SailorStar9: Anyway, Chapter 12 goes up. This is Chapter 13. 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 13: TROUBLE! Rahanimu, the Furious Fish Man!

"That explosion was so big, it forced all the water out of the ground and covered everything." Amelia was astonished as the group surveyed the damage.

"Sylphiel…" Lina looked at the downcast cleric.

"Not only that," Aria tested the water with a finger. "It even heated the water underground."

"Say, Lina." Zelgadis spotted an abandoned hut. "Why don't we rest up over there?"

"Poor Sylphiel…" Amelia remarked. "Losing the place she grew up in and her father in one night…"

"Jeez, I never thought he'd do this." Lina admitted. "There's no time to be wondering if he's the real Rezo or a fake."

"But if that Rezo has that much power, what can we do except run away from him?" Gourry wondered.

"That's it." Lina exclaimed.

"There's a reason why Rezo hasn't come after us." Aria sighed, Lina pulling Gourry into a head-lock.

"You're saying he isn't quite complete yet." Zelgadis realized.

"You mean he can get even more powerful?" Amelia gaped.

"I'm saying we still have a chance against him." Lina insisted. "Think positively for a change."

"Professor Lina?" Gourry posted a question. "Can I ask a question? Well, you beat Rezo once, right? why can't you just do what you did last time?"

"The Giga Slave?" Zelgadis stated.

"It's a risky gamble," Lina admitted. "It worked last time, but one mistake in casting the spell would cause the magic to suck the life force out of us. It could kill us; that's why Aria forbade me to use it again."

"But I don't see any other options." Zelgadis reminded. "It may be a long shot, but we have to try it."

"You mustn't." Sylphiel cut in. "You mustn't use the Giga Slave. Ever again, if possible."

"But why not?" Lina asked.

"Because it's a terrible spell that can return all creation into nothingness." Sylphiel replied. "If you miscast the spell, it wouldn't just kill us. It could consume the world in a void of nothingness."

"Consume the whole world?" Lina echoed. "Come on, you're exaggerating, right?"

"You mean you didn't know?" Amelia gasped.

"I had no choice!" Lina protested. "I was sort of out of options at the time."

"Well, do we have any options, now?" Gourry pointed out.

"Rezo's legacy." Aria cut in.

"Yes," Zelgadis agreed. "The possibility is high that we may find a secret among his collected possessions."

"As in what our enemy's weak point is." Lina grinned. "It definitely worth checking out."

"Now it's settled, we'd better hurry." Zelgadis pressed. "Let's go to Rezo's lab. Sylphiel, we need you to guide us. With the city destroyed, we can't tell left from right. There's no one else we can ask. Are you just going to let them get away with murder?" he snapped, seeing Sylphiel's hesitation. "Will you let everyone end up like your father?"

"Zel, enough!" Aria scolded.

"Oh boy…" Lina muttered, seeing Sylphiel's depressed expression.

"I'd better get us some more wood." Sylphiel excused herself, Gourry following her a while later.

"Idiot." Aria glared at the chimera. "Still haven't learnt subtlety after all these years, have you?"

"Leave me alone." Zelgadis muttered.

"Hey, Zel." Aria started, resting her head on his shoulder as the couple cuddled beside the fire.

"What?" Zelgadis looked at her.

"Remember that time?" Aria asked.

"What time?" Zelgadis questioned. "Kidding." He grinned when Aria shot him a look. "Of course I do; it was when I got fed up of hearing you cry after you and Chojuro broke up, I took matters into my hands, kissed you full on the lips and told you how I felt."

"And I remember Mom threatening your manhood when she found out." Aria giggled.

"Not funny, Aria." Zelgadis growled, silencing his love's giggle with a deep kiss.

"All right." Lina donned her sword, the next morning. "Ready to go!"

"Lina, to the left." Sylphiel directed the group through the ruins.

"What was that?" Lina gaped, a black blur shooting above her. "I'm gonna be sick." She muttered, Rahanimu striking a pose.

"But he's got sexy legs." Gourry mused.

"Did you just see that?" Lina was stunned at the fish-man's speed.

"Split out!" Aria ordered, Rahanimu preparing for a second assault.

"Damn, he's something else." Zelgadis hissed, taking refuge in an empty building with Aria and Amelia.

"And knowing our luck…" Aria muttered as the wall blasted in. "I just jinxed us, huh?" she sighed, a group of chimeras appearing through the hole.

"Zelgadis, Aria!" Amelia hid behind the two older mages.

"Let's have some fun." Zelgadis smirked. "Blam Blazer!" his energy beam severing the head of a serpent.

"Dam Bras!" Amelia shot her attack into the mouth of a bear chimera. "There's no end to them." She whined.

"Triple Leviathan's Arrow!" Aria's water arrows took out three more chimeras. "Hydro Claw!" her water claw destroyed the snake's head that was flying towards Amelia. "Zel, next time, can you please make sure your opponent is really dead?"

"Everyone is a critic." Zelgadis muttered. "I'm going to finish this in one shot. Aria, get you and Amelia out of here."

"He won't…" Aria muttered, seeing her partner power up a 'Fireball'. "He would. Water Lock!" she encased Amelia and herself into a water bubble and hightailed out of the area.

"Fireball!" Zelgadis released his attack.

"She's still at it?" Aria exclaimed, seeing Lina dodging Rahanimu's high speed passes, Zelgadis having levitated himself into the air to escape the impact.

"Going to play with it all day?" Zelgadis chided, landing beside the troubled sorceress. "There's no time to be hanging around."

"Easy for you to say." Lina snapped. "Why don't you do something, Zel?"

"Very well then." Zelgadis grinned. "On the next pass. Get down." He slammed Lina's head into the ground, Rahanimu closing in for another shot. Pulling his sword out, Zelgadis just let the fish-man then pass through the blade, neatly slicing the said fish-man into half.

"What an idiot." Lina chuckled. "That was easier than I expected." And gave the chimera a raspberry when Zelgadis pointed to his head.

"Now I get it." Aria grinned. "Because he's too fast, you'd figured he won't be able to stop in time."

"How far did the moron run?" Lina wondered, entering the forest. "Gourry!"

"Gourry! Sylphiel" Amelia helped to search, and stopped when she came upon what seemed an intimate moment between Gourry and Sylphiel.

"What's wrong, Amelia?" Lina asked.

"No, Lina!" Amelia flustered and blocked out Lina's view. "Don't look!"

"I can't breathe!" Lina threw Amelia off. "Stop it! Bad enough a younger girl has bigger breasts without getting them squashed in my face! What's your problem, Amelia?" she manhandled the younger cleric.

"Lina, over here!" Gourry waved.

"Hey there, Gourry!" Lina waved back. "Wonderful! You're both okay! We were getting worried about you."

"Why did I do that?" Amelia wondered outloud.

"Trust me, I've been travelling with those two for almost half a year now, and not even I understand." Aria sighed.

"It must be really hard on you." Zelgadis noted. "Good grief, no matter what you say, they do make a good pair."

"No doubt about it." Zelgadis confirmed, the group arriving before the demolished lab.

"That's Rezo's laboratory?" Lina mused. "Flare Arrow!" she blasted the door open.

SailorStar9: Okay, this chapter is finally down. Read and review folks.