Zelgadis

[Carthrat]

A small camp, with four figures in it was the most notable thing on the horizon... so let's zoom in.

When we get closer, we witness a decidedly odd group...

Firstly, there was one person already up, reading a book of ancient poetry. Small tears dropped from her eyes as she read one of the greatest tradgeties ever written...

It was a tradgety. The grammar was off, the spelling was wrong, and it was downright horrible. Amelia was ready to give up Lina's attempts at poetry.

The said sorceress was sleeping.

And she likely would be for some time yet.

Sleeping next to her was a blonde swordsman. Who, while he was snoring, mircaulously didn't wake anyone else up.

The final memeber of the group had a stony-faced expression.

((Bad pun!)
\
Quite literally. The chimera in question, Zelgadis, was still searching for a cure... he had begun to despair that there was one to be found.

He felt a tugging on his mind... he realised that it must be from one of the great gods who ruled over everything. He tried to resist... and discovered that this was a god more powerful than any he had ever encountered. Or drew power from.

Helpless to resist, his spirit was sped away... another spirit promptly filling it's place.

And then he opened his eyes...

The roof wasn't so low down last time this character saw it.

[Shukuen]

Shukuen clenched his teeth, supressing a yawn as he reluctantly woke up. He felt a heavy weight in his chest, as if someone were squeezing his heart and lungs, and sighed.

"It's going to be one of those days," he muttered, recognizing the signs of a depressive mood swing. He reached out in search of his glasses, his eyes tightly shut to avoid exposing them too much to the sunlight.

As his hand groped the ground, searching aimlessly for his glasses, a few problems with the situation penetrated his sleep addled mind.

Such as feeling loose soil instead of a cotten rug, and laying on the ground instead of his stiff, old bed -- though, the ground had felt more relaxing then the bed. Opening his eyes slowly to see what was going on, all thoughts fled his mind as he saw the biggest surprise of his life.

The soft fabric of the tent, the texture of the loose soil, the individual blades of grass...

...all of it, in perfect focus!

Being nearsighted for a good ten years, this was quite a shocking experience that one earlier detail almost missed him.

Key word, "almost".

"What in the?" Shukuen muttered, staring at the tent's walls, realizing that more was amiss then he knew. Subconsciously, he glanced down at his hands, seeing the rough, stone-like texture on his skin. Rubbing them together slightly proved that they weren't just caked with dirt.

"Dear gods, what's happening?"

[Carthrat]

Promptly, Amelia burst into Zelgadis's tent.

"Oh, Mr. Zelgadis! Help me make Lina write good poetry! Please! It's more than I can bear! She must be possessed by the devil... or is just a really bad poet!"

[Shukuen]

Shukuen stared at the young girl blubberling something about 'Lina' and poetry. As the names fell into place, he blanched, realizing exactly where he was.

Inwardly, he was screaming in mortal terror at being placed into the role of the man who supposedly coupled with the hyper, violent, justice obsessed, underaged -- a minor detail, but an important one to him none-the-less -- princess.

Outwardly, he asked in a calm, collected voice. "What do you expect me to do, Amelia?" His mind raced as he tried to remember as much as possible about the series and play his role best as he could. At least until he figured out what was happening.

[Carthrat]

"Well, Mr. Zelgadis... you just seem to be the type to be good at these things!" Amelia pronounced proudly.

"After all, you can play the piano and you know lots of strange stuff and you must have read lots of books with lots of poems in them. You MUST have some way to help Lina!"

[Shukuen]

Shukuen attempted to massage his temples, failing miserably to lessen his headache as grinding two stones together rarely helps in this situation.

Okay, recap. I had a conversation with the others, finished posting all my involved arcs before collapsing into bed. There was something before that, something important...

He sighed, mentally cursing the fates for his lousy memory. "All right, Amelia. Though, I really doubt I can do anything about Lina's lack of poetic skills."

Dammit! What am I forgetting?!

[Carthrat]

"Thank you, Zelgadis-san! I'll go wake her up now!"

Amelia ran out the room.

Prompt screaming noises were heard, along with several bonking sounds.

Amelia returned, dragging Lina into Zelgadis's tent.

"AMELIA! LET ME GO- why are you taking me to ZELGADIS'S TENT?! I'M NOT LIKE THAT!"

"But Lina-san! Zelgadis said-"

"I DON'T CARE WHAT ZELGADIS SAID!"

The two continued arguing in this vein. It was unlikely they'd stop unless Zelgadis did something...

[Shukuen]

Shukuen eye twitched slightly. "That's just what I would expect from you, Lina. Always jumping to conclusions." He shrugged indifferently, adding. "Though I don't know where you got that from. I have no tastes in someone as barbaric as you are."

It took a few moments to realize that perhaps speaking truthfully on the matter had made things worse.

Oh crap... He tried to keep his face emotionless so not to betray his fear. Maybe Lina's temper was an exaggeration. One could hope, couldn't he?

[Carthrat]

Lina and Amelia stopped fighting.

Lina managed to grow to about thirty times to her regular size, and stared down at Zelgadis, very clear anger etched over her face...

<-Please read this nice text instead of reading the nasty, nasty text that is underneath!

I like roses I like pie! I like dentists I like Rye! I like sex and I hate guyssssss!->

Lina walked out of Zelgadis's miraculously unharmed tent, followed by Amelia...

...leaving Zelgadis a heap on the ground.

[Shukuen]

"...well that went better than I expected."

Shukuen forced himself up from where he was shoved headfirst into the ground, spitting out dirt and rocks, and feeling thankful that Lina decided to vent physically. All the damage done was mainly superficial and did little more than scratch his stony skin.

Well, now that I established where I am, might as well find out when, he thought, leaving his tent.

[Carthrat]

When Zelgadis walked outside, he saw the Gourry was still asleep (and snoring), and that Lina and Amelia had managed to put aside their differences and were eating.

As Zelgadis walked out the tent, Amelia turned to him. "Zelgadis-san, have you seen Filia lately? She seems to have dissapeared!"

[Shukuen]

Filia? Then I must be in the Try season...

"Sorry, Amelia. I haven't seen Filia since before I went to sleep." At least this is true.

When no one was looking, Shukuen shot Lina a small glare of annoyance. Why was it no matter where he went, there was always a hothead to torment him? "As if having a family of them isn't bad enough," he muttered silently under his breath.

Wait -- if Filia is here, then. He winced, realizing that if anyone can figure out something was amiss, then it would be Xelloss. And if his sources were correct.

...

This really sucks.

[Carthrat]

Thankfully for Zelgadis, Xelloss was nowhere in sight.

Well, distance wasn't really an issue for Xelloss, but he wasn't here, he was not near, and he wasn't coming...

Yet.

"Oh dear! We'd better look for her! She could have gotten into trouble!" cried Amelia, evidently worried.

Lina thwapped her on the head. "Amelia, she's a gold dragon! She can take care of herself! I'm sure she's gone out to eat something GOOD or do whatever it is Gold Dragons do."

Amelia sighed. "But LINA, whenver one of the people in a group goes off alone, they get captured! ESPECIALLY if she's female! It's like that in all the books!"

Lina thwapped her again. "Life isn't like a book, Amelia. Stop being such an idiot!"

Unfortunately for Lina's cause...

Gourry woke up.

"I think Amelia's right, Lina! What if she got robbed by bandits?"

Disgusted, Lina sighed. "Fine. Go do whatever you want. But I'm not coming with you!"

With a note of finality in her voice, she lay back down and closed her eyes.

Amelia hopped over to Zelgadis. "Are you coming?"

[Shukuen]

"I suppose." Better than staying here with the psycho at least.

Shukuen checked his side, making sure his sword was still strapped on, then nodded to Amelia and Gourry to lead on.

[Carthrat]

Amelia smiled brightly. "Thank you, Zelgadis-san!"

The trio of adventurers walked off, in the direction that Filia was last seen..

A few minutes later, they came across a clearing.

There were two sets of tracks leading around the clearing. It seemed evident that there had been a struggle in the centre, before one party had proven victorious and left to the east, while the other party had limped off the the west.

There were severel groups of prints leading east, but on the west, there was one set of strong footprints, and another set of limping footprints.

At least, this is what was discernable from the tracks. There were a great many assorted prints in the centre. A few drops of blood still stained the groun, and off to one side, a large section of the ground was charred and ruined.

Amelia blinked, and a tear came to her eye. "Oh no! Something must have happened to Filia-san! What should we do? WHAT SHOULD WE DO?!"