The Matrix- Slayers Style! (Part 3)

by XelFan12

Catchy Matrix music begins to play. "Attention! The "fasten your seatbelts" and "no barfing please" signs have been turned on. We hope you enjoy your ride... in the name... of JUSTICE!" Amelia declares, her eyes growing large with enthusiasm.

The camera begins to rotate around a pink telephone as everyone enters the Matrix. Suddenly, they appear in front in front of the telephone. For good effect, they let it ring a few more times. At the sixth ring, Xellos picks it up. "We're in," he says, and smiles.

While Lina, Gourry, and Xellos are driven to the Oracle by Martina (hope they don't crash!), Valgaav, Chibi-Xellos, and Sylphiel go to the arcade to see who's the champion at pinball.

"Hey! That's where I used to eat," Gourry told Lina, pointing at an all-you-can-eat restaurant.

"The Matrix can't tell you who you are," Lina insisted. "Your past life was all a hoax."

"What about the Oracle?"

"That's different. She'll be able to tell you."

"How?"

"THAT is a secret!" declared Xellos, turning around from the seat in front.

"Shut up, Xellos," muttered Lina.

"Did you go to the Oracle?" Gourry asked Lina.

Xellos was about to say his famous phrase once again, but turned back around as Lina gave him a menacing glare. "Yes," Lina replied.

"What'd she tell you?"

"She told me..."

"What?"

Lina didn't say anything, then looked annoyed. "Hey! Martina, we're supposed to be there by now! That way, Xellos could tell Gourry that we got there, and I wouldn't have to say anything!"

"How would you know that, Lina?!" Martina demanded. "You can't possibly predict-"

"We're here!" Xellos exclaimed cheerfully.

"How did that happen?" Martina asked.

Xellos smiled. "That is a secret! Come on, Gourry."

Gourry followed Xellos out of the car and into the building they had arrived at.

Once inside, they walked through a hallway, and entered an elevator.

"Hey Xellos, what did the Oracle tell you?"

"Well, let's just say that the Oracle and I are not the best of friends. I'd rather not mention it."

"Oh."

They walk through another hallway, and come to a door. Gourry opens it, and is greeted by a woman. Xellos and Gourry both step in.

While Xellos waits in the room they just entered, Gourry continues to the next room. "Just wait here, Gourry," the woman tells him, and she walks away.

Gourry looks around, and sees a girl making cards form into a card castle without touching them, two boys each trying to defeat the other with their minds, and a boy bending spoons.

Gourry walks over to the boy bending spoons because he figures that since spoons have to do with food, it must be the most interesting. The boy made a spoon bend, and then made it become straight again, then hands the spoon to Gourry.

"Do you want me to bend this spoon?" asked Gourry.

The boy nods.

"Well, I dunno. I'm not that good at bending spoons, I think."

"Do not try to bend the spoon."

"Okay."

"That is impossible."

"Sure is."

"Just try to realize the truth."

"Gotcha."

"There is no spoon."

"Now you lost me. There's a spoon right here!" Gourry protested, pointing to the spoon.

"It is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself."

Gourry paused thoughtfully, then protested again. "Now look! I saw with my own eyes that you did NOT bend. The spoon did! Okay?"

"Gourry, the Oracle will see you now," the woman announced as she walked back into the room.

"Okay." The woman pointed out another room to Gourry, then left again. Gourry entered the room, and saw that someone was sitting at a table, drinking tea.

"Is this what you were expecting?" the Oracle asked.

"You're the Oracle?"

"Well, I'd prefer it if you'd call me Filia".

"Okay, Filia."

"Oh, and you'll have to pay for that television."

"What television?" asked Gourry, turning around. He saw a television on the table next to him. "This one?"

"Yup. That idiot mozaku supposedly bought me a present, and instead gave me a television that I still owe money for. If you're really the One, you'll be a nice guy and pay the expenses."

"Oh, well, I'm already in debt," Gourry explained, turning around again, and knocking over a vase.

"That's too bad. Oh well. When you see Xellos again, tell him that if he comes back again, he'll get another taste of an iron mace."

"Um, okay."

"I can see why she likes you. Dumb, yet kinda cute."

"Who? What? When? Where? Why?"

"Never mind. Tell me, Gourry. Do you really think you're the One?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes."

"Well, I don't really know. But if bending spoons has anything to do with it, then I'm probably not the One."

"See those words on top of the doorway?" Gourry turns to see some strange symbols written atop the doorway.

"That's written in the language of the Golden Dragons. It means, `I hate Xellos!'"

"Oh. What does that have to do with the One?"

"Nothing. Just to let you know. Let me have a look at you. Hold out your hand."

Gourry held out his hand.

"Hmmm... sorry Gourry, you have the gift, but you can't become the One yet. It looks like you're waiting for something. And you need to wash your hands."

"Well, I'm still waiting for someone to tell me who sent me that stupid knock-knock joke the very first day all of this started."

"That was Lina."

"Lina? She betrayed me by sending a stupid knock-knock joke?!" Gourry's eyes opened wide with astonishment and hurt.

"Is it that bad?" Filia looked over, puzzled.

"Come to think of it, no, not really." Gourry straightened up again. "Why did Xellos think I was the One?"

"Are you sure you want to hear this?"

"Is it scary?"

"No."

"I'm ready then."

"Well, that infernal mozaku bothered me so much telling me that I had to pay for that stupid television that I just picked some random person (you), and that's why. You have the potential to become the One, like I said. But you're still not ready."

"Oh."

"He believes that you are the One so blindly, that he'd sacrifice his own life for yours."

"Really?"

"No. This is only a fanfiction."

"Well, that's true."

"In one hand, you'll hold your own life, and in the other, Xellos's. You'll have to make a choice. Death will steal a life from one of your hands, and you must decide which to keep."

"Why don't I just put both lives in one hand?"

"Well, usually some kind of miracle happens in a story, so you'll probably do just that."

Gourry nods, then waves goodbye to Filia as he walks out the door.

Xellos grins as Gourry comes back to the room he was waiting in. "What Filia, er... the Oracle said to you was for you and you alone."

"All right! Now I get to keep secrets just like you!"

Xellos sweatdropped.

***

Chibi-Xellos is sitting in a chair in some building. He'd gotten angry because Sylphiel and Valgaav were winning at pinball way more than he was. So he'd picked a random building to sulk in. His cell phone rang.

"We're coming. Gourry already saw the Oracle," Xellos informed him through the cell phone.

"Okay," Chibi-Xellos replied. "But I'm still sulking. You'd better come get me before we exit the Matrix."

"Very well then." Xellos hung up.

***

Sylphiel and Valgaav met Martina, Lina, Gourry, and Xellos, and they headed into the building to get the still-sulking Chibi-Xellos to come out.

Gourry noticed a cat throw a mouse across the room. Then, he saw a cat that looked exactly the same as before throw a mouse that looked exactly the same as before across the room again. "Doo-Jee-Va."

"What?" Lina asked.

"Daa-Jaa-Voo?"

"I believe he means déjà vu, Lina," Xellos informed her.

"What?" Lina repeated.

"I saw some cat throw a mouse across the room, and then I saw another cat throw another mouse across the room."

"How much alike were they? Were they the same cat and mouse?"

"Well actually, the first cat and mouse was grey, and the second cat and mouse was black."

"Oh, okay." The group headed up the stairs to find Chibi-Xellos.

***

Chibi-Xellos decided to stop sulking for a second, and check to see if everyone was coming up to make him feel better yet. He went to the doorway, and instead discovered a brick wall. "Oh, no," he muttered in shock.

***

One Rezo copy remarked, "You ARE pretty good at making brick walls. You're a natural!"

"Why thank you," replied the other, jingling his staff. "It's a new spell I learned."

"Wait, that was supposed to be a trap. How are we going to get that Chibi?"

"Darn."

The Rezo copies left, muttering to themselves. "Well, there's always tomorrow."

***

Sylphiel, Valgaav, Lina, Gourry, Xellos, and Martina got to the top of the stairs, and found a brick wall in place of a door where Chibi-Xellos was supposed to be.

"Flare arrow!" Lina shouted, and the brick wall easily gave way. They saw Chibi-Xellos inside.

Suddenly, a Rezo copy teleported back in front of Chibi-Xellos. "Do you take us as fools?" he demanded. With a jingle of his staff, and a spell that shook the whole building, Chibi-Xellos was destroyed.

"I'm glad that I'm a mozaku!" Xellos said. "Chibi-Xellos hadn't perfected his teleporting abilities yet. Hang on to me." The group held on to Xellos as he teleported them away to safety.

Unfortunately, with so many people, they could only get so far. They found themselves hanging on to a ladder inside one of the walls.

"Search for them!" a Rezo copy was heard to say.

The group remained silent, until some dust was accidentally kicked down by Valgaav. Martina sniffed, then covered her nose.

"What was that?" Footsteps and a jingling staff was heard coming closer. Martina coughed.

A Rezo copy pressed his ear against the wall. Martina sneezed.

"They're in the wall!"

Flare arrows were suddenly shot at the wall, producing much chaos and confusion. Xellos was at the bottom of the ladder, trying to hang on, but he slipped, and happened to fall on yet another Rezo copy.

"Get Gourry out!" Xellos orders the others.

The Rezo copy that he'd crashed into got up. "So, this is the famous Xellos?"

Xellos tried to teleport away, but found he couldn't.

"This is an anti-magic chamber, fool," the Rezo copy said softly. He picked up Xellos by the collar with one hand, then punched him across the room with the other.

"What the?!" Xellos sputtered, surprised. "You aren't supposed to be this strong! Lord Beastmaster and I defeated your kind easily when faced with only one!"

"Upgrades," said the Rezo copy simply, smiling and jingling his staff.

***

By now, Sylphiel, Valgaav, Lina, Gourry, and Martina had already climbed onto the roof of the building using the ladder. They all levitated themselves down to the streets below.

As soon as they landed, Sylphiel made a call on her cell phone. "Please Amelia, we need an exit," she said.

The group heads for the exit that Amelia told them, but Valgaav, being part mozaku, teleported ahead.

"What's he up to?" Lina asked.

***

The Rezo copy used his staff to knock Xellos out easily. The new upgrades made him 5 times as strong as he used to be. Their fusing with the machines had come in handy.

Another Rezo copy walked in. The two copies picked up Xellos without a word. As soon as they were out of the anti-magic chamber, they teleported themselves and Xellos to the top floor of a building.

***

"NO!" Amelia cried out back aboard the "Xellos". "I will not let evil defeat us when we can win with the shining power of justice!" Very bright colors flashed behind her.

"Amelia, please stop that," Zelgadis told her.

***

The phone that Valgaav had arrived at was ringing. He picked it up.

He was now on board the "Xellos". Amelia and Zelgadis turned to look at him.

"Oh, hi, Mr. Valgaav," Amelia greeted him cheerfully.

Valgaav doesn't say a word. He picks up a big electrical gun thing from the ground, and shoots at Amelia.

Amelia groans, then falls over.

Valgaav turns and shoots at Zelgadis, too. Zelgadis fell to the floor in a heap, the high-power energy piercing his golem-like skin.

Then, he smiles as he sees Lina, Gourry, Sylphiel, and Martina reach the telephone, which had stopped ringing. Valgaav picks up his cell phone, and calls the telephone there.

***

Lina picks up the ringing phone, and is surprised when the phone doesn't bring her back to the hovercraft. "What the?!"

"I'm in control now," Valgaav says into the phone.

"Valgaav?!" Gourry, Sylphiel, and Martina look over in confusion, and sees a look of confusion on Lina's face as well.

"Yes."

"Where's Amelia?"

"Dead."

"WHAT?! YOU KILLED AMELIA?!" Lina's eyes widened considerably, and the other three looked very shocked as well.

"As well as Zelgadis."

"YOU... MONSTER!" Lina screamed.

"That's true... I am part monster," Valgaav grinned. Then he got serious. "Look, I'm tired of this place. I'm tired of fighting, I'm tired of this ship, I'm tired of that slop we have to eat every morning. But most of all, I'm tired of this stupid lie. There is no One! Do you honestly believe that Gourry is the One?! Xellos has been fooling us all along!"

"That's not true! Xellos set us free!" Lina argued

"Xellos lied!" Valgaav raged on. "You think that this is freedom? We only do what that stupid mozaku orders us to do! The Matrix is far more freedom than this!"

"The Matrix isn't real!"

"I say it's more real than this world!" Valgaav raged on. "I'll just pull the plugs, Lina. Watch."

Martina suddenly got a blank look in her eyes, then fell over, dead. Gourry and Sylphiel stood still, unable to speak.

Lina stiffened. "Stop this right now, Valgaav! It doesn't have to be this way!"

"Oh, I think it does. And if you ever want to speak to Sylphiel again, then speak fast."

Lina looked at Sylphiel, who knew what was going to happen. "Gourry dear, please... Try to free us. I just know that you're the One." Sylphiel got the same stare, and fell to the ground as well.

Lina looked like she was about to explode. "VALGAAV! STOP THIS NOW!"

"Don't hate me, Lina. I just don't believe in all of this anymore. In fact, it seemed like junk from the beginning. Gourry appears. He's some kind of miracle! He'll free us all. He'll defeat the agents. I don't think so. And besides, how can he be the one when he's DEAD?! Tell me, Lina. Do you really believe that Gourry is the One? Do you? Yes or no?"

Lina gritted her teeth, saying nothing.

"I thought so. This is all just-" Valgaav suddenly heard the sound of an electric gun powering up, and turns around in alarm. "What the? Impossible!"

"Nothing is impossible!" Amelia declares, straightening up from the ground. "IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE!" A large energy ball blasts from the gun, and kills Valgaav.

Lina had heard something about justice in the background, so she knew that Amelia must have saved them. She managed a thin smile, and told Gourry the news. She hung up the phone.

The phone rung again, and she and Gourry were transported back into the real world. Gourry regained control of himself now after seeing Martina and Sylphiel die. "Are you alright?" he asked Amelia.

"I'll be okay. A healing spell will fix me up later," Amelia reassured him.

They began to discuss what to do next.

***

Xellos woke up tied to a chair by chains that rendered his magical powers useless, and deprived him of much of his physical strength as well. He stared at the Rezo copy in front of him, not speaking.

The Rezo copy jingled his staff. "We've finally captured you. And now the future of this `real world' will be in our hands."

Another Rezo copy walked in. "We must make no more mistakes. Should I deploy them?"

"Yes," replied the first. "Send out the Dark Lords immediately. We'll have the honor of destroying that wretched hovercraft."

As the second copy left, the first moved closer to Xellos, and pulled out a needle.

"Yare, yare. This is all very dramatic, but I will never tell you the information you need," Xellos declared.

"We shall see," the copy replied, and injected a substance into Xellos's arm.

Xellos began to feel very weak, and a great pain ran through him. "This torture will not make me talk. Ceipheed's codes will remain... a secret!"

***

"You think that Xellos will tell? That they'll finally get to him? Ceipheed is more important than all of us put together, including him! If the codes are let loose, then all is lost!" Amelia told Lina.

"Are you kidding? That mozaku would rather die than give up his saying. `That is a secret!' is going to be the reply to every one of those stupid copies' questions."

"But still! Will justice stand true? Perhaps... you don't think we'll have to kill Mister Xellos?" Amelia asked.

"No, wait!" Gourry interrupted. "I remember! The Oracle told me something about his life is in one hand, and mine is in the other. I've got to put both in one hand!"

"What?" Amelia and Lina replied together.

"I'm going after Xellos!" Gourry said bravely.

"That's impossible!" Lina protested. "There are too many Rezo copies there!"

"Yeah, don't be stupid, Mister Gourry," Amelia said. "Well, don't be most of the time, anyway."

"But Xellos thinks that I'm the One. And I'm not! I'm still waiting for something! That's what the Oracle said. But she didn't say what I was waiting for. Christmas... my birthday... hmmmm....."

Lina and Amelia sweatdropped.

"Anyway, I've got to go." Gourry went toward one of the chairs to be plugged into the Matrix.

"Then I'm coming with you!" declared Lina.

"Hmmm.... Okay."

"Amelia, load us up!"

***

Xellos felt even weaker all of a sudden, and was unable to speak.

"Someone tried to classify you in the past," the Rezo copy said. "And they said that humans are mammals. But you're not. You're more like viruses. You know, since you just use up resources in one place, and move on. And you're the plague. And I'm the cure. But that's not the point! Because somehow... you are 100% mozaku, and in that way, have completely messed up my dramatic speech. Never mind."

Xellos was too weak to talk, but not quite weak enough not to smile.