Slayers is the property of Kadokawa Shoten.
FILIA: You know, I sometimes wonder what kind of mother I'll be. I mean, with Little
Val chan on the way, I have to be ready…
SHADOW LINA: I'm sure you'll be great, Miss Dragon Lady!
XELLOS: Of course she will! (Hands Filia a book.)
FILIA: What's this? (Reads the cover) "Parenting for Complete Morons?"
XELLOS: ^_^
FILIA: CHAOTIC DISINTEGRATE!!!
Faces: After
Part 21
Baby Boom!
Unplanned Parenthood!
There are certain sounds associated with the rising of the sun. The most prominent
of these is the sweet music of the birds as they search for food to bring back to their nested
young. On the opposite side of that spectrum in the list of sounds one normally NEVER
hears with the coming of the dawn, there is the sound that Naga the White Serpent awoke to
that morning…
"I GOT FILIA CHAN'S PAN-TIES! I GOT FILIA CHAN'S PAN-TIES!!!
WHOO!!! WHOO!!! WHOO!!!"
Naga's head shot up, her eyes blinking away the morning light. The first thing that
caught her eye was her Side-Kick of Questionable Worth, wearing a towel on his head tied
under his nose, running across their small camp, waving a pair of frilly, white, women's
underwear over his head.
"GIVE THOSE BACK, YOU HORRIBBLE, DISGUSTING NAMAGOMI!!!"
The second thing she saw was her Deus Ex Machina running right after him, her
mace held high over her head.
"I'M THE KING OF THE WORLD!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Xellos cried
out as he ran past the White Serpent again, the dragon's underwear hanging from the head
of his staff as he waved it like a flag.
"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU PERVERT!!!" Filia screamed, coming to a stop and
pointing her hands at him. "CHAOTIC DISINTEGRATE!!!!!!!!!"
A loud explosion wiped away any remaining sleep in Naga's brain. So began
another morning as a Flaming Hero. Rising to her feet, she made her way to where the rest
of the group was sitting, eating whatever frugal breakfast Amara and Shadow Lina could
prepare. They seemed to take little notice of the Mazoku and the Ryuuzoku's antics. All
except for Vanya, who was staring at them in frank disbelief.
"MISSED ME, FILIA CHAN! MISSED ME!"
"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Aren't you going to stop them?!" Vanya demanded as Naga yawned. Jeffrey
handed her a cup of warm tea, and she drank it in one swallow.
"Nah, they'll tire out eventually," Naga replied with a wave of her hand.
Another explosion from the other side of camp caused a shockwave to crash into
them, whipping their hair and capes around them.
"More tea, Miss Naga?" Amara offered with a smile.
"Thank you, Deus Ex Machina Part Deux!" Naga said and took another cup of tea.
"MISSED ME AGAIN, FILIA CHAN!!"
"They're going to destroy the entire camp!" Vanya argued.
"You mustn't be alarmed, Miss Greysword," Amara told her gently. "I assure you,
to the Mazoku this kind of behavior is quite common among their couples. Stirring rage in
one's mate is the equivalent of…oh…how do you say it?"
"Foreplay," Naga supplied.
There was another explosion, and this time a tree cracked as it fell near where the
other Flaming Heroes were sitting. Only Vanya flinched.
"Yes," Amara said with a slight blush. "It appears that Lord Xellos is attempting
to…um…entice my sister…"
"Think it'll work?" Jeffrey asked.
"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!!!!"
"Looking good so far," Amara said with a shrug.
"Vanya, dear," Naga began, looking over her teacup at her newest employee.
"Now that we're all up and fresh, I would like to discuss with you your secondary
duties…"
Vanya was too busy staring at Xellos and Filia to notice.
"Vanya!"
"They're going to end up destroying an entire town!" the swordswoman exclaimed.
Before Naga could rebut, Xellos came crashing right through the center of the
group. He buried his staff into the ground, the underwear flapping in the breeze. Stepping
back, he saluted smartly and began to sing.
"Send her vic-to-rious! Hap-py and glo-rious! Long may she reign oooo-ver us!
Goooood saaa-ve…theeee….Quuuueeeeeeeennnn!!!"
As his song ended, he was struck on the back of the head with a mace. He hit the
dirt at the base of the makeshift flagpole and turned onto his back. Filia was glaring down
at him, snorting like an angry bull. She lifted her mace over her head…
"Okay! Enough!" Naga cried, rising to her feet. "It appears that as long as you
two are fighting, Vanya here is not going to be able to listen, so I'm going to split you up!"
"Awww!" Xellos whined.
"THANK YOU, MISS NAGA! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!"
Naga crossed her arms over her chest and smirked. "When personality conflicts
erupt between employees, it is MY responsibility to solve them. Filia, Amara, why don't
you do some CAP for a few hours?"
The two dragons blinked. "Um…CAP?" Amara asked.
"You know…Combat Air Patrol…"
The dragons looked to one another and shrugged.
Naga sighed and looked at the sky. "Will I EVER be understood in my own time!?"
She pointed at the dragons. "Just fly out ahead and scout around!"
"Why didn't you just SAY that, instead of…" Filia began.
"Or you can stay here with Xellos and…"
"COME ON, AMARA!!" Filia cried, grabbing her sister's arm. With an "EEP!"
the elder dragon was pulled away by the younger.
"Perhaps I should go with them and…" Xellos began.
"Side-Kick," Naga began, "I have another job for you. I want you to start thinking
up the best way to break into the Seyruun Palace unnoticed."
Xellos blinked. He thought for a few seconds. "Done! Now I'll just go see if Filia
chan needs any help…"
"Mister Xellos," Shadow Lina spoke up, "Maybe you should give Miss Dragon
Lady time alone."
"She doesn't need time alone, Lina chan!" Xellos said with a pat of the redhead's
red head. "What she needs is a good, long…"
Shadow Lina turned bright red!
"…flight," Xellos finished. He snickered and walked off.
"Hey, Lina," Jeffrey said with a blink. "Why are you blushing?"
"No reason!" she cried back.
"Anyway!" Naga cried, trying to get hold of her own band of heroes again.
"Vanya, as part of your duties, you have to perform a single, simple, almost mundane
task…"
"Like what?" Vanya asked darkly, her arms folding over her chest.
Naga smiled. "You have to make our young Jeffrey a man."
"That…that…horrible…disgusting…arrogant….NAMAGOMI!!" Filia shouted as
her dragon form glided above the clouds.
"Honestly, Filia chan, it's to be expected," Amara told her, flying alongside of her
sister. "He's only doing what's natural for his kind."
"Hmmph!" Filia sniffed, tossing her golden snout in the air. "Deplorable behavior!
Even for a Mazoku!"
Amara giggled to herself. "Filia likes Xel-los!" she sang.
"I do not!" Filia sniffed. "You know, I don't even see how he could be attracted to
me. Mazoku are masochists, right? Wouldn't they be attracted to abrasive, abusive,
females who would treat them like dirt?"
Amara looked at her sister, then rolled her eyes. "Yeah," she muttered, "I can't see
what he could POSSIBLY see in you…"
Filia's serpentine eyes narrowed at her sister. "Hmmph!" She turned back to
flying. "Seriously, Amara! You're the expert! How can he be attracted to me? Is it even
POSSIBLE for a Mazoku and Ryuuzoku to mate?"
"Well, it IS unprecedented," Amara admitted. "But it all really comes down to the
melding of astral essence."
"How do you know so much about this?" Filia asked her. "I've spent years at the
seminary learning about the Mazoku, but some of the things you claim to know I've never
heard of before in my life."
Amara smiled. "The Amalgamationists take information to heart. And there are
other reasons. Lord Xellos is not the first Mazoku to be cast out of his clan."
Filia blinked in shock. "There have been others?!"
"Three that I know of," Amara said, almost offhandedly. "Death really isn't a
punishment to the Mazoku, Filia. To die is to return to the Lord of Nightmares, so by
simply killing one of them, you're not really doing anything bad to them. But if you cast
them out, take away their identity, and forbid them from dying, they live in agony. The
Mazoku we've had contact with were outcasts like this; Mazoku who were punished by
their overlords for some crime."
"And they actually spoke to you?" Filia asked.
Amara laughed. "Oh no! The last one died almost four hundred years ago.
Apparently, the overlords found out they were telling tales out of school and had them
destroyed to prevent anymore information about them from getting out." She sighed. "They
are VERY protective of their secrets, Filia chan."
Filia rolled her eyes. "So I've heard…" She blinked as something caught her eye
on the horizon. "Amara…What's that up there? My eyes aren't as good…."
Amara looked out ahead of her. "Are those…birds of some kind?"
"Let's get closer and take a look."
"NO WAY!!" Shadow Lina cried as she hopped up and wrapped her arms around
Jeffrey's throats, glaring hatefully at Naga and Vanya. "NO ONE'S GOING TO MAKE
LORD JEFFREY A MAN BUT ME!!!" She realized what she said a second later and
turned bright red.
"Um…Could someone tell me what's going on?" Jeffrey asked.
"There, there, Lord Jeffrey," Shadow Lina cooed softly. "I won't let them…"
"Um," Vanya began, eye twitching, "I'm really not…"
"STAY AWAY FROM HIM, YOU HUSSY!!!" Shadow Lina screamed, tightening
her grip on Jeffrey's throat. The boy gagged and started to turn blue.
"Look!" Vanya said angrily. "I don't know what kind of woman you people take
me for, but I am NOT going to…"
Naga waved the arguments aside. "Not THAT way! I just thought that since Vanya
here happens to be a sword expert, that perhaps she'd be willing to teach Jeffrey how to
fight."
"But I can already fight, Miss Naga!" Jeffrey exclaimed, hopping to his feet and
drawing Razor Blade. "My Mommy taught me everything I'll ever need to know about…"
Naga replied by reaching out and pushing him over. Jeffrey, now firmly on his butt,
looked up and blinked.
"There!" Naga said triumphantly. "Jeffrey, Miss Josephine isn't around to save
your as…er…back you up anymore!" She decided to try a different tactic. "Think of it as
learning a new form of combat! This way, you'll be twice as deadly for knowing two
sword methods instead of just one!"
Jeffrey brightened at this. "I suppose I COULD use the extra training…"
"No, Lord Jeffrey! Please!" Shadow Lina cried. "I've seen the way she looks at
you!"
"Excuse ME?!" Vanya cried indignantly.
"Then it's decided!" Naga announced.
"OOOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!!!"
"What do you see?" Filia asked Amara as they flew ever closer to the disturbance
up ahead.
Amara blinked. "They're humans!" she announced. "In some kind of flying
machines!"
Filia arched an eyebrow. "Flying MACHINES?!"
The elder dragon nodded. "From what I can make out, they have some kind of
spinning blades on the front and above them." She squinted. "There's two humans in each
one. The one in front is pedaling…"
Filia shook her head. "Humans flying…Great, that's all we dragons need…"
Amara was blinking at the sight before her. "Oh dear Cepheid!"
Villzka looked up at his mother fearfully. For some reason, his mother couldn't fly
them to safety like she said they would. They were trapped on the hard ground. Looking at
the Avian's golden-brown wings, it was obvious why. Red feathers clashed with brown in
the areas where iron arrows had struck the creature.
"Mama!?" the young Avian implored. "Who are they, Mama?! Why are they doing
this?!"
The larger bird-creature shushed her baby son and stood up. "Remain here," she
cautioned. "It will…" She broke off weakly as her wounds made themselves known again.
Taking her son from the safety of their nest-village had been a risk, she knew, but it was
necessary to give him his first flying lesson.
She did not expect the inhabitants of the human village nearby to attack them so
suddenly…
"It will be all right," she cooed. "Remain here…"
"Mama!"
She heard the "whuff whuff whuff!" sounds of the human's flying machines getting
closer and stood up, turning toward them. Drawing her light rapier, she braced herself…
Amara grit her teeth. "Those…those…"
Filia blinked at her sister. "What is it?"
"They…They gunned her down…Right there in front of that child!" Amara was
growling now. "Those…Those……Those……………………NAMAGOMI!!!!"
Filia turned back to the scene ahead of them. Now that they were closer, she could
see the situation more clearly.
The humans were turning their machines around for another pass.
She blinked and grit her teeth. "They're going to go for that poor child!"
"Oh no they're not," Amara growled. With a hard flap of her wings, she shot
forward.
"Wait for me, Amara!" Filia called after her as she followed.
Villzka pushed his mother's wing off of him and stood up. "Mama?"
The elder Avian didn't move, her sharp eyes closed to the world.
"Mama?" the child asked, his eyes tearing up. He reached out to touch her feathers
as a tear ran down his beak. "Mama?"
He turned as he heard something approaching. At first he thought it was the humans
again, but no…Their machines made a different sound. This was more like the sound of a
whistle as a dart flew threw the air. He looked up.
Two golden darts were approaching. In a second they were passing over him, the
wind of their passage nearly knocking him down. He turned and watched as they flew off
in the direction the humans had gone…
The humans flying the wooden flying machines didn't even notice the two dragons
behind them until they shot past them at near the speed of sound, the wind from their
passing nearly knocking them from the sky. As it was, it took quite a bit to keep the
machines from plunging to the ground.
The pilots watched incredulously as the dragons turned to make another pass.
"They don't look so tough now!" Amara cheered.
"They're splitting up!" Filia warned.
"I got the one on the left!" the elder dragon told her.
"I got the right!" Filia agreed.
The two dragons split off after their chosen targets. Filia glided easily behind one
of the human-made flying craft and watched as the pilot tried to get speed by diving
towards the ground. Filia followed easily and smirked at the pilot's attempts to evade her.
Pulling up, she followed them into a nearby cloudbank…
The pilot of the other craft looked about fearfully, not seeing any sign of the dragon
with the purple bow on her tail…
Not until she dropped out of nowhere behind him, flapping her wings angrily.
The pilot shrieked and started pedaling faster. In the back seat, his loader was
screaming at him to go faster. Amara watched in disgust. Apparently, these humans were
only brave enough to fight injured Avians and children.
She'd show them what flying REALLY was!
The pilot dived hard for the ground, trying to pick up speed. Amara turned on her
back and started for the Earth, herself, the wind screaming past her wings. During her
dive, the human managed to get his nose pointed at her. She heard something whistling past
her ear and realized they were shooting darts at her. She growled.
"No more playing," she muttered.
Meanwhile, Filia's prey had cleared the clouds. The pilot looked around, hoping
he had lost the pink-bowed serpent. Only to see it break from the clouds behind him. The
loader in the back seat picked up a crossbow and aimed at her…
Filia opened her mouth. Blue light coalesced there for a moment before streaking
out and striking the craft.
The flaming wreckage fell to the ground a few thousand feet below.
The pilot of the other craft searched all around. He had lost sight of Amara in the
sun, and had no idea where she was now. He looked down at the ground and gulped.
The shadow of his craft had been swallowed by the shadow of a very large, very
pissed off dragon.
In other words, Amara was directly above him.
He looked up and saw the dragon snarl at him. She flapped her wings downward
in one hard motion. The human's craft was struck by the suddenly shot of air and spiraled
out of control, striking the ground and smashing apart, leaving a long field of debris behind
it.
Amara sniffed and threw her snout in the air.
Villzka watched fearfully as the giant serpents landed nearby. Tucking their wings
behind their backs, there was suddenly a bright, yellow flash. The Avian child covered his
eyes to block out the bright light, and when it dissipated, two blonde humans stood before
him. He cringed back in fright.
One of the humans, wearing a funny hat and white and pink robes held her hands out
in front of her in a peaceful gesture. "It's okay," she said soothingly. "We won't hurt you."
Villzka responded by cowering further away.
"Poor thing," the other woman, wearing a red dress, cooed.
"We won't hurt you," the woman in the funny hat repeated. "It's okay." The blonde
bit her lip in thought. "What's your name?"
The bird-child looked at her. "V…Villzka."
"Hi, Villzka," the blonde in the hat said with a smile. "I'm Filia. And this is my
sister, Amara."
Villzka continued to cower.
"What do you think we should do, Filia?" Amara asked. "We can't leave him here
all alone."
Filia looked at the carnage around her, at the dead female Avian lying not far away,
and made a decision.
Shadow Lina cringed sympathetically as Jeffrey was tossed through the air again,
landing on his back near her feet. With a mighty huff, he jumped to his feet, raised his
sword over his head, and charged back into battle. "RAZOR BLADE AWAY!!!"
"Miss Naga, I don't think this was such a good idea," she whimpered at her
employer, who was relaxing under the tree next to her.
"Oh, he's fine!" Naga waved the idea aside.
"STONE CLEAVE!" There was an explosion, and Jeffrey landed at Shadow
Lina's feet amid a cloud of dust and debris.
"Lord Jeffrey! Please stop!" Shadow Lina whimpered, her hands clasped before
her. "I worry for your safety! You don't need to learn a new form of swordfighting!
You're invincible just the way you are!"
Jeffrey took a second to blink away a concussion, then smiled. "Fear not, Lina! A
true warrior is constantly striving for fighting perfection! Besides, Miss Naga thinks this is
a good idea…"
Shadow Lina leaned over and whispered to him. "I'm not sure Miss Naga really
knows what she's talking about…"
"Ha! I trust Miss Naga!" Jeffrey announced, climbing to his feet. He held his
sword over his head. "Because she TOLD me to!" He screamed and rushed Vanya again.
There was another explosion, and Jeffrey went flying past her again. Shadow Lina
sighed and sat down again. Before she could fret much more, Filia and Amara were
approaching, gliding smoothly down to the ground.
Naga looked up and saw that Filia was carrying something in her arms even as she
transformed back into a human. "Ah! Deus Ex Machina found some treasure, I see!" She
stood up and approached them. "What did you get? Diamonds? Gold?"
"Actually," Amara began, "We found this little bird child that…"
Naga gasped and fell backwards on her butt, pulling her sword and pointing it at the
cowering Avian holding Filia's hand. "Where did you get it?!" she asked harshly.
"Miss Naga!" Filia cried. "It's just a poor, helpless child! We saw a bunch of
humans attacking him and his mother!"
Shadow Lina leaned over at Villzka and smiled brightly.
"He's….so……ADORABLE!!!" Without warning, she was hugging the Avian.
"Oh, sure!" Naga cried, her sword still pointing at the bird. "When they're little,
it's 'Aww, how cute!' But then they grow up into eight foot killing machines! Then there's
running…and screaming….and all manners of hell!"
"You're being stupid!" Filia told her in irritation. "He's just a child! We're going
to take him home before moving on."
"Oh, is that what you think?!" Naga cried. "Do you even know what these things
are?!"
"I do, Miss Naga!" Shadow Lina cried, waving her hand over her head. "It's
CUTE!"
Naga threw her Goody Two-Shoes Sorceress a withering look. "It's an AVIAN!"
"What's an Avian?" Jeffrey asked, rubbing his head from Vanya's latest thrashing.
Filia cried out as she felt someone pinch her backside. Turning quickly, she saw
Xellos standing there. "An Avian, young Jeffrey, is an intelligent bird-like creature created
by the Wind Dragon King. They're very effective soldiers. Their Alpha Males can grow
to about eight feet tall. They eat fresh meat…like you," he noted with a grin, "And are
generally unpleasant."
"Side Kick of Questionable Worth and I ran into a bunch of them on Zarak Tor,"
Naga explained. "They were most certainly NOT cute."
"Which might explain why humans would be attacking them," Xellos pointed out.
"Well what do you suggest we do?" Filia snapped. "I promised Villzka I'd take
him home!"
"Woah! Wait a second!" Vanya exclaimed, giving the time out sign. "We don't
have time for a tangent! We're on our way to Seyruun!"
"It's a just a little child!" Amara argued.
"Yes!" Naga agreed loudly. "A little child with older brothers and sisters that I
might have met once while they tried to tear my entrails out with their beaks! Forget it!
You can drop it off at the next town if you like, but we're not going to just walk into one of
their nests, say 'Hi, there! Some of our fellow humans were butchering this poor little
Avian so we brought him here,' and let them eat us!"
"We should split up!"
Everyone turned to Jeffrey, the source of the suggestion.
"I'm sorry, Swordsman of Dubious Skill," Naga began, "But what was that?"
"Well, Miss Naga, it just seems to me that the big concern here is that Avians eat
humans. Well…Miss Filia and Miss Amara are dragons, not humans. Um…don't dragons
and Avians follow the same gods or something?"
The group went silent.
"You know," Filia said, her finger to her lip in thought, "As I recall, the Fire
Dragon King and the Wind Dragon King WERE on good terms…"
"And the Amalgamationists embrace ALL creatures!" Amara agreed.
"And Mazoku hate everyone equally!" Xellos said with a bright smile.
Filia's eyes narrowed. "Just what are you thinking?"
Xellos grinned. "Well…I'm not human either, Filia chan…Remember?"
"How can I forget?" Filia ground out. "I've never met anyone as INHUMAN as
you…"
"Then it's settled!" Naga announced. "My dragons and my sidekick will go return
the Avian to its nest, and the rest of us will head to Seyruun! What a wonderful plan I've
come up with! I am a genius! OOOOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!
OOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!"
Villzka clutched at Filia's leg. "Make it stop, Dragon Oneechan! Please make it
stop!!"
"OOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!!"
"I still don't get it," Filia remarked as the four of them walked down their chosen
road. "Why don't we just fly there?"
Xellos wagged a finger at her. "Patience, Filia chan, patience! Eventually,
someone is going to come looking for those humans you and Miss Amara dispatched, then
they're going to start looking for whoever destroyed them. Three traveling clerics
escorting a small child draw much less attention than two golden dragons and a Mazoku."
"I just hope Miss Naga and the others don't get so far ahead that we never find them
again," Amara fretted.
"Yeah, that would be horrible," Filia muttered, rolling her eyes.
"Dragon Oneechan?"
Filia looked down at Villzka, who was disguised in a brown cloak and hood to
hide his feathers and beak. He was holding the dragon priestess' hand as he looked up at
her.
"I'm hungry."
The dragon blinked and put her finger to her lip in thought. "I guess we can stop for
lunch." She smiled at the bird. "What would you like, Villzka? How about some fish?"
Villzka nodded.
Several minutes later, seated around a campfire, Filia put the child into her lap and
held up a blackened piece of fish. "Yum yums!"
The Avian child eyed the meat with disgust and started squirming in Filia's arms.
"Come on," she prompted, holding him tighter. "Mmmmm! Yums!"
"Um….Filia chan…" Xellos began, raising a finger.
"Shhh! I'm trying to get him to eat!" she chastised the Mazoku quietly.
"Er…But Filia chan…."
"Hush!" She turned her attention back to Villzka, who was still trying to squirm
away. "Oh, what's wrong, little one?!" Filia asked in exasperation. "You said you were
hungry!"
"It's icky!" Villzka cried out.
"Filia chan…"
"Oh, dammit! What do you want?!" Filia asked Xellos angrily.
The priest smiled. "I just thought you'd like to know that Avians can't eat cooked
meat. It makes them sick."
The dragon sweatdropped as she glowered at Xellos. "Well why didn't you SAY
that?" she bit out between clenched teeth.
Xellos shrugged. "I guess I'm just slow…"
She growled but reigned herself in. Looking down at Villzka, she smiled. "So
what WOULD you like, Villzka chan?"
"How about one of these!?" Xellos asked, wagging a raw and very much alive
mackerel under Filia's nose. The golden dragon turned green and tried to scoot away, but
Xellos followed, keeping the wiggling fish right in her face. Finally Villzka grabbed it
with both talons.
"Thank you, Xellos Niichan!" Villzka cried before tearing into the fish's stomach
with his beak. Fish entrails and blood squirted all over Filia's dress, and the dragon
turned an even deeper shade of green.
"Enjoy, Villzka chan!" Xellos replied with a smile.
Sitting on the other side of the fire, Amara clasped her hands together in delight.
"How cute! Just like a real family!"
Filia couldn't take it anymore and suddenly put the Avian off her lap onto the
ground. She ran around a nearby tree and started to vomit.
The others listened as sounds of torment came from the other side of the tree.
Amara looked at Xellos sympathetically. "I'm sure it was the fish that did that, Lord
Xellos."
Xellos grinned. "I'm sure it was…"
"Um…Miss Greysword?" Shadow Lina began quietly as the four of them walked
down the road. "Um…I don't want to interfere or anything, but isn't making Lord Jeffrey
carry a bag of rocks with him a little too much?"
Vanya crossed her arms over her chest and smirked. "If he wants to learn the Ishi-
Ryu technique, he has to go through the same training I did!"
"Ishi-Ryu?" Shadow Lina asked.
The swordswoman nodded. "When I left my village six years ago, I had no idea
where to start looking for my brother, so I wandered aimlessly. During my travels, I was
set upon by a group of bandits."
"Oh dear!" Shadow Lina squeaked.
"Before they could take what little money I had, a woman jumped from the trees
and attacked them." She looked down at Shadow Lina. "In a few seconds, it was all
over."
"Wow!"
"The woman was a member of a women's secret society connected to the Shrine
Maidens of Femille…The Order of the Royal Teardrop."
"Oh yeah! I've heard of them! They're some kind of ninja band, aren't they?"
Vanya sweatdropped. "Something like that. Anyway, she took me under her wing
and taught me to fight in the Ishi-Ryu style. I still had to search for my brother, though, so I
ended up cutting my training short. When I left, she gave me this katana." She held up the
sword and scabbard.
"Oh…"
"I don't mind teaching the boy a few of the basics," she told Shadow Lina.
"Cepheid knows he could use it. But that doesn't excuse him from the same stuff I went
through."
Shadow Lina looked back over her shoulder at Jeffrey, whose pack was laden
down with two large stones as he huffed and puffed down the trail. He looked about ready
to keel over.
"But what if it's too much?" the shadow asked.
Vanya shrugged. "If he dies, then at least my former master will be comforted by
the knowledge that the Ishi-Ryu form was not passed onto someone unworthy of it."
"That's…um…very comforting…" Shadow Lina replied worriedly.
"Awww! Filia chan, are you still pouting?" Xellos asked as he flashed into
existence alongside the dragon priestess.
Marching down the road, Filia looked away and sniffed.
Xellos grinned mischievously. "It's not my fault Villzka likes me more."
"HA!" Filia laughed. "As if ANYONE could like YOU!"
"To be honest, I find the notion rather farfetched, myself," Xellos confessed.
"Hmmph!"
"Oh, don't be like this, Filia chan!" Xellos teased with a poke from his finger. "I
brought you a present."
Filia blinked. "A present?"
Xellos reached into his robes and pulled out a small vase. It was made of white
marble and encrusted with emeralds. It looked ancient, but in excellent condition. Filia's
eyes went wide and sparkled at the sight.
"I know you have a fondness for antiques, Filia chan," Xellos went on as he rolled
the vase up and down his arms like a basketball. "So I picked this up for you."
"It…It's beautiful," she remarked quietly.
The priest spun it on his finger for a moment before offering it to her. Filia reached
out and took the item, blushing just a little.
"Thank you, Xellos." (Perhaps he CAN be thoughtful and kind,) she thought to
herself. "Where did you get it?"
Xellos smiled proudly. "The Atlas City Museum of Art History," he announced.
Filia facefaulted. "You STOLE it?!"
"That's a problem?" he asked curiously.
"YES, IT'S A PROBLEM!" Filia screamed at him. "You just can't take something
that doesn't belong to you!"
Xellos waggled a finger back and forth in front of her. "Ah! But the fact that that
vase is in your hands PROVES that I CAN take something that doesn't belong to me!"
"You see?!" she demanded, throwing the vase back at him. "You see?! THIS is
why I hate you! You don't care about anyone's feelings but your own! It's just like what
happened this morning! You embarrassed me like that for your own amusement!"
"Hmmph! It's not my fault if you refuse to acknowledge that you don't know
everything!" Xellos shot back.
Filia's cheeks began to redden and puff out in anger as her tail made an appearance.
"I don't think I know everything! I just know more than YOU!"
"Oh, that's mature!" Xellos bit out.
"NOW YOU'RE CALLING ME IMMATURE!? YOU'RE THE IMMATURE
ONE!"
"I KNOW YOU ARE, BUT WHAT AM I?!" the Mazoku fired back. He stuck his
tongue out at the dragon.
"HMMPH!" Filia sniffed. "As if a MAZOKU could take care of a child! I
wouldn't trust you to take care of a goldfish!" She reached out and gave him a push.
"HA! Seeing the number you did on Villzka's lunch, you have quite the nerve to
talk about who is and isn't qualified to take care of FISH!" He pushed back.
"MAZOKU HAVE NO PLACE TAKING CARE OF CHILDREN!" Another push.
Growling, she threw her nose into the air. "Why ARE you here, anyway?"
"SOMEONE has to make sure you don't accidentally kill the boy," Xellos told her
haughtily. "The way dragons raise their young is pathetic!"
"Pathetic?!"
Xellos nodded smugly. "The way you BABY them for eons…No wonder the
Ryuuzoku are such a weak race!"
Filia was practically burning in rage. "And I suppose the Mazoku just fling their
young into the astral plane the second they're born and forget they exist!"
"We TEACH them to SURVIVE!"
"We teach OUR young to LIVE!" Filia shot back.
"Excuse me," Amara broke in. The two looked to her and blinked. "But are you
teaching Villzka how to hide? Because I can't find him." She laughed nervously.
"WHAT?!" Filia cried. "YOU LET HIM OUT OF YOUR SIGHT?!"
"Um…Filia chan," Xellos broke in. "Wasn't he holding YOUR hand?"
The dragon looked down at her hand and shrieked as she realized Xellos was right.
SHE had lost him! She turned and started shouting into the trees. "VILLZKA!!
VILLZKA!"
"Yareyare…" Xellos said with a shake of his head.
"Oh!" Filia cried, falling to her knees. "What kind of parent am I?! Letting a
young child wander off alone!"
"Um…Perhaps we should place the emphasis on FINDING Villzka?" Amara
suggested.
"Right!" Filia declared, jumping back to her feet. "Split up!" With that, the golden
dragon darted off into the woods.
Villzka stumbled down a path, looking about fearfully. He wasn't quite sure what
had happened. Dragon Oneechan was angry at Xellos Niichan and was yelling quite a bit.
He didn't like it when adults fought. It scared him, so he decided to find Amara Oneechan.
Except that by that time, Amara was already ahead of everyone else when he THOUGHT
she was walking behind them.
Bottomline: He was lost, and on the ground no less!
Avian children were taught stories about the ground. It was a scary place where
anything could happen. There were monsters, and Mazoku, and HUMANS! They were the
scariest of all!
Tears welled up in the boy's eyes. He didn't like this place. Not one bit. The
sounds of sobbing must have sounded like appealing to something, though, because the
child tensed a moment later as he heard a growl behind him.
Turning, Villzka blinked and gasped in fear. Whining quietly, he started backing
away from the wild dog that had snuck up on him. The animal stood almost as tall as him.
Drool dripped from its jowls as he approached the Avian. Villzka whimpered and
continued backing up until his back hit a boulder. There was nowhere to run.
He heard something to his left and turned his head to see a black-robed figure
appear not too far away.
"Xellos Niichan!" Villzka cried out happily. He was saved!
Xellos' violet eyes took in the situation. He smiled gently, and Villzka was sure
that he would be okay. Xellos Niichan would save him.
Instead of blasting the wild dog, however, Xellos knelt to the floor and picked up a
large stick that had been lying nearby. With one gentle swing, he tossed the broken branch
at Villzka, watching as it landed at the Avian's feet.
Villzka blinked and looked up at Xellos, still waiting for the priest to do something
to help him. Xellos responded by taking his own staff, and striking a nearby tree with it,
causing a loud *CRACK!*
The Avian stood there, rooted in fear. Xellos struck the tree again and looked at
the bird child expectantly.
Tears ran down the child's face. Suddenly, the dog started barking and charged the
Avian. Villzka screamed and covered his face. There was a flash of darkness, and Xellos
was there! He took the child in his arms and disappeared with him, reappearing behind the
dog, which was now searching about for the prey it had just lost. The priest
unceremoniously dumped Villzka to the ground, dropped the stick at his feet, and
disappeared again, reappearing farther away.
Villzka stood up, puzzled. What was Xellos Niichan doing?! Why wouldn't he
rescue him!?
Xellos seemed to read his thoughts and pointed at the stick. Then he struck a tree
with his own staff as hard as he could. The dog was approaching the child again.
Swallowing fearfully, Villzka reached down and picked up the stick. Holding it in both
hands, he faced the wild dog, shaking like a leaf in the wind. He braced himself as the dog
charged him again…
He shut his eyes and raised the stick over his head…
Before the dog could reach him, however, there was a bright, golden glow between
them. Filia appeared, brandishing her mace.
"BAD DOOOOOOOOOOOOOGGGGGG!!!!" she screamed as she swung. The
mace made contact with the lunging animal and sent the whimpering dog flying into the
stratosphere!
"DRAGON ONEECHAN!" Villzka cried, dropping the stick and rushing into the
blonde's arms, weeping fearfully.
"VILLZKA!" She hugged the crying Avian to her chest and held on tight.
"I was so scared, Dragon Oneechan!" Villzka wept. "I…" He looked up to see
Filia staring at something over his shoulder, fire in her eyes.
"Na…" she bit out. "Ma…Go…MI!!!"
"Filia chan! You ruined everything!" Xellos replied, walking up to the two of
them.
The dragon screamed and swung her mace at the Mazoku, who disappeared and
reappeared behind her again, looking somewhat annoyed with her.
"How COULD YOU?!" she asked him in obvious horror. "I knew you were a
monster! But to torment a CHILD like that!"
"Torment?" Xellos asked curiously. "He's an Avian. He's going to have to learn
to kill SOMETIME. Especially with his mother gone."
"You cruel…horrible beast," she whispered. She took Villzka's hand and started
marching away. "Come along, Villzka!"
Xellos shook his head and sighed. "Yareyare…"
"I think you're BOTH acting stupid!"
Filia blinked in shock and actually took a step back. She had gone to Amara
expecting her to realize just how horrible Xellos really was. Instead…
"I can't believe you would take his side in this," she whispered.
Amara didn't stop walking as she answered. "I'm NOT taking his 'side,' Filia. I
think you're both stupid! First of all, he's being stupid for subjecting such a young boy to
such a lesson!"
"LESSON?! It was nothing less than toying with a rabbit thrown into a snake pit!"
Amara ignored her. "And YOU are being stupid for making such assumptions. I'm
sure Xellos was just trying to TEACH young Villzka how to defend himself…"
"A very astute observation, Amara chan!" Xellos announced, appearing on the
other side of the dragon from Filia.
Amara stopped and turned to him, snarling. With one quick movement, her hand
flew to her dress and lifted the skirt! Grabbing the coiled whip that rode her thigh, she
cracked it once!
Xellos actually hit the ground on his rear. He blinked and gingerly touched the end
of his nose where Amara's whip had nipped him. The priest looked up at her.
"It was stupid of you to subject such a young Avian to that kind of lesson!" she
lectured him. "It's OBVIOUS that his muscles haven't developed to the point where he'd
even have a CHANCE against a dog! Even with you standing right there, it was dangerous
and foolhardy!"
Filia beamed at Xellos from over her sister's shoulder. "Exactly my point!" she
declared. A second later, Amara's glare was turned on her…
*whi-CRACK!*
"ITAI!" Filia cried, rubbing her bottom with her hands.
Amara coiled her whip and hmmph'd. "And YOU, young lady…As dangerous as
his lesson might have been, you had no right to interfere! The only thing you taught Villzka
chan today was that he'll never have to fight his own battles."
Filia looked up at her sister in shock. "Amara Oneechan!"
"QUIET!" The priestess and the priest hung their heads. "Now both of you
apologize to one another!"
Filia looked ready to have a heart attack. "But, Amar…"
"DO IT!"
The dragon priestess sighed. "I'm sorry, Xellos…" she murmured.
Xellos grinned. "Apology ac…"
"You too," Amara growled, glaring at him.
The Mazoku scratched his head. "Well…If it'll help keep the peace…I apologize,
Filia chan."
Amara smiled happily. "Good! Now we can all be one big happy family again!"
She turned and took Villzka's hand. "Come along, my little eagle. Let's go catch some
dinner." Villzka just blinked at the two chastised demi-gods and followed Amara.
"Filia chan," Xellos began.
"Yes?"
"Let's not piss off your sister again if at all possible, ne?"
Filia nodded her head and agreement and started to follow them.
The bandit leader hefted his wooden club and sneered down at the young woman
holding a broken branch up as if ready to fight the entire gang herself. Her dress was torn
and her face bloody, but she still held a look of frank determination in her eyes.
"Well, girly, ready to give up?" the bandit leader asked with a chuckle.
The woman looked at him and bit out the only reply she knew suitable for a request
like that.
"Fuck you."
The rest of the gang laughed, and the bandit leader stepped forward. "Well, if you
really WANT to…" he chuckled.
The woman raised the branch over her head, but before either of them could swing,
there was movement from above, something purple was flying over them.
"STONE CLEAVE!"
The object landed in front of the bandit leader and swung her sword at the ground.
An explosion at the point where the steel met the earth flew up and engulfed the entire
bandit gang in a cloud of smoke, dust, and debris. The bandits screamed and covered their
eyes. A second later, two members of the gang who had not run or been knocked
unconscious by the blast, rushed forward, their clubs over their heads.
The purple savior swung her sword twice, but did so so fast that only the sunlight
reflected off the blade could be seen. A second later, the tops of the bandits' clubs fell to
the ground. Realizing just how outmatched they were, they ran.
The woman looked at her savior in astonishment. She had never seen anyone move
so fast. The woman wore some sort of dark purple body suit that hugged her form and
provided ease of movement. Her hair matched this color and was cut short except for two
long pony-tails that ran down the length of her body, almost to the floor. The unknown
woman sheathed the katana she had used to dispatch the bandits and turned to her.
"Are you all right, Miss?" she asked.
The woman nodded quickly. "Yes…Th..thank you…"
The swordswoman smiled. "Men can be such filthy creatures, ne?"
The woman could only nod. "Wh..Who are you?"
"My name is Aeka, from the Kingdom of Femille," the swordswoman replied.
"And you?"
The woman needed a moment before the fear had left her enough sense to think.
"Stevanya," she replied. "Stevanya Greywords."
"Miss Greysword?"
Vanya shook herself from her reverie and blinked at the shadow looking up at her.
"Huh?"
"Don't you think Lord Jeffrey's held that boulder over his head long enough?"
Shadow Lina asked, pointing at the young knight, red-faced from holding a large stone over
his head.
"Oh, jeez!" Vanya cried. "Jeffrey! Drop the rock!"
The boy let the boulder fall and fell to his knees panting. Shadow Lina rushed over
and offered him some water from his canteen.
"Please, Lord Jeffrey," the shadow begged. "This isn't necessary!"
"He's never gonna learn if you baby him, Lina chan!" Naga called out from where
she was resting under a nearby tree.
"Fear not, Miss Lina!" Jeffrey huffed. "What doesn't kill me…makes
me…stronger…"
"We're not trying to make you stronger," Vanya informed him. "The Ishi-Ryu was
created for women. It stresses the natural advantages women have over men. Speed,
agility, and of course the most important one when dealing with men…"
"Which is?" Naga asked.
"Patience."
"So, in essence," Naga noted, "You're teaching Jeffrey to fight like a girl." She
grinned.
"WHAT?!" Jeffrey cried out incredulously.
"I suppose that's one way of looking at it," Vanya confessed.
Before Jeffrey could continue his protests at being taught a "womanly form of
fighting," there was a strange buzz from overhead. Looking above them, they saw several
odd machines manned by humans flying past them.
"That's odd," Naga mused. "Must be those same humans Filia and Amara were
talking about."
As she said this, two of the craft circled around and landed in the grove nearby,
depositing four men to the firm earth. They noticed Flaming Heroes gathered nearby and
walked towards them.
"You know you's women are in Stormhawk turf, right?" the one in front asked with
a grin.
"Um…I'm not a woman," Jeffrey told them, raising his hand.
"Whatever. Just give us your money," the Stormhawk told them.
Naga yawned and waved to Shadow Lina. "Lina chan, Jeffrey, would you stand to
the side please?" The shadow and the knight did as she said, and suddenly, the four aerial
bandits found themselves with nothing between them and the raven haired woman…
Who happened to be pointing at them…
Filia's head turned quickly as she heard the explosion. She could just make out a
cloud of black smoke rising above the tree line. "I wonder what's going on?"
Xellos appeared next to her and smiled. "If I had to guess, I'd say that our dear
White Serpent found someone or something's manner offensive."
Amara blinked and pointed at the sky in the same direction the explosion had
occurred. "Listen! Do you hear that!?"
Filia strained her senses and grimaced. "It's more of those flying machines!"
"Oh?" Xellos asked, turning his eyes skyward. "Well…This IS new! Flying
humans! It seems like only yesterday they were huddling in caves and congratulating
themselves on creating fire."
Villzka hid behind Filia's skirt and looked at the sky fearfully. "Don't worry,
Villzka chan," Filia whispered with a smile. "We won't let them hurt you."
Before the complete sentence was out of her mouth, ten of the flying machines were
circling overhead while three of them were landing nearby. Filia pulled her mace from its
garter, and Amara did the same with Whip chan. Xellos only smiled annoyingly.
Six men approached them. Filia saw one of them point at Villzka with the blade of
his short sword and tensed.
"Well, well, well," one of the men remarked as they approached. "Looks like you
folks got yourselves a turkey dinner there!" The rest of the men laughed. "Why don't you
hand him over to us? Along with your money…"
"Hmmph!" Filia sniffed. "What could coarse trash like yourself possibly want
with a baby Avian?"
"We get a lot of problems from the birds around here, lady," the man told her in a
growl. "If we had one of their kids, though…They'd have to lay off…"
Filia smiled. "Oh! Well, in THAT case…Xellos, could you stand aside please?
Thank you…"
The men suddenly found themselves with nothing between them and the priestess…
Who was opening her mouth really wide for some reason…
Shadow Lina looked up from gathering bandit purses as the rumble from a distant
explosion shook the earth beneath her. She blinked and saw a cloud of black smoke rising
from the direction the Stormhawk gang had gone.
"I wonder what's going on over there," she murmured.
"Knowing those three, I'm sure it's Filia catching Xellos with her underwear on his
head again," Naga commented as she looked over one of the three flying machines.
Shadow Lina nodded and went back to filching purses.
Two of the flying machines dived down at the four of them, preparing to strafe them
with crossbow darts, when suddenly Xellos appeared in the air before them. He smiled
and pointed his hand at them, then snapped his fingers once.
"Break."
Suddenly, it seemed that every nut, bolt, and screw on the flying machines had come
undone. The pilots screamed as they and their craft fell from the sky in pieces.
"DISLASH!" he heard Filia cry out. This shout was followed by a gold stream of
light lancing out from the forest and striking two more of the craft. In the forest below,
Amara was holding Villzka while Filia and Xellos brought more of the craft down.
Xellos appeared on the ground again next to Filia and beamed. "They're not very
maneuverable, are they?" he asked.
"No, they're not," she agreed. She turned to Amara. "Villzka, are you okay,
sweety?"
The tiny Avian nodded.
"Here they come again!" Amara warned them, pointing at the sky and the flying
machines heading their way. Filia and Xellos stepped forward, brandishing their weapons
in preparation.
"This isn't like you, Xellos," Filia commented quietly, just loud enough for the
Mazoku to hear.
"Oh?" Xellos asked, just as quietly.
"Usually, you sit out the fight….Unless it's very important, anyway," Filia
explained.
"And who says this isn't important?" he asked her with a dangerous smile. "A
Mazoku's place is beside his mate."
Filia glanced his way and actually smiled. "I think that's the first admirable quality
I've ever heard for the Mazoku."
Xellos only smiled and pointed his staff at the approaching craft. The red jewel at
the tip began to glow as it drew power straight from the Mazoku wielding it.
Before he could fire, however, something happened.
Several winged creatures dived down on top of the flying machines and grasped
onto them with iron talons! Xellos blinked. Filia gasped. They watched as more than two
dozen full grown Avians began tearing at the flying machines with their swords, spears,
and sometimes their bare talons. The human pilots were torn from their seats and ripped to
shreds, their bodies thrown from the craft to the ground below.
"Sweet Cepheid," Filia whispered as she watched it.
"I think we have a more pressing problem," Xellos noted, raising his staff again.
Several of the Avians had flown to where they were standing and were landing all around
them, their weapons, many of them bloodied, drawn and pointed in their direction.
One of them, much taller than the others, landed before them and folded its wings
behind its back. It approached slowly.
"Uncle Et'sk!" Villzka cried, rushing to the larger bird. The Avian Alpha hugged
the child to his breast.
"We thought we had lost you, child," he told the boy. He looked up at Xellos,
Filia, and Amara, and his eyes narrowed. "You," he said. "You're not like the other
humans…"
"Um…yes, well," Filia began, "My sister and I are Golden Dragons, and this…"
she gestured to Xellos.
Xellos suddenly glomped onto Filia. "I'm her fiancé!" he announced with pride.
Filia started growling.
Et'sk arched a feathered eyebrow. "Is…that so?"
"They saved me, Uncle Et'sk!" Villzka told his uncle quickly. "From the humans
that attacked me and Mama! Dragon Oneechan shot them down!"
"I see," Et'sk replied, looking to Filia, who blushed at the praise. "I thank you for
protecting young Villzka here," he told her.
"It…It was nothing," Filia told him, waving aside the praise.
"When we found his mother and crossbow darts, we feared the worst," Et'sk
informed them. "The humans in this part of the continent are ruthless."
"Yes, we met some of them," Amara told him, pointing to the pile of flaming
wreckage nearby.
Et'sk blinked at the debris and turned back to them. Bowing from the waist, he
said, "Thank you." He rose again and looked down at them. "For the service you have
done us, you will be permitted passage through our territory unopposed. You will NOT be
eaten," he clarified.
"That's very nice of you," Xellos told him with a grin.
One by one, the Avians began to fly off. Villzka ran to Filia and hugged her. "Bye,
Dragon Oneechan!"
"Good bye, Villzka chan," Filia replied, wiping a tear from her eye.
The child ran up to Amara and hugged her too. "Good bye, Dragon Oneechan!" he
said again.
Amara giggled and patted his head. "Goodbye, my little eagle."
Then, to Filia and Xellos' surprise, the Avian hugged the rogue Mazoku.
"Goodbye, Xellos Niichan!"
"Er…" Xellos replied, looking down at the Avian with its hands around his waist.
"Um…There…there…" he said, patting Villzka's head. He tried to step away, but the
Avian kept his hold on him.
"Awww!" Amara cried. "Isn't that sweet?!"
Filia grit her teeth silently and took a deep breath.
Xellos, however, was looking rather pale from the onslaught of positive emotions
welling up from such a gooey scene. "Could someone…please……get him off…?"
"You know," Xellos remarked as they walked back in the direction of Naga's
explosion. "For some reason, I feel this warm pit in my chest…"
"That's the knowledge that you helped do a good thing, Lord Xellos," Amara told
him with a smile. "It comes from doing good deeds!"
Xellos thought on this for several seconds. "Then I shall never do a nice thing
ever again…"
Amara sweatdropped and looked over at Filia, who was walking with her head
bowed. "Filia? What's wrong?"
The dragon sighed. "I was just thinking about how I did with little Villzka
chan….I'm going to be a horrible mother to little Val…"
The older dragon blinked in astonishment. "Where is this coming from?!"
"Oh, come on, Amara!" Filia cried. "I lost him, screwed up, and…and…"
She felt the dragon's hand on her shoulder and found Amara smiling at her.
"You're going to be a wonderful mother, Filia. Do you know why?"
Filia sniffled and shook her head.
Amara's smile broadened. "Because you care enough about being a good one to
worry."
The younger dragon sniffled, but smiled. "Thank you, Amara Oneechan."
They heard a familiar buzzing and stopped in their tracks. Filia growled and drew
her mace.
"Don't they know when to quit?" she grumbled.
Two of the craft appeared slowly over the tree-line, using the larger, rotating
blades above the craft to hover. A tall figure stood up from the cockpit of one of the craft
and posed.
"Oh, good grief!" Filia muttered, resting her head in her hand.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!!" Naga laughed from her
hovering perch. "OOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!" She flashed them the victory sign.
"Not bad, huh?!" she asked them. "Now we'll make it to Seyruun in HALF the time!
OOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!"
"You have to admire her ingenuity," Xellos remarked quietly.
"OOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOO!!!"
NAGA: And so, my band of Flam…er…invincible heroes continue on their quest to
Seyruun! Look out, Lina Inverse! Naga the White Serpent is ON HER WAY!!
OOOOOHOHOHOHOO!!!
To Be Continued…
FILIA: You know, I sometimes wonder what kind of mother I'll be. I mean, with Little
Val chan on the way, I have to be ready…
SHADOW LINA: I'm sure you'll be great, Miss Dragon Lady!
XELLOS: Of course she will! (Hands Filia a book.)
FILIA: What's this? (Reads the cover) "Parenting for Complete Morons?"
XELLOS: ^_^
FILIA: CHAOTIC DISINTEGRATE!!!
Faces: After
Part 21
Baby Boom!
Unplanned Parenthood!
There are certain sounds associated with the rising of the sun. The most prominent
of these is the sweet music of the birds as they search for food to bring back to their nested
young. On the opposite side of that spectrum in the list of sounds one normally NEVER
hears with the coming of the dawn, there is the sound that Naga the White Serpent awoke to
that morning…
"I GOT FILIA CHAN'S PAN-TIES! I GOT FILIA CHAN'S PAN-TIES!!!
WHOO!!! WHOO!!! WHOO!!!"
Naga's head shot up, her eyes blinking away the morning light. The first thing that
caught her eye was her Side-Kick of Questionable Worth, wearing a towel on his head tied
under his nose, running across their small camp, waving a pair of frilly, white, women's
underwear over his head.
"GIVE THOSE BACK, YOU HORRIBBLE, DISGUSTING NAMAGOMI!!!"
The second thing she saw was her Deus Ex Machina running right after him, her
mace held high over her head.
"I'M THE KING OF THE WORLD!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Xellos cried
out as he ran past the White Serpent again, the dragon's underwear hanging from the head
of his staff as he waved it like a flag.
"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU PERVERT!!!" Filia screamed, coming to a stop and
pointing her hands at him. "CHAOTIC DISINTEGRATE!!!!!!!!!"
A loud explosion wiped away any remaining sleep in Naga's brain. So began
another morning as a Flaming Hero. Rising to her feet, she made her way to where the rest
of the group was sitting, eating whatever frugal breakfast Amara and Shadow Lina could
prepare. They seemed to take little notice of the Mazoku and the Ryuuzoku's antics. All
except for Vanya, who was staring at them in frank disbelief.
"MISSED ME, FILIA CHAN! MISSED ME!"
"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Aren't you going to stop them?!" Vanya demanded as Naga yawned. Jeffrey
handed her a cup of warm tea, and she drank it in one swallow.
"Nah, they'll tire out eventually," Naga replied with a wave of her hand.
Another explosion from the other side of camp caused a shockwave to crash into
them, whipping their hair and capes around them.
"More tea, Miss Naga?" Amara offered with a smile.
"Thank you, Deus Ex Machina Part Deux!" Naga said and took another cup of tea.
"MISSED ME AGAIN, FILIA CHAN!!"
"They're going to destroy the entire camp!" Vanya argued.
"You mustn't be alarmed, Miss Greysword," Amara told her gently. "I assure you,
to the Mazoku this kind of behavior is quite common among their couples. Stirring rage in
one's mate is the equivalent of…oh…how do you say it?"
"Foreplay," Naga supplied.
There was another explosion, and this time a tree cracked as it fell near where the
other Flaming Heroes were sitting. Only Vanya flinched.
"Yes," Amara said with a slight blush. "It appears that Lord Xellos is attempting
to…um…entice my sister…"
"Think it'll work?" Jeffrey asked.
"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!!!!"
"Looking good so far," Amara said with a shrug.
"Vanya, dear," Naga began, looking over her teacup at her newest employee.
"Now that we're all up and fresh, I would like to discuss with you your secondary
duties…"
Vanya was too busy staring at Xellos and Filia to notice.
"Vanya!"
"They're going to end up destroying an entire town!" the swordswoman exclaimed.
Before Naga could rebut, Xellos came crashing right through the center of the
group. He buried his staff into the ground, the underwear flapping in the breeze. Stepping
back, he saluted smartly and began to sing.
"Send her vic-to-rious! Hap-py and glo-rious! Long may she reign oooo-ver us!
Goooood saaa-ve…theeee….Quuuueeeeeeeennnn!!!"
As his song ended, he was struck on the back of the head with a mace. He hit the
dirt at the base of the makeshift flagpole and turned onto his back. Filia was glaring down
at him, snorting like an angry bull. She lifted her mace over her head…
"Okay! Enough!" Naga cried, rising to her feet. "It appears that as long as you
two are fighting, Vanya here is not going to be able to listen, so I'm going to split you up!"
"Awww!" Xellos whined.
"THANK YOU, MISS NAGA! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!"
Naga crossed her arms over her chest and smirked. "When personality conflicts
erupt between employees, it is MY responsibility to solve them. Filia, Amara, why don't
you do some CAP for a few hours?"
The two dragons blinked. "Um…CAP?" Amara asked.
"You know…Combat Air Patrol…"
The dragons looked to one another and shrugged.
Naga sighed and looked at the sky. "Will I EVER be understood in my own time!?"
She pointed at the dragons. "Just fly out ahead and scout around!"
"Why didn't you just SAY that, instead of…" Filia began.
"Or you can stay here with Xellos and…"
"COME ON, AMARA!!" Filia cried, grabbing her sister's arm. With an "EEP!"
the elder dragon was pulled away by the younger.
"Perhaps I should go with them and…" Xellos began.
"Side-Kick," Naga began, "I have another job for you. I want you to start thinking
up the best way to break into the Seyruun Palace unnoticed."
Xellos blinked. He thought for a few seconds. "Done! Now I'll just go see if Filia
chan needs any help…"
"Mister Xellos," Shadow Lina spoke up, "Maybe you should give Miss Dragon
Lady time alone."
"She doesn't need time alone, Lina chan!" Xellos said with a pat of the redhead's
red head. "What she needs is a good, long…"
Shadow Lina turned bright red!
"…flight," Xellos finished. He snickered and walked off.
"Hey, Lina," Jeffrey said with a blink. "Why are you blushing?"
"No reason!" she cried back.
"Anyway!" Naga cried, trying to get hold of her own band of heroes again.
"Vanya, as part of your duties, you have to perform a single, simple, almost mundane
task…"
"Like what?" Vanya asked darkly, her arms folding over her chest.
Naga smiled. "You have to make our young Jeffrey a man."
"That…that…horrible…disgusting…arrogant….NAMAGOMI!!" Filia shouted as
her dragon form glided above the clouds.
"Honestly, Filia chan, it's to be expected," Amara told her, flying alongside of her
sister. "He's only doing what's natural for his kind."
"Hmmph!" Filia sniffed, tossing her golden snout in the air. "Deplorable behavior!
Even for a Mazoku!"
Amara giggled to herself. "Filia likes Xel-los!" she sang.
"I do not!" Filia sniffed. "You know, I don't even see how he could be attracted to
me. Mazoku are masochists, right? Wouldn't they be attracted to abrasive, abusive,
females who would treat them like dirt?"
Amara looked at her sister, then rolled her eyes. "Yeah," she muttered, "I can't see
what he could POSSIBLY see in you…"
Filia's serpentine eyes narrowed at her sister. "Hmmph!" She turned back to
flying. "Seriously, Amara! You're the expert! How can he be attracted to me? Is it even
POSSIBLE for a Mazoku and Ryuuzoku to mate?"
"Well, it IS unprecedented," Amara admitted. "But it all really comes down to the
melding of astral essence."
"How do you know so much about this?" Filia asked her. "I've spent years at the
seminary learning about the Mazoku, but some of the things you claim to know I've never
heard of before in my life."
Amara smiled. "The Amalgamationists take information to heart. And there are
other reasons. Lord Xellos is not the first Mazoku to be cast out of his clan."
Filia blinked in shock. "There have been others?!"
"Three that I know of," Amara said, almost offhandedly. "Death really isn't a
punishment to the Mazoku, Filia. To die is to return to the Lord of Nightmares, so by
simply killing one of them, you're not really doing anything bad to them. But if you cast
them out, take away their identity, and forbid them from dying, they live in agony. The
Mazoku we've had contact with were outcasts like this; Mazoku who were punished by
their overlords for some crime."
"And they actually spoke to you?" Filia asked.
Amara laughed. "Oh no! The last one died almost four hundred years ago.
Apparently, the overlords found out they were telling tales out of school and had them
destroyed to prevent anymore information about them from getting out." She sighed. "They
are VERY protective of their secrets, Filia chan."
Filia rolled her eyes. "So I've heard…" She blinked as something caught her eye
on the horizon. "Amara…What's that up there? My eyes aren't as good…."
Amara looked out ahead of her. "Are those…birds of some kind?"
"Let's get closer and take a look."
"NO WAY!!" Shadow Lina cried as she hopped up and wrapped her arms around
Jeffrey's throats, glaring hatefully at Naga and Vanya. "NO ONE'S GOING TO MAKE
LORD JEFFREY A MAN BUT ME!!!" She realized what she said a second later and
turned bright red.
"Um…Could someone tell me what's going on?" Jeffrey asked.
"There, there, Lord Jeffrey," Shadow Lina cooed softly. "I won't let them…"
"Um," Vanya began, eye twitching, "I'm really not…"
"STAY AWAY FROM HIM, YOU HUSSY!!!" Shadow Lina screamed, tightening
her grip on Jeffrey's throat. The boy gagged and started to turn blue.
"Look!" Vanya said angrily. "I don't know what kind of woman you people take
me for, but I am NOT going to…"
Naga waved the arguments aside. "Not THAT way! I just thought that since Vanya
here happens to be a sword expert, that perhaps she'd be willing to teach Jeffrey how to
fight."
"But I can already fight, Miss Naga!" Jeffrey exclaimed, hopping to his feet and
drawing Razor Blade. "My Mommy taught me everything I'll ever need to know about…"
Naga replied by reaching out and pushing him over. Jeffrey, now firmly on his butt,
looked up and blinked.
"There!" Naga said triumphantly. "Jeffrey, Miss Josephine isn't around to save
your as…er…back you up anymore!" She decided to try a different tactic. "Think of it as
learning a new form of combat! This way, you'll be twice as deadly for knowing two
sword methods instead of just one!"
Jeffrey brightened at this. "I suppose I COULD use the extra training…"
"No, Lord Jeffrey! Please!" Shadow Lina cried. "I've seen the way she looks at
you!"
"Excuse ME?!" Vanya cried indignantly.
"Then it's decided!" Naga announced.
"OOOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!!!"
"What do you see?" Filia asked Amara as they flew ever closer to the disturbance
up ahead.
Amara blinked. "They're humans!" she announced. "In some kind of flying
machines!"
Filia arched an eyebrow. "Flying MACHINES?!"
The elder dragon nodded. "From what I can make out, they have some kind of
spinning blades on the front and above them." She squinted. "There's two humans in each
one. The one in front is pedaling…"
Filia shook her head. "Humans flying…Great, that's all we dragons need…"
Amara was blinking at the sight before her. "Oh dear Cepheid!"
Villzka looked up at his mother fearfully. For some reason, his mother couldn't fly
them to safety like she said they would. They were trapped on the hard ground. Looking at
the Avian's golden-brown wings, it was obvious why. Red feathers clashed with brown in
the areas where iron arrows had struck the creature.
"Mama!?" the young Avian implored. "Who are they, Mama?! Why are they doing
this?!"
The larger bird-creature shushed her baby son and stood up. "Remain here," she
cautioned. "It will…" She broke off weakly as her wounds made themselves known again.
Taking her son from the safety of their nest-village had been a risk, she knew, but it was
necessary to give him his first flying lesson.
She did not expect the inhabitants of the human village nearby to attack them so
suddenly…
"It will be all right," she cooed. "Remain here…"
"Mama!"
She heard the "whuff whuff whuff!" sounds of the human's flying machines getting
closer and stood up, turning toward them. Drawing her light rapier, she braced herself…
Amara grit her teeth. "Those…those…"
Filia blinked at her sister. "What is it?"
"They…They gunned her down…Right there in front of that child!" Amara was
growling now. "Those…Those……Those……………………NAMAGOMI!!!!"
Filia turned back to the scene ahead of them. Now that they were closer, she could
see the situation more clearly.
The humans were turning their machines around for another pass.
She blinked and grit her teeth. "They're going to go for that poor child!"
"Oh no they're not," Amara growled. With a hard flap of her wings, she shot
forward.
"Wait for me, Amara!" Filia called after her as she followed.
Villzka pushed his mother's wing off of him and stood up. "Mama?"
The elder Avian didn't move, her sharp eyes closed to the world.
"Mama?" the child asked, his eyes tearing up. He reached out to touch her feathers
as a tear ran down his beak. "Mama?"
He turned as he heard something approaching. At first he thought it was the humans
again, but no…Their machines made a different sound. This was more like the sound of a
whistle as a dart flew threw the air. He looked up.
Two golden darts were approaching. In a second they were passing over him, the
wind of their passage nearly knocking him down. He turned and watched as they flew off
in the direction the humans had gone…
The humans flying the wooden flying machines didn't even notice the two dragons
behind them until they shot past them at near the speed of sound, the wind from their
passing nearly knocking them from the sky. As it was, it took quite a bit to keep the
machines from plunging to the ground.
The pilots watched incredulously as the dragons turned to make another pass.
"They don't look so tough now!" Amara cheered.
"They're splitting up!" Filia warned.
"I got the one on the left!" the elder dragon told her.
"I got the right!" Filia agreed.
The two dragons split off after their chosen targets. Filia glided easily behind one
of the human-made flying craft and watched as the pilot tried to get speed by diving
towards the ground. Filia followed easily and smirked at the pilot's attempts to evade her.
Pulling up, she followed them into a nearby cloudbank…
The pilot of the other craft looked about fearfully, not seeing any sign of the dragon
with the purple bow on her tail…
Not until she dropped out of nowhere behind him, flapping her wings angrily.
The pilot shrieked and started pedaling faster. In the back seat, his loader was
screaming at him to go faster. Amara watched in disgust. Apparently, these humans were
only brave enough to fight injured Avians and children.
She'd show them what flying REALLY was!
The pilot dived hard for the ground, trying to pick up speed. Amara turned on her
back and started for the Earth, herself, the wind screaming past her wings. During her
dive, the human managed to get his nose pointed at her. She heard something whistling past
her ear and realized they were shooting darts at her. She growled.
"No more playing," she muttered.
Meanwhile, Filia's prey had cleared the clouds. The pilot looked around, hoping
he had lost the pink-bowed serpent. Only to see it break from the clouds behind him. The
loader in the back seat picked up a crossbow and aimed at her…
Filia opened her mouth. Blue light coalesced there for a moment before streaking
out and striking the craft.
The flaming wreckage fell to the ground a few thousand feet below.
The pilot of the other craft searched all around. He had lost sight of Amara in the
sun, and had no idea where she was now. He looked down at the ground and gulped.
The shadow of his craft had been swallowed by the shadow of a very large, very
pissed off dragon.
In other words, Amara was directly above him.
He looked up and saw the dragon snarl at him. She flapped her wings downward
in one hard motion. The human's craft was struck by the suddenly shot of air and spiraled
out of control, striking the ground and smashing apart, leaving a long field of debris behind
it.
Amara sniffed and threw her snout in the air.
Villzka watched fearfully as the giant serpents landed nearby. Tucking their wings
behind their backs, there was suddenly a bright, yellow flash. The Avian child covered his
eyes to block out the bright light, and when it dissipated, two blonde humans stood before
him. He cringed back in fright.
One of the humans, wearing a funny hat and white and pink robes held her hands out
in front of her in a peaceful gesture. "It's okay," she said soothingly. "We won't hurt you."
Villzka responded by cowering further away.
"Poor thing," the other woman, wearing a red dress, cooed.
"We won't hurt you," the woman in the funny hat repeated. "It's okay." The blonde
bit her lip in thought. "What's your name?"
The bird-child looked at her. "V…Villzka."
"Hi, Villzka," the blonde in the hat said with a smile. "I'm Filia. And this is my
sister, Amara."
Villzka continued to cower.
"What do you think we should do, Filia?" Amara asked. "We can't leave him here
all alone."
Filia looked at the carnage around her, at the dead female Avian lying not far away,
and made a decision.
Shadow Lina cringed sympathetically as Jeffrey was tossed through the air again,
landing on his back near her feet. With a mighty huff, he jumped to his feet, raised his
sword over his head, and charged back into battle. "RAZOR BLADE AWAY!!!"
"Miss Naga, I don't think this was such a good idea," she whimpered at her
employer, who was relaxing under the tree next to her.
"Oh, he's fine!" Naga waved the idea aside.
"STONE CLEAVE!" There was an explosion, and Jeffrey landed at Shadow
Lina's feet amid a cloud of dust and debris.
"Lord Jeffrey! Please stop!" Shadow Lina whimpered, her hands clasped before
her. "I worry for your safety! You don't need to learn a new form of swordfighting!
You're invincible just the way you are!"
Jeffrey took a second to blink away a concussion, then smiled. "Fear not, Lina! A
true warrior is constantly striving for fighting perfection! Besides, Miss Naga thinks this is
a good idea…"
Shadow Lina leaned over and whispered to him. "I'm not sure Miss Naga really
knows what she's talking about…"
"Ha! I trust Miss Naga!" Jeffrey announced, climbing to his feet. He held his
sword over his head. "Because she TOLD me to!" He screamed and rushed Vanya again.
There was another explosion, and Jeffrey went flying past her again. Shadow Lina
sighed and sat down again. Before she could fret much more, Filia and Amara were
approaching, gliding smoothly down to the ground.
Naga looked up and saw that Filia was carrying something in her arms even as she
transformed back into a human. "Ah! Deus Ex Machina found some treasure, I see!" She
stood up and approached them. "What did you get? Diamonds? Gold?"
"Actually," Amara began, "We found this little bird child that…"
Naga gasped and fell backwards on her butt, pulling her sword and pointing it at the
cowering Avian holding Filia's hand. "Where did you get it?!" she asked harshly.
"Miss Naga!" Filia cried. "It's just a poor, helpless child! We saw a bunch of
humans attacking him and his mother!"
Shadow Lina leaned over at Villzka and smiled brightly.
"He's….so……ADORABLE!!!" Without warning, she was hugging the Avian.
"Oh, sure!" Naga cried, her sword still pointing at the bird. "When they're little,
it's 'Aww, how cute!' But then they grow up into eight foot killing machines! Then there's
running…and screaming….and all manners of hell!"
"You're being stupid!" Filia told her in irritation. "He's just a child! We're going
to take him home before moving on."
"Oh, is that what you think?!" Naga cried. "Do you even know what these things
are?!"
"I do, Miss Naga!" Shadow Lina cried, waving her hand over her head. "It's
CUTE!"
Naga threw her Goody Two-Shoes Sorceress a withering look. "It's an AVIAN!"
"What's an Avian?" Jeffrey asked, rubbing his head from Vanya's latest thrashing.
Filia cried out as she felt someone pinch her backside. Turning quickly, she saw
Xellos standing there. "An Avian, young Jeffrey, is an intelligent bird-like creature created
by the Wind Dragon King. They're very effective soldiers. Their Alpha Males can grow
to about eight feet tall. They eat fresh meat…like you," he noted with a grin, "And are
generally unpleasant."
"Side Kick of Questionable Worth and I ran into a bunch of them on Zarak Tor,"
Naga explained. "They were most certainly NOT cute."
"Which might explain why humans would be attacking them," Xellos pointed out.
"Well what do you suggest we do?" Filia snapped. "I promised Villzka I'd take
him home!"
"Woah! Wait a second!" Vanya exclaimed, giving the time out sign. "We don't
have time for a tangent! We're on our way to Seyruun!"
"It's a just a little child!" Amara argued.
"Yes!" Naga agreed loudly. "A little child with older brothers and sisters that I
might have met once while they tried to tear my entrails out with their beaks! Forget it!
You can drop it off at the next town if you like, but we're not going to just walk into one of
their nests, say 'Hi, there! Some of our fellow humans were butchering this poor little
Avian so we brought him here,' and let them eat us!"
"We should split up!"
Everyone turned to Jeffrey, the source of the suggestion.
"I'm sorry, Swordsman of Dubious Skill," Naga began, "But what was that?"
"Well, Miss Naga, it just seems to me that the big concern here is that Avians eat
humans. Well…Miss Filia and Miss Amara are dragons, not humans. Um…don't dragons
and Avians follow the same gods or something?"
The group went silent.
"You know," Filia said, her finger to her lip in thought, "As I recall, the Fire
Dragon King and the Wind Dragon King WERE on good terms…"
"And the Amalgamationists embrace ALL creatures!" Amara agreed.
"And Mazoku hate everyone equally!" Xellos said with a bright smile.
Filia's eyes narrowed. "Just what are you thinking?"
Xellos grinned. "Well…I'm not human either, Filia chan…Remember?"
"How can I forget?" Filia ground out. "I've never met anyone as INHUMAN as
you…"
"Then it's settled!" Naga announced. "My dragons and my sidekick will go return
the Avian to its nest, and the rest of us will head to Seyruun! What a wonderful plan I've
come up with! I am a genius! OOOOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!
OOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!"
Villzka clutched at Filia's leg. "Make it stop, Dragon Oneechan! Please make it
stop!!"
"OOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!!"
"I still don't get it," Filia remarked as the four of them walked down their chosen
road. "Why don't we just fly there?"
Xellos wagged a finger at her. "Patience, Filia chan, patience! Eventually,
someone is going to come looking for those humans you and Miss Amara dispatched, then
they're going to start looking for whoever destroyed them. Three traveling clerics
escorting a small child draw much less attention than two golden dragons and a Mazoku."
"I just hope Miss Naga and the others don't get so far ahead that we never find them
again," Amara fretted.
"Yeah, that would be horrible," Filia muttered, rolling her eyes.
"Dragon Oneechan?"
Filia looked down at Villzka, who was disguised in a brown cloak and hood to
hide his feathers and beak. He was holding the dragon priestess' hand as he looked up at
her.
"I'm hungry."
The dragon blinked and put her finger to her lip in thought. "I guess we can stop for
lunch." She smiled at the bird. "What would you like, Villzka? How about some fish?"
Villzka nodded.
Several minutes later, seated around a campfire, Filia put the child into her lap and
held up a blackened piece of fish. "Yum yums!"
The Avian child eyed the meat with disgust and started squirming in Filia's arms.
"Come on," she prompted, holding him tighter. "Mmmmm! Yums!"
"Um….Filia chan…" Xellos began, raising a finger.
"Shhh! I'm trying to get him to eat!" she chastised the Mazoku quietly.
"Er…But Filia chan…."
"Hush!" She turned her attention back to Villzka, who was still trying to squirm
away. "Oh, what's wrong, little one?!" Filia asked in exasperation. "You said you were
hungry!"
"It's icky!" Villzka cried out.
"Filia chan…"
"Oh, dammit! What do you want?!" Filia asked Xellos angrily.
The priest smiled. "I just thought you'd like to know that Avians can't eat cooked
meat. It makes them sick."
The dragon sweatdropped as she glowered at Xellos. "Well why didn't you SAY
that?" she bit out between clenched teeth.
Xellos shrugged. "I guess I'm just slow…"
She growled but reigned herself in. Looking down at Villzka, she smiled. "So
what WOULD you like, Villzka chan?"
"How about one of these!?" Xellos asked, wagging a raw and very much alive
mackerel under Filia's nose. The golden dragon turned green and tried to scoot away, but
Xellos followed, keeping the wiggling fish right in her face. Finally Villzka grabbed it
with both talons.
"Thank you, Xellos Niichan!" Villzka cried before tearing into the fish's stomach
with his beak. Fish entrails and blood squirted all over Filia's dress, and the dragon
turned an even deeper shade of green.
"Enjoy, Villzka chan!" Xellos replied with a smile.
Sitting on the other side of the fire, Amara clasped her hands together in delight.
"How cute! Just like a real family!"
Filia couldn't take it anymore and suddenly put the Avian off her lap onto the
ground. She ran around a nearby tree and started to vomit.
The others listened as sounds of torment came from the other side of the tree.
Amara looked at Xellos sympathetically. "I'm sure it was the fish that did that, Lord
Xellos."
Xellos grinned. "I'm sure it was…"
"Um…Miss Greysword?" Shadow Lina began quietly as the four of them walked
down the road. "Um…I don't want to interfere or anything, but isn't making Lord Jeffrey
carry a bag of rocks with him a little too much?"
Vanya crossed her arms over her chest and smirked. "If he wants to learn the Ishi-
Ryu technique, he has to go through the same training I did!"
"Ishi-Ryu?" Shadow Lina asked.
The swordswoman nodded. "When I left my village six years ago, I had no idea
where to start looking for my brother, so I wandered aimlessly. During my travels, I was
set upon by a group of bandits."
"Oh dear!" Shadow Lina squeaked.
"Before they could take what little money I had, a woman jumped from the trees
and attacked them." She looked down at Shadow Lina. "In a few seconds, it was all
over."
"Wow!"
"The woman was a member of a women's secret society connected to the Shrine
Maidens of Femille…The Order of the Royal Teardrop."
"Oh yeah! I've heard of them! They're some kind of ninja band, aren't they?"
Vanya sweatdropped. "Something like that. Anyway, she took me under her wing
and taught me to fight in the Ishi-Ryu style. I still had to search for my brother, though, so I
ended up cutting my training short. When I left, she gave me this katana." She held up the
sword and scabbard.
"Oh…"
"I don't mind teaching the boy a few of the basics," she told Shadow Lina.
"Cepheid knows he could use it. But that doesn't excuse him from the same stuff I went
through."
Shadow Lina looked back over her shoulder at Jeffrey, whose pack was laden
down with two large stones as he huffed and puffed down the trail. He looked about ready
to keel over.
"But what if it's too much?" the shadow asked.
Vanya shrugged. "If he dies, then at least my former master will be comforted by
the knowledge that the Ishi-Ryu form was not passed onto someone unworthy of it."
"That's…um…very comforting…" Shadow Lina replied worriedly.
"Awww! Filia chan, are you still pouting?" Xellos asked as he flashed into
existence alongside the dragon priestess.
Marching down the road, Filia looked away and sniffed.
Xellos grinned mischievously. "It's not my fault Villzka likes me more."
"HA!" Filia laughed. "As if ANYONE could like YOU!"
"To be honest, I find the notion rather farfetched, myself," Xellos confessed.
"Hmmph!"
"Oh, don't be like this, Filia chan!" Xellos teased with a poke from his finger. "I
brought you a present."
Filia blinked. "A present?"
Xellos reached into his robes and pulled out a small vase. It was made of white
marble and encrusted with emeralds. It looked ancient, but in excellent condition. Filia's
eyes went wide and sparkled at the sight.
"I know you have a fondness for antiques, Filia chan," Xellos went on as he rolled
the vase up and down his arms like a basketball. "So I picked this up for you."
"It…It's beautiful," she remarked quietly.
The priest spun it on his finger for a moment before offering it to her. Filia reached
out and took the item, blushing just a little.
"Thank you, Xellos." (Perhaps he CAN be thoughtful and kind,) she thought to
herself. "Where did you get it?"
Xellos smiled proudly. "The Atlas City Museum of Art History," he announced.
Filia facefaulted. "You STOLE it?!"
"That's a problem?" he asked curiously.
"YES, IT'S A PROBLEM!" Filia screamed at him. "You just can't take something
that doesn't belong to you!"
Xellos waggled a finger back and forth in front of her. "Ah! But the fact that that
vase is in your hands PROVES that I CAN take something that doesn't belong to me!"
"You see?!" she demanded, throwing the vase back at him. "You see?! THIS is
why I hate you! You don't care about anyone's feelings but your own! It's just like what
happened this morning! You embarrassed me like that for your own amusement!"
"Hmmph! It's not my fault if you refuse to acknowledge that you don't know
everything!" Xellos shot back.
Filia's cheeks began to redden and puff out in anger as her tail made an appearance.
"I don't think I know everything! I just know more than YOU!"
"Oh, that's mature!" Xellos bit out.
"NOW YOU'RE CALLING ME IMMATURE!? YOU'RE THE IMMATURE
ONE!"
"I KNOW YOU ARE, BUT WHAT AM I?!" the Mazoku fired back. He stuck his
tongue out at the dragon.
"HMMPH!" Filia sniffed. "As if a MAZOKU could take care of a child! I
wouldn't trust you to take care of a goldfish!" She reached out and gave him a push.
"HA! Seeing the number you did on Villzka's lunch, you have quite the nerve to
talk about who is and isn't qualified to take care of FISH!" He pushed back.
"MAZOKU HAVE NO PLACE TAKING CARE OF CHILDREN!" Another push.
Growling, she threw her nose into the air. "Why ARE you here, anyway?"
"SOMEONE has to make sure you don't accidentally kill the boy," Xellos told her
haughtily. "The way dragons raise their young is pathetic!"
"Pathetic?!"
Xellos nodded smugly. "The way you BABY them for eons…No wonder the
Ryuuzoku are such a weak race!"
Filia was practically burning in rage. "And I suppose the Mazoku just fling their
young into the astral plane the second they're born and forget they exist!"
"We TEACH them to SURVIVE!"
"We teach OUR young to LIVE!" Filia shot back.
"Excuse me," Amara broke in. The two looked to her and blinked. "But are you
teaching Villzka how to hide? Because I can't find him." She laughed nervously.
"WHAT?!" Filia cried. "YOU LET HIM OUT OF YOUR SIGHT?!"
"Um…Filia chan," Xellos broke in. "Wasn't he holding YOUR hand?"
The dragon looked down at her hand and shrieked as she realized Xellos was right.
SHE had lost him! She turned and started shouting into the trees. "VILLZKA!!
VILLZKA!"
"Yareyare…" Xellos said with a shake of his head.
"Oh!" Filia cried, falling to her knees. "What kind of parent am I?! Letting a
young child wander off alone!"
"Um…Perhaps we should place the emphasis on FINDING Villzka?" Amara
suggested.
"Right!" Filia declared, jumping back to her feet. "Split up!" With that, the golden
dragon darted off into the woods.
Villzka stumbled down a path, looking about fearfully. He wasn't quite sure what
had happened. Dragon Oneechan was angry at Xellos Niichan and was yelling quite a bit.
He didn't like it when adults fought. It scared him, so he decided to find Amara Oneechan.
Except that by that time, Amara was already ahead of everyone else when he THOUGHT
she was walking behind them.
Bottomline: He was lost, and on the ground no less!
Avian children were taught stories about the ground. It was a scary place where
anything could happen. There were monsters, and Mazoku, and HUMANS! They were the
scariest of all!
Tears welled up in the boy's eyes. He didn't like this place. Not one bit. The
sounds of sobbing must have sounded like appealing to something, though, because the
child tensed a moment later as he heard a growl behind him.
Turning, Villzka blinked and gasped in fear. Whining quietly, he started backing
away from the wild dog that had snuck up on him. The animal stood almost as tall as him.
Drool dripped from its jowls as he approached the Avian. Villzka whimpered and
continued backing up until his back hit a boulder. There was nowhere to run.
He heard something to his left and turned his head to see a black-robed figure
appear not too far away.
"Xellos Niichan!" Villzka cried out happily. He was saved!
Xellos' violet eyes took in the situation. He smiled gently, and Villzka was sure
that he would be okay. Xellos Niichan would save him.
Instead of blasting the wild dog, however, Xellos knelt to the floor and picked up a
large stick that had been lying nearby. With one gentle swing, he tossed the broken branch
at Villzka, watching as it landed at the Avian's feet.
Villzka blinked and looked up at Xellos, still waiting for the priest to do something
to help him. Xellos responded by taking his own staff, and striking a nearby tree with it,
causing a loud *CRACK!*
The Avian stood there, rooted in fear. Xellos struck the tree again and looked at
the bird child expectantly.
Tears ran down the child's face. Suddenly, the dog started barking and charged the
Avian. Villzka screamed and covered his face. There was a flash of darkness, and Xellos
was there! He took the child in his arms and disappeared with him, reappearing behind the
dog, which was now searching about for the prey it had just lost. The priest
unceremoniously dumped Villzka to the ground, dropped the stick at his feet, and
disappeared again, reappearing farther away.
Villzka stood up, puzzled. What was Xellos Niichan doing?! Why wouldn't he
rescue him!?
Xellos seemed to read his thoughts and pointed at the stick. Then he struck a tree
with his own staff as hard as he could. The dog was approaching the child again.
Swallowing fearfully, Villzka reached down and picked up the stick. Holding it in both
hands, he faced the wild dog, shaking like a leaf in the wind. He braced himself as the dog
charged him again…
He shut his eyes and raised the stick over his head…
Before the dog could reach him, however, there was a bright, golden glow between
them. Filia appeared, brandishing her mace.
"BAD DOOOOOOOOOOOOOGGGGGG!!!!" she screamed as she swung. The
mace made contact with the lunging animal and sent the whimpering dog flying into the
stratosphere!
"DRAGON ONEECHAN!" Villzka cried, dropping the stick and rushing into the
blonde's arms, weeping fearfully.
"VILLZKA!" She hugged the crying Avian to her chest and held on tight.
"I was so scared, Dragon Oneechan!" Villzka wept. "I…" He looked up to see
Filia staring at something over his shoulder, fire in her eyes.
"Na…" she bit out. "Ma…Go…MI!!!"
"Filia chan! You ruined everything!" Xellos replied, walking up to the two of
them.
The dragon screamed and swung her mace at the Mazoku, who disappeared and
reappeared behind her again, looking somewhat annoyed with her.
"How COULD YOU?!" she asked him in obvious horror. "I knew you were a
monster! But to torment a CHILD like that!"
"Torment?" Xellos asked curiously. "He's an Avian. He's going to have to learn
to kill SOMETIME. Especially with his mother gone."
"You cruel…horrible beast," she whispered. She took Villzka's hand and started
marching away. "Come along, Villzka!"
Xellos shook his head and sighed. "Yareyare…"
"I think you're BOTH acting stupid!"
Filia blinked in shock and actually took a step back. She had gone to Amara
expecting her to realize just how horrible Xellos really was. Instead…
"I can't believe you would take his side in this," she whispered.
Amara didn't stop walking as she answered. "I'm NOT taking his 'side,' Filia. I
think you're both stupid! First of all, he's being stupid for subjecting such a young boy to
such a lesson!"
"LESSON?! It was nothing less than toying with a rabbit thrown into a snake pit!"
Amara ignored her. "And YOU are being stupid for making such assumptions. I'm
sure Xellos was just trying to TEACH young Villzka how to defend himself…"
"A very astute observation, Amara chan!" Xellos announced, appearing on the
other side of the dragon from Filia.
Amara stopped and turned to him, snarling. With one quick movement, her hand
flew to her dress and lifted the skirt! Grabbing the coiled whip that rode her thigh, she
cracked it once!
Xellos actually hit the ground on his rear. He blinked and gingerly touched the end
of his nose where Amara's whip had nipped him. The priest looked up at her.
"It was stupid of you to subject such a young Avian to that kind of lesson!" she
lectured him. "It's OBVIOUS that his muscles haven't developed to the point where he'd
even have a CHANCE against a dog! Even with you standing right there, it was dangerous
and foolhardy!"
Filia beamed at Xellos from over her sister's shoulder. "Exactly my point!" she
declared. A second later, Amara's glare was turned on her…
*whi-CRACK!*
"ITAI!" Filia cried, rubbing her bottom with her hands.
Amara coiled her whip and hmmph'd. "And YOU, young lady…As dangerous as
his lesson might have been, you had no right to interfere! The only thing you taught Villzka
chan today was that he'll never have to fight his own battles."
Filia looked up at her sister in shock. "Amara Oneechan!"
"QUIET!" The priestess and the priest hung their heads. "Now both of you
apologize to one another!"
Filia looked ready to have a heart attack. "But, Amar…"
"DO IT!"
The dragon priestess sighed. "I'm sorry, Xellos…" she murmured.
Xellos grinned. "Apology ac…"
"You too," Amara growled, glaring at him.
The Mazoku scratched his head. "Well…If it'll help keep the peace…I apologize,
Filia chan."
Amara smiled happily. "Good! Now we can all be one big happy family again!"
She turned and took Villzka's hand. "Come along, my little eagle. Let's go catch some
dinner." Villzka just blinked at the two chastised demi-gods and followed Amara.
"Filia chan," Xellos began.
"Yes?"
"Let's not piss off your sister again if at all possible, ne?"
Filia nodded her head and agreement and started to follow them.
The bandit leader hefted his wooden club and sneered down at the young woman
holding a broken branch up as if ready to fight the entire gang herself. Her dress was torn
and her face bloody, but she still held a look of frank determination in her eyes.
"Well, girly, ready to give up?" the bandit leader asked with a chuckle.
The woman looked at him and bit out the only reply she knew suitable for a request
like that.
"Fuck you."
The rest of the gang laughed, and the bandit leader stepped forward. "Well, if you
really WANT to…" he chuckled.
The woman raised the branch over her head, but before either of them could swing,
there was movement from above, something purple was flying over them.
"STONE CLEAVE!"
The object landed in front of the bandit leader and swung her sword at the ground.
An explosion at the point where the steel met the earth flew up and engulfed the entire
bandit gang in a cloud of smoke, dust, and debris. The bandits screamed and covered their
eyes. A second later, two members of the gang who had not run or been knocked
unconscious by the blast, rushed forward, their clubs over their heads.
The purple savior swung her sword twice, but did so so fast that only the sunlight
reflected off the blade could be seen. A second later, the tops of the bandits' clubs fell to
the ground. Realizing just how outmatched they were, they ran.
The woman looked at her savior in astonishment. She had never seen anyone move
so fast. The woman wore some sort of dark purple body suit that hugged her form and
provided ease of movement. Her hair matched this color and was cut short except for two
long pony-tails that ran down the length of her body, almost to the floor. The unknown
woman sheathed the katana she had used to dispatch the bandits and turned to her.
"Are you all right, Miss?" she asked.
The woman nodded quickly. "Yes…Th..thank you…"
The swordswoman smiled. "Men can be such filthy creatures, ne?"
The woman could only nod. "Wh..Who are you?"
"My name is Aeka, from the Kingdom of Femille," the swordswoman replied.
"And you?"
The woman needed a moment before the fear had left her enough sense to think.
"Stevanya," she replied. "Stevanya Greywords."
"Miss Greysword?"
Vanya shook herself from her reverie and blinked at the shadow looking up at her.
"Huh?"
"Don't you think Lord Jeffrey's held that boulder over his head long enough?"
Shadow Lina asked, pointing at the young knight, red-faced from holding a large stone over
his head.
"Oh, jeez!" Vanya cried. "Jeffrey! Drop the rock!"
The boy let the boulder fall and fell to his knees panting. Shadow Lina rushed over
and offered him some water from his canteen.
"Please, Lord Jeffrey," the shadow begged. "This isn't necessary!"
"He's never gonna learn if you baby him, Lina chan!" Naga called out from where
she was resting under a nearby tree.
"Fear not, Miss Lina!" Jeffrey huffed. "What doesn't kill me…makes
me…stronger…"
"We're not trying to make you stronger," Vanya informed him. "The Ishi-Ryu was
created for women. It stresses the natural advantages women have over men. Speed,
agility, and of course the most important one when dealing with men…"
"Which is?" Naga asked.
"Patience."
"So, in essence," Naga noted, "You're teaching Jeffrey to fight like a girl." She
grinned.
"WHAT?!" Jeffrey cried out incredulously.
"I suppose that's one way of looking at it," Vanya confessed.
Before Jeffrey could continue his protests at being taught a "womanly form of
fighting," there was a strange buzz from overhead. Looking above them, they saw several
odd machines manned by humans flying past them.
"That's odd," Naga mused. "Must be those same humans Filia and Amara were
talking about."
As she said this, two of the craft circled around and landed in the grove nearby,
depositing four men to the firm earth. They noticed Flaming Heroes gathered nearby and
walked towards them.
"You know you's women are in Stormhawk turf, right?" the one in front asked with
a grin.
"Um…I'm not a woman," Jeffrey told them, raising his hand.
"Whatever. Just give us your money," the Stormhawk told them.
Naga yawned and waved to Shadow Lina. "Lina chan, Jeffrey, would you stand to
the side please?" The shadow and the knight did as she said, and suddenly, the four aerial
bandits found themselves with nothing between them and the raven haired woman…
Who happened to be pointing at them…
Filia's head turned quickly as she heard the explosion. She could just make out a
cloud of black smoke rising above the tree line. "I wonder what's going on?"
Xellos appeared next to her and smiled. "If I had to guess, I'd say that our dear
White Serpent found someone or something's manner offensive."
Amara blinked and pointed at the sky in the same direction the explosion had
occurred. "Listen! Do you hear that!?"
Filia strained her senses and grimaced. "It's more of those flying machines!"
"Oh?" Xellos asked, turning his eyes skyward. "Well…This IS new! Flying
humans! It seems like only yesterday they were huddling in caves and congratulating
themselves on creating fire."
Villzka hid behind Filia's skirt and looked at the sky fearfully. "Don't worry,
Villzka chan," Filia whispered with a smile. "We won't let them hurt you."
Before the complete sentence was out of her mouth, ten of the flying machines were
circling overhead while three of them were landing nearby. Filia pulled her mace from its
garter, and Amara did the same with Whip chan. Xellos only smiled annoyingly.
Six men approached them. Filia saw one of them point at Villzka with the blade of
his short sword and tensed.
"Well, well, well," one of the men remarked as they approached. "Looks like you
folks got yourselves a turkey dinner there!" The rest of the men laughed. "Why don't you
hand him over to us? Along with your money…"
"Hmmph!" Filia sniffed. "What could coarse trash like yourself possibly want
with a baby Avian?"
"We get a lot of problems from the birds around here, lady," the man told her in a
growl. "If we had one of their kids, though…They'd have to lay off…"
Filia smiled. "Oh! Well, in THAT case…Xellos, could you stand aside please?
Thank you…"
The men suddenly found themselves with nothing between them and the priestess…
Who was opening her mouth really wide for some reason…
Shadow Lina looked up from gathering bandit purses as the rumble from a distant
explosion shook the earth beneath her. She blinked and saw a cloud of black smoke rising
from the direction the Stormhawk gang had gone.
"I wonder what's going on over there," she murmured.
"Knowing those three, I'm sure it's Filia catching Xellos with her underwear on his
head again," Naga commented as she looked over one of the three flying machines.
Shadow Lina nodded and went back to filching purses.
Two of the flying machines dived down at the four of them, preparing to strafe them
with crossbow darts, when suddenly Xellos appeared in the air before them. He smiled
and pointed his hand at them, then snapped his fingers once.
"Break."
Suddenly, it seemed that every nut, bolt, and screw on the flying machines had come
undone. The pilots screamed as they and their craft fell from the sky in pieces.
"DISLASH!" he heard Filia cry out. This shout was followed by a gold stream of
light lancing out from the forest and striking two more of the craft. In the forest below,
Amara was holding Villzka while Filia and Xellos brought more of the craft down.
Xellos appeared on the ground again next to Filia and beamed. "They're not very
maneuverable, are they?" he asked.
"No, they're not," she agreed. She turned to Amara. "Villzka, are you okay,
sweety?"
The tiny Avian nodded.
"Here they come again!" Amara warned them, pointing at the sky and the flying
machines heading their way. Filia and Xellos stepped forward, brandishing their weapons
in preparation.
"This isn't like you, Xellos," Filia commented quietly, just loud enough for the
Mazoku to hear.
"Oh?" Xellos asked, just as quietly.
"Usually, you sit out the fight….Unless it's very important, anyway," Filia
explained.
"And who says this isn't important?" he asked her with a dangerous smile. "A
Mazoku's place is beside his mate."
Filia glanced his way and actually smiled. "I think that's the first admirable quality
I've ever heard for the Mazoku."
Xellos only smiled and pointed his staff at the approaching craft. The red jewel at
the tip began to glow as it drew power straight from the Mazoku wielding it.
Before he could fire, however, something happened.
Several winged creatures dived down on top of the flying machines and grasped
onto them with iron talons! Xellos blinked. Filia gasped. They watched as more than two
dozen full grown Avians began tearing at the flying machines with their swords, spears,
and sometimes their bare talons. The human pilots were torn from their seats and ripped to
shreds, their bodies thrown from the craft to the ground below.
"Sweet Cepheid," Filia whispered as she watched it.
"I think we have a more pressing problem," Xellos noted, raising his staff again.
Several of the Avians had flown to where they were standing and were landing all around
them, their weapons, many of them bloodied, drawn and pointed in their direction.
One of them, much taller than the others, landed before them and folded its wings
behind its back. It approached slowly.
"Uncle Et'sk!" Villzka cried, rushing to the larger bird. The Avian Alpha hugged
the child to his breast.
"We thought we had lost you, child," he told the boy. He looked up at Xellos,
Filia, and Amara, and his eyes narrowed. "You," he said. "You're not like the other
humans…"
"Um…yes, well," Filia began, "My sister and I are Golden Dragons, and this…"
she gestured to Xellos.
Xellos suddenly glomped onto Filia. "I'm her fiancé!" he announced with pride.
Filia started growling.
Et'sk arched a feathered eyebrow. "Is…that so?"
"They saved me, Uncle Et'sk!" Villzka told his uncle quickly. "From the humans
that attacked me and Mama! Dragon Oneechan shot them down!"
"I see," Et'sk replied, looking to Filia, who blushed at the praise. "I thank you for
protecting young Villzka here," he told her.
"It…It was nothing," Filia told him, waving aside the praise.
"When we found his mother and crossbow darts, we feared the worst," Et'sk
informed them. "The humans in this part of the continent are ruthless."
"Yes, we met some of them," Amara told him, pointing to the pile of flaming
wreckage nearby.
Et'sk blinked at the debris and turned back to them. Bowing from the waist, he
said, "Thank you." He rose again and looked down at them. "For the service you have
done us, you will be permitted passage through our territory unopposed. You will NOT be
eaten," he clarified.
"That's very nice of you," Xellos told him with a grin.
One by one, the Avians began to fly off. Villzka ran to Filia and hugged her. "Bye,
Dragon Oneechan!"
"Good bye, Villzka chan," Filia replied, wiping a tear from her eye.
The child ran up to Amara and hugged her too. "Good bye, Dragon Oneechan!" he
said again.
Amara giggled and patted his head. "Goodbye, my little eagle."
Then, to Filia and Xellos' surprise, the Avian hugged the rogue Mazoku.
"Goodbye, Xellos Niichan!"
"Er…" Xellos replied, looking down at the Avian with its hands around his waist.
"Um…There…there…" he said, patting Villzka's head. He tried to step away, but the
Avian kept his hold on him.
"Awww!" Amara cried. "Isn't that sweet?!"
Filia grit her teeth silently and took a deep breath.
Xellos, however, was looking rather pale from the onslaught of positive emotions
welling up from such a gooey scene. "Could someone…please……get him off…?"
"You know," Xellos remarked as they walked back in the direction of Naga's
explosion. "For some reason, I feel this warm pit in my chest…"
"That's the knowledge that you helped do a good thing, Lord Xellos," Amara told
him with a smile. "It comes from doing good deeds!"
Xellos thought on this for several seconds. "Then I shall never do a nice thing
ever again…"
Amara sweatdropped and looked over at Filia, who was walking with her head
bowed. "Filia? What's wrong?"
The dragon sighed. "I was just thinking about how I did with little Villzka
chan….I'm going to be a horrible mother to little Val…"
The older dragon blinked in astonishment. "Where is this coming from?!"
"Oh, come on, Amara!" Filia cried. "I lost him, screwed up, and…and…"
She felt the dragon's hand on her shoulder and found Amara smiling at her.
"You're going to be a wonderful mother, Filia. Do you know why?"
Filia sniffled and shook her head.
Amara's smile broadened. "Because you care enough about being a good one to
worry."
The younger dragon sniffled, but smiled. "Thank you, Amara Oneechan."
They heard a familiar buzzing and stopped in their tracks. Filia growled and drew
her mace.
"Don't they know when to quit?" she grumbled.
Two of the craft appeared slowly over the tree-line, using the larger, rotating
blades above the craft to hover. A tall figure stood up from the cockpit of one of the craft
and posed.
"Oh, good grief!" Filia muttered, resting her head in her hand.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!!" Naga laughed from her
hovering perch. "OOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!" She flashed them the victory sign.
"Not bad, huh?!" she asked them. "Now we'll make it to Seyruun in HALF the time!
OOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!"
"You have to admire her ingenuity," Xellos remarked quietly.
"OOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOO!!!"
NAGA: And so, my band of Flam…er…invincible heroes continue on their quest to
Seyruun! Look out, Lina Inverse! Naga the White Serpent is ON HER WAY!!
OOOOOHOHOHOHOO!!!
To Be Continued…