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 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?"
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 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.
"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 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?!
"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 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?
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.
"...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.
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!"
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.
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?"
"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.
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?!"
Ignoring Amelia's outburst, Shukuen knelt down and searched the ground, trying to see which tracks would match Filia's. Specifically, he was looking for drag marks from her tail.
There were, in fact, several drag marks leading up to the main 'battle prints', but there were none leading away from them.
Before Zelgadis could inspect any further, he sneezed.
Loudly.
Where the hell did THAT come from?
Shukuen sniffed, his noise twitching slightly from the sudden sneeze, then went back at the task at hand.
"Strange..." he muttered, looking closely at the prints. This time trying to discern if any were deeper, as if carrying a heavy object.
The footprints travelling to the East were slightly deeper for a few paces, then seemed to return to normal depth.
The footprints travelling to the West had the solid footprints far deeper into the ground than normal, while the limping prints very light.
Hoping he hadn't made the wrong conclusion, Shukuen said to the others, "It seems that Filia was ambushed." He gestured to where Filia's tracks lead to the clearing, before all traces of it disappeared in the chaos. "You can see by these tracks that Filia was overwhelmed by large numbers."
Pointing to the tracks leating East. "They had captured her and were carrying her away, as you can see by how deep these group prints are. But then they suddenly get lighter and more chaotic, as if they were interupted. I think Filia was rescued, but I could be wrong."
Now pointing to the tracks leading West. "From these tracks, you see one pair was carrying a heavy weight, while the other pair seems injured and barely touching the ground, as if supported. My guess is Filia's rescuer decided to take her to the nearest town to heal."
Standing up, he brushed the dirt off his pants and glanced to the others. "What's the closest town to the West?"
Amelia blinked.
"Tilversin, the great city of lumberjacks..."
"Someone should go back and tell Lina what happened." Hmm... justice-obsessed mage or idiotic sword weilder. "Amelia, go back to camp and explain things to Lina. Gourry, you and I are going to check Tilversin and find out if Filia's there or not."
"OK!"
Amelia ran off, leaving Gourry with Zel.
And the two promptly left to the west...
OOC: Shuk, I can't post more. I'm leaving now. I'll do another post if I can in Singapore... feel free to do something introspective while I'm gone.
OOC: And here I am again!
IC: After about 10 minutes of travelling...
Zelgadis and Gourry came across a pair of ragged warriors. One was dressed in half-plate and leather trousers; they other had a bloodstained tunic. Both turned and stared at Zelgadis and Gourry.
The one in half-plate spoke, "Who are you? Did Korthak send you?"
Shukuen stared blankly. "No," he answered apologetically. "We're trying to find a friend of ours that was possibly caught in a battle. Perhaps you have seen her?"
"B... battle? The only battle I know of here was the one between us and Korthaks minions...
Wait. Would your friend be... a gold dragon? If so, then I can certainly help you find her! Korthak took her. He put her in some kind of crystal... I hate to think of what he plans to do with her!
Hurry East! I think there is still time."
OOC| Augh. Italian keyboards suck. Puncuation is nigh impossible.
What? Crap!
"Thank you for the information. If you see two sorceresses come along, please pass the news to them as well. One has red hair and the other has violet," Shukuen bowed, then grabbed Gourry by the collar. "Come on, Blondie! We got to hurry! Raywing!"
As the barrier came into place, the two shot off into the air in hopes of catching up to the other group.
Zelgadis and Gourry soared into the sky, and from their viewpoint, saw several intersting things.
Firstly, they saw Amelia talking hurriedly with Lina at their little camp, and the two setting off to go the same direction they did. They were too far down for Zelgadis to yell to them.
Secondly, they saw two groups of armed strangers. One group was a fair distance in front of the other, but not so far that they couldn't shout.
The frontal group was basically a group of typical bandits, except that there was a single man dressed in a mages outfit. He carried a strange, jagged sword on his back.
The second group consisted of rugged people, armed with shovels, telescopes, and surveyance equipment. One large, unarmed man walked in the middle of them. He wore only a loincloth.
The surroundings were fairly thin forest. Not particularly dense, but it seemed fairly simple to find a hiding spot.
Argh. I really screwed up this time.
"Gourry, I want you to listen very carefully. When I throw you, I want you to scream as loud as you can so Lina can catch you, understand?"
Without waiting for an answer, Shukuen tossed Gourry on an interception course to Lina and Amelia, hoping that his scream would catch the sorceresses' attention, while flying lower towards the two groups. Hiding in the treetops, he began to easedrop.
Gourry better be screaming now, he thought worriedly, waiting for the distraction from the falling swordsman.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Gourry fell cleanly and quickly into Lina's arms, who held him in a position not unlike a man holding his wife aloft...
The group to the rear seemed to notice, and the large man halted the group, then ordered them to spread out and search.
The frontal group checked behind them, but continued onwards.
Lina was busy shouting at Gourry. The second group would find her in about 30 seconds.
"Okay, that deals with them," Shukuen muttered, watching the front group move on. Whispering 'Raywing', he flew silently after them, keeping close enough to spy on them without being sensed, and trying to determine if they were the right group.
As Zelgadis drew closer to the group, he saw that the jagged sword the mage carried was glowing slightly. Apart from this, there was no indication of anything unusual.
Narrowing his eyes in suspicion, Shukuen studied the jagged sword carefully.
From his current position high in the sky, Zelgadis couldn't possibly make out more of the sword than he already knew of it. Moving close enough to study it would probably alert the bandits to his presence.
Several explosions and loud screams showed the other group had reached Lina...
Smirking at the sounds of carnage drifted from behind him, Shukuen idly wondered if he should feel guilty for using Lina and the others like that.
"...nah."
Landing on a sturdy branch, he began to weave mana lines together as he chanted.
"Source of all power, light which burns beyond crimson, let thy power gather in my hand!"
A feral grin on his lips as he completed the chant, he threw his arms forward, launching the explosive spell directly in front of the bandit group, with a cry of --
"Fireball!"
The fireball streamed towards the group, and promptly exploded.
Three of the men were immolated instantly, flailing about like dolls.
The rest, however, managed to throw themselves out the way, and the man with the jagged sword had produced a shield, and was now mumbling hs own spell..
..and rose into the air, swooping towards Zelgadis while drawing his sword.
Despite the approaching danger, Shukuen couldn't help but chuckle as he drew his own sword, his eyes relaxed shut as he floated patiently, waiting for his opponent to draw nearer.
It's official... I've now gone mad!
Zelgadis didn't get much resting time: the mage was on him barely after he opened his eyes.
While the large, two-handed jagged sword did much to obscure what the mage looked like, Zelgadis might have noticed a small tattoo on his forehead before he lashed out with a fierce overhead strike...
Raising his sword perpendicular to the oncoming slash, Shukuen parried the attack, then twisted around in an attempt to use his opponent's momentum against him, as his sword swung towards the enemy mage's back.
Unfortunately, air-to-air hand to hand combat is a little different from ground combat, and as such, Zel couldn't really use his enemies momentum against him, because the mage merely flew over Zel as he spun around, preparing to deal a fatal blow from directly above him...
Shukuen reacted, quickly flying to the side to avoid the attack and lowering himself until below the treetops, using the branches to hide his movements slightly. All the while, he kept his eyes directly on his opponent, his sword held defensively so he could parry an attack from almost any direction.
Yet... nothing seemed to be happening nearby. The mage appeared to have given up chase, dissapearing while Zel was making his futile attempts to hide while moving at such a speed...
Several bolts whistled through the air, and while they merely bounced of Zelgadis's skin, he saw that the mage's entourage were rapidly loading crossbows to get another shot...
Shukuen frowned, paying little attention to the archers as he glanced around, wondering where the mage vanished to. Feeling another arrow thunk against his stone skin again, his headsnapped down, glowering at the archers.
"Will you just but out?!" He shot his hands forward, and cried out "Diem Wing", a sudden gust of pressured wind flew towards the bandits like an invisible battering ram.
The arc of wind flew towards the archers, scattering them and breaking one or two crossbows.
Zelgadis didn't have time to savour his victory, though, as the mage swooped down from above the trees and, with a cry of "Solar CHARGE!" unleashed an incredibly powerful overhead blow towards Zelgadis!
"What?!" Shukuen cried in surprise, flying to the side to avoid the attack, dodging the trees in his path as he moved away from the assault.
The dodge saved Zelgadis from the brunt of the attack, but a fiery trail soon followed the swing, which burst out for a few metres in all directions, something like a fireball.
Stone though his skin was, the magical flame was incredibly hot, scorching some of his rocky shell.
Thankfully, the mage behind him seemed winded by use of the powerful spell, and was busy catching his breath..
Shukuen floated until he was hidden, directly behind the enemy mage. Well, whatever he did, it seemed to have tired him out. Hmm.
Glaring hard at the mage, he began to chant softly, moving his hands into their position.
"Everlasting flame of blue. Let the power hidden in my soul be called forth here from the infinite!"
Ra Tilt!
The Ra Tilt itself look very impressive, with a gigantic ball of white empheralness surrounding the mage and hiding him from view.
When the light faded, the remaining archers seemed to have scarpered, but the mage himself was still in one piece.. and unconcious.
Floating down to the mage, Shukuen looked him over closely, trying to see if he had that crystal that the two men from earlier claimed to be holding Filia.
A quick inspection revealed a bright, ruby ring, and a dull sapphire amulet.
The mage also wore thick red robes, which, now that he was closer to, Zelgadis could make out a small emblem of a triangle. Or was it a square?
It seemed to shimmer and change.
And, of course, the mages Jagged Sword was lying nearby.
"Hmph, for all the trouble you gave me, you better have that gem." After removing everything off the mage except for his clothing, Shukuen searched around, specifically for some rope and a gag.
When Zelgadis removed the mages jewlery, his shamanistic senses warned him that there was something not normal about both pieces..
..and while he searched for a rope and gag, a niggling thought came across him.
*Why would any rope be around here?*
"Not even a vine," grumbled Shukuen irritably as he pocketed the gems, ignoring the sickly feeling he got from them, and picked up the mage's sword. Afterwards, he picked the mage, cast 'Raywing', and flew back towards the others.
OOC: I'm assuming you're holding the mage in one hand and the sword in another..
IC: Zelgadis managed to arrive back with the others, who were just finishing up with the last couple of bandits.
"Zelgadis! Did you find anything about Filia?" cried Lina when she saw him.
"And... who the hell is that? And what the hell is that?" she continued, obviously in 'rant mode'.
"No; I don't know; Obviously a sword," Shukuen answered, in the order Lina asked her questions. Glancing calmly at the others, he asked, "Does anyone have some rope. We're going to do a little interrogating."
After a few minutes of hasty preparation, the group was back at their campsite, with the mage tied up just in front of a now burning fire, which was *just* far away enough not to burn him.
Lina slung a bucket of cold water over the unfortunate man, and he cracked open one eye.
"Well, he's all yours, Zel," said Lina, folding her arms.
"Hmph, glad to see you're up now." Shukuen narrowed his eyes, glaring at the mage. "So, would you happen to be in a talking mood?"
The mage glared at Zelgadis, but said nothing.
Shukuen frowned, then slowly smiled cruely. "I see... You don't seem to like how kindly I'm treating you now. Would you prefer to be interrogated by Lina Inverse instead?" he asked, seemingly amused. "I assure you, I will be less painful."
The mage paled slightly, and sweat started pouring down his face. Still, he said nothing.
Lina quickly took charge.
"We can either do this the easy way, or the hard way."
The mage refused to say anything. In fact, he relaxed slightly.
"Oh, relax in front of me, will you? I'll teach you!
Energy from the heavens, course through my body. Curse the infidiel with pain beyond comprehension!
LIGHTNING BRAND!
Energy streaked from Lina's fingertips towards the unfortunate mage, who screamed in agony. A perfectly shaped 'L' was imprinted just below his left eye, and it was still smouldering.
"Been a while since I used *that* one."said Lina, a confident smirk on her face. "Now, talk! What have you done with Filia?!"
The mage whimpered, opening his mouth to speak.
"Curse you!"
Lina shrugged.
Lightning Brand!
"AHHHH!" A perfectly crafter 'I' was scared on the poor mans cheek.
"Two more letters in L-I-N-A. There won't be enough room on your face for I-N-V-E-R-S-E.."
While Lina was torturing the mage, Zelgadis noticed (possibly to some alarm), that both gems in his position were glowing very brightly..
"Lina, that's enough for now," Shukuen interupted Lina's torture, pulling out the gems from his pouch. Holding them open infront of the mage; "Would you be so kind to tell us what these are before Lina brands an 'N' on your face?" he asked coldly.
The mage stifled when he saw the gems. His eyes opened wide...
He opened his mouth to scream, when suddenly, the glow from the sapphire grew to such bright heights that all were blinded...
...then everything went black.
OOC: Continued in another thread.