Warning: What you are about to read is not your typical story. The author has committed a most sick crime that is in no way redeemable for what she's intending to drag the characters through as the story progresses. Know that the author may be crazy in the head, as she went through copious amounts of research in order to write this story.

...okay, enough of that. Seriously though, this sprang from a random thought I had well over a year ago. I made the mistake of sharing that thought with some friends, who in turn encouraged me to write it out. I actually wrote up most of this story a year ago, so I have a lot done already. However, as of yet I do not have the end. I think I know where it's going... I'm hoping that if I start posting it here, it'll get me back in gear for writing so I can finish this story.

Also, rhyming is contagious. Never write it into your story, or you shall be doomed to rhyme!

-Ichiban Victory

Chapter 1: Something Begins

"Stop her! Stop her!" Lina charged forward, Gourry, Amelia and Zelgadis all close behind. All were intent on catching their prey. Tonight's meal depended on it!

Gourry was running alongside Lina, huffing and puffing the whole time. "Are you sure this is a good idea, Lina? Chasing old ladies just doesn't seem *huff* right!"

"For the greater good, we must!" Amelia piped up from behind, completely devoted to the task at hand.

Lina smirked as she continued to pursue the old woman. "She sure moves fast for an old crone, I'll give her that. Give it up, lady, and we'll go easy on you!" Lina got her second wind and dashed closer to the retreating woman.

The fleeing woman, truly an old woman if her shock of white hair was any indication, looked back at the group and cackled to herself. "If you were wise you'd leave me be! Since you won't I continue to flee!"

"Great," Lina groaned, "she speaks in rhyme. Hey! Just give up already, would you? We have better things to do!"

"Careful, Lina, now you're starting to, too." Gourry looked over at Lina, giving her an amused look.

Lina was about to retaliate, but the old woman suddenly stopped and turned back to face the group. Lina halted in her tracks, causing everyone to crash into her.

The old woman looked down at the pile of people with a large grin. "Such lovely little lovelies do we have here, but alas! What's this? It's not all as they appear." She squinted down at the group, a very serious look suddenly on her face. She watched as they started to get to their feet. She leaned forward with an even keener look on her face as she noticed a young woman helping up an odd man, along with a taller fellow helping up the loudmouth. She gave a big grin then.

"Two to one, one to two, what's most dear I give to you. Ha!"

The group looked up at the old woman, who seemed to be raving about something. Lina just shook her head at the old lady waving her arms about. "Crazy old lady." She then stepped in front of the old woman. "Are you going to come quietly now, or what?"

The old woman just smiled back at Lina. "Go with you, stay with me, all I'll say is it doesn't matter to me."

"What's with all the rhyming?" Gourry pondered.

Amelia and Zelgadis stood back looking very confused. "Are you sure we got the right woman, Miss Lina?" Amelia shot a worried look at Lina, suddenly not finding the old woman to be the threat they had been warned about.

Zelgadis nodded in agreement. "She seems more senile than sinister."

Lina rolled her eyes as she used a piece of rope to bind the old woman's wrists. "Look, I'm not the one who wrote out the wanted poster, okay? She fits the description. We'll take her back and let the local authorities decide whether she's the right person or not. Now come on," Lina gently tapped the old woman to get her to walk.

Amelia and Zelgadis gave each other a look and a shrug, then followed after the others.

"One old hag, captured!" Lina bellowed out when they reached the local authorities. Two standing guards looked at the group in curiosity, but then shrank back when they saw the old woman.

"Looks like we got the right lady after all, Lina." Gourry whispered down to his companion.

Lina grinned back up at him. "Did you doubt me?" She then led the woman closer to the guards. "So where do you want her?" Lina asked, seeing how the guards continued to shrink back.

The two guards just looked at each other, silently goading the other to take action. Finally the elder of the two found his courage and stood tall again. "We, we'll be taking her into custody. She's caused us a lot of trouble, that one." He cringed when the old woman's gaze turned on him.

"Is she really that scary? She's not even doing anything." Amelia leaned in to whisper to Zelgadis and Gourry. The two could only shrug in response, as confused by the guard's actions as she was.

"Lead her this way," the elder guard continued, leading Lina and the old woman into the building he had been guarding. The other guard stared back at the remainder of the group stupidly, not sure how to react to the situation.

Five minutes of awkward silence later, Lina reemerged, a small sack of coins in hand. "My pleasure, my pleasure!" she called back through the doorway. She then gave a wink to the remaining guard before rejoining the others. "I'm not sure what the deal with the old lady was, but the reward was too good to pass up. Who's hungry?"

Gourry, Amelia and Zelgadis all gave an enthusiastic cheer in response, following after Lina as they sought out a decent meal with the day's earnings.

The evening found Lina and Amelia getting ready for bed. Lina stretched her arms as she yawned. "What a day! Glad it's over. We can move on to bigger and better things tomorrow."

Amelia didn't respond. She was seated on her bed fidgeting her fingers as she glanced to the window. Night was quickly approaching, taking with it the last rays of daylight. "Are you sure what we did was right, Miss Lina?" Amelia asked, not taking her gaze from the window.

Lina sighed. "Look, just because she's old doesn't mean she's not a threat! She obviously did something wrong to upset the local populous here. I thought you would be happy. We did right wrongs and fight for justice, didn't we?" Lina plopped down on her bed, more than ready to succumb to sleep.

"That's true," Amelia paused. She looked over to Lina. "I just have this feeling..."

Lina perked up. "What? A feeling? What kind?" She looked concerned all of a sudden. "Is this that 'justice sense' going off again, or something else?"

"Miss Lina," Amelia sighed, "show some respect." She played with her fingers a moment longer. "I'm not even sure quite how to describe it. Something just feels off somehow. Did you ever find out just what that old woman did?"

Lina tapped her chin, then plopped her head down on her pillow. "The guards didn't really want to talk about it. All they did say was that she caused a lot of havoc. Or was it drama..?" Lina stared up at the ceiling for a moment. "Eh, in any case, we got the right person, we got our reward, which in turn got us a great meal and these rooms for the night. Can we get some sleep now?" She rolled over to look at Amelia.

"Of course, Miss Lina. Just forget I said anything." Amelia was going to say more, but she turned to see Lina had already dozed off on her bed. Amelia shook her head but smiled. "Good night, Miss Lina."

To be continued...

Next time: "This can't be happening again," Lina said, disbelief heavy in her voice. "It can't be! Quick, Amelia, try something basic!"

Author's note: Uninspired chapter names are actually taken directly from blog posts when I initially posted up the rough story. I got rather attached to my 'Something..._' titles, so I've decided to preserve them as much as possible.