Zel: due to technical difficulties, this is a recording from a previous episode Hello, my name is Zelgadis Greywyrs. A typical manic depressant human-turned-chimera by my grandfather/greatgrandfather Rezo the Red Priest. In trying to find my cure I have unknowingly transported myself to the mysterious world of El Hazard without a means of return home. What is going to happen to me in this unpredictable place?
"You two stay out here for now," Alielle told the other two when they reached the Shrine of Fire, "Shayla Shayla has a very quick temper, and tends to use her fire powers first and ask questions later."
"Sounds a lot like someone I know." Zelgadis muttered, shuddering slightly at the memories of Lina Inverse her comment brought up. If this priestess was anything like Lina, it wouldn't matter if all she had was fire magic. If there was any way to beat Zel in a fight with just that, he better not try to fight her.
"Really? You know someone else just like Shayla Shayla? I feel sorry for you, Master." Ifurita put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Despite himself, he reached over with his free hand and patted it.
Shayla Shayla was bored. Her life had been fun, if not exciting, before Makoto and his friends came from their world and pulled her into their crazy adventures trying to get back home. But now they were more or less settled in here, no longer wanting to return to that world where they were born. Now that had been exciting. Those adventures were over, though. With that taste of excitement, Shayla felt alive. With the adventures gone, she was left with an empty feeling that wouldn't go away.
While Shayla was in mid-yawn, Alielle came into the room. "Hello, Shayla Shayla. How is everything today?"
Shayla Shayla sprang to her feet and picked up two cards which she showed to Alielle. "You're just in time, Alielle! I was just thinking of heading to town to find someone to play Paton with. But now that you're here I can save myself the trip!" Before Alielle could say anything, Shayla had her seated in front of the Paton ring in the Shrine.
'Oh well, Shayla Shayla will need to be in a really good mood if I'm going to tell her that Ifurita is now on their side. Letting her beat me a few times should do the trick.' Alielle picked up her card and slapped it to the ground. Shayla's card lifted up from the force of the impact, but didn't flip over because Alielle didn't give it everything she had. Instead, Shayla's card lifted up just a little. In trying to fall back down, the card ended up creating a small air current that pushed it out of the ring. Thus Alielle won that round anyway.
Outside, Zelgadis was getting tired of waiting. With Ifurita's childishly cute face and willingness to help her 'master', she had started to remind him of Sylphiel much more then she had of Xellos before he blasted her with his Ra Tilt. Although he had nothing against Sylphiel herself, considering her attractive... features and kind, pure heart, what bothered him was that if Ifurita was Sylphiel, then he must be Gourry at the moment.
"Alielle is taking too long. I'm going to check to see how she's doing." Zel started to walk towards the door of the Shrine, but stopped when he had the feeling that Ifurita was walking right behind him step for step. "Syl- I mean Ifurita, what are you doing?"
"I'm going wherever you go, Master!" Ifurita giggled to herself a little. "Is something wrong?"
Zelgadis sighed. "Ifurita, you already told me that you and Shayla Shayla arn't exactly friends. Something tells me you probably don't have any friends among the people Alielle is friends with. It's best if you tried to stay away from them until they understand that you don't want to fight them anymore."
Ifurita sighed as well. "You're right master. I'll just stay here while you go in. Don't worry about me."
Zel wiped his brow. "Very well, now that that's settled, I'm on my way."
He found Alielle and Shayla Shayla still playing Paton. Alielle was still trying to let Shayla win, and thus had won nearly everything Shayla owned except Shayla's clothes and the Holy Lamp of Fire. Shayla had no intention on betting the Lamp, because she already had lost it once and knew that she was nothing without it. However, the Shrine itself was being wagered at the moment. Shayla figured that if she didn't have the Shrine to be stuck in, she could have some adventures on her own.
Zelgadis didn't know they were close to being finished with the game because Shayla was running out of things to bet with. He knew a highly addictive game when he saw one and knew that they could be there for hours playing it without thinking about anything else. In fact, they HAD been playing for hours before Zel came in. So all he did was look at Shayla Shayla, note to himself on how much Shayla's personality was exactly like Lina's, and went off to find Ifurita again.
When he found her, he decided it was the perfect time to ask Ifurita some questions about this world. "Ifurita, what's the Eye of God?"
Ifurita just laughed at first, then pointed up in the sky. "Silly Master," she giggled, "that's the Eye of God right there!"
He looked. At first he frowned. All she was pointing to was the moon on this world. That couldn't have anything to do with finding a cure or bringing him back to his world, could it? That thought made him look some more, and that's when he realized that even from this distance the 'moon' looked like a giant machine. "Interesting... Well, I don't think I'll find what I'm looking for here. So let's head to the Eye of God, Ifurita."
Ifurita looked perplexed. "Shouldn't we wait for Alielle, Master? I thought we were traveling with her..."
"Don't worry Ifurita. Alielle is having fun here. No need to take her away from it. Ray Wing!" He floated up a bit, then paused. "Are you coming, Ifurita?"
Ifurita looked back. She wasn't sure leaving Alielle behind was a very good idea. But no matter what inner doubts she had for her master, her master he was. She couldn't refuse his decisions. "Yes sir, I'm on my way!" She followed, continuing to look back.
Afura watched them fly away as she approached the Shrine of Fire. She considered approaching the two, asking them to help save Chico. And then she remembered what Nanami said Chico told her. Ifurita was sent to spy on Zelgadis. Makoto had said that he knew Zelgadis from a story from his world. If Jinnai knew of the same story, then Ifurita might have been, might still be pretending all this time. As long as he was keeping Ifurita distracted for now, that would just make their mission into Bugrum territory all the easier.
So she continued on, and soon landed at the door. Afura wandered the halls, looking for Shayla Shayla. She found Shayla, and Alielle, just when Shayla lost the last thing she was willing to part with. She coughed to attract attention to herself, then leaned against the hallway wall and faced away from them.
"Jinnai just got away with another kidnapping, this time in Rashtaria itself." Afura decided to neglect to tell Shayla that they were going to rescue one of the bugs from his former comrades. "You wanna help us with the rescue, or would you rather... play with Alielle?"
Shayla blushed at that remark. "Well, you see I'd love to help with the rescue... But... I gotta win back all my stuff from Alielle somehow. If Makoto finds out I lost everything I had playing Paton again I'll never hear the end of it."
Afura sighed. "Alielle, give Shayla her stuff back. Nanami is counting on us." Now Afura knew full well that such wordings might make Alielle think that Nanami was the one kidnapped. But it was the only way to get Alielle to do it. Besides, Nanami WAS counting on them to rescue Chico for her.
As soon as Shayla Shayla had everything in it's proper place, they headed off to meet the others getting ready to cross the River of God into Bugrum territory.
* * * * *
"Good, they're coming..." Jinnai had just recieved word that Makoto and his friends had just begun to cross the River of God to try to rescue Chico. "Prepare a welcoming party for them on shore. Groucho, pile as many small rocks as you can on three carriers and head out to the River of God. When you're flying over Makoto and his friends, throw the rocks onto them, but be careful not to actually hit. Remember that this time we WANT Makoto to save the day, so that the fate of his future is doomed!" Jinnai broke out into laughte.
"My, what a deviously clever plan you have..." A figure said to him from the shadows. When Jinnai turned to face this voice, the figure took a single step foreward, revealing his purple hair but keeping his facial features well concealed. The staff the figure held emitted a gentle red glow from the sphere it hugged at the top.
"W-W-who are you?!?" Jinnai sputtered. Then his memory gave him the answer. A strange blue stone man and now this guy, the one person Jinnai ever looked up to when he was little. A man who always tricked the good guys into doing exactly what he wanted them to. Whose cunning made sure that he always had the most to gain from the circumstances. Xellos, the Mysterious Priest.
Xellos had expected to have a little suprise with a dash of fear on the side from this guy. What he got was practically the opposite. He got a lot of fear, so much that the suprise was more of an appetizer to a seven-course meal. It was almost as if this person knew who he was. That concerned him, because he had no idea this world existed until he found Zelgadis' book. He had been observing Zelgadis occasionally, and knew that the chimera never met this guy for him to know anything about Mazoku. He also knew that during the times he watched Zelgadis, he never mentioned anything about Mazoku to the people he's travelled with. There was just no reason for anyone here to know about Xellos but Xellos and chimera-man.
"Why, I'm Xellos. And I'm here because I'm impressed with the way you operate." This was a little true. The Bugrum Empire was extremely large, and a mere human had absolute rulership of it by allowing their Queen to remain as a puppet monarch. All this without making a deal with a Mazoku, because if he had, he would be the puppet ruler and the Mazoku would be giving the real orders. "I've come to offer my services to you as a lieutenant." Of course, the way Xellos figured it, if there wasn't a Mazoku around to make this kid their puppet, then there wasn't a Mazoku around to keep HIM from doing it to the boy.
Jinnai managed to appear calm and in control, even though both he and Xellos knew he was still extremely afraid. He tried a witty comment to save himself. "Really, and what would Beastmaster say to your swearing yourself to the service of a mortal?" His confidence grew as he saw Xellos' expression.
Xellos walked closer still, now he was completely visible. "For a human, you seem well informed. Where are you getting this info?"
Jinnai snickered. He never thought he'd ever be able to quote his mentor to his mentor. Mostly because his mentor had been nothing more then a TV character to him before now. "Sore wa..." All of a sudden, Xellos had him by the throat and was making it clear that he could easily snap his neck clear off.
"Never, EVER steal my line. I don't like it." Xellos glared at him for a long time, calming himself by feeding on Jinnai's terror for a bit. Fortunately for Jinnai, he got calm before he got full, because an involuntary tendency for Mazoku to finish off a meal like that with death. So Jinnai merely got flung across the room instead of off a cliff. "Now... Are you REALLY interested in ruling all of El Hazard?"
"Why, of course I do!" Jinnai hastily agreed to this, suddenly realizing that it will most definately be the LAST thing he would ever do.
"You two stay out here for now," Alielle told the other two when they reached the Shrine of Fire, "Shayla Shayla has a very quick temper, and tends to use her fire powers first and ask questions later."
"Sounds a lot like someone I know." Zelgadis muttered, shuddering slightly at the memories of Lina Inverse her comment brought up. If this priestess was anything like Lina, it wouldn't matter if all she had was fire magic. If there was any way to beat Zel in a fight with just that, he better not try to fight her.
"Really? You know someone else just like Shayla Shayla? I feel sorry for you, Master." Ifurita put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Despite himself, he reached over with his free hand and patted it.
Shayla Shayla was bored. Her life had been fun, if not exciting, before Makoto and his friends came from their world and pulled her into their crazy adventures trying to get back home. But now they were more or less settled in here, no longer wanting to return to that world where they were born. Now that had been exciting. Those adventures were over, though. With that taste of excitement, Shayla felt alive. With the adventures gone, she was left with an empty feeling that wouldn't go away.
While Shayla was in mid-yawn, Alielle came into the room. "Hello, Shayla Shayla. How is everything today?"
Shayla Shayla sprang to her feet and picked up two cards which she showed to Alielle. "You're just in time, Alielle! I was just thinking of heading to town to find someone to play Paton with. But now that you're here I can save myself the trip!" Before Alielle could say anything, Shayla had her seated in front of the Paton ring in the Shrine.
'Oh well, Shayla Shayla will need to be in a really good mood if I'm going to tell her that Ifurita is now on their side. Letting her beat me a few times should do the trick.' Alielle picked up her card and slapped it to the ground. Shayla's card lifted up from the force of the impact, but didn't flip over because Alielle didn't give it everything she had. Instead, Shayla's card lifted up just a little. In trying to fall back down, the card ended up creating a small air current that pushed it out of the ring. Thus Alielle won that round anyway.
Outside, Zelgadis was getting tired of waiting. With Ifurita's childishly cute face and willingness to help her 'master', she had started to remind him of Sylphiel much more then she had of Xellos before he blasted her with his Ra Tilt. Although he had nothing against Sylphiel herself, considering her attractive... features and kind, pure heart, what bothered him was that if Ifurita was Sylphiel, then he must be Gourry at the moment.
"Alielle is taking too long. I'm going to check to see how she's doing." Zel started to walk towards the door of the Shrine, but stopped when he had the feeling that Ifurita was walking right behind him step for step. "Syl- I mean Ifurita, what are you doing?"
"I'm going wherever you go, Master!" Ifurita giggled to herself a little. "Is something wrong?"
Zelgadis sighed. "Ifurita, you already told me that you and Shayla Shayla arn't exactly friends. Something tells me you probably don't have any friends among the people Alielle is friends with. It's best if you tried to stay away from them until they understand that you don't want to fight them anymore."
Ifurita sighed as well. "You're right master. I'll just stay here while you go in. Don't worry about me."
Zel wiped his brow. "Very well, now that that's settled, I'm on my way."
He found Alielle and Shayla Shayla still playing Paton. Alielle was still trying to let Shayla win, and thus had won nearly everything Shayla owned except Shayla's clothes and the Holy Lamp of Fire. Shayla had no intention on betting the Lamp, because she already had lost it once and knew that she was nothing without it. However, the Shrine itself was being wagered at the moment. Shayla figured that if she didn't have the Shrine to be stuck in, she could have some adventures on her own.
Zelgadis didn't know they were close to being finished with the game because Shayla was running out of things to bet with. He knew a highly addictive game when he saw one and knew that they could be there for hours playing it without thinking about anything else. In fact, they HAD been playing for hours before Zel came in. So all he did was look at Shayla Shayla, note to himself on how much Shayla's personality was exactly like Lina's, and went off to find Ifurita again.
When he found her, he decided it was the perfect time to ask Ifurita some questions about this world. "Ifurita, what's the Eye of God?"
Ifurita just laughed at first, then pointed up in the sky. "Silly Master," she giggled, "that's the Eye of God right there!"
He looked. At first he frowned. All she was pointing to was the moon on this world. That couldn't have anything to do with finding a cure or bringing him back to his world, could it? That thought made him look some more, and that's when he realized that even from this distance the 'moon' looked like a giant machine. "Interesting... Well, I don't think I'll find what I'm looking for here. So let's head to the Eye of God, Ifurita."
Ifurita looked perplexed. "Shouldn't we wait for Alielle, Master? I thought we were traveling with her..."
"Don't worry Ifurita. Alielle is having fun here. No need to take her away from it. Ray Wing!" He floated up a bit, then paused. "Are you coming, Ifurita?"
Ifurita looked back. She wasn't sure leaving Alielle behind was a very good idea. But no matter what inner doubts she had for her master, her master he was. She couldn't refuse his decisions. "Yes sir, I'm on my way!" She followed, continuing to look back.
Afura watched them fly away as she approached the Shrine of Fire. She considered approaching the two, asking them to help save Chico. And then she remembered what Nanami said Chico told her. Ifurita was sent to spy on Zelgadis. Makoto had said that he knew Zelgadis from a story from his world. If Jinnai knew of the same story, then Ifurita might have been, might still be pretending all this time. As long as he was keeping Ifurita distracted for now, that would just make their mission into Bugrum territory all the easier.
So she continued on, and soon landed at the door. Afura wandered the halls, looking for Shayla Shayla. She found Shayla, and Alielle, just when Shayla lost the last thing she was willing to part with. She coughed to attract attention to herself, then leaned against the hallway wall and faced away from them.
"Jinnai just got away with another kidnapping, this time in Rashtaria itself." Afura decided to neglect to tell Shayla that they were going to rescue one of the bugs from his former comrades. "You wanna help us with the rescue, or would you rather... play with Alielle?"
Shayla blushed at that remark. "Well, you see I'd love to help with the rescue... But... I gotta win back all my stuff from Alielle somehow. If Makoto finds out I lost everything I had playing Paton again I'll never hear the end of it."
Afura sighed. "Alielle, give Shayla her stuff back. Nanami is counting on us." Now Afura knew full well that such wordings might make Alielle think that Nanami was the one kidnapped. But it was the only way to get Alielle to do it. Besides, Nanami WAS counting on them to rescue Chico for her.
As soon as Shayla Shayla had everything in it's proper place, they headed off to meet the others getting ready to cross the River of God into Bugrum territory.
* * * * *
"Good, they're coming..." Jinnai had just recieved word that Makoto and his friends had just begun to cross the River of God to try to rescue Chico. "Prepare a welcoming party for them on shore. Groucho, pile as many small rocks as you can on three carriers and head out to the River of God. When you're flying over Makoto and his friends, throw the rocks onto them, but be careful not to actually hit. Remember that this time we WANT Makoto to save the day, so that the fate of his future is doomed!" Jinnai broke out into laughte.
"My, what a deviously clever plan you have..." A figure said to him from the shadows. When Jinnai turned to face this voice, the figure took a single step foreward, revealing his purple hair but keeping his facial features well concealed. The staff the figure held emitted a gentle red glow from the sphere it hugged at the top.
"W-W-who are you?!?" Jinnai sputtered. Then his memory gave him the answer. A strange blue stone man and now this guy, the one person Jinnai ever looked up to when he was little. A man who always tricked the good guys into doing exactly what he wanted them to. Whose cunning made sure that he always had the most to gain from the circumstances. Xellos, the Mysterious Priest.
Xellos had expected to have a little suprise with a dash of fear on the side from this guy. What he got was practically the opposite. He got a lot of fear, so much that the suprise was more of an appetizer to a seven-course meal. It was almost as if this person knew who he was. That concerned him, because he had no idea this world existed until he found Zelgadis' book. He had been observing Zelgadis occasionally, and knew that the chimera never met this guy for him to know anything about Mazoku. He also knew that during the times he watched Zelgadis, he never mentioned anything about Mazoku to the people he's travelled with. There was just no reason for anyone here to know about Xellos but Xellos and chimera-man.
"Why, I'm Xellos. And I'm here because I'm impressed with the way you operate." This was a little true. The Bugrum Empire was extremely large, and a mere human had absolute rulership of it by allowing their Queen to remain as a puppet monarch. All this without making a deal with a Mazoku, because if he had, he would be the puppet ruler and the Mazoku would be giving the real orders. "I've come to offer my services to you as a lieutenant." Of course, the way Xellos figured it, if there wasn't a Mazoku around to make this kid their puppet, then there wasn't a Mazoku around to keep HIM from doing it to the boy.
Jinnai managed to appear calm and in control, even though both he and Xellos knew he was still extremely afraid. He tried a witty comment to save himself. "Really, and what would Beastmaster say to your swearing yourself to the service of a mortal?" His confidence grew as he saw Xellos' expression.
Xellos walked closer still, now he was completely visible. "For a human, you seem well informed. Where are you getting this info?"
Jinnai snickered. He never thought he'd ever be able to quote his mentor to his mentor. Mostly because his mentor had been nothing more then a TV character to him before now. "Sore wa..." All of a sudden, Xellos had him by the throat and was making it clear that he could easily snap his neck clear off.
"Never, EVER steal my line. I don't like it." Xellos glared at him for a long time, calming himself by feeding on Jinnai's terror for a bit. Fortunately for Jinnai, he got calm before he got full, because an involuntary tendency for Mazoku to finish off a meal like that with death. So Jinnai merely got flung across the room instead of off a cliff. "Now... Are you REALLY interested in ruling all of El Hazard?"
"Why, of course I do!" Jinnai hastily agreed to this, suddenly realizing that it will most definately be the LAST thing he would ever do.