Chapter 18: Gentlemen...
                         ------------------------

	Cecil woke, after a long, refreshing sleep... the best he'd had in
the weeks he'd been ambling around in this unfamiliar future.  Looking
around, he saw Kain sitting on a nearby boulder keeping a diligent watch.
	"Hey, wide-eyed!"
	Kain turned around with a quizzical look on his face, as if to
ask what Cecil had called him.
	"You were supposed to wake me up for MY part of the shift!  Not
that I'm complaining, but heck, you need rest TOO..."
	Cecil walked to the boulder grinning as Kain leaped to the ground.
	"I wasn't tired, and you were sleeping like a baby, so I figured
that since I don't have a pacifier, I'd let ya sleep."
	They both laughed heartily until a female voice cut in.
	"Hey, what's so funny?"
	Kain and Cecil looked at Lola, who had slept in a large
nightshirt behind another boulder so as to not be put in a situation where
the males might be forced to be less than gentlemanly.  Such was the
situation now, for she forgot that she WAS wearing only an oversized shirt.
	Cecil and Kain stared at the attractive-looking figure of Lola for
a moment, until their sense of chivalry kicked in and they spun around
quickly so as not to be facing her.
	"uh, Lola, uh...don't mean to be rude, but, uh...could ya put
some more clothes one?"  Kain was almost stuttering.
	"Yeah, Lola, you're making it QUITE hard for me and Kain to be
gentlemanly like... what with you being so, uh... well, uh, good-looking
and all... it's not fair to, uh, us, er, I mean uh... doh!"
	Behind the guys' backs, Lola Blushed profusely and quickly ran
behind a boulder and changed.  Cecil and Kain remained turned around and
with their eyes closed, both trying *very* hard to suppress a grin.
	In a few minutes, Lola returned.  "I'm decent, gentleman, you may
turn around if you wish."  Lola's voice was soft and heavily shy.
	"Wow, Lola, you look like a cherry you're so red."
	Kain and Cecil laughed at Cecil's comment, turning Lola's face an
ewven brighter red.
	"Please don't tease me... I forgot what I was wearing..."
	"It's okay, we didn't mind... er, I mean, we won't tease you about
it until tomorrow... er, I mean again..."
	 Cecil was having too much fun at her expense, so Lola gave him
the dirtiest look she could muster.
	"Uh-oh, Cecil, run before you get slapped..."
	"Uh, Lola, uh we're sorry... we were just being guys... I didn't
mean to offend ya... uh, here, let me pull my foot out of my mouth before
you make my face as red as yours."
	Lola stared at him, hard, and when she could tell he was sincere,
she Laughed heartily.
	"You should see the look on your face, Cecil!  I really had you
going!  HAHAHAHA!"
	"Well, uh, I guess you did, Lola," Cecil's visage turned into a
sly grin, "but we really should be going now... wouldn't want to give you
another chance to seduce innocent Kain and I here..."
	"Seduce?  WHAT?"
	Lola started to say something more, but Cecil and Kain were
giving each other high-fives and taking what they had already packed and
leaving...
	"MEN!"  Lola shook her head and gathered her things.  She had to
run to catch up with the duo, as they weren't cutting her any slack.

*****************

	By nightfall the following day, the trio had reached the coast.
	"So, guys, how do we get across?  I see land on the other side,
but I haven't a clue as to how we'll get there..."  Cecil was in deep
thought.
	Kain was clueless as well.  "Can't jump across either..."
	Meanwhile, though, Lola had been searching around the area, and
had found something.
	"Hey, you two *gentlemen* mind helping a lady lift a rock?"  Lola
was hunched over a huge rock that was lying on the ground.
	"What?  Why? that rock's not gonna *float* us across, is it?"
	"No, Kain, I think there's a tunnel underneath it... I can feel
the cool air coming up around the edges.  And if there is, then we may be
in luck."
	Both Cecil and Kain were confused.  "A tunnel?"
	"Yeah, I've heard stories about tunnels and caverns that lead all
over the world underground.  If we're lucky, this'll take us to the other
side of that channel there."
	Not having a better idea, the trio quickly dispatched the stone
and entered.  Cecil cast a simple light spell, and the party was accosted
by spiderwebs, worms, mildew, and other such smells.
	"Kinda dreary down here, eh Cecil?"
	"Sure is... perfect place for a crypt.  Could be all sorts of
twisted undead like skeletons and zombies and vampires..."
	"Oh my!" chimed in Lola.  "Maybe we'd better find a safer way..."
	"Nope, this 'll be just fine, Lola; Kain and I are itching for a
good battle, being tired and all... it'd be like the old days.  And heck,
you know how a Paladin like me loves undead..." Cecil grinned widely.
	"Sure thing, Cecil.  And since you're so eager to call forth the
legions of darkness, I suggest you lead."  Kain obviously wasn't *quite*
as thrilled as Cecil about living corpses.
	The entrance to the tunnels proved to be in the worst shape, for
as they moved deeper, the trio found less spiders and other crawlies.
Yet the unsaid thought in all their minds was that such a sign could be a
bad thing...
	After walking for a good distance, the passage became very muddy,
and water trickled down the walls, creating an eerie echo that proved to
further unnerve the trio.  It was in this area that the group found their
first signs of trouble.
	"Lola, Kain... stay back a sec..."
	Kain asked what was the problem, but got no answer as Cecil
strode forth into the darkness carrying the group's only light source.
Up ahead, Lola and Kain could make out Cecil's light, but they themselves
were shrouded in darkness.
	Then, from where Cecil was, they heard a loud thud and the sounds
of metal on bone.
	"CECIL!  What's wrong?  CECIL!"  Kain started running forward,
and Lola followed, mostly so that she would not be left alone.
	"Ugh!  Oh, nothing, uhg-oh-ouch, nothing at ugh-all, just baggin'
a coupla these here bone faces, umphf... care to lend a hand?"
	Kain noticed five skeletons and a zombie already dismebered on
the floor, while Cecil quickly dispatched the last one.
	"No, It looks like you left me without any fun."
	"Oh well... next time then..."  Cecil grinned.
	Cecil whiped off his crystal sword, and sheathed it on the side
opposite the obsidian blade.
	"Hey, Cecil, thiz zombie was pretty rich...he's got 2000 GP!"
Lola lifted a decaying pouch as evidence.
	"Yeah, and he's also very fresh...  Someone's raised these
recently... not a good thing... not at all..."  Cecil's voice was grim.
One thing he hated was the idea of some evil mage disturbing the peaceful
rest of the long deceased.
	"Well, we better go find that @$$hole then!"  Kain was almost
enthusiastic, Cecil thought.  Good, they'd need some positive 'spirits'
to keep them going after all the negative ones.
	Right then, Cecil and Kain heard a loud piercing scream from
Lola, and they turned to see a hideous pale-faced man with long fangs
advancing upon them from behind.
	"You three have no rightsss dessstroying the Massster'sss
Minionsss.  I ssshall have to finisssh off you troublemakersss myssself."
	By now, the creature was only fifteen feet away, and closing
fast.  Cecil and Kain couldn't reach it, though, for Lola was in their
way, frozen with terror.
	It finally reached out with its left hand for the frightened
woman, its long pearl-like fangs poised to sink into her neck.
	"Nooooooooooooo!" screamed Cecil, and his hands started working
the motions to the Gem Missile spell that he had mysteriously learned
from Sascha.  He could see that there wasn't time.
	Right then, the much-forgot-about Phoebian that Kain held
started glowing, and before he knew it, the stone became a red spirit
that resembled a flame. Quickly, the spirit lashed out as if to engulf
the the evil beast, and it did.  The vampire was now on fire.
	Its final screams were almost as hideous as those of Lola, who
just knew that she was dead.  But she wasn't, and the vampire's ashes
fell to the floor with her still trembling as she went unconscious.

*************

	"You okay, Lola?"
	She awoke to Cecil's voice and saw his handsome visage above
her.  "Y-y-yeah... I think s-s-so... thank you..."
	"Good, cause we don't want to stay around here longer than we
have to."  Kain was keeping a good lookout while he told her this, and
also while he contemplated the spell he had cast.
	"Kain, that was some parlor trick you did back there to that vamp.
Have any others up your sleeve?"
	"Actually, Cecil, I think I do.  That Phoebian stone that I've got
seemed to respond to my adrenaline rush.  Perhaps I could learn to control
it that way."
 	"Yeah, almost like learning a spell, I suppose.  I remember how it
is to  learn magic for the first time.  After the time at Mount Ordeals
when I became a Paladin, it was *really* confusing to know Cure1 from Cure2
from Sight... hey, there's a spell that could help us, Sight!  When we get
to the surface, I'll draw a magic map for us!"
	"Yeah..."  Kain tried hard to remember Cecil becoming a Paladin,
but nothing came to mind... so he let it pass, like so many other things
he felt he should know, but couldn't remember.