Warning: Occurs between NEXT and TRY and may contain spoilers.

"Okay, Gourry."

"Okay, Lina!"

"We're going, like it or lump it."

"Where are we going, Lina!"

Lina paused, her fork halfway to her mouth. "I…don't know yet. But it's going to be awesome!"

Gourry slapped a hand to his forehead, groaning. "You got me excited for nothing!" he complained.

Lina leaned over and snatched up a lamb chop from his plate in reply. "You should be excited! It's exciting to wander aimlessly!"

Gourry sulked. "We do that every day. Why can't we have a plan for once?"

Lina rolled her eyes. "Oh, go play with a map, you big baby."

"I would, but you burned them all."

Lina's reply was to start shovelling all of his food into her mouth, which resulted in an all-out brawl.

When the dust settled and both were full and content, Gourry tried again. "So where are we going?" he wondered.

Ina sighed, leaning back and picking at her teeth. "Uhm…I was thinking maybe someplace north? Someplace nice?"

Gourry made a face. "That's not detailed enough for me."

"What is?"

Gourry ignored that. "I think we should try to actually plan something out this time, make a schedule, work with a time limit."

"That's boring," Lina answered flatly. "And stupid."

Gourry opened his mouth to reply with something scathing, but she cut him off, "but, since I don't have ideas, do what you want. Just make it interesting."

He couldn't believe what he had just heard. Confused, he checked the dishes around her, making sure that there was nothing that contained alcohol. It didn't escape her notice. "What do you think you're doing?" she wondered, her voice low.

"You never let me decide," he answered honestly. "So I thought you were drunk."

The plate that crashed into his head was perfectly aimed, so that proved his theory wrong.

Much later, Gourry had successfully managed to grab hold of a map, and was happily examining it. Lina was standing a bit away, her arms crossed, a look of ill amusement on her face. It was obvious that she was regretting her decision.

"Okay," Gourry closed the distance and showed her the map, which she looked at with feigned interest. "If we keep heading east, we can reach this little place here, which, it turns out, is a place we've never been to before."

Lina sighed. "Maybe there's a reason why we haven't been there."

"Cheer up, Lina!" Gourry replied excitedly. "This could be an adventure waiting to happen!"

"Or death."

Which resulted in Lina being held in a head-lock for a good ten minutes while Gourry explained the rest of his plan.

On the road, Lina had to admit that Gourry's idea wasn't the worst in the world. It certainly was on the scenic side, and the air was fresh and crisp. It was a nice change of pace from all of the villages they had been caught in.

"Just wait," Gourry said excitedly. "This is going to be the best."

"Where are we going, exactly?" she wondered.

"You can't spoil the surprise!" he answered sternly.

It was only when they found themselves standing before a cave that Lina started to feel a little sliver of worry. "Gourry, what is this?" she demanded.

Gourry threw out his hands. "This is the place!"

"The place of what?"

"Our field trip!"

Lina stared at him through narrowed eyes. "Are you just getting stupider?"

Gourry grabbed her by the hand and dragged her in with a laugh.

His laughs turned to shouts when, upon entering, they found themselves face-to-face with a group of very nasty and very hungry-looking vampire bats.

Needless to say, it was the last time that Gourry ever picked out a trip for them, ever.