, but this pretty woman's boyfriend has vanished into a parallel universe."
Katt turned even redder than before. "If you say that again, I will beat the daylights out of you. Now what the hell are you talking about?"
"Just as I said, he has slipped beyond our reach, into… the unknown."
"So you can't help him?" Nina asked, frowning.
"Well, it's not that I can't… Listen… I'll go have lunch with the future Mrs. Ryu, and then we'll work on saving him, mkay?"
Katt grabbed Sten by the throat. "That's quite enough out of you!!"
Sten smiled. "Relax, sweetheart. I'm sure Ryu won't mind."
"You're sure I won't mind what?" said a voice.
Katt screamed, but out of delight. Ryu's head was poking above the ground! She grabbed his hand and pulled him up, then turned her glare on Sten. "Another world, huh? I don't think so."
And so it was that Katt proceeded to beat Sten's ass royale.
"Owww!" he cried when it was over. "Are you proud of making me unable to sit, now?"
"Shut up, or I'll do it again!" she snarled, then took Ryu's hand and prepared to lead them away from that pitiful creature.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Sten cried, "Please forgive me! I'm really sorry! I just get carried away when I see visions of beauty…"
Nina rolled her eyes. "Don't worry about it. Just go away."
Sten jumped. "You mean you will forgive me?? Oh, I'm so grateful! I'm so grateful!"
"Can you be grateful quietly?" Ryu asked, clearly annoyed.
"I can if you let me come with you." Sten said. "Please! I have no life anymore. Just let me tag along?"
Ryu sighed. "Fine, whatever."
"Yahoo! Do I Yahoo? Yes I do!"
"Shut it." Katt told him.
"Yes boss."
As the group left Windia, Katt found herself dwelling on Sten's remarks about Ryu being her boyfriend. Of course he wasn't, but she wondered why his words made her blush so much. She had promised herself that she was better than that kid, but…
"Hey, Katt! Snap out of it!" Nina said, snapping her fingers before the Woren's face. Katt blinked.
"Are you okay?" Ryu asked. "You were lost in space for a while."
"Oh, I hate that show!" Sten cracked.
Ryu slapped his head. "Oy vei…"
And so it came to be that Ryu and his friends now headed for the village of Capitan in the far, far west.
