SailorStar9: After uploading Chapter 4, I present Chapter 5 of this fic. For everyone who put this fic on your favorited and followed lists and/or story alerts, thank you, but remember everyone, a lot of authors (myself included) sustain on readers' reviews.
Disclaimers: I own nothing, except for the plot bunny. Heck, even the pairings aren't mine.
Chapter 5: Wandering Around? The Runaway Shrine Takes a Trip!
Time passes...
We find the group trekking through a desert.
"I see it." Filia cheered the group on. "That's the temple of the Fire Dragon King. We're almost there. If we walk along this wall here, we will get to the temple soon." she assured. "Now we can take the first step towards saving the world."
"What's going on here?" Lina moaned after night fell.
"We walked all day but it doesn't seem to get any closer." Amelia remarked.
"How much further is it to the temple of the Fire Dragon King?" Zelgadis asked.
"Le's see." Filia recalled. "Walking day and night at full speed, about three more days."
"That's it." Lina collapsed on the sand. "I'm so hungry, I can't move."
"What a continent." Amelia teared. "It's just so huge."
"We just got careless because we can finally see the temple." Zelgadis reasoned.
"Forget it." Lina muttered. "I'm not walking another step, no matter what."
"Lina-san!" Amelia called out, Aria having used a rock structure as a foothold and peered through the makeshift spyglass. "We just saw some light up ahead."
"A town." Lina snatched the spyglass. "We can finally get some food."
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In the town...
"Look at the size of those ruins." Amelia gawked. "This town is so small in comparison."
"This town's name is Explaina and those ruins are the chief tourist attraction." Filia supplied. "They're thousands of years old."
"Leave the ruins for later." Lina urged. "Right now, we're here for food. Let's go."
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In a nearby inn...
"They're so crude." Filia stammered, seeing Lina nad Gourry fight over the plates of food on the table.
"They're always like that." Zelgadis remarked, sipping his tea. "Pay it no mind."
"Trust me." Aria agreed, swallowing her pickled olive. "You'll get used to it eventually."
"Say, Filia." Zelgadis started. "About those ruins, the style seems to suggest the Dragon race built them."
"That's right." Filia confirmed. "But the ruins are sealed now and no one is allowed inside them."
"Sealed ruins, huh?" Zelgadis mused.
"Whatever you're thinking Zel, don't." Aria warned. "Vrabazard-nii-sama likes his secrets."
"Saving the world from the prophecised destruction comes first." Filia insisted. "Please go to sleep as soon as you can to regain your strength. We'll be setting out early tomorrow. Lina-san, are you going to eat all night?"
"But we still haven't gotten the extra stuff we ordered." Lina pointed out.
"Here you go." the chef brought out the last course. "This is the specialty of the house. Now savor it, eat it up and leave already."
"Would you stop already?" Filia snatched the hotpot from the table. "First of all, who do you think is paying this bill? Me, that's who. I'll eat this all by myself." she gobbled the contents in one gulp. "All right everyone. Tomorrow is an early day for us. So please go to sleep now..." since the pot was doctored by Jiras who had dropped a grooly fruit into it, the Dragon priestess was instantly knocked out.
"She's asleep." Lina blinked, hearing the snores coming from Filia.
"Filia-san must have been more tired than she looked." Amelia noted.
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Later that night...
"Zel." Lina called out, stopping Zelgadis from entering the ruins. "No fair sneaking in alone. Sealed ruins, huh? I'll bet there's some sort of treasure in there."
"Or maybe we'll find some way to turn your body back to normal." Amelia added.
"Aria, what's the matter?" Zelgadis recognized the younger girl's in-thought look.
"These ruins looks rather... familiar somehow..." Aria pondered.
"That's great, but Filia's pretty heavy." Gourry stated, carrying the dozing Filia on his back.
"She really is a dragon, after all." Lina shrugged. "You gotta expect her to weigh more than a normal person."
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In the ruins...
"Hey, Lina." Zelgadis called out, standing in front of a wall of engraved writings. "Look at this."
"This is pretty impressive." Lina noted. "So, what's it say?"
"I don't know." Zelgadis replied. "However, there appears to be a large room just beyond this wall." he knocked on the wall.
"Logically speaking, this writing must be a keyword to get you into that room, but..." Lina reasoned.
"So when did you turn from being a bandit killer to a tomb raider, Lina?" Xellos teased. "Anyway, Lina, to just stand by and let you take the Dragon race's treasure would be wrong, wouldn't it?"
"So Xellos, can you read this writing?" Lina pleaded.
"I see..." Xellos scanned the writings.
"What'd it say?" Zelgadis pressed.
"Ever since ancient times, there was a highly-developed culture in this land." Xellos recited.
"Ancient times?" Lina echoed. "From the Kōma War?"
"No, these ruins are more than a thousand years old." Xellos corrected. "Built with technology and powers from ten of thousands of years ago., this represents knowledge on a level with the Claire Bible."
"What else does it say?" Lina insisted.
"That's something I can't read at all." Xellos admitted. "But don't you have someone who's the Claire Bible's original owner?"
"Zel, find Aria," Lina instructed.
"Now I know why these ruins look so familiar..." Aria muttered, standing in front of the engraved wall and the Ragradia Sapphire reacted to the writings. In response, the writings started glowing, the stone illusion dispelled to reveal a metal door. "Vrabazard-nii-sama decided to be a smartass and built a mobile transport that'll take travelers all the way to his temple."
"What's going on here?" Filia awoke from her impromptu nap, upon hearing the door slide open. "Where am I? What am I doing here? We have to get out of here." she exclaimed. "We're too late..."
"Please stand clear of the closing doors." the automated voice sounded. "Thank you for riding this train. Next stop: Temple of the Fire Dragon King. All aboard!" the ancient train then set off.
"Without a Dragon gem or magic, it was just a harmless ruin." Filia sank to her knees.
"I see." Xellos noted. "This was a transportation system used by the Dragon race." "We'll get to the temple of the Fire Dragon King immediately, won't we?"
"Theoretically, that would be correct." Aria replied. "But, considering the amount of time that had passed since this thing was sealed off, there would be countless villages built in its path."
"This will be a disaster." Filia exclaimed. "Take responsibility, you...!" she jumped Xellos, who immediately moved out of harm's way.
"I'll see you all later." said Mazoku priest made himself scarce.
"First, we have to get off this thing." Lina declared. "We're jumping off." she led the others out through a tunnel.
"Thought you could escape us by making the ruins move?" Grabos mocked, Jiras' bomb alerting the group of their presence. "You can't."
"Now, stop these ruins and give us the Sword of Light." Jiras held up a bomb as a threat. "Or else..." he was cut off when the bomb exploded in his hand.
"Fireball!" both Lina and Amelia fired their attacks at their opponents, only to have the two fireballs get snuffed out before they reached Grabos.
"What did you expect?" Filia chided. "All of your magic is being absorbed by the ruins. It gets converted to energy to make the ruins move."
"My Sword of Light..." Gourry wailed, the laser saber started wavering.
"Anything putting out energy gets absorbed." Filia reminded.
"Without your magic or that sword, you're nothing to be afraid of." Grabos bragged. "We'll finish you off like a bunch of babies."
"You really think so?" Lina snapped, slamming a punch into Jiras' stomach and sending him and Grabos flying.
"The engine room, now!" Aria barked.
"This track goes right to the temple?" Filia panicked, giving the instruction manual a look. "What'll we do?"
"It'll take us to the temple." Lina pointed out. "There'll be some casualties, but..."
"You must be joking." Filia snapped. "We're going much faster than we should." she stated, looking outside. "This is a runaway."
"Probably because it was built so long ago." Gourry mused.
"The town!" Filia screamed in horror as another town came into view.
"What are we supposed to do?" Lina demanded.
"Well, that's one town down for the count." Aria noted, the mobile ruins having crashed straight into the town and still going forward.
"Are you all right?" Zelgadis asked, having brought Aria to safety before the stone roof collapsed.
"Some how..." Aria muttered.
"You really went and did it before." Jiras retorted, appearing before the pair with Grabos.
"Looks like we both have the devil's own luck on our side." Grabos pulled out a broken off steel pipe as a weapon.
"Silence." Zelgadis jumped in, drawing his sword. "It's been a while since I've killed someone with my sword." he faced off against Grabos. "It's thirsty for blood."
"Jiras, let them have it." Grabos shouted, forced back by Zelgadis' heavy strikes.
"Sure thing." Jiras pulled out a giant bomb and tossed it Aria.
Aria simply shut her eyes and pulled out her twin butterfly knives, coating the two blades with heavily condensed water she drew from the atmosphere. "Water Pressure Blade." with five quick strokes, she sliced the bomb into five smaller pieces and sent the pieces back towards Grabos and Jiras which then exploded on the two beastmen.
"We're still going!" Filia screamed in horror. "The temple... we're almost there. We're going to crash."
"We've gotta stop these ruins." Lina shrugged. "Isn't there any way to do it?"
"We can always break the magical energy absorption device." Aria suggested.
"And where's that?" Lina fumed. "Okay then." she made the snap decision. "We'll destroy everything that looks like it might be it."
"We will soon be arriving at the temple of the Fire Dragon King." the automated voiced sounded again.
"We've almost smashed everything, but it doesn't look like we broke what we were looking for." Gourry noted, the group turned to the last item in the engine room.
"Except that." Aria looked at the stone dragon statue.
"Gourry, take it out." Lina instructed.
"Hold a second, will you." Gourry fixed up his sword and sliced the statue into pieces.
"I think that's what absorbing the magic." Lina pointed to the rune-stone on the ceiling.
"All right!" Gourry jumped to take out the rune-stone, only to fall flat on his face. "My sword can't reach it."
"All it'd take is one fireball." Lina wailed.
"I have an idea." Grabos remarked as Jiras blasted their way in. "Why not give us the Sword of Light."
"These guys are like cockroaches, I swear..." Aria muttered.
"This isn't gonna be like last time." Grabos declared. "Get them."
Jiras jumped in and released a multitude of bombs.
"Those things are as strong as fireballs." Lina hissed. "That's it." an idea came to her and she tossed a metal pipe to Gourry. "Over here." she mocked Jiras.
"That does it." Jiras fumed and threw one of his bombs at Gourry.
"Time to batter up, I guess." Aria grinned, realizing what Lina had planned as Gourry redirected the bomb towards the rune-stone and destroying it.
"We're still moving?" Filia gaped, looking outside.
"That's because of the size of this thing." Zelgadis explained. "We may have cut the power, but it'll keep moving on inertia for a while longer."
"We've got to get out of here, everyone." Lina informed. "Filia, turn into a dragon."
"Ray Wing!" both Zelgadis and Amelia got out of the runaway train, while Aria summoned her 'Aqua Fairy Armor' in Flight Mode.
Riding on Filia, Lina closed in on the train. "Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows. Buried in the flow of time in thy great name, I pledge myself to darkness. Let all the fools who stand in our way be destroyed by the power you and I possess! Dragon Slave!" she fired the attack straight at the train. "Safe by a hair!" she cheered when the attack hit home.
"Oh dear..." Aria muttered, when battered remains of the still running train crashed into the temple walls. "Well, we're finally here." she stated, after they regrouped.
"We're definitely here." Amelia agreed.
"So, this is how it turned out." Xellos reappeared.
"Are you really sure you should be hanging around here, Xellos?" Aria wondered.
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SailorStar9: Now that's done, read and review.