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[fivelifetimes]

Capturing kind-hearted princes is unacceptable! I had hoped that my first encounter with a witch would be pleasant, and that I could try riding a broomstick, but it looks like I was wrong.

Know this! Opossum-san, Ogre-san and I will be storming your castle and rescuing Prince Ishida! If you wish to avoid severe property damage, you will set him free

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[anti_buttons]

Highly embarrassing, wasn't it. It just wouldn't do, not at all. Not after he had taken the pains of looking down on that beastly excuse for a prince, Kurosaki. To have been so handily captured!

"Would it have been better," he wondered aloud, at the dank, stinking dungeon walls, "to lack the attitude, but have the strength?"

In response, a rat dashed from a corner and promptly began to chew on his very shiny, very nice leather riding boots.

"Hey," Uryuu protested, shaking his foot. Heavy metal clanged against the ground as he jostled his chains, the cuffs on his ankles and wrists. The rat stuck fast. "Hey. Shoo."

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[moresake]

Hearing the challenge of the maiden, the witch looked out a narrow window and watched the woman approach. She rested her head on her hands for a moment, curiously.

"Not a prince," she mumbled, "but she'll do."

She climbed to the parapet and stood tall and black-clad against the gray stone. She grinned brightly, her hair flowing without need for a breeze.

"How can I help you, miss?" she called down to the figure.

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[fivelifetimes]

The maiden stood tall and proud, appearing to be unafraid. Opossum-san scurried to stand by her side, bristling with anger.

"I believe you know how you can help me," she called back. "You have taken an innocent young man prisoner. Release Prince Ishida at once!"

Her voice carried through the forest. Becoming even more confident she took three more steps forward.

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"All right," Uryuu said, leveling what he fancied to be a conciliatory stare at the rat. "That's fine. Carry on. Only, don't blame me when you've indigestion. And... Couldn't you?"

He nodded at the boot. "I've a few needles stashed. One ought to be there. I'm sure I could work these locks, if I-- ... and I'm talking to a rat."

Beady black eyes looked back at him, quite direct. The rat's mouth never stopped working, however, and it made a sulking chirp in its throat. (That there was a confrontation going on overheard was quite beyond him, as the walls were much too thick.)

"Look. I'll leave you the boot. All right?"

That the rat immediately brightened, and scurried to his knee, should have surprised Uryuu more than it did. The rat fished out the needle, ran it up to his hand, and they got to work -- Uryuu on the lock, rat on the boot.

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[moresake]

"I'm afraid not!" the witch called back. "He came into my domain, and therefore he is my property now."

She reached out with her right hand and with her fingertips seemed to cut a hole in the air. She stepped into it and then back out, somehow, on the lawn in front of the castle. There she stood, arms crossed, her pose confident.

"You could... buy him back, if you'd like. Most things have a price. This one is no different."

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[fivelifetimes]

The maiden looked surprised, and instinctively stepped back. But she quickly regained her composure.

Orihime crossed her own arms, mimicking the witch.

"And what sort of price would that be?" she questioned. "I have no rare spices or herbs, no silk or lace clothing, no precious metals -- there is nothing I can think of to offer someone such as yourself."

action; LA LA COMBO BREAKS

[anti_buttons]

The chains fell to the ground. Uryuu rubbed his wrists, one and then the other, and looked ruefully at the floor. The rat was dragging his boot to its corner, where swiftly, the remaining rats leaped upon it. It's not even edible, he thought, well surly, before hobbling to the door.

At which point he realized that weighing the merits of simply removing his one boot and going it with socks, was vastly unimportant. After all, of course the dungeon door was locked. Even if he bribed the rats to get the keys, he could hardly open it from the inside.

Squaring his shoulders and setting his jaw, Uryuu took a few uneven steps back. He moved into position - paused, slid out, and bent over to pull off his boot and toss it aside, moved back - and summoned up his spirit bow.

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[moresake]

"I don't have a princess for my tower," Yuuko said. "I'd trade him for you, possibly."

Then she pauses and considers for a long moment.

"Though I hear that he can cook and sew. Can you do these things?"

Suddenly, she felt the beat of something-- odd energy-- from within her castle. Surely the prince...?

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[fivelifetimes]

She looked surprised at that. "I can cook and sew, but I could never be a princess!"

Then surprise changed to anger. "It's not right, keeping people locked up! You shouldn't even --"

And then she felt the strange energy as well. The opossum dashed behind her skirts, frightened.

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... His reiatsu is really so scary, opossum-san? The first shot at the door does little but raise smoke. Uryuu considers this; as he thinks his second boot is dragged across the grimy dungeon floor. He glances at it as he lets the bow disperse, reaches into his pocket, and retrieves a few gintou.

He'd simply have to blow it up. Uryuu tossed the silver tube at the door.

"Tilt the goblet to the west - emerald grail!"

Throwing an arm over his head, he jumped back from the explosion. As the dust settled, he walked for the space in the wall. One of the rats - in fact, the first - hastened out of the corner, and proceeded to scurry up his leg, climbing to a position on his shoulder. It was all he could do not to flail.

"What are you--!! Get off!"

But swatting at the creature only caused it to run across his neck to the other shoulder, making Uryuu squirm. Yielding, and without time, he strode out the door, rat aboard.

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[moresake]

Yuuko didn't bother to reply to the maiden. Another sharp gesture and she was back inside the castle. That explosion couldn't be ignored.

The drawbridge was still high, but maybe the maiden could find her own way into the structure. In any case, Yuuko went in search of her prisoner, who should have stayed imprisoned like he was supposed to.

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[fivelifetimes]

The maiden gasped at the explosion, and tried to stop the witch from disappearing. However the woman was too quick.

Now panicked, Orihime looked around, desperately trying to figure out a way into the castle.

Think, think, think!

She then heard something large and fast crashing through the forest -- it was the ogre! His sensitive ears had picked up the sound of arguing, then an explosion!

"Ogre-san, I knew you were brave! Will you please help me to get inside the castle?"

And with that the three headed for the castle walls.

The drawbridge may have been high, but there were other ways inside -- Orihime stood on top of the ogre, and the opossum scampered onto her head and climbed into a window. Now all she had to do was wait for Opossum-san to find a rope or some other material used for climbing...

But since the opossum was slow, it was taking some time.

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Tiny claws dug into the fabric of his shoulder guards as Uryuu ran. Of course he ran. There was no point in escaping from a dungeon then taking a leisurely walk through the halls, noting the fine art on the walls or suspicious stains. His feet slid on the smooth, marble portions, and stuck when he came to carpet, from the dungeon slime that had gotten all over his socks.

At least, he reflected, I have socks. His cape whipped behind him, and he only wished, as he turned once into a room full of abandoned spinning wheels and what looked oddly like a stuffed ferret, that he knew the layout.

It made escaping rather difficult. He could hardly be surprised when he turned a corner and came face to face with the witch. Uryuu summoned his spirit bow once again.

action; off to bed for meeee will pick up tomorrow

[moresake]

She saw the bow and threw up a shield immediately, the backlash from the magic sending a sharp wind down the corridor, making her hair flare out primordially.

"How did you escape?"

Her focus is on the boy and his... rat? And not on anyone who might be approaching from behind, such as it were.

action; k! ♥

[fivelifetimes]

Waiting was hard.

She sat on the ogre's shoulders, gaze intent on the window. Orihime had faith in her friend, even if he was a little...well, slow.

And after a while her patience paid off. She heard a muffled noise from above. A length of cloth fell from the window and Opossum-san poked his head out, grinning. He had done it!

The maiden stood up again, and with the ogre keeping her steady gave a small tug on the makeshift rope to make sure it was secure.

She took a deep breath, tightened her grip, and started climbing. "Evil shall not triumph!"

action; I hope you slept well~!

[anti_buttons]

The magic's backlash disturbed his unwelcome tagalong; the rat squeaked, bit his earlobe rather hard, and jumped onto his neck. Where it began to burrow down under his cape, and proceeded to sit as a quivering lump. Quite probably for the rest of this. In the meantime, blood dripped down his ear, and Uryuu struggled to maintain a serious face.

Even with her shield up, Uryuu had no intention of lowering his bow. He could at least use it as a makeshift shield - though, really, it was no good against magic.

"With a little help from my friends," he retorted, with a cocksure grin, though it wasn't true at all - Uryuu did not consider rats to be friends. As if it knew, the lump on his back clawed harder.

And, really, he would have liked to monologue about how exactly he had, yes, the urge was nigh overwhelming. But sense prevailed. Just in case she was silly enough to put him right back there.