Amelia, Zelgadiss, and Lina turned their gazes away from Filia. Xaina and Gourry stared curiously until Amelia covered the child's eyes and Lina yanked her husband's hair almost to the point of ripping it out.
The clothes on Filia's body disappeared as the light grew and reformed her body. In only a few seconds' time, the blonde woman had been replaced with a large dragon. When the others turned to glance back at her, they gaped in shock. This was not the dragon Filia any of the slayers remembered.
Filia was much bigger and thinner. Her hair had grown twice as long as before. The dragon woman's snout had rounded out and become more like the other dragons the slayers had seen. Her skin was a shiny gold along the back but all along her throat, stomach, and the underside of her tail was blood red. Most noticeable of all was the strong perfume scent she had before was now overpowering and enough to make most people nauseous.
Many of the dragons had taken notice to the new dragon in their presence. Several were starting to circle around in order to get a better look.
"Possible mates?" Lina inquired.
She received no answer. Everyone was more interested in what was going to happen. After several more had circled around and the crowed had grown a considerable amount, two dragons approached. They landed and gave slight bows. Filia bowed deeply while saying something in draconic. When she finished speaking, Filia remained bowing. The two dragons glanced at each other, stated something, then turned back to Filia. The taller of the two dragons smiled in what Lina guessed would have been comforting had she been a dragon. The dragon spoke in a soft voice and Filia rose out of her bow. It turned towards the group of gathered dragons. The dragon cleared its throat, then spoke in a booming voice. Again, everything it said was in draconic so none of the slayers knew what was being said. Most of the gathered dragons suddenly looked very excited.
The second dragon nodded to Filia. It took off in the air. Filia glanced back at her friends, then turned and followed. The first dragon took off after they left and was followed by the others.
Lina scratched her head. "So, what, that's it?"
"Apparently," Zel sighed.
"What now?" Xaina asked. The red head shrugged. "Do we leave, or do we stay for her?"
"We leave," Destiny stated. "We have no time to spend here. Miss Filia can catch up with us later."
"But I wanna see who her mate is?" the child complained.
"That wont be decided for several days at least," a calm voice explained. Everyone turned to see a blond man dressed in white walking towards them.
"Melgasia!" Lina cried joyfully. "Long time no see."
"Indeed..."
"So, what's going on exactly? Do we getta see just what all those people that just left are doing? What d'ya mean by a few days? And..."
"You've put on a considerable amount of weight, Miss Lina," the dragon man interrupted.
Lina suddenly stopped speaking. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Are you calling me fat?"
"Uh-oh," Gourry whimpered as he backed away.
"Time to run," Amelia muttered as she too backed off.
Melgasia nodded. "With the way you currently look, yes you do appear to be over normal human weight."
"Really?" Lina growled through grated teeth. Suddenly realizing his mistake, the dragon began to back off. "So I'm fat, huh?"
"I was simply stating an observation," the golden dragon said nervously yet still retaining his relatively calm demeanor. "I did not mean it as an insult."
"Well it sure came out as one," the sorceress growled. Her hands began to glow as she powered up a spell. A malicious grin spread over her face as she reached the end of the quiet incantation of the spell. Melgasia took another hesitant step back. "Fire ball!" Lina threw her arms out, throwing the spell. A puff of smoke left her hands. Everyone blinked in confusion. "Damn it!" Lina screeched. Melgasia let out a small but obviously relieved sigh. "Why can't you work now of all times!" the red head snapped at her hands.
The dragon raised a curious eye brow. "Is she ill?"
"Pregnant," Zelgadiss sighed.
"Oh... oh dear. That can not be good."
"No kidding. At least her powers have dropped off... for the moment."
"I see..."
Lina glared at her stomach. "Damn it! Couldn't you at least let me use one spell!?! I just want to blow him up for insulting me!" She felt a kick off to the right side of her popped belly. "Fine! Be that way!"
"Then again, there might not be much difference between pregnant and insane for her," Zel remarked causally.
"I heard that!" the sorceress snapped.
Xaina floated up and off Amelia's shoulders, catching Melgasia's attention for the first time. He had sensed Xellos' presence since they had arrived but this child did not look like Xellos. In fact, now that he started to scan her powers, she felt more like... no... that couldn't be right...
The girl swayed through the air to the bitter sorceress and gave her a pat on the head. "Cheer up, Lina. If you'd like, I can sick Booie on him for you."
Lina chuckled and reached out her arms so Xaina could land in them. "No no. That's alright. You need Booie to protect you. Besides, that takes the fun out of beating him up myself."
"Miss Lina," the dragon man interrupted, "Are you aware that the creature you are holding is a monster?"
The red head nodded. "Yep, and she's the best monster there is because she's so cute." She nuzzled against the girl's cheek, earning her a giggle from the child.
Melgasia eyed the child suspiciously but said nothing. Just sensing her power showed she was very strong. However, most of it seemed to be bogged down with seals that were wearing away, meaning she didn't have access to that power... yet, anyway. Still, there was no sense in risking offending the monster if she really wasn't interested in posing a threat. There was no point in starting a war with them again over something so small as this strange monster. Yet, there was something else about her he that bothered him. It nagged at the back of his mind yet didn't come fully forward to reveal itself. He couldn't place a finger on it, but there was something off about her.
His eyes flickered over to the woman in black. He had noticed her before but wasn't sure what to make of her. When he tried to sense her magic, he came up with nothing. In fact, he couldn't even sense that she was alive. Yet, there was an interesting aura around her that he could not place the origin of. It was a sort of power that flickered, like something inside was trying to escape it but kept getting pulled back in to the blend of power. Part of him wanted to attack her, just to see what she was. The logical part of his mind, however, spoke better then that and told him not to. Who or what ever Lina's new companion was, she was quite odd.
"Master Melgasia! Master Melgasia!" two dragon men in human form cried as they ran up the hill towards him. "We have a problem!"
"What sort of problem?"
~~~~~
"What do you mean I can't enter?" Xellos demanded. "There is absolutely nothing in your rules that says I can't!"
The young priestess coward behind the desk as she flipped through the rule book, frantically looking for something to support her claim. She was terrified enough of the monster before her without him being annoyed. "Y-y-y-you're a m-m-m-monster," she studdered frantically. "M-m-m-monsters d-d-d-d-don't t-take m-m-mates." She didn't know if that was true or not, but she had to say something.
"Say who?"
"Xellos?" Melgasia half gasped as he came in to the room with the slayers gang in tow.
"Xellos!" Lina roared. "What do you think you're doing!?! If you're trying to ruin this for Filia, so help me, I'll...!?!"
The dragon priestess ran from behind the table and over to Melgasia. "Master Melgasia, he claims he wants to enter!"
"Enter?" Amelia asked no in particular.
"Of course I want to enter," Xellos huffed. "I wouldn't have come down here if I didn't."
"Enter what?" Xaina queried as she floated over to him and sat on the end of his staff. "Are they have a contest or somethin'?"
The trickster put on his usual smile. "Yes they are. It's quite a large contest, too. They pit every man against each other and let them battle it out to see who is strong enough to be the female in heat's mate. In this case Filia's mate."
"You want to what!?!" the slayers cried at once in horror.
"You don't have much of a survival instinct, do you?" Destiny inquired.
"Why?" Xaina asked. "I thought you hated Filia."
"I don't hate Filia. She makes the best meals and causes the most wonderful destruction. How could any monster hate that?"
Amelia jumped in front of Melgasia and the young priestess. "You mean they all just battle each other to see who get's to be her mate!?" The dragons nodded. The priestess looked a little confused by the human girl's outburst. "For life!?" Again, the dragons nodded. "And she doesn't even have a choice!?!"
"She may refuse the one who wins," Melgasia stated calmly.
"She just wont ever take a mate if she does that," the priestess added.
The princess looked horrified. "Where is the justice in that!?! It is entirely unfair!! What if she loves someone else!?! Is she supposed to just forget about him!?!"
"Pretty much," Xellos stated. He smirked as the anger on her got stronger. He never was one to pass up a meal.
"This is terrible! Marriage should be to the person you love, not a stranger!" the black haired girl ranted as her companions sighed in a bored tone. "You can't simply force to people together and expect them to be happy!..."
"Amelia," Lina interrupted before things got worse, "Now is not the time."
"But Miss Lina! Don't you care anything for Miss Filia's happiness!?"
"If she wasn't sure she wanted this, she wouldn't have willingly come, now would she?"
"But... but..."
"But nothing!" Lina barked, making the younger girl back down.
Melgasia turned his attention back to Xellos. "You are not allowed to enter."
"Actually, there is absolutely nothing in your rules that says I'm not," Xellos calmly replied. "By your own rules, I am more than welcome to compete if I want to."
"There must be a rule that says you can not," the dragon insisted as he grabbed the book away from the priestess. He flipped through the pages several times, reading it over and over again. There had to be something in there that would forbid him. "Ah, here we are. You can not enter because you can not use dragon abilities."
This caused Xellos to quirk his eye brows. "Really?" He teleported right next to Melgasia and peered down at the page. He read it over carefully, then smirked. "It says the competitors must only use dragon or dragon like abilities."
"You are a monster. Monsters can not use dragon or dragon like abilities."
"Sure I can. Just watch me."
"But... but... you can't!" the priestess cried. "Monsters can't enter! It's never been done!"
"And when has that ever stopped anyone?" Xellos inquired. "Besides, there has to be a first for everything. Just think of how this will go down in history."
"You mean as a disaster?" Zelgadiss sighed. Xellos smirked.
"Oh no," Lina groaned. "This is going to be bad."
"So we get to stay and watch now, right?" Xaina asked excitedly. Her teacher nodded proudly. "Yeah!"
______________________________________________________
Yes, that's right! Tealya is FINALLY posting again. Took her long enough, huh? Alright, I know I said mid October. Well, mid October came around I looked at the page I had and felt bad. So, I decided to wait a little longer a get the chapter finished. Now, ha, I have done it! And it's still October! Ha ha! You're all happy, right. I promise I'll get another chapter done before the end of November too... maybe two. The next few chapters will go a little quicker since it's mostly battle stuff. Yes, we'll get to see Xellos use a fraction of his strength and off of his intelligence.
Alright, now, I'm pretty sure I put a note in the beginning of this that said it was just a part of a longer series. I broke it apart because it was going to get really really long if I did and I find lots of people don't read fics when they have a ton of chapters (like the 40 that make up this fic so far). Not to mention almost 250 pages, typed, single spaced, 12 point font on my computer. If anyone is curious, this is now as long as my first novel... and it's only a little more than half done. Then again, the novel is just the first in a long series... and I'm currently sure one of my characters has gone crazy in it...
Anyway, yes my life has been hectic, mainly because I am a college student who's trying to pull a double major and graduate in four years. *sarcastic* Yes, I know, good luck Tealya. *normal again* I plan on passing all my classes so I don't have to retake them and can finish school so I can go on to get a masters. Frankly, right now, fan fiction is rather low on my list of priorities. The tops being family, friends, and school. Just under that is the writing I want to do professionally. Professionally as in for a living. If I could just do that I would, but I know that isn't likely to happen. Under my writing is my comic. If you'd like to see it, go to http:// yangchild.keenspace. com and check it out (just take the spaces out since the adress wont appear in an fanfiction document if it doesn't have spaces in it). That I'm forcing myself to keep up with, particularly since I have the first two chapters of it drawn and am starting to work on the third. That I just need to color without being highly creative when I'm not feeling creative. I am sorry fan fiction is rather low on my list, but you need to keep in mind that this is all for fun and nothing more. It's free for you people, so you really get what pay for. When you find fanfics you like, you tend to want them to update a lot. However, when they don't, you have to remember that the writers do have lives to keep up with outside of the internet.
Now, so long as I'm talking about fanfics, some friends and I were talking while working on our Halloween costumes and came up with an interesting idea: a Pokémon everything crossover. Now, our idea isn't everyone goes running in to the Pokémon world. Rather, it would be along the lines of different anime character groups get dragged into an arena and have to fight Pokémon style (ie, Lina shouting "Gourry, I chose you!") if they want to go back home. Obviously, it is intended to be random and funny and no series is better than any other in it. It's all just based on who we want to pair up to fight (Such as Slayers vs. Ranma, Gundum Wing vs. Inuyasha, etc.). Would anyone be interested in reading that if the group of us (not just me, I promise) started writing it?
Well, I've blabbed long enough. Go on, review. Or rant. Or yell at me. All three seem to work about as well.