Disclaimer: Nope, slayers isn't mine… yet…

Bad luck

Being the sidekick is a hard work

Eruk sat on a wooden bench and stared out of the window. It was a beautiful night. The sound of a cold winter breeze reached his ears. Because of the cold weather, not a cloud could be seen in the sky. Eruk leaned back and stared out at the endless night sky. The big round moon and the twinkling stars almost called out to him. It was times like this where he really wished that he could just go outside and get lost in his own thoughts.

He let out a deep sigh.

"What's the matter master?" Nimph landed on his head. He stood up and grabbed the metal bars in front of the window "We're in prison Nimph" he sighed. Realization hit the fairy as she looked around "what? Do you mean that you've been bad while I was sleeping?".

Holding a chuckle at bay, he pointed over in the corner "that's the reason we're here".

In the corner of the prison, Naga was sleeping on the floor. Judging from the way she was clutching a large bottle in her sleep. She was obviously drunk, again. "Uh oh" Nimph whispered "what did she do this time master?". Eruk shuddered at the mere thought of what had been going on that night.

It had all started out as a pretty normal evening. While Eruk was getting ready to do his usual work at the inn to pay for their stay, Naga was drinking as usual. As the evening passed, it seemed like it could have been any other night, if Eruk had just ignored the commotion he heard coming from the restaurant area.

Acting like he thought was best, he had looked out from the kitchen. The sight that met him caused all blood in his body to run to his head. Naga was standing on a table and making a complete fool of herself.

He had tried to convince her to just go to bed and sleep before she did anything she later would regret. Unfortunately she had slipped in a small puddle of wine as she climbed down, causing both of them to fall and crash into one of the female spectators. It turned out that she was the daughter of the towns paranoid mayor, and because Eruk had dropped his dagger when he fell, the crazy old man thought that the strangers were there to kill his daughter. Next thing that happened was that both he and Naga was thrown into a prison.

"But why didn't you fight them master?" Nimph asked "I know that you could win". Eruk shrugged "I guess Icould, but it wouldn't be a good idea to fight an entire town". He lowered his head "besides, if I did that I would be no better than the beast inside me". For once it seemed like his diminutive companion understood what he meant. She could see that he was struggling to remain human, despite the fact that he had been artificially fused with Gaav, the demon dragon king. She opened her mouth to say something but he cut her off "Go to sleep Nimph. I'm sure they'll let us out tomorrow". With those words he leaned back against the wall an closed his eyes.

"Master?" Nimph gently poked Eruk's nose.

Slowly he opened his eyes "What is it now?" he asked sleepily. "I'm so sorry that I had to wake you up, but I hear scary sounds coming from the outside" the tiny creature looked around. "There's nothing out there" he yawned "go back to sleep". Slowly he turned around in hope of getting more sleep.

"But master!" Nimph squealed. She was hovering in front of the window and were shooting nervous glances outside. Eruk raised his head "look, I'm trying to sleep here, could you be a bit more quiet?" he complained. Nimph nodded sadly, if the master wanted to sleep it was not her place to interfere.

"I wonder what those strange lizard people are doing outside?" she wondered out loud "that bomb sure looks big…".

Eruk woke up just in time to find himself flying through the room.

"What the…!!?" he shouted as he landed on top of Naga. Slowly the sorceress opened her eyes "Sidekick…" she mumbled "it's way to early for that". She turned over and closed her eyes again. Eruk had turned into several shades of red by her remark, but he did his best to preserve his cool.

"What happened?" he shouted, while he did his best to climb away from the sleeping sorceress without waking her up again. "I tried to warn you, didn't I?" Nimph smirked. He sighed, she had warned him after all. "But look at the big hole they made in the wall" The fairy pointed at the place where he had been sleeping moments before.

"I have to say, I don't know what's going on here" Eruk smirked "but it looks like we've got ourselves a way out of here". He turned around "let's go miss Naga", he ordered.

"G'way wanna sleep" she snorted and clutched the bottle even tighter. Eruk shrugged "No choice then". He crouched down next to the sleeping sorceress and picked her up. "Nimph, we're getting out of here" he shouted.

"What is going on here?" Eruk ran through the once peaceful town. Now it was a town in state of chaos. Lizardmen were running amok through out the entire city. "This isn't good master" Nimph concluded. "I know, Nimph" Eruk agreed, "but there is nothing we can do about it now. Miss Naga is still sleeping and I'm unarmed".

This really is bad he thought as he ran on. Several of the burning buildings had already started collapsing. "Master! Look out!" Nimph warned. Eruk heeded her warning just in time to avoid being crushed by one of the buildings.

"That was just a little to close" he gasped as he dusted himself off.

"Could you please keep it quiet…?" Naga growled, before she realized exactly where she was. It was the first time ever that she had woken up in a burning city, while being carried by a man she only just had been reunited with a few days ago. The whole experience was so now to her that she didn't even thought about complaining.

"Sleeping beauty finally decided to wake up, I see" Eruk smirked and put her down. "What's going on here?" she asked while eyeing him suspiciously "did you do something bad again sidekick?". Eruk made an innocent face "I didn't do anything!" he assured her. "Ummm master" Nimph pointed at something behind him "Are they nice people".

Eruk spun around. Behind him was three lizardmen. Slowly the reptilian creatures advanced on him. "Miss Naga, can't you do anything about them?" Eruk asked while he backed away.

"Oh no more?" Naga held her bottle up and shook it. "Figures" he mumbled "I finally have the need of a skilled sorceress, and she's too drunk to use her powers…". He stood up "I guess I'll have to do what I can do then".

He took a step forward "You creatures better turn back if you know what's good for you" he threatened. He knew that he was outnumbered, but after surviving what he already had, he was determined not to lose to some good for nothing reptiles.

"You go master!" Nimph cried and waved a small flag with a picture of his face around. It hadn't even occurred to her that he was actually in a bit of trouble.

"Damn" Eruk muttered as one of the lizards got a lucky blow on his left arm. He was bleeding, but he ignored it. Suddenly he heard a loud bump behind him.

Naga had fainted the moment she saw the traces of blood he had left in the snow. He pushed one of his opponents away. Seeing Naga's limp form on the ground gave him a great idea. In all the time he had know the tall sorceress, she had been carrying around a sword. He let himself fall to the ground and rolled over next to her.

With a swift movement he drew the sword from it's sheet. Much to his surprise, he found that it was a actually a pretty good sword. It was perfectly balanced and lightweight. Even though he had not even made a swing with it yet, he had no doubt that it was sharp as well.

"Alright, time to play!" he spun around and faced his opponents. Even though he had never actually used a sword in a real battle before, everything seemed so simple. He swung the sword downwards and dispatched one of the lizardmen.

"That's one down, two to go" he teased the remaining two. One of them charged him, seemingly blinded with rage. He dodged the blow but failed to make a counterattack. "These guy's are better than they look" he muttered to himself. He raised his sword high and took a few steps towards the closest lizardman. The creature raised it's sword in an attempt to block the blow. However, just before Eruk could hit his opponents weapon, he spun around and made an attack at the creatures legs. Taken by surprise it stumbled backwards out of balance. It only took a blow from the hilt of the sword, and the creature was out cold.

The last lizardman started to back away when it suddenly froze solid. "That's what you get for picking a fight with me, the great Naga" the tall sorceress exclaimed. She had seemingly gotten over her initial shock from seeing blood and was ready to fight.

"And let that be a lesson for all of you" she stood up and brushed the snow of her body. The arrogant look was back on her face. "Back to your old self again, I see" Eruk sighed, It never ceased to amaze him how fast she was able to recover from the effects of alcohol.

"Watch that tone around me sidekick" Naga threatened "You should be honored to serve under one as great as I". Eruk backed away, Naga was no Lina Inverse, but experience had taught him to watch it around crazy sorceresses, and Naga could definitely be put in that category.

"I'm sorry" he gave her a small bow "your magic really helped out, as did your sword". Naga blinked a few times "My… sword?" she asked in confusion. He held out he blade "yeah, sorry. I was just borrowing this for a while".

Naga stared at the weapon for a few seconds. Seeing the sword drawn was new to her, even though she had been carrying it ever since she ran away from home so many years ago. It had been a family treasure for generations.

"Well, it's nice to see it put to good use for a change" she admitted. Suddenly she got a great idea "why don't you hold on to it for a while?" she suggested.

"Oh miss Naga, you are the best!" Nimph cheered "giving the master a new weapon like that!". Eruk eyed her suspiciously "are there a catch to this?" he asked. "Well, you ARE my sidekick and seeing that your magic isn't as powerful as mine, you would be a better help if you are armed". Eruk nodded slowly. He hadn't expected that she possessed that kind of insight, or kindness. "Of course, the rent of that sword will come out of your share of what treasure we might find" she added under her breath.

"This is really horrible" Naga shouted as they ran through the now burning city. Lucky for them there was no signs of anymore lizardmen around. "I know" Eruk agreed "I've never heard of Lizardmen attacking towns like this". They ran around a corner.

"You people!" a voice came from behind. Eruk turned his head. The mayor of the town had just finished digging himself out from a pile of rubble. "Just look what you've did to our town!!" he yelled. "What we did?!" Naga started advancing on him "Just who do you think you are talking to?". Her threatening advance came to a sudden stop when Eruk grabbed her shoulder "Just forget about it, and let's get out of here?" he suggested.

"Are you sure that that old guy wasn't serious?" Nimph whispered. Eruk shrugged "We've got threats like that before, haven't we? I'm sure everything will be alright as usual". Nimph nodded happily "whatever you say master" she giggled.

Meanwhile, back in the town, the mayor had just finished surveying the damage on the town.

"Looks like all of us are here" the mayor shouted. Luckily, everyone seemed more or less unhurt. There was some damages, but no fatalities.

"Curse those barrier people" The enraged mayor shouted "first they try to kill my beloved daughter, and next they fry our town!". As he babbled on, a murmur rose from the gathered townspeople. "What's the matter?" he asked, clearly annoyed that he was being interrupted. "Strangers" a man shouted.

Another group of townspeople parted, revealing two young women. "And what do we have here?" the mayor eyed them suspiciously "more barrier people?". One of the women swallowed hard "y…yeah?" she stuttered. "We are just traveling entertainers and mercenaries for hire" the other one added helpfully. "Mercenaries, huh?" the mayor smiled wickedly "Would you two consider taking a job?".

Authors notes:

Why can't Eruk and Naga stay out of trouble just for one day I wonder? Well, it's certainly to no credit of Naga…

Or could it be that trouble just find them wherever they go?

Again, thanks a lot for the reviews so far. I've had a few writers blocks since I started publishing this story, but knowing that people actually reads this makes such problems easier to overcome.

I'm glad that people see Naga in the same light as I do. Sure, her character is meant for comedy, but she has a more serious side as well. In fact, later on this story will be rather focused on Naga and her past. But I'm not gonna say anymore about that for now. Wouldn't want to ruin anything now would I?

Well, until the next update. Keep reading and reviewing!