A/N- this chapter contains N'sync and Britney Spears bashing. Deal with it.

'Well?!?!' Lina demanded hysterically from her spot on the ceiling.

'It's a giant slug.'

'No, really?' Zelgadis asked, looking at the thing that was about the size of a horse.

'Really,' Kai'ila said, ignoring the sarcasm. 'We could ride it- it probably knows the-

'No flippin' way.' L'risia said firmly, her face pale. Val grinned at her.

'Don't you like slugs L'ri?'

'I hate anything with no legs or anything with over four.' She informed the dragon with a flicked of her head.

'Picky, picky.'

'Oh shut up- Lina you can come down, you know.'

'I'm fine where I am, thankyou.' Lina's voice said from the roof of the cave. Gourry scratched his head.

'You know Lina we're going to keep walking. If you want I can carry you.'

Lina dropped into his arms. 'Oh Gourry you're so brave.' She purred, kissing him.

Zelgadis blushed as Filia and Val swapped glances.

'All right you two get a hotel room.' Cleo said with a smirk.

'How romantic.' Amelia sight, little hearts swirling around her head. L'risia sweat-dropped and put her hands in her pockets.

'Whatever you reckon, princess.'

Val grinned at Zelgadis who was wearing his oh-my-god-how WEIRD expression at Amelia, except it had a slightly warm quality that the aqua-haired youth didn't miss.

'Better you than me, buddy.' He said, and chuckled, easily ducking the punch.

'THIS DOES IT!' Lina screamed as they rounded another corner into- another cave system. 'I HAVE HAD ENOUGH! This is where I get off!'

'This is getting a bit tedious. How long do you think we've been walking, Zel?'

'About three days.'

Kai'ila fell on the ground and glanced up as Xelloss coughed. Soon everyone was looking at the priest. He was shivering and sweating.

'This is not good. How can a Mazoku priest get sick?' mused L'risia quietly.

'We'll worry about that later,' Cleo snapped, 'right now we're going to have to ignore the fact he isn't supposed to be able to get sick and find some way to fix him.'

'We could kill him and cast Resurrection.'

Everyone stared at Zelgadis.

'I'd expect that, coming from you.' Filia said nastily. L'risia swapped a troubled glance with her friends.

'Uh well Filia- the thing is- it- might just work.'

'You're going to kill him. Kill Xelloss.' Lina said in a dead tone.

'No!' screamed Amelia. 'It is unjust!'

'We wouldn't actually kill him- just almost kill him. You'd have to cast the spell though Amelia.' Zelgadis reassured her, placing his hand on her shoulder.

'Lina?'

The redhead nodded silently and Kai'ila gently unlocked Filia's hands from where they held Xelloss's cloak and lead her aside.

'Zelgadis-' she began. The chimera sighed.

'I'll do it. I never thought I'd be able to do this, namagomi.'

Amelia screwed her eyes shut and buried her face in Zel's shoulder. Kai'ila stepped closer to Casper, who put an arm around her shoulders without appearing to think about it. Cleo's hands twisted around each other nervously. L'risia bit her lip so hard a drop of blood formed. Val looked anguished. Dynast looked rather pleased.

Filia refused to believe she was crying and convinced herself the water on her cheeks was from drips on the ceiling.

'Stop.' Gourry said in a hoarse voice. Zel glanced at him. 'You said a spell would cause the place to fall in on us.'

Zelgadis paused, and nodded.

'Raywing,' Cleo muttered, setting up the bubble around the group like a force field. Zel nodded at her and seemed to think about what spell to use. Ra Tilt would kill the namagomi in this state, he was pretty sure. A Lesser Demon spell was in order.

'Elmekia Lance!'

Everyone winced.

'Amelia, go on,' Zelgadis said, gently lifting the girl's head off his cowl. Light blue gaze met dark blue. L'risia looked away and met Val's gaze. He was grinning. Cleo had the feeling that they'd intruded on a private conversation, because a lot passed between Amelia and Zel without any words at all.

'How strange.' She muttered.

Amelia knelt by the priest and ignored the blood, calling up every single reserve she had.

'Resurrection!'

She slumped to the ground.  Cleo let the Raywing go. Zelgadis knelt down by Amelia and gently turned her over, taking off his cloak and spreading it over her.

'That is soooo romantic.' Sighed Cleo and Kai'ila, with all of their usual tact. L'risia sweatdropped and hit her forehead as Zelgadis turned pink and jerked back from Amelia as if he'd been shocked.

'Well done.' She muttered.

'Well it was!'

L'risia groaned again. 'Filia how's Xelloss?'

Filia was checking the purple-haired man. She looked relieved. 'He's all right. Now I can go back to hating him.'

Glances were exchanged all around. L'risia laughed.

'I guess you can't help loving to hate the fruitcake, ay.' She said, rubbing the back of her head. Then added, 'with the possible exception of Zel.'

Xelloss opened his eyes, and that in itself was a calendar event.

'You're back!' Amelia said, flinging herself on the priest in a tight hug that turned him quite green.

'Amelia-'

'Oh yes, sorry.' She grinned, and smacked him across the face. 'Better?'

'Much.' He nodded, and narrowed his eyes. 'You've been hanging around your Zelgadis too much, princess.'

L'risia, nearby, choked of her coffee as Zelgadis overheard and spat his out.

'What?!'

'M-m-my-' Amelia stammered. Filia pushed her aside and punched Xelloss straight across his jaw with her bare hands.

'That's for making me actually care whether you live or die, namagomi!'

'Uh- right Fi-chan-' he said, clearly not understanding as he rubbed his jaw. 'Er- would someone please explain what-' he'd closed his eyes, but now he opened them again. 'CARE?!?!'

'Ah, realization dawns.' L'risia said to no one in particular, watching the little scene with the amused air of a non-gambler at the horse races.

'You're such a-a-a-' Val waved his hands. 'I don't know.'

She grinned at him and raised an eyebrow at Zelgadis. Kai'ila walked up.

'Oh dear, you're still pink Zel.' She observed, putting her face close to his.

'Leave me alone.'

'Whatever for?'

'Kai'ila,' L'risia said, 'that's Xelloss's job- and we don't need Zel-chan in a bad mood now.'

Kai'ila stared at the girl and shrugged. 'Okay.'

In the background an argument between Filia and Xelloss was going on. L'risia was suddenly dressed in a beret and blue and white striped shirt, red scarf and brown trousers, a dreamy look on her face.

'Ah, L'amor.' She sighed dreamily, and burst into giggles. Kai'ila, Casper and Cleo blinked at looked at the coffee jug.

'How much of that has she had?'

L'risia had gotten control of herself and Filia and Xelloss had been convinced not to kill each other for the meantime, Zel had gone back to his nice normal shade of blue (he almost killed himself laughing when Cleo said that. Scary sight.) Amelia was being as cheerful as Kai'ila if not worse and so consequently Casper and Dynast were in bad moods. Gourry, of course, was off on his own little cloud somewhere.

So it was a complete mystery how they even realised they were under attack in the first place.

But they did.

'I HATE BATS!'

'That's nice. Ow the little $&$%!$% bit me!'

'Remember Lina, no spells!'

'I have an idea.' Xelloss said. Dead silence. Even the bats stopped twittering. Then Kai'ila said,

'Oh no not one of your ideas, Xelloss.'

The bats left like water out of a dam, screaming out of the cave and down the corridors. Everyone glanced at Xelloss.

'Well,' said L'ri, 'that worked. Was that your actual plan or sheer dumb luck?'

'Sore wa himitsu desu!'

Everyone face-faulted.  Amelia healed the tiny cuts all over her body.

'I reckon it was dumb luck.' Zelgadis said.

'OF course it was. Lady Luck doesn't follow Mazoku.'

The three priestesses swapped glances and smiled nervously. Lina noticed.

'What- oh no don't tell me- wait she DOESN'T EXIST.'

'Yeah. And Xelloss is Barney.'

'You mean she-Lady Luck-erm- oh please this conversation is getting way to weird.'

They started walking again, Xelloss falling back to walk with the Cleo, L'risia and Val.

'So when did you last see the Lady?' he smirked. Val's jaw fell open.

'Um- few months ago. She was pretty fed up with the state of things, to tell the truth. She said she was going to the Bahamas with N'sync and watch them get swamped by fan girls for amusement.'

'I hate that band.' Xelloss snarled, and sarcastically performed a few over-the-top dance moves. L'risia snickered.

'How about Britney Spears.'

They all groaned.

'Excuse me.' Val said timidly. 'But-'

'Oh yeah. Um-' L'risia reached into the pocket dimension in her skirt pocket. Her fingers found the mini-TV and turned it on. Soon the sounds of "Oops…" emanated from the screen. Val clapped his hands over his ears in pain.

'Stop!' he wailed. L'risia tossed the TV to Kai'ila, who changed it to N'sync. Val turned white.

'Horrible, isn't it.' Xelloss said pleasantly. Val nodded wordlessly as L'risia tucked the TV away.

'And now you know who Britney Spears is.' Kai'ila grinned. 'Regretting you asked?'

'Oh yeah.'

'By the way.' L'risia interrupted, looking over her shoulder.

'Eh?'

'The Bats Are Back.'

Everyone turned around facing the wall of fanged black leathery-winged animals who were back with a vengeance.

And a radio.