Title: Slayers Gateway: Discovery

By: Slayersgrl (slayersgrl@yahoo.com)
Disclaimer: I don't own the Slayers… just borrowing them…

A/N: This is the first in a trilogy I'm working on. Only the first part, Discovery, is done so far… Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

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Lina stopped running after she was out of range of the others. She let go of her grip on Amelia and resumed her skipping. Amelia followed behind, walking fast to keep up.

When Amelia had heard Lina's happy tune one too many times, she decided it was up to her to start a conversation. "Uh, Miss Lina?" No violent explosion. That was a good sign. "Why did you want me to go with you?" she hesitated and then continued. "You aren't planning to get me back for this morning, are you?"

The humming stopped, but the skipping continued. "Oh, you're still worried about this morning? Don't be! I had to get up eventually anyway." Then the skipping stopped and Lina slowed to a casual walk. "Actually, the reason why I wanted you to come with me was because I…"

"Because what?"

"I… needed to… ask you something…" Lina glanced at the ground as she waited for the other girl's reply.

Amelia perked up. "Wow Miss Lina! You actually want my advice! Ok, ask me anything."

"Well…" Lina blushed slightly at the thought of what she was about to ask. "What do you think of Gourry?"

She was confused. "Mr. Gourry?" She scratched the back of head while she thought for a moment. "Well, he seems really nice and caring. And he's a great swordsman." Then something clicked. "Oh! You mean…"

Lina half smiled. "Uh…yeah…"

Amelia grabbed Lina's hands and swung her around in a big circle. "Go for it! You two would be perfect for each other!" She stopped abruptly and her eyes lit up. "I know! You can have the wedding at the palace! It'll be so perfect! I'll plan everything!"

"Whoa! Slow down Amelia! Who said anything about weddings?!?" But the princess was already rambling on. "I think I just made a big mistake…"

As the sun was setting, Lina and Amelia saw a building ahead. By now, they didn't really care what building it was; they just wanted someplace nice and warm to stay for the night. But as they neared it, the two girls felt a little weird…

"Miss Lina!" Amelia exclaimed. "It's so creepy! Maybe we should keep going…"

"Are you nuts? What if what we're looking for is in there?" Lina then dragged Amelia with her to the entrance of the creepy building.

The whole structure looked to be extremely old. Vines snaked up and down the stone walls and cracks were clearly visible. The door itself was even more frightening. It was the only part made out of wood. In the center was an old-fashioned doorknocker.

Lina cautiously reached for the doorknocker, with Amelia trembling beside her. After letting it knock twice, she stepped back and held her breath, waiting for something to happen.

When nothing did, she and Amelia sighed in relief. "Well, I guess we should just go in." Lina said as she took another step backwards.

Amelia was confused. "What? Miss Lina? Where are you going?"

The other sorceress smiled slyly and pushed Amelia towards the door. "Why don't you open it Amelia?"

"M…m…me?" she stuttered. Then she turned and reluctantly reached for the door handle. With trembling hands, she managed to open it. Then she and Lina ran in before they changed their minds.

After a lighting spell from Lina, they were able to see that they were in a small dark room. There was nothing in the room except for some cobwebs. On the opposite wall, however, was another door.

"Not another one!" Lina mumbled. Then she felt herself being pushed lightly forward. She turned to see Amelia behind her.

"It's your turn!" was all the princess said.

Lina whined and then turned toward the new door. She took a deep breath and tried to convince herself that there was nothing to be scared of. She was able to convince herself for about the 10 seconds it took to reach out and fling the door open.

Amelia and Lina screamed in unison.

There was nothing there.

The two girls sweat dropped in unison. Then Lina whacked Amelia over the head. "See, there was nothing to be afraid of!"

"Huh?" Amelia asked as she rubbed the bump on her head.

Then Lina added, "But, just to be on the safe side…" And she shoved Amelia through the open doorway.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Amelia's scream echoed through the surrounding area.

Meanwhile, Zelgadis and Gourry had been traveling silently in the opposite direction. Zel was deep in thought about some of the recent events that had occurred. Gourry, on the other hand, was just following along behind.

Suddenly, Zel's thoughts were interrupted by a voice behind him. "Hey Zel. Why do you think Lina's been acting so weird lately?" Gourry asked. "Maybe it's that time of the month…"

Zel sweat dropped in annoyance. "I don't know. Maybe you should ask her." Then he thought about something. "What I want to know is why she put you and me together. I would have thought I would have been stuck with Miss Sunshine again." "Not that I'm complaining…"

Before Gourry could think of anything to say in response, Zel suddenly disappeared from view. Gourry quickly ran to where he had been standing a few moments before. He saw that the ground had collapsed, leaving a darkened opening below. "Oh well." Gourry thought as he jumped in after Zel.

He fell through the darkness and suddenly landed on a rocky surface. "Zel? Where are you?" he called out, trying to see through the darkness.

Gourry heard a muffled voice say, "Down here!" He looked down and saw him sitting on a familiar cape… After quickly standing up, Gourry reached down and helped Zel up.

After he was able to stand up straight, Zel cast a lighting spell so they could see where they were. They appeared to be standing in a natural underground cavern. "Well, I guess we'd better look around since we're down here."

As the lighting spell cast shadows around the cavern, Zel noticed something on the wall to the right. As he walked closer, he noticed it was a door. Gourry noticed the door too and walked over to open it. But it wouldn't budge. He backed up and charged at the door. Gourry found himself flying in the other direction, with the door still in it's original position.

As Gourry stared at the door, scratching his head in thought, Zel just sighed. He prepared a fireball spell to blast the door open. However, before he could finish the spell, Gourry had pulled out his Sword of Light. With one fluid motion, the door fell to the ground in two pieces. Gourry smiled at his accomplishment and then stepped through the doorway.

"Gourry! Wait!" Zel called out. "What if it's a trap!"

It was too late for that… As soon as the swordsman was in the next room, he felt something attack him from the side. In his surprise, the sword had slipped from his hand. Gourry quickly reached for it and brought it around to face his unknown assailant.

His assailant appeared to be a giant yellow duck. "Huh? What is that?" Gourry asked Zel, who was now standing just inside the doorway.

"Beats me," the chimera replied, scanning the dark room. Then he cast another lighting spell… and was amazed at what he saw. "Well, whatever they are, there sure are a lot of them…"

The entire room was filled with the strange things. It was so crowded that they were practically on top of each other. In the middle of the room was a large stone table. On top of the table sat the largest yellow duck of them all.

Zel sweat dropped. "Let me guess… That one over there is their leader." He pointed towards the center of the room.

The other ducks apparently viewed his gesture as a threat. Zel soon found himself covered in strange yellow ducks. The sound of quacking filled the cavern, creating an almost deafening echo. "Gourry! Do something!"

"What Zel? I can't hear you!" Gourry called back. Then he gave up and started attacking the ducks himself. As he raised his sword to attack, he suddenly felt very weird. One of the ducks was staring at him intently. And then the duck started to glow an eerie yellow! As Gourry continued to stare into the creature's eyes, he began to feel very tired. He slowly lowered the Sword of Light until it slipped out of his hands and fell to the floor.

Zel was still struggling with the ducks on top of him. He managed to shove enough off of him so he could cast a spell. "Elmekia Lance!" All the ducks surrounding him were caught in the blast and disintegrated.

"Looks like we're dealing with low grade demons!" Zel called out to Gourry. When he got no response, he looked over and saw him about ready to fall asleep. Zel had an idea of what was going on. He decided he'd better try another spell. "Ra tilt!"

This time, all of the ducks were caught in the spell. They quickly disintegrated; all except the big one in the middle. "What?!? Why didn't it work?" exclaimed Zel in disbelief.

Now that the other ducks were gone, Gourry snapped out of his trance. "What's going on?" he asked. He then noticed that all of the ducks were gone except the leader.

Zel and Gourry stood ready, waiting to see what the large yellow duck would do…

On the third path, Adara and Xellos had been traveling silently. Several times, Adara almost got enough nerve to start a conversation but she always stopped herself before she said anything. And Xellos didn't particularly care whether they were having a conversation or not.

Fortunately, they didn't have to walk far before they found something. That something turned out to be a lake.

"AHHHHHHH!" Adara screamed as she saw all the water. "W…w…water? Why did it have to be that?" she asked Xellos as she clung to his cape. Then she realized what she was doing and stepped away quickly, blushing a bright shade of red.

Xel just ignored the girl and looked towards the lake.  "Hmmm…" he said thoughtfully.  Then he took a few steps forward.  But suddenly he ran into something hard and fell over backwards.

"Oh! Are you ok?" Adara asked. She stayed where she was though in fear of the lake…

Xellos smiled in response. "Oh, don't worry about me!" He then turned his attention back towards the lake and the mysterious wall. He reached out his hand until he hit something solid. "There's seems to be an invisible wall protecting the area." Turning to Adara, he added, "Why don't you try to go through?"

"Me?" she asked. "Why would it work for me and not you?"

"Um… maybe only girls can enter…" Xellos lied.

Adara refused to move. "I'm not going anywhere near that!" But Xellos just teleported behind her and shoved her towards the invisible barrier.

"Good luck!" he called out.

The young sorceress screamed as she was shoved closer to the water. But instead of hitting the barrier as she had expected, she found herself falling face first to the ground. Adara slowly lifted her head and saw where she was. She screamed, stood up, and ran the other way.

She ran right into the barrier. "Help! I can't get out!"

Xellos just smiled at her. "While you're in there, go look for whatever it is we're supposed to be looking for."

Realizing she wasn't going to get any help from the mysterious priest, Adara took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. Then she made her way around the lake, keeping one hand firmly pressed against the barrier…