Zelgadis stared intently into the water, so focused on his prey that he never saw the rogue wave coming. He shook his now soaking wet head and glared at the source of the wave. "Amelia, what are you doing?"

Amelia giggled. "I'm sorry, Mister Zelgadis. It's just so nice out, I couldn't help myself. Besides, we've been fishing all day. Don't you want to do something else?" She bat at the water in boredom.

Zelgadis sighed. "The snow's not even all gone yet, and already you're acting like it's summertime." He shook some more water off and shivered.

Amelia's shoulders sagged slightly. "I'm sorry."

"You already said that." Zelgadis stopped talking and cocked his head to the side.

Amelia watched him in wonder, before she too heard something. She was about to ask Zelgadis what he thought it was, when he dove into her, knocking them both into the river. She quickly broke the surface and looked about in confusion. Zelgadis came up a moment later. "What did you do that for?" Amelia choked.

"Watch out!" Zelgadis dove back under.

Amelia glanced up in time to see a ball of fire flying straight at her. She dove out of the way, barely avoiding the Fire Ball. She swam with the current for as long as she could, before again breaking the surface. She spied Zelgadis on shore, and swam to join him.

"Where did that come from?" Amelia asked as she dragged herself out of the water, shaking the cold water from her fur.

"Someone's found us." Zelgadis jerked his head every which way, trying to spot their opponent.

Suddenly they heard a battle cry. Zelgadis turned just in time to see a large man charging straight at him. "Gourry!" He cried in confused surprise. "Amelia, get out of here!"

Amelia didn't need to be told twice. She took to the air and looked down in horror. If Gourry was here and after them, that could only mean...no! Amelia heard a familiar voice chanting an even more familiar and deadly spell. She spotted Lina Inverse herself on the other river bank, aiming at Zelgadis. "No!" Amelia went into a dive.

Lina was near the end of her spell when she was suddenly tackled from the side. She jerked her head to see she was caught in the arms of...a big cat, just like the little girl had said! Not wanting to fall victim herself, Lina twisted around until she was facing her opponent, then managed to free her dagger from her belt. She stabbed it into the large cat. She smiled somewhat in satisfaction when she heard it yowl in pain, until she found herself falling. She landed in a prickly bush. "ARGH!"

Amelia winced in pain as she watched Lina's predicament. She hadn't meant to drop her, but she hadn't planned on getting stabbed! Thankfully Lina hadn't hit a vital spot. Amelia tried to shake the pain as she flew to Zelgadis, to aide him if she could.

Zelgadis wasn't fairing so well himself. He'd managed to avoid Gourry's deadly blade, but he had no way to parry, so it was only a matter of time before he'd get hit. Zelgadis frantically tried to think of any way to get away, when a loud shout of anger and pain was heard. Gourry paused for only a fraction of a second, but Zelgadis seized that and smashed his tail into the hilt of Gourry's blade, sending it flying from his grasp. Zelgadis grabbed the free sword in his mouth, then fled as fast as he could.

"Hey!" Gourry roared in anger. He grabbed a hold of the offending tail and attempted to stop his fleeing opponent. He was doing pretty well, until he lost traction. But how was that possible? Gourry looked down to see that he was no longer on the ground, but slowly gaining altitude. He yelped in fright, hanging on even tighter for fear of falling.

Amelia came upon her struggling ally, and did what she thought was best. She flew up behind Gourry and gripped him by his arms, trying to pry him off of Zelgadis' tail. Aside from more shouts of fear, Gourry wouldn't let go. "Mister Zelgadis, Mister Gourry's afraid of heights! You need to take him back down!"

Lina struggled to escape her prison, letting out another shout of anger and pain as the sharp thorns dug into her skin. "Gourry! GOURRY! Where are you!" And then, she heard her lost protector. Lina looked up to see the two monsters, with Gourry caught between them. She watched as the first dropped Gourry's sword practically at her feet, and then as Gourry also came to land at her feet. The two then flew off, leaving a dazed Gourry behind.

"Gourry! What do you think you were doing? Get me out of here!" Lina struggled against her poky foes, glaring at Gourry.

Gourry quickly came to his senses. "S-sorry, Lina." He picked up his sword and hacked into the bush, until he could easily free Lina without falling victim himself. "You okay?"

Lina snorted. "They are smarter than I gave them credit for, but I refuse to be beaten like this!" She stamped her feet in anger. "I'LL GET YOU YET!"

(An angry Lina can't be a good thing...)

Zelgadis paced about the small clearing in distress, causing Amelia to sigh. She too was upset to find that she was suddenly prey to her best friend, but what could they do? Once Lina had an idea in her head, it was hard to deter her from it. Amelia winced as pain shot through her arm. While it was true Lina's attack hadn't pierced anything vital, it still hurt like crazy! Amelia tended to the wound under her arm as best she could.

Zelgadis was suddenly aware of the smell of blood. He stopped his pacing and looked to Amelia, gasping when he saw she was the source. "Amelia, what happened?"

Amelia looked at Zelgadis like she had been caught doing something illegal. "It's nothing. I just wasn't careful."

Zelgadis walked slowly up to her, and took a closer look at her injury, before Amelia tried to hide it. "You got hurt when we were caught by surprise, weren't you." Zelgadis stared at her, looking totally serious.

Amelia nodded. "Well, no, not exactly. Miss Lina attacked me when I stopped her from hurting you."

Zelgadis smashed his tail into the ground in anger, and growled.

"It's okay!" Amelia tried to calm him. "It's not deep at all."

"That's not the point." Zelgadis growled. "Now that they've found us, they won't stop until we're dead...or we defeat them." Zelgadis sighed, his anger gone, and hung his head.

Amelia gasped. "Defeat them? We can't! I cannot harm either Miss Lina or Mister Gourry! They're still my friends, even if they don't recognize me. There's got to be some way to get them to understand."

Zelgadis shook his head. "Lina's more likely to kill you before hearing you out. Unless she's yet to tell me, she's not fluent in monster." He scowled.

Amelia set her jaw. "Even so, I won't hurt them. If we attack them, we'll never have any chance of convincing them we're not their enemy!"

Zelgadis sighed. "So what do you plan to do? Run away every time they find us?"

"Yes, if I have to." Amelia nodded her head, the look of determination etched in her features.

Zelgadis was suddenly up on his feet and alert. "Better start then. They're still after us."

Amelia nodded silently and followed after Zelgadis as they took to the air, gaining some distance from their unwanted foes.

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes: So things are finally coming together, which could lead to death for Amelia and Zelgadis! With Lina all the more wanting to take down her foes, things do not look good at all...

Anyway, the comment Zelgadis made about Lina being fluent in monster was inspired by the novels. Although never mentioned in the anime or manga, Lina does know how to speak Goblin. (Which is rather silly to me, a D&D nerd. She must have had a lot of free time!)

Next time: Lina tapped her chin quietly, before a grin spread across her face. "Come on. They're not coming to us, so it's time to hunt them down."