SailorStar9: Anyway, Chapter 18 goes up. This is Chapter 19 and the final chapter of this arc. 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 19: ZAP! Victory is Always Mine!
"He's blowing the place apart." Phil hissed, Aria's spherical barrier blocked off the rubble crumbling down on them.
"He's doing as he pleases." Zelgadis retorted.
"Isn't there some way to kill him?" Gourry wondered.
"None." Zelgadis replied. "Spells don't work, and the Sword of Light is a dead end, too. We're good and helpless."
"What are you saying?" Phil barked.
"Oh boy," Aria sighed. "Now you've done it, Zel."
"Listen, you kids." Phil continued his tirade. "What happens if you give up so easily? So, spells don't work. So, the Sword of Light doesn't work. That's not the problem. If you don't give up, you'll eventually find a solution."
"That's right, Gourry, Zelgadis." Amelia concurred. "If you don't give up, justice will surely triumph."
"So I'm to just close my fist and say 'All right, let's go after Rezo again!'" Zelgadis retorted. "Is that what you want from me?"
"Well, that'll be out-of-character for you." Aria nodded sagely.
"You're not taking us seriously." Amelia whined.
"Darn right." Gourry concurred. "I'm not saying we should give up, but if spells and swords don't work, then we can't fight. If Lina was here, she could cast a spell to power up the Sword of Light."
"Quick, someone check him for a fever." Aria joked.
"You're right." Zelgadis agreed, getting out of his shocked mode. "And here I thought you had jellyfish for brains."
"No," Gourry corrected. "It's just that when she put a spell on it before, she got incredible power out of it."
"It might work." Zelgadis mused.
"But Lina isn't here." Gourry pointed out.
"Never mind," Aria muttered. "He's back to normal again."
"Looks like he doesn't get the theory." Amelia noted.
"Let's go, Gourry." Zelgadis instructed.
"Hold on, did I say something wrong?" Gourry blinked when Amelia pulled him off.
"Away with you, all that stands in my way shall be destroyed." Rezo declared, continuing his discriminating blasting.
"You should protect the environment, Copy Rezo." Zelgadis retorted.
"Like you're the one to talk." Aria quipped.
"So, you've crawled out of your hole at last." Rezo grinned. "How sad that I have no use for you."
"Save that talk for after you've beaten us." Amelia declared.
"I really should tell her to stop pointing." Aria sighed. "Children these days."
"Didn't we have this conversation before?" Zelgadis joked.
"You do remember you're sterile in this form, right?" Aria deathpanned.
"Don't remind me." Zelgadis muttered.
"Young lady, it's impolite to point." Rezo chided. "You'll regret this."
"Here he comes!" Zelgadis pulled Amelia back.
"Leave the defense to us!" Aria assured as she and Amelia readied their spells. "Shield of Cold!"
"Balus Wall!" Amelia reinforced the barrier with a shield spell of her own.
"Let's go, Gourry." Zelgadis gave the cue. "Elmekia Flame!" he powered up the Sword of Light with his spell. "That didn't work either, huh?" he growled, Gourry having sliced through the various hydra-heads of the Zanaffar miasma.
"Correction, it did." Aria pointed out.
"Gourry, again!" Zelgadis readied his spell.
"No, you don't." Rezo intercepted the two swordsman before they pulled the similar moved.
"Don't forget about us!" Amelia grabbed the fallen Sword of Light. "Amelia's Super Special Attack! Ra Tilt!" she fired her spell at the sword she had tossed upwards. "And the coup de grace, Pacifist Crush!" she went in for the final strike. "That really hurt." She wailed, Rezo slapping her away.
"Hey, there's nothing lower than hitting a girl's face." Gourry retorted.
"No, I was teaching an insolent child some manners." Rezo corrected. "But you did quite well. Were I not joined with Zanaffar, I may well have been killed. Meaning, that now I dispose of you all."
"Shield, hurry!" Zelgadis barked.
"Excuse me, behind you!" Lina warned, blasting a 'Fireball' before Rezo could finish the group off. "Now that I'm here, you'd better start behaving."
"No fair, Lina, that's my routine." Amelia whined. "And so is that." She complained, Lina jumping in before them.
"So, you've finally come out, Lina Inverse." Rezo remarked. "Have you decided to try your Giga Slave on me?"
"Maybe." Lina grinned.
"Take this, Lina." Gourry tossed the Sword of Light to her.
"You're giving it to me?" Lina beamed.
"No, you idiot!" Gourry retorted. "So that you can kill him!"
"Then I don't need it." Lina tossed the hilt back. "The one I'll be using is this sword." She brandished the Blessed Blade.
"Yare, yare." Aria sighed. "Guess I should stop holding back then. Unleash the Maelstrom, Rip-Tide!" she summoned Ragradia's anti-demon trident.
"Yo prepared to die?" the two girls declared. "Now we're gonna settle things."
"And what do you plan on doing with those toys?" Rezo taunted, lashing out at them with a tendril of Zanaffar's miasma, which the two females easily slashed through with their weapons, scattering the evil power.
"Here's the plan, people." Aria went into team leader mode. "Lina and I will use our weapons to breach Zanaffar's shield. Zel and Amelia, hit him with an astral spell when we do. Gourry, amplify the spell with the Sword of Light."
"Then take formation to drive Rezo against Flagoon." Lina took over. "The Blessed Blade, the Rip-Tide and the holy tree, Flagoon, are the keys to victory."
"I'm so glad you're taking this seriously." Rezo grinned.
"Dash!" Lina used her speed spell.
"Re-equip!" Aria droned her Sea Goddess armor, the group splitting up.
"Goz Vu Rou!" Zelgadis cast his spell, Rezo dispelling the shadow with his staff.
"Elmekia Lance!" Amelia took her turn. "That hurt." She wailed, Lina grabbing her when Rezo knocked her to the ground.
"Gourry, up in front." Lina gave the order.
"Blam Blazer!" Amelia released her spell.
"Blam Blazer!" Zelgadis followed suit, powering up the Sword of Light and enabling Gourry to thrust the amplified sword at Rezo, forcing him to use up most of his energy to defend against it and giving Lina and Aria the opening they needed to slash at the miasma with their weapons driving Rezo back onto the thick roots of Flagoon.
"Their moves are different from what they've been." Rezo remarked. "Is it because of her?"
"Say your prayers, Copy Rezo." Lina readied herself.
"No, I cannot allow myself to be defeated." Rezo declared. "It's the reason I exist. Only I can vindicate my existence." And two mouths appeared in the palms of his hands, enabling him to chant triple spells, launching high-speed energy at the group.
"A high-speed spell." Zelgadis warned. "Scatter!"
"I'll handle defense." Sylphiel requested, using her barrier shield to block off the fireball.
"He's using three mouths to chant different spells at the same time." Zelgadis explained.
"Guess that must be because he's merged with Zanaffar." Aria reasoned. "That explains why his magic capacity is so great."
"A monster," Lina grinned. "We could use that. Zel, Gourry, final orders. Ray Wing!" she took off with Aria in tow into Flagoon's branches for cover.
"You won't escape!" Rezo fired off a volley of energy blasts at the two girls.
Sylphiel blocked off the next attack Rezo threw at them.
"Dwelling within the eternal and the infinite, source of all souls, everlasting flame of blue," Zelgadis started the chant.
"Let the power hidden in my soul…" Amelia continued.
"Be called forth from the infinite..." the two shamanists finished their spell. "Ra Tilt!"
Gourry, absorbing the combined attack with the Sword of Light, attacked Rezo with the blade, t e attack hitting Rezo hard, forcing him to use most of his power to defend, the energy released forming a huge blossoming column of magical energy.
As the powers raged on below, Lina and Aria descended from the branches, both their weapons in attack mode as they sped straight towards Rezo.
Rezo counterattacked with a rain of fireballs, Aria's Sea Goddess armour deflecting the fire volley, before the pair drove their weapons straight through Rezo's body and pinning him to Flagoon.
"Impossible!" Rezo hissed. "Impossible."
"Why did you challenge us to this fight?" Lina asked. "I'm not really sure why. But I know you made two mistakes. One was hurting a lot of people to achieve your goal. And the other, was picking a fight with me. Now, Sylphiel!"
"Blessed humble hand of God. Breath of Mother Earth…" Sylphiel chanted.
"I will surpass Rezo." Copy Rezo swore. "No, I have surpassed Rezo! Haven't I?" to which Aria simply answered with a shake of her head as she pulled out 'Rip-Tide'.
"I pray thee come before me, show your great compassion to this person and deliver them. Recovery!" Sylphiel unleashed her healing wave on Flagoon.
"She cast the recovery spell on Flagoon?" Zelgadis echoed, as the Holy Tree started to recover from the damage Rezo had inflicted.
"That's right." Aria nodded. "With Flagoon living again from the recovery spell, it and the Blessed Blade, are drawing Zanaffar's spirit out of Rezo.
"I've…" Rezo started as he laid dying under the Holy Tree's roots. "I've lost, haven't I? Why did I lose? Was it because a copy is just a copy after all?"
"That's not it." Aria shook her head. "You lost because of a totally different reason; you couldn't see what was ahead of you: what was to come after you'd surpassed the original."
"I see…" Rezo mused. "All I could ever see was Rezo's back. I cursed my creation as a copy of him. All I lived for was to surpass him. And that's why I could never… please, tell me one thing. What is it you see? That you see as you gaze so far ahead?"
"What do I see?" Aria mused. "A flower, whose name I have no idea of."
"What name should we put on your gravestone?" Zelgadis knelt aside Rezo.
"I want no gravestone." Rezo replied. "But if possible, I'd like to be buried beneath Flagoon. This tree shall be my monument."
"That's my chicken!" Lina fought over the drumstick with Gourry. "Cut it out!"
"Not eating it?" Gourry stopped in mid-fight to look at Sylphiel.
"No, thanks." Sylphiel laughed. "I'll just watch."
"In that case, I'll have some." Lina dug in.
"Anyway, what are you all going to do?" Sylphiel asked, Aria sweatdropping as Zelgadis gobbled down his chicken.
"Haven't even thought of it." Lina and Gourry beamed.
"Go figures." Aria sighed, biting into her roasted fish. "How about you?"
"I'll probably help build our new city." Sylphiel replied. "And you, Zelgadis?"
"Not sure," the chimera admitted. "I still have to find a way to return my body to normal."
"Then why don't you come with us to Seyruun?" Amelia offered. "I just know we'll find a way to help you."
"With you, huh?" Zelgadis sighed.
"You don't sound too enthusiastic." Aria joked when a horse pulled up, announcing the arrival of Phil.
"Daddy, over here!" Amelia waved.
"Hey, useless Phil, is your leg all better?" Lina taunted.
"It's fine." Phil assured. "See for yourself."
"Amelia's father?" Sylphiel echoed. "You mean…"
"I forgot she doesn't know." Aria realized.
"It's with awe that I present, His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince of Seyruun, Philionel el de Seyruun." Lina introduced. "In other words, an actual Prince of Seyruun."
"A Prince?" Sylphiel stammered. "Princes ride on white horses and are supposed to be intellectual and smart."
"Reality is never that sweet." Zelgadis reminded.
"That man is a…" Sylphiel gaped. "A Prince?" and fainted out right.
"Guess the shock was too much for her." Lina remarked, Aria going into full medic mode.
"Stop acting like my dad is a monster." Amelia protested. "Although I guess that is asking too much."
"Prince!" a messenger came running in less than five seconds later. "Prince, back in Seyruun, there is an emergency!"
"Don't call him a Prince in front of me." Sylphiel slammed a fist into the messenger's face.
"Something must be wrong back in Seyruun!" Phil realized. "Good timing. I could use your help." Grabbing Lina, he ran off back to Seyruun. "Let's go, Amelia!"
"Guess it's one wave after another, huh?" Aria shrugged, giving Gourry and Zelgadis a knowing smirk. Dragging Sylphiel along, the group were on the road once again.
SailorStar9: Okay, this chapter is finally down. Read and review folks.