Me a moran, me forgot to attach story.
Oh well, here it is (and sorry very much),
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-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: slayerswild1.txt
Slayers: Wild
By Troy Thomas
Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the creations
and property of Rumiko Takahashi. Slayers and
its characters are the creations and properties
of Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. The author
is writing this story with neither intentions
of profit nor designs for acclaim. Please, do
not sue this poor author.
Criticisms & comments are much appreciated.
Please, reach for me at Silentnova@go.com if
you would like to add anything to the story.
-----------------------------------------------
Episode One
The tower was tall. It extended far into the
sky, but was short of Heaven by a hair.
Outside, all around the tower lay dust, which
was the remains of a forest, covering the land
for miles around. Inside, on the top floor,
worked a very short mage named Morris, wearing
a tattered green robe, conducting strange
experiments with odd twisting equipment,
creating small explosions with smoke of many
different hues.
Morris, or predictably, Morris the Mage
considered himself a simple man. Others who
knew him, there were few others, considered him
a madman, because he held a deep fear Lina
Inverse, the enemy of all who lived, would one
day destroy him, in some terribly contrived
fashion.
It was such a great fear Morris began
researching obscure magic so he could protect
himself. Unfortunately, obscure magic drew Lina
Inverse, like a moth to a flame, but Morris
didn't know.
Inevitably, she was opposite him standing on
the other side of his lab admiring his decor.
Like many wanted posters of her Morris had
seen, Lina Inverse was as described: a young
teenage girl, with long red hair, a black cape,
and red modest clothing.
Never before did Morris ever feel such immense
fear.
"Wow, makes the last lab look just like a
blight in the sky!" Lina casually said.
Her voice sent chills down Morris' spine.
Morris slowly replied, "Thank you." After
taking a moment to reflect on false bravado
lessons he attended years before, he continued,
"Now then, please allow me one small pleasure.
How did you manage to sneak past all of my
nefarious traps?"
"It was easy! I just followed you in!" Lina
cheerfully answered. "If you want to be
secretive about anything, then you should look
behind you once in a while. You never know who
might be there!" She winked at him, wagging her
right pointer finger.
"Oh!" said Morris, fear falling over his entire
face.
A moment passed as Morris mentally scrambled to
remember his contingency plan.
Looking at the floor, he remembered it.
"Inverse, don't think just because you made it
all the way here with no problem that I have no
tricks! Look below your feet! With that, I
won't let you take my life's works!"
Below her feet lay a giant arcane symbol. It
stretched across the entire room.
"Wow! You did all this with candy? I'm
impressed!"
"Do not mock it! It is a summoning spell that
will bring into this room a very violent and
chaotic creature...and it will be ready to do
as I bid!" Morris struck the floor with the
butt of his staff.
The room began to shake. A hot light began to
pour out of the arcane symbol lines. A sweet
smell began to fill the room from the melting
candy.
It was this moment a young, tall blonde
swordsman wearing blue armour entered the room.
He was Gourry Gabriev, considered by some
Lina's formidable bodyguard. In reality though,
he was Lina's formidable enemy, at the
breakfast, lunch, and dinner table.
"Lina, what's taking you so long?" Gourry
asked. "Zelgadis and I are getting tired of
waiting!"
Not receiving any answer, Gourry was quickly
distracted by something lying on the floor.
"Wow! A popping rock! I loved those when I was
a kid!" He scooped up his find and put it into
his mouth.
The blood drained from Morris' face. He
would've shouted, "Hey you!" since moving an
object on an arcane symbol when it was being
used to cast a spell would have serious side
effects.
He would've continued speaking, "Don't touch
that, unless you want to kill us all by
summoning a star into this room, or voiding all
existence!"
Instead though, he chose to turn around and run
towards his broom closet. But when there was no
explosion or sudden loss of everything behind
him, Morris stopped running. He slowly turned
around.
Two new people were in the room.
"No." Morris muttered, his face turning a
ghostly white. He muttered, "Not that spell!
Not the, 'Bring forth Lina Inverse's equals in
chaos and temper' spell!"
The two people, who were teenagers, seemed to
be bickering. Evidently one, a black hair boy
with a pigtail, red shirt, and black pants,
said something incredibly insulting to the
other, a short brunette hair girl, who was
wearing a blue dress, since after the boy had
finished speaking, the girl hit the boy over
the head knocking him unconscious.
Morris fell to his knees in despair. One
thought passed through his mind before he hit
the ground, "Tomorrow, I'm digging a deep,
unending hole, so I can jump into it, and never
come out!"
After belting her fianc� Ranma Saotome over the
head, movement caught her eye causing Akane
Tendo to slowly look over her left shoulder.
She turned around, and then she turned around
again. It was a large, dark room filled with
odd contraptions and paintings.
Moving images caught her eye. A short red head
girl wearing a red cape was yelling at a tall
blond man who was wearing blue armour. Another
man, ancient looking, was ferociously flipping
through the pages of an equally ancient looking
book. Tears ran down his face, and then dripped
onto the ancient man's blue robe.
"Huh? Where is this?" asked Akane. "What's
going on? Ranma, where are we?"
The boy with a pigtail stood up. "Uh, what was
that Akane? Did you just ask, where are we?'"
Ranma blinked. He turned around and around and
saw a short red hair girl with a tall blonde
man in a headlock. Another man, ghoulish, was
banging his head on the cement, crying, pages
of a book lied scattered about under the man's
hands and knees.
Ranma scratched his head. "Uh, why are you
asking me? I don't know!"
"Don't be so nonchalant about it! Do
something!" She knew her words were in vain.
Ranma couldn't do anything about the weird
situation they were in.
Actually, Ranma could. "Ouch! Don't pinch!"
Akane yelled.
"Sorry, I was just checking to see if this was
a dream." He ignored Akane's glare and looked
over at the red head girl sitting on the blonde
guy's back twisting his head backwards. Ranma
flinched. "I guess it isn't a dream. I wish it
was though."
A man in grey clothing walked into the room. He
stopped beside Ranma and Akane.
"Hi," Akane said, smiling.
"Now you're acting 'nonchalant'!" said Ranma,
his face concealing bemusement.
Akane's only response was to stick out her
tongue at Ranma.
"Who are you two?" the man in grey interrupted,
looking at the two in surprise.
"I'm Ranma Saotome. She's Akane Tendo." Ranma
looked at the grey man. "Are you made of
stone?"
Ranma poked the grey man's left shoulder.
"Whoa! The skin's really is made of stone!
Check it out Akane!"
Akane poked the grey man. The grey man frowned.
Both Ranma and Akane poked him again.
"Would you cut that out!" he demanded,
embarrassed and annoyance.
Ranma and Akane bowed. The two said, "Sorry."
Akane smiled, feeling nervous. "Um, sorry to
ask, but...what is your name?"
"My name is Zelgadis Greywords."
"Really? So your name's Zeldagis hmm?" Ranma
asked. "Nice to meet you Zel!"
Zelgadis sighed. "That's Zelgadis!"
"Now he's the one being 'nonchalant'!" Ranma
commented.
"Be quiet Ranma!" Akane looked at Zel. "Sorry
to trouble you with such an odd question, but
where are we?"
Zelgadis raised his eyebrows in surprise. "What
do you mean?"
Meanwhile, on the other side of the lab, Lina,
who was unknown to Ranma and Akane, kicked
Gourry, who was unknown to Ranma and Akane.
"Gourry, get up! You can't lie around all day!
There's work to be done!" ordered Lina,
grinning.
The blond man responded by moaning.
The red hair girl responded to the moan, "Good!
Glad you're back with the living!"
"No thanks to you, Lina!" Gourry received
another kick. "What was that for?"
Lina paused. "I really don't know!" She frowned
at Gourry, thinking. "I do hope though you
learned your lesson. Never, ever interrupt a
summoning spell! Those kind of spells mess with
universes and dimensions, and they get really
messy when someone bozo without a single
thought in their head ruins them!"
"Okay, I get the point!" Gourry stood up.
She left him and walked over to an old bookcase
containing old, musty texts. She began flipping
through the books, ignoring everything else.
"She tells me there's work to be done,
but...does it all herself anyway! Oh well, it'
not like I'm losing out on anything." Gourry
said, referring to the books.
He stopped watching Lina and looked at the two
new arrivals standing quietly beside Zelgadis,
who was standing quietly near the lab door,
having only arrived moments before.
Unsurprisingly, Zel seemed to be the reason the
two new teens were standing around quietly. He
seemed to be a silence and depression magnet.
"Who are you two?" Gourry asked the teens.
"I'm Akane Tendo. He's Ranma Saotome. What's
your name?" The short hair girl replied.
"Gourry Gabriev, I'm a mercenary swordsman!"
Gourry smiled.
"Swordsman? Shouldn't you have a sword then?"
Ranma, the other stranger, asked.
"Yeah, but I just lost my old one..."
Suddenly the cement floor underneath shook and
cracked from a large heavy object impacted with
it.
A monstrous form rose from beneath everyone's
feet.
"What the...?" Ranma shouted. "What the heck is
that thing?"
An old, cracking voice boomed through the room.
"It is only the greatest summoning spell ever
created by myself, Morris the Mage! Behold the
monstrous creature from another dimension, Rip
van Winkle!"
The monstrous creature from another dimension
blinked a couple times to shoo sleep away from
its eyes. "So little human, it was you who
awoke me from my three thousand year slumber?"
Everyone looked at the old mage. Morris
acknowledged the question with a nod. Very
quickly, the monstrous creature from another
dimension threw a ball of fire at Morris.
"That's for waking me up!" Rip's voice boomed.
As suddenly as the monstrous creature from
another dimension appeared, it disappeared.
Everyone, minus Morris who was burned to a
crisp, blinked.
"Wow, what a grump! And that's after three
thousand years of sleep! I'd really hate to
wake him up after only five hundred!"
"Well, I'm done with these," said Lina, who had
tossed aside a book that crumbled into dust
upon hitting the floor. "Gourry, you done here
too?"
"What? I guess so." Sticky candy littered his
face.
"Good, now..." Lina noticed Zelgadis out of the
corner of her eye. Beside him stood two teens.
"Ahem, please meet Ranma Saotome and Akane
Tendo." Zel said, breaking the moment's
continuity.
Lina turned around and waved at the two teens.
She smiled. "Hi! My name's Lina Inverse!" She
continued smiling. "Now that everyone's
introduced, let's get out of here!"
"One question first please, where is -here-?"
Ranma and Akane asked.
Everyone not Ranma and Akane, looked at Ranma
and Akane. "Actually, where'd you two come
from?" Lina asked. "No wait, let's get out of
here first, and then we'll talk."
A loud creaking distracted everyone.
"You know Lina, that sounds like a good idea!"
Zelgadis said, annoyed.
"Hey, what was that noise just now?" Gourry
asked.
"It was the tower, it's going to start falling
soon." Lina said.
Gourry screamed, placing his hands over his
head, "And we're just standing here?"
Lina growled, "Well, what do you expect? You
want me, a lady, to walk down four thousand
steps? What kind of man are you?"
"Who said anything about walking?" Gourry ran
out of the room towards the stairs.
Everybody stood watching the blonde man, until
Zel added, "He has a pretty good point."
The whole floor suddenly tipped about sending
everyone flailing for something to hold onto.
A large marble globe of the universe that was
at the moment inopportunely hanging above the
room by a weak wire was suddenly shaken loose
by the jolting. It landed on the floor with a
thud, and then began quickly rolling towards
Lina and the others.
"It's just one thing after another with me
isn't it?" Lina asked shouting, before turning
around and running after Gourry to the stairs.
Everyone else followed her lead.
Lina was the first to the staircase. After
placing her foot onto the first stair, the
stair pushed down like a giant button, and then
an arrow shot past the front of Lina's face.
The arrow impaled the wall to her right with a
loud thud.
"Eep!" Lina fell onto her behind. "This is not
good!"
She knew the traps Morris had earlier spoken of
were activated.
"Damn! Why does kind of stuff always happen to
me?"
"Lina, less complaining, and more running!" Zel
shouted, as he past her. Taking his attention
away from her, he shouted, "Diem Claw!" He
motioned for Ranma and Akane to run closer to
him.
"Wait for me!" Lina said, jumping onto her feet
sprinting after the three.
"What about the traps?" Ranma asked Zelgadis.
An arrow flew towards Ranma's head, triggering
an instinct to cover his head, but the arrow
hit something invisible before it could fly
through his head and landed far off to the side
of the stairs.
"Wow, I guess that should answer my question!"
Ranma said, taking his hands off of his head.
He thought, "What the heck just happened?"
Everyone made it down the stairs without a
problem. At the bottom though, something odd
happened. The giant globe following the group
became stuck between the narrow front
doorframes as the four exited the tower.
"You have nothing to worry about! The tower's
going to fall the other way!" Lina said,
answering an unasked question.
Gourry, who had made the trip down without
anything to worry about, greeted them as they
approached him. A moment passed, and then
Gourry's eyes bulged out of his head. "The
tower...it's falling this way!"
Everyone not Gourry turned about. The impact of
the giant globe at the entrance had changed the
direction of the tower's fall, so it was
falling towards them, and gaining speed as it
fell.
A moment past, and then Lina shouted, "Okay
guys, get far behind me and Zel!"
It grew from her hands, a red ball of light. It
shot forward towards the falling tower, and
then hit the tower with the force of Ruby Eye
Shabranigdo's, the mazoku lord, personal power.
A look of terror passed over Gourry's face.
"No, not the Dragon Slave! She didn't use -
that-?"
The force of the explosions pushed Zelgadis and
Lina back. "Everybody stay behind us!" Lina
shouted. "Zel and I have shields up protecting
us from the spells!"
Ranma looked at Gourry rolling up into a little
ball. "Um, Akane, do you think, maybe, that we
should be scared?"
"Don't worry! There's nothing to be worried
about!" Lina commented. "I have it all under
control!"
"That makes me worry!" Zel muttered.
"Be quiet!" Sweat ran down Lina's temple. "I
can handle this! This isn't anything at all!
Can do it with my eyes closed! In my sleep
even!"
Time slowly past as a dark wind pushed everyone
and a red smoke back away from where the tower
once stood. The sound of the wind flowing past
and around the magical shields created by Lina
and Zel was all everyone could hear.
Finally, when the smoke cleared and the wind
stopped, everybody could see Lina's work. There
was no more tower. It was blown apart into
dust.
Seconds past, until Lina spoke, "Now that we're
on the ground without the threat of being
crushed under a tonne of dirt and stone, let's
talk." Lina looked at Akane, and then Ranma.
"Now, who are you, and where did you come
from?"
"Jeez, how many times do we gotta say who we
are? Me Ranma. Her Akane. Come from big city
called Tokyo on little island called Japan."
"Ranma! Don't be so rude!" Akane bowed in
apology to Lina then kicked Ranma in the shin.
"Sorry about Ranma, he's just a jerk!"
"Don't worry about it. I get worse from
bandits. So you two are from Tokyo, on an
island called Japan, hmm?" The two teens
nodded. "Never heard of it!" Lina casually
said.
"Humph, well, where've you been your whole
life?" asked Ranma. "You been keeping your head
underneath rocks for your entire life?"
"At least I don't have one for a head!" Lina
snapped her fingers. "Wait a minute! I know
where you two are from!"
"So you have heard of Japan, huh?"
"No, I mean, you're from another world!"
"What?" Ranma and Akane asked together.
"Hmm, how to explain everything...." Lina
rubbed her chin between her thumb and pointer
finger. "When I entered the sorcerer's lab, he
mentioned summoning a creature of chaos and
violence, but Gourry here," Lina elbowed Gourry
in the gut, "ruined the spell as it was being
cast."
Gourry held his stomach. "I said I was sorry!"
Lina continued, "I think, what happened was,
when Gourry interrupted the spell, it didn't
care what it took. So it reached everywhere it
could, to find anything that was violent and
chaotic."
"I can understand why it summoned Akane, but
what about me?" Ranma asked.
Akane poured cold water over Ranma, which
triggered a change in Ranma's body. The change
was, he instantly became a girl.
Everyone stepped back in surprise.
"Uh, I'm cursed to become a girl when splashed
by cold water. Hot water changes me into a
boy."
Ranma poured hot water over herself, reversing
the earlier change.
"Heh, I already said it once, but I'll say it
again, I love solving puzzles!" Lina mentioned.
"So what are we supposed to do now?" Ranma
asked.
"But don't worry about a thing. There's a town
really close to here. Maybe you'll meet someone
there who can help you get back from where you
came from." Lina smiled. "No, scratch that. I'm
absolutely sure you two will find someone who
can help you!"
Zel muttered. "They're crazy! They're going to
trust her intuition?"
"And what's wrong with my intuition?" Lina
demanded, her face nose to nose with Zelgadis'.
"Nothing, it always seems to find trouble! All
the time!" Zel scrunched his face up. "And wait
a minute, you're saying we should just leave
these two here to find their own way to this
town? They don't even know where it is!"
"Well, it's not like I'll get any reward from
helping them Zel. Did'ja ever think about my
needs?" Lina replied.
Zel slumped forward. His pointed ears hung in
defeat. "Since it's on the way to where I'm
going," he said, looking at Ranma and Akane,
"I'll bring you there."
Lina slapped him on the back. "See Zel,
everything works out in the end! You just have
to trust in Lina Inverse!"
"I trust you to be nothing but trouble."
Zelgadis turned away. "Well, Akane and Ranma,
are you two ready to go?" He began walking
away.
"I guess." Ranma placed his hands behind his
head, and followed Zelgadis. After a minute of
walking alone behind the stone man, Ranma
turned around. "Yo Akane, are you coming or
not?"
Akane scowled at Ranma, and then bowed to Lina
and Gourry. Finishing her bow, she then rushed
after Ranma and Zelgadis.
Catching up to the two, Akane glared at Ranma.
"You know, I just wanted to ask Miss Inverse a
question. Couldn't you have at least waited?"
"Why don't ask him?" Ranma pointed at Zel. "He
was the one who wanted to leave. Besides, you
know me, can't fight fate!" He put his hand
back behind his head. "Maybe Zel can answer
your question."
"Jerk, everybody knows you won't back down from
a challenge. Even if it's fate who wants to
fight you!" Determination shone on Akane's
face. "But you're right, maybe Mister Greywords
can answer my question."
Akane quickened her pace to match Zelgadis'.
Pulling up beside him, she asked, "Excuse me,
but I want to know, what was it you and Miss
Inverse were doing back there, when you two
saved us all from the falling tower?"
Ranma appeared on the other side of Zel. "Yeah,
I was wondering about that too."
The three never noticed the land slowly
changing from lifeless and barren to bountiful
and beautiful as they walked.
Zel looked at Akane, then Ranma. "Huh? Don't
you two know anything about magic?" Before the
two could answer, Zel realised his own mistake.
"Oh yeah, you two are from another world. Magic
probably doesn't act the same there."
He was silent for a moment. "Hmm, magic is
difficult to describe. When you've grown up
with it, it's like a second nature."
The walk slowed as Zel searched for a
description. "Magic, it's a force that can be
divided into three categories: white, black,
and shamanism."
He held up one finger. "White magic calls upon
the spirit, or other spirits which are
incredibly strong. It is used for healing and
protection."
Zel held up another finger. "Black magic calls
upon the mazoku for power. Since the mazoku are
forces of destruction, it is natural their
powers when used as magic are destructive. The
Dragon Slave Lina used, is such a spell."
Finally, he held up a third finger. "Since I am
strongest with Shamanism, I'll describe it
last. It is the forces of nature, which
Shamanism calls upon. There are many elements
that can be used, like fire, wind, and water.
It is usually used as a weapon, but as before
in the tower, it can be used for defence too.
And, there is also a spirit element, which is
strong against mazoku."
Zel looked at Ranma and Akane. Seeing they were
still confused, he gave up. "That's magic. I
don't know what else to say."
The three walked silently. Eventually, Zel
sighed. "Now before you ask, my skin is stone
because of a man named Rezo." A shadow fell
over his face. "I never used to look like
this!"
After Zel finished speaking, silence again
dominated the walk.
Soon, the three started passing houses and
stores. They had arrived at the town Lina had
earlier mentioned. It was large, busy, and
noisy. People moved about, bustling along,
hurrying on with their own lives.
Ranma looked at Zel, who had his face covered
with a mask. He shrugged.
They stood at an intersection. Many people
passed by without comment.
"Now this is where we part. I have no business
here, but I'm sure if you two ask around, you
might find someone who can help you." said Zel.
He started to walk away, but turned around a
short distance away. "I suggest that you two
keep your guard up. I know nothing about the
world you two have come from, but I'm sure it
is nothing compared to this one."
He turned back around. "Goodbye, I don't know
if we'll ever meet again."
Ranma and Akane watched Zelgadis leave.
"Wow," said Ranma, "I never thought I'd meet
someone as depressing as P-chan!" He received
an elbow in his gut from Akane for the comment.
Recovering from the blow, Ranma looked about
where they were standing.
People were moving, hurrying, shouting,
laughing, and living. Vendors, from behind
their stalls, were shouting and selling.
It was a familiar sight, but...Ranma looked at
Akane. "Damn it Akane, I think we're in really
big trouble."
End Episode One
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