The Magic Of Care-a-lot – THE SEQUEL

Disclaimer: I do not own: Slayers, Care Bears, Little House on the Prairie, Yugioh, Dragon Quest VIII, etc… on goes the "Where's Waldo?" game of crossovers I always play with my stories! Seriously…no harm intended.

Episode one: Oh boy! Here we go again…

Time flies when you're having fun…

Zelgadis took his time as he made his way up the road. He made this trek several times a year but he always liked to take his time during the spring so he could admire the peaceful scenery. Amelia's twenty-first birthday would be in two weeks and while he looked forward to spending time with the cheerful princess he didn't relish the thought of the endless parties that she would drag him to for the next two weeks. He was sure this year the parties would be twice as many since Amelia would be crowned queen sometime this year!

'Quit your whining and take it like a man!' Brau teased. Zel just rolled his eyes annoyed but once the festivities were over though Amelia would pack up her things and go traveling with him, Lina and Gourry as she did almost every time he came to visit. That part was the one he looked forward to the most! Especially since it would likely be Amelia's last trip before she took up her post as ruler of her people. He would dearly miss her on the road but nothing lasts forever. Even Lina and Gourry would likely stop traveling with him soon…

'I love the dancing!' Golem sighed. Zel sternly warned him to end this line of thinking now. Last year Golem had commented that he liked dancing with her in crowded ballrooms because it pulled her close. Brau had taken the comment a bit further by noting that she was soft and squishy in all the right places! That single comment had unleashed so many "X" rated dreams that he'd been forced to stay away for at least three months traveling alone. He'd even gone as far as scaling the Mountain of Tears to make the dreams stop!

'Don't you dare!' he grumbled at Brau as the demon snickered mischievously. It didn't help that the perverted little demon did absolutely nothing to stop them! Every now and again since then he would pop an image into Zelgadis' brain that would cause terminal failure to his ability to form coherent speech; it was just lucky that Zel was by nature stoically silent and nobody would notice.

He looked up as the first house from a small village outside of Saillune came into view. It was Farmer John's house. He liked taking this route to Seyruun the people of this village were friendly and hospitable without being overly cheerful or nosy. Farmer John and his family had taken him in one night that he'd been traveling alone. The inn was full and it was raining outside. He had taken a liking to his family (and they to him!) since then perhaps because of the way they treated him…It felt almost like family. Though he would probably never admit it out loud! Tough, loner, mysterious swordsman didn't need family! Right?

In fact last year he had saved his only daughter from dying slowly and painfully of a debilitating bone disease by – ironically enough – turning her into a chimera much like himself. The girl however had accepted the change way better than he had and thoroughly relished the power as well as the unusual looks. This really shouldn't have surprised him she had been a deathly pale skinny child confined to a chair since she was two because of her disease towards the end in fact she'd been bed-ridden thus why Zel had agreed to change her.

Thanks to the golem portion which replaced her failing bone structure she was able to run, walk, jump and do all those thing normal kids do plus a little extra thanks to the brau part. He stopped by often to check on her studies. He spotted her helping her brothers rebuild the stone fence with a simple levitation spell he'd taught her. As he approached he was impressed with the eleven-year-old's control.

"You keep that up you might be stronger than Lina some day!" Zel called out as he approached. The little girl put the stones down with a soft thud and rushed over to greet him. Her pig tails bouncing cheerfully as she skipped towards him. He was glad she hadn't been cursed with the metal hair!

"Good Morning Master Zelgadis!" she greeted cheerfully skipping up to him "do you really think so Master?" the petit girl piped up cheerfully. He nodded and patted her on the head. Her older brothers joined her and her mother came out of the house as well and headed towards him. Little Laura was one of six and the youngest to boot. Her loss would've devastated her family and it was only as a last resort that Zelgadis changed the girl utilizing the spells he'd finally acquired after years of retracing Rezo's steps.

Her family had been extremely grateful and took him in every time he was in town whether the inn was full or not. The only time he didn't stick around was when Gourry and Lina were with him. He feared they'd eat the Ingalls out of their life's work if they stayed more than a few hours! They were good people though and he always brought gifts whenever he traveled with those two bottomless pits. Normally he would've stayed today and taught Laura some more magic but he was expected at the Palace tonight.

"Good Morning Zelgadis! Heading straight up to the castle today?" her mother greeted amicably. He returned her greeting and nodded. Laura informed him that the Blacksmith Cid was going into the capital today to sell his wares and purchase supplies. He could get a ride with him if he wished. So he bid farewell to Mrs. Ingalls and with her brood in tow (who were anxious to hear Zel's latest adventure!) he headed up to the blacksmith's shop waving hello to people as he went by. Once at the shop he bid farewell to his little apprentice and her over-protective brothers as he rode away with the old blacksmith.

They arrived at the capital just before sunset and Zel was not surprised to see the city already decked out for the festivities. As they rode towards the market Zel noted with some surprise that the people in the city went out of their way to greet him. People would stop whatever they were doing and look up to cheerfully call out "Good Evening Lord Greywords!" which was strange because the only ones who usually called him that were the palace guards!

'I wonder what's up with people today,' Zel wondered as he waved in reply to the cheerful greetings.

'Maybe it's because its Amelia's 21st b-day and she gets to be queen this year?' Brau surmised.

'Yea…Maybe their just trying to be extra polite to her friends…' Golem agreed. Zel thought Golem was probably right but he'd hold any further speculation until he could talk to her.

Seeing the way Zelgadis was being greeted by the folks at the capital the blacksmith took the detour and rode all the way to the palace to drop Zelgadis off at the gates rather than make him walk from the market. Zelgadis thanked him for his concern but was further mystified by the way people were treating him all of a sudden. When he arrived at the palace gates he hopped off the old man's cart waved goodbye and walked up to the gate.

"Good Evening Lord Greywords!" the guard greeted crisply as he snapped to attention. Zel paused looking confused as he realized both guards had snapped to attention…

'Ok, what in the world is going on!' he thought. The palace guards were always polite but fairly easy going. They were never this formal. Especially the boys who were at the gate today! Jonouchi and Honda were hardly ever formal!

"At ease soldier… You know you don't have to be so formal with me," Zel replied seriously. Jo smirked mischievously for a second which was some cause for alarm. Honda, Jo and his brother Yugi were notorious pranksters and it was a prank gone wrong that had landed Jo and Honda in conscripted service and Yugi joined out of solidarity to them and to avoid punishment from their grandfather. Jo let out a loud whistle and his little brother materialized from the guard house with a huge smile on his face.

"Take Lord Greywords up to his quarters! Let the princess know he's here!" Jo ordered. Yugi snapped a quick salute and beckoned Zel to follow him. Cautiously Zel followed the little prankster keeping a look out for any "ambushes". When he got to the palace steps however he almost let out a sigh of relief as a young captain of the guard one Seto Kaiba – the head of Amelia's personal security detail – hurried up to them. He dismissed Yugi and took over. Zel waved goodbye surprised that Yugi had been so quick to obey orders. Yugi usually dragged his feet especially when it came to obeying Seto's orders.

"Evening Lord Greywords!" the young man intoned seriously. Zel replied in kind. Seto's formality didn't surprise him this young man had always been very serious. He sometimes reminded him of Aoshi. He was always formal but always direct.

"So what's going? Why are those guys acting so formal?" Zel asked straight out. Seto furrowed his brow in concern. They reached Zel's usual quarters and informed him that his palace wear and a bath were already waiting for him. He told him that Mr. and Mrs. Gabriev had already arrived and were already at the ball dismembering the banquet table.

"I'll explain more on our way to the ball room sir! Please change sir as quickly as possible! I'll wait outside." Seto intoned formally and snapped a sharp salute then walked out.

'What in the world was that!' Brau wondered echoing Golem and Zel's surprise. Zel shook himself out of his momentary shock at Seto's intriguing behavior it was too formal and solemn even for Seto. He had sensed an unusual amount of stress, anger and frustration from him but some how he didn't think it had much to do with the security arrangements for the impending celebrations.

He quickly went through his bath and changed into a white and gold military style suit that Amelia had given him as a gift four years ago and had been laid out on the bed pressed and ready for wear. He left it in the palace because this is the only place he ever wore such impractical things. For a moment he resented having to wear it because the first ball had never required formality in years previous but something in Seto's tone had alerted him that something was wrong and this year things were very different. He noted as he dressed that every button had been polished to a gleam recently and new boots had been laid beside the suit.

'Ok now I'm starting to worry…' Golem whined softly. He checked himself in the mirror and raking his fingers through his hair quickly applying a drying spell to make sure his hair was in its proper "mysterious swordsman" look then walked briskly to the door. Seto was standing at parade rest near the door and nearly sighed in relief when Zelgadis stepped out just over 15 minutes after they'd arrived.

"Alright Capt. Kaiba… before we go let's hear what's going on!" Zel demanded solemnly. Reluctantly at first Seto explained that the much hated slovenly Prince Charmles (or Charm-less as he was often called by Amelia and many other princesses!) had demanded the right to court Amelia through some old Saillune law that obligated any unmarried Seyruun royal family member to give a fair chance to any noble blooded or high ranked suitor of becoming a consort of said royal. His demand had sparked a chain reaction as every loser "prince" from across the continent showed up to demand the same.

Zel's blood drained from his face. A sudden image of the piggish, self important Prince Charm-less trying to lay a finger on Amelia suddenly came unbidden into his mind. The fire of rage and jealousy suddenly exploded in his heart!

'OH HELL NO!' Brau cursed loudly as Golem muttered not so nice things about Charmles. It took every once of Zel's self control to reign in his rage.

"There is more sir…" Seto intoned before Zel could find words to reply. He explained that every unmarried male in attendance at the ball tonight would be given a certain amount of time to speak or be near the princess but they were attended only in the order in which they arrived and unfortunately for Zel he was the last to arrive.

"Wait a minute! Are you telling me that in order to wish my friend a Happy Birthday I have to wait in line behind a bunch of idiots!" Zel nearly roared completely incensed by this insult! Seto remained unflinching.

"The princess is extremely unhappy about this situation and my men and I have done our best to keep things under control but they're ruining her birthday celebrations if you have any ideas sir…" Seto replied seriously then smirked slightly. Zel finally understood why the guards were so happy to see him. If anyone could rescue Amelia from this situation they figured it would be the logical minded cool headed Lord Greywords!

"What's worse is that those idiotic, self important peacocks have been strutting around this castle for nearly a week acting like our princess is some sort of trophy that one of them can go put on their shelf," Seto added grumbling indignantly. The palace guards had always been protective of the royal family and Seto was probably the worst injured since it had been Amelia who helped him get his first promotion. Seto – an orphan with no high family lineage – had climbed quickly on the ranks through his hard work and sheer genius. A genius first recognized by Amelia.

"I'm surprised Lina hasn't blown more than a few up already," Zel intoned seriously imagining she would've threatened more than one with a Dragon Slave or at least a fireball! Seto smirked.

"She would've except the princess, her father and Lord Gabriev have been holding her back. Prince Philionel wishes to avoid an international incident," Seto smirked in a way that told Zelgadis that he was working on a way around that. Sure enough as Zel pressed him for more details Seto explained that Jo, Honda and Yugi had been allowed free reign with their "creative humor" so long as the attacks were directed to the "suitors" and they endeavored to not get caught. Zel smirked. That explained why Yugi had been so quick to follow commands!

"Well alright it seems like you have that covered," Zel began thoughtfully as Seto drew himself up proudly.

"Now we have to figure out a way to fix Amelia's ruined party and I think I know how…" Zel concluded with a sly grin. He instructed Seto to wait for him for a moment. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the magic he used only for Amelia on rare occasions. A swirl of silver light enveloped him and when he opened his eyes again there was nothing but clouds and bright rainbows as far as the eye could see. He looked down and found himself surrounded by several colorful and fluffy little beings.

"Hello Zelgadis! Welcome back to Carealot! Where's Amelia?" Funshine Bear greeted cheerfully…