A/N: Thanks to Filing Sloth for constantly reviewing ^_^ and to the others as well! Of /course/ Liona isn't going to stay like she is right now. I mean, look at who her parents are. Do you really think that I would think that they would /want/ to keep their daughter like that? ^x^
Hm… I'm not really a fan of transitions- you know, getting from one place to another of importance. I really planned out what would happen once they got there, but *sigh*. I guess I'll prelong it with a "long" transitional chapter. You know my motto, READ, SAVOR, and ENJOY the story! If you like it, please review (even if it's just one little section). Oh to keep your interest, watch out for Deep Sea Dolphin and her minions in this chapter.
Delays! Where is that Island?!There was something about Lina's eyes at that moment that seemed extremely unnatural. They gleamed the same way it did when there was treasure to be taken, though there was no treasure to be seen. Innocently concerned as always, Gourry walked up to Lina and asked, "Lina, is something wrong? You don't look like your normal self."
The rest of the Slayers sweatdropped. If they easily figured out what was wrong, they at least expected Gourry to . . . . oh wait. This /is/ how he'd normally act. Lina raised a shaking clenched fist beside her as if she were going to punch Gourry for his stupidity, but then, something different happened. She unclenched her fist and let it fall limply by her side. She turned and put her head down. Softly, she explained, "Gourry, don't you see? Liona, our Liona, was not only taken from our reaches; she was turned into a /mazoku/ like Xellos."
Gourry's brain finally clicked to the seriousness of the situation. He put a comforting hand on Lina's shoulder, but she quickly pushed it away. In a sullen tone, but loud enough so that everybody could hear, Lina said, "Sally, I'm sorry about your carriages. I hope this pays for it. (Lina actually took a bag of gold from her cape and threw it behind her, landing right in front of Sally) Everybody, I'm going ahead to the festival. I need to be alone right now. I'll meet you at the local inn later."
Without even waiting for anyone's consent, Lina rushed off towards where they were headed. Gourry was startled to see that a stream of tears was trailing behind her. Lina didn't ever cry, at least not to his knowledge. Clenching his fists, Gourry ran after Lina. He couldn't let his virtually fearless wife run off crying, now could he? Everyone knew that he had every right to follow her right now, but they didn't. Meanwhile, Sally decided to see how much money Lina had left her. Her eyes bulged when she discovered that it was completely filled with gold pieces. She asked if the others would help her count how much money there was. For one thing, it would let the married couple get a good enough head start, and simply because she only wanted to take how much she needed. So everybody helped out. Sallis' father estimated that the horses that had run off were worth about 500 gold pieces, so that would be the amount taken. Sallis and her father were surprised to find that the total amount in the bag was, /exactly/ 500 gold pieces. Zelgadis and Amelia, who had known Lina for five years now, weren't the least bit surprised.
So after putting all the money back in the bag, Zelgadis, Amelia, Filia, Val, Sallis, and her father made the short trek to the festival grounds. As they neared it, they could hear the music and laughter coming from the festival that had already started without them. Once they reached town, Sallis father insisted that Sally enjoy the festival with the others instead of going along with him on his business negotiation. So, everybody went together to enjoy the festival.
They went to various places throughout the night (I've never been to a festival, so please bear with me). Zelgadis scored big time in an arrow-shooting contest where you could cast either a freeze arrow or a flare arrow to hit one of the prizes. Actually, they provided blue (freeze) and red (flare) wooden arrows and a sturdy bow. This was mainly because some people were either non-magic users or their magic is too strong. Besides, real Flare arrows would completely destroy the target.
Zel took three arrows in one bow and shot three of the bullseye targets straight in the middle (separately but at the same time). Of course, the prizes were little stuffed animals, while blushing, Zel gave a stuffed animal to all three of the girls (when he realized he was the only male in the group excluding Val). What they were exactly isn't of especial importance.
Next they went to an enlarged version of "Hit-a-Dragon". Normally, Filia would have abhorred such cruelty to dragons, but the targets were so demeaningly stupid-looking that she couldn't help herself. Instead of the mallet that they offered her, she used her one and only Mace-sama. Of course, she got the most in the fastest time for the whole festival, and left with a large amount of tokens to buy souvenirs and food at shops.
Amelia was the next to test her "ability". She had a righteous smile on her face when she pointed to "The Hammer-of-Justice" (No, really!). It was the type of thing with a hammer and a bell. Amelia picked up the hammer and with a shout of, "Justice will prevail!" hit the bottom pad that made a small bullet-type item go up, up, and Bang! Hit the bell easily. They received more tokens for this.
Val wanted to do the next thing. Somehow, it seemed to fit Val perfectly when he wanted to go into a booth called, "The Temple of No Return". When they went inside, they discovered that it was magically enlarged to be bigger than it seemed from the outside. Everywhere they looked there were identical stone pillars. There was nothing to distinguish the path to the (not) pathway. The goal was to find a golden sphere in the center of the "temple". Val led the way, with his toy in front of him. Just recently, he had discovered that it could work as a sort of homing device. It clashed and flew apart like a rather annoying pendulum. Zel and Sallis were starting to doubt Val's navigational skills, but after a total of half and hour, they found the half-pillar with the golden orb. When Val picked it up, another took its place. They followed Val back out to show it to the man in charge. He congratulated them and said that they could keep the orb as well as several tokens.
At the others' insistence, Sallis tried her luck. When they watched her in action however, they knew she had more than just luck. She had chosen the "fishing" booth (so you can carry one home). Closing her eyes with a confident smile, she easily fished four different colored goldfish into her bowl. Sallis gave Val the fishes in the (provided) bag saying that she had no need for them.
By then, it was starting to get late. Filia and Val parted with the group, Filia saying that she would find the local inn and Lina and Gourry, and eat there. Amelia decided to spend her tokens on souvenirs before they all went to find a restaurant. They all paid for their share, so it was fairly paid. When they went outside, they caught sight of bright fireworks in the sky. They watched it for awhile before heading off to find the local inn. It wasn't hard to find, regardless of being known as "the local inn". The trio walked in and immediately saw Filia and Val in the lobby- Val being sound asleep.
Zel quietly asked Filia where Lina and Gourry were. She simply shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, gesturing that she didn't know, but they weren't here. They all wondered where the two could have gone but finally decided that the best thing to do at the moment was to rent rooms and sleep. Zel would stay awake for a little longer to wait for them. He didn't sleep much anyway- too much coffee and not enough human tiredness (aka he's wired for the night).
Meanwhile, Gourry had caught up with Lina (by use of longer legs of Lina's swiftness). He grabbed one of wrists and stopped her in her tracks. He closed the gap between them by hugging Lina from behind. This time, Lina didn't stop him. She seemed to almost go limp. For once, Gourry spoke first.
"Lina. . . I know how hard this must be for you; I'm her parent, too! But-"
Lina cut him off. She shook her head and said, "You don't get it Gourry. I'm not blaming you or going to hit you for it, but you just don't get it. Liona is more than just our daughter. She's a chosen one. I just know it. I was one too- they're very rare and they're only in the Inverse clan. It all started with the first Inverse. . ."
"Lina. . . What are you talking about?" Gourry seemed as clueless as always, but he seemed to be a bit frustrated at himself for not understanding. "I know you were talking about Liona but what's an Inverse 'clam'?"
Lina laughed slightly and leaned back into Gourry. "Never you mind. Forget about it. Let's go enjoy the festival. Since it's a celebration, it's bound to have lots and lots of food, right?"
Gourry immediately brightened up and agreed. Hand-in-hand, the inseparable duo raced towards the festival foods. Lina only put on a happy expression to save herself from anyone else's sympathy words. After all, as her saying went, "Fear slows you down, so you have to stay positive (or something like that)" Besides, she didn't want Gourry to worry about her; he'd hover around her all day to cheer her up, so it'd be faster to act happy on her own. Also, if Amelia thought Lina was "down-in-the-dumps (not literally)", there's no telling /what/ she'd do to "help" Lina.
Lina attempted to bury her depression amongst food and sales, but Gourry's instincts knew better, but he still played along quite enthusiastically. They went to several booths and won several tokens and bought a lot of things with those tokens. It was really late when they decided to finally go looking for that "local inn". As they were walking, Lina could have sworn that she saw a short creature covered with red fur carrying a bulging brown bag behind it. Lina also caught a glimpse of someone twice as tall as the other with grayish skin, a little bit in front of the other red-furred creature. He was carrying an oversize bag as well. 'It couldn't be. . .' Lina gestured for Gourry to follow her as she ran towards the pair. As she turned the corner, she got a better look at them and called out, "Oi! Jillias! Gravos!"
The two jumped in surprise and turned to confirm Lina's identification. The two suddenly brightened up and walked quickly towards her. Lina guessed that they would have run if it wasn't for the large bags on their backs slowing them down. Out of breath, Jillias asked, "Maybe you can help us. Do you know where we can find Boss?"
Lina blinked. "You mean Fillia?" The duo nodded. "Well, by now, she should be at the local inn. We're headed there now. Why?"
Lina couldn't figure out if she was imagining it or not, but for a second, she thought Gravos blushed.
Jillias answered again, with a bit of resentment. "We uh, well, Gravos burned down the house while cooking breakfast. We didn't know what to do, so we took everything of value and went to find Filia."
Lina sweatdropped. "/Everything/? Wouldn't it have just been easier to clear the debris and make a makeshift dwelling until Filia got back?"
The two were quiet for a moment, and then started chuckling slightly. "That probably would have been best. We lost half of it just crossing the sea."
Lina sighed. "Well, I don't know how much good it'll do to you now, but I'll lead you to Filia. Consider yourself lucky if you pass without getting a loud lecture at some point or another."
After a while, it became apparent that Lina really didn't know where the inn was. So Gourry asked an old lady if she knew, and she gave them directions. Even so, it was almost across town so it took an hour more just to get there. When they arrived, Lina glanced in and saw no sign of anyone except a traveler sporting khaki pants, shirt, hood. . . Ah! Zel!"
Quietly, she led the troupe towards him, and he awoke with a start. He smiled at Lina and before Lina could ask why he was the only one down here, he unfolded his arms and showed Lina the key to her room. Lina took it and mouthed where everybody else was. He gestured back that they were all sleeping. Lina put a silencing spell on the whole lobby and asked Zel in her normal voice if he could bring Filia down. When he asked why, she simply jerked a thumb towards the traveling duo. If Zel was surprised, he showed no signs of it. He simply nodded and went up the steps. Before long, he came back down with a disgruntled Filia.
Lina grinned and told Filia what they had told her. Her eyes bulged in amazement, then she started to fume. Lina assured her that the room had a silencing spell on it so she was free to yell as loud as she wanted. Filia needed no second bidding to do so. She yelled at them for being irresponsible, and wrecking her precious collection, and destroying her humble abode and shop. Filia was so annoyed and irritated that she even yelled at them for waking her up in the middle of the night. Not wanting to feel her wrath, Zel didn't bother saying that it was him who technically woke her up.
Finally, when the moon had already begun its descent (past midnight), Filia stopped, exhausted and out of breath. Lina took this chance to tell Filia that it was late and they should all go to bed. Everyone agreed, but before going up, Filia grabbed the two bags and told Jillias and Gravos to sleep in the lobby until morning. Not wanting to make their Boss any angrier than she already was, Jillias and Gravos did so obligingly. The remaining people went up to go to sleep.
A few short hours later, everyone but the ones who had stayed up extremely late the other night, woke up and gathered to have breakfast in the restaurant part of the inn. Fortunately for the inn, that meant that only Sallis, Val, Amelia, and a groggy Zel were awake (of the group). A couple hours later, however, Lina, Gourry, Filia, Jillias and Gravos woke up. Apparently, Filia was still very disappointed in her "employees" because she made them eat in the lobby apart from the group. Afterwards, Filia joined the table while Lina and Gourry had a table full of food to themselves. They ate for quite a while, as usual, and weren't satisfied until they happened to consume every morsel left in the kitchens. Lina seemed slightly back to her normal self, because she had Amelia pay for everything. After gathering their things, Filia got around to deciding what to do.
Filia seem disgruntled as she claimed, "You two obviously can't be trusted alone. I suppose I'll have to go back and sort everything out, not to mention restart my collection."
Jillias softly asked," Ma'am? If we can't be trusted with the shop, can we stay with Val-sama?"
Filia coldly glared at him and stated, "You'd probably burn him too if I gave you the chance."
Gravos looked abnormally alarmed. "Of course not, Boss! We'd take care of him like he was our own! Right, Jillias?"
Jillias bobbed his head several times.
Filia's eye twitched with uncertainty. "Considering how you turned out, I'm not very reassured that that's a good plan."
Sallis suddenly piped up. "Filia-san?" Filia jumped up with surprise and looked at Sally. "What if I took care of Val and kept these two out of your hair? It'd be easier to start up a business if you don't have to worry about anyone else and if these two aren't with you, you can't exactly blame them for messing up, right?"
Filia was about to protest, but then considered it. After a few minutes, she nodded and smiled. "Would you do that? I hope it's not too much trouble. You're probably right about what you said."
Gravos and Jillias smiled gratifyingly at Sallis and Filia.
Thus, Filia took the next trip to a seaport near her village and the rest of the group had to buy a boat because nobody even knew where Wolf Pack Island was, or even if it existed. Lina swore that she knew where it was, and told Gourry (who was steering) to go straight ahead and to try not to get off course. Zel navigated and made sure of this. Sallis helped Amelia fancy up the beds and cabin to make them as comfortable as possible. The rest of the group consisted of Val, Jillias, and Gravos who were playing together on the top deck.
Suddenly, everyone felt a large jolt as something appeared to hit the ship's side. They all looked over the edge and saw, to their surprise, a couple of dolphins swimming alongside the ship. The one closest to the side of the ship rammed into the boat again.
Lina was jumping around angrily while yelling at them to stop. When the three creatures jumped up again, Gourry noticed something and pointed it out.
"Oi. Are 'dollfins' always this diverse in shape and size?"
The others took a closer look and gave a collective gasp when they realized it (well, besides Val, Gravos, and Jillias). The reason behind it was that although the middle creature was, in fact, a bottle-nose dolphin, the one on its right (nearest to the ship) was a hammerhead shark while the other was very similar to a killer whale if this wasn't the Slayers world. Lina also noticed that with every ram, the hammerhead was making a dent in the hull, which would mean a hole, which would mean the ship sinking.
However, when the hammerhead was undoubtedly one tackle away from sinking the ship, the dolphin led them away from the ship. Lina told Zel and Amelia to go down and see how much damage was taken. Meanwhile, Lina watched the trio go underwater. Quietly, Sallis tiptoed to the other side of the ship and levitated down to the surface. Glancing every so often towards the top deck, Sallis proceeded to gently submerge her hand into the water and started mumbling a spell under her breath. When she finished, she stood up and flicked the water off her hand before going back up. Apparently, nobody missed her.
Before long, Gourry yelled out, "Lina! What are those swirly-things?!"
Lina rushed to the front of the boat (Sorry, I don't know the "boat" terms) and looked out. She gave a startled yelp before answering nervously, "Gourry? Those /things/ are whirlpools! There are five of them too! Oh no, this ship will be a goner if we get sucked into one of those!"
At that declaration, Gourry seemed nervous as well. Meanwhile, Sallis was peacefully playing with Val and the other two "lackeys". At that moment, Amelia came rushing up, flailing her arms every which way in obvious distress. Breathing heavily, Amelia stopped in front of Lina.
"Lina-san. It's terrible! There was a small crack at the bottom of the area that that thing hit. Water was starting to crash in before Zelgadis-san temporarily plugged it. Oh, Lina-san, what should we do?"
Lina let out an exasperated sigh. "Amelia, that's just the beginning of our problems. Look ahead; five large whirlpools just waiting to suck us in!"
Amelia looked, Lina thought, as if she would faint at any second. After watching them worry and fuss a little longer, Sallis slowly walked up to them and gave them a closed-eye smile. Opening her eyelids to reveal innocent, cerulean-blue eyes, Sallis calmly asked, "May I?"
Always ready with a question in response to a question, Gourry asked, "May I what?"
Sallis kept her voice steady at the same low, calm voice as she extended, "May I suggest a view things?"
Lina shrugged, "Suggest all you like. You better hurry though; by the looks of it, this ship's is on its last voyage."
Sallis basically ignored the last part as she raised her index finger and pointed out, "Well, first, you might simply stop up the hole down there with a couple of wooden planks and some nails."
As if she knew she should have thought of that, Lina hit her forehead with the palm of her hand and quickly sent Jillias and Gravos to find some boards and nails and help repair the hole.
Lina turned to Sallis again. "What about the whirlpools though? If we get sucked into any of them, this ship will be torn in hundreds of pieces anyway."
Sallis indifferently put up a second finger and continued, "As I was about to say, I believe with a little magic, I can steer us past those whirlpools."
Lina and Amelia were amazed. They looked from Sally, to the whirlpools, to Sally again and asked, "Really? How?"
Sallis smiled and gestured for Gourry to move over. They were now within 30 meters from the nearest whirlpool. Sallis breathed deeply and made very large hand gestures. She started to give off a golden aura and it spread around the whole ship. Just before they would have been sucked in, Sallis called out the spell that saved them. "LEVITATION!!"
Lina smacked her head again when she realized how simple the solution was. Then again, *Lina looked up at Sallis who had now put her hands on the wheel but still effortlessly keeping the ship up* Lina thought, in a previous experience, it took her, her companion, and at least a dozen "priestesses" (I think), to hold up a /huge/ golem and the ship was arguably a third of its size. And yet, this mysterious rich girl was doing it alone, /effortlessly/. Who was she?
Before Lina had any time to dwell over it any longer, Sallis had put the ship back on the water, given the steering position back to Gourry, and had announced that they were past the whirlpools. By now, everybody else was gathered around Gourry, looking out to sea.
Lina looked back across the clear ocean blue. In the far, far, /far/ distance, Lina could have sworn that was a tiny speck. Lina asked Zel if he had a telescope, and he handed it to her. Lina looked back at where she thought she saw something. Through the telescope, her thoughts were verified when she saw what proved to be a jungle-forest-covered island. On top of a large hill overlooking the island, was what appeared to be a large stone fort.
Lina jumped around excitedly (yes, yes, I know, very OOC, but being a mom can change people, /very/ much) and exclaimed, "I think I see Wolf Pack Island!"
When she told them that it was straight ahead, everybody took turns looking through the telescope at it. Strangely enough, only Lina, Zel, Val, and (perhaps) Sallis could sea the island. The rest claimed that there was nothing but clear ocean waves in every direction (besides backwards). Though they thought this was a bit strange, there was nothing they could do about it. Hours later, Lina checked again, and it was the same length away. Everyone gathered to eat a "small" lunch. Near dusk, Lina checked again, and was yet again met with the same exact sight. Once again, everybody gathered to eat, this time, dinner. Lina put an auto-navigator on the wheel and told everyone to go to sleep.
The next morning, Lina checked again. This thing was really bugging her- why did the distance keep staying the same? It was like the last leg of the trip to the temple of the Flare Dragon except over water. Suddenly, Amelia pointed over the right side of the ship at a distant but obviously large sea creature coming towards them. Since Lina had already woken up Gourry, her shout woke up everybody else and they all gathered over the edge. The creature was coming ever closer, and it seemed to resemble a lake dragon. . . The closer it got, the more /familiar/ it seemed to Lina, Gourry, and Amelia. . . When it was about 100 yards away, it jumped very high, flipped, and went back down with a big splash. Unfortunately, the splash created a tsunami. Acting very similar to the first episode of TRY, Lina and co. braced themselves for the hit, but it never came.
A/N: So? Do you like it? Oh by the way, I'm sorry if I make certain things OOC, but I'll just say that time and events during that time is capable of causing great changes within people. I wonder why only Lina, Amelia, and /Gourry/ would almost recognize this dragon? (:B) Ah, don't worry, he's a good guy. Hmm… as of late, I really haven't shown why this story is called what it is, have I? I had an idea at the beginning, but due to some recent ideas, it's going to have to change a bit. Ah well. The Slayers will reach Wolf Pack Island soon enough. Ciao!