Slayers! Yoyutchi
by Leaf-Chan (leaf_chan@excite.com)
"You may kiss my butt."
Episode XI: The End (Again)
[-----]
aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAUUUUUUuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGgggggggGGGGGHHHHHhhhhhhh--
Augh.
That one word, so short in both speech and spelling, and yet so
magnificently-rich in connotation and execution. Augh. Can not enough
tribute be heaped upon this marvellous word? Augh. It has long been a
rallying cry of the school of Saikyouism, and a common exclamation for those
on the receiving end of something very big and boom.
While on the topic of big and boom, a Quantum Slave was headed directly for
Nevv, Kiseki, and Emmanem. It was a large sphere of magic roughly two
hundred feet or so wide, a singular crackling ripple in the fabric of
otherwise perfectly-normal air. It streaked towards them with the attitude
of a mean Volkswagen on its time of the month. And it slammed directly into
them with the approximate force of a small, controlled nuclear explosion
that flared out in a hemisphere of darkness that, oddly enough, was also
exactly two hundred feet in diameter.
Or so it would seem.
Lina reached out... desperately, with all of her might and determination and
capitalistic greed. She reached out with that familiar hand that had been
the cause of many-a-bandits' demise and the bane of a soft green bunny
slipper, and felt that surge upon her. The power was once more there... and
as she grasped its tail, pulled, and dragged it through from the Inner,
through the Between, and into the Outer, she felt the small breach that had
been created widen with the process.
/I'm making it worse,/ she thought to herself from the vast turmoil outside
her head: the raging ebb of magic, the sounds of impact, the screams that
were now fading away. /But it has to be done./
With a small smirk of triumph, the Other reached out, and in one singular
maneuver, turned the space of Inner/Outer/Between fabric inside out.
It wasn't that difficult of a maneuver; hell, any of them could have done
it. Still, He *was* the first one to actually get the guts to do so...
because frankly, it wasn't something *any* of them had gone through before,
so massively distorting the stream of space could have had some
repercussions that He didn't foresee.
Positions shifted. Places were no longer... there. In one world, the one
that they were all familiar with, a man with long blond hair and a sword on
his back was having lunch at a hotel when he was suddenly sitting on
nothing, and eating nothing but air. The room around him blurred, and
twisted, eventually reshaping into that of a desolate (but clean) downtown
metropolis.
Gourry Gabriev blinked. And then he began thinking. Unlike most people, this
was an actual process that involved a measure of effort on his part--a
conscious effort.
/Um.../
He looked around him again. Yep, the hotel was really, really gone. It
hadn't been blown up, no, but it wasn't there anymore. So... um...
Maybe this involved magic. Yeah, that was it!
Magic... Lina!
"Hey, Lina, are you out there?" Gourry called out. He decided to get up and
take a look for himself. After all, it was just like her to get into
trouble, and here he was, eating while she was off having fun and
adventuring.
In all actuality, Lina wasn't really having too much fun. After the worlds
had been drawn inside-out like a giant smelly sock, she had noticed a few
things all at once. 1) The breach wasn't there anymore, 2) the Valus Wall
*was* holding up by some miracle of modern magi, and 3) the Other was
winning.
That last part sucked. Lina decided to change it.
With a gradual dissipation of energy, the Quantum Slave faded away into the
air. Aliza, expecting nothing left of the three who stood against her,
swooped down to examine the wreckage of the scene... and came face-to-face
with a glimmering wall of energy that pulsed and ebbed, sending the strands
of leftover Quantum aside with a careless motion.
"What?" Aliza murmured, not realizing.
A blast from beneath her sent her flying into the air, spinning wildly out
of control. Lowering the Guumueon spell, Lina scrambled over to the three to
see if they were all right.
"... thanks, Lina," Nevv muttered. Her usually-immaculate braid on the left
side of her face was sticking straight out. "You did something right."
"Mommy!!!" Kiseki wailed.
And from Emmy's end came dead silence. The duffer had passed out on the
ground, a large bump on his head and a hammer lying next to him.
Lina blinked. "What'd you hit him for?" /It's not like he's Gourry or
somebody./
"He was trying to kill us," Nevv said bluntly. "Somebody had to do
something."
"... oh-kay." She looked up. Aliza was shaking off the effects of the Dill
Brand and regaining her stride... she had to make sure that she wouldn't be
of any more trouble before she went off to blast a Slave up the Other's ass.
"Nevv, you go handle her!"
"By myself?!"
Lina nodded. "Sure! You can handle it. I'm off to beat the dark forces of
evil now, BYE!" She skipped off.
"Oh..." Nevv sighed. "I do *not* believe this is happening--ACK!" The lance
of power barely missed her.
Aliza regarded Nevv with a look of utter and complete... blankness. "She has
made it easier for us," she said. "Now, He will rule supreme over all."
"Uh huh... good day to you too. Fastbond." Nevv flicked one hand up, feeling
the familiar, welcoming warmth of Ilyuum once more in her mind, and sent a
spiralling line of magic towards Aliza. The girl leapt aside, rolled on the
ground, and got back up, retaliating with her own blast of magic that
engulfed Nevv in a sphere of black energy.
Elsewhere on the battleground that was littered with the twitching bodies of
the damned, or just those who listened to Kiseki sing, Lina and the
non-formidable Other were squaring off, in a world that had completely
changed around them. The tired, technical terrain was now the same field
that was outside Scriimtu where Nevv had tried to do the very same thing a
while ago. In fact, there was Scriimtu, right over there, off in the
distance.
"You know you cannot win."
"Yeah, what makes you say that, buddy?" Lina tossed back easily. It was in
her hands now; she had her spells, she had a sword, and she had this
situation under control. Okay, so she'd slipped up a little by letting Him
turn the world inside out, but at least it was still there, right?
"Your gods cannot help you here."
"... mrgghdarknessfromtwilightrassalfrickinmada..."
The Other smiled coolly. "What's the matter, Lina Inverse? Nothing witty to
say?" he crowed, if a short, ugly thing like Him was capable of "crowing".
"I have already completed the first part of my plan, and you aided me in
doing so. Such irony is *so* rare these days..."
"YeahwhateverinthygreatnameIpledgemyselftodarknessladedahdefrickindah..."
"Eh?" He cocked his ear to the side. "I cannot hear your complaining, dear
one. Speak up. Your disgruntlement is precious to me."
"... by the power you and I possess," Lina finished, and beamed brightly at
the Other.
"... what?"
She pointed her upraised hand at the Other, and as the flaring red/purple
ball of power leapt from her fingertips, all but her middle finger curled.
"Dragon SLAVE, punk!!"
The Other stumbled back for a brief moment before the spell washed over Him
and the entire field, pretty much scorching everything in its radius and
all-but-incinerating the Other to ash.
Oh, don't you wish.
He stepped out from the explosion and smacked Lina upside the head.
"OW!" Lina smacked him back, with little effect other than bruising her
hand. "What the hell--ACK!"
The Other smirked, stretching his fingers as Lina spun and whirled
helplessly in the air under his power. "You are strong, Lina Inverse, but--"
"--but I am no match for you, yes, I know, and this is where someone shows
up, frees me, kicks your ass, you get back up..." She sucked in a breath of
air. "... and we both kick your ass together, thank you, drive through."
No one showed up. In the background, the faint sounds of clashing magic
could be heard as Nevv and Aliza went at it some more.
"I *said*, someone shows up and *frees* me!!!" Lina yelled, wriggling in
half-desperation, half-annoyance now. It almost felt like the Other was
trying to grope her... yech.
The Other began chuckling. It was, actually, a high-pitched, whinnying
laugh... but it was the thought behind it that counted.
"Do you expect that girl, Kiseki to save you? Or that outcast, Jukaara?" the
Other demanded. "They pose an even-lesser threat than the Knight of Ilyuum."
"Damn it..." Lina muttered, still trying to do her best to break free. It
didn't help when a crushing sensation signalled that the Other was now going
to kill her.
Lina screamed in protest. And then the Other was sent spiralling off of his
feet and into the air by a pinkish blast of energy and a spray of dirt. She
glanced over, and saw Kiseki with one forearm raised, shaking it like there
was no tomorrow.
"Fear the power of Saikyouism!" Kiseki blared. "Eat it, you... female dog!
Oh! You don't understand! I got *skills*! Oh! OW!"
"We don't have time for that!" Lina snapped, putting her bunny slipper back
into a pocket. "C'mon, we gotta help Nevv--"
Nevv sent a flare of sun-bright white energy at Aliza that slammed into the
Knight of Other. Aliza flew back a good fifty yards or so, and met the
ground in a sandy crunch.
"Looks like she's fine to me," Kiseki said.
"What the hell are you doing standing around?" Nevv demanded, Raywinging
lightly over to them. "We've got to take out the Other *now*, before this
goes any further."
"The Dragon Slave didn't work at all," Lina said grimly, turning in time to
see the short, stumpy Other get up. "Gotta think of something else."
"Ultimo Karaoke Grandslam?"
"*NO*."
Nevv pondered. "I can try something..." she began. "But it's very risky,
since everything's already screwed up. If it does work, though, I *know*
we'll be able to get rid of him once and for all."
"What're you planning?" Lina said, feeling a bit worried again.
"Seventh Absolution."
"--*again*? What the hell good will changing the world do when it's already
like this to begin with?!"
Nevv smiled slyly. It was *that* smile, the one reserved for situations when
a certain purple-haired priest would say "that is a secret".
"Well?" Lina demanded.
The response was drowned out in an ensuing explosion that sent all three of
them flying. Lina and Nevv managed to throw up a Raywing in time to land
neatly on the ground, as Kiseki sailed past them to crash uneventfully into
the dirt. Off in the distance, the Other and Aliza were standing side-by-
side, approaching them with a menacing, careful gait.
"You cannot stop us, Inners," the Other said, smirking. Aliza chimed in
agreement with a resounding ovation of silence.
"Yeah, yeah..." Lina muttered, tracing a circle in the air with one finger.
A tongue of fire leapt into being around both Other and Aliza. "Fiiiire..."
Flick. "BALL!!!"
Aliza raised a Valus Wall in time to send the flames scattering every which
way, then charged at all three of them in a tactically-unsound manuever. She
would have been pounded, except Emmanem chose that particular moment to
intervene, lashing out with a high kick to Aliza's head. The blow resounded
with a solid (but hollow) noise, and Aliza stumbled back. Pressing the
advantage, Kiseki charged in and promptly got her ass blown away as Aliza
recovered with a wave of her arm that sent magic scattering everywhere. Emmy
managed to weave his way behind the wave and deliver another kick to the
head, this one landing as well through some miraculous feat of nature.
Lina decided not to ponder for too long on why Aliza, of all people, let
herself get kicked in the face twice in a row, and turned to face the Other
again. "This is getting *really* tiresome, y'know," she said, firing up a
Dill Brand underneath her breath.
"Then why don't you give up now?" He asked, as the rocks and other debris
around him began floating up in the air of their own accord. "There is
nothing you can do to us."
"Dill Brand." BOOM.
The rocks and other debris clattered back to the ground, and the Other
followed suit a second later. "Will you *stop* that? It isn't doing
anything."
"Dill Brand." BLAM.
Landing on the ankles constantly like that was getting painful. "I *said*
*stop* that--"
"Dill Brand." KABLOOEY.
Okay, now this was getting tiresome. "LINA INVERSE, I WILL KILL YOU LIKE
NOTHING ON THIS UNIVERSE HAS EVER BEEN KILLED BEFORE AND AFTER THAT I WILL
TAKE YOUR REMAINS AND--"
"Mega Brand." WAAAAAAAKKKAAAABOOOOOOOOM.
This particular one took almost a full ten seconds to recover from, being
that the Other couldn't find his way back to His former position (which was
now a big circular chunk of hole in the ground) due to the flying dust
around him. Once He did, he resumed his rant. "--AND I WILL--"
Silence. There was a definite lack of a commercial name, be it of pickle or
mega, sending Him into the air this time.
The Other looked around. Swirling blue energy pushed the clouded air aside,
and the face of Nevv Swanson smiled at Him.
"Seventh Absolution," she said.
"... oh, shit."
The world changed again.
Somewhere, a Flare Dragon and a Light God cursed violently.
[-----]
In the lifetime of many authors, they are usually obligated to make some
sort of long, rambling introductory paragraph as a lead-in to the next part
of the story. The paragraph, be it of short, stuttering sentences or flowery
prose and long-winded adjectives, oft has little to do with the subject
matter at hand and is usually counterpointed by a singular sentence that,
when matched against the previous ranting paragraph, is supposed to provide
for a humorous effect.
Obviously, this was one of those setups, if nothing else.
Having contributed nothing to the story and instead focusing on the rather-
mitigable techniques of satirical writing, the last two paragraphs--one and
one sentence, if you preferred--would have been much better off out of
existence. However, laziness is the key word of the day.
Moving right on, the world had changed again, and this entailed many things.
First of all, Nevv did not know *how* it would change, only that Ilyuum had
entrusted her with the knowledge and power of Seventh Absolution to wield
when the time was right. Second of all, the Other had already done his own
version of the reality-warping bit, and as such, the Seventh Absolution did
no good in ways of clearing up the mess. Thirdly, the spell had been aimed
directly at the Other.
Cataclysmic, apocalyptic, devastating, stuffblowinguppy... call it whatever
you want. It was, by definition, a bad place to be when someone launches a
spell of that magnitude in your face.
The Other was, to say the least, displeased. His architecture of
aggression--or annoyance, or cheesy villain-ism, depending on how one looked
at it, had crumbled apart like a cheap toy made in foreign countries. And
now, even He didn't know what the hell was going to happen, and Philbriezo
could take a leap off a cliff.
Speaking of which, that was about what had happened as He was musing along.
The world, having shifted once more, was now sloping sharping below Him in a
rocky expanse of sheer height and narrow angle.
Naturally, He utilized that one magic word that was so universally
appropriate. It wasn't "Dragon Slave", either.
"AUUUUUUGGHHH!!!"
Tumbling ass over teakettle, the Other went rolling down the cliffside,
scraping pretty much every part of his cloth-clad body and tearing bits and
pieces of his un-cloth-clad body away in shrieks of pain. It wasn't *real*
pain, obviously, because it was just a physical form... but with physical
form came physical pain, and that was really a bitch to have to deal with.
After hearing a crack or ten, He finally managed to come to a sandy, gritty
halt at the base of the cliff. The Other glanced up, and quickly began to
reform his physical self. He *had* to remain imposing, if nothing else.
The Other looked up. Standing there, surrounded with the faint grey of
Shamanistic magic, were Lina Inverse and Nevv Swanson. Between the two was
Emmanem, looking as cool as ever with a portable fan that was conveniently
out of the camera's line of sight blowing his hair back in a way that sent
sparkling lights everywhere. And flat on her face was Kiseki, giving a weak
'chou yoyutchi'.
Then He noticed that they weren't *just* there surrounded by the grey
ripples of their respective Raywings. Lina happened to be toting another
sizable ball of red energy in her hands, and a wide smirk on her impish
face.
Quickly, the Other attempted to shift into noncorporeal form while knowing
he would never make it in time. His last two words for this story were:
"This sucks."
"DRAGON SLAAAAAAAAAAAVE!!!"
"LINA, YOU IDIOT, NOT AT POINT BLAAAAAA--"
The rest was drowned out by the backwash of yet another explosion, signaling
another tear in this already-battered world that wasn't really Inner or
Outer anymore.
[-----]
A purple-haired priest smiled.
"Ah, so they did it, eh?" he said, turning to the woman standing before him.
"Good, good, I was hoping they would! Now, I can go on and begin this whole
thing without too much of a fuss. After all, the first block's out of the
way, so we just have to do a little stacking here and there... and voila!
Instant entropy!"
The woman smirked.
"Now, now, Luna, don't go giving me that look!" the man said, looking hurt.
"It's almost as if you don't *want* us to go through with this!"
"Depends. Got my orders, and you got yours."
"Ah, yes, that's true, but still, service with a smile, yes?" He smiled
broadly at her, raising one hand in a gesture of malicious friendliness.
"It *does* make everything so much easier, wouldn't you say?"
Luna grinned. "That is a secret," she said, wagging one finger at him.
And Xelloss, in turn, returned the grin, although his was decidedly more
predatory. "Now now, no territorial infringement. Wasn't that the first
thing they taught you in Dragon Elementary?"
"Maybe." She turned away and closed the scrying mirror with a flick of her
finger. "S'all for now, right?"
"Yes, yes, of course," Xelloss agreed. "We shall have much more to talk
about when the time comes. Oh, yes. Scurry along now, little Knight. The
pawns are there for the moving and the rooks are closing in! No time to
waste at all."
Luna nodded, and vanished from the place that was not the Between.
And a few seconds later, after allowing himself a small smile of amusement,
Xelloss disappeared as well.
[-----]
It wasn't over, though. The troops had managed to recover from the Ultimo
Karaoke Grandslam just as Lina capped a Slave up the Other's butt, and were
now bearing down at them again. Lina was tired from having done two Slaves
in a row like that (if the Other had made a crack about her breasts she
would've easily been able to sustain a few dozen, but he hadn't), and Nevv
had just changed the world. All the folk songs in the world were not enough
to sustain the two.
And then there was Emmanem, whose inherent lack of big-range blow-things-up
doodads made him all-but nigh-useless (but very cool-looking, even in the
face of all the hyphens) in situations where it was, like, four against a
few hundred.
Then there was Kis... never mind.
"Lina?" Nevv suggested quietly.
"... what?" she replied, catching her breath and scooping a bit of charred
sackcloth off of her boot.
"What do we do now?" Nevv finished somewhat-lamely.
Lina glanced over at the troops, who were picking up assorted weapons from
the ground and regaining their bearings. Target(s): one male, currently
standing uselessly in a breeze of his own making, and three females, one
small-breasted, one large-breasted, and one chanting something high up in
the air behind them. She was opening her mouth.
She was going to say something.
The troops each hit the deck before realizing that the music wasn't playing
in the background. What was she doing...?
The lucid blue microphone of energy appeared in Kiseki's hand, and with a
grin, she said ten magic words.
"Little girl, little breasts, scares the dragon from its nest!"
A wind blew past the suddenly-silent battlefield, knocking over the portable
fan with a rattle. Jeffrey-kun would have been dismayed.
Kiseki managed to Fatherly Flee the hell out of there, making sure she was
the last thing in Lina's line of sight.
Then it started.
"DRAGON SLAVE!"
Boom.
"DRAGON SLAVE!"
Kaboom.
"DRAGON SLAVE!"
Whackabackaboom.
"DRAGON SLAVE!"
Gssssssh.
And so on, and so forth...
[-----]
The world changed again. A couple of half-mile craters tends to do that.
Quietly, Nevv gathered the other three (making sure to put Lina to sleep--
thankfully, it wasn't a hard task at all) together and opened a swirling
portal of light, then sent them through one at a time with a convenient
levitation spell before slipping through herself, looking at the world
around them one last time.
They'd pretty much gone in, blown everything up, and were now going to
leave quietly and assume it never happened. Funny how things worked out.
But the fact that she was *still* able to cast spells in the Outer--spells
that she shouldn't have been able to, by the laws of restriction and summon
access--nagged at her. It meant that the portal was still stretched open,
the portal that lay along the reality-tunnels of the Inner, the Outer, and
the Between in the midst of both. And if that portal was open, then whatever
was on one side could travel to the other. Not the Other, thankfully. He was
supposed to be dead--if not dead, then relatively out of the picture for a
long while.
Still. She'd managed to distract--if not hurt--the Other long enough with a
Seventh Absolution in time for Lina to get in the final blow(s). But the
spell she'd used *did* kind of mean that the world had to change in some
form, and with that portal open from before, that meant that stuff could've
gone between both sides of reality easily... not a good thought.
Well, she'd deal with it in time, as she usually did. Ilyuum would know what
to do. And Ceipheed. Of course.
The four of them arrived back at the Between, and were greeted by the usual
array of dark mist, fog, and rolling hills of non-stuff.
"Hi!" Nevv chorused. "We're back, and we did it!"
There was no response.
"Hello?" Lina muttered, glancing up. "Anybody home? Sis?"
Nothing.
"Wonderful," Emmanem said, combing his blue hair back. "Is this a proper way
to greet the saviors of the world?"
"*You*?!" Kiseki yelled. "*I* was the one who casted two major spells that
saved us from the army both times! What sort of credit do I get?"
/Welcome back./
They all looked up--and before them stretched three figures of pure power,
pulsating in their respective aural colors and shimmering in time with the
fog that wafted past the 'ground'.
One of them was a tall, glorious azure Dragon that defied all description,
leaving the mind struggling for words as to its awe.
The other was a significantly-smaller but still large man with wings on his
back and a classical beauty to his face, which was completely golden along
with the rest of his chiseled yet immaterial body.
The third was a twisted, malevolent being that shone a deep purple, its own
aura competing for dominance alongside the other two. It was strange-looking
and yet at the same time, somehow benevolent, in a fairly perverse way.
They all bowed in time.
/Congratulations, Lina Inverse, Nevv Swanson, Emmanem, and Kiseki Rendahl,/
the Dragon said in a voice that resounded directly in their minds, a deep
rumbling baritone that was pleasant and ominously-foreboding.
/You have done very well,/ the man-angel said, smiling, his voice a rich
tenor that exuded warmth and light.
/Yes... and you will continue to do so until the very end,/ the monster said
in a tone that was cold, unagreeable.
/You have lost, Other,/ Ilyuum reprimanded. /Accept your loss gracefully./
/My Knight was *superior* to yours,/ Other retorted. /And Ceipheed's was not
involved. *How* did I lose?/
/You lacked the very thing we taught our pawns,/ Ceipheed said, turning to
look at the four once more.
/That would be what, old man?/
A faint surge of indignation, but no action. None whatsoever.
/It would be that, despite how evil may work, and what evil may think...
good will triumph in the end./
/This is *not* true,/ the Other protested again.
/Perhaps not.../ Ceipheed agreed gravely. /But your lack of experience and
overconfidence also cost you the game--/
"Hold it, HOLD IT!" Lina yelled, her voice echoing in the hollow Between.
"What the hell are all of you talking about?"
The three gods turned to look at her for a moment before replying.
/You do not yet know, Lina Inverse?/ Ceipheed asked. /You have much to learn
from your sister, then./
/The game has only begun, Nevv Swanson, and there is much lying ahead of
you,/ Ilyuum continued.
"Thank you very fricking much."
/As for my part... I will honor the treaty which we have agreed to,/ the
Other said reluctantly. /But not before they are restored./
The other two gods nodded in agreement, and before any of them could say a
word otherwise, a bright light shone, pulsed, and then faded, leaving the
Between calm and empty once more.
[-----]
/You owe me one thousand gold, Other./
/I *knew* I should have not chosen a Knight who looked like Lina Inverse in
terms of body proportions./
[-----]
"Lina? Hey, Lina!"
Someone shaking her shoulder. Lina swiped irritably at the air and rolled
over, mumbling something that sounded similar to "gwafodonwannageupgoway".
"OW! Hey, Lina, what was that for?"
That voice sounded oddly familiar. No, it couldn't be.
Rolling back over in bed again, Lina got the sheets tangled around her in a
sweaty bundle and ended up really uncomfortable. The innocent male voice
nagging for her to get up wasn't helping, either, so she finally got up,
rubbing her eyes. "Wha...?"
The smiling face of a handsome man with long, blond hair hanging over one
eye and behind his back in a long mane greeted her. "Hi, Lina!" he said
cheerfully.
"GOURRY?!"
"Um... yeah! That's me! Say, Lina, it's been almost three weeks since I saw
you last! Where'd you go off to? I mean, I was just passing by and I thought
maybe we could have lunch and--"
"Lunch?!"
Scramble up and dash, carrying a long-haired blond swordsman behind her.
"Let's GOOOOOOO!!!"
"Hey! Lina! Be careful!!"
[-----]
In another part of the world, a certain blond-haired mage awoke in the town
of Eyenowatudidulasumer (a long but fairly-easy name to memorize),
population 400. There was a note lying next to her on the bedstep, and
exactly thirty gold and sixteen silver in coins.
Nevv picked the note up and read it.
"Hello, Miss Swanson! When you read this, you will have no doubt regained
consciousness in a most-magnificent inn with all the trimmings included. I
urge you, enjoy yourself and relax, for you've had a hard time! Take a load
off, and while you do, please contact either me or a certain big-bosomed
Knight as soon as you can, because we have *so* many things to catch up on.
Yes, we do! Anyways, do try to contact me, because we have something coming
up for everyone, and that does include you! I'd hate for you to miss out on
it, Miss Swanson! My number is 1-800-HIMITSU-DESU. Thank you ever so much!
P.S. I've given some money to help pay for the fees and a meal or two. Think
of it as a present, from me to you. Have a nice day! ^_^"
"... oh, shit," Nevv muttered, sighing and slapping one hand against her
forehead. "It's *not* over yet..."
[-----]
As for Kiseki and Emmanem... well, they were currently sharing a similar
extenuating circumstance.
Let's look at Kiseki first.
"SENSEI?! But... I thought you were..."
Dan Hibiki shook his forearm violently, causing another delicately-balanced
piece of lumber to fall down on the ground behind him. "NEVER, my student,
my Knight of Hibiki! For anyone who is a practitioner of Saikyouism has the
power of escaping *any* situation! *Always* coming out on top! Did you not
do your utmost against the nasty interdimensional forces and whatnot?"
"Well, yes..." Kiseki said shyly, glancing at the ground. "But no one gives
me credit!"
He patted her on the shoulder comfortingly, and began speaking in a more
quiet tone of voice. "Kiseki, my dear student, when you are as ol--
er, experienced as I am, you will realize that credit it not what being a
true Saikyouism mage is all about. It's about *honor*... *glory*... *pride*,
and most of all, knowing that you made a difference!"
"So... I did good?" she sniffled, looking up at him.
"Yes! And you shall do more good right here, in helping me reconstruct
Kennelia!"
Kiseki blinked. Another piece of wood clattered down.
[-----]
Comments can be sent to: leaf_chan@excite.com
by Leaf-Chan (leaf_chan@excite.com)
"You may kiss my butt."
Episode XI: The End (Again)
[-----]
aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAUUUUUUuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGgggggggGGGGGHHHHHhhhhhhh--
Augh.
That one word, so short in both speech and spelling, and yet so
magnificently-rich in connotation and execution. Augh. Can not enough
tribute be heaped upon this marvellous word? Augh. It has long been a
rallying cry of the school of Saikyouism, and a common exclamation for those
on the receiving end of something very big and boom.
While on the topic of big and boom, a Quantum Slave was headed directly for
Nevv, Kiseki, and Emmanem. It was a large sphere of magic roughly two
hundred feet or so wide, a singular crackling ripple in the fabric of
otherwise perfectly-normal air. It streaked towards them with the attitude
of a mean Volkswagen on its time of the month. And it slammed directly into
them with the approximate force of a small, controlled nuclear explosion
that flared out in a hemisphere of darkness that, oddly enough, was also
exactly two hundred feet in diameter.
Or so it would seem.
Lina reached out... desperately, with all of her might and determination and
capitalistic greed. She reached out with that familiar hand that had been
the cause of many-a-bandits' demise and the bane of a soft green bunny
slipper, and felt that surge upon her. The power was once more there... and
as she grasped its tail, pulled, and dragged it through from the Inner,
through the Between, and into the Outer, she felt the small breach that had
been created widen with the process.
/I'm making it worse,/ she thought to herself from the vast turmoil outside
her head: the raging ebb of magic, the sounds of impact, the screams that
were now fading away. /But it has to be done./
With a small smirk of triumph, the Other reached out, and in one singular
maneuver, turned the space of Inner/Outer/Between fabric inside out.
It wasn't that difficult of a maneuver; hell, any of them could have done
it. Still, He *was* the first one to actually get the guts to do so...
because frankly, it wasn't something *any* of them had gone through before,
so massively distorting the stream of space could have had some
repercussions that He didn't foresee.
Positions shifted. Places were no longer... there. In one world, the one
that they were all familiar with, a man with long blond hair and a sword on
his back was having lunch at a hotel when he was suddenly sitting on
nothing, and eating nothing but air. The room around him blurred, and
twisted, eventually reshaping into that of a desolate (but clean) downtown
metropolis.
Gourry Gabriev blinked. And then he began thinking. Unlike most people, this
was an actual process that involved a measure of effort on his part--a
conscious effort.
/Um.../
He looked around him again. Yep, the hotel was really, really gone. It
hadn't been blown up, no, but it wasn't there anymore. So... um...
Maybe this involved magic. Yeah, that was it!
Magic... Lina!
"Hey, Lina, are you out there?" Gourry called out. He decided to get up and
take a look for himself. After all, it was just like her to get into
trouble, and here he was, eating while she was off having fun and
adventuring.
In all actuality, Lina wasn't really having too much fun. After the worlds
had been drawn inside-out like a giant smelly sock, she had noticed a few
things all at once. 1) The breach wasn't there anymore, 2) the Valus Wall
*was* holding up by some miracle of modern magi, and 3) the Other was
winning.
That last part sucked. Lina decided to change it.
With a gradual dissipation of energy, the Quantum Slave faded away into the
air. Aliza, expecting nothing left of the three who stood against her,
swooped down to examine the wreckage of the scene... and came face-to-face
with a glimmering wall of energy that pulsed and ebbed, sending the strands
of leftover Quantum aside with a careless motion.
"What?" Aliza murmured, not realizing.
A blast from beneath her sent her flying into the air, spinning wildly out
of control. Lowering the Guumueon spell, Lina scrambled over to the three to
see if they were all right.
"... thanks, Lina," Nevv muttered. Her usually-immaculate braid on the left
side of her face was sticking straight out. "You did something right."
"Mommy!!!" Kiseki wailed.
And from Emmy's end came dead silence. The duffer had passed out on the
ground, a large bump on his head and a hammer lying next to him.
Lina blinked. "What'd you hit him for?" /It's not like he's Gourry or
somebody./
"He was trying to kill us," Nevv said bluntly. "Somebody had to do
something."
"... oh-kay." She looked up. Aliza was shaking off the effects of the Dill
Brand and regaining her stride... she had to make sure that she wouldn't be
of any more trouble before she went off to blast a Slave up the Other's ass.
"Nevv, you go handle her!"
"By myself?!"
Lina nodded. "Sure! You can handle it. I'm off to beat the dark forces of
evil now, BYE!" She skipped off.
"Oh..." Nevv sighed. "I do *not* believe this is happening--ACK!" The lance
of power barely missed her.
Aliza regarded Nevv with a look of utter and complete... blankness. "She has
made it easier for us," she said. "Now, He will rule supreme over all."
"Uh huh... good day to you too. Fastbond." Nevv flicked one hand up, feeling
the familiar, welcoming warmth of Ilyuum once more in her mind, and sent a
spiralling line of magic towards Aliza. The girl leapt aside, rolled on the
ground, and got back up, retaliating with her own blast of magic that
engulfed Nevv in a sphere of black energy.
Elsewhere on the battleground that was littered with the twitching bodies of
the damned, or just those who listened to Kiseki sing, Lina and the
non-formidable Other were squaring off, in a world that had completely
changed around them. The tired, technical terrain was now the same field
that was outside Scriimtu where Nevv had tried to do the very same thing a
while ago. In fact, there was Scriimtu, right over there, off in the
distance.
"You know you cannot win."
"Yeah, what makes you say that, buddy?" Lina tossed back easily. It was in
her hands now; she had her spells, she had a sword, and she had this
situation under control. Okay, so she'd slipped up a little by letting Him
turn the world inside out, but at least it was still there, right?
"Your gods cannot help you here."
"... mrgghdarknessfromtwilightrassalfrickinmada..."
The Other smiled coolly. "What's the matter, Lina Inverse? Nothing witty to
say?" he crowed, if a short, ugly thing like Him was capable of "crowing".
"I have already completed the first part of my plan, and you aided me in
doing so. Such irony is *so* rare these days..."
"YeahwhateverinthygreatnameIpledgemyselftodarknessladedahdefrickindah..."
"Eh?" He cocked his ear to the side. "I cannot hear your complaining, dear
one. Speak up. Your disgruntlement is precious to me."
"... by the power you and I possess," Lina finished, and beamed brightly at
the Other.
"... what?"
She pointed her upraised hand at the Other, and as the flaring red/purple
ball of power leapt from her fingertips, all but her middle finger curled.
"Dragon SLAVE, punk!!"
The Other stumbled back for a brief moment before the spell washed over Him
and the entire field, pretty much scorching everything in its radius and
all-but-incinerating the Other to ash.
Oh, don't you wish.
He stepped out from the explosion and smacked Lina upside the head.
"OW!" Lina smacked him back, with little effect other than bruising her
hand. "What the hell--ACK!"
The Other smirked, stretching his fingers as Lina spun and whirled
helplessly in the air under his power. "You are strong, Lina Inverse, but--"
"--but I am no match for you, yes, I know, and this is where someone shows
up, frees me, kicks your ass, you get back up..." She sucked in a breath of
air. "... and we both kick your ass together, thank you, drive through."
No one showed up. In the background, the faint sounds of clashing magic
could be heard as Nevv and Aliza went at it some more.
"I *said*, someone shows up and *frees* me!!!" Lina yelled, wriggling in
half-desperation, half-annoyance now. It almost felt like the Other was
trying to grope her... yech.
The Other began chuckling. It was, actually, a high-pitched, whinnying
laugh... but it was the thought behind it that counted.
"Do you expect that girl, Kiseki to save you? Or that outcast, Jukaara?" the
Other demanded. "They pose an even-lesser threat than the Knight of Ilyuum."
"Damn it..." Lina muttered, still trying to do her best to break free. It
didn't help when a crushing sensation signalled that the Other was now going
to kill her.
Lina screamed in protest. And then the Other was sent spiralling off of his
feet and into the air by a pinkish blast of energy and a spray of dirt. She
glanced over, and saw Kiseki with one forearm raised, shaking it like there
was no tomorrow.
"Fear the power of Saikyouism!" Kiseki blared. "Eat it, you... female dog!
Oh! You don't understand! I got *skills*! Oh! OW!"
"We don't have time for that!" Lina snapped, putting her bunny slipper back
into a pocket. "C'mon, we gotta help Nevv--"
Nevv sent a flare of sun-bright white energy at Aliza that slammed into the
Knight of Other. Aliza flew back a good fifty yards or so, and met the
ground in a sandy crunch.
"Looks like she's fine to me," Kiseki said.
"What the hell are you doing standing around?" Nevv demanded, Raywinging
lightly over to them. "We've got to take out the Other *now*, before this
goes any further."
"The Dragon Slave didn't work at all," Lina said grimly, turning in time to
see the short, stumpy Other get up. "Gotta think of something else."
"Ultimo Karaoke Grandslam?"
"*NO*."
Nevv pondered. "I can try something..." she began. "But it's very risky,
since everything's already screwed up. If it does work, though, I *know*
we'll be able to get rid of him once and for all."
"What're you planning?" Lina said, feeling a bit worried again.
"Seventh Absolution."
"--*again*? What the hell good will changing the world do when it's already
like this to begin with?!"
Nevv smiled slyly. It was *that* smile, the one reserved for situations when
a certain purple-haired priest would say "that is a secret".
"Well?" Lina demanded.
The response was drowned out in an ensuing explosion that sent all three of
them flying. Lina and Nevv managed to throw up a Raywing in time to land
neatly on the ground, as Kiseki sailed past them to crash uneventfully into
the dirt. Off in the distance, the Other and Aliza were standing side-by-
side, approaching them with a menacing, careful gait.
"You cannot stop us, Inners," the Other said, smirking. Aliza chimed in
agreement with a resounding ovation of silence.
"Yeah, yeah..." Lina muttered, tracing a circle in the air with one finger.
A tongue of fire leapt into being around both Other and Aliza. "Fiiiire..."
Flick. "BALL!!!"
Aliza raised a Valus Wall in time to send the flames scattering every which
way, then charged at all three of them in a tactically-unsound manuever. She
would have been pounded, except Emmanem chose that particular moment to
intervene, lashing out with a high kick to Aliza's head. The blow resounded
with a solid (but hollow) noise, and Aliza stumbled back. Pressing the
advantage, Kiseki charged in and promptly got her ass blown away as Aliza
recovered with a wave of her arm that sent magic scattering everywhere. Emmy
managed to weave his way behind the wave and deliver another kick to the
head, this one landing as well through some miraculous feat of nature.
Lina decided not to ponder for too long on why Aliza, of all people, let
herself get kicked in the face twice in a row, and turned to face the Other
again. "This is getting *really* tiresome, y'know," she said, firing up a
Dill Brand underneath her breath.
"Then why don't you give up now?" He asked, as the rocks and other debris
around him began floating up in the air of their own accord. "There is
nothing you can do to us."
"Dill Brand." BOOM.
The rocks and other debris clattered back to the ground, and the Other
followed suit a second later. "Will you *stop* that? It isn't doing
anything."
"Dill Brand." BLAM.
Landing on the ankles constantly like that was getting painful. "I *said*
*stop* that--"
"Dill Brand." KABLOOEY.
Okay, now this was getting tiresome. "LINA INVERSE, I WILL KILL YOU LIKE
NOTHING ON THIS UNIVERSE HAS EVER BEEN KILLED BEFORE AND AFTER THAT I WILL
TAKE YOUR REMAINS AND--"
"Mega Brand." WAAAAAAAKKKAAAABOOOOOOOOM.
This particular one took almost a full ten seconds to recover from, being
that the Other couldn't find his way back to His former position (which was
now a big circular chunk of hole in the ground) due to the flying dust
around him. Once He did, he resumed his rant. "--AND I WILL--"
Silence. There was a definite lack of a commercial name, be it of pickle or
mega, sending Him into the air this time.
The Other looked around. Swirling blue energy pushed the clouded air aside,
and the face of Nevv Swanson smiled at Him.
"Seventh Absolution," she said.
"... oh, shit."
The world changed again.
Somewhere, a Flare Dragon and a Light God cursed violently.
[-----]
In the lifetime of many authors, they are usually obligated to make some
sort of long, rambling introductory paragraph as a lead-in to the next part
of the story. The paragraph, be it of short, stuttering sentences or flowery
prose and long-winded adjectives, oft has little to do with the subject
matter at hand and is usually counterpointed by a singular sentence that,
when matched against the previous ranting paragraph, is supposed to provide
for a humorous effect.
Obviously, this was one of those setups, if nothing else.
Having contributed nothing to the story and instead focusing on the rather-
mitigable techniques of satirical writing, the last two paragraphs--one and
one sentence, if you preferred--would have been much better off out of
existence. However, laziness is the key word of the day.
Moving right on, the world had changed again, and this entailed many things.
First of all, Nevv did not know *how* it would change, only that Ilyuum had
entrusted her with the knowledge and power of Seventh Absolution to wield
when the time was right. Second of all, the Other had already done his own
version of the reality-warping bit, and as such, the Seventh Absolution did
no good in ways of clearing up the mess. Thirdly, the spell had been aimed
directly at the Other.
Cataclysmic, apocalyptic, devastating, stuffblowinguppy... call it whatever
you want. It was, by definition, a bad place to be when someone launches a
spell of that magnitude in your face.
The Other was, to say the least, displeased. His architecture of
aggression--or annoyance, or cheesy villain-ism, depending on how one looked
at it, had crumbled apart like a cheap toy made in foreign countries. And
now, even He didn't know what the hell was going to happen, and Philbriezo
could take a leap off a cliff.
Speaking of which, that was about what had happened as He was musing along.
The world, having shifted once more, was now sloping sharping below Him in a
rocky expanse of sheer height and narrow angle.
Naturally, He utilized that one magic word that was so universally
appropriate. It wasn't "Dragon Slave", either.
"AUUUUUUGGHHH!!!"
Tumbling ass over teakettle, the Other went rolling down the cliffside,
scraping pretty much every part of his cloth-clad body and tearing bits and
pieces of his un-cloth-clad body away in shrieks of pain. It wasn't *real*
pain, obviously, because it was just a physical form... but with physical
form came physical pain, and that was really a bitch to have to deal with.
After hearing a crack or ten, He finally managed to come to a sandy, gritty
halt at the base of the cliff. The Other glanced up, and quickly began to
reform his physical self. He *had* to remain imposing, if nothing else.
The Other looked up. Standing there, surrounded with the faint grey of
Shamanistic magic, were Lina Inverse and Nevv Swanson. Between the two was
Emmanem, looking as cool as ever with a portable fan that was conveniently
out of the camera's line of sight blowing his hair back in a way that sent
sparkling lights everywhere. And flat on her face was Kiseki, giving a weak
'chou yoyutchi'.
Then He noticed that they weren't *just* there surrounded by the grey
ripples of their respective Raywings. Lina happened to be toting another
sizable ball of red energy in her hands, and a wide smirk on her impish
face.
Quickly, the Other attempted to shift into noncorporeal form while knowing
he would never make it in time. His last two words for this story were:
"This sucks."
"DRAGON SLAAAAAAAAAAAVE!!!"
"LINA, YOU IDIOT, NOT AT POINT BLAAAAAA--"
The rest was drowned out by the backwash of yet another explosion, signaling
another tear in this already-battered world that wasn't really Inner or
Outer anymore.
[-----]
A purple-haired priest smiled.
"Ah, so they did it, eh?" he said, turning to the woman standing before him.
"Good, good, I was hoping they would! Now, I can go on and begin this whole
thing without too much of a fuss. After all, the first block's out of the
way, so we just have to do a little stacking here and there... and voila!
Instant entropy!"
The woman smirked.
"Now, now, Luna, don't go giving me that look!" the man said, looking hurt.
"It's almost as if you don't *want* us to go through with this!"
"Depends. Got my orders, and you got yours."
"Ah, yes, that's true, but still, service with a smile, yes?" He smiled
broadly at her, raising one hand in a gesture of malicious friendliness.
"It *does* make everything so much easier, wouldn't you say?"
Luna grinned. "That is a secret," she said, wagging one finger at him.
And Xelloss, in turn, returned the grin, although his was decidedly more
predatory. "Now now, no territorial infringement. Wasn't that the first
thing they taught you in Dragon Elementary?"
"Maybe." She turned away and closed the scrying mirror with a flick of her
finger. "S'all for now, right?"
"Yes, yes, of course," Xelloss agreed. "We shall have much more to talk
about when the time comes. Oh, yes. Scurry along now, little Knight. The
pawns are there for the moving and the rooks are closing in! No time to
waste at all."
Luna nodded, and vanished from the place that was not the Between.
And a few seconds later, after allowing himself a small smile of amusement,
Xelloss disappeared as well.
[-----]
It wasn't over, though. The troops had managed to recover from the Ultimo
Karaoke Grandslam just as Lina capped a Slave up the Other's butt, and were
now bearing down at them again. Lina was tired from having done two Slaves
in a row like that (if the Other had made a crack about her breasts she
would've easily been able to sustain a few dozen, but he hadn't), and Nevv
had just changed the world. All the folk songs in the world were not enough
to sustain the two.
And then there was Emmanem, whose inherent lack of big-range blow-things-up
doodads made him all-but nigh-useless (but very cool-looking, even in the
face of all the hyphens) in situations where it was, like, four against a
few hundred.
Then there was Kis... never mind.
"Lina?" Nevv suggested quietly.
"... what?" she replied, catching her breath and scooping a bit of charred
sackcloth off of her boot.
"What do we do now?" Nevv finished somewhat-lamely.
Lina glanced over at the troops, who were picking up assorted weapons from
the ground and regaining their bearings. Target(s): one male, currently
standing uselessly in a breeze of his own making, and three females, one
small-breasted, one large-breasted, and one chanting something high up in
the air behind them. She was opening her mouth.
She was going to say something.
The troops each hit the deck before realizing that the music wasn't playing
in the background. What was she doing...?
The lucid blue microphone of energy appeared in Kiseki's hand, and with a
grin, she said ten magic words.
"Little girl, little breasts, scares the dragon from its nest!"
A wind blew past the suddenly-silent battlefield, knocking over the portable
fan with a rattle. Jeffrey-kun would have been dismayed.
Kiseki managed to Fatherly Flee the hell out of there, making sure she was
the last thing in Lina's line of sight.
Then it started.
"DRAGON SLAVE!"
Boom.
"DRAGON SLAVE!"
Kaboom.
"DRAGON SLAVE!"
Whackabackaboom.
"DRAGON SLAVE!"
Gssssssh.
And so on, and so forth...
[-----]
The world changed again. A couple of half-mile craters tends to do that.
Quietly, Nevv gathered the other three (making sure to put Lina to sleep--
thankfully, it wasn't a hard task at all) together and opened a swirling
portal of light, then sent them through one at a time with a convenient
levitation spell before slipping through herself, looking at the world
around them one last time.
They'd pretty much gone in, blown everything up, and were now going to
leave quietly and assume it never happened. Funny how things worked out.
But the fact that she was *still* able to cast spells in the Outer--spells
that she shouldn't have been able to, by the laws of restriction and summon
access--nagged at her. It meant that the portal was still stretched open,
the portal that lay along the reality-tunnels of the Inner, the Outer, and
the Between in the midst of both. And if that portal was open, then whatever
was on one side could travel to the other. Not the Other, thankfully. He was
supposed to be dead--if not dead, then relatively out of the picture for a
long while.
Still. She'd managed to distract--if not hurt--the Other long enough with a
Seventh Absolution in time for Lina to get in the final blow(s). But the
spell she'd used *did* kind of mean that the world had to change in some
form, and with that portal open from before, that meant that stuff could've
gone between both sides of reality easily... not a good thought.
Well, she'd deal with it in time, as she usually did. Ilyuum would know what
to do. And Ceipheed. Of course.
The four of them arrived back at the Between, and were greeted by the usual
array of dark mist, fog, and rolling hills of non-stuff.
"Hi!" Nevv chorused. "We're back, and we did it!"
There was no response.
"Hello?" Lina muttered, glancing up. "Anybody home? Sis?"
Nothing.
"Wonderful," Emmanem said, combing his blue hair back. "Is this a proper way
to greet the saviors of the world?"
"*You*?!" Kiseki yelled. "*I* was the one who casted two major spells that
saved us from the army both times! What sort of credit do I get?"
/Welcome back./
They all looked up--and before them stretched three figures of pure power,
pulsating in their respective aural colors and shimmering in time with the
fog that wafted past the 'ground'.
One of them was a tall, glorious azure Dragon that defied all description,
leaving the mind struggling for words as to its awe.
The other was a significantly-smaller but still large man with wings on his
back and a classical beauty to his face, which was completely golden along
with the rest of his chiseled yet immaterial body.
The third was a twisted, malevolent being that shone a deep purple, its own
aura competing for dominance alongside the other two. It was strange-looking
and yet at the same time, somehow benevolent, in a fairly perverse way.
They all bowed in time.
/Congratulations, Lina Inverse, Nevv Swanson, Emmanem, and Kiseki Rendahl,/
the Dragon said in a voice that resounded directly in their minds, a deep
rumbling baritone that was pleasant and ominously-foreboding.
/You have done very well,/ the man-angel said, smiling, his voice a rich
tenor that exuded warmth and light.
/Yes... and you will continue to do so until the very end,/ the monster said
in a tone that was cold, unagreeable.
/You have lost, Other,/ Ilyuum reprimanded. /Accept your loss gracefully./
/My Knight was *superior* to yours,/ Other retorted. /And Ceipheed's was not
involved. *How* did I lose?/
/You lacked the very thing we taught our pawns,/ Ceipheed said, turning to
look at the four once more.
/That would be what, old man?/
A faint surge of indignation, but no action. None whatsoever.
/It would be that, despite how evil may work, and what evil may think...
good will triumph in the end./
/This is *not* true,/ the Other protested again.
/Perhaps not.../ Ceipheed agreed gravely. /But your lack of experience and
overconfidence also cost you the game--/
"Hold it, HOLD IT!" Lina yelled, her voice echoing in the hollow Between.
"What the hell are all of you talking about?"
The three gods turned to look at her for a moment before replying.
/You do not yet know, Lina Inverse?/ Ceipheed asked. /You have much to learn
from your sister, then./
/The game has only begun, Nevv Swanson, and there is much lying ahead of
you,/ Ilyuum continued.
"Thank you very fricking much."
/As for my part... I will honor the treaty which we have agreed to,/ the
Other said reluctantly. /But not before they are restored./
The other two gods nodded in agreement, and before any of them could say a
word otherwise, a bright light shone, pulsed, and then faded, leaving the
Between calm and empty once more.
[-----]
/You owe me one thousand gold, Other./
/I *knew* I should have not chosen a Knight who looked like Lina Inverse in
terms of body proportions./
[-----]
"Lina? Hey, Lina!"
Someone shaking her shoulder. Lina swiped irritably at the air and rolled
over, mumbling something that sounded similar to "gwafodonwannageupgoway".
"OW! Hey, Lina, what was that for?"
That voice sounded oddly familiar. No, it couldn't be.
Rolling back over in bed again, Lina got the sheets tangled around her in a
sweaty bundle and ended up really uncomfortable. The innocent male voice
nagging for her to get up wasn't helping, either, so she finally got up,
rubbing her eyes. "Wha...?"
The smiling face of a handsome man with long, blond hair hanging over one
eye and behind his back in a long mane greeted her. "Hi, Lina!" he said
cheerfully.
"GOURRY?!"
"Um... yeah! That's me! Say, Lina, it's been almost three weeks since I saw
you last! Where'd you go off to? I mean, I was just passing by and I thought
maybe we could have lunch and--"
"Lunch?!"
Scramble up and dash, carrying a long-haired blond swordsman behind her.
"Let's GOOOOOOO!!!"
"Hey! Lina! Be careful!!"
[-----]
In another part of the world, a certain blond-haired mage awoke in the town
of Eyenowatudidulasumer (a long but fairly-easy name to memorize),
population 400. There was a note lying next to her on the bedstep, and
exactly thirty gold and sixteen silver in coins.
Nevv picked the note up and read it.
"Hello, Miss Swanson! When you read this, you will have no doubt regained
consciousness in a most-magnificent inn with all the trimmings included. I
urge you, enjoy yourself and relax, for you've had a hard time! Take a load
off, and while you do, please contact either me or a certain big-bosomed
Knight as soon as you can, because we have *so* many things to catch up on.
Yes, we do! Anyways, do try to contact me, because we have something coming
up for everyone, and that does include you! I'd hate for you to miss out on
it, Miss Swanson! My number is 1-800-HIMITSU-DESU. Thank you ever so much!
P.S. I've given some money to help pay for the fees and a meal or two. Think
of it as a present, from me to you. Have a nice day! ^_^"
"... oh, shit," Nevv muttered, sighing and slapping one hand against her
forehead. "It's *not* over yet..."
[-----]
As for Kiseki and Emmanem... well, they were currently sharing a similar
extenuating circumstance.
Let's look at Kiseki first.
"SENSEI?! But... I thought you were..."
Dan Hibiki shook his forearm violently, causing another delicately-balanced
piece of lumber to fall down on the ground behind him. "NEVER, my student,
my Knight of Hibiki! For anyone who is a practitioner of Saikyouism has the
power of escaping *any* situation! *Always* coming out on top! Did you not
do your utmost against the nasty interdimensional forces and whatnot?"
"Well, yes..." Kiseki said shyly, glancing at the ground. "But no one gives
me credit!"
He patted her on the shoulder comfortingly, and began speaking in a more
quiet tone of voice. "Kiseki, my dear student, when you are as ol--
er, experienced as I am, you will realize that credit it not what being a
true Saikyouism mage is all about. It's about *honor*... *glory*... *pride*,
and most of all, knowing that you made a difference!"
"So... I did good?" she sniffled, looking up at him.
"Yes! And you shall do more good right here, in helping me reconstruct
Kennelia!"
Kiseki blinked. Another piece of wood clattered down.
[-----]
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