The Matrix- Slayers Style! (Part 4)

By XelFan12

"What do you need besides for the forces of justice?" Amelia asked Lina and Gourry.

"We'll need some metal pieces. Lots of metal pieces."

Metal pieces of many different random kinds flashed through the construct on many shelves.

Gourry looked puzzled. "Lina, why do we need metal pieces?"

"So the metal detector will beep when we go through it, the guy there will ask us if we've got any loose change, etc., and then we'll fireball them."

"Why? And how do you know that?"

"Because the Oracle said to, and because of the Oracle."

"Oh."

***

Back in the highest floor of the building, a Rezo copy was talking to the now-silent Xellos.

"Let me tell you a secret," the Rezo copy whispered.

Xellos made the slightest movement when he heard the word "secret".

"I am not fond of this place. I am not fond of this way of life. I am not fond of the creatures that live here. I dislike this place, Xellos. What I'd give to be able to plug myself back into the Matrix and become an anime character! That's why I need the codes for Ceipheed. Once I destroy that stronghold, there is no need for me to be here! Now tell me, or I'll have to kill you." The copy punctuated his sentence with a dramatic ring from his staff.

***

Lina and Gourry walk through that metal detector door thing, and the device starts to beep rapidly.

"Do you have any loose change, etc.?" the guy managing the stuff asked.

Lina took the metal pieces out of her pocket, and threw them on the ground. Gourry did the same.

"Uh... okay."

"Fireball!" Lina yelled, and blew the poor guy out of the room.

"Lina, why'd you do that?" Gourry asked.

"Read the script, Gourry. How should I know?"

"We need backup!" another guy said before he was Ice Arrowed.

Lina and Gourry took care of the rest of the guys there with some random spells, and then the reinforcements arrived. "FREEZE!" one of the new guys ordered.

Everyone stopped moving, and stayed where they were. The guy looked around in astonishment. He didn't really know what to do now that they actually did what he had wanted. He just didn't feel right shooting someone that was just standing there. "Uh... go?"

"FIREBALL!" Lina and Gourry yelled in unison, and the guy was blasted away like all the others.

The other guys pulled out their guns, but they couldn't come close to hitting Lina or Gourry.

While Lina and Gourry were doing fancy tricks like jogging up walls, running on the ceilings, and doing impossible flips, they were making progress too. Gourry suddenly whipped out his Sword of Light. With all the new techniques he'd learned, he was an unstoppable force.

Lina was busy using all sorts of spells to stop the guys pursuing them, ranging from a blinding light spell just to distract them, to a condensed Dragonslave attack. That was one of the most useful things she'd learned. While before, the Dragonslave couldn't be used in small areas, now it could be cast in the same size as the fireball, and its effects took place mostly in the target rather than outside it.

Gourry with his sword and spells, and Lina with her spells and violence, took care of the reinforcements easily.

Gourry started walking to the elevator, but Lina said, "Why bother?" She shot a fireball at the ceiling, and she and Gourry started levitating up all the way to the roof.

***

Some other Rezo copies came into the room that Xellos was in. The electricity had gone out. "What's going on?" they asked.

"I think they're trying to save him," the first Rezo copy replied, gesturing to Xellos. Xellos remained silent, too exhausted from the stuff that had been injected into his body. "The electricity went out from some wires being destroyed back on the first floor. Probably a fireball."

The other Rezo copies, and left the room, some headed for the roof.

***

The Rezo copies met Lina and Gourry on the roof.

While Lina was busy using several condensed Dragonslaves on one, Gourry faced the other.

"Die," the Rezo copy muttered, jingling his staff. He hurled an endless array of fireballs toward Gourry.

Using his new techniques, Gourry whipped out his Sword of Light, and blocked all of the fireballs except for one. That one singed him just a bit. It was amazing, him and the sword moving so fast, it was like they weren't moving at all.

Lina had finally destroyed the Rezo copy she had faced with the Ragna Blade, and wasn't about to waste the rest of the spell. "Let's see you jingle that staff now!" she yelled, and destroyed the surprised copy with one swipe.

"Gourry, how did you do that?"

"Hmmmm... hmmm.... Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm........ I don't remember," Gourry replied.

Lina fell over. Getting up, she muttered, "Never mind."

Lina and Gourry levitate a little downward now, stopping at the highest floor, which Xellos is held in.

The Rezo copies in there are caught by surprise by Lina and Gourry, who break in and destroy them with combined Ragna Blade attacks, as well as a now more powerful Sword of Light.

Gourry destroyed the chains that had deprived Xellos of so much of his power, while Lina cast a quick healing spell on him to get rid of the effects of the substance that a Rezo copy had injected into him.

Xellos stood up. "Well, that feels much better." He smiled. "Amelia, we need an exit."

***

Elsewhere, more Rezo copies looked out of another building. "The Dark Lords should destroy that wretched ship soon," said one.

"Yes," replied another, and jingled his staff.

***

The Dark Lords were making progress. They were still journeying through the tunnels, but would be arriving at the "Xellos" very soon.

***

Xellos, Gourry, and Lina arrived at the subway station that Amelia had told them to go to. Xellos had teleported them there. The phone in the phone booth was ringing, waiting to transport them back to the ship.

Xellos goes in the phone booth. "I'll be seeing you all!" he says cheerfully, and disappears as he picks up the phone.

Lina walked over to the phone booth. She put the hanging phone back on, and it immediately began to ring again. "Gourry, I have to tell you something. And it's really hard for me to say. I'm afraid of... what it could mean. I could handle everything... but this."

"What is it, Lina?" asked Gourry, confused.

Suddenly, a Rezo copy teleported into the subway station.

"Lina, look out!" Gourry yelled.

Lina saw the Rezo copy, and barely picked up the phone and disappeared before the phone booth was destroyed completely by the copy.

"It's time to give up, Gourry," the Rezo copy said softly as a dozen more copies appeared behind him.

***

Lina appeared back aboard the "Xellos", and looked at one of the screens, seeing thirteen Rezo copies all against Gourry. "Run, you idiot!" she muttered.

Xellos grinned in amusement.

***

Gourry stood his ground, and drew his sword. "Come and get me!"

"You're a fool to stand against us," another copy declared, as all thirteen copies jingled their staffs in unison.

"Hey, that sounds pretty cool," Gourry comented.

"Thanks."

***

"What are they doing?" Lina asked puzzled.

"I really don't know, Miss Lina," replied Amelia.

Xellos grinned again. "I think the Rezo copies are getting a little too caught up in themselves. And besides that, Gourry's starting to believe.

***

The Rezo copies began to get serious. They all fired a barrage of fireballs at Gourry at the same time.

Using his new skills, Gourry spun his sword impossibly fast, blocking all attacks. Chanting the incantation, he then summoned up a Ragna Blade, merging it with his Sword of Light to give it more power.

"You think that you can defeat all of us with a single spell?" inquired yet another copy.

"We'll see." Gourry leapt forward, and managed to destroy 3 copies with his ultra-powerful weapon before the spell wore out.

"You're a fool to think you can stop us," a copy muttered as 3 more copies appeared.

"Darn. Guess I'll have to try something different." Gourry got a look in his eye. "I don't think Lina's ever tried this before." Repeatedly dodging spells from the pursuing Rezo copies, he muttered the incantation for another Ragna Blade, and fused it with his sword. The Sword of Light absorbed the darkness and became ultra-powerful once again.

"Trying the same spell again?"

"Not exactly." Gourry saw now that he was far stronger than he used to be. Muttering another incantation, he fused another Ragna Blade into the sword.

"Impossible!"

"We'll see how impossible it is!" Fusing in a third Ragna Blade, the Sword of Light began to pulse with darkness so deep, the color black seemed holy compared to it. For extra measure, Gourry fused in a Dragonslave before he was finally hit by one of the fireballs thrown at him.

"Your sword won't be of any use once we kill you."

Gourry scrambled to his feet, picking up his sword and using a quick spell to heal himself. He then swung his sword forward, and the darkness somehow shined with the colossal force.

The explosion that followed destroyed the entire subway station easily, incinerating all 13 Rezo copies in an instant. Gourry collapsed in a heap on the ground.

***

"That was.. not possible," Lina whispered.

Even Xellos looked surprised.

***

Gourry managed to get up from the ground and cast a recovery spell on himself. He began to run along the streets.

Stealing a cell phone, Gourry dialed the hovercraft, and asked Lina for an exit.

"The exit's a phone booth on the corner of Slayers Avenue. Hurry!"

Gourry ran as fast as he could for it, as 3 dozen more copies appeared behind him.

***

"The Dark Lords are going to be here any second!" Amelia announced worriedly.

"It's okay, he'll get here in time," replied Lina.

"We'll just have to wait," Xellos said.

***

Fireballs blasting all around him, Gourry ran for the exit. People stared as 36 people that looked exactly alike chased after him.

"Hmmm.... I don't know how I did that, but I don't think I can do it again easily," Gourry said to himself, referring to how he just destroyed the 13 copies.

The copies that were chasing Gourry had finally caught up to him, and one fired a fireball that hit Gourry's arm.

Gourry felt a pain in his arm, and paused to start another healing spell.

"Too late," a Rezo copy said, and all the copies began to blast fireballs at Gourry, an endless stream of pain.

Even Gourry couldn't stand this, and he collapsed to the ground, beaten and bleeding badly. "Lina..." An explosion equal to that of a Dragonslave hit him now, and he closed his eyes, dead.

***

The Dark Lords had caught up to the "Xellos", and tremendous explosions began to destroy most of the ship. Xellos and Amelia hurried off to try and stop them, but Lina stayed behind. She was the only one that saw when Gourry was killed.

"NO! You can't die, Gourry! You can't!" Lina screamed as explosions raged around her.

Gourry remained motionless on the screen, with the Rezo copies standing over him, observing him.

"You can't die, Gourry... The Oracle... she told me... that I would fall in love with the One. And I did. You're the One! You must be! So you see... you can't be dead. Because... I love you, Gourry. I really do." Lina leaned over, and kissed Gourry, who was still in his chair, although it was his mental self that had been destroyed in the Matrix.

Gourry still remained motionless.

10 very long seconds passed.

"GOURRY, IF YOU DON'T GET UP RIGHT NOW, I'LL DRAGONSLAVE YOU SO MANY TIMES YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DEAD AND ALIVE!" Lina yelled at the top of her lungs.

Suddenly, Gourry got up.

***

He felt different, somehow, far more powerful.

The Rezo copies took a step back. "Still alive?" one asked. "Very impressive. But try this."

All 3 dozen copies fired repeated Dragonslave power blasts at Gourry, who stood still, very calm.

Gourry held up a hand, and all the many blasts stood still in the air. He then held up his Sword of Light, and the copies watched in horror and fascination as all their blasts were absorbed. The sword now throbbed violently with the unbelievable energy it had now.

"Now let's add something else in for good measure," Gourry muttered. "Darkness beyond blackest pitch... Deeper than the deepest night... King of darkness, who shines like gold upon the sea of chaos... I pledge myself to thee, swear myself to thee... Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I possess. GIGA SLAVE!" The Sword of Light absorbed this as well, becoming not a weapon any longer, but rather darkness itself.

"Let's see you dodge this," Gourry challenged, and whipped the sword around so fast, none of the copies knew what hit them. In the next instant, the many copies fell over, all dead. The faint jingling of staffs swept through the air like a forgotten song.

Gourry sheathed his blade, and simply teleported himself to the exit at Slayers Avenue. With his new power, there was no need to walk anymore. He was the One.

He picked up the ringing phone, and found himself back aboard the "Xellos".

***

Amelia hurriedly pressed the red button that shut down all electricity once Gourry returned, and the Dark Lords propelled themselves back to the tunnels, no longer wishing to stay.

They were safe now.

***

Gourry walked through the crowd, now realizing his true power. "There's no one now I can't face. No one I can't defeat," he whispered. "I have the power. I will free... us all."

Gourry suddenly muttered a spell, and floated up off the ground into the sky at great speed... and crashed into a billboard.

"GOURRY! NOT AGAIN! THAT'S THE SIXTH ONE THIS WEEK!"

***

*roll credits*