After his rather cold and unpleasant bath, Xellos released the branch and
transported a little ways ahead of where he was being yanked. Just as he
reappeared, he was rammed in to by one desperate little monster. The sudden
stop caught her attention and she glanced up hesitantly. Xellos glared at
her with his open eyes.
Xaina smiled rather sheepishly at her soaked teacher. "Uh, hi Xellos. Did ya decided to take a quick swim?"
"No," he stated evenly. "I was yanked in by some strange force that I'm sure you had something to do with."
"Oh, well, ah he he, see, there was this frog and, well..."
"You were chasing...a frog?" The trickster raised one curious eyebrow. "Um...why?"
"Because he was big and he talked!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms out at her sides to try and show how big he was.
"A talking frog?"
"Yes, yes, and he was really acrobatic and he did back flips and he hopped really fast and..."
"Why were you chasing it?" he demanded, not bothering to hide some of his annoyance.
"Oh, well, um...he kinda ran away and I wanted to see him again..."
*****
"How long are they going to be gone?" Amelia questioned the group as the were cleaning up the camp.
"Who cares," Zelgadiss stated coldly. "The longer their gone, the better."
"I quite agree," Filia broke in. "If that perverted monster never came back, we'd all live much happier lives."
Gourry looked up from where he was tucking away the last of his and Lina's stuff in one of their bottomless backpacks. "But if Xellos stayed away then wouldn't Xaina stay away too?"
Silence fell over the camp. Zelgadiss didn't care if the new little monster never came back but chose not to speak up. It was obvious some, if not all of the others, didn't like the idea of the child disappearing from their lives. Even Lina, who he would have thought to be the last to care, seemed a little upset by this. Then again, she had seemed to be acting differently since they had met up again.
When everything was packed, the group started to continue back on the road. Their first destination was Filia's, since she was closest and wouldn't be going back to Saillune with them. It wasn't far, only an hour or so's walk. Lina, as always, took up the lead with Gourry at her heals. Amelia skipped a few paces behind them, enjoying the beautiful day with Filia, with Zel in the back with Destiny. The four birds fluttered above, occasionally flying a little ahead and landing in the trees to wait for their master. All around, it was a peaceful walk. In the back of his mind, Zel knew it wasn't to last. It never lasted when they were all together.
"Well well, if it isn't the infamous Lina Inverse," a gurgle voice commented right on cue. The group whirled around, pulling out weapons and readying spells, then stopped and stared.
A smile crept up on Lina's lips. "That's me. Who wants to know?"
"The monster who shall be the one to destroy you."
For a moment, Lina tried to contain her chuckles. A second later, the sorceress burst out laughing and was struggling to remain standing. Amelia chuckled under her breath. Gourry looked confused. Zel stared at the monster rather amused. Filia looked a bit fearful and Destiny was just as blank as before. Standing a few feet away from them was a dog sized frog who looked quite peeved.
"Yo-you are going to des-des-destroy me?" Lina jeered while still laughing.
"Miss Lina, I don't think you should be laughing at him," Filia whispered.
"Why? What's he gonna do, croak me to death? Hey, frogy, if Amelia kiss you, will you turn in to a prince?"
"Miss Lina!" the princess cried, embarrassed and slightly horrified at the idea.
"Ah, co'mon, Amelia. You always said you wanted some prince to come sweep you away. Now's your chance to get one."
"I AM NOT A FROG!!!!!" the monster screeched while jumping up and down, waving his arms about in frustration. "I AM NOT A FROG! I AM NOT NAMED MR. FROGY, AND I WILL NOT TURN IN TO A PRINCE IF SHE KISSES ME!!!" Lina stopped laughing. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?! I AM A MONSTER, NOT A FROG!!!"
"Yeah, but, uh, you still look like a frog," the red head pointed out. The frog monster face faulted on the ground, feeling defeated.
"Definitely a frog," Amelia agreed.
"Very frog like," the blond swordsman said.
"A frog from every angle," Zelgadiss sighed.
"He's still a monster," Filia, the only one who wasn't laughing at the giant frog, stated in a low, bitter voice. She had already grabbed her mace out. "And he's still dangerous."
"Well, at least one person is taking me seriously." The monster clasped his hands together. He slowly pulled them apart, revealing a small glowing ball of water. "I suppose I'll just have to convince the rest of you." The monster suddenly hurled the ball at them. A small squeak could be heard from Amelia as they all jumped aside. The water ball flew past and struck a tree. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the tree burst in to pieces. "Still feel like calling me a frog?" he sneered while powering up another ball.
"Uh, not really," Lina said sheepishly.
A malicious smile appeared on the monster's face as he launched another water ball at the red head. She jerked just to the side of it. The energy blew up another tree. Lina hurriedly conjured up a fireball. She tossed it at the monster. He teleported just as it struck the ground, barely doing anything. She stared at the spot for a moment, not sure why the spell had been so weak, before casting another one.
"Now where'd he go?" the sorceress muttered to herself. "Come out, coward!"
"If you insist," he hissed, his voice emanating from all around them.
"Miss Lina, above you!" Filia cried.
Lina didn't bother looking up. She threw her fireball up just as the monster, who had appeared above her, dropped a water ball. The two collided and exploded with more force then either would have normally had, sending both the sorceress and monster flying back. Gourry jumped up and caught the now furious Lina. Oh, that frog was going to pay for this. All she need was a quick distraction and she could take him out.
"Damn it," the monster growled. "I need a new tactic." He scanned the area. His eyes stopped as the passed over the other two sorcerers. They were casting a ra-tilt. "Oh, no ya don't." He chucked two more water balls down at them, disrupting the spells and pushing them back out in to the open. Lina had started casting a dragon slave. He smiled and licked his lips. The monster had the perfect spell for this little group. Just as he started to cast it, he thought of something: weren't there two more in the group, a dragon and a woman in black? He started looking around in a panic. Where had they gone? What were they up to? Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a beam of light heading for him...
Filia's laser breath smashed in to something in the sky. Filia gave a silent cheer. He may have been fast, but not fast enough. Destiny tapped her staff on the ground and the invisibility spell disappeared. The others stared at them, stunned.
"What?" Filia inquired.
"That spell..." Lina started to say.
"That's an invisibility spell," Amelia finished. "I though only really powerful sorcerers could cast that spell."
Destiny turned her cold eyes towards the group. "They can," was all she stated before starting to walk down the road again as if nothing had happened. The four birds fluttered along behind her. Filia paused for a moment before hurriedly chasing after the woman.
The others blinked. "And I thought Zel was cold," the red head commented. Zel shot her a bitter glare before starting to follow. Destiny spotted abruptly and turned around sharply. Her eyes widened for a second before glowing water suddenly surrounded them.
The monster cackled as water surrounded them. "Not quite fast enough!" he taunted. "I'll have your blood yet, Lina Inverse." Everything around them turned a blinding blue. Then, it was gone. The group, minus Filia and Destiny who had not been caught in the spell, was dropped in to a lake they knew hadn't been there before. Everyone, except Zelgadiss, came sputtering up to the surface.
"What happened?" Amelia demanded.
"We've been teleported," Lina responded while she struggled to float.
"Hey, where's Zelgadiss?" Gourry asked.
"Oh no! Mr. Zelgadiss!" Amelia cried. She took a deep breath and dove down to find him. Like any good partial golem, he had sunk to the bottom. She grabbed on to him and desperately tried to help him up to the surface.
Meanwhile, on the surface, the monster stood on the top of the water grinning evilly. "Oh, did little Lina fall down?" he mocked. "How 'bout I help you back up." He twiddled his fingers, lifting her out of the waterwith an unseen spell.
"Fireball!" she cried, releasing another spell. The frog called a small bit of the water up to make a shield, dropping her in the process. The fire burned through the shield and in to his shoulder. He winced it pain. "Oh, now your gonna get it, buddy!" she snapped in irritation when Gourry had pulled her back up. (There really wasn't much else he could do.) His cold eyes turned from his wound back to her. "I'd love to see you try." He lifted her out of the water again with an invisible hand. He dropped her once again just as she cast a dil brand. The spell went off but fizzled and did nothing. His amphibian lips were turned up in an evil sneer. "Is that the best you got, little girl?" He used his spell to pick her up again. "Go ahead, take your best shot."
"With pleasure," a new voice hissed. A staff smacked in to the frog and Lina was, once more, dropped in to the lake. The monster went flying through the near by trees around the lake, thrown out of sight. Gourry grabbed her and pulled her back up to the surface. "What is this, drop Lina day!" the red head cried in frustration. Her eyes widened in shock as she stared at the new comer.
"Alright, ten points!" the new comer cried
"It couldn't be... but how..." Lina sputtered. The new comer dove in to the water. She dropped down and grabbed Zel and Amelia. A few seconds later, they were on the land gasping for air with Lina and Gourry next to them. "Xaina! But...but..."
The young woman glanced over at Lina and smiled. She looked just like the little half cat child. Her clothes, her face, her eyes, everything was exactly the same, except she was older. A lot older...at least twenty years. "You alright?"
"..."
The neko monster cocked her head to one side in confusion. "I'll take that as a yes, I guess." Lina glanced over to where the frog monster had disappeared and back at the young woman. "Oh, don't worry about him. He wont be coming back anytime soon," she explained in a cheery voice while waving a dismissive hand. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I have other things I need to take care of." She gave them one more bright smile with her eyes closed (looking just a little too much like Xellos) and disappeared.
"Ahhhhh...what just happened?" Gourry asked. Sadly, he was not the only one confused.
(Yeah! Another chapter done while listening to some slayers music on my iTunes. I'm sorry if this chapter was a little confusing. I'm not all that good at writing battle stuff and well, the story has taken over itself. Ihave no idea what exactly was going on at the end, but oh well. I guess I'll figure it out when I write the next chapter. Oh, and the bottomless back pack is sort of my version of a bag of holding, only it holds more and is lighter. They always have so much stuff but no packs of any sort so I figure they had to have something like this on them.)
Xaina smiled rather sheepishly at her soaked teacher. "Uh, hi Xellos. Did ya decided to take a quick swim?"
"No," he stated evenly. "I was yanked in by some strange force that I'm sure you had something to do with."
"Oh, well, ah he he, see, there was this frog and, well..."
"You were chasing...a frog?" The trickster raised one curious eyebrow. "Um...why?"
"Because he was big and he talked!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms out at her sides to try and show how big he was.
"A talking frog?"
"Yes, yes, and he was really acrobatic and he did back flips and he hopped really fast and..."
"Why were you chasing it?" he demanded, not bothering to hide some of his annoyance.
"Oh, well, um...he kinda ran away and I wanted to see him again..."
*****
"How long are they going to be gone?" Amelia questioned the group as the were cleaning up the camp.
"Who cares," Zelgadiss stated coldly. "The longer their gone, the better."
"I quite agree," Filia broke in. "If that perverted monster never came back, we'd all live much happier lives."
Gourry looked up from where he was tucking away the last of his and Lina's stuff in one of their bottomless backpacks. "But if Xellos stayed away then wouldn't Xaina stay away too?"
Silence fell over the camp. Zelgadiss didn't care if the new little monster never came back but chose not to speak up. It was obvious some, if not all of the others, didn't like the idea of the child disappearing from their lives. Even Lina, who he would have thought to be the last to care, seemed a little upset by this. Then again, she had seemed to be acting differently since they had met up again.
When everything was packed, the group started to continue back on the road. Their first destination was Filia's, since she was closest and wouldn't be going back to Saillune with them. It wasn't far, only an hour or so's walk. Lina, as always, took up the lead with Gourry at her heals. Amelia skipped a few paces behind them, enjoying the beautiful day with Filia, with Zel in the back with Destiny. The four birds fluttered above, occasionally flying a little ahead and landing in the trees to wait for their master. All around, it was a peaceful walk. In the back of his mind, Zel knew it wasn't to last. It never lasted when they were all together.
"Well well, if it isn't the infamous Lina Inverse," a gurgle voice commented right on cue. The group whirled around, pulling out weapons and readying spells, then stopped and stared.
A smile crept up on Lina's lips. "That's me. Who wants to know?"
"The monster who shall be the one to destroy you."
For a moment, Lina tried to contain her chuckles. A second later, the sorceress burst out laughing and was struggling to remain standing. Amelia chuckled under her breath. Gourry looked confused. Zel stared at the monster rather amused. Filia looked a bit fearful and Destiny was just as blank as before. Standing a few feet away from them was a dog sized frog who looked quite peeved.
"Yo-you are going to des-des-destroy me?" Lina jeered while still laughing.
"Miss Lina, I don't think you should be laughing at him," Filia whispered.
"Why? What's he gonna do, croak me to death? Hey, frogy, if Amelia kiss you, will you turn in to a prince?"
"Miss Lina!" the princess cried, embarrassed and slightly horrified at the idea.
"Ah, co'mon, Amelia. You always said you wanted some prince to come sweep you away. Now's your chance to get one."
"I AM NOT A FROG!!!!!" the monster screeched while jumping up and down, waving his arms about in frustration. "I AM NOT A FROG! I AM NOT NAMED MR. FROGY, AND I WILL NOT TURN IN TO A PRINCE IF SHE KISSES ME!!!" Lina stopped laughing. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?! I AM A MONSTER, NOT A FROG!!!"
"Yeah, but, uh, you still look like a frog," the red head pointed out. The frog monster face faulted on the ground, feeling defeated.
"Definitely a frog," Amelia agreed.
"Very frog like," the blond swordsman said.
"A frog from every angle," Zelgadiss sighed.
"He's still a monster," Filia, the only one who wasn't laughing at the giant frog, stated in a low, bitter voice. She had already grabbed her mace out. "And he's still dangerous."
"Well, at least one person is taking me seriously." The monster clasped his hands together. He slowly pulled them apart, revealing a small glowing ball of water. "I suppose I'll just have to convince the rest of you." The monster suddenly hurled the ball at them. A small squeak could be heard from Amelia as they all jumped aside. The water ball flew past and struck a tree. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the tree burst in to pieces. "Still feel like calling me a frog?" he sneered while powering up another ball.
"Uh, not really," Lina said sheepishly.
A malicious smile appeared on the monster's face as he launched another water ball at the red head. She jerked just to the side of it. The energy blew up another tree. Lina hurriedly conjured up a fireball. She tossed it at the monster. He teleported just as it struck the ground, barely doing anything. She stared at the spot for a moment, not sure why the spell had been so weak, before casting another one.
"Now where'd he go?" the sorceress muttered to herself. "Come out, coward!"
"If you insist," he hissed, his voice emanating from all around them.
"Miss Lina, above you!" Filia cried.
Lina didn't bother looking up. She threw her fireball up just as the monster, who had appeared above her, dropped a water ball. The two collided and exploded with more force then either would have normally had, sending both the sorceress and monster flying back. Gourry jumped up and caught the now furious Lina. Oh, that frog was going to pay for this. All she need was a quick distraction and she could take him out.
"Damn it," the monster growled. "I need a new tactic." He scanned the area. His eyes stopped as the passed over the other two sorcerers. They were casting a ra-tilt. "Oh, no ya don't." He chucked two more water balls down at them, disrupting the spells and pushing them back out in to the open. Lina had started casting a dragon slave. He smiled and licked his lips. The monster had the perfect spell for this little group. Just as he started to cast it, he thought of something: weren't there two more in the group, a dragon and a woman in black? He started looking around in a panic. Where had they gone? What were they up to? Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a beam of light heading for him...
Filia's laser breath smashed in to something in the sky. Filia gave a silent cheer. He may have been fast, but not fast enough. Destiny tapped her staff on the ground and the invisibility spell disappeared. The others stared at them, stunned.
"What?" Filia inquired.
"That spell..." Lina started to say.
"That's an invisibility spell," Amelia finished. "I though only really powerful sorcerers could cast that spell."
Destiny turned her cold eyes towards the group. "They can," was all she stated before starting to walk down the road again as if nothing had happened. The four birds fluttered along behind her. Filia paused for a moment before hurriedly chasing after the woman.
The others blinked. "And I thought Zel was cold," the red head commented. Zel shot her a bitter glare before starting to follow. Destiny spotted abruptly and turned around sharply. Her eyes widened for a second before glowing water suddenly surrounded them.
The monster cackled as water surrounded them. "Not quite fast enough!" he taunted. "I'll have your blood yet, Lina Inverse." Everything around them turned a blinding blue. Then, it was gone. The group, minus Filia and Destiny who had not been caught in the spell, was dropped in to a lake they knew hadn't been there before. Everyone, except Zelgadiss, came sputtering up to the surface.
"What happened?" Amelia demanded.
"We've been teleported," Lina responded while she struggled to float.
"Hey, where's Zelgadiss?" Gourry asked.
"Oh no! Mr. Zelgadiss!" Amelia cried. She took a deep breath and dove down to find him. Like any good partial golem, he had sunk to the bottom. She grabbed on to him and desperately tried to help him up to the surface.
Meanwhile, on the surface, the monster stood on the top of the water grinning evilly. "Oh, did little Lina fall down?" he mocked. "How 'bout I help you back up." He twiddled his fingers, lifting her out of the waterwith an unseen spell.
"Fireball!" she cried, releasing another spell. The frog called a small bit of the water up to make a shield, dropping her in the process. The fire burned through the shield and in to his shoulder. He winced it pain. "Oh, now your gonna get it, buddy!" she snapped in irritation when Gourry had pulled her back up. (There really wasn't much else he could do.) His cold eyes turned from his wound back to her. "I'd love to see you try." He lifted her out of the water again with an invisible hand. He dropped her once again just as she cast a dil brand. The spell went off but fizzled and did nothing. His amphibian lips were turned up in an evil sneer. "Is that the best you got, little girl?" He used his spell to pick her up again. "Go ahead, take your best shot."
"With pleasure," a new voice hissed. A staff smacked in to the frog and Lina was, once more, dropped in to the lake. The monster went flying through the near by trees around the lake, thrown out of sight. Gourry grabbed her and pulled her back up to the surface. "What is this, drop Lina day!" the red head cried in frustration. Her eyes widened in shock as she stared at the new comer.
"Alright, ten points!" the new comer cried
"It couldn't be... but how..." Lina sputtered. The new comer dove in to the water. She dropped down and grabbed Zel and Amelia. A few seconds later, they were on the land gasping for air with Lina and Gourry next to them. "Xaina! But...but..."
The young woman glanced over at Lina and smiled. She looked just like the little half cat child. Her clothes, her face, her eyes, everything was exactly the same, except she was older. A lot older...at least twenty years. "You alright?"
"..."
The neko monster cocked her head to one side in confusion. "I'll take that as a yes, I guess." Lina glanced over to where the frog monster had disappeared and back at the young woman. "Oh, don't worry about him. He wont be coming back anytime soon," she explained in a cheery voice while waving a dismissive hand. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I have other things I need to take care of." She gave them one more bright smile with her eyes closed (looking just a little too much like Xellos) and disappeared.
"Ahhhhh...what just happened?" Gourry asked. Sadly, he was not the only one confused.
(Yeah! Another chapter done while listening to some slayers music on my iTunes. I'm sorry if this chapter was a little confusing. I'm not all that good at writing battle stuff and well, the story has taken over itself. Ihave no idea what exactly was going on at the end, but oh well. I guess I'll figure it out when I write the next chapter. Oh, and the bottomless back pack is sort of my version of a bag of holding, only it holds more and is lighter. They always have so much stuff but no packs of any sort so I figure they had to have something like this on them.)