Slayers NEXT: Alternate Past

Authoress Notes: AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!! FORGIVE ME PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!?!??!?! I haven't updated in a MILLENIA!!! SERIOUSLY!!!! If you checked back at my bio (I do updates on there a lot) then you'd know I had computer problems, I started school again, stuff like that... I am so so so so SO SO sorry!!! Please please please forgive me? (By the way, I also updated Dark Memories too).

SPOILER WARNING: A LOT OF THIS STUFF HAPPENS OR IS VERY CLOSE TO WHAT HAPPENS IN THE SERIES. IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST HALF DOZEN EPISODES OF NEXT, YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO READ THIS.

Gourry was the first one to notice something wasn't right. He woke up, but didn't sit up, and tried to think of what it was. He looked around a little bit, and his eyes automatically wandered over to where Lina was sleeping. He sat up in shock. Lina was gone! He looked around again, and, sure enough, Amelia was gone too.

"Guys! Guys, everyone, wake up!" he shouted, scrambling out of his sleeping bag.

"Gourry-sama?" Sylphiel asked sleepily. "What's going on?"

Gourry stood up, and grabbed his armor, strapping it on top of his pajamas. "Lina and Amelia are gone! They went to fight Phiburtle on their own!"

Sylphiel threw off her blankets with a gasp. "They did? Oh, no! Gourry-sama, we must go help them!"

"That's what we're doing," Gourry answered, buckling his sword around his hips. "Come on, Martina," he said loudly.

Martina rolled over, and looked up at Gourry. "Wha...?" she murmured, bleary-eyed and still half-asleep.

"We're going after Lina!" Gourry grabbed Martina's arm and dragged her to her feet. "Come on!"

Sylphiel, still in her pajamas as well, was holding her rod, ready to go. Martina scurried to her feet, grabbed her Zoamelgustar talisman, and said, "I'm ready too!"

Gourry nodded. "Good. Then let's go find them!" He ran out of the house, Martina and Sylphiel right behind him. None of them seemed concerned by the fact that they were still in their pajamas.

They ran through the streets, trying to find Lina and Amelia. They hadn't gone very far, however, when they were suddenly surrounded by the villagers. They were just farmers, merchants, and peasants, wielding rakes or hoes or clubs.

Gourry and the others stopped, trapped by the villagers. "Now what?" Gourry asked, needing to get to Lina. He couldn't protect her if he wasn't with her!

"I could Ray Wing us out of here?" Sylphiel asked.

Martina pointed up. "L-l-l-look!" she cried.

The others looked up, and found a dozen flying demons above them. "We're completely surrounded," Gourry said.

"We can't fight these people," Sylphiel said, covering her mouth. "They don't know what they're doing! They're just being controlled by Phibrizzo!"

"Then what do we do??" Martina shrieked.

Gourry drew his sword, not wanting to fight them either. "I... don't know," he said, shaking his head.

A man with a rake raised his 'weapon' above his head, and charged at Gourry. Gourry sidestepped him, letting the man's momentum carry him back to the group of villagers on the other side of the circle.

As if that was a cue, villagers from all around them started to attack them. Gourry, Sylphiel, and Martina didn't want to attack, so all they could do was dodge the villagers as they came at them.

... §...§...

Lina and Amelia ran down the streets, heading straight for Phibrizzo's temple. "Phibrizzo wants me to cast a spell," Amelia said as they ran. "The Claire Bible told me about it. But it calls on the power of Lord Infinity, the source of chaos!"

"So if you miscast that spell," Lina started.

"The universe would be destroyed!" Amelia finished for her. "So I can't cast that spell!"

Lina nodded. "Right. Don't worry, Amelia. You won't have to."

As they ran, Amelia was truly grateful that she had Lina to go with her. She didn't really want to go by herself. It would have been way too scary!

... §...§...

Gourry ducked under a swinging club, and rolled aside, coming back up on one knee. Sylphiel, who had tried to dodge a man with a shovel, staggered backwards, and started to fall. Gourry caught her before she could hit the ground, and helped her back to her feet. "You okay?" he asked her quickly.

Sylphiel nodded, blushing.

Martina turned to look at Gourry. "There's no end to them!" she shrieked. "What are we going to do??"

Gourry shook his head. "Martina, I don't know, but--" He broke off, seeing a huge man with a club raised above his head, right behind Martina. "Martina, look out!"

Martina half-turned around, but there was no way she could dodge it in time. At the last possible moment, something swooped down, and whisked her out of the way. Zangulus landed on one knee, holding Martina, and looked up. He saw Gourry and Sylphiel standing there, oblivious to Martina, who was blushing and gazing up at him with loving eyes.

Zangulus helped Martina to her feet, and turned to Gourry. "There you are. I still want that duel!"

Gourry sighed in exasperation. "Zangulus, I can't fight you until after we kill Heckmaster! Okay?" he said.

"Humph," was Zangulus's answer. "In that case, I'll help you. The sooner Hellmaster is dead, the sooner we can duel!"

"Right, right..." Gourry muttered.

Zangulus drew his sword. "Bring it on!" he shouted.

... §...§...

Lina and Amelia finally reached the temple. "So, how do you propose we get inside?" Lina asked Amelia, looking up at the towering building.

"I didn't tell anyone, but there's a way in from the top," Amelia said. "A window..."

Lina looked over at Amelia. "You had this planned all along, didn't you?"

"Sort of," Amelia admitted. "Let's go! Levitation!" She heard Lina cast the spell immediately behind her, and they both flew up to the top of the domed building. Just like Amelia said, there was a stained-glass window in the very top of the building.

"Fireball!" Lina shouted, throwing the spell at the window, shattering it.

"Was that really necessary, Lina-san?" Amelia asked.

Lina clenched her fist, and said, "I have to make up for not using lots of big spells lately! Gotta get my stress level down!"

"Of course," Amelia murmured.

"All right!!! Let's go, Amelia!!" Lina shouted, and went down the hole where the window had been, Amelia close behind.

... §...§...

The shock wave ripped through a whole wall of villagers, knocking them off their feet and to every side. "Zangulus!" Gourry protested.

"All who get in between me and my duel with you must die," Zangulus shouted, letting loose another shock wave at the villagers.

Behind Zangulus, Martina was standing, her hands balled up by her face, and a dreamy look in her eyes, staring straight at Zangulus. "Aaah.... Zangulus-sama...."

... §...§...

Amelia and Lina levitated down from the ceiling through the hole in the window. They were surprised how deep down the temple went. They looked down, but all they saw was black for a long time, and a strange green light that looked very far away.

"What do you supposed that light could be, Lina-san?" Amelia asked as they levitated quickly down.

Lina shook her head. "I dunno. But I'm guessing that whatever it is, that's what we want to head for."

"Probably," Amelia agreed.

They floated for quite a ways in silence after that. When they got closer, they realized that the green light was coming from some sort of huge crystal. "What is that?" Lina asked quietly, slowing down to get a better look at it.

Amelia slowed her descent as well, and stared at the glowing crystal. As they got closer to it, she could see dark shadows inside. "What's that?" she wondered.

Suddenly, when they were level with the crystal, they could see only too well what the dark shadows were. "The inhabitants of Sairaag!" Lina gasped upon recognition.

"I've been waiting for you, ladies," Phibrizzo's voice said. Amelia and Lina both looked down, and saw him sitting on a shelf of rock, jutting out from just in front of the crystal. The two of them touched down on the ground, and glared up at where Phibrizzo was sitting.

"What's with all of this?" Lina demanded, gesturing to the crystal behind Phibrizzo.

Hellmaster looked up, smiling. "Oh, this? It makes for a nice little decoration, doesn't it?" he asked.

"For someone with a sick sense of aesthetics, maybe," Lina muttered under her breath.

Phibrizzo ignored that comment, or else he couldn't hear it. He raised one hand, and snapped his fingers. The crystal behind him glowed even brighter. "This is what allows me to control the inhabitants of Sairaag," he told them. "Convenient little puppets for me."

Amelia clenched her fists in anger, but didn't say anything.

Phibrizzo grinned. "Getting angry at me? Well, then, are you ready to do as I asked?"

"One more thing," Amelia said. "Where's Zelgadis-san?"

"Oh, the chimera-man," Phibrizzo said, nodding. He snapped his fingers again, and Zelgadis appeared in the air beside him, encased in a crystal.

Amelia gasped, and started forward a step. "What have you done to him?" she demanded.

Phibrizzo just grinned. "Nothing, yet. But in order to release him from the crystal, you have to kill me." He grin got even wider. "I'm afraid that's the only way."

"We'll do that, then!" Lina shouted up at him loudly.

... §...§...

They were surrounded once again by the villagers, and even Zangulus was at the end of his rope. No matter how many times he used his shock wave attack, more and more people just took the place of the ones he blew aside. "This is insane!" Zangulus shouted angrily.

"What are we going to do???" Martina whined, trying to fend off a rake-weilding farmer with her stick.

Gourry tried to think of something. Nothing was coming to mind, though. They couldn't blast through the seemingly innumerable villagers, they couldn't fly away....

"Gourry-sama! Look out!" Sylphiel shouted, running over to him. She pushed Gourry out of the way, just in time to receive a bonk to the head from a man with a club that would have hit Gourry, knocking her halfway through the stone street.

Gourry shoved the villager away, and started to help Sylphiel out of the hole she'd been knocked through. "Are you okay, Sylphiel?"

Sylphiel looked up at him with teary eyes and a bump on her head. "This isn't working, Gourry-sama...."

Sighing, Gourry lifted Sylphiel out of the hole. Then he suddenly had a rare lightning bolt of an idea. "Of course! We can use that! Zangulus, come here!"

Zangulus ran over to Gourry, and asked, "What is it?"

Gourry pointed at the ground. "Use your shock wave on the road," he said. "There are still tunnels under here left over from Flagoon! We can use those!"

"Of course!" Zangulus shouted, and prepared to attack the road with his shock wave.