(I'm sorry to be so behind... I'm really apologising to myself more than anyone else, as I'm probably the only one who really cares about the difference between Thursday and Saturday... Oh well. I hope you enjoy the story nonetheless. As per usual, I don't own Slayers, I'm just a fan writing some fiction! ^_^)

10- Dreadful surprises! A virtuous enemy?

By the next day, Pokota said that he was fully prepared to tie Naga to a tree somewhere and leave her there. Zelgadis made sure to stay clear of any cliffs, saying that the temptation to push her off would be too great. Naga, of course, was oblivious to all of it, as she was too busy listening to herself talk.

"I don't know how much more of this I can take. This girl is insane!" Pokota whispered.

"You're telling me!" Zelgadis grumbled. "I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk so much in my life."

"Hey, maybe she'll run out of things to talk about before we get to Lyzeille." Pokota offered.

"I should hope so." Zelgadis nodded. "I mean, I'd take Lina over this nutjob any day, and that's saying something!"

"…so you know what I did? I slapped the guy right back! I wasn't going to let some jerk have the last laugh! OHOHOHOHO~!"

Zelgadis covered his sensitive ears against her laughter. "Just a quick question, but do you ever stop talking?" he asked pointedly.

Naga gave him an incredulous look. "Now how much fun would that be? None!"

Zelgadis buried his face into his palm, too annoyed to say anything else to her. "Honestly Pokota," the chimera whispered. "what are we going to do with her?"

He waited for a response, but there was none. "Pokota?"

...nothing. Just the steady drone of Naga's voice, which Zelgadis was learning to tolerate. "…Pokota? You there?"

There was more silence- from Pokota, at least.

"Naga! Quit talking for a second! I can't hear Pokota!" Zelgadis snapped.

"What do you mean, you can't hear Pokota?" Naga demanded, not wanting anything to happen to the person she had dubbed 'her little prince buddy,' a name which Pokota deeply abhorred.

"I mean that he's not responding to anything I say! Hey, Pokota! You still there?"

"LITTLE PRINCE POKOTA BUDDY~! SAY SOMETHING TO YOUR DEAR FRIEND NAGA!" the woman screamed loudly.

"You're never going to get a response out of him like that." Zelgadis scolded.

"B-but what am I supposed to do? He's my little Pokota buddy!" Naga wailed. "POKOTA~!"

There was no response from the crystal, and the two shot each other a concerned glance. Zelgadis looked around, and finally began to talk again. "M-maybe he-"

"Zelgadis! Naga!"

Naga gasped in elation. "Oh, my little prince buddy! You're okay! How could you disappear like that? What happened?"

"I got distracted... there were people talking near the jar.. and... L-Lina… Gourry…" Pokota stammered.

"What are you talking about?" Zelgadis demanded, a look of consternation passing over his face. Whatever Pokota was saying, it didn't sound good.

"A trap! It's a trap! Marielle tricked them!" Pokota gasped.

"T-tricked them?" Zelgadis exclaimed. "What in the world are you talking about?"

"Xellos' claims that they could find information in Kalmaart- It was a ploy to get them to walk into Marielle's trap! Xellos said that someone Marielle had experimented on before was there, right? I don't know who it is, but apparently it's an assassin and is out to kill the two of them!"

"Wh-whaaaat?" Naga gasped. "I-it can't be!"

"Well we've got to do something!" Zelgadis exclaimed. "Darn that Xellos and his roundabout methods! I knew it had to be a trap!"

"But what do we do?" Naga gasped. "We can't go bail them out! We've been travelling for three days in opposite directions! It would take almost a week for us to find them, and by then they'd be toast!"

"I think they'll be able to take care of themselves… I hope…" Pokota murmured. "But we have no idea what Marielle's got up her sleeve, or what she did to this person that she experimented on… should we go find them?"

"We could either continue northwest to Lyzeille and leave Lina and Gourry to defend themselves against whatever Marielle sends their way… or we could turn due east toward Kalmaart, knowing that we can't reach them in time, but might be able to help anyway…" Zelgadis reasoned. "What should we do?"

"I could keep an ear in on things, just to see what's going on. If something bad happens, I could let you know, and then you'd be able to go find them. Do you think that'd be good?" Pokota asked.

"But then if something drastic did happen, we'd be farther away, and have to travel longer to get to them… and it might be too late…"

"So should we stay where we are?" Naga asked, looking very confused.

"This is so confusing…" Zelgadis growled. "If we stayed here longer, and nothing happens, then we'll feel really unproductive…"

"We don't have the time to be indecisive!" Pokota exclaimed.

"I have an idea!" Naga yelled. "How about my buddy Pokota and I continue on toward Lyzeille, and Zelgadis can go back toward Kalmaart, to see what he can do for Lina and Gourry!"

Zelgadis sighed. "I suppose that might work…"

"W-wait! You're not going to leave me alone with her, are you? You're the one who needs to know what's happening, if you're going after Lina and Gourry!"

"But I need to know what's going on, or I won't know whether I need to turn around and come help you guys!" Naga protested.

Zelgadis frowned. "It seems that there's not enough Pokota to go around."

"Well what am I supposed to do about it?" Pokota demanded. "I'm only one person, you know!"

"Ooh! Ooh! I have another idea! What if we cut the jewel in half, that way we could both talk to Pokota?" Naga asked.

"Having my brain bombarded by sound from three different locations? That sounds like it might be a bit too much of a sensory overload…" Pokota said.

"And not to mention that breaking the crystal might terminate the link we have with Pokota already. That would be disastrous, wouldn't it?" Zelgadis mentioned pointedly.

"Well, we won't know until we try, now will we?" Naga exclaimed. She pulled the crystal out of Zelgadis' hand and swiped his sword from its holster on his hip.

"H-hey! Don't you dare touch my sword!" Zelgadis growled, but his words were in vain. Naga threw the crystal up into the air and slashed the sword across it, cutting it into two even pieces. She caught them in her hand and smiled, handing the sword back to Zelgadis.

"See? I did it." she stated.

"NAGA, YOU IDIOT!" Zelgadis yelled, swiping the sword back in anger. "P-Pokota, can you still hear us? Can you?"

"Yeah, I can still hear you." the voice replied back. "Thank goodness. It'd be waaay too lonely in this jar if I didn't have you to talk to."

"Yay! You see? It did work!" Naga exclaimed.

"That was still highly irresponsible!" Zelgadis snapped. "And we don't even know whether Pokota can communicate through both halves of the jewel."

"Then let's test it out! I'll take one half and walk this way, and you take the other half and walk the other! Then we'll see if he really can talk to both of us!" Naga exclaimed.

Zelgadis sighed, not knowing any better option, and walked a short distance away. He waited for a few moments, until Naga was out of sight, and then began talking to the crystal in his hand.

"Hey, Pokota? Can you still hear me?" Zelgadis waited a bit more, with no response. "Pokota?"

Still, no response.

"Ugh, so maybe it didn't work after all…" he murmured angrily. "Pokota, are you the-"

"YES! YES! I'M TRYING TO LISTEN TO YOU, AND LISTEN TO NAGA, AND TALK TO YOU, AND TALK TO NAGA, ALL AT THE SAME TIME! AAAAAAGH! MY HEAD!"

"Oh." Zelgadis sighed. "Should've known that this would happen."

"Zelgadis! It works! Now we can split up!" Naga yelled, running over.

"Fine." Zelgadis replied. "But I want to continue toward Lyzeille. You can head back and find Lina and Gourry."

"Wh-what? But that's the totally opposite of what I had originally-"

"Do you want t split up or not?"

Naga paused for a moment and sighed. "Fine. I'll go back and see if I can find Lina and Gourry. You keep going toward Lyzeille… and I guess we can keep in touch using Pokota."

"Geez! I don't think I've ever been so insulted in my life! First I'm just some object that can be fought over and then divided in half… and now I'm nothing more than a mode of communication? You two really know how to make a guy feel good about himself, you know?"

"I'm so sorry, my little prince Pokota buddy! You know I really do like you!" Naga exclaimed.

"Sorry, Pokota." Zelgadis replied. "We don't mean to make you feel bad. You know that."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Pokota sighed. "Let's just get going…"

Gourry and Lina continued their travels that morning rather silently. It wasn't that they didn't have anything to say, it was just that they didn't feel that they needed to say anything. It was an amiable silence, and one that neither of them particularly disliked.

Gourry was the first to break the silence, staring at their surroundings curiously. "Erm… where are we again?"

"For the last time, this is Kalmaart." Lina said. "And we're getting close to where Xellos mentioned… oh, I wish he'd been more specific! I've got no idea where the heck we're supposed to be! Plus this forest is so thick… Perhaps we need to get a map and-"

"LINA! OUT OF THE WAY!"

Gourry grabbed Lina and pulled her to the side, the two of them tumbling down into the grass beside the tree that Lina had just been leaning on. A sword had been sliced across the tree in a swift motion that Lina hadn't noticed, and Gourry himself almost missed.

"What the heck…?" she murmured.

"P-please… r-r-run away…" a familiar, terrified voice stammered. Lina and Gourry both looked up in astonishment.

"Amelia?" they both gasped.

The princess stood opposite her friends, clasping the sword tightly. She was moving toward them, but at a slow pace, as she seemed to be struggling against it.

"Amelia! We found you! We've been looking all over for you, trying to rescue you from that 'Marionette' girl!" Gourry exclaimed.

"The name is 'Marielle." Lina corrected.

"Y-you should… be m-m-more interested.. in r-rescuing… y-yourselves… right n-now…" Amelia choked, moving steadily closer to the couple, sword still in hand.

"Amelia, what are you doing?" Lina gasped, as she suddenly was forced to dodge another strike from her friend's weapon.

"I-It's not m-me… It's M-Marielle… she's got c-control… I'm j-just a puppet!" Amelia managed to choke out before sending another attack toward her friends.

Lina and Gourry both managed to dodge again, but just barely. "A puppet?" Lina gasped. "That's impossible!"

"I-It's true…" Amelia said. "S-s-she can s-see everything th-that's going on…"

"What? Can she hear too? In that case, I've got a message for you, Marielle you low-life jerk! You may think you're such a pretty, aristocratic princess, but you're nothing but a scumbag who preys on innocent people for your own twisted pleasure! You hear me?" Lina yelled angrily.

"She c-can't hear y-you…" Amelia choked. "She c-can only see-" With a scream, Amelia's sentence was cut off as she picked up the sword and began striking quickly and accurately against the friends that she was now forced to treat as enemies. Gourry had to pull out his own metal sword- one he had made and carried around for when the situation didn't call for the replica Sword of Light.

Gourry barred Amelia's attacks, though it was obvious that he was only acting defensively. He did his best to keep Amelia's strikes from hitting their marks, while making sure never to leave a scratch on the princess herself- a difficult task for sure. Gourry was an adept swordsman, and completely up to the task, but even so, there was only so much that he could do acting solely in defensive-mode.

"Amelia, I don't know how long I can keep this up!" Gourry panted, still blocking attacks.

"Th-then run, M-Mister Gourry! Don't w-w-worry about m-me!"

Lina seemed to be running circles around the two, paying rapt attention to the magic that was being used. "Gourry! Can you keep her busy just a little bit longer? I'm trying to pinpoint what kind of magic Marielle is using to control her! If I can figure it out, I can cast a Flow Break, and maybe get her out of this mess!" Lina called.

"You've got it, Lina!" Gourry yelled back.

"I-It's no use, Miss L-Lina!" Amelia choked. "It's n-not a normal s-spell! It's m-m-more like… she's c-controlling me p-physically!"

"Physically?" Lina gasped. How in the world was Marielle controlling Amelia? Lina knew that Marielle was apparently being experimental, but she was sure that there must be some sort of conventional method involved. Had Marielle stumbled upon some sort of other method of control that Lina had never encountered? If that was true, then getting Amelia back to normal would be no easy task…

"Fine, then! Gourry, step back- let me have a turn! If this is more physical than magical, then I'll have to use physical strength rather than magic to help her!"

"What? Lina, that's dangerous-" Gourry began, but Lina shoved him aside. Amelia obediently struck out toward the sorceress, however Lina grabbed Amelia's wrists. Amelia was strong, and Marielle's control made her stronger, so it was nearly impossible for Lina to keep the princess' arms from swinging the sword any further. Still, Lina wouldn't give up.

"Amelia! You've got to snap out of this! Come on!" Lina shouted.

The yelling and physical restraint did nothing to lessen the control that Marielle had exerted over Amelia, and the princess overcame Lina's grip, slashing forward in a strike that Lina almost didn't have time to dodge. Jumping back several feet, Lina clenched her teeth angrily.

"Dang it! I couldn't do anything- and she nearly took my arm off!"

"What do we do now? Run?" Gourry asked.

"We can't run! As Amelia's friends, we can't abandon her! I'm going to keep trying!" Lina yelled.

"M-Miss Lina! Y-you're only g-going to g-get h-h-hurt!" Amelia sobbed. "P-Please run!"

But Lina was determined- and it was extremely difficult to get through Lina's determination once she had decided something. "I refuse to let you be a puppet!" Lina screamed, grabbing Amelia by the arms once more. Amelia struggled to make it out of the grip, but her friend was even more determined now than she had been, and wouldn't be overpowered so easily.

Trying a different approach, Lina appealed to her friend's deepest emotions. "Amelia, Zel has been doing everything he can to help you! He loves you, and can't bear to see the horrible things that Marielle is doing to you and Pokota! Just think about him!"

"I-I… I…" Amelia stammered. "I know! I-I love him too! Tell him th-that, please! B-but this s-spell… or whatever i-it is… is i-impossible to b-break…!"

"It's not impossible! It can't be!" Lina protested. "I'm going to rescue you if it's the last thing I-"

"MISS LINA!"

Amelia's strength coupled with Marielle's control finally managed to overcome the sorceress' grip once more, and this time, there was no escaping the sharp blade of the sword. It slashed just below Lina's shoulders, cutting deep and scratching across her right cheek, while driving the sorceress back a long distance. Lina slammed back-first into a tree, coughing up a spurt of blood before falling unconscious on the ground.

"LINA~!" Gourry shrieked in dismay, rushing to her side. He reached a hand out, slightly afraid to touch her, because moving her might disrupt any possible internal injuries. But as he observed the sheer amount of damage, he realised that something had to be done quickly or there was going to be trouble.

Gourry picked up Lina in his arms, cradling her gently and wrapping her long, purple cape around her shoulders in an attempt to stop the bleeding. His mind was racing, but he wasn't sure what to do.

"Amelia!" he exclaimed, eyeing the princess who was doing everything she could not to move from that one spot. "Since I'm guessing that you can't cast a healing spell while you're like that, I've got to find a healer! You've got to know where one is! Please!"

"I-I've visited this area a-a long t-time ago... Th-th-there should b-be one… d-due north… of here…" Amelia choked, her eyes filling with tears. "Oh, M-Miss Lina… I-I'm so… so…"

Gourry glanced at the sky, noting the position of the sun, trying to figure out which way was north. He turned to run, but suddenly twirled back toward his friend. "Amelia, are you going to be alri-"

"I'm fine! S-save Miss L-Lina!" Amelia shrieked as she lost control again and started toward the couple. "P-Please run!"

Gourry didn't have to think twice. He ran to the north as fast as his legs could carry him and Lina, not even daring to look back.

Poor Amelia! Zelgadis is going to hate my guts for abandoning her like this… but if I don't do something, and fast, who knows what might happen to Lina?

"Well... this is a... strange turn of events..." Marielle murmured softly to herself.

"What happened?" Xellos asked.

"I certainly did not expect this... it is interesting, but I cannot say that it is a particularly beneficial turn of events..."

"Hey, come on! Tell me what's happened!" Xellos whined.

"Thus far as I have seen," Marielle stated. "the sorceress is dead."

Xellos seemed to twitch involuntarily at his boss' words, looking somewhat displeased. "Dead? Really?"

"That is correct. Also, it seems as though the swordsman has turned tail and run. Given his past reputation, I would never have expected this of him. But, of course, since he is taking the sorceress with him, that means I will not get my jewellery back. Pity." Marielle sat down in her chair with a pouting face, hugging Pokota's inanimate plush body tightly. She might have appeared to be a very adorable little girl… if she weren't talking about killing people.

"W-what is to be done?" Jetta stammered. "Sh-should we... I mean... if the damage is already done, perhaps the swordsman will not come back, and... we could just leave him alone..."

"No! We must pursue him!" Marielle stood up. "We must-"

"We must not."

Marielle and Jetta turned around to Xellos quickly. "Excuse me? You dare to interrupt me and defy my orders?"

"I'm not defying your orders. I'm just giving you my professional opinion as to the best course of action."

"Are you trying to tell me that you think my orders are not the best course of action in this situation? Do not forget your place, Xellos." Marielle stared at the Mazoku defiantly.

"Of course I'm not forgetting my place, Lady Marielle." Xellos assured her. "I'm just trying to help you. You have nothing to worry about if you truly have killed the sorceress." 'Though I do...' he added silently to himself. "Leave the swordsman alone, and do not traumatise your experiment any more than necessary. Don't you agree to this, Miss Jetta?"

Jetta took a step back meekly. "I... agree." She quickly continued. "-Though, you should do whatever pleases you most, sister dearest."

Marielle's expression tightened, and she gave a slight nod. "Of course. Well, I suppose that we can call this experiment a success and continue with our other goals. Now all I need to do is finish the last part of my experiment with Poko-chan, and phase 1 of the experiment shall be completed…" She walked over to a shelf and picked up the jar that she had used to experiment on Pokota, eyeing it carefully. "With Prince Posel here," she whispered softly to the jar. "and with that troublesome sorceress finally dead, there is nothing to stop my goal from becoming reality. Too bad our friend Rezo couldn't be here to share in our glory..."

"...huh?" Pokota murmured, but without the communication gem, he was not heard at all.

"What did you say, ma'am?" Xellos asked.

"Nothing of your concern. We continue the experiments on the stuffed animal tomorrow. For now, I am going to take a walk." She placed the jar back on the shelf and left the room. Jetta and Xellos were left, staring in confusion.

"Well, that was fast. I guess she had a lot on her mind that she had to sort though." Xellos shrugged. "I guess this means that I have the rest of the day off, then. Right, Lady Jetta?"

Jetta looked around uneasily. "Yes... but..."

"Hmm? Something wrong?"

"I..." the young woman wrung her hands nervously. "Mister Xellos, I... I have known you longer than she has... and... I need to ask you... there is something important that I... well..."

Xellos eyes opened in surprise. "You're being awfully direct. What's on your mind?"

"Um... it is about my sister... er, Marielle, I mean..." She turned away and bit her lip. "The thing is... I have been thinking lately... and it seems to me that... well..."

"Yes?" Xellos pressed.

"Ah... that is..." Jetta turned around so that she would not have to look at Xellos. "...do you... really... think that disobeying the Red Priest's orders was the right thing to do?"

Xellos stared at the girl who had turned her back to him, as though seeing her a young child again. "Miss Jetta... that was years and years in the past. Surely you're not still questioning an action that took place such a long time ago."

"I know, I know... it's just... I want to know if you still feel the way you did back then."

Xellos took a step forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Yes. I do." He turned her around so that she was facing him again, and leaned closer to her. "Miss Jetta, you are important to me, and I would never lead you somewhere I didn't want you to go. Is that understood?"

Jetta took a deep breath and nodded as she stared at Xellos.

"Yes. I understand. Thank you, Mister Xellos."

"Good." Xellos smiled. "Now, run along and get working on... whatever it is you like to do. I've got plans for the evening."

"You will not stay for dinner?" Jetta questioned.

"Well, if you wish to invite me, I'd be honoured to return in time."

A small smile spread across the young woman's face. "Yes, that would be lovely."

"Then I shall return, if your invitation truly is sincere." Xellos smiled and bowed. "Until then, my dear."

Jetta's smile grew, and she gave a polite curtsy before running off. Xellos just watched her go in amusement.

"Wow..." he murmured. "Tell a girl that she's important to you, and you can make her believe anything." The Mazoku chuckled to himself. "We can't have Jetta backing out of this experiment now."

He ran a hand through his hair and turned back around.

You are important, though, Miss Jetta... important to me, Lord Beastmaster, and quite possibly the entire Mazoku race. You and Marielle have, in your hands, the key to everything we have always wanted. You just can't ever know it, or it will destroy all of our plans...

"But now I've got to go check on my other important human... just to make sure she really isn't dead, of course."

Zelgadis had been travelling on his own since the night before, and was enjoying the peace and quiet of being separated from Naga. However, the quiet had him thinking only of Amelia, and it was painful- not to mention further bouts with the intense headaches that had been plaguing him lately. It was almost afternoon, and after an uneventful morning, a loud shout from Pokota was the last thing he expected.

"ZELGADIS!"

"Waah~!" The chimera nearly fell over in surprise. "P-Pokota! Don't do that! You're going to give me a heart attack!"

"N-no…" Pokota panted. "You've got to listen… Marielle… Rezo... that assassin… Lina and Gourry… they… she…"

"Pokota, you're not making any sense!" Zelgadis said frantically. "Tell me what happened!"

"L-Lina…" Pokota stammered. "...something's happened to Lina!"

"WHAT?"

(A/N: Probably the biggest change in the older version and the re-written version is Jetta. She's... well... if you had read the other version, it's pretty apparent what a drastic change there is in her behaviour... Now I actually know what I'm planning to do with her, so I can give her a personality. ...true story. O_O)