Author notes: Hullo! Thnx for the reviews guys! And the ideas! (grins wickedly and rubs her hands together.) Ooh fun…ok-ay. Um. I might mention that it COULD get sappy sooo…deal with it, I can't help it.
Disclaimer: read the f***** first chapter because nobody else cares.
Blah blah blah….
Casper blinked at the piece of paper Kai'ila had been staring at for the last half an hour and tapped it.
'Soooo- like we're STUCK here? With that blue-haired freak?'
'Uh, Casper, she's right behind you-' muttered Akito, hand over his mouth to cover his grin. Casper didn't look in the least be sorry OR surprised.
'I know that.'
'You did?'
'Of course I did, why do you think I said it?'
'You are so rude!' Kai'ila scolded the ex-Mazoku, who had the grace to at least look offended.
'Really.'
'Kai'ila?'
That voice was incredibly familiar. In fact, it sounded a lot like-
'LINA?!'
'Don't shout!' the anguished redhead shouted, covering her ears. Back in the digital world, she'd stolen Izzy's headset while the kid typed busily. 'Hey! You and Casper all right?'
'Yep, we're fine-uh- little hung over-'
'You got drunk? Did anything happen?' Lina grinned, looking at Gourry.
'NO!' Casper and Kai'ila shouted defensively at the holographic image of Lina projected in front of them by the ship's communications system. Lina grinned wickedly.
'Su-ure-'
'Hey guys!' Gourry said, looking into the picture. 'What's up?'
'Hi Gourry, we're fine.'
'That's good- hey, Lina!'
'Get outta my way jellyfish-brains! A-hem. Anyway Kai'ila we figured out how to contact you, I don't know how but this kid called Izzy and his girlfriend Yolei-'
'She is NOT my GIRLFREIND!'
'Sure Izzy. Whatever. Anyway they're geniuses. We're all connected in some kind of parallel dimensional-link thingummy.'
'Ah- right-'
Casper looked thoughtful and tapped his chin. Lina rested her head on her hands. 'Do you think we could contact L'risia and Val this way?'
A slow smile crept over Kai'ila's face. 'Sure. Why not? It should work the same way provided her batteries haven't run out. And by the way- does your magical power seem to be decreasing?'
Lina's face creased. 'As a matter of fact, yes. It does- how about you?'
Kai'ila and Casper looked at each other and nodded reluctantly. 'It seems that since magic isn't in effect in the worlds we are in, the longer we are separated from our own world the less our capacity for magic seems to be then.'
Kai'ila and Lina looked, astonished, at Casper, and then agreed.
'Right. We're gonna have to figure this out, or at least get us all in the same dimension, this is ridiculous!'
'Hey Lina!' Yolei's voice shouted, 'What does your friend Val looked like?'
'Huh? He looked about eighteen or so with aqua-blue hair and golden eyes. Why?'
Yolei pointed to a window that had popped up on her own laptop. Val was looking at the screen from about a metre away, a funny look on his face.
'Hey Izzy! Get a connection!' Kai'ila demanded, then yelled, 'VAL! HEY MATE CAN YOU HEAR ME?!'
'Eh? Kai'ila? Lina and Gourry? Zat you?'
'Of course it is!' Lina smiled brilliantly at the dragon. 'No one else is so beautiful as me!'
'Right…' Val, Gourry, Casper and Kai'ila swapped a Look.
'HEY!' Lina said angrily. 'Val, where's L'ri?'
'Oh, well, um-' Val blushed and rubbed the back of his head. 'She broke her ankle when she fell out of a tree-'
'L'risia? Fell out of a- what the hell did you DO to her?' Kai'ila demanded.
'Nothing! I mean, I was on the branch a bit above her to read something on her computer screen and the branch snapped-'
'….oh. WELL THAT WASN'T VERY ROMANTIC?'
Now Val looked completely lost.
'Oro?'
'I HEARD THAT KAI'ILA-SAN!'
'Uh-oh.'
L'risia flung herself into a chair next to Val and glared at the computer screen. Kai'ila, sweatdropping, threw the victory-sign and an oh-so-genki grin. L'risia scowled.
'One more remark like that and I'll slander you into the next millennium.'
Kai'ila raised an eyebrow. 'SOME one got up on the wrong side of the bad thing morning-'
'I didn't go to bed.' L'risia complained, and waved her bandaged ankle in the screen. Casper pulled a face. 'It hurts!'
'Can't you cast a healing spell?'
'Only a little at a time, my powers are going. How about yours?'
'Mine too.' Lina confirmed, and whacked Gourry over the head as he looked about to mention THAT time of the month. Again. A thought occurred to L'risia.
'Hey, Val, didn't Zel and Filia teach you some stuff? Can you still work magic?'
'Um- you want me to try? Here?'
L'risia looked around the dojo.
'Perhaps this isn't the best place.' She admitted. 'I doubt Kaoru-dono would appreciate it if you burnt the place to the ground-'
'No kidding.' Val agreed. Kai'ila thought about Kaoru.
'You're right,' she said, 'how about Val goes and fries Saitou?'
'He's a COP.'
'And your point is….?'
'I'm not gonna blow up someone who can put me in jail.' Val said firmly.
'But Val-' Casper began.
'No!'
'Okay, okay, don't get snappy- what's it like in that anime guys?' Kai'ila asked. 'Fun?'
L'risia smiled. 'It's pretty cool. Nice food, once you get the hang of the chopsticks- and Kaoru really is a horrible cook-'
'Does Kenshin really do the laundry?'
'Every day.'
'Cool!'
Lina and Casper just looked confused. L'risia rested her head on the heel of her hand.
'So everyone's still alive then?'
'We think so- us six are, obviously. Xelloss and Filia probably are, Mazoku and dragons are kind of hard to kill off- and for that reason I'd say Dynast and Cleo are still around, driving each other insane.'
'Better her than me.' L'risia couldn't help adding. Kai'ila rolled her eyes.
'And since Zelgadis and Amelia are apparently in Pokemon they're alive too. Unless they've fallen into a volcano or something.'
'Or run into Ash.' L'risia said snidely, and both girls giggled. Val sighed and brushed his nags out of his eyes. L'risia stopped laughing and looked at him.
'Something wrong Val?'
'No- just tired.'
'Why?'
'Um- no reason.'
She blinked at him and then shrugged, looking back at the screen. 'Hey- is Izzy there?'
'Right here, Miss L'risia!'
'Sugoi- listen can we set this link up all the time, because if I leave my computer on, the batteries will run out-'
'Sure,' he nodded, it's really quite simple, I can set up the mainframe so-'
After Val and Casper managed to decipher Izzy's language, it turned out all they had to do was press a button.
'Cool- thanks Izzy! I've got to go, I said I'd cook-' L'risia said, and got up. Val blinked.
'L'risia?'
'Mm?'
'You do know you're floating about a foot in the air, don't you?'
She blinked at him. 'Yep!'
'Oh. Well- as long as that's all right,' he shrugged. 'I should go as well, guys. See you later- see if you can get a hold of the others, okay? Try my mother.'
'Sure. Bye Val!' Lina waved. Val shut down the laptop and sighed. Yahiko skidded in the door.
'Hide me!'
'Oro?' Kenshin asked.
'Eh?
'What?'
Yahiko dived into the kitchen. L'risia blinked at him. 'Yahiko, what-?'
Lina sighed as Val and L'risia left, and looked at the faces of Casper and Kai'ila on the screen of Izzy's computer. 'Do you guys think you could get someone to help us to contact Zel and Filia?'
Kai'ila grinned.
'Oh Ruri!' she sang.
Zelgadis and Amelia walked through Saffron City, resigned to the fact the people around thought Zelgadis was a Pokemon and Amelia was his trainer, much to both of their frustration and embarrassment. Behind them, three figures were stalking them. One had hair the colour of Barbie's sports car and a serious overdose of hair gel. Her companion had purple hair had the last figure looked like a cat who thought it was human.
'We've been following them for days and we haven't made one move,' Jesse complained to her purple-haired and cat companion.
'Shut up Jesse,' the cat order, 'that Pokemon the girl calls Zelgadis is unlike anything we've seen before. If we couldn't even capture Pikachu, we're going to have worse luck with this one! We have to sort out their weaknesses first!'
'Meowth is actually right Jesse,' James said. 'We're hopeless so we're going to have to settle for stalking them-'
'Oh really?' a quiet voice asked. The trio jumped about a foot in the hair and looked into the half-hidden face of Zelgadis, who had been behind them the entire time with Amelia.
'YAAAAAAH!' they screeched. Jesse, sensing an opportunity, threw out a pokeball.
'Oh no.' Amelia sighed, slapping her forehead.
'Arbok, go!!'
Zel looked at the purple and yellow snake with some interest. 'What on earth- let go of my arm you infernal creature! Fireball!'
Amelia regarded the fried snake with some compassion. 'Poor thing-'
'Wheezen! Go!'
'Amelia would you like to take care of this flying blob?'
'No, it's all right Zelgadis, you take it.'
Zelgadis lifted a hand and slammed the overgrown ball of swamp slime into a wall on the opposite side of the street, before Bomb-di-winding the group up, up, and away. He dusted off his hands. Amelia frowned.
'I'm starting to get annoyed.' She told her friend as they continued on their way. Zel looked at the princess, somewhat amused.
'Really?'
'Yes. You see, that boy with the black hair as been following us with his girlfriend for two weeks.'
Zel looked over his shoulder and saw Ash, Misty and Pikachu duck behind a ship sign.
'They're terribly bad at stalking.'
'Tell me about it.' Amelia grumbled. 'I mean if you're going to be unjust you might as well do it properly-'
Zel laughed, and Amelia looked at him in surprise. 'What?'
'Are you feeling all right, Amelia?' he grinned at her, 'you should have heard yourself then.'
Amelia smiled sheepishly, blushing a little. 'Well- I think I must have been hanging around Miss Lina too long.'
Zel smiled, and then as they passed a computer store…
'Zelgadis! Amelia! HEY!'
The pair looked around. 'I could have sworn I heard-' Zel felt Amelia tug at his sleeve, and wordlessly the princess pointed towards the many faces of Lina Inverse in the computer store, while the staff ran out screaming. Lina waved.
'Hey! Come over here!'
Zel let the door slam in Misty's face before locking it with a sealing spell, and turned to face the many screens filled with the now smaller image of Lina, Gourry, Kai'ila and Casper.
'Hi guys!' Kai'ila grinned.
'Hello Miss Kai'ila!' Amelia smiled. 'Are you all right?'
'Never better! How about you two.'
'Fine.' Amelia and Zel answered. 'Have you managed to contact the others?'
'Only Val and L'risia.'
'How're they doing?' Zel asked curiously. Lina rolled her ruby eyes.
'L'risia's broken her ankle but otherwise they're fine. Listen, mine, Kai'ila's, L'ri's and Casper's powers are diminishing, and probably so are Val's, but he doesn't use them very often anyway. How about you guys?'
'No-o Zel's powers are fine.' Amelia said, rubbing her cheek. Kai'ila looked thoughtful.
'Well, actually that kind of makes sense- no, wait, Amelia what about your powers?'
'Um- okay so they aren't- quite what they used to be.' Amelia admitted. 'And it ISN'T that time of the month before ANYONE says ANYTHING!'
Zel sweatdropped.
'No- look, Zel, do the people there think you're a Pokemon?'
'As a matter of fact they do-'
'Well that's why you can use your powers. We can't because either the people we're with know we're human and don't believe in magic and that reduces the effect from our world. You can because the people you're with think that you're a kind of creature that does have magical powers. Perhaps it's one of those things about belief.'
'But when we went over the border-'
Casper shrugged. 'Remember we're in some world that is a combination of all of them, Zel, it doesn't have to make sense.'
'And made by L-sama, who is currently watching over us along with Dolphin and Shabby.' L'risia's tired voice said, and soon her image popped up onscreen.
'L'risia?'
'I thought you had to cook dinner?'
'Yeah- well- the kitchen sort of got trashed-' L'risia looked over her shoulder and winced as Yahiko came skidding out and out of the dojo. Kai'ila's eyebrows rose as Kaoru ran after him, and Kenshin got bowled out of the way.
'Er- L'ri, what-'
'Don't ask. Just don't.' L'risia mumbled. Another figure appeared in the doorway.
'Oh VAL-CHAN!'
'Val-chan?' Kai'ila sweatdropped. L'risia slapped her forehead as Megumi looked around the dojo.
'Miss L'risia, have you seen my Val-chan?'
'HER Val-chan?!' the six people listening shouted, including Gourry. L'risia looked at them onscreen.
'Megumi's taken a- small liking to our mutual dragon friend-'
'SMALL?!' shouted Amelia, Lina and Kai'ila as Megumi spotted the terrified-looking youth.
'Okay so maybe that was as bad as saying Xelloss is slightly whacked but- VAL BEHIND YOU!'
Val ducked and Megumi flew over his head, and he accelerated away in the opposite direction.
'At that rate he'll be in Kyoto by dawn.' Kai'ila observed. L'risia sighed.
'Well, if Misao finds him maybe she'll look after him.'
'You seem miserable.'
L'risia looked at her friends through her fingers and imitated Megumi's voice,
'L'risia, where's Val-chan, L'ri, have you seen my Val-chan? L'risia, could you get Val to meet me at the Akabeko? L'risia, could you-ARGH!'
'Yes, I can imagine,' Kai'ila said sympathetically. 'You poor baby.'
'Don't call me that.'
'Sorry L'risia-'
'AAAAAH L'RI SAVE MEEEE!'
'What do you want ME to do, Val?!'
'Something! Anything! Just get rid of her!'
'HOW?!' L'risia shouted after the youth as he fled past, Megumi right behind him. Sano took the fishbone out of his mouth and looked extremely amused.
'She's quite keen on the kid isn't she L'ri?'
'I feel sorry for him.'
'Me too- but then again, it used to be Kenshin.'
'Hai, but now it's Val's turn. His mother will KILL me.'
'You're baby-sitting him? How OLD is he?'
'Er- about- four-years-'
Sano and Kenshin blinked at L'risia. 'Smooth.' Zel commented.
'Shut up.'
'FOUR YEARS OLD?!?!' Sano shouted.
'I meant twenty-four! His mother's my, um, stepbrother's aunt and -and over-protective cow! He doesn't need looking after obviously but his mother can still get mad at me!'
Sano and Kenshin relaxed while the rest of the group sweat-dropped. L'risia started breathing again.
'He doesn't look twenty-four.'
'Ah- he's- always looked younger than he is.' L'risia said, smiling flakily and turned back to the computer.
'Whew.'
'Good thing Filia didn't hear that.' Gourry grinned.
'Tell me about it. At least the last bit is true.'
L'risia muttered some expletives under her breath. Kai'ila's eyebrows shot up.
'L'risia!'
'Well I'm pissed off. Megumi never shuts-'
'Oh L'ri-chan could you give this to Val-sama when he comes back?' Megumi said sweetly, gliding past. L'risia sweatdropped.
'Val-sama?'
Megumi was gone and L'risia sniffed the letter in her hand, and sneezed. 'Wow!'
'Strong?' Amelia inquired.
'I think I'm gonna be sick.' L'risia said, opening the letter and skimming it through. Kenshin and Sano peered over her shoulder, and Sano fell over laughing while Kenshin's eyes bugged out of his head. L'risia held the letter up to the screen. Casper went green and Zel read the first sentence and blushed. The girls managed to get to the end of the letter, and Kai'ila fell over laughing. Lina and Amelia were in shock.
L'risia, still pale, carefully folded the letter back up again.
'Oh DEAR L-SAMA!' shouted Lina and Amelia together and then proceeded to practically kill themselves with laughter.
'I'm sure it's funny to you,' L'risia said, 'you're not the one who has to put up with Megumi.'
'Is she gone?' Val asked. 'What's so funny, Sano?'
Silently L'risia tossed him the letter. Lina held her breath and Gourry giggled, sounding eerily like Xelloss. Zel watched Val's face carefully. Kai'ila paused and Casper looked rather interested. L'risia looked like she was expecting the sky to fall on her head. Val turned white. Then pink. Then crimson. Then purple. Then blue, and finally an interesting shade of green greatly resembling Xelloss after line #2 of the Barney Song. He grabbed L'risia.
'HIDE ME!' he shouted.
'Let me go first!'
He got a grip on himself and lowered the girl back to her chair. L'risia breathed out and looked at her friends on the screen.
'Any ideas?'
Kai'ila grinned nastily. 'Oh yes. I have an idea.'
'What?' Val and L'risia asked suspiciously, not liking her expression one BIT..
And since that's already waaaaay too long X/F is the NEXT chapter!! As well as Cleo & Dynast
Ja ne
Star-chan
