Disclaimer: I don't own Zelly 1 ^^;; elsewise he'd be a bishie human and I don't own Xelly 2... otherwise... well... I just don't own him! .;;
Well, Zelgadiss followed the trail of deforestation as far as he could. It soon ended and he found himself lost in yet another dark, deep and dense forest.
"I could really do with a map." he grumbled. Soon enough he was presented with a mop, that fell from the sky and landed on his head. "I said Map, not Mop!" he exclaimed. "M-A-P not O-M-P!"
Then an O-M-P fell on his head. Don't ask what it is, even Xelloss, provider of the mop and O-M-P couldn't describe an O-M-P.
Zelgadiss kicked the O-M-P aside and carried on walking. "Very funny Xelloss." he growled. "I know you're there."
Xelloss appeared behind Zelgadiss to retrieve his O-M-P and follow Zelgadiss bouncily.
"So, you need a map?" Xelloss asked. "There's an easier way to find..."
"Without your hinderance, everything is easier." The chimera carried on walking.
"That's not very nice." The mazoku said, vanishing and reappearing a few steps infront of Zelgadiss. "Surely, the way things should be, I should be the unpleasant one."
"You are unpleasant." Was Zelgadiss' dry reply as he pushed Xelloss aside with some bushes. Unfazed, Xelloss reappeared in front of Zelgadiss once again.
"Bugger off! This isn't a yaoi fiction!" Once again, Zelly pushed the other Xelly aside. Usually the appearence of the mazoku in itself was enough to irritate him. Now Zelgadiss was getting royally ticked off.
"Who said anything about that?" Xelloss grinned and winked. "You know..."
"Forget it." Shortly after Zelgadiss' interruption, Xelloss found himself face to face, up close and personal with yet another... tree. Zelgadiss walked onwards hoping Xelloss would get bored of annoying him and go chase fluffy bunnies or something of the sort. A few minutes passed and Zelgadiss began to relax. The mazoku menace had given up and gone home! Well, that was until someone leapt on him from behind.
"Xelloss! Go and find Filia or something!"
"Filly-who?" Xelloss asked smirking.
"Your damn girlfriend." Zelgadiss hauled the mazoku off his shoulders, stepped over him and once again continued onwards.
"Ohh... No, I don't know who you mean." Moments later Xelloss was once again next to Zelgadiss. "Anyway, I want to get my sack back, and you want Amelia, who incidently is in the sack..." he paused momentarily to make a scroll appear out of thin air. "Here I have my newly aquired M-A-P, not O-M-P nor M-O-P of where it is that it is that we are be needing to be going to."
"Eh?" Zelgadiss blinked blanky, then snatched the scroll. On closer inspection, it was proved that Xelloss was correct, it was a map, not a mop or an O-M-P. In the middle of the map a large green blob resided with a cheesy looking grin drawn on. Zelgadiss held the map up and did a quick comparsion between that grin and the identical one that seemed permentantly plastered on Xelloss face. "Hmm..." He looked between the map and the mazoku once more. "How can I know this map is reliable?"
"I took it straight from Squee himself."
"Then why didn't you take your bag at the same time?" Zelgadiss asked, looking at the map once more.
"I would have. However it seems he wasn't carrying it with him at the time."
"And what is in this bag of yours?" Zelgadiss eyed Xelloss' regular bag, which was safely in its usual location.
"That is a secret." Xelloss replied, taking his map back from the chimera.
"Of course... of course." Zelgadiss kicked himself for not having expected that one. "Well... why did he want the bag?"
"That would also be a secret." came the pre-prepared answer.
"Doh... how about this one... Why can't you, a high and mighty mazoku deal with a lowly little goblin by yourself?"
"That is also a secret!" was Xelloss' indignant reply to which Zelgadiss let himself have a smirk.
"You can't, thats why." Zelgadiss shruged and went to step away, before changing his mind and stepping back to pat the mazoku on the shoulders. "Don't worry Xelloss, I can keep your secret... Can, but probably won't."
"Lina-san is over there." Xelloss pointed at a not very distant plume of smoke, neatly changing the subject, although this fact wasn't unnoticed to Zelgadiss and he filed his victory away safely in his mind as Xelloss darted off toward the smoke.
"Hey, wait up!" Zelgadiss ran after him also knowing that often there couldn't be smoke without Lina... didn't that used to be 'smoke without fire'? Well, either was possible. In a clearing in the forest stood Lina holding a map in the air triumphantly with one foot on a pile of charred beyond recognition bodies... possibly corpses now, their fate remained and will remain unknown.
"What have you done now Lina?" Zelgadiss asked flatly, whilst other Xelly vanished and reappeared hovering above and behind Lina studying the map, which was upside down, so he has to float upside down to read it.
"Spells for..." Xelloss took the map and blew on it to try and make it more readable, but ashes just flew away leaving a gap. Seconds later a fist met his face and he crash landed head first.
"Spells for..." Lina shook her head at the burnt off corner. "making you rich?"
"Spells for food?" Gourry asked, appearing upside down and hanging out of a tree.
"Spells for mass destruction?" Xelloss offered popping his head out of the ground.
"Spells for curing..."
"Zelga-chan's hideous and freakish body!" Xelloss interrupted snapping his fingers.
Zelgadiss face faulted and turned to yell at the demon, with a demon headed yell of his own.
"Do you mind?! And I am NOT called Zelga-CHAN! Not by you!" he coughed and was suddenly normal again. "Lina, this spell book could really be useful."
"And valuable!" Lina added. "Lets go!" She grabbed the upside down Gourry by his hair and ran off again. Xelloss smirked and follwed Lina, shortly followed by Zelgadiss.
"What about Amelia?!" Zelgadiss called to the rest of the group as they ran on.
"It may help her!" Lina called back.
"It's on route anyway." Xelloss held the map in Zelgadiss face whilst flying behind him, taking it away at the last moment satisfactorily leading the Chimera into colliding with a tree. "And for once, it wasn't me!" Xelloss watching Zelgadiss pluck his wirey hair out of the tree managed to fly into one himself for the third time or so that day. After sliding to the ground he pulled out a small book and scribbled in it.
"Do chores, do more, annoy someone, get bag back, annoy some more, do more chores... and destroy all trees."
"Quit goofing off you two!" An impatient redheaded sorceress called back. "We're almost there!" And with that she dissapeared into a temple.
"I want that book of spells of Mass Destruction!" Xelloss gasped running in, following Gourry.
"It's my cure!" Zelgadiss yelled running after him. "I won't let you have it!"
The first obsticle the group met was a large chasm in the ground. The temple seemed to prevent Lina or Zelgadiss from using any levitation or flight spells, but Xelloss was still able to teleport over. Zelgadiss looked around and picked up a large pole. He pole-vaulted over an then tossed the pole back to Lina so she could do the same. Lina reached out to grab the pole and nearly fell down the chasm herself! After hanging on the side of the cliff and climbing up to the ground holding the pole in her mouth, she managed to pole vault across the to other side and join Zelly and Xelly. Seconds later, Gourry joined them.
"How did you get over here?" Zelgadiss asked scratching his head.
"He took the bridge." Xelloss pointed out.
"Yeah, that's right!" Gourry beamed.
"Why didn't you tell us!?" Lina roared. "Oh never mind, lets get a move on and find that book of spells to make people rich."
The next problem the group encountered was that the pathway narrowed, on one side was a wall on the otherside was another deep drop. Our intrepid adventurers had to carefully tread along the narrow ledge with their backs to the walls. Lina went first cautiously treading along until she got to the end. Zelgadiss got about halfway before the ledge began to slip away from his feet. He fell and grabbed on to the shelf with his hands, edging along slowly but surely. Xelloss skipped along the shelf accidently on purpose landing his footing on Zelgadiss fingers. The chimera held on but didn't say anything out loud. He was going to save up all these little incidences for a later all at once revenge. Once Zelly was across the hazardous ledge he dusted himself and looked around for Gourry, who incidently was missing.
"Never mind, we'll pick him up on the way back." Lina said walking through a door. "Spells for making Riches here I come! It's all mi... Gourry?"
"Hi Lina." Gourry waved from the book. "It's not how to make food, but it sure is interesting."
"Gimme that!" The sorceress snatched the book and began reading. "To make a small coffee table take..."
"Spells for making Furniture." Xelloss read the book cover. "Well, you never know."
"I suggest we take it anyway." Zelgadiss sighed as Lina tossed the book down yet anther chasm. "Oh well..."
"Lets get out of here." Lina said following Xelloss into a maze. Zelgadiss followed them.
Gourry took the door at the back of the room labelled 'exit'