SailorStar9: Anyway, Chapter 9 goes up. This is Chapter 10. To all my non-reviewing readers, I love you all! Will love you more if you review! *hugs all round!*
Disclaimers: Nothing here is mine, well, except the plot and the pairing.
Chapter 10: MONEY! Crush Those Bounty Hunters!
"That's Lina Inverse, huh?" Zangulus mused, he and Vrumugun watched the group in the shadows.
"Hey, Lina, there's a poster with you on it." Gourry noted, spotting the wanted poster.
"A poster of Lina?" Amelia wondered.
"Am I that famous now?" Lina grinned.
"Lina, look closer." Aria sighed.
"What is this?" Lina exclaimed, noticing the wanted poster.
"I'm impressed." Gourry mused. "They managed to capture the real you."
"Must have been done by a famous painter." Amelia agreed.
"What are you guys talking about?" Aria reminded. "That's a wanted poster."
"A wanted poster?" Gourry echoed.
"There's one for you too, Gourry." Lina pointed out. "Aria and Zel, too."
"Lina, what did you do?" Amelia deathpanned.
"The law can be merciful if you confess." Phil added.
"I suspected from the beginning." Amelia remarked. "Lina, you're really a bad guy, aren't you?"
"Hold on here…" Lina defended and started recalling. "It's okay." She assured. "I haven't done anything bad for a while."
"Not helping your case…" Aria mumbled.
"And what do you mean 'in a while'?" Amelia pressed.
"Shut up." Lina snapped. "What about Gourry?"
"You really think I'd remember if I did anything?" Gourry chuckled nervously.
"Right…" Aria sighed. "But if we don't do something about this fast…"
"Then a bunch of guys like this will show up." Lina finished. "I knew it."
"Lina Inverse, you criminal monster!" the head of the Black Iron Knights demanded. "And you too, Gourry Gabriev, Aria Waterfist! You dare show yourselves before the Black Iron Knights? We'll make you pay for all the evil you've done."
"If Lina really is a criminal, then it's my duty to stop her." Amelia declared. "Lina Inverse! And you too, Gourry Gabriev, Aria Waterfist! Even though we travelled together, now that you're exposed to be criminal fiends, my duty to right wrongs and defend justice cannot be ignored. With tears in my eyes, I must fight you who were my friends the day before. I would prefer you surrender quietly. Otherwise, you'll face disaster itself."
"Forget it." Gourry sighed. "She's serious."
"Seriously, that girl's sense of right and wrong is too twisted." Aria shook her head.
"Enough talking!" Amelia snapped. "Let's get her, guys!"
"Waterfall Current!" Aria cast her water wave, allowing the trio to escape.
"After her, men!" Amelia got to her feet. "To the ends of the earth! Evil must be judged!"
"Okay, we lost them." Lina panted in exhaustion.
"Yeah." Gourry agreed. "Our little princess has flown off the handle, as usual."
"And we've got a price on our heads to boot." Aria reminded.
"If this keeps up, more people will be coming after us." Gourry agreed. "What'll we do, Lina?"
"What else?" Lina agreed. "Find whoever is offering the bounty on us and take care of them. Digger Bolt!" she took out the Silver Knights from Lenos and 'Flare Arrow'ed the group from Edoh. "Was that the sixth batch?" she asked.
"The seventh, actually." Aria corrected. "Okay…" she sweatdropped, seeing an open cage before them with a unicorn horn hanging as bait.
"This one' s made for you, Gourry." Lina remarked. "Do you really think Lina Inverse is this stupid? Could it be?" her eyes glittered. "A legendary unicorn horn that I could sell for a thousand gold pieces easy?"
"Spoke too soon." Aria facepalmed, Lina grabbing the horn and triggering the trap.
"So I've caught you at last, Lina." Amelia laughed from her perch on the window ledge.
"She does realize she's jumping onto a cage, right?" Aria muttered, Amelia landed face-first on the cage bars,
"Time to pay the piper, Lina." Amelia declared. "And you, Gourry."
"I heard you're a sorceress to be reckoned with." Zangulus remarked. "And yet you fell for such this lame-brained trap."
"You're the one who offered the bounty for us." Lina accused.
"As you say." Vrumugun confirmed.
"And just who are you?" Gourry demanded.
"I am Zangulus, a bounty hunter." Zangulus replied.
"And I am Vrumugun, a sorcerer." Vrumugun added. "We will take you to Sairaag now. Someone there awaits you."
"You think we'll just let you take us there?" Gourry retorted.
"Hold it." Zangulus warned. "I'd suggest you out that away."
"You will either come quietly, or this goes into the cage." Vrumugun threatened, powering up a 'Fireball'. "There is no escape for her."
"I understand." Aria sighed.
"Damn!" Gourry cursed, dropping his sword.
"The reward for capturing those two." Vrumugun dropped the bounty reward on the table. "And delivering the false Ragradia to our custody."
"No, I did it in the name of justice." Amelia waved. "I couldn't accept money just for doing that."
"That girl's as stubborn as they come." Zangulus snorted, entering the room with Lina and Gourry's confiscated weapons. "Tried to escape right off."
"They just don't know when to give up." Amelia added.
"Those…" Zangulus growled, the tower shaking from Lina's 'Flare Arrow'. "What did they do?"
"What are you trying to do?" Vrumugun asked, Lina wrapping the metal ball chain around their wrists.
"I'm trying to do this." Lina grinned. "Flare…" the band on her head started crackling with electricity as she started her spell and Lina used the metal chain to transmit the electricity to the trio.
"Here it is." Gourry reclaimed his sword, bursting into the main room. "Lina, don't move." Tossing the sorceress up, he cut through the headband with his sword, before freeing Aria from her chains.
"Now, all we have to do is finish these guys off." Lina declared.
"We've been waiting for you." Zangulus grinned, he and Vrumugun blocking the trio's path.
"We'll teach you to put a price on our heads." Lina snapped.
"Like I care." Zangulus retorted. "I won't be fighting you, though."
"The one you face, is me." Vrumugun stepped forward.
"I guess I'm facing you then." Gourry remarked. "Aria, go help Lina." He instructed and the two swordsmen started decking it out.
In the air, Lina and Vrumugun were having their magic battle.
"Lina Inverse, nefarious villain!" Amelia declared. "If you continue to compound your crimes, then prepare to fight me as well."
"Amelia…" Lina sighed. "Would you get a clue? They're the bad guys. They made up all that stuff about us."
"But they said you were the bad guys…" Amelia was confused.
"Come on Amelia, think!" Aria chided. "Who looks like the bad guys here?"
"All three of you." Amelia concluded.
"Amelia!" Lina railed, the two girls dodging Vrumugun's next attack
"You say one thing and they say something else." Amelia was puzzled. "Lina or Vrumugun? Which is the real bad guy? How can I be just?" she wondered. "Of course." She beamed. "Justice always triumphs. So whoever wins will be the good guy. Source of all power, crimson fire burning bright! Let thy power gather within my hand." She started her spell.
"Hold it!" Aria exclaimed.
"Fireball!" Amelia cast her spell.
"Amelia, you are a total nutcase, you know that?" Aria sighed, having shielded Lina and Gourry from the falling debris with her 'Water Lock'.
"I knew it." Amelia beamed. "You're the good guy. I suspected you weren't bad."
"I see to remember someone saying something else." Lina deathpanned.
"We'll retreat for today." Zangulus muttered. "But we'll be back."
"I guess we're going to Sairaag." Aria concluded.
"If we don't find out who's behind those bounty hunters, we'll never know what's going on." Lina reminded. "Who are they? And what're they after?"
"That's right." Amelia agreed. "This whole thing has shown me that evil's on the move somewhere. And that it's after you guys. Therefore, I will travel with you and crush this evil ambition."
"Amelia, are you just trying to get out of town for a while, now that Phil found out you were behind the explosion?" Aria sighed, guessing the real reason Amelia insisted on tagging along.
SailorStar9: Okay, this chapter is finally down. Read and review folks.