[FFML] [slayers]Slayers Born 15-21

Lunch Money

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"Its the most disturbing thing I've ever seen,"
Amethyst said wide-eyed.

"I thought I was prepared for this," Xalan added
hesitantly.

"They're merciless."

"Don't make a move, maybe it'll end soon."

"Its...inhuman!"

"Well, we aren't human."

"Yes, but this is...."

"Monstrous?"

"That too, but..."

"Unbelievable?"

"And will you two be having anything else?" They
looked up to the waiter who had cautiously moved
around the atrocity zone to reach them. Both took a
glance at their companions around the piles of used
dishes that no one had dared to collect.

"More Coffee," Amethyst requested in shock.

"Tea for me," Xalan added.

"mah phhs mpff ff grmf, mmph bffr fan hf eeffng f ff
heh bn!"

"ah oo fr fah oo gif dmmph waph nfi?" Xalan and
Amethyst sweatdropped.

"Can you afford this?"

"uh..." Xina looked into her purse and started
counting out the money her father had supplied them
with. By the time she had counted out the total, the
check came. Amethyst and Xalan leaned over and read
it, then they face faulted.

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"What do you mean we're out of money?"

"I thought your father gave you plenty of gold."

"Well, I took what I thought we might need," Amethyst
said, embarrassed. She thought that she understood her
father's parting smirk and shrug now.

"I don't see where its a problem yet," Xalan said. "We
can always just camp and hunt." He noted the
expressions on the other three travelers faces and
changed his mind. "I guess not, but what do we..."
Xina and Xalan both started sniffing at the air. They
gestured quietly and all four quietly followed the
kage-kitsune.

"...we do with her?"

"Oh I can think of a few things," a lewd voice
answered.

"Don't even think about it, we're supposed to find out
where she's from first."

"Oh why bother we can just sell her some where."

"Why can't let them do this!" Amethyst shouted.

"Hey, wait we don't want to..." Xal sputtered as the
princess walked out to face the bandits. "Let them
know we're here first."

"You knew that was coming," Jol said. They walked out
for the end of Amethyst's short fight with the two
bandits.

"Well that takes care of that!" Amethyst declared
smuggly. Jol looked down at the two bandits.

"You know it would be nice to know who they were
talking about," he noted. Amethyst winced.

"Or how many of them there are," Xal added. "Of course
now we have to wait for them to wake up."

"Err...sorry," Amethyst swallowed. "I can heal them!"

"Where's your sister?" Xalan and Amethyst paused to
look around.

"Oh....joy," Xalan said.

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"So you're telling me that there is a princess of
Sailoon here in the forest," the bandit leader said.

"That's what I said."

"And you'll take me to her if I give you my prisoner?"

"Uh huh," Xina nodded vigorously.

"What's the prisoner to you?"

"This just sounds like a fun idea," the bandit sweat
dropped.

"What stops me from just taking you prisoner right
now? I'm sure you'd fetch a nice price."

"Oh you wouldn't want to do that," Xina promised
waggling a finger.

"And why not?" Xina's eyes widened momentarily and
then she smiled.

"Sore wa himitsu desu," she said with a hint of veiled
menace. The much larger bandit swallowed.

"Okay boy, you have a deal," Xina face faulted.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BOY?!?"

"You're....not?" the bandit asked sweatdropping.

"No, I'm a girl!" Xina was thinking. "Must. Not. Kill.
Yet."

"Err...sorry."

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"Interesting rock formations here, did you carve them
or were they already in the cave?"

"Lady, you're a prisoner."

"Time enough for that later, what about these rock
formations?"

"Listen we kidnapped you."

"This stalagmite actually looks like a dragon!"

"We're probably going to sell you on the open market."

"If this is natural it is the most amazing thing I
have ever seen."

"Don't you understand any of this?"

"What part of Beleriand are we in?"

"ARRGG!!! That's a month's worth of travel away!!"

"Really? Wow, its a magical gate too."

"Okay, we're releasing the prisoner."

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" The man ran running
down through the tunnels laughing hysterically. The
bandit leader sweatdropped.

"That's the third one now," he said.

"Not right now I'm busy looking at this stalagmite."
Xina formed some darkness around the elf girl and the
spoken of stalagmite. "Oh, oh, oh, What, I'M BLIND!!!!
This is GREAT....What else can this thing do?!" Xina
sweatdropped.

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"What did I miss?" Xalan whirled to see his sister pop
her head out of a shadow.

"Xina, where did you go! We're looking for the
bandits.."

"Oh, I already found them," she stepped completely out
of the shadow dragging along a blue haired elf-girl
with her.

"Hey, I wasn't finished analyzing..."

"Tinuviel!" Jol shouted, and then he blushed.

"What is it a sub dimensional vortex?" the elf girl
continued. "Hi Jol. Oh I know, a pocket dimension!!"

"Umm how did you get her away from the bandits Xina?"
Xalan asked.

"Oh I just promised to show the bandits where Amethyst
was," Xina added.

"Xina-san," Amethyst swallowed. "Why'd you do that?"
Xina hung upside down from a tree limb and smiled.

"Sore wa himitsu desu. Hey, this is fun!"

"There they are! Attack!!"

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

Scientific Curiousity

Several things happened all at once. Xina disappeared
into the trees still smiling and waving cheerfully.
Xalan and Jolrael prepared their weapons and turned
toward the voice, which was, of course, coming from
downwind. Amethyst quickly went over the list of
shamanist and white spells in her arsenal. Then there
was Tinuviel, who blithely tried to walk into a shadow
and managed to knock herself unconscious by running
into a tree. Soon after this something like twenty
bandits rushed towards them.
"Okay, here we..."
"FIREBALL!!" Jol and Xal threw themselves to the
ground as Amethyst's spell stalled the charge and
incinirated five bandits.
"Warn us next time!"
"Sorry!"
Xalan and Jolrael recovered before the bandits did,
giving them enough time to stand up. Xalan lunged
forward twirling his staff while Jolrael let his
opponents come to him. Well, one of them found himself
suddenly thrown backwards, a second one started
screaming as his muscles began cramping up.
"Hey where''d everybody go!" the third cried out as
his eyes stopped working. His sudden random flailing
involved another two bandits, leaving two severely
overmatched thugs for Jorael and his sword.
Jorael looked to his left where Xalan was nudging the
unconscious bodies of his opponents and blinked,
actually impressed. Then he finished off the the
various imobilized
"I thought I'd warn you this time, because there are
more coming," Amethyst suddenly shouted. "Earth below
me submit to my will!"
"You might want to run," Jol said to Xalan as the
swordsman levitated off the ground. Xalan blinked and
leaped for a tree, not knowing what exactly was about
to happen.
"DUG HAUT!!!" The confused bandits never stood a
chance as the ground ripped apart beneath them and
launched spears into their midsts.
"That was very good!" somebody laughed. "About what
I'd expect of a princess of Sailoon, but you have not
yet faced me." The huge man launched himself forward
at Amethyst shouting and weilding a huge axe.
Then a translucent sphere of energy surrounded the
bandit and he landed in front of Amethyst, bounced up
and then landed behind her. Rolled, screaming all the
way, and finally wedging himself into a pair of trees.
"What is that?" Jolrael asked.
"Hey! It worked!" Xina declared hopping down from a
heavily covered tree and then looking at the sphere of
force.
"When did you learn how to do that?" Xalan asked,
coming down from his tree. Xina turned to him and
smiled.
"Sore wa himitsu desu," she answered cheerfully.
"Hey you said you'd help us capture the princess!" the
bandit roared.
"Now I don't recall that at all," she said innocently.
"Let me guess," Jol said hovering crosslegged among
the tree tops. "Your exact words, were 'take you to
her,' am I right?" Xina smiled. "And you expected us
to defeat them all right?"
"Xina-san, how could you do that? What if there were
too many of them?"
"I'll deal with that when it happens." Xina waved it
off. "Now there was something else I wanted to do."
She regarded the bandit, inquisitively. "THAT'S
RIGHT!!! You called me a boy!" She launched herself at
the sphere only to be caught by her brother before
getting there.
"Just how do you expect to get him with that bubble
around him?" Xalan asked his struggling sister.
"Oh yeah," the bubble vanished. Everybody but Xina
face faulted as the bandit found himself free.
"Now, I'm going to chop you all into..." which was
about the point that the other three recovered. The
remains would have made a unique study on any
coroner's table.
"Umm, what happened to Tinuviel?" Jolrael suddenly
asked.
"Oww," they heard the elf-girl's voice behind them.
"But why did it hurt so much this time?"
"Tinu?"
"Hey, Jol! I discovered some great new spells and
magical items! Now I just have to figure out how they
work."
"What are you doing here?"
"Well I think I came here via a magical gate," she
said. "How'd you get here? Didn't you just leave
yesterday, hmm I might not be all that far from home
after all."
"I've been travelling for nearly a month and a half."
"Really, hmm, you know, I haven't seen anybody around
recently," she tapped her chin in thought. "Ah Ha!
I'll bet I got sucked through a time hole some where."
"What is she talking about?"
"Either that or you wandered off again and were so
busy investigating everything you ran across that you
didn't notice you were leaving home." Tinuviel
appeared to think about it.
"That works too!" Everybody facefaulted. "Now back to
this shadow meld thing!" She tried to walk into the
shadow again, and was stopped by Jolrael. "Hey, what's
going on here?"
"You didn't walk into the shadow," Xina told her,
patiently.
"But my head hurt, and then I couldn't see anything.
If I didn't walk into the tree what happened."
"Maybe you hit the tree and knocked yourself
unconscious," Xina suggested dryly.
"Xina-san be more polite." Tinuviel merely snapped her
fingers.
"That would account for the pain!"
"Okay, Tinuviel, we have to track down this staff...."
"Staff...." the elf repeated. She whirled on Jol and
cheerfully requested, "Can I come?!?" Everybody looked
at Jol expectantly.
"Sure..." he said, everybody facefaulted.
"Well, I guess we really have no choice," Xalan said.
"Its not like we have time to go all the way to
wherever she's from," Xina grumbled.
"And we can't just leave her here..." Amethyst added.
"Welcome to the group," Jol said sheepishly.
"Oh, YAY!" Everybody sweatdropped as she danced about
happily.
"I wish he'd include us the next time he makes such a
decision," Xina mumbled.
"Which brings us to the next point," Xalan said. "Xina
next time you do that give us a warning."
"Do what?"
"Go off on your own and use us as bait, Xina-san!"
Amethyst added.
"Okay, if you're going to be so grumpy about it," Xina
hmphed. "I promise to warn you the next time I bait
you."
"Good," Xalan said, looking at her a couple of times
curiously.
"There is something fishy about that promise," Jol
said. But then Tinuviel danced by and hugged him, and
he lost his train of thought.

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

Sparring

There were times that Zelgadis wished that he had left
more of the
competent nobles and officers in the capitol.
"Sir there are...."
"Two dragons this time, they've landed in the
treeline, and now you can't
see them." But no, he was capable of doing things
himself, and the outer
provinces all needed some good rulers.
"Uh, that's right sir," the guard answered. "What do
you want us to do
about them?"
"That depends on what result you want."
"Sir?"
"And since I don't really relish the idea of a pair of
irritated parents
that individually could defeat half the army...."
"Sir?" the man swallowed nervously.
"Give them an escort to see me, I'm quite sure they'll
want to."
"Yes sir." He left to follow his orders while Zelgadis
rolled his eyes.
This left Zelgadis time to plan his defense. He
considered that Filia and
Lina were both likely to be rather irritated. Lina
more than Filia, of
course, he hadn't done anything so foolish as to send
Val Garv on an
adventure. Well he had, but he'd sent the dragon home
first.
"Where is the self-centered, egotistical jerk!?!" He
saw her pad past
the door outside, then he heard her claws clicking to
a stop a little ways
down the hall. Shortly there after she smashed through
the wall into the
room.
"Not lost your soft touch I see..." Zelgadis sniped.
"You...you..."
"Lina-san, please calm down," Filia said as she came
into the study
through the intended door. "Let him at least explain
what's going on before
we beat him to within an inch of his life." Zelgadis
arched an eyebrow.
Coming in behind Filia was a nervous looking Val Garv.
Lina took in a breath
and closed her eyes, trying to get a handle on her
anger for a moment.
"I sent Xalan here to bring Xina home, not so that
they could get
involved in a crazy quest across the countryside!"
"I was expecting you, to be honest."
"Yeah, what would have happened if lizard brain back
there came back with
Xina to an empty forest. Then we'd all be wandering
around looking for each
other."
"Lina-san, I wish you would stop insulting my son."
Lina eyed the mace
in the dragon's hand.
"I'll make you a deal, he stops getting Xina in
trouble, I'll stop
insulting him."
"Your daughter is the one that drags him into
trouble!"
"If he would just say 'no' once in awhile!"
"Wait a minute, we're here to deal with him,
remember!" Zelgadis
sweatdropped as Filia jabbed a finger at him. "Val!"
Val Garv slumped and
returned to the room.
"Yeah, right, Zelgadis," Lina turned to face him. "So
why DID you send
our children out on a quest?"
"Because I can't leave the capitol for long enough to
accomplish
anything," Zelgadis said. "I was hoping that one of
you would go with them,
but then again, the two of you have your own realms to
consider, don't you?"
"I'm just a hermit in the forest, milord," Lina
snapped. "What do they
need me for?"
"A forest that's growing," he noted. "And bandit
free."
"I like my privacy," Lina grumbled.
"Well you have had an effect, Lina-san."
"Wait a minute, if you knew where I was, why'd
Amethyst have to look for
me?" Zelgadis shrugged.
"I guessed where you were," he said. "And she wanted
an adventure, you
remember Amelia, always going off with us despite the
fact that she had
this," and he sweeped his hand to encompass the
palace. "to come home to. I
had no reason to believe she wouldn't find some way to
leave eventually. It
might as well have been under situations I could at
least partially control."
"Yeah, we saw how under control you had things."
"Sailoon hasn't changed much," Zelgadis admitted. "I
still get one or
two of those every once in awhile, this is the first
they've come to
Amethyst's attention, however."
"You've done a good job at sheltering her," Zelgadis
winced. "Do you
think she is prepared for the world out there?"
"She has the necessary skills," Zelgadis arched an
eyebrow and didn't
bother to mention just who he was talking about. Lina
didn't need to be
told, which was obvious by her sudden fuming.
"Lina-san..."
"Are you calling my daughter..."
"...hold your temper, he didn't..."
"I notice you didn't say your son." Zelgadis
interrupted.
"My daughter can take care of herself, you damn
control-freak!"
"As long as she doesn't have to fight," Lina and Filia
turned to glare
indignantly at Val Garv. "I shouldn't have said
anything, should I?"
"Well I told Amethyst to be her sparring partner,"
Zelgadis said. "So
she should get at least a little better."
"Hold on a minute here," Lina snapped. Zelgadis
regarded her curiously.
"You told Amethyst to teach Xina how to fight?"
"Well..."
"My daughter is Amelia's daughter's apprentice?"
"I guess you could..." Filia and Val Garv both had to
restrain her until
she calmed down.

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

"Xina-san?" Amethyst asked nervously. "Why did you do
that?" Xina
groaned from where she lay at the foot the tree.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," she
muttered.
"But you had to know I would see what your were going
to do," Amethyst
scratched her head. "I thought you were feinting."
"What reason would I have to faint?" Xina asked as she
rolled to her back
and then stood up, stretching as she rose.
"Well obviously to make yourself an opening in my
defense." Xalan tried
to restrain his laughter, Jol smiled.
"But how could I do anything while unconscious?"
"Practically nothing, but you weren't unconscious." By
this point
sputters of giggles where coming from Xalan and Jol
was quietly chuckling.
"Then why did you think I was fainting?"
"Because your attack was so obvious!"
"What are you two laughing about?" Xina snapped at the
two guys, both of
whom were now laughing quite uncontrolably. Everybody
was quieted by the
sound of a sword leaving a scabbard.
"I've wanted to get a look at this thing for a long
time now," Tinuviel's
voice rang out.
"Jol," Xalan started. "Where's your sword?" Then the
tree that Xina had
been thrown against toppled. Xalan and Jol took very
little time to get out
of the way.
"That's a smooth cut," Tinuviel commented. She started
to put the sword
down as she examined the glass smooth cut that the
blade had left.
Jol saw this and leaped for the blade before it could
start cutting its
way to the center of the planet. He was putting the
blade back and slinging
it across his back while Tinuviel absently dug around
to try and find the
blade.
"Tinuviel," Jol started.
"Hmm, what? Where'd the sword go?"
"Could you ask us permission to look at our stuff
please?"
"Huh? Did I do something?"
"Um, where did Xina and Amethyst go?" Xalan asked as
he jumped onto the
massive toppled tree.
"Xalan-san! Jolrael-san!" a muffled voice called from
under the tree.
Jol and Xalan looked down.
"Get this %^$%, ^*#^^#" tree #$@# off me!"
"Xina-san, language!" Xalan and Jolrael sweatdropped.

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

"They've left the city?" Zangulus stood in the
wreckage of the
guildmaster's would-be throne room.
"Yes....one of my men said they were looking for a
staff..."
"Xellos Metallium's staff?" the guildmaster looked at
him wide-eyed.
"How did you...?"
"How did I know? You don't need that information. Who
did you sell the
staff too?" Zangulus squeezed the man's throat a
little tighter.
"Ro...Roquen," Zangulus dropped the man.
"You sold a mazoku's staff to the Necromancer?"
"Money's money!" the man spat. Zangulus laughed and
let his blade
descend.
"And you won't need it any more." He left the
building, on the outside
as innocent and peaceful as it had always seemed to
be.

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

Converging Plots

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE!?!" the single guard on
duty at the Tomb of
Heros ran for the source of the scream. He found what
looked like a fifteen
year old girl with an odd-looking sword. He noticed,
not without a great
deal of trepidition, that she was regarding the ruined
grave of Xellos
Metallium.
"Who are..." the girl grabbed the guardsman by the
throat with a speed
he'd only seen the Regent-Prince and his daughter
achieve.
"You are going to tell me what happened to Xellos's
tomb...Now!" She
released her grip enough to allow the man to breathe,
but not for much more
than a whisper of breath.
"Grave..." she pulled him away from the wall and
slammed him into it.
"I gathered that! Who?"
"Bounty hunter...Zangulus...nearly killed his
daughter..."
"I don't care about what happened to Princess
Amethyst!!"
"The...fox-girl...Xellos Metallium's daughter..." The
girl stayed silent
for a long moment.
"Where is this girl now?"
"Looking for...what was stolen...staff...body."
If his staff is still intact, it might prove useful
for our master.
"Who. Is. The. Mother?" each word was puntuated by a
slam into the wall.
Jealous perhaps?
"I...don't know...please, let me live." The man
stammered, he had
recognized the slit pupils and knew what this girl
was. Considering her
current attitude, bringing attention to himself was
the last thing he should
have done. The mazoku slashed forward with her blade
and gutted the man,
then letting his body dropped to the ground.
"I'll get that staff for Dynast-sama," Sherra promised
her sword. "And
then we'll eliminate the threat of Xellos's daughter."
All for the glory of Dynast-sama, of course.
"What other reason could there be?"
The hormonally exaggerated response of someone stuck
in adolesence?
"Shut up!"

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

The "zombie" stared at him with hate-filled eyes.
Hate-filled eyes that
bore intelligence and unwilling loyalty. This was
something more than the
common zombie, it had a cold aura of power about it.
Nothing so great as
even a lesser demon, but still more than most
sorcerers could create. He had
successfully bound a spirit into a body, it was an
amazing, supposedly
impossible feat.
"It's a key," he muttered in wonder. "It makes since
considering the
creature was supposedly playing games with the fabric
of space when he died."
"Is there anything you wish of me?" the zombie asked
in a raspy voice.
"Perhaps a test is in order," the Necromancer
considered. "You had a
family?"
"Yes," the dead thing rasped.
"Go and kill them, return with their heads and by then
I should have I
real task for you."
"Yes," the zombie growled tightly, turning about and
leaving the chamber
on its way to obey its new master. Despite how much it
despised doing so.
"Now, perhaps, I can proceed with creating minions of
REAL power."

***********

They were an easy group to track, Zangulus noted.
Princess Amethyst
might not have been as vocal about her justice kick as
her mother had been,
but chimera's were hard to miss. Especially chimera's
that didn't care that
people knew they were a chimera. The fox-girl and her
brother were equally
easy to mark. They were travelling with a large
swordsman and an elf with a
reportedly dangerous sense of curiousity. The
swordsman interested him, some
of the descriptions he had received sounded familiar.
It certainly made sense, the bloods of Lina Inverse,
Xellos Metallium,
Zelgadis Greywords, and Amelia Sailoon were all
present in their children.
Of course Gourry Gabriev's kid would be there. And
this certainly gave him a
chance for some revenge.
He should have been tracking down Roquen the
Necromancer, but they were
doing basically the same thing. The slayers always had
been good at
stumbling onto things. Following them might just get
him to the staff faster
than he could get there on his own. Of course,
catching up to them would
make this much easier, so he bent himself to the task
of inquiring as to
where they went.

**********

"...and he bore a twisting staff forked at the top and
holding a blood
red gem," Xina actually stopped eating and looked to
where the traveler was
telling his story. "He's some kind of sorcerer I tell
you playing games with
the spirits of the dead up to the north!"
"Xina-san are you alright?" Amethyst asked upon
noticing that the
fox-girl wasn't eating with her normal gusto.
"That sounds like the staff," Xina said, pointing at
the man in the
black-feathered cloak.
"I thought you said you were a travelling
entertainer," one of the man's
audience grumbled. "That was a stupid story, I hope
you don't expect us to
pay you for that."
"Why don't you play us some music on that horn of
yours?" The man picked
up the instrument, an odd thing of pipes and valves.
"This?" he asked amused. "This is a remnant from my
days in the
military. I keep it around for when they call me
back."
"When do you think that will be?" somebody laughed.
The traveler smiled,
a showing of teeth.
"Oh, not for a long time yet," he promised. "I've been
seeing to that."
"Hey you," Xina called over. "Talk about that staff
again!"
"If you'll excuse me," the man stood up and bowed. "I
seem to have an
interested audience." He padded over to the table
where the new generation
of slayers sat. "Lycanus Kord at your service, how my
I help you?"
"Did you actually see that staff," Xina asked.
"Of course I did, but you don't want to get mixxed up
in that," he told
them.
"Why not?" Jolrael asked.
"Didn't you hear me? The man is playing games with the
dead! I half
think he's set on taking over the power vacuum left by
Phibrizo's death!"
"We have to go then, this affront to justice must be
stopped," Xalan
nodded in agreement with Amethyst as Xina rolled her
eyes.
"You know this staff sounds like its a key to the
dimensional walls,
allowing much easier access to the various other
planes of existence,"
everybody turned to face Tinuviel for a moment, but
she had returned to
trying to see just how much she had to apply with the
knife before it
actually cut her. If she hadn't known any better, she
could have sworn
something was pulling up on the blade to keep it from
touching her.
"Where did you see it?" Xalan asked as he turned back
to the traveller.
"In the region of Zefilia," the man said honestly.
"North of here
somewhere. But you really shouldn't go there, this man
is dangerous."
"Let us worry about that," Xina waved the problem away
dismissively. "We
can take care of ourselves." Xina went back to eating,
while Xalan and
Amelia turned to their beverages. Jolrael continued
watching Tinuviel's
knife, he appeared to be sweatin.
"Ahem," the traveller held out his hand. Amethyst
winced and handed over
one of the gold pieces they had liberated from the
bandits lair. "My thanks,
and I wish you luck on the voyage though I don't know
that you will have
any." With that the man bowed again and walked to the
bar with a menu in
hand. The slayers had looked away and so they later
assumed that they had
just missed his exit. Because the next time they
looked to the bar, he was
already gone.

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

Together Again

"She acted like this would be easy," the dragon
grumbled as he winged through the air. Now that his
mother and Lina were a safe distance away he felt it
was okay to complain a little. "'Blue boy there says
they went east, just go east, how hard is that?'" If
she hadn't given Val these stones he could have sworn
that she didn't want him to find the others.
It was Zelgadis and his mother that had encouraged him
to go after Xina and the others. The chimera had
discussed some sort of prophecy with his mom while
Lina grumbled off to the side and rummaged through her
bag. There was something about 'old ones' and a raven
with black fur, and after all was said in done his
mother agreed that he should go to join the others.
That was about the time Lina had jammed those jewels
into his then human hands snapping "They could use
those." Val could sense the magic within the stones,
and didn't doubt that the shaman-priestess could
definitely use them. Zelgadis and Fillia's upraised
eyebrows were even more substantial proof of their
power.
He had been looking for about week now, which meant
that he must have travelled more ground than they
could have. Unfortunately he had overshot their
several times and had to backtrack and ask around in
human form a couple of times. Finally, it seemed they
were on a steady track heading north for some reason,
it shouldn't be long until he caught up with them now.

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

"Excuse me, are you the Princess Amethyst of Sailoon?"
Amethyst blinked and turned to face the desperate
looking woman.
"Yes, I am, how could you tell?" Everybody
sweatdropped.
"The metallic hair was probably a good clue," Jol
noted.
"Is it true that you are a practioner of white magic?"
"Is this going to take all day?" Xina asked eyeing the
inn and, in this way, the prospect of food. Xalan
meanwhile was trying to deal with Tinuviel who had
picked him as her most recent study subject. He was on
the verge of turning the elf on his sister.
"I've some training in white magic," she admitted.
"But I'm a better shamanist. Why do you ask?"
"Thank Ceipheed! It is you! It's her! It's her!" They
were suddenly being surrounded by pleading
townspeople. Actually, more to the point, Amethyst was
being surrounded.
"Oh your highness, we need your help!"
"Let go of my tail."
"Our town is besieged by dark forces!"
"I just want to get a piece of fur."
"They come in the night and kill any one caught
outside!"
"Umm these, 'dark forces' wouldn't perchance be dead
things, would they?" Xina asked, suddenly interested.
"You have seen them?"
"No, but I and my companions have been tracking a vile
sorcerer who enslaves the souls of the dead for his
own vile purposes." Everybody sweatdropped again.
"Hey did you hear that? We get to see undead
monsters."
"Hmm, I need to prepare for this then."
"Good...Now, let go of my tail."
"This means that you'll help us?"
"All you can eat at the inn?" Jol and Xina asked at
once. Yet another mass sweatdrop.
"Well..." somebody started. Then the speaker grunted
as if somebody had jabbed him in the ribs. "It's the
least we can do."
"Hey these zombies are as good as dead!" Xina
promised, then she sweatdropped. "Well...you know what
I mean."

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

After seeing Jolrael and Xina eat, for something like
two hours non-stop, the innkeeper almost preferred the
undead creatures haunting the city to the heros they
had hired to get rid of them. Then the sun had started
to go down and he changed his mind as he rushed into
his private room and bolted the door. By the time
night had fallen everything and everybody was pretty
much locked into there homes.
"I wonder when this is supposed to happen?" Xina
asked, bored.
"Is your skin actually ivory or does it just look like
that?"
"Pretty soon now," Jolrael commented, drawing his
sword. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing
on end, something was coming.
"Actually it is ivory-white marble."
Xalan and Xina smelled the approach first, and almost
simultaneously wrinkled their noses in disgust. There
was a twanging sound and sharp "ouch" from Amethyst as
the chimera turned to look at Tinuviel with a
half-hurt, half-annoyed expression.
"It feels like metal," the elf muttered.
"Umm Tinu?" She glanced at him still playing with
Amethyst's "hair." "Don't you think it would be better
if you were to....uh stay inside?"
"Too late," Xalan pointed to the shambling figures.
"Don't waste..." Jolrael started.
"You who are not of this world, by the light of purity
I possess, I bid thee begone to the nexus of our two
worlds! MEGIDO FLARE!"
"...too much effort on these things," he finished as
the zombies vanished in a flash of white magic.
"Most Impressive," a rasping voice called out. "But I
am not one of those mindless toys."
Something dropped down in their midst and lashed out
at Amethyst. The chimera lashed out with her blade, as
Xalan attacked with his staff. Both weapons passed
harmlessly through the shadowy figure, Amethyst's
blade slicing cleanly through the kage-kitsune's
staff.
Amethyst felt their attacker grab her and then it was
gone, screaming in hideous pain.
"Hey, that actually works!" Tinuviel said, brandishing
a vial of what had been holy water.
"Okay, what was that?"
"Never mind the what, how about the where?" Xina
asked. Xalan examined the two halves of his staff and
tossed them aside, shrugging. Maybe he couldn't touch
it with the unenchanted weapon, but he himself was
half-mazoku.
"Amethyst, Xina," he said. "Don't bother with your
swords," he noted Xina hadn't even drawn hers. "Well I
guess you weren't about to anyway." She leveled him a
glare and returned to looking for the shadow that had
attacked them.
"Here it comes again," Jolrael pointed.
"You're sure?" Xalan asked. Then he saw a ripple of
motion in the shadows that didn't belong.
"He's sure," Xina said. That wall of Xina's appeared
again, in time for the shadow to smack into it. In the
night, the translucent wall seemed to be merely a
sheet of moonlight. Until the shadow rebounded off of
it. As the spirit maneuvered to come from another
direction, Jol moved forward. Xina's wall dropped as
he slashed out with his blade. The dark creature was
hard pressed to avoid the attack and backed into
Xalan's reach.
The kage-kitsune confirmed his belief that his fists
could do what his staff could not, as he punched into
their attacker's head. A flurry of kicks and punches
forced the creature back towards Jolrael as the sound
of chanting could be heard. The swordsman slashed low,
cutting the shadow creature's "feet" out from under
him.
"...let the power hidden in my soul be called forth
from the Infinite..." The shadow's feet reformed and
it tried to leap away, only to find itself caught in a
bubble of translucent light. "RA TILT!"
The trapped spirit screamed in agony as it was torn
apart by the astral spell.
"Is that it?" Xina asked after a moment's anxious
silence. The words seemed to summon forth a great gust
of wind which knocked them off their feet.
"What beast of darkness dares attack us now?" Amethyst
shouted. Xalan and Xina, however, recognized the scent
the artificial wind carried.
"Hey Val, could you watch the landing next time?" Xina
asked.
"Sorry," the dragon grumbled loudly.
"Change to you're human form, so you don't destroy the
village we just saved," Xalan added.
"Is that a REAL dragon?" Tinuviel asked.
"I'm a real dragon," Val admitted, managing to sound
embarrased even in this form. Everybody else looked at
Tinuviel and sweatdropped.

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

Megido Flare

"Well. I think that's the last of them," Amethyst
sighed as her Megido Flare destroyed another patch of
the zombies that shade had left behind. She wiped her
forehead and glanced at Xalan.
"All I can smell is what is left of these corpses,"
Xalan shrugged.
"It feels safe," Jol asserted, for good measure he
cast about with more active senses. There was evil
present, but it was fading away quickly, probably
remnants of the shade's presence. Other than that, the
only powers he felt where the five of them.
"So the only clue you're following is that some
sorcerer messing with the undead has the staff," Val
said coming around a corner in human form. Tinuviel
glanced at him for a moment and then did a double
take, blushing furiously. Jolrael narrowed his eyes as
he noticed.
"Yes, that's about right," Amethyst nodded.
"How do we even know this has anything to do with this
Roquen person?"
"That traveller said he was some where to the north,
the probability is quite high that he is involved,"
Tinuviel said, starry-eyed.
"Yeah, but we didn't really learn anything from this
little adventure though," Jolrael complained loudly.
"Well, Jolrael-san, that isn't QUITE true," Amethyst
noted, embarrassed, pointing.
"Yeah, we did learn one thing," Xalan agreed looking
where Amethyst pointed along with everybody else.
"Doesn't the sky look great, it's going to be a great
sunrise, " Xina sighed sedately. "You know I really
love being on the road with you guys. You're all so
great. I love inns and nice soft beds and gullible
townspeople," she giggled. "Oops, didn't mean to say
that..." she continued babbling quietly while lying on
her back staring up at the sky.
"What happened to her?" Val asked. Everybody pointed
at Amethyst who flushed from embarrassment.
"I love you Xal, I love you Val," the dragon blushed
furiously, and Tinuviel gasped. "I love you Jol, I
love you Tinu, I love you Amethyst. I love mom and
dad, whereever he is, and Filia and I kinda like
Zelgadis." Everybody sweatdropped, even people that
couldn't be seen by the rest of them.
"Megido Flare," Amethyst answered sheepishly.
"One spell did..." Val started then noticed Amethyst
rolling her eyes up and biting her lip. "How many
times did you hit her with it?"
"Five times." Xalan answered.
"This is going to be bad when she comes out of it."

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

"Xina-san," Amethyst called out. "Are you okay?" The
kage-kitsune grabbed her head as the sound crashed
into her ears and aggravated the headache that had
grown as her mellow attitude moved to something more
normal for her.
"No, I don't feel all right, my head hurts, I'm
nauseous and I can barely walk straight!" The outburst
didn't do her much good.
"That's funny, megido flare isn't supposed to have a
negative effect on living people."
"I let Tinuviel get a 'sample' of my hair," Xina
grumbled, indicating the now much shorter purple hair.
"And you say it doesn't have negative effects."
"Hmm, I wonder if this is because you're half mazoku,"
Amethyst wondered. Then a cloaked form dropped into
their midsts.
"I assume you're the...."
"I said my head hurts," Xina snapped as she smashed
the man with the flat of her heavy practice blade.
Then she dropped and grabbed her head again,
grimacing.
"Like mother, like daughter," Val grumbled.
"Ouch," the man groaned. Then he saw the blade pointed
at him, and Jolrael at the end of it.
"Who are you?"
"I was beginning to think that smell was following
us," Xalan added, leaning on his new staff
. "I'm hunting the Necromancer just like you are," he
stammered quickly. "I was thinking perhaps we should
join forces in defeating this foul fiend." Jol
narrowed his eyes and considered the statement. As far
as it went, it seemed to be the truth, but there was
something not quite right here. Xalan obviously had
similar opinions, judging by the arched eyebrow.
"While I'd be happy to have another comrade in our
battle against this foe," Amethyst started. Then she
continued in a tone very like her father's "I have to
ask, what use you would be?" The man loooked to be
about Xalan's height, though it was hard to tell, him
being still on the ground, with sun-darkened brown
hair.
"Why, I am a sorcerer of some talent!" he declared.
"And while your white magic is powerful, you must
admit having a powerful caster of black magic would be
useful."
"You don't seem that powerful to me," Xalan noted.
"And how do we know that you're not the 'fiend' we're
looking for anyway?" Xina asked.
"Yeah, you could be trying to wheedle your way into
our good graces so you can betray us later."
"No, he's telling the truth about wanting to join
forces," Jol commented.
"Hmm, what's one more person," Val asked. "Besides, if
he's actually got some power he could be a help in
protecting the girls."
"Amethyst and I..."
"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to include Amethyst." Xina's
eyes snapped wide, and Xalan sweatdropped.
"Oh, Val-san, you're worried about ME?" Tinuviel's
comment caused Jol to narrow his eyes. Before anything
else happened, Val saw a flash of movement, felt
something strike his face, and then he hit the ground,
moderately confused. He sat up in time to see Xina
stumbling off down the road. "Val-san are you
allright?"
"What did I do?"
"Are you guys coming or not!?!"

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

Enter Janus

"That was an excellent strike, Inverse-san," Xina
narrowed her eyes as she regarded the sorcerer
carefully. She looked back and noticed that the rest
of her group was running to catch up with the two of
them.
"How did you get here ahead of them?" she asked
tightly, still gripping her aching head. She sounded a
deal more irritable than she wished, but she could
attribute that to her headache and nausea.
"Raywing, a spell for flying," he answered simply.
Xina nodded, unconcerned, the others would be on them
quickly, and she still had one more thing to ask. "So
what did the Necromancer steal from you perhaps?" Xina
restrained herself from smiling at the question.
"He's a freak raising the dead to conquer the world,
that's why we're after him," she answered. "Did he
steal something from you?"
"An old staff, it has some sentimental value," he was
probing her, she shrugged.
"We'll try to get it back for you I guess," she
responded calmly, then everybody else was there.
"What's your name?"
"Janus," the handsome sorcerer answered, smiling.
"What's taking you guys so long," Xina snapped at
everybody. "We have wizards to kill and staves to
reclaim."
"Is he bothering you," Val asked, pointing at the
sorcerer
"No Val, he is not bothering me," Xina growled,
glancing at Janus's pleased expression while the man
was distracted. "Janus-san is coming with us, he has
been wronged by our mutual enemy." Val noted the
honorific applied to the man's name and glared at the
man.
"Oh my, we shall definitely do everything in our power
to see that you gain justice," Amethyst declared
predictably.
"I don't trust him," Val grumbled. Xina glanced at the
other two men and noted that they agreed.
"Your not...jealous? Are you?" Xina asked viciously.
"Why would I be jealous over a little runt like you?"
Val asked angrily. The next thing he felt was Xina's
practice sword across his skull.
"I am not a runt!" Xina yelled, then her eyes widened.
"Oh...my head."
"Where does it hurt?" Tinuviel asked. She poked the
pained kage-kitsune in the forehead and was rewarded
with a snapped complaint. "How about here....here?"
"Quit poking me!!!.....owww?" by the time the ruckus
over her ended, most of them had forgotten their
distrust of the sorcerer. Jol sort of looked at her
suspiciously, but that was the only indication anybody
had noticed.

**********

"These are the ones that destroyed Kurst?
These...fools?" He was looking at the new slayers
through a scrying pool. He found their antics mildly
amusing, but they diidn't seem to be any sort of
threat.
"Shall I go out and destroy them, Master?" Roquen
turned to face the shadw with an annoyed expression.
"There is white magic there," Roquen grunted. "This
will take something of a living bent."
"You think me unequal to the task?" the shade
protested. "As you said before, these are just fools."
"I refuse to underestimate these travellers," the mage
snapped. "That could prove fatal."
"What do you wish me to do, master?"
"There is a tribe of trolls not far from here," Roquen
told him. He waved his hand over the enchanted water
and the scene changed, revealing a dark and twisted
wood. There were crude dwellings in the wood and the
ugly, massive shapes of shambling trolls. In the
center was an ancient obsidian statue probably dragged
from some ruin or another.
"They just happen to worship a being of shadow and
darkness," the mage continued. "Perfectly fictional,
but useful considering the nature of such minions as
yourself."
"I understand, master," the shadow turned flowed out
of the room, moving to fulfill its masters' wishes. As
the mage watched the scrying pool's surface changed of
its own accord. He saw an image of the moon, full and
bright, shining down on a sylvan forest. An elven
hunter stalked through on a hunt. "These are the
threats, thhe elf and the moon."
Roquen grumbled, wondering if he would spot and solve
the riddle in time.

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

"Jolrael," Xina called quietly to the swordsman.
Everybody else was asleep, annd that was the way she
wanted it. She double-checked Janus, collecting his
scent and listening to his breath and heart. "Did
anybody mention my mother before Janus talked to me?"
"No, why?"
"I was curious, thanks," she laid back down and
immediately started snoring, cutting off any further
comment from Jolrael. She wasn't asleep though, and
Jol probably knew that, but she didn't care. Xina
thought back over several years to an overheard
conversation.
"Why did you give them Xellos's name?" Filia asked.
"I don't know, a memorial maybe, what other name
should I have used?"
"Won't that cause them problems, why not use your own
name?"
"Inverse?! Are you crazy?"
"What's wrong with that name?"
"There are only two Inverses in this world," her
mother had said. Then she had grimaced and twitched.
"Well maybe three, but I'd rather not go into HER at
the moment. There's me and there's my sister, my
sister doesn't have any kids. I don't think so anyway.
Meanwhile, I'm supposed to be dead. If they go by
Inverse, everybody is going to know who's kids they
are."
"You'd rather them be known for their mazoku father
rather than you?" As usual Lina had not responded well
to people talking poorly of Xina's father.
"What's wrong with Xellos?"
"Nothing, but most people are going to distrust
half-mazoku."
"How many people know the name Xellos Metallium?
Include everybody you can."
"I wouldn't think many, he did a good job of laying
low."
"How many people know Lina Inverse?" Filia was silent.
"Practically everybody, right?"
"I see your point."
"Besides, this way the only people that know their
mother's name are friends and foes. Anybody that
doesn't have a connection will be clueless."
Xina thought about this, and she thought about how
Janus knew that she was an Inverse. He was looking for
the staff and using them to get there, what intentions
he had beyond that, she didn't know. To make things
moderately better, she had the added bonus of getting
back at Val for the idea that she couldn't take care
of herself in a fight.
Xina flashed a predatorial grin for a brief moment.
Well, she might not have her brother's talent for
fighting, but she had other talents. She'd play this
game, but the rules were going to be hers.

=====
"Caffeinated Kender? What's that, a berserk spell?" -
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
"God has to have a sense of humor, it's the only explanation for sex." - my father
"I have to write a how-to paper for class, so I'm writing a paper on how to be psuedo-evil." - my brother

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