Disclaimer: I own neither "Slayers" nor "Ranma 1/2", I simply enjoy using the characters for my own amusement.
YES I'M FINALLY BACK! It feels so good to be back to writing like you don't even know! I know I must have really pissed some people off with my five(yikes, FIVE?) month long absence and I can't blame them. But seriously, my junior year of high school has been soooooo much harder than I thought it was going to be, but I guess five months of headaches and migraines would change anyone's opinion. I'm hoping next week my headaches will finally get dealt with(even though I've been to the doctor several times and their prescriptions have failed twice). If anybody reading this knows how bad headaches can get, I know you can sympathize here and I hope you wish me luck.
Anyway, let's move on from this depressing talk. Presenting, my absolute longest chapter to date(19 pages on word and breaking 8,000 word count!), I welcome you to enjoy this latest installment of "Anything Goes Dragon Slave"!
"..." normal speech
'...' thoughts
Attack/Spell names
"I've decided we're going to take today to do some training." Ranma continued eating his lunch, ignoring the stares from everyone else. After five minutes of silence from the group, he finally asked, "What?"
"What makes you think you're calling the shots now?" Lina demanded, taking the chance to nab some food off Gourry's plate.
"All we've been doing since we got here is travel," Ranma argued. "Me and Akane haven't had any real time for serious training, Zel and Gourry haven't been training their cursed forms, and I'm sure some work couldn't hurt Lina and Amelia."
"Fine with me," Akane said as she ate her food before it got stolen. She learned that tends to happen a lot living with Lina, Gourry, and Ranma. "I've been itching for a good workout."
Lina scowled as she stuffed her face. "I dishagree."
Zelgadis rolled his eyes and murmured, "Big surprise there." She forced her current mouthful of food and glared at the chimera.
"First off, we haven't seen that tiny animal Pokota since that stupid festival and we need to keep looking for him. Second, what the heck am I supposed to do while you all get sweaty?"
Amelia's eyes lit up and she clasped her hands together. "Oh, I know! Lina-san, I can show you all my techniques of justice! I can teach you how to proclaim your presence at the top of trees and give justice speeches!" Lina blanched and swiftly looked to the others for more options.
"Why don't you two help me with setup and whipping these guys in shape?" Ranma offered, sending the other three into panicked looks. Lina grinned devilishly.
"Now that's my kind of job! Let's get to it right after lunch!" She looked at her plate and tightened her grip so the dish cracked. "Gourry?" she asked quietly.
"Yeah Lina?" he responded with his mouth completely full.
"Why the hell did you take all my food?"
"Well you were talking and it was getting cold. I figured you didn't want any more."
"You greedy jellyfish!" she screeched, slamming her empty plate into his face.
"At least we know today's going to be more interesting than walking in forests," Zelgadis remarked flatly as he looked on dully at Lina and Gourry's brawl. Amelia nodded her head in agreement and offered to clean up after them.
"Alright, could one of you make some thin pillars come out of the ground?" Ranma asked the magic-users in the group. They looked at each other questioningly and Zelgadis stepped forward.
"Step back a bit, you wouldn't want to get caught in this," he commented. Seeing the others take two large steps backwards, he smirked and began the chant. "Earth below me, submit to my will! Dug Haut!" He thrust his hand against the dirt surface. Images of thin stone pillars raising up in the chimera's mind shaped the spell, creating exactly what Ranma had in mind while being careful of the surrounding forest.
Ranma lept up to one after Zelgadis straightened and looked around. "Looks perfect," he complemented. "Next, what we could use is some ice up here. Just enough to cover the tops of these." He quickly jumped back to earth, not wanting to get caught up in any spells.
'I'm beginning to think this won't be easy,' Zelgadis bemoaned.
"Leave it to me!" Lina declared, brandishing her bicep. She cracked her knuckles, held her palms out in front of her, and yelled, "Gray Buster!" Ice crystals formed and hung in the air, those above the pillars fell slowly and collected and joined together to create a thick, icy platform.
"Ha, genius sorceresses like me don't need chaos words," Lina ribbed Zelgadis, poking his side playfully. She was soon on the ground clutching her head, as stone knuckles hurt terribly when rapped against one's head.
Ranma took the moment to laugh at her pain. "Okay then, anybody know a spell to turn the ground around here into a swamp?" Both Zelgadis and Amelia shook their heads while Lina picked herself up.
"I'm pretty sure I knew someone with that kind of spell, but they never taught it to me," she said. Ranma pouted and crossed his arms.
"Damn. Guess I'll hafta think up something else." He closed his eyes and concentrated, eventually coming up with an answer. "Got it! Zelgadis and Gourry, you guys swap to your cursed forms. You two and Akane choose a pole and stand on top. Don't fall down yet, cause I'll be right back."
The three looked at each other uncertainly, each wondering what this training exercise would be like. Gourry and Zelgadis upended their canteens over their heads to trigger their curses. Zelgadis quickly cast a Levitation, offered to drop Akane off on a pole, and volunteered Lina to do the same with Gourry-chan. Lina did so, though not without grumbling about certain sorcerers under her breath, and as soon as the three were in place, Ranma returned with his hand behind his back.
"Ta-da!" he presented, showing off the contents in his hand: three black and yellow pieces of cloth.
Akane bristled and shouted angrily, "Ranma! Why do you have Ryoga's bandannas?"
"Oh come on! It's not like I stole them or anything!" Ranma protested. "He's always whippin' these things out at me, I figured he wasn't gonna miss a few!"
"Mou! Next time we see him, you better return them baka!" Ranma wagged his finger at her, grinning widely.
"Now, is that any way to talk to the person in charge of your training? I can make this a lot harder than it already is." Akane glared daggers at him and muttered revenge for later under her breath.
Ranma chuckled as he ran and bounced off the pillars one after another, flying higher and higher until he reached the top. He barely landed on the icy surface when he jumped again towards his disciples. He soared past each of them, dropping a bandanna in their hands and dropped back down to earth.
"Put them on and make sure you can't see anything," he instructed. As they did so, Ranma began his explanation. "This training exercise will test your battle senses, balance, and ability to dodge when cornered. You'll need to be able to sense everything me, Lina and Amelia throw at you and dodge it. You are allowed to jump between the poles, if you think you can without falling or crashing into something. If you don't think you can do that, stay put and try not to fall."
"Hold up, these things are three or four meters high!" Akane argued. "What if we get hit or fall off?"
"Don't worry about it," Ranma said placidly. "I'm pretty sure one of us could catch you. And if you get hit, that's just incentive for improvement."
"Wait, you're "pretty sure"? Ranma!" she protested.
"Ready, set, go!" he ordered.
"Finally!" Lina cheered. "Flare Arrow! Flare Arrow! Flare Arrow!"
"Oh, this doesn't feel right," Amelia cried, "but if it will help my friends, I'll do it! Bram Fang!" The blindfolded trio each gained stricken looks and frantically began trying to dodge.
Ranma snickered quietly. 'For once, I'm not on the receiving end of insane training.' He nearly turned around to search for extra projectiles, when he paused and looked at his helpers. He carefully gazed at Lina's fire arrows and the visible gusts of wind in front of Amelia.
He looked at his own hands, curious. 'I wonder if I could do magic like them. Certainly would be interesting.' A grin split across his face at his next thought. 'I'd love to see Ryoga's face if I could do that.' He shook the thought from his mind, took another look at his frantic students, and finally began looking for projectiles for himself.
"Ah!" Amelia yelled suddenly, ceasing her barrage and pointing off into the bushes nearby. "I just saw Pokota-san!" Almost instantly Lina also stopped her barrage, the blindfolded trio ripped the bandannas away from their eyes, and Ranma smacked his forehead.
"Crap!" came a voice in the foliage. The small animal bolted out into the open space and weaved between the poles, hoping to lose them.
"God dammit! We were finally getting to train!" Ranma exclaimed as he took after Pokota. "I'm gonna make you wish you didn't interrupt us!"
"Don't follow me!" Pokota called over his shoulder.
"Like hell we aren't!" The whole group ran into the densely packed forest. Ranma used the trees to gain speed while the magic-users picked up Gourry-chan and Akane to shorten the distance through Raywing. Though Zelgadis didn't make note of it at the time, he vaguely noticed he needed to more concentration to pull off the spell, and even then it exhausted him more than usual.
They eventually managed to chase him onto a dirt path cutting into the forest. By this time, they could see the sky being dyed orange, red, and purple. At this point Lina, Amelia, and Zelgadis dropped their Raywings and continued on foot, along with their passengers.
"Finally I can see my target!" Lina crowed triumphantly. "Do you know how much trouble I'm in because of you?"
"I don't have time to deal with you guys!" Pokota yelled. "Especially not today!"
"See if I care! Damu Brass!" A crimson orb was formed in Lina's hand and she vaulted it at the tiny animal. As soon as the first was out of her hands, she created one after another to toss at Pokota. He looked behind him, his eyes wide, and he forced his legs to speed up in order to dodge the balls of light.
As the last one exploded behind him, he turned around to gloat, only for Ranma to dive at him with arms out stretched. Pokota jumped quickly to the left onto a tree branch, leaving Ranma to tuck and roll to keep from planting himself into the ground.
"Ha ha! You missed!"
"Dodge this!" Pokota looked around wildly to see Akane coming straight at him with her mallet out. He dived into the bushes and her mallet snapped the branch right off the tree. The group rejoined, surrounding the bush Pokota had dived into.
"Come out tiny animal~!" Lina said, sickly sweet. "Nowhere else to run now!"
"Ano, Lina-san," Amelia began uncertainly. "Have you noticed the fog?" Everyone looked around in the corners of their eyes. Pokota silently inhaled, nervous. 'Mist? It can't be that time already!'
"This mist wasn't here a minute ago," Zelgadis added quietly.
"What's going on?" Akane questioned. Suddenly the bushes rustled loudly.
"Who's there?" Ranma demanded. Without waiting for an answer, he reached into his pocket and whipped out another of Ryoga's bandannas, sending it flying. It flew through part of the bush, slicing of that entire section of leaves.
"Another one Ranma?" Akane admonished, jabbing him in the ribs. "How many of them have you collected?"
"Now's not the time for this!" Lina yelled at both of them. She turned back to the bush. "Come out now before I turn the bush to ashes."
"My, did that surprise me!" came an annoyingly familiar voice from the group of bushes behind them. "If that had been anybody but me, they would have been decapitated!" the voice said cheerfully.
"Xellos?" everybody cried at once as they whipped around. In his hands they saw a struggling Pokota and Ryoga's bandanna.
"Things like that are quite dangerous, don't you think?" he continued, seemingly oblivious to their surprise.
"Who is this guy?" Pokota questioned, pulling at the demon's grip. "Is he one of your allies? Make him let me go!"
"Well, I'm not sure if we would call him an "ally" exactly," Lina mused.
"Whatever! Just let me go already!"
"Now, now, don't struggle so much Pokota-san," Xellos said. His face remained cheerful as ever, but the bandanna burst into blue fire. Pokota gasped and wisely chose to stop struggling.
"So, now that Pokota's caught and Xellos is here, what are you two even doing here?" Lina questioned.
"My answer is the same as always Lina-san! That's a secret!" Lina slapped her forehead; she really should have seen that coming. "As for Pokota-san here, why not try looking around?" Everybody paused and scoured their surroundings. Or rather, attempted to.
"How did the mist get so thick so fast?" Akane exclaimed. "I can barely see anything at all!"
"Really?" Xellos prodded. "Try taking a closer look."
Akane scowled. "Didn't you just hear me? That isn't possible right-"
"Hold on-I think I see something!" Amelia exclaimed. The group turned to face the way the princess was looking and suddenly they weren't in a forest anymore. Instead, they found themselves in a very rocky terrain on a cliff.
"Where are we?" Gourry-chan voiced the thoughts of the group majority. "What is this place?"
Pokota smacked his face. "Shit."
The gang navigated along the newly revealed path, coming into an ancient town hiding in the terrain. Giant trees hid most of the buildings from view, having grown to cover them up over time. Eventually they could tell it wasn't just a town that once existed in this place.
It was an entire country.
"What's all these buildings doing in a place like this?" Ranma's whisper sounded like a shout, echoing in the deep silence.
"Plants are growing all over the place and moss is overrunning the buildings," Amelia added nervously.
"I can't sense anyone but us in this place," Zelgadis commented. "It's completely empty." Pokota, still held in Xellos's grip, gritted his teeth and fought to say anything.
"Was this place abandoned for some reason?" Lina asked casually, seemingly unaffected by the ominous feel of the area.
Pokota's will to remain silent snapped. "It's not abandoned!" he shouted. "This is my birthplace!" Everyone, sans a certain priest, gawked.
"Your birthplace?" Lina cried.
Pokota glowered at Xellos. "Let me go alr-!" Before he could finish his sentence Xellos loosened his grip ever so slightly, sending the surprised tiny animal towards the ground. Rubbing his sore face, Pokota picked himself up off the ground and lept to perch on Amelia's head.
"Yare, yare, I feel so hated," Xellos moaned playfully.
"What's wrong with this guy?" Pokota yelled.
Lina laughed. "He's my useful item No. 4!"
Xellos faltered. "N-number four?" Zelgadis's eye twitched.
"And exactly who are useful items No. 1 through 3?" he growled.
"Yeah! What about me and Akane!" Ranma joined in, only to get a slap on the head by Akane.
"Honestly, now's not the time for this!" Lina laughed uneasily, cleared her throat and leaned in close to Pokota.
"Don't try to take Xellos on," she advised quietly. "You won't be able to handle him and you aren't the only one. We can't either." Pokota looked back at Xellos, now more wary than before.
Lina stepped back and, in a louder voice this time, asked, "With that said, you mind telling us about your birthplace?"
"...Fine. This country's name is Taforashia," he began to explain. "It's a country hidden away by mist for a reason. Only once in a few months does the mist open a path to the town."
"Taforashia?" Amelia said hesitantly.
"You've heard it before?" Akane asked.
"I feel like I've heard it before...," Gourry-chan added.
"Gourry, you know?" Lina questioned incredulously.
"...but I forgot!" Lina glared murderous daggers at her idiot partner.
"Then keep your mouth shut! You're just making things worse!" Gourry-chan nodded silently, afraid saying something else may spark her wrath. Pokota exhaled sharply and scowled at the distraction.
"Taforashia," he continued, "is a country created centuries ago by descendants ancient Sairagg when it was called a mage city."
"Yes, but there is another tale left behind," Xellos interrupted. "Taforashia, the legendary town that disappeared in one night."
"Disappeared in one night?" Akane repeated.
"At one time, a plague called "Durum disease" spread throughout this country. There were no cures for it back then, so the neighboring countries that feared the disease did not provide aid to them."
"How could they!" Amelia protested.
Xellos smirked slightly and his ever "smiling" eyes seemed to look at Zelgadis. "Then, one wizard appeared and tried to save this country, but the country disappeared into the mist before the wizard could..."
"So that's this place, Taforashia?" Ranma asked.
"That's the folk tale that people were left with," Xellos answered.
"That's not it!" Pokota protested. "This country erased itself on its own will."
"Pokota-san?" Amelia questioned the small creature on her head.
"What he said is true to a certain point; this country wasn't destroyed nor did it disappear," he elaborated. "Let me prove it." He led them through the ruins until they came upon an ornate door covered in roots with a large tree growing out behind it.
He held his hand-like ear up to the door and cast a spell, making his ear glow brightly. Runes glowed into existence beneath his hand and the door swung open.
"There was indeed no remedy for Durum disease back then, and this country was waiting for its own death. But, one wizard showed us the path to salvation!" As he spoke, the group entered past the door into a long hallway, in which lamps glowed green as they walked by. They tread down a spiral staircase and finally came across another door, taller than the one that lead them inside.
Runes again faded into existence and this time spread across the entire door, rather than the small runes on the first door. Again the door swung open and the group was in a wide, open room, without any lights.
"Originally, this room was constructed to be an underground cemetery," Pokota said quietly. Akane gasped and felt herself begin to tremble.
"Then, does that mean...?" Lina's question trailed off. Pokota only held an ear out, cast a Lighting spell and let them see the evidence for themselves.
The entire room looked like it had be made purely out of crystals, if it hadn't been for one thing. Beneath the surface of the walls and floor lay hundreds of bodies, encased in the crystal.
Akane let out a strangled breath and dropped to her knees, curling in on herself. Everyone jumped at the noise and turned to look at her.
"Wha-Akane!" Ranma called out her name upon seeing her state. "What's the matter?" She didn't answer, she could only gaze helplessly at the frozen bodies and shake in fear.
"There's so many," Amelia whispered. "They aren't all...dead, are they?" She let out a relieved sigh at Pokota shaking his head "no".
"This looks just like that spell Hellmaster used back in Sairagg," Zelgadis mumbled under his breath.
"Hellmaster Phibrizo," Lina said, shivers running up her spine. Even after all this time, the name still got her all worked up.
"Don't worry, they're all just sleeping," Pokota reaffirmed. "The citizens of this country have all been put to sleep with magic until a remedy for the disease is found. At the same time, a mist that engulfs the entire country was conjured to hide it from other people."
"Hold it!" Zelgadis interjected. "You said the plague that spread through this country was the Durum disease, right? Then a remedy for that should have been established a few years ago already."
"Really? Then, these people don't have to fear the disease anymore!" Amelia said, relieved.
"Then why are these people still asleep?" Gourry-chan pointed out.
"The remedy for the disease may have been found already, but the wizard that cast this spell has gone missing!"
Lina nodded her head in understanding. "Ah, things never work out the way you plan them."
"There sure are a lot of irresponsible people in this world," Zelgadis agreed, looking pointedly at the sorceress to his side.
"What do you know?" Pokota yelled. "For this country that nobody wanted to save, only that person lent his hand to us!"
"So, if we find that person, then all these people will wake up?" Gourry-chan asked.
"Yeah!" Amelia agreed. She looked at Pokota and inquired, "What's this person's name?"
He scoffed at them. "He's a person that chump mages like you guys will never be able to reach!"
'What did he just say to us?' Lina mentally ranted, a tick forming on her forehead. 'Chump mages? He's going to pay for that later!' However, his next words nearly put a stop to both Lina's and Zelgadis's hearts.
"His name is Rezo. The blind wiseman, his name is Rezo the Red Priest."
"Rezo?" the two of them cried out together. Ranma, still on the floor with Akane, was thinking 'I'm definitely missing something here.'
The group exited the cemetary in silence once Ranma managed to coax Akane to her feet. She clung to his shirt the entire way out, refusing to let go until she was able to sit down away from the site. Amelia, on the other hand, spent the trip glancing between her two best friends Lina and Zelgadis. Lina looked like she was trying to figure something out, while Zelgadis tried to maintain a level head and conceal the anger rushing through her veins. She couldn't help but feel they knew something and she was out of the loop.
As Pokota resealed the outside down, the rest of the group came together.
"Rezo the Red Priest," Zelgadis started. "I can certainly say I didn't expect to hear that name be brought up."
"You're telling me," Lina agreed. "But that way, now I can see why that spell resembled Hellmaster Phibrizo's."
"An unexpected name indeed...," Zelgadis continued.
"Really, you think so?" Xellos questioned, recieving a suspicious glare from Lina and Zelgadis.
"Okay, can someone fill me in, cause I'm as lost as Ryoga," Ranma said impatiently.
"Ano," Amelia said hesitantly, "I would like to know too. I've never met Rezo-san personally, so I don't know much about him besides his legacy. Why did the two of you react like that to hearing Rezo-san's name?" Lina looked at Zelgadis.
"It's your choice Zel." The sorcerer swordsman looked over his audience, except for Xellos who got skipped over completely. He let out a thin, silent sigh out his nose.
"I'll explain everything to you later Amelia, but the short version of it is that he was the one who made me into a chimera, and that it was Lina and I who killed him because he housed a fragment of Shabranigdu in his soul." Zelgadis glanced cautiously at Amelia, nearly cringing at her stricken expression.
"In any case," Lina spoke up, saving Zelgadis from dying of too much attention on himself, "there's something we need to know Xellos." He cocked his he to the side, feigning ignorance. "You never explained your appearance here and you seem to know an awful lot about a country that's been off the map for years."
"Oh, don't mind me," he said, "I've had nothing to do with this country's past. I simply have business to do here today, that's all." Lina quirked an eyebrow at him.
"'Business'? If it were just 'business', why didn't you just tell us earlier?" she interrogated. "Something tells me your business has something to do with us, so what is it?"
"You'll see soon enough." Lina was about to protest more when Pokota finally returned to the group.
"Now that you know my country's history, would you mind getting out of here? I honestly didn't want to bring anyone into this in the first place," he requested.
"There's still some things we need to know. We need to know the complete truth about the business with the mage tanks and exactly who you are. Also," she added before he could interrupt, "since there isn't much of a point of hiding this fact, what would you do if Rezo was no longer in this world." He pushed his shoulders back angrily and looked her in the eye. Xellos looked on in amusement and suddenly turned to look somewhere in the distance. 'And in three...'
"Are you loony?" he yelled.
'Two...'
"If Rezo wasn't alive anymore,-"
'One.'
All of a sudden the air was filled with the roar of explosions. Everyone, including Ranma and the recovered Akane, turned and saw dust clouds rising up on the horizon. Zelgadis narrowed his eyes and immediately looked back at Xellos.
"Is this your doing?" he accused.
"If it is or if it isn't, you're going to check it anyway, am I right?" Xellos responded vaguely. Zelgadis ground his teeth together and fought the urge to punch the damn Mazoku in his face. Instead, he rejoined the rest of the group as they dashed in the direction of the explosions.
"Mah, so predictable," Xellos said cheekily right before he teleported directly to the site of the destruction.
"No! Not there! The seal!" Pokota yelled as they approached the site. Flames licked the air, climbing higher with each passing second.
"Ext Ball!" Amelia and Lina shouted together. Shining balls of blue light spiraled into existence and flew at the fire and extinguished it.
"What's this building s'posed to be?" Ranma demanded.
"The King's Mansion," Pokota replied, panicked. He pushed the doors open and announced his presence. "Who dares to run foul in the King's Mansion?" There was no response for a few moments, when a deep, booming voice called out.
"So, Pokota, you came by too," the voice said. "I beg your pardon, Prince Posel Corbel Taforashia." Everyone stared, yet again, at the small creature in front of them.
"Prince?" Lina cried. 'Why can't princes ever look like the story books and leave my fantasies alone?'
Pokota ignored her. "It's you, isn't it Duclis? Where are you? Show yourself before me!"
The voice sighed. "So loud. You don't need to shout. I am right here." Out from one of the hallways in front of them stepped another strange creature. It was human-sized, yet looked like a large blue tiger. It was covered in strange, pale blue armor, adorned with red spheres.
"It's been a while, Pokota," it commented.
"It was you after all Duclis. You were the one who stole the mage tanks!" Pokota accused.
Duclis chuckled. "There are unusual people that would even spend large amounts of money on those pathetic prototypes."
"What?" Pokota exclaimed. Laughter came traveling down the hallway, female sounding this time. From behind Duclis came two women. One had orange-red hair, was dressed in an ornate blue dress with ridiculous white collar, carried a fan in front of her face, and walked with the air of a diplomat. The other woman had deep, almost crimson colored short hair and was dressed as a maid.
"Who are these people?" Amelia questioned. Lina studied them carefully.
"A beastman, a servant, and..." The diplomatic character stepped forward and gazed at the group with thinly disguised contempt.
"So is wreck the prince of this country?" she inquired, looking at Pokota. She laughed. "What a peculiar shape."
Pokota bristled. "What'd you say? Who the hell are you?"
"I am dealing with a prince, so it would be rude of you not to introduce yourself first before I am." She sniffed in distaste. "Obviously someone was not raised with proper manners. I am Gioconda. I control the land of a marquis in Ruvinagald."
The girl behind her spoke for the first time. "I am Ozel," she stated simply. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."
Lina leaned in close to the others, hiding her mouth from view. "First we hear Pokota's a prince, now Gioconda, the one who supposedly started most of this mess, is this old hag?"
"Don't worry Lina-san," Amelia whispered back. "I'm a princess. We're not falling behind on that aspect." Lina nodded her head happily in agreement, until she replayed her friend's words back in her head.
"That's not the issue!" she yelled, startling everyone else. She huffed. "Well. At least now I can finally see what's going on now."
"What?" Pokota asked.
"Basically, those mage tanks were built in this country and these people stole them."
"Isn't that what they just went over five minutes ago?" Ranma asked. "All you did was repeat what they said without complicating it." Lina glared daggers at him and whacked him with a slipper that she had stored under her cloak.
"Oi, I'm supposed to be the detective here, not you! Don't go trying to steal my spotlight!" Gioconda sneered and chuckled at them.
"I see now too. You must be the little lass called Lina Inverse, are you not?"
Lina smirked. "FYI, I'm not the one who destroyed those mage tanks, okay old hag?"
"Hmph. For those rumors to even exist is a problem for me. The value of the mage tanks will no doubt drop if people begin hearing they aren't invulnerable."
"Value?" Zelgadis joined in the conversation. "You plan on selling them off as weapons?"
"A merchant of war, in other words," Lina said. "It's no wonder, if you love war so much, that security's being tightened around your border with Saillune. Am I right so far?"
"You know quite a bit for such a small brat." Lina saw red. She tried to lunge forward, but felt hands on both arms, her waist, and Zelgadis stabbing her shadow.
"Dammit you guys let me at her!"
"Calm down Lina!" Zel ordered. "We don't know what she's planning to do to us yet, so keep your temper under control until we need to fight, got it?" She growled, but didn't try to move forward again.
"You are evil, stealing from other countries just for money!" Amelia declared. "I, Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune, will punish you in the name of justice!" Gioconda looked at Amelia with a vaguely surprised expression.
"That name...so you must be Saillune royalty."
"So what if I am?"
"I've always found the trend of Saillune always acting as noble-minded to be repulsive."
Amelia scowled as Zelgadis spoke up. "Did you really think picking a fight with Saillune was a good idea? The disparity between the size of Ruvinagald and Saillune is far too great for you to ever win." Amelia sent him a grateful smile and puffed her chest out with pride.
"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure of that."
"What do you mean by that?" Pokota exclaimed. "I won't ever forgive you guys!" He jumped into the air, brought his ears together and shouted "Bram Fang!" Air whipped around in front of him and headed straight for the marquis. Duclis stepped forward and, just by holding his hand out to face the spell, managed to deflect it.
"Why you, Duclis! Burst Flare!"
"Wait!" Lina cried out. "That spell-!" Ozel picked up Gioconda while Duclis simply looked at the oncoming ball of fiery death.
"Everyone get together!" Amelia ordered. "Ray Wing!" Pokota's spell exploded, decimating the windows while everybody under Amelia's spell barely managed to avoid getting caught in the blast. The flames around them died down enough for Amelia to drop her hold over her spell.
"Ouch! It hurt!" he cried. Adding insult to injury, Lina gave him a whack on the head for good measure. "Ow! What was that for?"
"Hoping it'll get through your thick skull not to use that sort of spell indoors anymore!"
"Wait you two! There's something still in there!" Akane warned, speaking for the first time since her breakdown in the cemetary.
As they looked into the remaining flames, a shadow emerged from inside the Mansion.
"Duclis?" Pokota shouted, shocked.
"That was a direct hit! How did he survive that without getting hurt?" Lina added. She squinted and gasped. "Don't tell me his armor is...!"
"It's Zanaffar armor," Pokota answered. Zelgadis looked at him sharply while Lina's eyes widened.
Duclis stopped in front of them. "While its still incomplete, it is still able to defend against this level of magical attack."
"You," Pokota began angrily. "Do you have any idea what you're doing?"
"Of course I do."
"Why? Tell me why Duclis?"
"You should know, as well, Pokota."
"Well we don't!" Lina complained. "What the hell is going on now! I finally figured it all out and now you two go and screw it up again!"
Duclis smirked. "If that's the case, why don't I just skip right to part where I deal with you pests?" A beam of light materialized from his armor and shot just above their heads, colliding with a tree behind them and creating another explosion. Everybody ran and retreated to a nearby roof.
"What in the world was that?" Ranma exclaimed. Duclis walked toward them again and Pokota brought his hands together in preparation of another spell, when something came flying down from above.
"What?" Duclis yelled, rolling to the side to dodge. It sailed right past him and back up into the tree canopy.
"Now what the hell is going on!" Lina growled. At that moment the girl Ozel came dropping back down with Gioconda, setting the marquis down gently.
"Enough of this," she said. Ozel pulled a giant sword from somewhere and offered it to Gioconda. "I can not allow the Zanaffar armor's value to drop if it were to somehow get damaged."
"I don't know what that was just know, but just leave it to me," Duclis said. "All I have to do is kill all witnesses here, right?"
"You attempt to do so and you will answer to me," came a voice from high up.
'That voice sounds familiar,' Lina thought, glancing upwards. A streak of color suddenly flashed across the dark sky.
"What was that?" Gioconda exclaimed. She suddenly became aware of a shadow growing over her.
"Mistress!" Ozel grabbed her again and pulled her backwards just as something slammed into the earth. Dust kicked up upon impact, obscuring the figure.
"Who are you?" Duclis questioned. Everybody watched carefully as the dust cleared and Lina soon remember where she had heard the voice before.
"My name is Kynis Heasiudrenn, not that it is of your concern yet."
"It's that elf!" she exclaimed. "That guy from when we first docked!" Indeed it was, but something still seemed off to Lina. It seemed he was missing his cloak and now had a weapon with him, which he was now pulling out from the ground.
'He fights with a shield?' He held a dark, crimson red shield in his hand. It had a white rim around it and was decorated with pure white runes.
He pointed it towards Duclis. "Answer me: how did you obtain the secret to Zanaffar armor."
"Unless you really want me to talk, you'll have to try better than just a shield," Duclis answered snidely. "Besides, we have a trump card none of you have seen yet."
'I should just stop trying to keep up with all these plot twists,' Lina mentally complained. "What is it this time, a pet dragon?"
"No. He's standing right behind you." Kynis didn't take his eyes off Duclis for even a second, while Lina and co. spun around.
Xellos waved at them. "Hi~! Did you miss me?" he asked.
"Xellos! You're on their side?" Lina yelled.
"Well, that's-"
"Just explain it Xellos," Kynis said calmly.
"Wait, you two know each other?" Amelia asked while Lina began pulling her hair out in frustration.
"That is something for another time. Xellos?" he prompted.
Xellos pouted. "I was just trying to have some fun. Anyway, I was on their side, but something else came up."
"What?" Gioconda shouted. "You can't mean that! We have a contract!"
"Correction: we had a contract," he said gleefully. "My business here today was to cancel it. You guys are on your own now~! And if I were you, I'd answer his questions."
"Now again, tell me how you obtained the Zanaffar armor," Kynis demanded again.
"Ha, how should I know?" Gioconda replied. "All we received was a Claire Bible manuscript with the instructions. There was nothing indicating who sent it or from where and I decided it would be profitable to use them."
Kynis narrowed his gaze, but lowered his shield. "I see." He turned away and walked towards Lina's group. They tensed for action, while he said, "Escape now marquis, and you will get to live another day."
She scoffed, took the sword from Ozel, and charged at him. "Nobody orders me around!" Kynis seemed to disappear and reappear right in front of her. While she was caught off guard, he knocked the sword away with the shield, grasped it with both hands now, and slammed her into the ground. He stayed standing, keeping her pinned down with the edge of his shield against her throat.
"Before your henchmen decide to come after me, I wish to remind you all that Xellos is no longer your ally," he stated loud enough for Ozel and Duclis to hear. "As soon as I let you up, return to your own country. I will not show you this sort of mercy again." He pulled his shield away and kept his gaze on her this time. She seethed inwardly.
"Ozel! We're leaving," she ordered. Ozel sheathed the sword, picked up her mistress, and fly away. Duclis hung back a second, just long enough to meet Pokota's gaze, and then he bounded off behind his employer. All was silent in the air, until...
"What the hell just happened?" Lina screamed. Xellos flew over to Kynis in a laughing fit.
"Ah, just being around you and Lina-san here makes my day." Kynis looked at him flatly.
"Now isn't the time for this. You heard the marquis, this was certainly his doings."
"Yes~, but I seem to recall it wasn't my job to look after him, was it, Knight-sama?" Xellos teased.
"What are you nimrods talking about?" Lina demanded. Kynis looked towards her and bowed.
"My apologies for our brief meeting last time, but I knew that would lead you to your wanted poster," he began.
Lina blinked in surprise. "You did?"
"Yes."
"Okay then, mind explaining a few things then?"
"There are only so many I can fully answer, but go ahead and ask."
Xellos sighed melodramatically. "You see, this is your problem Knight-sama. You never even try making a game out of anything or make anyone guess."
"Shut it Xellos, or I'm knocking you down to useful item No. 6," Lina deadpanned. With Xellos pouting, she continued. "First of all, who is this "he" you two were talking about, second why does Xellos call you "Knight-sama", third what's with the shield, and fourth, for now at least, why did you say you owed my your life?"
Kynis gave a small smile. "Again I apologize, but all of that will be answered soon enough."
"Dammit!" Lina roared. "Next time someone tries to deny me information I'll strangle them!"
"See, I told you this could be fun!" Xellos crowed.
'No wonder they know each other. They're both crazy!' the rest of the group thought.
Kynis made a half-turn, looking about to leave, but he paused. "I will leave you with two pieces of my past, as I owe you at least that much as of now."
"About damn time," Lina muttered.
"There are two beings you have met before whom have directly influenced my life. You saved the life of one and destroyed a piece of the other. In both cases the monster race was involved," he explained cryptically.
"What the hell does that mean?" Ranma asked, confused.
"In any case, you will be facing many hard times soon after today. I can not remain with you, and Xellos will surely shirk his duties, so expect to see an old...acquaintance, of yours, Lina Inverse," Kynis forewarned. He flicked his wrist and, for just a moment, his shield seemed as if it were fluid and flowed in the wind. They didn't see anything more than that as the mysterious elf and trickster priest teleported away.
"...I need a fracking drink or something," Lina complained as she cradled her developing migraine.
The group of now seven, as Pokota relented and joined them for the time being, trudged their way out of Taforashia, exhausted after such a long day.
'Something's still bugging me,' Ranma pondered. He gazed at the strangely silent girl walking by his side. Akane kept her eyes locked on the path in front of her and for once wasn't yelling at him for being so close.
"...Hey, Akane?" he said in a low voice. She flinched at the sudden noise and looked up at him with wide eyes. Recognition came back to her and she dropped her guard slightly.
"What is it Ranma?" she asked tiredly.
"What happened with you back there?" She flinched again and hugged her arms close to her body.
"It was nothing, just...some memories I thought I'd forgotten," Akane whispered. 'Oka-chan...' Ranma gave her a confused expression, but wisely chose to drop the subject.
On the other side of the group, Amelia was still rolling Kynis's last words over in her head.
'A friend of Lina-san's? I wonder who he meant by that?' the princess of Saillune wondered.
Crown Prince Philionel was tired. He was concerned for his daughter, whom he hasn't heard from in weeks, and was dying to know if the cure was real or not. Still, it wouldn't do for the crown prince not to focus on his country and instead spend the days worrying. He needed to stay strong for his country and his daughter when she returned from her noble journey. So he threw himself into work. He spent the majority of the day holed up in his study, reviewing, submitting, and ratifying paperwork.
Tonight he had stayed in his study for far longer than he had intended. The sun had long since set and the coffee on his desk was completely cold. It stands to reason that, when he finally stood, stretched, and looked away from his paperwork, he thought he was sharing a room with a ghost.
The shadowed figure was just there one moment despite not being there before, especially since it hadn't bothered using a door. Phil stared at it, wondering if his eyes had gone screwy on him or if the light of the room was off, or if maybe-
"Prince Philionel," it said. There went that theory.
"What does a ghost have to do with me?" Phil wondered absently. "I know! You want me to release you from this world so you my find peace in the afterlife!"
"I am not a ghost, and I am also not an assassin." Well there goes that theory too. "I merely wish some information of you."
"That depends," Phil said cautiously. "What do you want to know."
"I need information about your daughter." Phil bristled and hunched his shoulders up.
"If you think you're going anywhere near my dear Amelia-!"
"No, not her. However, I have seen her quite recently." Phil stopped.
"What?"
"Hai. She was fine, as were her friends, so you may stop worrying," the figure reassured. "However, she is not the reason for my visit here."
"Eh? But you just said-"
"Yes, I need information about you daughter. But not Amelia."
"...I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," Phil said firmly.
"Yes you do. I am referring to your first daughter, the one you declared to the other countries as missing after she ran away when her mother was murdered, despite the fact that you have been keeping top secret tabs on her." Philionel bristled.
"It seems to me that you know more than enough, so I would appreciate it if you left now."
"No, not yet. There will be a power capable of threatening the world appearing soon, and your daughter may be able to help where I myself can not." The figure stepped forward out of the shadows, allowing Phil to see his face.
"Tell me where I can find Gracia Ul Naga Saillune," Kynis interrogated. "Where is Naga the Serpant?"
(A/N) And there you have it! We've finally returned to the main storyline of Revolution and Kynis finally shows his face again! What exactly is his and Xellos's relationship? Why is he getting called a knight? How exactly is Kynis connected the Lina? Why am I asking you these questions if I'm the author? All very good questions, but like he said, all will be revealed in due time. Until then, you guys can just keep guessing.
Also, I'm betting at least some of you guys know where I got the idea with his weapon and Lina's use of the word "fracking". Says quite a bit about what I grew up around, huh?
Well, I hope you guys liked this chapter and I promise it won't take five more months for the next one. Please leave reviews, they honestly make my day everytime I get one. Until next time, ja ne~!