Chapter nineteen

         Nishi happily walked up Sindria's palace stairs and opened one of the large doors to the palace itself. She was still in a good mood from spending quality time with Judar, and she was up for sparing with Sharrkan, or anyone who wanted to fight, really.

         As she began entering the building someone roughly grabbed her and dragged her in, quickly closing the door behind her. "What the?" Nishi jumped away from her attacker and drew her sword.

         "Nishi! Nishi, it's me! Hinahoho!"

       "Hinahoho...?" Nishi relaxed as she recognized the larger man. "Wait...you look...younger?" She looked more closely at him. He was shorter and the scar on his face was missing.

         Hinahoho sighed, "A lot happened while you were gone. I'm sorry for grabbing you like that but we can't let anyone see us like this."

         "Like what?" Nishi frowned.

         "Follow me." Hinahoho led Nishi through the palace.

         When they got to a door Nishi realized it was Yamuraiha's workplace, where she messed with magic tools and invented other things. It was were Nishi had made her sword into a sort of magic tool as well. "Why are we here?"

         Hinahoho opened the door, revealing a horrible sight. Inside the room glass bottles and magic items laid broken on the floor, books scattered everywhere, and eight children ran around, all arguing amongst themselves.

       "W-What...happened?!" Nishi entered the room. She looked around at the children in horror. "Sin?!"

         "Nishi! Finally you're here!" A much younger Sinbad ran over to her.

         Nishi was at a loss for words. Sinbad was now the same height as her, and wore clothing much too big for him. "S-Sin! What happened?!?" Nishi began laughing, unsure what else to do.

      "That idiot magician turned us into little kids!" Nishi's eyes widened as a young Sharrkan climbed onto a chair and yelled. Him and Yamuraiha, who was yelling at him from the floor, looked to be roughly eight years old.

         "I didn't mean to! I was experimenting!" Yamuraiha yelled back.

         Nishi looked around some more. Sinbad had to be about fourteen, and she guessed Masrur was too. Pisti couldn't be much older than three or four, while Spartos looked eight. Ja'far looked to be about ten years old, and Nishi frowned as her eyes landed on the last general, Drakon. "D-Drakon?! Is that you?!" She couldn't help but laugh at all the generals and Sinbad's helpless state.

         "Yes...Shut up!" The young man around Sinbad's age snapped. His hair was short and green, with a longer strand on each side, and his eyes were yellow.

         Nishi began laughing more at how rude Drakon was being. They're just like little brats! This is amazing! "H-How'd you guys do this to yourselves?!"

         "This is no laughing matter, Nishi." Sinbad reminded with a serious tone, "I cannot use my metal vessels, meaning Sindria is defenceless."

         Nishi sobered and realized he was right, "You can't?!"

         "None of us have enough magoi anymore..." Yamuraiha climbed onto the chair beside Sharrkan and pushed him off. "I can't even reverse the spell."

         "Oh..." Nishi looked around at the generals again. "How am I supposed to help?"

         "You have to mix a potion exactly like I did, and hopefully it will change us back."

         "It was a potion? Then won't it wear off?"

         "It could...but I'm not sure when it will. It could be in a few more hours, or even a few years." Yamuraiha explained.

         "This is all your fault, you stupid magician!" Sharrkan complained.

         "This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't knocked the potion from my hands!"

         "You shouldn't have made it in the first place!"

         "Woah, woah, guys come on. Stop." Nishi tried to calm them. She looked to Sinbad for support, but found he wasn't there. "Sinbad?" She looked around and found him bickering with Drakon and Ja'far. "What the hell...They always get along..."

         "Not as kids." Hinahoho spoke from behind her. "I imagine being in this form for so long has made them a bit stressed out too."

         "How long have you been like this?" Nishi turned to Hinahoho.

         "Two days now."

         "Two?!"

         "We've been waiting for you to come back! Where have you been!?" Ja'far yelled at her with annoyance before returning to his argument with Sinbad.

         "I..." Nishi watched as everyone argued. The only ones not arguing were Pisti and Spartos, instead Pisti was forcing Spartos to play with her. Masrur wasn't fighting either, he sat in the corner of the room, just watching everyone, looking slightly amused.

         Nishi could feel herself getting annoyed. She stood still, eye twitching in annoyance until she couldn't take their high-pitch yelling anymore, "Alright everyone shut the hell up!" 

        Silence.

         Everyone froze and stared at her in shock. "Ok, you all might be my superiors, but right now I need you to listen to me. You all need to grow up and start acting your age!" She paused, realizing her mistake. "Your real age! How am I supposed to help you if you keep being annoying little brats?"

         "Hey! Don't talk to us like were kids! I'll kill you." Nishi sighed heavily at Ja'far's threat.

         "Hinahoho...You're the oldest at the moment...help. You have kids, yourself, don't you?" Nishi looked to him with pleading eyes.

         Hinahoho looked just as fed up as she was, "I love kids, but they're just..."

         "Obnoxious?" Nishi offered.

         "Yes. These past few days haven't been the greatest."

         "What are we going to do..." Nishi tried to think of something. She noticed Sharrkan and Pisti arguing over a glass of beer, "Hey! Stop that! You're both too young now! Where'd you even get that?!" She grabbed it from them.

         "Hey! Give it back!" Pisti complained.

         "No!" Nishi refused.

         "Nishi I'm your elder you should respect me!" Sharrkan reminded confidently.

         "You're all my elders! If you guys think you're so deserving of respect, act like it!" Nishi yelled at all of them. They all grew quiet again.

         "Nishi's right. We should all help her to change us back." Sinbad agreed.

         "Thank y-"

         "Who made you the boss?!" Drakon interrupted Nishi to yell at Sinbad.

         "I'm the king!" Sinbad argued back.

         "Oh my god..." Nishi pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand. "Please...just shut the hell up..." Nishi's voice was barely a whisper. This is ridiculous...

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