I checked with administration, and they have kindly permitted my to resubmit
Fanfiction with Better word wrapping, generally making it easier to read and
comprehend. I'll try not to make the same mistake in the future.
Foreword: Where & When Slayers Forever Fits
(or doesn't)
When our group started the creation of Slayers Forever, we chose
to use elements and characters introduced in the H. Kanzaka / R. Araizumi
TV Series "Slayers Try." Since then, however, we have gone on a most
wild and capricious tangent, resulting in a story that greatly contradicts
the
series "Try." On the down side, this series is inaccurate and not
completely
compatible with the authentic Slayers series; On the other hand, No
Spoilers!!!
In the end, I hope you have as much fun reading Slayers Forever as
we did writing it. While it's not 100% accurate, any audience that can
watch blue, rocky bishonens and 16 year old girls able to level mountains
shouldn't have too many problems ignoring facts.
-Paper Tiger, Editor
SLAYERS FOREVER
by the crazed individuals of Giga-Works
*We can take credit for none of the characters or elements presented below.
All of them are copyright H. Kanzaka / R. Araizumi; except for one!
(Can you guess where he/she is copyrighted to?)
Episode 1: All For the Want of A Meal
Zelgadis rose from the tough sheets and blinked his eyes
repeatedly. Throwing back the curtains revealed little more than a violet
sky and a still dark skyline. Good, dawn wouldn't come for at least another
hour. He looked back onto the bed to find Gourry still loudly snoring on
the other side. How he could sleep with full armor on was anyone's guess.
After taking a quick bath, Zelgadis washed his face in the basin,
rubbing his face dry with the coarse but unnaturally white inn towel. He
peered into the mirror and his hand instinctively fell to the shaving razor
sitting at the edge of the sink. Only when Zel brought the metal blade to
his
rocky, chimerical skin did he realize the comedy in his mistake. He had
been transformed for more years than he wanted to remember, but each
morning he still thought of shaving. He held the razor in his hand and
chuckled for a moment before he slammed it hard against the edge of the
porcelain sink. Every morning.
Zelgadis wiped his hand across the steamed mirror; in it he saw
everything he hated. The rock-strewn, golemous and disfigured features of
his face; they were nothing, the icing on the cake, the salt in the wound.
He
loathed his reflection for one reason.
His eyes. It is a common belief that you can spot a liar by the look
in their eyes. Zelgadis had been telling the truth his entire life, but
still, his
eyes never lost the appearance of a fraud.
The reflection shred any remainder of doubt in Zel's mind. He
placed his beige tunic and hood over his head, buckled his belt, and grabbed
his pack on the way to the door. He could no longer live with the lie.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"More music, my queen?"
Lina waved aside the servant as she was far too preoccupied with
her bowl full of pealed grapes, being fed to her by a hunky male specimen
in a loincloth.
"Sure, whatever," she answered through a smile.
Lina surveyed the large courtroom filled with jesters, epic poets,
and servants. The jesters were doing the best to entertain her
continuously,
the poets were furiously trying to write her every word for posterity's
sake,
and the servants had their hands and legs full carrying out her every whim.
Anyone else in the room was merely bowing.
Despite the whole display, Queen Lina Inverse felt a little empty.
She turned her head to either side, seeing no one but groveling dukes. She
was missing something.
Lina snapped her fingers. "Of Course!" She pressed a button on
the side of the throne. It started to zoom across the throne room, floating
to
the large balcony on the other side. Below the open terrace was thousands
of screaming followers (and that was just within the castle.) Beyond the
walls stretched loyal admirers, as far as the eye could see, stretching out
into the horizon.
THAT was what Lina was missing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gourry chewed on his cape as he tiptoed down the hallway,
peering to either side at the neat, intricate woodcarvings along the wall.
He
sighed, knowing they would soon be burnt to cinders. He continued along
the hallway, stopping at the last door. Lina's room. Gourry swallowed hard
before he reached for the knob. Lina had instructed him countless times
before never to wake her up earlier than noon under threat of DragonSlave
(unless it was an emergency.) This was in fact an emergency, so Gourry
expected he'd get off easy with a Val-Flare.
Gourry opened the door to see Lina, in her cute yellow pajamas, on
her lacy rented sheets... gnawing fiercely upon her feather pillow. Her
eyes
were darting rapidly beneath her eyelids, and she lazy talked to servants
that
weren't there.
Great, Gourry thought, she's already moved on to the "Royal Banquet". He
was as good as toasted. Sighing with increasing weight, he walked towards
the bed. With the very tip of his boot, Gourry tapped Lina on her shoulder.
Nothing. Again, he prodded her, trying to keep the majority of himself out
of arm's length. On the third poke, Lina started to respond, murmuring
under her breath and (by reflex) trying to bite Gourry's foot.
Gourry sighed a third time, this time his shoulders coming down to is knees.
He creeped one step closer to the bed, shook the teen violently,
and made a mad dash for the door.
I'm going to make it, I'm going to make it, I'm going to-
"Fireball!"
Gourry was about to wonder how he was going to "fireball", but
this train of thought became interrupted by a magical explosion of flame
that sent him airborne down the hallway.
Lina sat up in bed, one hand scratching her head while the other
held in a yawn. She stuck out her tongue, and for reasons unknown to her,
pulled a feather out of her mouth.
"Good morning to you, too," Gourry said sarcastically as a he crawled
through what was once a doorway. He coughed a tiny cloud of smoke.
Lina snorted and looked at the charred Gourry as she clasped on
her shoulder-pads and cape.
"Serves you right, waking me up like that for no reason. Now let's go, I'm
hungry!"
She grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged him down
the hall stairs to the main area. Throwing herself into a chair at an empty
table, she waved over a waitress. Breakfast awaited.
"But I do have a reason," Gourry exclaimed to Lina as she busily tied her
napkin around neck. "We have an Emergency! We're out of money!"
The inn waitress came over to the table with the young red-head
girl and the tall blond. "Good morning," she said with a chipper, genki-like
smile. "What would you-"
She opened her eyes to find the table empty. She shook her head
in confusion. "I could have sworn..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What do you mean we're out of money?"
While wincing at the earth-shaking volume of Lina's inquest,
Gourry looked around to make sure they weren't causing a scene. He turned
his head in Lina's direction, but he could not for the life of him make eye
contact.
"I mean Zelgadis was the only one who had money, and he wasn't in our
room. He's upped and left!"
Lina folded her arms across her chest. Zelgadis's departure
couldn't be avoided, and he'd have several hours gain on them in who-
knows-what direction. Amelia could have picked up the bill, but she would
be have been half-way back to Saillune by now.
"All right," Lina declared, "we need money. So, we can do one of two
things: Take up small jobs or run across a small posse of bandits." She led
him down the street, her eyes darting from side to side, looking for
temporary employment (and for any random ruffians.)
"Either way, we need cash." She glanced back at Gourry. "Are you sure you
don't have any money? I'm so hungry..."
"Well..." he replied while shielding his face, "I-I spent the last of it on
this."
He pulled from his pocket a wooden toy duck. It bobbed about in
his hand innocently. "Isn't he cute?" he asked, holding it out with one arm
for Lina to see (whilst with the other arm protected himself from almost
certain doom.)
Lina stared at the wooden duck for a second, collecting her
thoughts. Glancing back at Gourry, the collection blew apart.
"You mean to tell me that you spent the last of our money on a TOY!!!"
She face-palmed, her head shaking from side to side. Well, she thought,
might as well let him keep that thing for awhile. But next time, I'm
carrying
the money.
"It's very... cute, Gourry. Now come on, we need fast cash."
No sooner had Gourry ran As they started walking down the dusty
road, a figure in beige sheik-wear darted past them, cutting them off at a
street corner. The figure turned around to look behind him, allowing Lina
and Gourry to catch a glimpse of his rocky face. Following the chimera
was an overweight bearded man who was shouting and cursing. The
majority of his profanity was directed towards his quarry, but every now
and then he damned the red and black robes he wore (over which he was
consistently tripping.) He too turned the corner in front of Lina and
Gourry,
again cutting them off.
"What could that be about?" Gourry asked, quite puzzled.
Zelgadis, Lina thought.
She turned her eyes to Gourry and shrugged at his comment. Don't
know, but I say we should follow him. And who knows, maybe he's found
some treasure and is trying to keep it to himself!"
Hearts throbbed in her eyes at the thought of gold, jewels, money,
and all sorts of goodies. Shaking her head out of it, she jumped up,
landing
atop a nearby rooftop. About to run, she remembered that Gourry wouldn't
know better to follow. So, she yelled down to him.
"C'mon Gourry, lets go! We have to catch up with Zelgadis!" She put a
fisted right hand up level to her nose, and rested the other hand on the
small
muscle of her upper arm. "Annd, I want to see if he's got anything
interesting!"
Turning away again, she ran from rooftop to rooftop, chasing
Zelgadis (or at least dust he was leaving behind.) From below, Gourry's
voice stopped her.
"Which Zel do you want me to follow?"
"What kind of stupid question is that-"
Lina Inverse looked up to see Xellos sitting on a chimney directly
in front of her. With the same genki look on his face as he always had, he
pointed to something directly behind Lina. Turning, she saw, of all people,
Zelgadis.
Gourry, of course, had no idea how Lina could be up there with Zelgadis at
the same that he was chasing Zelgadis, but he shrugged and figured Lina
had that Zel covered. Meanwhile, the Zeldadis that he was supposed to
catch was gaining a good lead on him."Hey Zelgadis! Wait up!"
A face-fault later, the befuddled Lina Inverse approached her
comrade on the rooftop, making sure to keep her distance (something was
up.) Zelgadis was standing straight, but his muscles were tense, almost
hair-trigger. The only emotion Lina saw was the slow fluttering of his off-
white cape.
"You spooked me, Zel. I guess this saves me the trouble of-"
Before she could finish the sentence, Zelgadis bounded off of the
roof and disappeared into the darkness of the alley below. Lina rushed to
the edge, but sighed at little she found. Having little luck with the facts
at
hand, Lina swiveled in Xellos's direction.
"Just what are you doing here?" she probed. "Are you behind that extra
Zelgadis?"
Xellos stared smugly at Lina and fingered the reddish orb on his staff.
"What am I doing here?" he replied with a smile, "Lina, you ought to know
better than to ask THAT. And if I was to pretend to be Zelgadis, I would
certainly have done a better job. No, the extra Zelgadis wasn't me, but
please try figure out the rest on your own... Its sooo boring if I give it
all
away."
Xellos vaporized with a "shah" and reappeared outside of Lina's
view. On a chimney pot, he waited for the remainder of the plot to unfold
from his "box-seat".
Gourry, meanwhile, had been managing to close the gap between
his chimerical friend and himself. He had almost passed the clergyman on
Zelgadis's tail when a large rumbling interrupted him. Gourry curled into a
ball on the ground, clutching his stomach.
"food....
gotta have food."
Gourry crawled melodramatically back to where he'd seen Lina and the
other Zelgadis. Maybe she had luck than him.
Lina scratched her head in confusion. So, Xellos wasn't behind the
Zelgadis in front of her. But, he was surely up to something. That
trickster
was always up to something. She looked over the building's edge to see
Gourry crawling like a dying raccoon... meaning the other Zelgadis had
badgered off as well. She prepped her hands in a fireball position, but her
anger faded with a sigh. It wasn't his fault (neither of them were at
100%.)
And, if her woman's intuition was correct, something fishy was up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zelgadis bent over at his waist, relieved to have finally shaken off
the fat clergyman. It had been more than worth his effort. From beneath
his cloak he withdrew an intricately carved glass bottle filled with a
burgundy liquid. Uncorking and raising the bottle to his lips, he swilled
two
thirds of its content before his wrist lowered. He stood posed and brimming
with pride, but a bit of his mirth faded with each second that ticked away.
He threw the bottle to the ground but it refused to break, instead landing
with a loud thump. Awkward as the beaker was, Zelgadis tried to keep
focus on returning to back to normal. That stuff he stole should have
worked! Feeling like a patsy, Zelgadis dashed down streets, his hands
clenched with rancorous determination.
Moments later, Zelgadis turned a corner, trying hard not to look
behind him. Over his shoulder he could spy the distant forms of Lina and
Gourry; an anticipated but unwelcome ache filled him as he fled from their
location. Whilst staring at his shoes, Zel's eyes met with a finely made
glass bottle. It was mostly empty, but it still caught his attention.
Weighing
it in his hands, he began to wonder if-
Zelgadis's train-of-thought was interrupted by the staggered accusations of
an overweight priest barreling in his direction. The chimera fastened the
container to his belt, for he knew there was a proper time and place for
pondering... and a time and place for fast escapes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lina and Gourry walked up and down marketplace, their eyes
scanning vigilantly. Or more specifically, Lina scanned vigilantly while
Gourry's stared vapidly into space.
"What are we doing again?" he asked for the seventeenth time within that
quarter-hour.
"We are LOOKING for a job to get some MONEY so we can EAT.
UNDERSTAND?!?"
Silence answered her question.
Lina sighed and continued to look around the storefronts. They
had been looking for a job since noon, but they had failed to see a single
"Waitress Needed" or "Help Wanted" sign (not that Lina was enthusiastic
about serving tables, but it was for the sake of food.)
"Oooh, Lina, I found one!"
Lina nearly did a double-take. Had Gourry finally come through for her?
Could he possibly have done something right? After failing to get a
glimpse over the shoulder of the seven-foot swordsman, Lina scrambled
under his arm to leer at what Gourry had seen.
"That's an advertisement, you dope!" Lina asserted audibly as well as with
her fist.
Still, Lina stared curiously at the flier. It was the wording that grabbed
her attention:
DO YOU NEED A CHANGE? Come to the Temple of Alchemy,
301 'Temple Row', South Side of Armadillous
"I wonder if Zelgadis saw the flyer..." Lina pondered aloud.
"And look at this flyer!" Gourry motioned to an adjacent ad, this one
rendering unmistakably the monk they had seen chasing Zelgadis (beard
and all.)
"The most respected Priest in town, Friar Koo Kollin," Lina read to Gourry.
"Visit him at the Temple of Restoration, 303 'Temple Row'."
"Do you think it's worth checking out?" the blond cited.
"Since they're right next to each other, I bet it is." Lina rubbed her
chin.
'Temple Row' contained where Zel had likely been and where he was likely
to show up.
"Then we'd better get moving, both temples are on the other side of town."
Lina turned around to be face to face with Xellos. His eyes were
closed and he wore his usual puckish grin. For once, it was Gourry who
tried to place the trickster's motives.
"Are you actually going to help us out for once, or are you going to desert
us at the most inconvenient moment like you always do?"
"Probably," Xellos answered manner-of-fact-ly. He normally didn't like to
reveal information, but fact was fact.
"All right," Lina pronounced with a sigh, "Let's get this show on the road."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A short time later, Gourry and Lina could be seen heading south,
bickering over something inconsequential. Following the ragtag duo on
foot was Xellos. Whatever his opinion was of the topic in question, he kept
it to himself.
In the middle of giving Lina a piece of his mind (relatively
speaking), Gourry stumbled around the corner to find the city's "Temple
Row". The street (on both sides) was filled with dozens of temples, each
sign flashier than the last. Though in the Slayers Universe they had yet to
develop neon lights, magic had more than leveled the playing field, making
Temple Row impossible to miss. At the end of the block sat a tremendously
dark and ominous building. A black ziggurat, the tip seemed to suck in the
light emitted from neighboring temples. From the top of the pyramidal
colossus shone a red beacon, one that revolved around menacingly.
Gourry's focus then turned to the temple sitting just right of the
black Construct, the one decorated with orange and maroon flags. Stripes
and checker patterns encircled the outer walls. On the face of the tacky
temple, circling a stone dragon, priests had carved four symbols; the
elements wind, water, fire, and earth. Of course, the symbols could be
interpreted as stink, pear, feather, and corn meal, but odds were the latter
combination was not accurate. Either way, there was unmistakably a
dragon in the middle.
Gourry's focus flickered back and forth from the tower of terror to the
temple of tack. "What do you think?" he asked, turning to Lina. Lina was
not quick to respond.
Muttering angrily to herself, Filia stalked out of the gaudy-looking
temple. Not noticing where she was going, she accidentally bumped into
Lina.
"Oh, I'm very sorry."
Filia reflexively apologized without recognizing Lina and Gourry, then
walked away, still muttering to herself. Lina, who had been inquisitively
gazing at the tacky lights (before she was rudely interrupted), heard the
stranger's muttering and immediately got mad. How dare someone run into
the Great Sorcery Genius Lina Inverse and not beg for mercy!
"Look where you're-" She paused and noticed a very familiar mop of blonde
hair and priestess attire. Who was that?
Filia's melodic voice had caught the ears of Xellos and had broken his
concentration. For a moment his stomach lurched, but he regained his
composure almost instantaneously. He glanced about, hoping no one
caught his momentary display of emotion, (even if that emotion was
frustration and disgust.) Xellos struck a cocky pose and laughed
boisterously. He called out to the departing priestess, his desire to
torment
overriding his usually clear thinking.
Lina, meanwhile, putting two and two together, placed her hand in her
palm. She pulled a 180� and called after the young dragon. "Filia! Hey,
Filia!"
Filia had heard someone calling her name. That whiny voice sounds really
familiar, she thought. Could it be... nah, I don't think so. She heard
another
voice calling her, a female voice this time. Turning around, she beheld for
the first time Lina and Gourry... and Xellos.
"Lina-san, Gourry-san!"
Gourry smiled at Filia, thoroughly surprised. While glad to see Filia, he
didn't expect her to be in the maroon and orange striped temple. Why
would she be in there? he contemplated, his facial expressions displaying
the same question.
"What are you doing here?" Filia asked vivaciously.
"Hello there, Filia," Xellos interjected, trying to keep a straight face.
"How
is everything in lizard country?"
Glancing at Xellos, she noticed that he had that infuriating smile on his
face
again. Control yourself, Filia, she tells herself as she took a calming
breath.
This is a public place. People will stare at your tail if you get too upset.
She
faced Lina and Gourry, trying not to even look at the treacherous priest.
"And why is that Mazoku* with you?" she inquired, the tension in her voice
quite obvious.
"Sore wa Himitsu!"** Xellos answered predictably. "Wouldn't you like to
know, Miss Nosey. I'm merely following orders, as usual... and I'm almost
curious as to why the dragon priestess would be here."
Xellos was gleefully watching the veins protrude in Filia's
forehead.
Lina glanced from the Mazoku to the Ryuzoku*** and sighed
heavily. Not again... every time.... Then it hit her: she hadn't known that
Xellos was even with her. She opened her mouth to ask him, but already
she knew what she'd be told. Shrugging, she gave a half-hearted smile to
Filia. "Funny meeting you here," she said to the maiden shrine. "And
Xellos? Well, we don't pay him any mind unless he's useful to us. So what
are you doing in this part of town?"
Glaring angrily at Xellos, Filia suddenly turned her back and ignored him
completely... well, almost. She smiled at Lina and Gourry.
"Well, I heard about this place and its famous temples, so I decided to take
a
look. However, there doesn't seem to be anything of much interest here."
She jabbed a finger towards the tacky-looking temple, clenching her fist and
shaking in fury. "And that is one of the worse I've seen. Such gaudy
colors!
And when I made a humble suggestion to the head priest, he actually asked
me to get out! Can you believe such rudeness?! And he dares to call himself
a priest?!"
Lina glanced at the oh-so-tacky shrine and chuckled. Filia did have
a point, wanting to change the appearance.
"Yeah, I guess. But then again, if people coming and telling you how to
change your temple, you would be angry too." She thumbed the building.
Xellos grinned again and called out "Speaking of tacky, is that renovated
wing to the Dragon temple still there?" He didn't even try to contain his
laughter when he thought how Lina's gaudy architecture had been
haphazardly tacked onto the wing of Dragon temple (which he was partly
responsible for ruining.)
Lina was getting a little peeved, but she remembered the task at
hand.
"Say Filia, when you stepped in there today, did you see anything about
changing a person or their appearance?"
Filia looked confused at Lina's question.
"Changing a person's appearance? Hmm... I'm not sure. I wasn't in there for
a very long time."
"And for your information, Xellos," Filia snapped with a sneer, "the
renovated wing is gone now. We replaced it with something much nicer."
Her eyes sparkled with stars and she clasped her hands dreamily.
"Not that your renovations weren't nice, Lina-san," she added hastily. "It
just... didn't fit in with the image of the temple itself."
Lina raised her hand as if to hit Filia, but it stayed, her wrist
moving in a shooing manner.
"Doesn't matter, really. My heart wasn't into it very much, so its okay..."
"But why would you want to change someone's appearance?" Filia said with
a puzzled expression on her face.
Lina rubbed her chin as she rocked back on her heels. Questions
of where Zel had gone were rushing through her head. Besides, she was
getting hungrier by the minute. THAT'S IT!
"Say Filia." Lina gained a ravenous look in her eyes. "How about we go and
talk about this over some nice warm food, huh?"
Filia sweat-dropped at Lina's request, remembering Lina and Gourry's
combined appetites.
"Er... sure, but I hope that both you and Gourry have enough money to pay
for your own meals. And I'm certainly not going to pay for Xellos's meal!"
Lina fell face first into the ground at Filia's words. Groaning from
her spot on the ground, she grumbled and whimpered.
"But, Filia, we don't HAVE any money. Gourry spent it all on some stupid
wooden duck..."
Wide fiery eyes stared up at Filia pathetically, begging for food
since her mouth didn't dare beg for anything. Besides, she almost got
anything she wanted by her gorgeous looks. Meanwhile, having allowed
his thoughts to wonder, Gourry's train of thought had inevitably drifted to
that of cakes and beef brisket. His knees started to go weak and his
stomach rumbled like a portable earthquake.
The dragonette's eyes softened at the sight of Lina and Gourry at her feet,
beads of saliva threatening to flood the earth below.
"Oh, all right," she admitted in defeat, "I'll treat you guys for once...
until
you get money, ok?"
Lina jumped to her feet, hearts in her eyes.
"Oh thankyouthankthankyou!!"
Oh dear... this is going to be hard on my pocket, thought Filia. And I
wanted to buy more nice vases too! Sigh.
Scooping up both Gourry and Filia (being hungry sure makes the
laws of physics useless), Lina ran back to the tavern that she'd started the
day at (the food there had smelt especially good.) "C'mon, c'mon! Let's
go!"
Xellos stood alone in the gaudy temple archway. Damn, he
thought with remorse; he hadn't had the chance to deliver a really crushing
remark to Filia. Oh well. Taunting Filia was fun and all, but he had his
orders... and now he had to attend to some business. His usually cheerful
face sobered for a minute as he drifted towards the head priests office.
Lina
Inverse's problems could wait.
As she was dragged along by the fiery strawberry-blonde, Filia
noticed that Xellos was not following them. Hmm... he's probably up to no
good, she thought. I should find out what he intends to do and stop him
before he does it... but Lina won't let me go without paying for their meal.
Sigh, I hope Lina takes pity on my emptying purse.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Floating to the back door, Xellos read the name carved in the
poorly transmuted gold plate (it looked an awful lot like shiny yellow
lead.)
"Hon. Br. Rimmour."
Xellos jumped through the solid barrier and into a dimly lit office.
The inside of the Temple was very much like the outside; the chartreuse
green stripes over a floral magenta wallpaper made even the powerful
Xellos wince, his eyes rearing in agony. In the corner, behind a bright
orange desk, sat a surprisingly young scarecrow of a man in a vivid purple
robe and a tall red hat; Xellos presumed him to be the Honorable Brother
Rimmour. The man was stiffly hunched over a mound of paperwork which
he was scrawling over frantically, obviously too busy to notice the Mazoku.
He looked as if he'd never seen the light of day, his youthful face pasty
and
pale (& his dull brown hair looking like burnt Astroturf.) He was obviously
perturbed or panicked about something, for he took quick breaths, swatted
profusely and the nostrils in his long portentous nose flared and contracted
violently. Upon observing the evidence, Xellos came to the conclusion that
Rimmour was a smeg.
Xellos pretended to clear his voice rather loudly. Brother
Rimmour gave a terrified yelp and his papers fell off the desk. Reaching
out hysterically to grab them, the Honorable Brother Rimmour slid out of
his chair with a very painful "thump".
Xellos just stood there... with a sweat-bead on his forehead.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Plopping both Filia and Gourry down at a round table in the inn,
Lina hailed down a waiter. With only a brief glance at the menu, she
ordered over half of the entrees (which is far too little from her usual
order
{she was probably going to order seconds later.}) Rubbing her gloved
hands together, she awaited the victuals.
"Ahh, food! I've been dying all day for it!"
She paused for a second, looking to Filia. "So, Filia, have you seen Zel? We
were looking for him when we ran into 2 Zel's, but we lost both." She
glared at Gourry since it was HIM who was supposed to have captured at
least one. "But we were guessing he was in one of those temples. Gourry
found a paper that said it could help people changes themselves. Ever heard
of anything like it?"
Multiple crashes were heard outside just before Zelgadis came sailing
through the tavern wall. He landed atop the table nearest of Lina,
Gourry, and Filia. Zelgadis was looking worse for wear while his
companions looked significantly alarmed.
The crew viewed a second Zelgadis emerging from the clouds of
just, this Zel walking angrily towards former. He reached towards Zel1 and
lifted him up, Zel1's body hanging limp in his arms. The conquering
Zelgadis walked away with Zel1 hanging over his shoulder, never taking
notice to the group sitting just feet away.
Jaws hung abound throughout the room.
"Uh, Lina," said Gourry, the first to break the silence. "Do we know two
Zelgadis's?"
Filia looked to either side, completely stunned. She just sat at the
table, not even drinking her tea.
"Tell me, Lina-san, was that Zelgadis or not? And why are there two of
them?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at the office of the Honorable Brother Rimmour, Xellos had
made his presence apparent and the young priest had grown severely
frightened.
"Who the hell are you?" he stammered crossly. "How did you get in here??
I'll have you know, Laddy, I hold audiences by appointment only!! That's
IT! You've made The List!"
Brother Rimmour withdrew a pocket-sized booklet from his robes
and a small pencil from under his hat and scribbled fanatically, muttering;
"Purple-haired Freak, disturbing inventory accounting of new shipment of
Dragon rectums...and being sneaky. Name..." He looked up, his nostrils
flaring.
"Name and occupation, my good fruitcake?"
Xellos gave him half a smile. Just wait, he thought.
"Xellos... Mazoku Priest/General."
"Ah...very good. Xellos... Is that with a 'Z'?....Mazo-......." There was
an
awkward pause.
......
......
......
Br. Rimmour closed the book, his pale face having turned green
and his eyes unusually large.
"Ah......well, my 4:00 canceled, so I suppose I can spare my time."
Xellos grinned with malicious delight at his associate's fear. "How
fortunate. I'm surprised to see you here; I was under the impression that
this
temple was run by Brother Kitshen."
It was Brother Rimmour's turn to smile... a rather twisted one that actually
made Xellos jump a little.
"We're under new management," said the priest.
The Honorable Brother Rimmour offered a seat, but Xellos politely
refused, explaining that he "looked more imposing in the half light if he
was
standing rather than sitting." Once again the Mazoku's playful continence
went deadly serious.
"I need to ask you about the Cockatrice Blood..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
END OF EPISODE 1
Join us next time for
BLUE-GOO-KACHOO
or
WHEN WILE-ISH EYES ARE SMILING!!!
*GLOSSARY*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Mazoku- The destructive race linked to Ruby Eye Shabrinigdo. In most
English translations, they have been called the "Monster" race.
**"Sore wa Himitsu"- In English, "That is a secret"; Xellos's famous
phrase.
***Ryuzoku- The Dragon race, in every way the opposite of the Mazoku
race.
****************************************************************
GIGA-WORKS is
ReganVSage: "Voice" of Lina Inverse, Moderator
Paper Tiger: "Voice" of Gourry Gabriev, Editor
Mo-chan: "Voice" of Xellos and Rimmour, Illustrator (and all-around
Smart-ass)
Jason-san: "Voice" of Zelgadis 1&2, Slacker
Moonhawk: "Voice" of Filia, (And Voice of Reason)
_________________________________________________________________
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