Mythical
Chapter 12
"Since our group is getting larger, we need to come up with nicknames for each other." Gourry announced once he sat down on his seat. Zelgadiss and Amelia stared at him with sweat drops as Lina looked through the lunch menu. He chuckled and took out a notepad from his pocket, flipping through the contents and nodding. "I got the perfect one for Zel."
"I think the nickname you are using is fine, Gourry-San." Amelia tilted her head. Gourry sighed and patted Amelia's head gently.
"You are so young, Amelia. You will understand when you are as old as me, maybe in 5 years."
"But Gourry-San, I'm older than you by a few hundred years." Amelia pointed to herself with a pout. Gourry continued to shake his head and sigh.
"It's alright, Amelia, I have a nickname for you too."
"But, Gourry-San..." Amelia was about to say something else until Zelgadiss stopped her.
"You won't get through him." He muttered. Amelia nodded and returned listening to her sempai. As Gourry recited his list to Amelia, Lina motioned Zelgadiss to another conversation on the side.
"Tell me a little bit more about Val."
"I told you everything I know." Zelgadiss ordered his cup of tea with the waiter.
"I mean, tell me why he went to the demon's side."
"How the heck should I know?" Zelgadiss sat back on his chair, his arms crossed on his chest. "All I know about him is that his mother is an angel and his father is a demon."
"Did you happen to catch the mother's name?" The waiter passed the ordered drinks around. Zelgadiss grabbed his cup of tea and stirred in his sugar and milk.
"I wasn't close with the guy." Zelgadiss muttered. Lina sighed and leaned her face against her hand.
"Hopefully, we won't see that guy anymore."
"Not likely." Zelgadiss took a sip of his tea.
"But, Gourry-San, I don't want to be called 'The Brat'." Amelia whimpered.
"Amelia, the nickname is given to you because of your role in the group. That is why Lina is called 'Dragon Spooker' because in one incident, she even spooked a Dragon with her Dragon Slave." Gourry nodding at his statement, Amelia sweat dropped when she noticed Lina cracking her knuckles angrily.
"JELLYFISH BRAIN…" Lina snarled and lunged at him, putting him in harsh wrestling moves.
"Why am I surrounded with Idiots?" Zelgadiss watched as Amelia tried to remove Lina from Gourry and smirked. "I guess it's not that bad."
"You said that while you were staring at Amelia, weren't you?" Lina snickered with a wide smile. Zelgadiss growled at her with a light blush and placed his cup on the table.
"Keep your nose out of my business, pancake chest."
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Lina screamed as she casted fireballs in her hands.
Lina and Zelgadiss grumbled as they sat across from each other in the dark forest, the fire burning loudly between them. Amelia sighed sadly, her hands trying to get warm by the fire.
"It's so cold outside." Amelia whimpered, she had Zelgadiss's cloak and tighten the warm fabric around her shivering body.
"We wouldn't be out here if a certain imbecile didn't burn half the city down." Zelgadiss tossed more dry wood in the fire to keep Amelia warm. Lina scoffed and crossed her arms.
"I wouldn't have done it if you just shut your mouth and let me blow you up!"
"Maybe I would've shut my mouth if you just kept your nose out of my business." Zelgadiss and Lina glared at each other. Gourry looked at his fellow comrades and smiled. Lina and Zelgadiss were still not getting along, Amelia was freezing cold, and he forgot why he was outside.
"Aren't the stars so pretty tonight?" Gourry sighed. Amelia looked up at the sky and stared at the vast sky with millions of twinkling sparkles in the darkness.
"Wow, Gourry-San… I never saw so many stars in my life." She giggled. Lina and Zelgadiss ignored them as they continued to glare at each other, grumbling softly under their breath.
"Forget this, I'm going to sleep." Lina stood up and retreated away from the fire. It did not take long until she returned to the fire, she sighed happily to get to the warm fire.
"I thought you were going to sleep?" Zelgadiss scoffed. Lina pouted.
"I am! I just didn't want you to take all the warmth from Amelia." Lina snickered. Zelgadiss snorted and formed a light fireball in his hand. He lifted his shirt and patted the fireball onto his abdomen.
"I don't need the fire. I can make my own warmth."
"He is so warm." Gourry was suddenly holding Zelgadiss in his arms and rubbing his face against his naked chest. Lina yanked him away as Zelgadiss roughly pushed him off. He noticed Amelia looking at him with her big teary eyes and whimpered. Zelgadiss sighed and embarrassingly opened his arm to her. She happily ran over and sat close to his body, his arm hung behind her body as she continued to cuddle against his body. Lina rolled her eyes and hugged her knees to her chest. She glanced at Gourry and cleared her throat loudly at him. He turned his head and met her blushing eyes.
"Um… Gourry, I'm cold." She whispered softly with a great big blush. Gourry nodded and started removing his clothes. Zelgadiss placed a hand over Amelia's eyes when Gourry was reduced to his underwear. Lina blushed brightly when Gourry opened his arms to her.
"Alright, let's warm each other up with our body heat. Quick, take off your clothes, Lina!"
"YOU IDIOT!" Lina punched him in the gut and growled. "Put your clothes back on before you freeze to death!" She snarled. Gourry quickly put his clothes on and found Lina cuddling against him.
"This is what I meant, you jellyfish brain." Lina muttered angrily with a large blush. Gourry smiled and wrapped an arm around her waist. He pulled her closer and gently rubbed his hand on her arm.
"Like this?"
"MmHmm." Lina embarrassingly nodded. Gourry smirked and continued to hold her until she fell asleep against him. Zelgadiss watched as Gourry kissed Lina's forehead gently and return to cuddling with her. Zelgadiss looked down at Amelia's peaceful smile. She was sleeping with her face pressed on his arm. He nervously lifted his arm and wrapped it carefully around her shoulder. He pulled her closer only to freeze when she opened her eyes slightly. They met eyes, Amelia smiled at him and opened her arms, and she wrapped them around his chest and hugged him tenderly. He sat frozen as Amelia continued to hold him, he eventually linked his arm around her body and held her gently.
"There it is! The ocean!" Gourry gasped and pointed at the vast ocean ahead of them. "Are we really going out there, Amelia?"
"Lina-San and Zelgadiss-San are both determined to go to an island called 'Elf Crater'." Amelia and Gourry stood together at the harbor, staring silently at the ocean.
"I like jellyfish." Gourry smiled proudly. Amelia giggled softly with a sweat drop hanging from the side of her head.
"That's great, Gourry-San." She blinked when she heard loud arguments nearby and turned around. Lina and Zelgadiss were arguing again, they were coming back from renting a boat from the rental store. Amelia sighed and glanced at Gourry, he was too busy drooling about jellyfish.
"What is the matter?" Amelia rushed over. Zelgadiss glared at Lina with a frustrated vein popping from his skull, Lina looking confidently with a wide smile on her face.
"She rented a fishing vessel for 5 gold."
"That's really cheap! Lina-San, you must haggle really good." Amelia smiled. Lina snickered and pointed at the pier. Amelia gasped when she saw a large cruiser with waiters and rich bystanders entering with their fans in their faces. "Is that our ship?" Amelia gasped happily. Zelgadiss rolled his eyes and grabbed the sides of her head. He turned her head to the actually vessel NEXT to the yacht. Amelia's eyes widen in horror. There, a small fishing boat looked like as if it went through 5000 land mines, broken and old with no actually anchor but a large boulder as one.
"THAT is our vessel."
"LINA-SAN, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" Amelia screamed. Lina smirked and put her hands to her hips.
"The cruiser was 500 gold apiece. A big waste. But THIS, this fishing boat, can take us to Elf Crater and back." They blinked when Gourry jumped into their fishing boat, they yelped when Gourry fell through the floorboard. He climbed his way up and managed to stand beside the hole he made.
"This boat is neat! It has a downstairs with an indoor pool! The water goes up to my knees!"
"That's because the ship is sinking, Gourry!" Lina shouted proudly, Gourry nodded and grinned.
"Cool!" And returned to his adventure on the boat. Zelgadiss slapped his forehead and groaned.
"I am surrounded by idiots." It did not take long for Lina to drag Zelgadiss and Amelia on the old broken boat and casted off. Lina stood at the front deck of the ship. She let the wind flow through her long red hair and sighed.
"Isn't the ocean beautiful?" Lina turned around. Zelgadiss sat cross-legged in the middle of the main deck, an open map on his lap.
"It's going to take 3 days to get there."
"Alright, Zel, you are Navigator from now on!" Lina gave him a thumb up. Zelgadiss sighed and leaned his head against his knuckle.
"At least I have some role in this."
"Gourry!" Lina shouted to him at the top of another hole he made. "You are the first mate!"
"What is that?"
"I don't know!" Lina grinned. She saw Amelia staring into the ocean with a big smile, Amelia noticed Lina staring and met her eyes. "Amelia, you can clean the poop deck."
"But Lina-San, I don't want to clean the poop deck!"
"I am the captain of this vessel and I assign the roles! It is mandatory that you clean the poop deck!"
"What makes you the captain?" Zelgadiss lifted an eyebrow.
"I am the one who purchased this boat so I am the captain."
"No, you didn't. You took that gold from my pocket."
"AND I gave it to the real captain of the ship which appointed me as captain." Lina crossed her arms and smirked. "If there is going to be a treason against me, I will understand." She laughed softly as Zelgadiss and Amelia sweat dropped.
"Lina-San, I believe you think too much of yourself…"
It was the 2nd day of their whirlwind adventure. Gourry was at the lower deck with buckets to throw the water out the boat. Zelgadiss and Amelia leaned against the rusted rails, looking out the sea for the island. Lina stood behind the wheel of the boat, her hair in a ponytail as she rolled her sleeves to her elbows and removed her gloves. Zelgadiss and Amelia sweat dropped when Lina laughed maniacally as she controlled the boat.
"MORE COAL IN THE ENGINE, GOURRY!"
"We don't have coal, Lina!" Gourry shouted from the lower deck. He blinked when he saw a screwed in cork burst from its hole in the wall, a burst of water entered the deck. Gourry yelped and quickly plugged the hole. He climbed up to the main deck and frowned.
"I don't think this boat can make it for another hour, guys."
"MORE COAL IN THE ENGINE, GOURRY!"
"For the last time, we don't have coal!" Zelgadiss shouted, Lina laughed heartily and walked out of the cabin.
"This baby can make it, I have faith."
"I don't know, Lina… I am running out of corks." Gourry pouted sadly. He blinked when he noticed the waves were silent and still, he ran to the end of the deck.
"I think Gourry-San has a point. We can't make it to the island with this boat."
"We can't just abandon ship! She is worth 5 gold!"
"Did you forget that it was MY money?" Zelgadiss, Amelia, and Lina argued relentlessly while Gourry stared at the still ocean. He blinked when he saw the waves forming. His eyes widen to see a massive tidal wave coming after them.
"Lina! Come look!" Gourry grabbed her sleeve but Lina slipped away, she continued to argue with Zelgadiss.
"Amelia, look-"
"Gourry-San, please, I am listening to Lina-San." Amelia politely brushed him off.
"Zel, it's a-" But Zelgadiss ignored him. Gourry groaned, he needed to get their attention and fast.
"LOOK, IT'S A JELLYFISH!" Gourry shouted, he sweat dropped when nobody looked over to him. He pouted and unsheathed his sword. Amelia heard a loud cracking noise and glanced over, she yelped when she saw Gourry breaking the boat into pieces with his sword.
"GOURRY-SAN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Amelia screamed making Lina and Zelgadiss look over.
"Finally." Gourry sighed. Before Lina had a chance to scream at him, he pointed to the gigantic tidal wave a few yards away. "BIG WAVE!"
"What is he pointing at- BIG WAVE!" Lina screamed, she ran to the sails and performed a wind spell, casting gusts of wind escaping from her palms.
"Amelia, take the wheel!" Zelgadiss ran over to Lina and casted the wind spell as well, they yelped when the tidal wave started gaining on them. Amelia ran to the back of the wheel, she struggled to grab the wheel and take control of the boat.
"Gourry-San!" Amelia called him, he rushed over and grabbed the wheel. "Lead us away from the tidal wave! I'm going to help Lina-San and Zelgadiss-San!" She left Gourry alone and ran to the two sorcerers. Gourry blinked when he noticed a large island a few yards away.
"We can land there!" Gourry set the controls to the island. Behind the sails, Amelia held onto the large sail as Lina and Zelgadiss released gusts of wind, they panicked when the wave continued to push towards them.
"Don't tidal waves settle down after a few seconds?" Lina growled, her energy was running low and wasn't going to last any longer.
"This can't be a normal wave." Zelgadiss managed to look over his shoulder. He scanned the water and noticed a dark figure running on top of the large wave. "There is someone on the wave."
"Amelia, can you see him?"
"Yes…" She squinted her eyes. " But I don't feel a demon though." Amelia ran behind them. The figure running on the wave noticed Amelia staring up, it smirked, and brought its arms up to the air, the tidal wave grew in size. "He's controlling the wave!"
"Take my place!" Lina shouted. Amelia nodded and switched places with Lina. Lina ran to the side of the cabin. She climbed up and stood valiantly towards to large wave. It was as big as a 60 story building.
"Freeze Arrow!" Lina casted dozens of ice arrows around her and shot it at the tidal wave. He blinked when his wave began freezing, he fell forward when the wave suddenly became frozen solid. Lina grinned when the man fell on his face on a solid ice sheet. "Let's go!" Lina ran to the tip of the boat and pointed to the island.
"Way to go, Lina-San!" Amelia cheered as she and Zelgadiss continued casting their wind spell at the sails. Gourry carefully controlled the boat so it landed on the shoreline. He pushed the large boulder off the boat and smiled at his comrades.
"In case it floats away." They shrugged at him and jumped out of the boat, walking up carefully in the sand. They stared at the thick forest that waited for them.
"Wow… Is this Elf Crater?" Amelia gulped. She blinked when she saw rustling in the bushes. "D-Did anyone see that?"
"What are you talking about?" Lina lifted her eyebrow. Amelia gulped and shook her head.
"Nothing!"
"Good because this forest is worth searching through." Lina entered the forest with Gourry following. Zelgadiss took a step in the forest and looked back at Amelia. She was still staring at the bushes.
"Amelia."
"Y-Yes, I'm coming, Zelgadiss-San!" Amelia rushed over, she gave him a wearily smile and walk past him. As Zelgadiss took the rear end, a little girl stuck her head out of the bushes. She had on a Pacific Islander tribe wear. Her hair was bright blue with a flower tucked behind her ear. She ran into the open shore and looked into the ocean.
"Hurry up, we must tell the village!" The girl shouted. In the middle of the ocean, a teenager boy was floating aimlessly, his hair was green, and he had a tattoo of a dragon across his tone chest to his neck.
"She is so beautiful." His eyes sparkled.
"You idiot, that girl almost killed you!"
"I know but she was so beautiful." He sighed and swam to the island. He sighed again and smiled. "Maybe we can capture her and she will agree to be my bride."
"I thought you said you rather be dead than tied down with a woman." The little girl pouted to her older brother, the boy laughed and rustles the girl's long hair.
"You are so young, Hana."
"Shut up, Hono!" Hana shouted. "Now, hurry up, we must inform the village of the intruders! They must be after Grandma Ai like last time!" Hana and Hono rushed into the forest, it did not take long until they reach the village. Hono rolled his eyes as Hana screamed out intruders, she ran through the village and to the head house.
"Grandma Ai!" She barged into the house. A old woman sat in the middle of the living room, drinking tea quietly. Hana ran in and kneeled to her side. "4 intruders are on the island again! Hono got distracted by one of them and he let them on the island!"
"Oh dear, Hono, someone caught your eye again?" The old woman chuckled softly. Hono rolled his eyes as he walked into the house.
"Grandma Ai, what should we do?" Hana blocked Hono from her. "Should we ambush them and capture the women? Torture them over a fire and get some answers?"
"Hana, you are so violent." The old woman laughed with a big smile. "We should be respectful and treat our guest with respect. When they find us, they will find us."
"But Grandma Ai-"
"Do not worry, Hana. Your Grandma will take care of this entire village if they appear harmful." The woman took another sip of her tea. Hono watched as Hana pouted angrily and stormed out.
"You do know what she is going to do, right?"
"Of course." Grandma Ai sighed. "Please watch your little sister, Hono, she is so young."
"Alright, Grandma Ai." Hono walked toward the door and he looked over his shoulder. "If the intruder agrees to be my wife, can I bring her over?"
"I highly doubt she will, Hono."
"It is worth a try, Grandma Ai!" And Hono raced after Hana. Grandma Ai sighed deeply, she took another long slurp of her tea and pouted.
"Bitter."
