Alright, time for another chapter of 'The wild horse mage knight' to step up onto the stage. But first, let me just say that this chapter in particular is something that I've been looking forward to finishing for a while, so it might've been a little rushed, hopefully not by too much.

Now, with that in mind, let's all not forget the fact that I own nothing here except for the plot and my various (currently numbering on thirteen) OCs.

Chapter VIII: Reunions Pt2

Yume's eyes darted from one teen to the other. Inwardly, she was congratulating herself. From what it seemed so far, every one of her siblings were the daughters of the very same people that she suspected they'd be. "Seven down, three more to go." That was a big accomplishment in her mind.

The first one, a blonde , seemed to be studying each one of them carefully, a light frown of concentration on her face. "Aunt Ayaka's, definitely.". She had a bit of a tomboyish appearance: short hair, baggy red shirt under a denim jacket, maroon track pants and red sneakers; she also had glasses on too. None of them seemed to be of too high above average quality either. In fact, had it not been for the emerald that acted as the sole button for her jacket, nobody would probably have ever thought her to have been rich.

Next to her was a girl with light orange, neck-length hair and held some sort of folded up device in her hand. It looked like she was talking to the blonde before they arrived. She wore a burnt-orange spaghetti strap that hugged her body quite well, along with brown shorts that reached mid-thigh, a pair of knee high boots covered her feet. "Pale orange hair and a palmtop computer. Well that makes it obvious, though she's definitely not as afraid of attention as her mother was. Clothes like those practically scream 'look at me', even if she doesn't intend to get it." (If you still can't guess who's the mother of this one, you'll find out later)

And then finally, there was the third girl further down the table. Her long purple hair was tied in a single ponytail and managed to reach all the way down her mid-thigh. In comparison, her clothes were much simpler and more modest than the last two girls: a plain yellow tank top under a casual white blouse and white slacks. She didn't have any defining features to track the identity of her mother with, but the blue haired woman sitting beside her was undoubtedly Izumi Ako. It was pretty easy to guess from there. What was really eye catching about her at the moment was that she was currently giving an impression of a goldfish, directed somewhere to her side.

Curious, she turned to look at where the violet haired girl was so surprised about, only to find Mika returning the other girl's gobsmacked expression. Slowly, the pinkette's hand rose, pointing towards the other girl, her mouth still agape. "I guess they met before."

"Ch… Chiaki… san?/Mika…san?... WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" they shouted, both of them now pointing to each other.

Everybody was staring at them now, not that either of them noticed, they were too busy being shocked. Close to them, Yume took notice of the sheepish grins on both their mothers' faces as they attempted to inch away. Not that they could actually go very far.

Faster than the eye could see, Mika was upon her mother, as was the now named Chiaki, both of them trying to get answers from their older counterpart. The word 'classmate' was enough of a hint for everybody else to figure out what was going on between the two. It seemed that the two of them had just as close a friendship between them as their mothers did. Their anger was reasonable, Yume supposed; the two had apparently been close for a while now, but only learned about their true relationship recently. "I probably would've acted the same if I'd known Ranma or Mika from before."

It took a while, but eventually Mika and Chiaki had let up on their respective interrogation. From the scowls they wore, it was easy to tell that they were still far from pleased, but the two of them were willing to wait for answers later. Most likely the very second they got out of the room.

When they were invited to sit Yume took the chair beside Ranma, both sitting at the left corner of the rectangular table nearest the door, Mika and Chiaki sat across from while the two remaining unknowns sat themselves at the foot of the table. Opposite those two stood Ayaka at the far end, the other parents on either side of her.

Ayaka addressed them as they all settled down. "Alright then, now, for those that have just gotten here I'm fairly certain you've all figured out what this meeting is for correct?" all three nodded. "Excellent. Well then, while I realize that none of us standing before you here actually have any right to say this, but I honestly do hope that all of you get along."

"We'll leave you all for now so that you can all get to know one another. You can leave whenever you choose, but I would advise that you at least stay here until after takeoff."

The older half of the room's occupants left after that, giving their respective child some words of encouragement before leaving. A very audible thud was heard as the door was shut behind them. Silence followed as all six siblings eyed each other, each one asking, hoping that someone else would start talking first, even as half of them tried to hide it. Then, after what felt like hours, Yume heard her only brother sigh.

"Well I guess we might as well get this over with, and since you're all going to find out eventually..." Ranma stopped, getting up from his seat, he walked over to a smaller table that stood behind where Mika had sat, carrying a tray with various glasses, pitchers and bottles of all sorts of drinks.

He slowly poured himself a glass of water before taking it and bringing so it was level with his face, holding it there tentatively, as if contemplating his actions. All the rest looked at him with confusion, all but Yume that is. She knew what he was going to do. It did surprise her though. From what she knew and what she'd seen, he was usually on guard whenever it came to this particular subject.

"Either he's accepted his curse by a greater margin within the past few hours, or he actually feels safe showing these four about it. Perhaps a mixture of both. Hopefully, no one will overreact to this… oh wait, daughters of some of class 3A… forgot about that."

After over a minute of doubt, Ranma seemed to have come to a conclusion. In a quick succession of movement, he raised the glass above his head and poured the contents all over him, much to the surprise of those that didn't expect such a thing. What surprised them further was the his transformation. Where there once was a well muscled, raven haired young man, there was now a well endowed, red headed teenage girl.

Setting the glass down, the aforementioned girl turned to look at the remaining occupants of the room. He was partially surprised to see that none of them were openly gaping at him like most had reacted upon first seeing his transformation –something he attributed to the fact that they had all recently learned that they were magic royalty– but they showed shock at what had transpired nonetheless. The only one that looked unaffected was Yume, but then, she already knew about the curse beforehand.

Regaining his composure, Ranma gave them the widest grin he could form, one hand scratching the back of his neck. "The name's Miyazaki Ranma, sorry about this." (Don't know if that's a cannon line, but it's been used a lot fanfics and I love it)

-X-

(Lowest deck: bar. Right as Haruna left)

There was one thing that has to be said about the Yukihiro zaibatsu: if they even so much as had a finger in making it (let alone a hand) then you should very damn well expect it to be made better than anything else. That was one Saotome Haruna's opinion as she stood in front of the bar area entrance, taking in the appearance of the long room.

The place was nothing short of first class, and that was only because there was no class better. The place made most five star restaurants look like greasy fast food joints. The floor was carpeted with a crimson carpet of an even deeper shade than the one used on the other parts of the plane. The walls were coloured a rich brown, giving the illusion of being made out of wood. The entire place was lit up by large circular chandelier that was, to Haruna's amusement, had the glass pieces arranged to resemble a pactio circle. The actual bar itself was located at the far end of the sixty meter or so room, a counter/table that attached to the walls end to end, much like one would find in a tavern. Behind it, the mangaka could see shelves on the walls; wine glasses, bottles of alcohol and a copious amount of other different beverages stacked onto them.

Taking her mind off of the scenery, the Haruna's eyes quickly scanned the vicinity for her camera wielding former classmate. Just as Ayaka had said, there were already quite a few there: She could see Yuna somewhere around the middle of the room, talking to Misa and Sakurako, with four others joining them. Among them was Kana who was conversing with a brunette, roughly thirteen or fourteen, both of whom were entertaining the other two; a strawberry blonde girl of around five years of age and a child no older than two. Haruna contemplated asking the redhead teenager for her mother's location, but ultimately decided against it.

Further back, she could see Chizuru and Natsumi sitting with two other teenagers, twins if their appearance was anything to go by; one boy, one girl, both with red hair and dog ears. It didn't take much to guess who their parents were.

A little closer to her position was Kaede, easily identifiable by her eternally closed eyes. Being a trained ninja, Haruna wasn't at all surprised when the olive haired kunoichi took notice of her immediately, giving her a silent hello with a wave of her hand, one that she wholeheartedly returned. This caught the attention of the girl sitting next to her who turned around to look towards the doorway.

She was Kaede's daughter, the mangaka supposed. There was enough similarity in appearance between them: very athletic build, dark green hair, she even had a similar hairstyle to the Kaede way back when, if a little bit spikier towards the sides. The ninja-esque outfit didn't do much to hide it either. About the only major difference appearance-wise between the two was that, unlike Kaede, the smaller kunoichi was relatively much shorter, not to mention… lacking in certain areas.

As the smaller ninja gave her own silent greeting, which was also returned, Haruna started scouring her mind for anything she learned about the girl the past few years. "Let's see, if memory serves me right, her name is Azumaya Koyuki. Fourteen years old, chose to live on her own in Adachi-ku, Tokyo. Hmm… it seems Kaede decided to bring her along for the reunion. I wonder if she knows about magic already?"

Deciding to simply let that question answer itself, she continued her search for her partner in crime. In the end, Haruna found the redheaded journalist sitting at the bar counter, talking with Sayo. "So, how was the trip here?" she asked as she took a seat beside the ghost girl.

The duo turned to her. "Oh, it wasn't bad. Especially considering we got to ride first class," Kazumi answered, giving Haruna the same wide smirk that the redhead had always favoured so much. "And you?"

"Rather entertaining, if I do say so myself. …So… do you still have little miss 'perfect' under surveillance?"

Kazumi nodded in affirmation. "Of course I do. And it seems to me that you haven't lost your edge when it comes to manipulating people. You really are a genius at that aren't you?"

The smirk that Kazumi wore at that line was matched only by Haruna's own. "So you've figured out my little punishment plan for that girl, have you?"

"Heh… well, if your plan was to have those three girls continuously sabotage little miss Tendo's 'attempts' to curb her anger, in secret, no less and in the most violent ways, then yes, I'd say it's working quite well," Kazumi answered, no small amount of amusement in her tone. "It's only been a few hours and already that girl's been attacked a total of seven times. Every single time no one's looking, something always happens to her."

Haruna's smirk turned absolutely feral at that, leaving a low, dark cackling in its wake. "Oh… believe me, Kazumi-chan, what you've seen so far is far from the end. If even one of those girls are really as desperate to get Ranma to love them as they seem… then before long, they'll end up trying to get each other spotted in the act."

Her cackling had grew louder after that, causing many to stare at their direction. Of course, given that more than half of them had known her previously, it did nothing more than make them curious of what it was the mangaka was planning. The recon duo, on the other hand were less impressed.

"That's it?" the redhead reporter deadpanned, "make them fight each other? They already do that on their own! What's the point?" she raved on while Sayo chose to simply stay confused and quiet beside her.

Both grew even more confused when Haruna's smirk turned into devil scaring grin. "Kukukuku… dear, dear… it looks like you still can't get any of my plans completely," she stated, her voice low and menacing, a habit that had long since been recognized as a sure sign of chaos. "I'm a little glad actually. If you could've figure out the full scope of my plan, then that means I've gotten rusty." She raised her head, staring directly towards the two. For a moment, they could've sworn that her eyes were glowing red, giving her an even more frightening visage. "I assure you two. Come two weeks from now, the lives of not only those four girls… but the guys after them as well, will all be thrown into hysteria."

-X-

(Top deck: meeting room)

There was one thing that Ranma was used to when it came to his curse, and that was how people treated him for it. Very few had ever actually seen him as normal once they found out about it. Often people would think of him a freak merely for having it. Very few had ever accepted him about it. Now it seemed those few had grew by four more people.

Much to his surprise, the only one that of his sisters that had acted in a way that he was used to: Mika. It was something he should've expected, he told himself, considering the girl's child-like tendencies. As soon as the pink haired girl had regained her composure after seeing the curse take effect, she promptly walked up to Ranma-chan, crouched down so that her face was level with the martial artist's chest… and then proceeded to poke it to see if it was real. It was irritating, but at least she backed up as soon as she confirmed it.

The others though… well, they were a lot less active with their reactions. In the end, all they did was ask the usual questions he got about the subject: what had happened, how it happened, what kind of curse was it, etc, etc. Mostly the usual before the others started to introduce themselves. None of them may have been as eventful as his own, but no one really bothered with that detail much.

To say that Ranma was relieved when none of them thought he was a pervert for having a curse that turned him into a girl would have been an understatement. He already had enough of a hard time around Akane because of that, he didn't want to have someone in his family think like that as well. Sure, it may not have been all of them yet, but if they were anything to go by, then chances were high that his remaining four sisters wouldn't be all that weirded out about it either. At least… he hoped they didn't.

"You know, Ranma-nii, since we're going to the magic world, finding a cure for that curse would probably be easy… not that I understand why you actually want to get rid of it." It was his orange haired sister that spoke. Hasegawa Seiki, as she had introduced herself earlier on. There were four things that was easy to figure out about her: she was very easy going, a little hyperactive, an obvious otaku(having compared his curse with over a dozen mangas), and last of all…

"And why wouldn't I want to get rid of it?"

"Because if you can turn into a girl, we can do a lot of girly stuff with you without it looking weird!"

… she was pretty damn blunt.

The boy turned girl stared at his orange haired sister, a blank expression on her features. She blinked… then again… and then once more. "… You're going to have a lot of fun with this aren't you?"

"Yup!"

All the others stared at the two as silence reigned once more. The orange haired girls smile never once diminishing.

…

…

"Perhaps it wasn't such a smart idea to just show your curse like that, Ranma-onii-san." This time it was the blonde girl, Yukihiro Ayane, a girl who, true to her appearance, was a very tomboyish girl, something that Ranma wasn't quite too thrilled with, considering his track record with those kind of girls. Still, she may have been rich, but she was far less spoiled than Akane was. After all, the Tendo heiress may not have gotten much in terms of money and possessions (such things went to the middle sister, and from her own gain), but she was allowed to do whatever else she wanted, which still counted as being spoiled. The fact that the blonde was more level headed than all of the Nerima wrecking crew combined was a big help too… not that that was too hard a quality to meet.

"Yeah… I kinda figured as much," Ranma replied, heaving a sigh. In the very least, he took comfort in the fact that no one had hit him yet, or tried to experiment with his curse. "And I have to do this again for everybody else too."

It was that that rose a question in Yume's head. "Hey… come to think of it…" she turned her head, looking towards a digital clock inlaid upon the wall. It had been a good thirty or so minutes already since their little meeting had started. "It's nearly time for the plane to takeoff. When are the others going to get here?" this got everybody turning to her, processing the question before wondering the same thing themselves. All except one, anyway.

"They're not coming here. We're going to them."

All heads turned towards Ayane. The inquisitive stares were the only thing she needed to see to elaborate. "As it currently stands, the only ones of the ten of us that are currently here in Japan are the people in this room." She raised her hand quickly then, seeing that Ranma was about to ask something. Fixing he glasses, she continued to explain. "Before heading to Britain, there is one more of us we must pick up in China. The other three live in different parts of Britain and are already awaiting our arrival."

It took a while to process the information, but all the rest nodded at it by the end. With that matter taken care of, their little family meeting continued for another half hour before it was forced to a halt, with the announcement of the plane's departure.

With most of the tension gone from when he had first entered, Ranma left the room (still a girl), a small smile present o his face. It seems things were turning out better than he expected it to.

-X-

(Outside the room. At the same time)

"I'm glad you convinced him to come."

Nodoka turned to face Ayaka. They were the only two in the hallway now. Chisame, the only other one of them that had a room in the top deck had left to hers after long glance back towards the meeting room, the others leaving for the second deck after doing the same.

The smaller woman smiled at the taller blonde. "Well… to be honest, I technically forced Ranma into this before I managed to convince him that it was a good idea," she explained, her cheeks flushing slightly in embarrassment.

This earned her an odd look from her former class rep. "You… forced him. How exactly?" Ayaka inquired, her voice level, but with a hint of curiosity.

To this, the amethyst haired woman gave an sheepish laugh. "I… actually made a sort of bet with him. I told him that whichever of the two of us won would decide if he went to Wales or not."

Ayaka's eyebrow rose further. "And you won?" was her next question. Truthfully, she wouldn't really have been all that surprised if Nodoka did. She may not have been all that good at hand to hand, but she was proficient enough, especially with her Comptina Daemonia in its evolved claw glove state. But that wouldn't have been enough, if word from her sources in Nerima were true. She could've used some large scale spells, but… that would be too conspicuous, even with the recent magic girl rage in her area. True magic had to be kept a secret, so… "how?"

Now it was Nodoka's turn to be curious. "Huh?... well… to be honest he didn't go even close to all out. I didn't really expect me to be able to do as well as I did, so I managed to catch him off guard and put him to sleep."

"And you expected that? Was Haruna in on this?" the blonde woman continued her interrogation. There was a distinctively more forceful edge to her tone.

Now Nodoka was getting a little annoyed, but she answered all the same. "Yes, I did. And no, Haruna knew nothing about that," she answered, just at forceful. "Will that be all?"

So taken aback was Ayaka by the edge in the bibliomancer's tone that she actually took a small step back. They stared each other in the eyes. Both of them sporting blank frowns that bellied that bellied their true emotions.

It was Ayaka that relented in the end. "Yes… that's all I wanted to know," she answered. Her tone, polite but dismissive, as if nothing more had happened other than a simple everyday chat. She entered her room right after.

Ayaka leaned her back upon the door with a sigh, her arms crossed across her chest and a contemplative expression on her face. Something was wrong with Nodoka. She could tell. She didn't know why Haruna or Yue didn't pick up on it, but something was definitely there.

"Could it… really be?" she thought to herself, standing up straight before walking towards a small bag that was left at a seat in the corner of the room. Ayane's bag. It was something that she would have once expected from Yue's daughter to have carried, filled to the brim with all sorts of books. The older Yukihiro opened her daughter's bag, reaching in and taking out a dark green book with black lettering. 'The book of demonic artifacts.' A simple title, but to the point, she opened the book out, flipping pages until she found was she was looking for.

"The Comptina Daemonia. A nail ring with a gem fitted on it that holds a demon within that devours and enhances a person's guilt and despair, clouding their judgement and manipulating them such that they would produce more." she read in her mind. Yes, she decided. There was definitely a chance that the demon within that ring was manipulating Nodoka somehow. But… the question was: why only now when she had it for years? She resolved to get that answer as soon as possible.

"I should probably talk to Yue about this."

-X-

(After takeoff.)

Yume exited her room as the plane finally reached a stable flight. It may not have been her first time flying, but it certainly was a new experience for her, not being confined to a seat for the entire trip. She'd make sure to revel in it as much as she could. She headed for the elevator just as her mother exited their room, telling her that she was going to see Ayane who was at the top deck.

She'd asked her mother about it again. About that 'royal magic' that she had used earlier that day. That was always something that was never properly explained in Haruna's work, a fact that she was still rather confused about, in concerns to the reason behind it. She still didn't get an answer. She did say that Ayane would know though. Another fact that confused her. How could Ayane, someone who hadn't been privy to the existence of magic any longer than she had possibly know about the inner workings of royal magic?

She shook her head of the question soon enough. It didn't matter how many times she asked herself. It was better just to ask and be done with it rather than wonder and get confused even more.

The doors of the elevator swung shut and soon it was moving. She walked with a swift stride as soon as it opened, looking for the right room, reading off the names that were on each plaque.

Miyazaki-27… Murakami-28… Yukihiro! There, room 29.

Truthfully, she thought the arrangement of rooms quite heart warming. The rooms assigned to everyone, the significance they held was not lost on the magenta haired girl. To anyone else, it was random and, considering the family connections between some of them, also foolish. After all, one would think it would be best to keep long lost siblings as close to each other as possible for as long as possible. To anyone that knew the Ala Alba, that arrangement held a very significant symbol. They were all arranged into rooms with the same numbers as their seats during their time as classmates. It wasn't just for reminiscing purposes, it showed just how much that time in their life meant to them. A symbol to show that they would never forget their time with one another.

The petite teen made to knock on the door, only for it to swing open before she could even touch it, revealing the surprised face of one Yukihiro Ayaka.

"Oh! Yume-chan, what are you doing here?"

The younger female was quick to put her hand down to her side as she composed herself. "I… wanted to talk to Ayane-nee-san about something," she answered truthfully. She got an understanding reply in return before being asked her mother's whereabouts, to which she answered was soon to be the bottom deck's bar to have some dinner. After getting a thank you from the older woman, she made her way into the room.

It seemed that, despite owning the plane, even the Yukihiro family was treated the same. The room was completely identical to her and her mother's room, save for a few personally brought additions; namely two bags, most likely filled with clothing and other personal paraphernalia for the day long trip. Two seat-belted seats stood at the corner to the right of the entrance, a small table, probably enough to hold two plates was stationed between them. A small cabinet rested at the corner right behind them and right in front of the doorway were two single beds, placed side by side. This was where she found Ayane.

The second eldest of the Springfield children (not by name… yet) had her nose deep within a leather-bound book. Yume couldn't really see what it was about, nor could she get much of a visual of title, seeing as that could've only been viewed from the other side. The gold magic circle on the brown surface of the book was a good hint though.

The older of the two stopped in her endeavour after catching a glimpse of the smaller girl from the corner of her vision. Ayane shut the book in her hand. "Is there anything that you want, Yume-san?" she asked, fixing her glasses into place as she did so.

"Yes… two actually," the shorter girl replied after a short pause. The blonde nodded at her, telling her to continue. "Well first of, could you stop being so formal? I'd prefer it if you just addressed me a bit more casually. Could we start off with that?."

Ayane's eyebrow arched at that. "Well… I suppose. Would simply calling you by name suffice?" Yume nodded in response. "Alright then. In that case, what's your second reason for coming here?"

"What do you know about royal magic?" she asked without hesitation. Her face blank, hiding beneath it a great curiosity.

The blonde's eyebrows shot past her head in surprise. Ayane, it seemed, was in fact familiar with the term. "Royal magic…" she muttered to herself. "You've… unlocked yours?"

Yume nodded in affirmation. "Aunt Haruna said that it was the same as my grandmother's. I'm assuming she meant our dad's mother. When I asked my mother about it earlier, she said that you'd be better at explaining it, so… could you?"

"Uh… oh… of course," Ayane replied. She sat up straight, letting her legs fall of the edge of the bed and placed her book beside the pillow her head once occupied. "I suggest you sit down, this could take a while." Yume did so, taking seat on the other bed so that she could face her older sister. "Well, to start things off, do you have any idea at all about what royal magic is?" Ayane started.

Yume nodded. "From everything that I've read of aunt Haruna's manga, and what is already within the name, royal magic is supposed to be a rare type of magic that exists only within the bloodline of The Lifemaker, the mage that created Mundus Magicus and the first ruler of Ostia. I don't know any more than that."

"I see," was all Ayane said, leaning back a bit with a contemplative look. She then turned her eyes towards the smaller girl. "What you know is more or less the basic of the entire concept. However, despite its name, the existence of royal magic isn't exclusively restricted to only the Ostian royal bloodline." She stopped there, getting up from her bed and walking towards the chair in the corner which had a bag resting on it. She reached into it and pulled out another book, taking it with her and placing it on her lap. Opening it up, she showed Yume a page with pictures of human a silhouette with an orb in its chest area.

"You see…" the blonde continued, pointing at the picture. "All being that are capable of magic –which is more or less anything that's alive– are born with something called a mana core; a central point of energy that distributes the flow of magical energy throughout the body and into spells. In addition to this, all beings are also born with the capability to produce a set amount of mana right as they are born. Something that is a big determinant for a mage's natural magical potential."

"Now, in most cases, a person, even one who is born with the capability to produce more mana than most magister magi, are born with equal proportions of both. However, there are some cases, at least one in a trillion, in which someone is born with one of the two being too large in comparison to the other. This causes a disturbance in the mana flow."

"Those who are born with a much larger mana core than what they are naturally capable of producing suffer from something known as mana diffusion. As the name implies, the magic energy that a person naturally produces is becomes too spread out by the mana core. This makes it very difficult for them to use magic like ordinary people, even with powerful magic catalyst and amplifiers. Are you with me so far?"

Yume looked back at Ayane with a thoughtful look after hearing her question, processing all the new information she had gotten. "So… it's kind of like liquid and gad. The flow of magic within someone with a proper proportion of both is like a liquid; more densely packed and easier to move. Similarly, someone who's core is much larger in proportion will have a mana flow similar to a gas; it's much more spread out, and therefore, makes the entirety difficult to control."

"Exactly! A perfect analogy," the blonde congratulated with a smile on her face.

"But that doesn't answer initial question," Yume stated, reminding the other girl of the reason they were talking in the first place. "I still don't know much about royal magic."

"Ah, yes. Alright then, moving on."

"Well, just as the mana core could be too big to properly distribute a person's mana, the mana a person produces themselves can also be too much for the core. This could have one of two effects. The first and more common of the two is that, in accordance to what you mentioned earlier, the person's mana would become like solid, with the mana being trapped completely within the core. And just like atoms in a solid, the mana cannot flow at all."

"The second possible effect, on the other hand, is the one that you want. In the case that the produced mana is not compacted by the core, it ends up seeking a separate outlet. This action ends with the manifestation of a random ability; some useful, some not, but either way, it is what most people call 'royal magic'. However, the only actual reason for that is because nearly everyone that has been born within the Vespertatia royal bloodline has had this condition. That's why, when counting the number of people born with a mana distribution disorder, those of the Vespertatia bloodline have never been included, because they always have them."

Once more, Yume had adopted a contemplative expression on her features. "Okay… so what your basically saying is that royal magic is nothing more than an ability that acts as an outlet for excess mana?" Ayane nodded. "I… see."

"That was a bit of a disappointment," thought the magenta haired girl. She had expected royal magic to have been something more… well, unique. Sure, it wasn't like everyone got it, quite the opposite in fact. But it would've been a whole lot more exciting if it were some sort of ancient inherited power rather than a random one. "Oh well… at least it looks like I lucked out on the draw. Grandma was awesome with her power, and I'm pretty sure she's still alive. Maybe she could teach me," she thought to herself with a smile, at least it wasn't a complete loss, especially if what she guessed her father's royal magic to have been. "Definitely better than having an instant strip sneeze that's for sure."

After that thought, and getting some more extra info about how to possibly call up her newfound power, Yume had been just about ready to leave for dinner when a sudden thought crossed her mind. A question that she had asked herself earlier. She turned away from the door and back to Ayane who was putting her two books away to join her.

"Umm… hey, Ayane-nee-san," she called out, getting the blonde's attention. "I'm… kind of curious… how do you know so much about royal magic?"

A confused face was the blonde's first response, but soon it melted into realization. "Oh!... that's right, I didn't tell you guys earlier in the meeting did I?" she asked, the other girl not having a clue as to what the blonde had meant. Ayane let a small laugh escape at her sister's face. "Alright then… let me show you."

The blonde teen walked over to her half sister before turning around to face the entirety of the room. "You see, Yume-chan, even though I've only known about my having siblings for as long as you have, I have known about magic for much longer. Ever since I was ten, in fact. And the reason I found out…" she trailed off as she raised both hands in front of her chest, as if clutching a ball in between them. Within less than a second, the air in between her palms seemed to distort with a dim, shimmering purple light, like shattered glass that was frozen in time. What really got Yume's mind running though, was that the orb of distorted space, was not in fact, an orb, but a circle. A two dimensional circle of rippling light. "Was because I discovered this! My royal magic: Summoning!" she announced with no small amount of pride, throwing the ring of warped space towards the middle of the room, where it quickly expanded.

Then, just as fast as it had appeared, so too had something jumped out of it. It was hard to make out at first, what with the space around still seeming to be disorientated, but soon it was pretty clear what it was, and Yume suddenly wished that she didn't see it. Where there was once nothing but empty space now stood more than five hundred pounds of muscle and fur, in the form of an eight foot long, fully grown lion.

Had she not been panicking at the time, Yume probably would've noticed its groomed mane and armoured limbs, as well as the saddle on its back and the circlet on its forehead. Unfortunately, she was too busy panicking at that moment.

Ayane, being too drawn to what she had brought forth remained blissfully unaware of her spectators state of hysteria . "Yume-chan, I'd like you to meet one of my favourite pets, Konjiki Hoko(1), my pet lion!"

-X-

(Bottom deck.)

It was a good ten minutes before Yume and Ayane came down on the elevator, one of them looking very angry while the other continued to apologize.

"You really should've warned me about that first you know," the magenta haired girl berated. "What were you thinking, summoning a lion of all things! Couldn't you have gone with something less scary! Or in the very least inanimate."

"Oh come on. I already said I was sorry. And besides, Konjiki is a well trained lion, he wouldn't attack anyone, not unless it was provoked first," the other girl reasoned, trying to calm her younger sister down.

"That's no excuse! I know you said that that lion was one of your favourite pets, but how could I have known that?" Yume countered, her tone calmer, but still very much annoyed.

They'd already made it into the bar by now, drawing a few curious glances their way. "Look, I know you meant well, but that was just too –oomph!" the shorter of the two was quickly cut off as she was put to a sudden stop. She turned her head to the direction she was heading to look at what, or who, she had ended up bumping into. Her eyes widened as she did. All her other thoughts going down the drain.

It was, unlike most of those on the plane, a guy. He had jet black hair that spiked outwards at the back, with a large, lone spike of hair at the front that curved like a birds beak. His eyes matched his hair and fit perfectly on his chiselled features. He stood at about the same height as Ranma, give or take an inch or two, and looked to be just as fit. The boy was garbed in a simple navy blue, long sleeve shirt and matching pants, much like those worn as school uniforms.

Yume could only continue to stare at the boys face as his lips moved. But she was too mesmerized to hear anything. It was only after she was shaken from behind that she was brought out of her stupor. The magenta haired girl shook her head to completely clear of her daze.

"Uhh… sorry about that, Yume-chan here can get a little lost in her own world every once in a while. She'll be fine," Yume heard Ayane answer from behind her, getting an understanding nod from the boy in reply.

"Oh… alright then. If that's the case, I guess there's nothing to worry about. Sorry about that, I wasn't quite paying attention," he apologized.

"Huh… uh… no! it was my fault. I… wasn't looking where I was going," was Yume's quick reply, a nervous laugh escaping her as she gave it.

She was given an uncertain look in return. "Well… as long as no one's hurt, I suppose it doesn't matter who's fault it is. If you'll both excuse me, I have to go now." With that, he left the bar with a brisk pace. It was only then did Yume notice the sheathed nodachi strapped to his back.

"He's from the Kyoto Shinmei-ryu."

Yume continued to stare at where the apparent swordsman had once been, her face completely blank of any emotion. Once more, she was shaken out of it by her sister. This time, she turned towards Ayane who was giving a wide and mischievous smile. "What?" she inquired, a little creeped out. That reminded her a little too much about a certain mangaka.

The blonde responded with a giggle. "Looks like you've been struck with a case of love at first sight."

The statement caused Yume's cheeks to redden, clearly embarrassed. "Wha… what do you mean by that?" she nearly shouted, backing up a little.

"Oh… come on Yume-chan. I may not be that much feminine for being a girl, but even I know that the look you got right there was the one that people get when they fall in love with someone. Admit it: you like that guy."

Once more, the shorter girl was taken aback, her blush deepening. "What? N… no, of course I don't. H… how can you even s… say something like that. I don't even know the guys name, how could I possibly like him?" she retorted with a stutter.

With a huff, she turned around. Scanning the bar to look for where her mother, her two best friends (Yue's, not Yume's) and Ranma would be at. "So… what you're saying is, if you knew him, you'd like him?" came the blonde's inquiry. Yume chose to ignore that last one and simply walked to where she had found the people she was looking for. It seemed that Ayaka had joined them but was called off by one of the flight attendants; a Chachamaru lookalike.

Ayane joined her, never losing her smile even when her question went unanswered.

-X-

(with Ayaka)

The doors to the flight deck opened and closed with a gentle thud as Ayaka entered the room. It was roomier and more advanced, in comparison to other modern planes, not that that was a surprise. And as if to prove it, the owner of the plane went over to a screen that was mounted beside the door and, with a quick press of a button, turned it on. What appeared on screen was the face of a brunette with coke bottle glasses on her face.

"Hello Satomi, it's good to see you. Might I ask as the reason for your call?" she greeted with a polite smile.

"Good to see you too Ayaka, but it wasn't me that wanted to call you, it was Ku. She needed to talk to you about something."

The former class rep gave the scientist a curious look. "Oh… is that so? Alright then. Put her on screen."

With a quick respond and call, a tanned blonde woman took the place of the brunette. "Nihao Ayaka-chan! Long time no see!" was the Chinese woman's enthusiastic greeting which was returned with a laugh. It seemed that, just like many of class 3A, Ku Fei had still kept a good deal of her childish tendencies.

"Indeed, it has been a while. So what did you want to call me about?"

The quick change from happy to sheepish in Ku Fei's expression caused Ayaka's brow to arch. "Umm… right. Listen… Ayaka-chan, you wouldn't mind if I… brought an extra person along… would you?" the tan blonde asked, unsure.

This made Ayaka's curiosity rise even further. "An extra person? What for? And who for that matter?"

"For my newest apprentice," she answered simply. "He's an orphan I found a few months back in the countryside, so I couldn't really tell anybody about him.

Now her interest was really piqued. "An apprentice? But I thought you said that you wouldn't take any except your daughter until we got back to Mundus Magicus?"

"I know that! But this is a special case. Not only is this guy a prodigy that learns nearly as fast as Ne-kun did, but his name is also special," the martial artist responded with a flurry, thoroughly confusing her fellow blonde with her words.

"His name? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means exactly like I said: his name I special."

"And that would be how exactly? What is his name?" Ayaka continued her inquiry, though she was losing her patience fast.

And then, Ku Fei flushed all of that frustration away. "His name is Li Lingshen."

-X-

(1) Konjiki Hoko: roughly translates to 'golden roar'.

And that's the end of that one. Sorry for the long wait, I had a hard time trying to get the interactions to be just as I planned. I have to say though, this arc is getting pretty hard to write, assimilating so many characters into a new world and all. Anyway, I believe there are some profiles to put down.

-X-

Character profile: Yukihiro Ayane

Hair colour: Blonde. A bit on the strawberry blonde side of the spectrum.
Eye colour: emerald green
Height- 5'10

Family:-

Parents: Yukihiro Ayaka (mother) Negi Springfield (father)

Siblings: Too long to list by now. She's the second oldest though.

Likes: Animals, the magic world (As in, anything associated with magic. Not just Mundus Magicus), any books that concern the two, learning to properly use her royal magic power, her pets.

Dislikes: animal cruelty (don't worry, she won't feel bad about the Nerima dinner brigade)

Additional facts:

Her given name, Ayane, translates to 'colourful sound'. On its own, this doesn't have much meaning. It is, however, her naming theme for her pets.

If it wasn't obvious enough, she has a lot of pets. Many of them dangerous, trained, and magically capable. (hey, if a wild, albeit magical creature could use it without training, a normal creature should be able to use it with training, right?)

Her royal magic and appearance is based off of two different characters from the same game. Can you guess who and from where?

Teaser facts:

While not the only one of the royal siblings to already know about magic prior to the most others, she is the only one who had unlocked her royal magic ability before the rest found out about it. Yume is the only other who has unlocked it. Due to this, she'll often act as a sort of mentor on the subject.

Royal magic: Summoning- Allows Ayane to summon anything to anywhere, provided there is a clear target and destination. Size of target decides the amount of effort required for summoning.

-X-

Character profile: Hasegawa Seiki

Hair colour: pale orange
Eye colour: Chocolate brown
Height: 5'8

Family:-

Parents: Hasegawa Chisame (mother), Negi Springfield (father)

Siblings: Again, too long to list. Fifth oldest.

Likes: Keeping with the fashion trend, computers, the Jusenkyo curses (recently), anything that strikes her as interesting.

Dislikes: her handheld crashing.

Additional facts:

So much like Chisame and yet so different. Her given name translates to 'true character' a reference to the fact that she acts much more like Chiu than Chisame which, in my opinion, is Chisame's true personality.

Blunt as a ball. I believe I mentioned this before.

Teaser facts:

This one I don't want to reveal.

-X-

Character profile: Izumi Chiaki

Hair colour: purple
Eye colour: reddish brown
Height: 5'6 ½

(I'm just gonna scrap the family bit for this one)

Likes: Healthy food, exercising, keeping those close to her healthy.

Dislikes: Anybody getting sick, ill prepared food.

Additional facts:

If it wasn't obvious enough, she's health nut. In a good way though. This trait, along with her name and appearance comes from a not so popular anime/manga. Again, can you take a guess.

Her given name means 'a thousand autumns'.

As implied earlier, Mika and her both went to the same school. Try to guess with who else and where. It shouldn't be that hard.

Teaser facts:

Take in everything that I've written here about her. Now imagine what would happen when she meets Akane.

On the upside, she's gonna get along well with Yotsuba.