Chapter Thirteen: Merge Bait! No Signalling!

Arcius's hand touched the hazy yellow barrier. A sudden glow shown from the place of contact and his clothing blew back as from a sharp wind. His hat was blown off of his head and floated seemingly nonchalantly down the crevasse until it was swallowed by the dark. Arcius sank to his knees. The silence in the cavern was deafening, for despite all of the pyrotechnics of the barrier, it made no sound. Lower the bard sank, until it seemed that he might be prostrating himself before the barrier. "Please..."

Which was not too far from the truth, actually. "Oh greatandmightywizardsofyore! We are not worthy! Your greatness is to us as the sun diminishes the moon! Nay, as the sun dwarfs the feeble flame of a candle! How wretched we are and unworthy of even being able to contemplate your magnificence! Please! Let such miserable worms as us pass! I grovel and debase myself! Grant me and my companions this honor, such as we are so totally unfit for it. We shall tell great tales of the wonders of the city, of its beauty and glory. The unrivalled grace of your women, the unparalleled sophistication of its men! Please, allow me to pass! I am begging! Please! Pretty please! Pretty please with sugar, hot fudge, and a cherry on top!"

Behind him, there was a dumbfounded silence. Then simultaneously, a large sweatdrop appeared.

From where he was hidden, Geltro boggled. I'm damn glad it wasn't me who had to do that, he thought to himself. Whoever these 'ancients' were, I guess their buckets o' wisdom didn't stop them from being full of offal.

As Arcius begged and whined at the magic wall, Zelgadis just shook his head. At least nobody had to put on any silly costumes and sing. While it continued, And I don't have to prompt him. Then as Arcius began to wind down, And there aren't any fish-men. He then started keeping a closer eye out, as villians were more prone to show themselves after the heroes had already overcome the difficult obstacles in a dungeon like this.

Finally catching up with our heroes, Renzzoku decided it best to keep to the shadows behind some columns until they breached the wall. "GRRR..." Resisting the temptation to knife the bard in the back, he grumbled to himself and hitched up his pants again.

Arcius finished his begging and there was silence for a long moment. Then, a deep voice rumbled, sounding out of the air behind the barrier. "I have heard your words and they are most pleasing to mine ear. You and they may pass." With that, the barrier shimmered and changed from yellow to green.

Arcius stood and bowed low. "I thank you, most gracious of hosts." He strode through the barrier, unaffected, and motioned the others. With doubtful shrugs, they followed.

Renzzoku and Geltro watched the group pass through the barrier, each unaware of the other, both waiting for the group to disappear from sight before moving. The barrier remained a shimmery green, silently awaiting. They stood and began to move at the same time. The difference between the two was that Renzzoku went from shadow into light while Geltro went from shadow to darker shadow. No sound was made by either of them, until Renzzoku's pants dropped to his ankles and the big man fell on his face.

Renzzoku finally decided, "Aww, frick it!" and undid the strap of one of his hip-slung sheaths, sacrificing the option to conceal his extra weapons for some peace of mind. Palming the blade, he resumed his march.

Geltro kept pace with Renzzoku, yet remained unseen. This was accomplished by crossing the bridge in a most peculiar way. On the bottom. Even as they approached the end of the subsequent tunnel, Renzzoku was unaware he'd picked up a superfluous shadow....

"It is time," the Sleepless One said to Eric. "Let us go." The shadowed figure moved to the catacombs' entrance.

Eric nodded, not knowing why they had been waiting so long in the first place, but shrugged it off as a, perhaps, necessity. Folding his cloak around him, he followed the person into the entrance, blending in with the shadows, his footfall so light that it could scarcely be heard.

The tunnel beyond the barrier twisted abruptly and opened onto a ledge in a cavern so massive the city of Kytares could literally have fit into it. A dim glow suffused the entire area, lighting the cavern as though it were a cloudless night on the full moon. At the floor of the cavern, hundreds of yards below the group, a large city was outlined in the pale light. A few yards away a set of stairs was cut out of the rock leading down towards the city.

For a moment, Geltro, hidden in the shadows, was shocked speechless by the sight. Whoa. He almost didn't notice the big man, Renzzoku, turn around abruptly and start walking back towards the surface. Quickly he got out of the tall redhead's way. Guess he just got bored or something. Well, that's one less weirdo to worry about....

It was about this time that Tim started recovering from the cheap shot Renzzoku had given him much earlier. He rubbed his hand to his temples. "Ow. That wasn't nice. Oh well." He looked at Zelgadis and gave a thumbs up, indicating that he was okay. Then he turned to the bard, in yet another game of distraction. "So what happens next?"

Zelgadis frowned at Tim, then took a quick, doubtful sideways look towards Jin and Constance. They certainly aren't Gourry and Amelia. He took a few more quick steps forward, falling into pace beside Lina. "So, Lina...." He paused, fumbling for words. "What really did happen, back in Sairaag?" He leveled a gaze on Arcius that spoke ominously of how the bard had better take some time to mind his own business, and really ought to try talking to the others for a while.

"Um, ah..." the redheaded girl replied. Your guess is as good as mine, buster. Um. Stall for time, stall for time.... Suddenly she bounded a few steps towards the amazing underground city. "Wow, innit neat? Wonder how they get the light just like that! Well, are we goin' down or what?" A quick glance back at the stone-skinned man showed just how unimpressed he was with her little distraction tactic. "Er. Sairaag. Right."

Quickly she thought back to their conversation in the restaurant. He'd said something about Gourry staying behind for some of Shil-wossname's homestyle cooking... hadn't he? Well, close enough. She could work with that. "It's not my fault he liked...." Er, what exactly was her name again? "...that HUSSY's cooking better than.... And what BUSINESS do you have butting into my own PERSONAL affairs?" she yelled, feigning sudden anger. "WHAT PART OF 'LEAVE IT ALONE' DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?" Wow, that was fun. She should vent more often.

Then, suddenly turning bright and chipper again, she turned back to the rest of the party. "So what are we waiting for? There's a city to explore!"

Zel paused with a sweatdrop beading on his head. He started to say something else, but instead just turned around and, with his back to Lina, let the rest of the party pass by him. If that's how she wants to be, it's her choice. I'm just here to find out if there's a way I can get rid of Rezo's curse. He paused. Damn you, Rezo!

Arcius took the hint with a smile and began to move down the stairs, pulling Jin and Constance with him. The others followed. "Come along. Let me tell you of the dangers we shall be facing once we reach the bottom. First off, the principal spell on this city is one that preserves it exactly the way it has been all these years. Meaning, if you disturb anything, the city will respond by sending apparitions to fix the disturbance. They are peculiar apparations, but efficient. The problem is, in order to get to the seal, we will have to break a few things, not to mention said seal itself. Also, no spellcasting until we are ready. That is considered a disturbance as well."

"Getting to the mansion will be easy. Once we are there, the hard part will begin. We shall have to make our move and hit the ground running. If my knowledge is correct, we should be able to get to the seal before there is a real response. One of you will have to cast the unsealing spell, while the others defend. Once we have the seal, all we shall have to do is get out. That will be the hardest part, I believe. If anyone has a better suggestion, I am open for it."

Tim looked at Arcius. "No, not really." With that he walked forward five places, got out a gold coin and flipped it in the air. He caught it and took a look at the coin. "Maybe, but then again...," he said. Tim decided to flip the coin in the air again. He caught it and looked at the coin sourly. "I don't think I care for that." Tim flipped it in the air and caught it once more. He looked at the coin and shrugged his houlders.

It was at that point Tim threw the coin down the extreme right side of the path. He stood there for a few minutes and nothing happened. Tim smiled a chesire cat grin and turned to the group. "It's what I figured it would be." As the rest of the group was wondering just what Tim was up to, he went forward to pick up his coin.

Zel shook his head and fervently hoped Tim wasn't going insane from whatever problem he was having with his magic book. Although that wouldn't put him any worse off than Lina seemed. The chimera continued walking; rebuffed by Lina, he started to slowly move away from the rest of the group.

Up close, the city ressembled a Swiss hamlet, although on a grander scale. The streets were perfectly clean and the houses perfectly kept. It was deathly silent, and the absence of streetlamps or lit windows lent an eerie quality to the city. The air was chilly and somewhat dry. In short, it was like a giant tomb.

From where he was concealed, Geltro retreated a few feet back up the tunnel for privacy. Making sure no one was watching, he assumed a spell-casting pose.

"VISION"

As Eric and his mysterious, shadowed benefactor walked through the catacombs, a shimmering, translucent image of Geltro appeared before them.

The image spoke. "Reporting. Following six; the random thug turned back. The clown and the red head are there. Entering big cavern, city. Still hidden. That's it."

The image faded out.

"Damn," Eric shook his head. "Doesn't say much, does he?"

The cloaked figure shrugged. "He believes the less he talks, the fewer people will hear him. Perhaps he is right; he has yet to be caught."

Footsteps could heard from up the tunnel. The Sleepless One faded back into the shadows. It glanced over at Eric, and shook its head negative as Eric motioned with his crossbow. They watched the big man, Renzzoku, pass. When his footsteps could only be dimly heard, the shadows moved in the faintest of whispers.

"He will be dealt with later, should he return."

Finished sending his message, Geltro slipped up again to the city-cavern, and watched the party's progress from afar.

Holding up his pants and bowing his head, another person entered the city, rising up from the catacombs. "Didn't need no stinking Astral watchamacallit anyways...," Renzzoku consoled himself. "What I need is a belt!" He sighed, and, not looking where he was going, ran into a freezy-pop soldier. "Hmm... how's the weather in there?" He tapped the ice. "Cold, eh? Thought so." Sighing again, he noticed a small group of people drinking tea inside a warehouse. Sniffing the air, he walked towards them. "Smells like what mother used to make..."

Approaching the apparent host of this little party, he tried to get her attention. "Ahem." She turned around, and, looking a little startled, sipped some more tea. He blushed, and started to babble. "Uhmm... I... er... can... can I... uhm... may I join you?"

Filia nodded for the new person to join. He seemed nice enough... she might as well let him. Then she turned back to Lina, anger sketched on her face. "Lina-san, you haven't a right to yell," she said firmly, setting down her tea. "Lina-san, how are we supposed to save my Val-chan or Briar if we do not even have a plan? Tell me, Lina-san, are we going to go in recklessly? And if we fail, what does that accomplish? Think things through! You say Gourry-san does not think things through... but exactly what do you think you are doing?" Slowly she turned back to her tea party.

Renzzoku sat down cautiously at the table, and Filia handed him some tea. "Doozo," she said politely. Her eyes turned back to Lina. "Lina-san, think. Acting is not the only way to solve a problem."

Lyssa shifted nervously, looking at Lina in something akin to shock. She sighed and sat out of everyone's way, not intending to speak unless asked her opinion on anything. Honestly she didn't know what was going on, and wasn't really sure she wanted to, but didn't want to leave. These people had shown her kindness, and she was going to try to help them if she could.

Lina looked at the tea-drinking group in amazement. Had they been... planning something? She blinked. "Ano...." She couldn't talk. She didn't know what to say. Her eyes trembled at her friend's speech. She.... She.... Looking to the ground, her lips formed into a frown. "G-Gomen ne, Filia. I just wanted to get everything back together." She walked to the makeshift table, sitting down. And as she forced a smile, she looked into Filia's blue eyes. "Alright, do you have anything planned out yet?"

Gourry knelt down too, a proud smile on his face.

Scratching his head, Renzzoku decided to speak up. "Uhm... may I ask WHAT you are planning for? Mayhaps I can be of service?" Everyone in the group turned to stare at him. The sound of crickets chirping filled the warehouse.

"Well...," Filia began nervously. "My son... has been kidnapped. And a friend of ours is missing."

Lyssa walked back over to Filia while stretching. "You have a son?"

Renzzoku scratched his chin. "Well... I don't know if I can help you find them, but... if anyone gets in your way I can sure deal with that."

Filia and the others looked at him quizzically and pointed at the popsicle soldiers. "Does it look like we need extra help in that department?" Lina growled.

Cackling evilly, Renzzoku stood up. "Observe." Finishing his tea and offering a quick bow, he placed the cup down on the crate that served as a table. Renzzoku then proceeded to walk over to the nearest thick wooden beam and put a fist through it. Easily tearing it up from the ground, he picked it up and held it like a baseball bat. He pointed a finger up and took a swing. Seconds later, thousands of little shards of popsicle soldiers were sent flying through the warehouse. Renzzoku chucked the beam behind him and dusted his hands off. He smiled and a pair of fangs showed. Everyone sweatdropped.

A little cough came from Lyssa and she cleared her throat. "Um... I... I hate to interrupt this an' all, but... could someone tell me wha's goin on? I... um, I jus' got here and... and...." She fell to the ground in a kawaii pose, knees together, ankles splayed. "I'm confused."

Filia took in a breath and laid her trembling hands upon her lap before speaking. "My son... yes. It's a long, long story we haven't the time for. Perhaps later... if there is a later, that is...." She slowly looked to the filthy ground on which she sat. "I-I...." Her voice trembled. No! She had been doing so well! She quickly reached for her cup of tea, but her hand shook so hard that it fell to the ground and shattered, slightly cutting her gloved hand. "I-Itai...," she whimpered before looking away from the others in shame. "It's my fault... all of it." She shook away the feelings of loss as quickly as they had come. "But.... But now is not the time for that." She looked to them, an emotionless face behind the steady stream of tears. "We must find him; we must. Please... please help me... onegaishimasu." Her head was bowed in a desperate plea.

Getting teary eyed, Renzzoku returned to the group. "So sad...." He sniffed and sat next to Filia, attempting to comfort her and knowing it was not much help. "I'm sorry about your kid...."

THUNK. A stray ice shard nailed him on the head and he fell over unconscious.

Filia blinked, looking at his still form. "O-Oh my...."

Several seconds after his meeting with the business end of a piece of ice several times larger than his head, Renzzoku came to. One thing was on his mind. "Jupiter?"

Filia looked at him quietly. "What?" she asked.

Renzzoku repeated, "Jupiter."

The group was getting confused now. This guy, who none of them knew, had just murdered a dozen frozen guards, been knocked out by an icicle, and was now spouting gibberish. But worst of all... HE HAD DRANK THEIR TEA! Lina spoke up first. "What the heck are you saying?"

"Jupiter."

She scratched her head. "Huh?"

"Jupiter."

She sweatdropped. "I'm gonna ask you one last time...."

He looked back at her with wide eyes. "Jupi...."

...silence...

"...ter."

Everyone fell over.

Sai opened his eyes, stood up, and looked around, not paying any attention to the newcomer to the party. Noticing how distraught Filia was, he went through his pack and took out a flute. "Maybe this will help."

He then started to play a melody. It was soothing and calm, but unlike any song anyone had ever heard before. Sai looked at Ninoa and smiled while he was playing.

Sarino, still in a daze for reasons no one knew, seemed to brighten as he caught sight of the flute. But other than that, he didn't react.

There was one individual who was not sitting around drinking tea. Tim had disappeared and was wandering the streets, invisible, looking for clues to Briar's whereabouts or to the catacombs. He only hopped he could find both soon and solve the mystery.

The plaza, located by the warehouse where the party was sitting, had been empty for a while. The perimeter, however, became occupied about the time Renzzoku demonstrated his prodigal strength. The Null Knights' armor was silent; their discipline, iron. Yet even the most hardened veteran's face tightened as Renzzoku shattered the frozen guards. The silent thought pulsed through all units. Murderers. No mercy. But their dicipline was iron, and no one broke ranks as they waited.

Their leader was a veteran who had seen many things in his life. He knew Lina, although she did not know him, and he knew she was more often a hero than a villian. He would wait and see what happened. However, through the link they shared, the Knights received their orders. Should they attempt to parley, we parley. Should anything else happen, they have earned no mercy.

Red walked around Kytares, forgetting all about the match he was supposed to be having with The Mysterious Mazoku. He had one target and one target alone: whoever had stolen his spotlight! He intended to find them and check their candied asses into the smackdown hotel.

As he strode down a street, he noticed a guy in armour, obviously a city guardsman, clattering around looking worried. He walked up and asked the guy a question. "Hey jabroni, who ruined my entrance back there?"

The guard took one look at Red and stared wide-eyed. "Omigod! It's RED OKONAGI! Red, I love you, you're the greatest! I'm your number one fan ever! C'n I have an autograph?"

"If you tell me who's responsible for all this mayhem, I'll give you one."

The guard bowed and scraped, tears visible in his eyes. "It was Lina Inverse and her goons! She destroyed the marketplace, and we're all supposed to be after her now. Personally, I think that if she hadn't ruined your match you'd have wiped the floor with The Mysterious Mazoku!"

Red held his head up, absorbing the adulation of his fan. "Alright, you want an autograph? Gimme some paper and a pen."

The guard whipped these out from behind his back with a big smile. "My name is-"

Red snapped, "It doesn't matter what your name is!" The guard jumped. Then Red scrawled something on the paper and shoved it back towards his fan. "There! Now get your candied ass outta here before I lay the smackdown on you!"

"Yes, sir, Red, sir!" the guard yelled as he ran off. Once in safety, he took a look at what his idol had written. 'TO THE BIGGEST ROOTY POO CANDY ASS IN ALL THE LAND! SIGNED BY THE GREAT ONE RED OKONAGI' The guard folded the paper up and sighed in delight.

Red Okonagi continued his search for the 'rooty poos' who had destroyed his entrance and stolen his glory. It really steamed him up that they'd done such a thing. It was bad enough that he had lost the belt in the first place, but those jabronis had ruined his chances of getting it back! He didn't care how powerful this 'Lina Inverse' was. Mages, monsters, guys, girls, it didn't matter. He was going to lay the smackdown on her and her cronies no matter what!

However, Red didn't know the first place to start looking. "Well," he said to himself, "Red has a dilemma. The people's champ doesn't know the first place to start looking for those jabronis." Angrily he yelled, "It doesn't matter where they are! The fact is that once I find those rooty poos who interrupted the most electrifying entrance in fighting entertainment, I WILL HIT EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM WITH THE MOST ELECTRIFYING MOVE IN MY ARSENAL!" He pretended to hold a microphone to his lips. "IF YOU SMELLLLL... WHAT THE RED... IS COOKING!" Then he threw down the imaginary microphone and continued his search.

The leader scowled at the report of the watch. Just what he needed. Adding that idiotic gloryhound Red Okonagi to the tense situation was like yodelling in avalanche territory. Still, played properly both problems might be solved. Unit 3 fade out. Scout, direct him here, he ordered. Let the cards fall where they would.

Red glared at the armored trooper in front of him. He really hated how the helmet's visor prevented him from seeing the expression on the man's face.

"If you continue down this road, the ones you are looking for are currently in the old warehouse there." The man bowed slightly. "Please help us, Red. We're too candied assed to be able to do it ourselves."

Red smiled. "You're damn right. I'll show you how to lay the smackdown on 'em." With that, Red took off.

Things were getting boring. Tracing little circles on the floor, Lyssa sighed, writing in runes, 'Blood shall freeze inside your veins and in this time he'll steal your soul's names... and with them, your life....' Frowning at the dark little writings, she scribbled them out and watched the others some more. Her frown deepened and she walked back over to Kerrem, glaring down at him. "Gimme some food or or or... or I'll turn ye into a popsicle!" SOMEthing was bothering her, and she was doing her damnedest to hide it... making it all the more obvious. Mayhaps it had something to do with the remaining ice-encased guards....

"Er... I haven't finished preparing it yet. I was only joking about not giving you any," said Kerrem, a little nervous about becoming a fish stick. "If you wanted some THAT badly, why didn't you just ask...? Oh, right, you did. Uh, just wait till I finish it...." With a nervous grin he immediately began preparing an entire meal.

While Kerrem was in a flurry of activity, Lyssa wandered off again, listening to Sai's fluteplaying. She cocked her head to one side, thinking, A bard? An evil smile touched her lips as she saw him look at Ninoa and smile. Then she shrugged and curled up in a corner, taking a light nap.

A couple of minutes later, Kerrem had something edible at hand. He yelled, "It's done! Come and get it, Lyssa!"

However, the blue-haired elf maiden was currently taking a nice little nap and dreaming of food rather than eating it. She was also ignoring the young swordsman, her tongue sticking out cutely. So she didn't hear a thing he'd just said.

"HEY LYSSA! You asked for food, so I made food! Now get up and eat!" yelled Kerrem at her prone form.

Lyssa jumped up at the shouting, glared at the swordsman, and sat up as her tummy grumbled at her. "Maybe I shoulda had somethin' to eat...." However she simply shrugged and went back to sleep.

Kerrem growled and stomped off, sitting himself back down by his pack. Unconsciously he patted the two-handed sword which was laying on the ground nearby.

Lina sweatdropped at this little scene. "You two...." She smiled, shaking her head at Kerrem and Lyssa. Since when had she become a babysitter? And why hadn't he offered any food to HER? Ah, anyways.... "We need to talk this over. Kerrem. You have any idea where our friend Briar might be? We should go and save her, then make any other plans after getting her out of danger. Sound good?"

"I don't know anything concrete about Briar's location, but I will help in every way possible." Kerrem's attitude was completely serious for the first time since he'd joined the group. "We should start by checking the inns, but since we seem to be wanted by the Guard, we're going to need some pretty good disguises. Right now it'd probably be best to catch some sleep; all the inns around here are closed for the night by now and won't take kindly to visitors."

"That works," agreed Lina. "We'd better set up a watch if we're gonna be sleeping here. Me 'n Gourry will take first watch. Kerrem, you take second watch with... Lyssa. And so on."

"That works for me. Everyone," the swordsman called out, "we start moving first thing in the morning, so get as much rest as you can! Understand?" As he scanned the inside of the warehouse, his unsmiling glare would have sent shivers up the spines of even the most seasoned of warriors.

About fifteen minutes down that path, Red finally found the warehouse, surrounded by a bunch of nervous-looking soldiers. At least, he thought they looked nervous. "Don't worry, fans! Red says, the jabronis in that warehouse ruined my chances at the belt, and also my entrance. I'm going to lay the smackdown on each one of their candied asses!"

He crept into the building through a loose board and hid in the shadows to get a good look at the whole group. There were a whole lot of them, about ten in all. But one member of the group caught his attention. "Red says, this is the rooty poo jabroni who ruined his chance at the belt. A four-foot-seven-inch, bra size AAA, ninety-seven pound female who probably couldn't get any even if she tried."

That was enough waiting. He was going to lay the smackdown on her and her goons right now.

He slowly set up all the necessary equipment for his opening. Then he hit the switch. Everyone within a five mile radius of him could hear the most electrifying theme music in fighting entertainment: "IF YA SMELLLLL... WHAT THE RED... IS COOKING!" Complete with trumpet solo.

He burst out of the shadows, held his head up, closed his eyes, and absorbed all the electricity that his fans were giving him. Then he walked over to a nearby crate, put a foot up on it, and glared at his opponents.

Renzzoku, still dazed, looked up at the newcomer. "Jupiter?"

"WEIRD MAN NO BAKA!" Ninoa screamed as she panicked and slugged this intruder into the next building. She then composed herself, and looked up to see him... standing there, unharmed. She blinked twice as she looked at this... man. This... weird man.

Ninoa sighed. "Oh, I thought that you might be a Mazoku or something...." She then noticed that she'd spilled tea on her mantle... possibly a result of the Weird Man's abrupt and rather loud entrance. She shot an angry look the way of the offending Weird Man. She seemed rather pissed.

Red noticed a punch coming from one of the jabronis that he was after. He let the punch hit him. No matter how much strength she tried to put into it, he was able to take the hit and didn't move an inch. Instead, he looked at her, raised The People's Eyebrow, then took his hand and laid the smackdown on the girl's candied ass! The impact from the smack sent her flying into a wall and left an imprint.

Slowly he reached down, picked up a microphone out of nowhere (it's one of the things that makes him electrifying!), and pressed it against his lips. "Finally, Red has found the jabronis who ruined my match! Before I go on, just what are your names?" he demanded, whipping off yet another pair of sunglasses (does he have an unlimited supply?) and glaring at everyone yet again.

Lina smirked. "I'm Lina; Lina Inverse. Got a problem with that?" She grinned at him, but was a little weirded out when he didn't seem to be even the least bit scared of her.

"I'm Gourry Gabriev, her protector!" the blond swordsman then exclaimed, making her blush a little.

Red glared at Lina Inverse, his brown eyes piercing a hole into her head. Then he slowly turned and looked at Gourry. Putting the microphone back up to his lips, he said, "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOUR NAMES ARE!" He looked at Lina with fury in his eyes. "How dare you, little small breasted jabroni, ruin the most electrifying entrance in fighting entertainment? I have heard about you, Lina Inverse, the dragon slayer, the master mage, the female that absolutly sucks!" Red then turned his attention to Gourry. "And this big muscle-headed jabroni. Gourry Gabriev, you truly are a mighty warrior. You are strong. You are brave. And you are daring. I should not call you jabroni... you're not a jabroni... WHAT YOU ARE IS A NICE BIG STEAMY STINKY PILE OF GRADE 'A' DRAGON CRAP!"

Seemingly oblivious to how Lina was just getting angrier and angrier, the wrestler continued. "Lina Inverse, you may be a mage, and you may have moves such as the Fireball, the Explosion Array, and every now and then THE MOST ELECTRIFYING MAGIC MOVE IN MAGIC ENTERTAINMENT: THE DRAGON SLAVE." Red Okonagi knew all about famous people and he had a love of the mighty Dragon Slave attack. He always thought, one day, he would get hit by one... then hit the spellcaster back with a little of his own magic. "But, Lina Inverse, the fact of the matter is... Red Okonagi is a mage too. He knows magic; he knows one powerful spell... IT'S CALLED THE LAYING THE SMACKDOWN ON YOUR CANDIED ASS SPELL!!!"

Ignoring the steam coming off of the furious Lina, Red jumped down from his crate and walked over to Gourry, meeting him eye to eye. "And then you have this big muscle-headed baboon they call Gourry Gabriev. People call you a warrior... however, I see things differently. People say, 'When Gourry uses the Sword of Light, it's so great!' However, what I see is different... when I see you... I see this." Red slowly backed away and took out a flashlight, turning it on and swinging it around while he ran in place, a dumb look on his face.

Then he threw the flashlight to one side. "Now then. Red says he has two options. He could walk away and act like this never happened... or he could walk over to Lina Inverse," Red said as he slowly walked over to Lina. "He could put down the microphone," Red said as he slowly put down the microphone. "AND THEN RED COULD USE SOME OF HIS MAGIC AND LAY THE SMACKDOWN ON LINA INVERSE'S CANDIED ASS!" he yelled as he moved his hands and began to smack away at the redheaded sorceress.

That didn't get him very far, however. Lina's Giant Demon Head rose above him, crimson with rage. "Youuuu wanna start something with Lina Inverse?" An evil smirk lit up her entire face. "You picked the wrong person to mess with, bub. FIREBALL." The spell exploded in his face.

The dust settled, and Red Okonagi... a rather charred and blackened Red Okonagi... coughed before whipping out another of his microphones. "YOU SMALL-BREASTED CANDIED ASS JABRONI! I'M GONNA LAY THE SMACKDOWN ON YOU-"

However, the rest of the group was ready for action by now. Kerrem glared at him and muttered at Gourry, "Follow my lead. We are going to kick this guy's, and I quote, 'candied ass,' okay?" With that, he drew his sword and charged Red while he was still speaking on the microphone. "YOU NEVER HIT A LADY!" yelled Kerrem as he swung at Red's chest.

Sai watched the fight from his position in the rafters. "Interesting," Sai smirked, watching this Red character hold his own, just barely, against Gourry and Kerrem. "This guy is good." But then everyone else started to join in....

Well, almost everyone else. Still sitting around on the floor, Renzzoku pointed at the wrestler. "Jupiter?"

"ARRGGHHH!" finally screamed Filia, standing up from her place at the makeshift table. She could no longer stay quiet; it was too stupid. "LISTEN HERE, YOU; YOU ARE NOT HELPING US AT ALL!" She brought out her mace -- the mace which never failed. "WHATEVER A SMACKDOWN IS... I'LL LAY ONE ON YOU!" With a quick motion, her mace flew, sending Red flying through the roof and over the city of Kytares. She smirked. "Well, now, who's up for some sleep?"

Lina wiped the dust off her own hands and watched the annoying man fly off into the distance. She popped off a couple of Flare Arrows after him... just for good measure. "Sounds fine by me, Filia!" Having relieved some stress with those fire spells, she was in a pretty good mood.

"What IS a smackdown, Lina?" finally asked Gourry.

She sweatdropped. "It's a... Gourry, never mind."

"Okay, now where were we?" Kerrem asked, after putting his sword away. "Oh, I remember. We were going to get some sleep before that annoying little wannabe freak showed up. Filia, thanks for showing him the door...." Kerrem looked up at the hole in the roof. "Or rather, the new door...." He walked over to his pack, rolled out his bedroll, and laid down.

Red went flying... REALLY flying... after that mace attack. He hadn't been expecting a strong hit like that, not from one of those jabronis.

It took him a while, once he landed, to make his way back to the warehouse. Then he waited for a good time to attack. This wasn't going to be any regular wrestling style attack. This was going to be a LAYING THE SMACKDOWN ATTACK!

Tired of waiting around and hiding, he slowly and quietly grabbed a crate, then snuck over to that jabroni who'd hit him with the mace... AND BASHED THAT CRATE OVER HER HEAD! Red shook his leg, and begin to do "The People's Stomp" to her. Then he threw her arm over his back and set her up for his trademark move, the "Red Bottom". He jumped up and tripped her in mid air, so she fell and hit her entire body full force on the ground. Still angry, still furious, he yelled, "Don't you ever, and the Red means EVER, hit the Great One like that again, you CANDIED ASS PIECE OF GRADE 'A' DRAGON CRAP!"

Gourry jumped up and pulled out his sword, the blade of light glowing brightly this time. Normally he didn't get so violent, but this man was hurting Filia.

Lina stared at Red, eyes wide in fury, before growling, "Stop screaming about that stupid candied ass junk!" He'd really crossed the line this time. Focusing intently, she Dragon Slaved his ass with a precision shot she'd been practicing for ages. This sent him flying again... considerably farther than the first time.

Now that the danger was over, Filia healed herself. However annoying he was, this Red character certainly was powerful. After she was done, Filia shook her head and sighed rather loudly, looking up at the hole in the roof which was significantly larger than before. "He flies pretty well, ne?"

Now Ninoa, having recovered from her abrupt meeting with a wall earlier that night, had a definite grudge against that guy. Hell, what gentleman would willingly hit a lady!? "Next time I see that guy," she stated, a vein bulging from her forehead in anger, "I'm gonna ERRRRRRRRAAAAAAAGHHHHH!" She then started maiming a dummy doll that looked suspiciously like Red, ripping its arms away and biting its head off. Halting in mid-bite, she looked at the others with innocent eyes and the head of the doll in her mouth. She was a weird girl, Ninoa was.

"Jupiter?" was Renzzoku's only comment.

Filia grabbed the dazed Renzzoku and threw him onto a bedroll. "I can't handle any more of this tonight," she said before crawling into her own little tent.

That puny little... candy assed... extremely grievously painful Dragon Slave attack nearly sent Red out of the city. Once he eventually hit ground, he staggered to his feet. He realized that he couldn't possibly beat those jabronis as long as they were fighting together. Just that one spell alone had almost cracked his precious armour!

He put his sunglasses back on and glared in the general direction of Lina Inverse. "Red says, this ain't over, Lina Inverse. You just started a war with Red and Red is going to finish it. I guaran-damn-tee that I will hit you with the Red Bottom and then hit you with THE MOST ELECTRIFYING MOVE IN FIGHTING ENTERTAINMENT, THE OKONAGI ELBOW! And your little blond swordsman too!"

As he tottered down the street, every muscle in his body aching, he lifted his head high with pride and yelled, "IF YA SMELLLLL... WHAT THE RED... IS COOKING!"

Still curled up where she'd fallen asleep quite a while before, Lyssa watched everyone wind down from that fight. One eye was open, and her ears twitched back and forth. "What kind of crazy people have I run into THIS time?" she asked herself quietly, then rolled over and sat up. "Lina-san?"

Lina looked at Lyssa and raised an eyebrow. "Nani?" she asked, walking over to her and kneeling down.

Before she could respond, a sound came from a dark corner of the warehouse, behind some crates. Footsteps. Lina looked at Lyssa, and held a finger to her mouth, signaling silence. She waited till the footsteps approached closely enough, then sprang forward. "Hold it right there!" she yelled.

Standing ten feet away, now visible in the light of her Lighting spell, was an old man. He was bruised, cut, and bleeding, as if he'd barely managed to survive a war. "Greetings, Lina Inverse," he said. "I am Lazar, and I need your help." His eyes then rolled back in his head, and he fell to the ground.

Lina's eyes went large. "Gourry! Filia! Everyone!" she cried, bending towards the man. She'd never been good at healing.... "Where does it hurt most?" she cried, trying to do a healing spell as quick as she knew how. "We need Amelia, or Syphiel!" she cried in desperation. As Gourry knelt beside her, she worked on.

Lazar finally opened his eyes and looked up at them. "My staff...," he said.

"Your what?" Gourry asked. He looked around and finally saw a large wooden staff lying a few feet away.

"I need my staff," Lazar said, then coughed up some blood.

"Don't just stand there, Gourry," said Lina. "GET HIM HIS STAFF!"

Gourry rushed over to where the staff lay, plucked it up, and rushed back to where Lina was leaning over Lazar. "Here you go," he said.

Lazar grasped the staff, and everything burst with a blinding light. Lina covered her eyes as Gourry threw his arms around her, shielding her from whatever was happening. The light finally died down. Lina and Gourry opened their eyes and saw Lazar standing up and looking perfectly healthy. "Thank you, Gourry, and you as well, Lina," he said.

"What was that?" asked Lyssa incredulously.

Lina looked on in amazement as she stood, Gourry slowly letting go. "Yeah. Wha... What was that?" she asked in a soft tone, eyes shining.

Crawling out from the bedroll where Filia had so neatly placed him, Renzzoku saw the new person. "Ju...." He stopped and shook his head violently for several seconds.

Lina drooped her head and sweatdropped. "Oh geez...."

"Is something wrong with him?" asked the now fully healed mage, slightly confused.

"I DON'T BELIEVE HE DID THAT!" yelled Oni.

"What? Running away?" asked Dobal.

Oni sprung around and plucked him up. "No, you dolt! Lazar is a coward. He usually does this when I'm too much for him to handle!" He then pointed Dobal's head in the direction he was looking. "Look! Don't you see? He left us a spectrum trail to follow! The fool forgot to clean up after himself!"

Oni turned to call out to Briar. "Briar? We're moving out!" She walked up to him, noticing that Oni really wanted to get this guy. Before she could say anything, Oni interrupted her. "You have any way of flying? Oh, forget it!" Two wings emerged from underneath his cloak. He scooped her up in his arms, and took off into the sky faster than Dobal could say "Wait! Slow down, boss!"

"I need your help, Lina Inverse," said Lazar.

She folded her arms across her chest. For some reason, she felt she could trust this old man. "What do you want us to-"

"Actually, Ms. Inverse, the matter is no longer in your hands." With that, the captain of the Null Knights stepped out of the shadows. He was a tall man, robustly built, standing in a slightly more ornate version of the armor that all of the Null Knights wore.

"The lady, good sir," the captain said, "is not going to be able to assist you in your difficulties. I suggest you go somewhere else." Lazar scowled.

"Since it seems that you and yours are determined to take a nap, I suggest that you accompany me until the matter is resolved. The quarters we offer are far more comfortable than the grounds of this warehouse."

"You don't understand!" Lazar growled. "He's-"

The captain waved his hand. "You are right. I don't understand why that Mazoku is after you. Nor do I care. If he is foolish enough to land here, then he will die." He looked the group over, eyes glinting steely. "That goes for all of you as well."

And with that, a dozen Null Knights howled battle cries and charged the group.

I must get them away from here, Lazar thought to himself. This might kill me, but at least they will be safe. He lifted his staff to the sky and shouted "Arch Salvation!" The Knights covered their eyes as the interior of the warehouse was filled with light. As the light died down, Lazar, Lina, and all of her friends and allies were gone.

Off in the forest outside Kytares, a bright light flashed, and people appeared where none had been before. "WOW!" said Sai, impressed despite himself at the mass transport spell. "That was cool!"

Suddenly Lina noticed something was wrong. She could see through her hand. In fact, she could see straight through everyone's bodies. "Lazar! What the heck is going on?" She waited for a response, but there was only silence. "Lazar?" she asked again.

The old man was again collapsed on the ground, just as insubstantial as herself and the others. This time he didn't move, except for his few and ragged breaths. "Something... is interfering in my spell. I won't be able to maintain it very long...." He looked up at her, and smiled. She had a long life ahead of her and she was willing to live it, no matter how hard it turned out to be. That pleased him. And so you shall, my child, so you shall.

He grunted as he pulled himself up to a sitting position. "I'm not as young as I used to be. Quick, now -- we have much to talk about, and very little time."

Lina cringed. "Now what...." She sighed, taking a long breath. This wasn't fair. Crossing her arms, she stood over the old man as he caught his breath. "I want to know what's going on," she said simply.

"Very well," Lazar said. "The story begins in the city of Tal-rahna. There, years ago, lived the great lord Kalmitch. He was a wealthy man, and believed he was the Gods' gift to humanity. He had a wife named Silvia, who he often said would bring him a son as handsome as he. But one night, he cheated a mage who placed a curse apon his head. Kalmitch shook it off, and forgot about it till the night Silvia gave birth to his child-"

The redheaded sorceress wandered through the silent underground city, attempting to slowly fall back behind everyone else. That Tim guy was starting to scare her; it was in her best interests to avoid Zelgadis; Jin and Constance didn't seem to be chatty types; and Arcius's fashion sense was really starting to get on her nerves.

She hummed a little tune under her breath, slightly off-key, and thought of the treasures that would be in store for her after this adventure. She sincerely hoped there'd be plenty of opposition on the way out; she really needed a chance to practice her Fireballs. That last one had been pretty pathetic.

The buildings and houses on either side of the pathway all seemed to be large and well-built; there were no hovels or slums to be seen in this underground city. She wondered if, when it had been alive with people, they had all been rich....

That train of thought led directly to others, all well-entrenched in her mind. If they'd all been rich, then maybe they'd left some of their bounty behind...! Yeah, of course! Whatever had made all the inhabitants leave, there'd surely been some kinds of... of family heirlooms, or hoards of gold coins, or whatever, left buried in cellars or attics! And it certainly wasn't doing anyone any good sitting around here, was it?

She nearly dashed headlong towards the nearest domicile before stopping herself. Remember what the bard said! Don't disturb anything! But... if I just have a little look around... what could that possibly hurt? She slowly grinned, and started sneaking off towards the shadows beside the path.

Not noticing the loss of one of their members, the group soon reached the center of the museum-like city. They stood before a large temple structure, a piece of architecture that clashed with the rest of the buildings of the city. It would have blended nicely with the buildings of ancient Greece or Rome; here, it stood out. A series of great columns supported the roof. There was open space under the roof, with polished marble steps leading up. In the dead center of the open space was a small building, possibly the only thing in the city that was not illuminated by the ambient light of the air.

Arcius stopped at the foot of the steps. He looked at the party. Zelgadis stood habitually apart, while Jin and Constance looked around with curiosity. Tim was acting nuts, but the man had a plan. Chaos was Arcius' forte and Tim still smacked of Order entirely too much. And Lina was gone. That was annoying, but she would show up soon enough. His instincts told him that the rest of the cards were in place. It was time.

The Sleepless One and Eric peered down at the city from the cliff at the top of the cavern. They could make out small figures near the centre of the city, barely. It helped that Arcius wore such bright clothes.

"Can you fly?" the Sleepless One whispered to Eric. "If not, make your way down there as fast as you can. When I give the signal, we make our move." To Eric's unspoken question, he added, "It will be explosive."

Eric nodded and made his way down, by foot, as quickly and stealthily as he could, blending in with any shadows which crossed his path. After a few minutes, he arrived at the designated point, and waited for the signal. An odd feeling of unease was building up inside of him, but he shoved it aside, remembering his quest. Silently, he waited.

"Lords, Ladies," Arcius' voice carried clearly. "Around this temple is a barrier. To pass between these columns shall trigger the defenses of the city. There," he pointed at the dark building within the confines of the temple, "is our goal. As soon as we reach it, one of you must perform the ritual to unseal the power. Are you up to it, Tim? Good. The rest of us must defend him. As soon as it is unsealed, we must flee and do so very quickly." He grinned. "With our speed and luck, we shall surely triumph."

From where he was concealed, Geltro twitched, startled. He had foregone the wonderful opportunity of a lone, oblivious sorceress because his mission was important (which is to say, he was being paid a lot for it). This news, however, was not promising. Discretion being the better part of valor (which is to say, let the heroes deal with traps and monsters whenever possible), Geltro decided to retreat to the near side of the stone bridge. More moving now, less running in terror later. Too bad about the red-head, though. She'd have no warning when everything went bad. Fools, he thought to himself as he jogged away from the temple.

Arcius, still grinning, seemed ready to lead the group straight up the marble steps. "Ready?"

Tim looked around at the others. They were looking at him like he was from another planet, except for Arcius. The bard looked at Tim like he understood what Tim's plan was. Looking at the group again, Tim came to the conclusion that the bard was faking it. Tim's eyebrows raised quizzically at why this was; then it dawned on him. He'd forgotten to explain things again. He smacked his hand on his forehead. "Sorry about that. Let me explain about the coin tossing."

"You have to think like the designer of the dungeons, and the dungeon's purpose. First thing you learn is that there is a real danger in making a dungeon too complicated. It's embarassing to die by your own traps because you were too concerned about the mob chasing you. So it's gotta be simple. Fade to the left, fade to the right, with a possible change at major landmarks like the seal, for instance. Two flips outta three told me to try the right. I got lucky and kept my coin. Even if I was wrong, all I would have lost was the coin."

Tim frowned suddenly. "Now that that's done with... before I do ANY incantions, we need to find Lina."

Lina was only slightly more amazed when another blinding flash of light cut off Lazar's tale in mid-sentence. Suddenly the entire group was back at the warehouse, as though nothing had happened.

The Captain of the Null Knights smiled cordially. "Now that you are through being silly," he fixed the old man with his gaze. "The next time you do that, I'm not sure where you'll end up, but the sun would be my best guess. Get them," ordered the Captain. And with that, again, a dozen real Null Knights charged.

"Fool," hissed Oni as the knights pounded towards Lazar and the others. Accompanied by Dobal and Briar (who he didn't know was just an illusionary version of the real thing), he was gazing through a convenient hole in the warehouse's roof.

"Why doesn't he just blast them out of there like he did before?" asked Dobal.

Oni shook his head. "It would kill him. He's an old geezer, and I'm surprised he didn't die from that last one."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" asked Dobal.

"For the fun to start," answered Oni.

The illusion of Briar grinned at Oni. "Fun, huh? Works for me. I'm gonna stay back, as hanging around in the middle of a bunch of people waving big cleavers around isn't my thing. I do ranged attacks."

"My dear," said Oni, looking into her eyes. "I never said we were going to attack. Not yet, anyway."

"But boss," said Dobal, "we whopped the asses of these Null Knights a while back! Why can't we-"

"That wasn't them, mollusk! You would be dead by now if it was!" He ponted to Briar. "Just as she said!"

"Why would only I be dead?" Dobal asked petulantly. Oni rolled his eyes, and peered back down through the roof.

The real Briar strolled down the streets, looking. She had heard something big was going down tonight, something supposedly down in the underbelly of the city. She glanced down at the crude map and sighed. Not her night... although it was going to be interesting to see how her illusionary self performed. At least, the analytical part of her mind said that. The less rational part seethed. It was definitely a bad day. And HE had taken her sword, too, the one she'd intended to sell for lots of money off of which she'd live happily forever.

Suddenly, one of her spells pulsed, one of the ones that signalled the presence of the people who she had been travelling with. This late at night, and with all of the chaos going on, the streets were empty for the most part. And she saw no one.

She smiled. Two could play that game. A quick dance of her fingers set the stage.

Briar stumbled out of the house. She lost her footing on the steps and tumbled to the bottom in a bruised, crumpled heap. She looked up, adjusting the torn halter and ripped skirt as best she could. Then she struggled to rise to her feet.

Tim turned off the invisibilty spell and reached out his hand to help the struggling Briar. She noticed that he was wearing his mask again. He simply said, "Looks like you can use a hand," then continued in a more playful tone. "Tell me your troubles and I'll tell you mine."

Unbeknownst to Briar, Tim closed his eyes for a short moment, then reopened them. Tim's Book of Memory flashed with a bright blue light for a second, then died down. He was unsure if Filia had seen the light, but when she opened the book next, she would see three simple words: I FOUND BRIAR!

Unbeknownst to Tim, the Book of Memory that Zelgadis held had ALSO flashed a bright blue light and displayed the same message....

Briar winced as Tim helped her up. "A Mazoku," she said quite truthfully. "A big ugly Mazoku got the jump on me and fled." She looked around. "Where are the others?"

"Oh, in a fight with about three quarters of the city guard. Seems we were led into a trap looking for you. Of course, instead of peacefully resolving the issue, they attacked...."

A flash of bright blue light radiated from Zel's pocket. He looked down at the pocket and reached into it, making sure that the book was still there. All seemed normal. Then he looked up again and took stock of the group in an attempt to decide if anyone else had noticed the light. Jin and Constance looked like they'd had their eyes fixed on the bard, who seemed like he was looking at Tim... but then again, it had been a fairly bright light.

So before anyone could turn, comment, or otherwise speak up, Zelgadis pretended nothing had happened and said, "Right. We'll split up into two groups and search for Lina." He smirked, but fondly. "Who knows what kind of trouble she'll cause out there. Tim - you come with me and search to the left. The rest of you go right. We'll meet back here in an hour whether we find Lina or not." And, still without waiting for a reaction or an answer, the chimera started to walk off to the left, passing Tim and Arcius on the way.

"Of course. You're absolutely right, Zelgadis." Arcius nodded sagely. "Let's find her! Jin, Constance, search down that street," he pointed back the way they had come, ushering them off. As they walked off, he turned. "Tim, Zelgadis...."

He was talking to empty air. Tim and Zelgadis were already gone. "Well. Looks like I have guard duty." With that, he pulled out his lute and leaned up against a pillar. Strumming it slightly, he smiled. "And I shall have to take care of things should the chaos come."

Lina looked at the knights around her. "Oh shit... what next!" she cried, a small sweatdrop on her forehead. She took out her dagger/sword, and stood ready. She had a feeling that their opponents had too much armor.

Gourry had already taken out his sword as well. He looked to her and grinned. "Don't worry, Lina. I'm better with a sword than you! Why don't you...." He thought a few long moments, and for a second, Lina thought his head might explode. "Make some big magic... or something." And with that he began slicing at the knights.

Lina blinked. "Make big magic or something... DUH!" She almost face faulted, but caught herself. She could, couldn't she! Slowly she raised her hands and began to chant, Gourry protecting her from any combat.

Lazar prepared for combat as the Null Knights tore into his newfound allies. A chill suddenly ran down his spine, and an unseen hand clasped his shoulder. "Hey, geezer!" whispered a voice in his ear.

"Oni!" said Lazar.

With that, the old man was suddenly lifted off the ground by an unseen force. "Ding ding ding! We have a winner!" Oni's voice said.

"Lazar!" yelled Gourry. Everone stopped and watched as the old man, struggling all the way, was lifted off the ground, through a skylight, and disappeared from view.

The captain saw the Mazoku appear and pull Lazar away. Good. It made it that much easier, and saved them the trouble of hunting the damn Mazoku down. Across the link, he sent one word: "Arrows."

"Now, old man-" Oni began, only to be interrupted by Dobal pulling on his elbow.

"Boss?"

Oni slapped the little man. "What? Can't you see I'm busy?"

Dobal pointed. In the shining moonlight, Oni saw the glinting of light off of many sharp points surrounding his position on the roof. Oni's inhuman blood ran cold as he recognized the shimmer on the points. He couldn't read all of it, because he was not a magic user, but the one important thing he could. They were spelled to harm Mazoku.

While getting hit with one or two of these arrows might be irritating to very painful, there were... he sweatdropped as he realized that he didn't know exactly how many arrows were pointed straight at him. Enough that if he didn't leave, or hide, and do so immediately, he, Briar, and Dobal would be very dead indeed.

Lina finally cast her spell towards the Null Knights, and... it had no effect. "Something's blocking the magic here! Just like with Lazar's spell!" she cried in exasperation.

Sai sighed, just barely dancing out of the path of a heavily armoured knight. "This is not going well."

"Ah Hell," Ninoa spoke out loud. "This is going to get us nowhere!" She could definitely feel magical interference around the Null Knights. There was always that other option... but using her heritage could drain her immensely. It didn't matter so much right now, she decided. She opted to have a magical hangover rather than accumulate more dead friends.

Holding her hands together, Ninoa concentrated and focused energy into them. This was a different energy from that which she'd gathered before; something strange was in the glow of light blue. Slamming her hands to the ground, she let out a scream and the ground quaked and shook. The air also seemed disturbed by the energy and the environment around her was submerged in chaos.

Everyone fell to the ground, Null Knights included. In the epicenter of this chaos, Ninoa sat on her knees looking winded. "I leave the rest to you, Lina," she spoke, looking tired. Trying to go forward, Ninoa went to where Sai had fallen. "Sai...," the girl spoke before passing out in front of him.

Kerrem got up, ran, and picked up Ninoa before Sai could react. "Guys, we can't win this now! Let's go before we end up dead!" Kerrem ducked through a convenient hole in the warehouse's wall. "Come on! Gourry, cover us." Kerrem left with Ninoa on his shoulder, and the others followed promptly.

As Sai watched Ninoa being carried off by Kerrem, millions of thoughts and images went though his head. When she'd said his name before passing out... then seeing her being carried off.... "I don't know why I am feeling this way, but I have to know if she is alright." Sai clenched his fist as he jumped up and ran after Kerrem. He caught up to the swordsman with ease because he was faster than most humans. "I am sorry, Ninoa," Sai muttered to himself as he ran.

The Knights responded quickly, far more quickly than Ninoa had hoped for, for their interfering magic affected Mazoku power as well. The Captain, the only one other than Ninoa who had not lost his balance (though he had been holding onto a beam), scowled. Another Mazoku, the thought went through the link. Swords and armor took on a different sheen as they compensated for the new threat.

In spite of the speed of the response, Lina and Co. were also known for their ability to flee at high speeds. Which was what they were doing, with a posse of high-speed Null Knights hot on their tails.

At the edge of the smoke, unnoticed, stood a blue-cloaked figure. It wasn't drawing attention to itself, but it was watching the fight intently. More specifically, it was watching Lina. "Hmm... red hair... short... black shoulder guards... short temper... Yes, it's her. At last." Through the smoke, a faint reddish gleam shone on the figure's forehead.

What to do? Oni asked himself. He could teleport away, but he was being watched. The Knights could probably call him right back if they watched him disappear. He needed a diversion.

He looked straight at Dobal, then plucked him up. "Do us a favor, Dobal," he said.

"Boss?" Dobal asked in surprise. Oni smiled under his mask, and hurled Dobal into the oncoming arrows. "BOSSSS!" the small man yelled as he flew into the night sky.

"Bye!" said Oni as he transported himself, Briar, and Lazar to the outskirts of the city.

"Look at that," said one of the Knights as a small figure was impaled by a mass of arrows.

Red finally made his way back to Kytares Arena. Where he'd been supposed to win back his championship belt today. But sadly, due to Lina and her friends' shenanigans, his match had been cancelled.

He was furious. He'd been working hard for months to get that belt back. That redhead had cost him everything; his life was ruined. He wasn't ever going to let this go.

Red slowly took out a microphone, pressed it to his lips, and started a speech. "Finally... The Red has come back to the Kytares Arena! And The Red has a complaint! About a four-foot-seven-inch, bra size AAA, parlor-trick loving rooty poo candied ass by the name of Lina Inverse!"

The emotion in his voice was at fever pitch. "Lina Inverse, you must think you're real cute, hitting Red with a Dragon Slave. Well, the fact of the matter is, whether it's ONE Dragon Slave, one HUNDRED, one THOUSAND, or one MILLION, it DOESN'T MATTER! No matter how many you throw, RED WILL JUST KEEP COMING! You ruined Red Okonagi's only chance at the belt and Red is not happy. And now... seeing as how Red has nothing to lose or to gain... Red thinks he'll go have a little fun! It's a little fun game I call LAYING THE SMACKDOWN ON LINA INVERSE'S CANDIED ASS!"

Holding his head high, he continued. "Lina Inverse, you may be one of the greatest mages in the world, but what you are not and NEVER will be is THE MOST ELECTRIFYING MAN IN FIGHTING ENTERTAINMENT! That's right, you will NEVER reach the plateau of greatness known to all as RED'S PLATEAU! Anyone who makes it there will be TRULY ELECTRIFYING... but YOU WILL NEVER MAKE IT THERE BECAUSE YOU ABSOLUTELY SUCK!"

He finished off his speech with his signature phrase, before throwing down the microphone and walking away from the empty arena. "IF YA SMELLLLL... WHAT THE RED... IS COOKING!"

Lina's eyebrow twitched a bit as she ran. It had been faint... and in the distance... but she would know that distinctively irritating cry anywhere. Gourry winked, and she knew she was ready. With a grin she cried, "Back away!" and her friends all knowingly ran like hell.

With her eyes open wide and her attention focused on that faraway voice, she called out, "For the people's entertainment... DRAGON SLAVE!" The spell almost fizzled out, but it was very satisfying to watch it impact in the distance.

She was tired now. Two Dragon Slaves so soon after each other always tired her out... but it had been worth it. Ah, the stress was once again lifted from her shoulders...

Gourry winced as he whispered to the group, "Don't worry... she's always like this when people put her in a bad mood." Then he held his head as Lina thwacked him with her fist.

Whimpering again, Lyssa got up and blipped out away from the warehouse and the Knights. Pretty much the same way she'd met Sai... only this time she was phasing out instead of popping in out of nowhere.

What the hell WAS Lyssa? Wings you could only see in certain lights when she was leaping from tree to tree... freaky magic... a freakier sword which everyone has yet to be introduced to... and this really strange guardian protector.

Moments later, sitting in the Time Gate, safe and sound, Lyssa watched the group she had left in the normal world through a tiny viewing orb. Frowning, she shifted nervously. "This can't be good." A voice called to her from somewhere else in the Time Gate... frown deepening, she put the orb away and looked quietly up at a rather intimidating man (think Sephiroth, make him 7'5" and put him in blood red priestly robes).

"What are you doing?"

"Nuthin...," she replied.

"Obviously you're doing something, Innocence." He frowned and squatted beside her. "You're worried about your friends?"

"A little... but they aren't really my friends. I dun think they even like me."

The man paused. "Then go help them and find out." He ruffled her hair as he stood. "I've got things I need to do."

Her face brightening instantly, Lyssa looked up at the man again. "Really, Vision? I can? You won't be mad at me?"

He shrugged and walked off. Lyssa, now smiling in an almost impish manner, blinked back to the group, ready to help in any way she possibly could, not worried about being beaten when she returned this time.

The group didn't notice the rapid disappearance and reappearance of Lyssa. As they ran as fast as they could from the pursuing knights, Filia had a thought. "Hey, where's that weirdo who kept saying 'Jupiter'?"

"Jupiter. Jupiter. Jupiter...."

Renzzoku was sitting alone with the one Null Knight the captain had left to guard him. The knight was getting quite bored. "Great... always stuck with guard duty...." He sighed and turned to his assignment. "So... what's your problem."

The redhead looked up at him, grinning evilly. He growled. "Jupiter...."

Jumping, the knight yipped. "Agh! Don't do that!"

Renzzoku began to cackle with insane glee as his voice got deeper and deeper. His eyes began to glow.

"AGHH!"

The knights were beginning to catch up. Lina was getting angry. "Grrr! Why don't they all just go AWAY?" she growled and sped up. The rest of the group struggled to do the same. Except for Sai, of course, with his superhuman speed.

Filia heard something behind them. "What was that? Sounded like a big thumping noise...."

*THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP*

"There it is again! Anyone else hear that?"

Suddenly, behind the knights appeared the giant form of a large grey dragon. Filia yelled at the group to look. Everyone simultaneously did so, and sweatdropped.

The dragon quickly overtook the knights, leaping over them and scooping up Lina and company, then taking flight.

"Wah...?" Lina blinked, being scooped up. "What now?!" Things were only getting crazier. Looking back, the rest of the group on the dragon's back looked just as confused....

Meanwhile Gourry was looking down below and pointing at things as they got smaller and farther away.

A fair distance behind the dragon flew what might have appeared to its human cargo as a speck. In reality, it was a blue-cloaked human, one that was, at the moment, quite agitated.

Even at top speed, he thought, I'm losing them. But.... He grimaced and channeled even more magic into his Ray Wing spell. He couldn't afford to lose this dragon, not now. The red gem in his forehead glinted slightly as he accelerated.

As Lina and the group were flying away, they suddenly heard something... which they hadn't been expecting to hear.

"CAN YA SMELLLLLL... WHAT THE RED... IS COOKING!" It was Red Okonagi's theme music once more. The wrestler in question appeared abruptly, soaring through a gap in the clouds on a hoverboard. Don't ask where he gets all his cool stuff; it is not for mere mortals to question such things....

When the hoverboard approached closely enough, Red jumped off, soaring straight onto the broad back of Renzzoku the dragon. He was furious, with eyes wide open, and ready to attack. He hit the startled Lina with a flying clothesline, then started hitting and punching away at her.

Lina was angry. And damn, that hurt. "ALRIGHT!" she said, sitting up quickly and throwing him off her as best she could. Her face looked... well... dangerous. She screamed in fury as she began to pound him back, both of them getting banged up. She didn't even use her magic, knowing she really didn't want to fry her friends... or their ride. They battled on.... "I'm getting sick of this!"

Gourry blinked, then sighed. Remembering he was Lina's protector, he pulled the two apart easily. "Alright!" He began, eyeing the two. Then he looked at Red. "I can't let you hurt her, mister."

"YOU LITTLE SMALL BREASTED PIECE OF DRAGON CRAP!" Red yelled in fury as he glared at Lina. "YOU RUINED MY TITLE SHOT AND NOW I'M GOING TO RUIN THAT PIECE OF CRAP YOU CALL A FACE!" But first things came first; he turned around and attempted to lay the smackdown on Gourry, who was doing his best to stand in the way.

Filia at this point was pretty angry at Red. Since when did these fights become so very stupid? She let out a large sigh. This was helping no one; what's more, all this interference from this wrestler was keeping her away from her child! She was most definitely not in a happy mood. "Listen here, Red-san," she said, her voice finally becoming vaguely menacing. "You are keeping me from my son. I would appreciate it if you would STOP!" She reached for her mace as a potent warning of things to come.

Getting angry at all the movement and fighting up on his back, the dragon reached up with one hand, closing up the wrestler in his right palm and squeezing it just tight enough for zero light. A deep-throated chuckle emitted from between his massive dragon teeth.

Red screamed in anger, as he was getting crushed. He might be strong, but this was really hurting. He screamed and groaned in pain, but slowly got one arm free and began, with his last bit of strength, to punch away at the dragon's hand, hoping it would eventually let go.

De'Esem sighed and shook his head. He was standing in the window of Metcliff's empty apartment. Behind him, the sleeping form of Val-chan shifted as though the boy were in a bad dream.

"This won't do." He glanced back at the boy. "At this rate, your mommy will miss her chance to get you back. And I will not provide her another chance." He smiled darkly. "Would you like your mommy back?"

Red was surprisingly strong. He finally managed to get the leverage needed to pry Renzzoku's hand apart, although the most Red could do was keep from being squished. Renzzoku was amused by this and watched it intently, fascinated. Which meant that Renzzoku wasn't paying much attention to what was in front of him either. After all, he was flying and nothing smaller than another dragon could impede his progress. Right...?

De'Esem studied the city layout from his bird's-eye view, gauging where he felt Lina and her gang needed to be, with respect to the other pieces. That figured out, he looked at the obliviously oncoming dragon and crossed his arms.

"Hello," Renzzoku heard, and glanced up in time to see a shadowed figure chop down at his nose. The force in that blow knocked him out of the sky, almost instantaneously slamming him into the ground far below.

It took a second for gravity to catch up with the rest of the party. It caught them right at about the same time that they realized their ride was no longer under them, at least in the sense that they wanted it to be. Luckily, they weren't high enough for the fall to really hurt them. Plus, the dragon absorbed most of the shock for them.

Still standing around in the streets of Kytares, Tim continued explaining the situation to Briar. "End result, we are now wanted by the city guard. That's too bad, really; our host managed to rent a whole bunch of hotel rooms in my name. So what do you propose we do about it?" Tim asked.

"Same thing we always do, Tim, dear." She smiled. "Save their butts."

"Huh?"

Suddenly, there was a streak of light and an explosion several blocks over. "What was that?" If Tim didn't know better, he'd say it sounded an awful lot like... a dragon hitting the pavement at a very high velocity.

Growling in a rather pissed off manner and completely ignoring his fallen passengers, Renzzoku proceded to search around for his attacker. One thing went through his mind. "MAZOKU! I CAN SMELL IT! IT'S A FREAKING MAZOKU!" An ear-splitting howl erupted from his throat as he continued his search.

Lina rubbed her rear end in pain after that abrupt and unexpected landing. "Damnit..." she cried. Everyone, as far as she could tell, was in the middle of a small impact crater, caused when the dragon had crashed to the ground. She looked around and spotted the dragon they had been riding; then she looked to Filia, and back again. "Alright," she yelled, trying to get the big dragon's attention. "Where were we going? Who are you looking for? Why the hell was this looney attacking me?" She pointed to Red. "And finally...." Her voice rose to extreme levels. "WHAT THE HELL'S HAPPENING NOW?!"

Red took stock of his situation after recovering from the fall. He decided it would be all for the best if he made a strategic retreat. Just for now, of course. So the Most Electrifying Man in Fighting Entertainment turned tail and ran like heck.

Oni and the others, after escaping the bespelled arrows, ended up in the middle of the forest. The big monster was enraged. In his anger, he ripped up a tree by its roots and began to swing it around as if it were a bat, wiping out all the trees around him, all while yelling at the top of his lungs. "GRRRR! THIS STINKS! IT'S NOT FAIR! THIS WAS NOT PART OF MY PLAN! I DON'T LIKE THIS AT ALL! WHY IS EVERY ONE OUT TO KILL MEEEEEEEE?!"

"Because you're an evil, vile, heartless creature that spreads death and destruction wherever you go."

Oni stopped what he was doing, and stared at Lazar. "Who asked you, geezer?"

Lyssa rubbed her head, confused. She had apparently missed something. Why had the dragon crashed? Silent as any woodland elf, she moved up behind Kerrem. "Wha's goin on?"

Frustrated now, Renzzoku gave up his search. He growled with vigor as he reverted to human form. "Ugh...." He winced, finally noticing how much his back hurt. "Son of a mother...." Rubbing his back, he staggered over to where the group had gathered after falling. "Uh... sorry 'bout that. Someone knocked me outta the air." The group nodded quietly in understanding.

Lina sighed. Renzzoku had broken their fall for the most part, but.... "My ass...," she whined. She pointed behind the dragon-turned-human, away from his impact crater and towards a rather nice inn. "If only...," she began, thinking of eating and drinking... and a nice warm bath.... "Damn them!" she said, remembering the city guard and the Knights who were after their hides. They wouldn't let her relax in an inn, would they? She began to growl.

But Lina didn't let herself dwell on it too long. She quickly looked over the group, making sure everyone was here and okay. Of course Briar was still missing, and in danger. So was little Valgaarv, come to think of it.... Gourry and Filia seemed fine. Renzzoku the dragon was muttering something about his back. The swordsman, Kerrem, who'd joined them just a short while ago, was carrying Ninoa; she looked quite a bit the worse for wear. The blue-haired elf girl -- Lyssa, was it? -- was standing nearby. And then there was Sarino, staring into space despite Rill doing his best to get his attention. But where was Sai? And what about... Tim! She suddenly realized she hadn't seen him around for ages. Frowning, she scouted among the rubble in the streets for any sign of the young Collector.

While Lyssa watched, Kerrem set the unconscious Ninoa down gently. Looking at the Mazoku girl, who she'd fondly nicknamed 'The Nice-Lady', Lyssa whimpered. "I-I could try a healing spell... see if that wakes her up... do you think it'd work?" She looked at Kerrem as if asking permission to try; her eyes, usually a deep purple, were now a swirl of aqua and lavender.

"Go ahead, I'm not gonna stop you," Kerrem told her.

Sai suddenly appeared next to Kerrem, kneeling down next to Ninoa and checking to see if she was okay. "Everything is going wrong," he muttered, then smiled fondly at her. "You did enough, so rest and regain your strength." He wondered why he cared so much about her.

Lyssa smiled at Sai, then rested her hands over Ninoa. She chanted a fast spell and let it do its work, not healing so much as restoring lost energy. When she was finished, she smiled a little and stood up. But strangely enough, her smile didn't seem to be very happy.

Kerrem glanced over at Lyssa. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing's wrong with me... I'm just worried about Miss Ninoa." Pale brows knitted together to form a furrow, giving Lyssa the first halfway serious expression anyone had seen her with. "She won't answer me... and... I still don't think she trusts me...."

Kerrem, trying to change the subject, quickly asked, "Anyone hungry?"

Lyssa's tummy grumbled in a rather Lina-esque manner. "Um... maybe some crackers... or... a boar... or, um... a three course meal would be nice...."

"A three course meal?" Suddenly Lina herself was interested. "Where?"

Filia rubbed her bum; it truly did hurt from that fall. At least they'd tried... but merely trying wouldn't get them to safety. "Let's get going once again," she said, rising to her feet on wobbly legs. "I'll transform, and so can Ren, okay?" She blushed a bit. "But... can you please... all turn around. When I change, for a few minutes I...." She covered her face in embarrasment.

Ren nodded, blushing a bit himself. "Uhm... yeah. You can lead off... I guess." He scratched his head and smiled rather stupidly. Suddenly his face was as red as his hair.

Lina shook her head at Filia, then turned around. Then she grabbed Gourry's arm, also twirling him around, while he only tilted his head in confusion. A sigh escaped her lips as she glanced to the others. "Food sounds like a good idea to me but... UGH!" She pounded the dirt under her with her foot and pouted. "We gotta save Briar. She owes me dinner when she's found, dammit!" And with that, it was decided. At least, in Lina's eyes anyway.

"H-Hai...," Filia managed, and then realized something was missing. "The book!" she cried out in distress, as she searched frantically. "I must find the book! Tim-san trusted me!" She fell to her knees, eyes filling with tears. "Where could it...." She took a sip from a teacup that appeared from out of nowhere. That's when she had a sudden urge to glance down to her left. "The book!" she cried out, setting down the tea and scrambling towards it. Quickly she opened it, and then gasped. "It says that Briar's been found! Tim found her!"

The clink and jangle of armor interupted her. Above the group, on the lip of the impact crater, the captain surveyed the scene stoically. "Just how much damage do you plan to do?" He shook his head. "We tried this peacefully, tried to talk with you, but... but...." His eyes snapped up, the fury in them causing Lina to blanch. "Take them. Leave one or two alive for questioning." And again, the Null Knights charged.

Kerrem stood protectively over Ninoa, ready to fight. "They are begining to get on my nerves," he said in a half growl.

These empty houses filling the underground city were really starting to creep the redheaded girl out.

It hadn't taken her long to find a few with their doors and windows conveniently left open... she wasn't sure if something as minor as opening a door would call down the wrath of the city on her head, but it was best not to push it, she figured.

The thing was, there wasn't anything IN the houses to warrant her attention. They were just... houses. It was as if someone had been living in them just yesterday, and had left for a short visit with relatives up the country... there wasn't even any dust on the tabletops and shelves.

She'd been expecting, with the spooky atmosphere of the underground city and all, that they'd be full of arcane secrets and lore, as well as treasure of all kinds. But so far the only treasure she'd seen was silverware set out on a table as if for a meal. She'd have taken a few forks, but as treasure went, silverware was hardly worthy of her attention. And of the few books she'd seen, the one open on someone's bedside table (the bed beside it perfectly made) had been a trashy romance. Hardly the stuff of sorcerors' dreams. Well, not the kind they actually TOLD people about....

Now that she'd checked out several houses, she was beginning to suspect that there was nothing here for her. Probably the only thing worth finding in the entire city was whatever Arcius and the others were searching for right now. Yet another reason to leave the houses behind and join up with the group once again.

Which was perfectly fine with her. If she stayed here a second longer, the eerie feeling of being about to bump into the nonexistent occupants of the house was going to start to get to her.

Her mind made up, she turned on her heels and walked out of the last house she'd been exploring, past the sitting room with bad artwork framed up on its walls, past the toys that a young child might have been playing with just a few minutes ago, past the kitchen with sprays of herbs hanging from the ceiling to dry and the bowl full of artfully arranged fruit on a table.

She didn't even notice herself snagging a shiny red apple from the plate and biting into it as she vaulted out through the open window.

"You know, I would have been happier guarding the seal instead of the bard. Who knows what he'll be up to?" Tim said to Zelgadis as they were searching for Lina. Before Zelgadis could respond, Tim blacked out, but recovered soon after he hit the floor. "So much for trying to block it out. It's getting worse, not better. Although you holding the book DID help. That's why you separated me from the rest of the party. It's that damn book again, isn't it?"

The chimera nodded. "It gave off a light back there." Producing the book, he raised a silvery eyebrow and said, "All we can do is look inside," then proceeded to do just that. Flipping the pages, all looked normal to the golem until he reached the final entry. Inscribed on the page were the words, "I FOUND BRIAR!" Shrugging, Zelgadis held up the page for Tim to see. "I suppose you have absolutely no idea what this means."

"Briar... Briar Rose. One of the memories I can't trust. I think she's an illusionist or something like that. One thing's for certain; that book came dangerously close to upsetting the spirits. I should not have come here. I'm endangering the group," Tim said, still fighting his headaches.

Out in the streets of Kytares, Tim was getting really dizzy, just the sort of dizziness that everyone around you can't help but notice. He began to black out, but recovered just as he started to fall. He pulled himself together and accidentally found himself snapping at Briar. "THAT was the doing of the Tim Grey who rented all those rooms. I don't know what he thinks he's up to, but it stops RIGHT now. Let's go."

With that, Tim slowly headed towards the catacombs, the source of it all, trying his damndest to block out the pain that was increasing with every step....

Geltro had waited for the inevitable cries of terror and maiming. Admittedly, he hadn't waited LONG, but he WAS young, and the lone red-head was a PRIME opportunity. Having rationalized the situation to himself, Geltro stealthily re-entered the city.

He failed to find the sorceress he sought, though, instead finding the most gaudily dressed man he had ever seen. Alone. Well, how nice. My primary goal, all unguarded. The fates smile on me today. With that, Geltro began moving with no more noise than a shadow. He insinuated himself into a tiny space next to Arcius, and pulled a blackjack from his belt. Time to earn me a bonus, lute-boy. He pulled his arm back to strike.

Briar slipped Tim's arm over her shoulder, helping him along. Tim was going to be useless. And if they were going up against the Null Knights, her illusions would be even less useful. From what she had gathered during the few times when her spells had been active, the rest of the group was in big trouble.

As far as Oni went, she couldn't care less. The Mazoku was a fool. Her illusionary self there would play the part as long as it took.

They rounded a corner and there was what she had been looking for: a catacomb entrance. She sat Tim down against the wall at the entrance. "Wait here, Tim. I'll go bring the others."

Tim nodded and cast his invisibility spell again as a precaution. He would be in no shape to help Briar this time. "They know you're with me, Briar. I gave my book to Filia. If you must go, be safe, okay?" Tim said softly.

Over her shoulder, she looked back and winked. "Sure thing!"

She moved away quickly. Null Knights. Great. Against them, her spells would be useless. Even her tricks of weaving nothing over something wouldn't work. She wished Tim were better. At least his spells provided effective distraction. She grinned to herself as she pondered it.

There was something her spells could do, something no one else could. It would work, if for no other reason than Lina was competent. Everyone else might be numbskulls most of the time, but they were competent enough to follow Lina's lead. It would work as long as Lina got here before the Null Knights did.

It was a big spell, big in the sense of area it had to affect. Not her most difficult spell, but enough to warrant a change in her routine. She gestured with her arms for a few second and spoke a word. "See."

In the sky above Kytares, a massive sign suddenly appeared. It was rectangular and white. Bordering it was a gleaming, brightly glowing series of alternating stripes, rotating like a barber shop pole, only yellow and blue in color. The message itself flashed blindingly in red lights. At the base of the sign was a giant arrow, long enough that it ended about fifteen feet above the gound, flashing in a sequence of orange and white lights.

The message read, "HEY LINA, GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE!!" Briar set it so the arrow pointed at an intersection a block away from her, and waited.

Gourry launched himself towards the Knights along with Kerrem, while Lina hung back. She already knew her magic would be useless against these enemies. Things were not going well.

Renzzoku roared in frustration at the sudden attack. Filia clutched Tim's book and sipped deliriously at a cup of tea, the stress too much for her to handle. Lyssa pulled out a sword and looked ready to join the fight. Sai crouched protectively by the still-unconscious Ninoa. Sarino was still dazed. And Rill....

Shrouded within the shadows of their surroundings, Rill set narrowed sights at the group, a hiss and a growl just barely tempered from passing snarling lips. Rip them asunder, strike out at them all, his angered blood cried. A lover, not a fighter. It was himself that he was most enraged at, not being able to help during a battle. Not a fault of his own really, for it was in his power to soothe the ache of a needy heart. Nay, it was his duty and lot in life to prevent loneliness, to fill the void one may feel in their soul. Fill it, for just a little while if that was required. But since joining this little band of misfits, which had at first consisted of those who practically screamed for his efforts, his abilities had been wasted. The long awaited chance of evoking his sacred skill of Bonding was a joke. His tail lashed at that thought, and he glowered.

Disgusted by himself, and by his own failed Bonded, Rill spun about and departed in a growled huff. Sticking to the darkness, Rill dropped to all fours, tearing off at great speed into the unknown underground. "As soon as I can, I'll be rid of these filthy things from my mind," he hissed, speaking of the Bonds still linking him and them.

Lina groaned. No, things were not going well at all.

Ninoa looked around and saw mist. She then saw a figure in the distance. "Excuse me," she spoke to the figure, "could you help me? I'm a bit lost at the moment."

The figure's speech couldn't be made out, but Ninoa could hear a horrible sound bellow from the figure's mouth.... "OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Ninoa awoke screaming as she squeezed the closest thing nearby with a strong grip. It was a dream... or was that a flashback?

Lyssa lowered her sword and looked at Ninoa, blinking. "Wha's wrong with her?"

Sai switched his attention rapidly to Ninoa as she woke up screaming. "What is wrong? Don't worry, it is only a bad dream. It will pass," he said attentively. "You know you really did a great thing back there. You should take it easy." Sai then stood up and offered his hand to Ninoa to help her up.

"Um... thank you." Ninoa blushed and took Sai's hand.

Sai smirked as he helped Ninoa get to her feet. "There. Take it easy for now, okay?" Sai then looked around. They were still in the middle of a battle, and while Gourry and Kerrem were very good swordsmen, they were hardly able to take care of all the Null Knights by themselves. "Something tells me we are not out of the woods yet." Sai's expression was very serious.

Suddenly there was an enormous flash of brightness in the sky. Lina blinked, taken aback by the weird colourful lights. "What the hell's that?" she murmured. Then she took a closer look... and the brilliantly coloured message made itself clear to her. "Everybody, THIS WAY!" she yelled, making a dash for it. It might be a trap, but... Gah! Like she had a choice at this point! Her cape trailed behind her as she ran into the distance... and toward Briar.

Metcliff studied the barrier in front of him. He was standing in a large chamber with a passage that led to the undercity, although a different one than the one used by the heroes. It was glowing a shimmery, translucent green. Cautiously, he reached out to it. His hand passed through without so much as a tingle.

"Now, you fool," he said softly. "I'll show you what it is to mock the wielder of the Blade of Night!" He began to chuckle. "I'll feed you to the dogs!" His laughter rang out, echoing back up the passageway.

De'Esem smiled at the sleeping Val-chan in his arms. It wasn't a particularly pleasant smile and as though realizing that, Val-chan twisted in his slumber. "Come, my little dragon whelp. Let us descend to the catacombs and witness the tapestry weave itself." His smile became something that was almost human, almost warm. "And meet your mother, if she plays her part well." There was a momentary flicker of darkness, and both were gone.

As Geltro swung, Arcius, for some reason, leaned down to look at something. Geltro's swing missed, but the stealthy lad pulled his arm back into the shadows with the same speed and noiselessness he had swung it with. Arcius straightened, looking both ways cautiously as though he felt someone watching him. Geltro remained motionless, lest his movement attract attention.

Drat. This bard is as blessed as I was led to expect. Nobody's lucky forever, though. Until his friends come back, I have all the time in the world. This silent thought allowed Geltro to relax and take his time with this important task.

The strum of the lute picked up again, and Geltro moved into place, again raising his arm to strike. This time, a different thing distracted him. A pop/whosh sort of noise off to his left, it was. Both he and the bard turned to look, although Geltro had to backpedal to the shadows quickly.

The apparition that appeared was strange looking. It consisted of a long thin stick for its upper four-fifths. Its lower fifth consisted of a large, bushy mass of straight fibers bound to the stick part. About a quarter of the way down the stick part, a long spindly arm jutted out, one on each side. The bushy fiber mass at the bottom parted down the middle into a pair of makeshift legs. It was, in short, a walking broom with arms.

Immediately after the first one appeared, there was the same noise, and another appeared, then another, and another and so on until there were ten of them lined up.

"Ten?" Arcius said. "More company has followed us than I expected."

Seven of them began a surprisingly swift march down the street, breaking off so that three went after Lina, Jin, and Constance; two broke off down the street Tim and Zelgadis were after; one for Eric; and the final one marched on towards one of the stairways that descended into the city. One of them suddenly began to fly, zooming up towards some unseen target. The remaining two oriented themselves, one on Arcius and one on Geltro, who was still hidden.

"Drat!" With that, Arcius hightailed off, a broom chasing after him.

How do those things know I'm here? thought Geltro in a near panic. Dammit, that fool Bard's sloppy friends are going to get us all killed. Not even bothering to hide from the brooms, Geltro ran down the fastest route he could find that avoided the path Arcius was following. He made no attempt to 'lose the broom in the sidestreets'. This was the broom's hometown after all. Sort of. Rats rats rats rats ra.... Geltro tried to think of a spell that would help. Not many came to mind.

"Lina! LINA!" The voices of the searchers echoed and re-echoed through the streets of the ghostly city. "WHERE ARE YOU?"

The sound of rapidly approaching footsteps made Jin and Constance pause. Then they saw their target, coming out from behind what might have been a shop, if anyone had been inside selling the wares displayed in its window. "THERE you are!" snapped the red-haired sorceress brightly, tossing an apple core over her shoulder as she jogged towards them. "Where'dja go? I've been lookin' for ya for AGES!"

Finally reaching the couple, she stood facing them, arms akimbo. "So, are we gonna get back to the others or what?"

Constance looked back and forth between Jin and the red-headed sorceress. "Well, now that we've found you," she started, but Lina cut her off by giving her a look. "Ahem! I mean, you found us... anyway, we should go find the others before they start to worry. Yeah, that's it...."

Lina shrugged off the statement as satisfactory and began leading the way towards some general direction. Constance and Jin just shrugged and followed, as there wasn't much else for them to do.

A rather loud rumbling stopped the party in its tracks. It wasn't earth-shaking or anything, but it sounded odd compared to the silence of the city....

Constance blushed as the other two realized where the sound had come from and were now staring at her. "Sorry, guys, it's just that I'm a little hungry...."

"Well," Allen began, "maybe somebody should have eaten her breakfast like a good little girl." He snickered as he saw the familiar look in her eyes. She was pissed.

Jin chuckled slightly, but stopped when his stomach growled loudly as well. A sweatdrop appeared on the back of his head. "Heh.... Guess you're not the only one hungry...."

"You're hungry?" said the young sorceress flippantly. "I feel like I haven't eaten in HOURS!" Eager to get back on track, she kept up her pace through the silent streets, her two companions hard-pressed to keep up with her. "I mean, I could really go for a steak dinner or ten right now. Whaddaya bet that one of these shops or buildings or whatever was a restaurant once?"

Keeping up a steady stream of food-themed chatter all the way, she eventually reached a broad intersection. She halted in the dead centre of the criss-crossing streets, then turned around and peered down each of the streets in turn, her long red hair tossing about as she abruptly turned one way, then another. All four of the streets looked pretty much the same to her. In fact, she couldn't even tell which direction she'd come from.... "So where exactly are we going?" she asked, a little sheepishly. Maybe she should have asked for directions a bit sooner.

Constance replied simply by shrugging her shoulders and replying, "Sorry, I'm the wrong person to ask... I'm not quite sure. All these streets look the same."

Then, the ominous brooms approached our three heroes. Jin warned the others with a "Look out!" and was able to dodge one of them. Lina succeeded as well, but Constance wasn't so lucky....

She cried out in surprise as one started to sweep her down the street. Desperate to keep from being pushed by the thing, she grabbed onto the nearest object to her--a doorhandle on a nearby building--in an attempt to steady herself. It broke off with a jerk, giving Constance a chance to get away from her attacker while it tended to the damage she had caused. She quickly ran towards Lina and Jin, who were trying to avoid the other two household items that were pursuing them.

The chimera replaced the book, saying with his usual stoicism, "It's too late now. We'll have to fight the spirits eventually anyway." He looked evenly at Tim. "And sooner rather than later if we don't find Lina." Zelgadis crossed his arms, looking around. "She didn't come this way, I think. Everything's intact." He added, "Where do you think those memories are coming from, anyway?"

Then, eyes narrowing at a sound coming from down the street, Zel took hold of his sword. He turned just in time to see a pair of brooms with arms running towards them.

Tim pulled out his sword. "So much for a peaceful visit. Zel, if I knew where or WHO the memories are coming from, I'd be a lot happier. I'm hoping they aren't true. Actually, I'm praying they're not true. If they are, the Sleepless Ones may be the least of our troubles. I just wish the attacks would stop."

Zelgadis briefly considered the nature of his opponents, then almost off-handedly slashed one in half with his sword. Barely pausing, he did the same to the other. "Heh. Some guardians."

Tim zipped sideways and tapped Zel's shoulder with his fingertips, "Umm... Zelgadis...." Sweatdropping, the Collector said, "Look behind you?"

Where there had been four broom-halves, now there were four whole brooms.

Metcliff stared at the apparition in front of him. With a scornful laugh, he lopped it in two. "This was the power holding me back?" Suddenly, the two pieces became two brooms, which promptly began tearing each other into shreds. He sweatdropped as he watched this curious spectacle. And suddenly, there were scores of the brooms, each moving on Metcliff.

Eric, from where he was hiding, saw a giant walking broom approaching him. Thinking quickly, he shouted, "DARK CLAW!", casting the spell at the ground. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) the spell failed miserably, missing the ground completely and blasting out the side of a building. Eric sweat-dropped, sighed, ran towards the broom and leapt over it. And, once landed, slipped into the shadows of a nearby alley, still ready to run at a moment's notice, but also trying to keep his quarry in sight, waiting for the signal.

The broom, for its part, immediately went over to the mess and began to try to clean it up. Suddenly, however, it stopped and whacked itself against the road, hard enough to break. And the replication process repeated itself. Soon there were dozens of brooms, some of them heading towards Eric, some heading as reinforcements for the other brooms, and the remainder repairing the damage.

Eric looked at the approaching brooms and said a few profane words before running down the street, unknowingly towards those he had recently been stalking. Not bothering to risk any more spells (who KNOWS what else could go wrong), he decided to just keep running.

Arcius ran swiftly away from the brooms, looping the block and heading back to the temple. Hopefully someone would be there. Otherwise, he would have to break the seal, and that would be greatly unlucky.

"YAAAAAAAAAH!"

Things were not going well, no, not going well at all. The petite sorceress yelled as she dashed off down the mazelike streets of the city, followed constantly by the ominous sound of sweeping.

She'd lost track of her two companions a while ago, and was now on her own; this didn't do a thing to calm her frazzled nerves. She'd been startled at the appearance of these bizarre magical guardians (who wouldn't?) and she hadn't been able to stop running since, not even long enough to cast a Flare Arrow or two. Plus, she was starting to develop a serious cramp.

Up ahead, she suddenly noticed, was an enormous building, sticking out like a sore thumb from the rest of the city with its giant columns and polished marble steps. It seemed like just as good a destination as any, so she raced towards it with all the speed she could muster.

"Lina and Jin must have rounded a corner or something, because I can't find them anywhere," Constance said out loud a few blocks later. After the doorknob incident, she had figured out that the best way to distract these things was to cause as much structural damage as possible, then run for you life--which she was good at. She now saw a couple of brooms heading towards the alley she had ducked into, so she found a nearby doorway and ducked inside the house, hoping that they wouldn't find her.

"You need to find the others, and you need to find them now," Allen told her, although he knew he was stating the obvious. "It looks like the brooms passed us...let's go."

Constance slowly made her way out onto the main street again. She stopped and took a quick look around. "Let's see...I would probably find someone at a major landmark-type place...." Then her eyes fell on the temple. "Aha! I just know I'll find someone there...if not, it'll be a great place to hide."

Constance ran towards the temple and bumped into Arcius from behind. "Arcius? Oh, thank goodness I've found you!"

"Lady Constance? Thank heavens!" Arcius grabbed her arm and began running up the stairs. "Hurry up! The sooner we do the ritual, the sooner we can get out of this place." At the top, he pointed at the smaller structure. "Enact the ritual; I shall watch your back." A shout from behind alerted the two to Lina's presence. "Lady Inverse! Hurry and join us!" Looking at Constance, still beside him, "Go!"

Out of breath and puffing, Lina looked up at the bard, who had his rapier drawn. "What's goin' on?" she wheezed.

"Someone disturbed something of the city and triggered the protective spell on this place about five minutes before they should have. We need to protect Constance so she can unseal the dormant power here, since I did not have the time to teach you the ritual." With that, and a smile, he turned to face the brooms that had been following Lina.

Constance wasn't too sure about doing this without the others present, but she had seen firsthand what those brooms were capable of. She didn't want to see what else would be in store for them if she didn't do this.

"Okay," she said to herself, taking a deep breath. "Here goes nothing...."

"Hurry, we haven't much time!" the bard shouted impatiently. And with that, she started the chant.

"So we've gotta protect Constance? You can count on me!" the sorceress said with a confident grin. Now that she was back with her companions, even if only a couple of them, the weird broom-like city guardians didn't seem nearly as frightening. Not that she'd been frightened of them in the first place, no, of course she hadn't.

As Arcius faced the broom-men, rapier in hand, the sorceress did a quick chant. She knew exactly what kind of spell to use against these particular apparitions. These apparitions made entirely out of wood and straw....

"Flare Arrow!" A blazing bow appeared in her hands, and she sent a shard of flame towards the nearest broomstick, chuckling to herself.

However, the guardian simply stood there and waited for the girl's fire spell... her incredibly tiny little fire spell... to hit it. Then it raised one wooden hand and patted out the small spark before continuing its relentless advance. She stared at it in disbelief. How could her spell -- in fact, now that she thought about it, pretty much all her spells today -- have been so pathetic? Why, it was almost as if... as if it were that time of the....

With a worried frown, she began counting off on her fingertips. "...twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight.... Dammit! How could I've forgotten...!"

By this point, the bard was staring at her and sweatdropping even while engaged in heated battle with three of the broom-guardians at once.

Her face was suddenly plastered with a quite fake and rather nervous grin, and she quickly whipped out her recently-purchased, gem-encrusted sword. "Ha ha! Magic's wasted on these creeps! I needed to practice my swordsmanship anyway!" With that, she charged forward, swinging wildly.

Geltro, having had impressed upon him the hugeness of the magic of this place, did NOT double back. Firmly of the belief that discrescion was the better part of valour, he hot-footed it back to the stone bridge. Once there, he set about making some preparations. That lot will probably come back this way, should they survive. Weakened, panicked and running, they ought to be easy prey here, at this choke point. Of course, if they don't survive, I may have to use these 'special greetings' to stop the brooms....

Either way, a good investment in the small thief's mind.

As if to make Zelgadis's day complete, Tim dropped his sword and then nearly fell on it as he almost blacked out. Tim had managed to do something helpful, though. With his remaining strength, he cast a Shape Earth spell that simply buried the broom guardians.

"I think they will get out of it," Tim said hoarsely. "I need to get out of the catacombs. The longer I'm in here, the sicker I am getting. Hopefully, I bought us enough time."

Zelgadis nodded and sheathed his sword, then created a spherical shield around himself and Tim, bearing them aloft with a 'Rey Wing' enchantment. "Damn it! It must've been the bard -- we can't let Arcius get to the Power without us!" Tim just groaned and lolled slightly. Maybe I'll send him out with the shield after I get to Arcius.... On its sorcerous wings, the magic bubble zipped toward the temple at the center of town. Damn you, bard!

Tim held on to himself as if he was freezing. The battles he had been fighting were really taking a toll on him. He hoped that they would end soon; he hated to be weak like this. Of course, being weak and being unobservant were two different things. While Tim was puzzling out just how he was going to help the group in his current state, he spoke the following to the chimera. "Arcius won't. He can't. He needs us," Tim choked out. "I might be wrong, but I don't think that he's cast a single spell since we first met him. "

Zelgadis scowled. "Either way, we have to get to him and the others." Deciding against putting more magic toward speeding the bubble's flight, the chimera concentrated on weaving between the buildings for cover and concealment. Soon enough, the temple became visible over the rooftops around them.

Jin continued to look around the town. He'd been separated from the others while he wasn't paying attention. "Where'd Constance and the others go?" Suddenly, he was being pushed around by a bunch of those huge brooms with arms. "HEY! Knock it off!" He jumped away and held out his staff. "Fireball!" He smiled as the ball of fire flew towards the brooms. "Heh, eat that...."

Suddenly, one of them pulled out a bucket of water and threw it at the fireball, making it fizzle out. A sweatdrop appeared on the back of Jin's head. "Ah... I'll just be going now...." Jin then took off, toward what he hoped was the temple.

Off in the forest, a fire blazed in the dark. Over the flames, a fresh caught deer roasted. Oni watched the meat in a quiet manner. He sat alone. "Dumb ass," he grumbled out loud to himself. He reached out and ripped off one of the deer's four legs. He lowered his mask and took a large chunk out of the meat with his razor-sharp teeth.

As he chewed, he thought of how he'd been suckered in by that fake Briar. He had only realized she was an illusion because she'd been somewhat transparent during his little trip from the warehouse to here. Probably because of the Null Knights and their anti-magic spells.

And wouldn't you know it? As he'd been busy fuming about that, Lazar used the time to escape, after all that trouble he'd gone to catch him as well. "Probably ran off to get them," he said as he wiped the meat juice from his lips. He gazed into the fire. "Foolish old goat. I'll get him for this."

Oni dropped the leg and crawled up a tree. He then suspended himself from clawed feet, crossed his arms, and prepared to go to sleep.

"Don't pretend I'm not here!" said the illusion of Briar. Oni closed his eyes and didn't respond. He had been betrayed, had killed a helper, and lost his prize catch. It had been one of those nights.

The illusionary Briar had tried to explain it to the big lug, but he was extremely thick-headed. Which part of "I have all the power my mistress does, save for three spells," was he not getting?

"Ignoring me is a bad thing, Sir Oni," she said in a low voice. "I've fooled you once, completely, and if I choose, I could arrange for you to never deal with the real world again for the rest of your life."

The mazoku opened one eye. "Go away."

"'Fraid I can't do that. We made a deal; it's not my fault you weren't clear to the mistress on how you wanted her assistance." She smiled as his jaw clenched. At least now, she could get two words in edgewise. "Need proof of our loyalty? There's a rather interesting present I have for you, whenever you get your head out of your winged ass."

Both of Oni's eyes flashed. "Shut up!! Don't make me destroy you!"

"You can't do that, and both of us know that. I'm just as sorry about Dobal as you, and my style is about as opposite of yours as it gets, but you sought my help and I am, in my own fashion." He closed his eyes and made a pretense at ignoring her. "I could always let Lazar go, if you like."

Oni slowly opened his eyes and glanced at her. She had a little smirk on her face. He jumped down from the tree and looked her right in the eye. "What do you mean?" he asked, showing that she had his full attention.

The illusionary Briar's smirk grew. "I saw him leaving. As you were preoccupied raining curses on my name, I decided that the best way to prove my usefulness to you was to trap him in my own way, instead of merely pointing it out to you." She shrugged. "There are no components to my spells; I merely will it and it happens. In this respect, I am superior to my mistress." She could tell that she was boring the mazoku, so she got to the point. "I wove a spell over him, a subtle one. I tricked his perception of path and time. He's about half a mile away," and she pointed, "walking in a circular path, like he has been for the past four hours. He believes that it's been thirty minutes since he made good his escape. Would you like me to escort you to him?"

Oni stared at the illusionary Briar, then a smile crept on his face. He stepped out of her way, showing the path behind him. "Ladies first."

The illusion of Briar slipped past him. "The big lug is starting to get it," she said to herself. Suddenly, she felt something grab her shoulder. It was Oni's hand, the one that wore the black gauntlet. "What?" she asked.

"I smell something. Someone is watching us," he said.

"Again? Geez, everyone is coming after you!" the illusion complained.

"I just happen to have a bad rap with the world, that's all," he said. "This is a mild night compared to some others I've had." Oni surveyed the forest. "Come out and fight," he said in a low tone. A blunt object came flying from the shadows. It looked like a ball of cloth and sticks, but on further inspection, they both saw it was a body. Dobal's body. Oni's blood began to boil. "COWARD!" he yelled. "Come out and fight like a warrior!"

A man, clad in a slightly soiled cloak, a pair of slacks, and a long sleeved shirt, walked through the forest. His tattered hat, tilted slightly down above his eyes, covered his face with the shadow it cast. He walked as if he did not care about anything, as shown by him walking right through patches of thorny bushes leaving small scrapes here and there, but he didn't seem to notice them.

A strong man even for his size, he walked with an assured dignity. He was relatively average in height; his weight showed signs of fasting, and his muscles gave his flesh the look of strength. His black hair tumbled downward in an unkempt mess that was simply pushed back beneath the brim of his hat. At his side, he carried a sword, sheathed in a simple stitched leather cloth. However, it seemed to give off the eerie glow of an evil power within.

The gloves on his hands stretched as he continually balled his fingers into fists and back again, stretching his hands to pass the time as he walked. His sturdy boots were in good shape, having collected no tears from the thorn bushes, unlike the rest of his clothing.

The man sat underneath a tree, untied his water skin from his left side, took a large sip from it, then wiped his mouth with the side of his glove. He fished through his pack and picked a piece of stale bread from it, and proceeded to eat it as his ration for the afternoon's meal. He also picked up a piece of jerky he had bought at a village not too far from where he had travelled from, and ate a small piece of that as well. Though the man seemed poor, his coin purse stated otherwise. It was rather large; however, from how he was eating and the tears in his clothes, one would assume that he was actually rationing out his money for a long quest of some sort.

Slipping the bag back over his shoulder, and re-tying the water skin to his side, he set off once again towards a direction he felt was correct, but had no idea where it led....

A mile or so from where he'd sat, he stumbled upon a thick patch of berries. He picked up one, placed it on his tongue, and immediately spat it out. "Poisonous," he stated to himself. Then he picked a berry from another patch nearby, and swallowed that one. Nodding reassuringly to himself, he began picking the small red berries and placing them into a small sack he had at the ready for any such occurrence.

He looked up, as he suddenly overheard some people talking. He placed his bag away, and walked further toward the east, where he heard the voices coming from.

Looking from a few feet away, but still concealed in the vast, thick forest, he could see two people, but wasn't quite sure who they were. All he really saw was someone with reddish hair, and someone much larger who was grinning. But it wasn't the kind of grin that showed happiness; more the kind that showed trickery and self-knowledge of the truth. And a lot of very sharp teeth. Actually, it wasn't really a grin, more like a grimace. He didn't recognize that person, so ignored him. Then he gazed at the female with the red hair, moving more to the right to try to get a clear look at her face. She was quite a ways away, and there was that annoying leaf in the way, but... as soon as he got a slightly clearer look, his eyes widened almost instantaneously.

"Is this what I was supposed to find? Perhaps... another chance? To prove that I am the greatest... but, I don't see him...." The man spoke to himself as if he was speaking to another. Slowly, he pushed his way through the branches, and mindlessly kicked his way through more thorned bushes. Slowly, he circled around the back of a tree, and heard the red-haired woman saying something about hearing someone. The man grinned as he stepped out behind her.

"Just what I would expect of you, Miss Lina Inverse. So, where is Gourry? Isn't he supposed to be your... guardian?" Closing his eyes, he smiled, finally lifting the brim of his hat slightly. The light gently played across his face as if it were an unknown cavern, having been deprived of light for much time.

He wasn't prepared for the words that the girl then spoke. "Who the heck are you?"

He frowned. "I'm wounded, Lina Inverse. How could you forget the name... Zangulus?" He finally opened his eyes and looked at the girl. As if on cue, his jaw dropped two feet, his eyes widened to the size of melons, and his hands began to twitch. She had reddish hair, true... but she most definitely wasn't Lina.

"Oh no...," he spoke to himself. "I just gave away my surprising entrance?!" His eyes watered like huge waterfalls, as he cried for a few moments into the crook of his elbow. Then, acting as if nothing had happened, he stood straight, and looked at the not-too-Lina-Inverse Lina Inverse.

"Well, no matter. I'm sure you can tell me, neh? Where is the one called Gourry Gabriev?" Zangulus's eyes searched the area, taking in the scenery.

The illusionary Briar looked to Zangulus, brow quirked. Oni still hadn't noticed him; the Mazoku was fixated on who or what had recently tossed Dobal's corpse into their campsite. "Umm.... Last I saw of Gourry, he was back at the city. It's kind of messy in there at the moment, though."

Zangulus nodded at the woman. "Thank you." He tilted the brim of his hat to her in respect, and took off in the direction of the city. "Won't be long now, Gourry!"

After dashing through the streets of Kytares, the Null Knights in pursuit, Lina reached the area where the astonishing sign had been pointing to. And Briar was right there, safe and sound. The redheaded sorceress stopped in front of the girl, the other members of the group trailing not far behind. She tilted her head in confusion. "Where'd you get the sign?" she asked Briar; it was her first concern.... Then she slugged the girl's head with her elbow. "And don't make us chase after you like that!"

"Like you have any room to talk, ditz," Briar replied, grabbing Lina by the collar and shaking her. "After I go through all of the trouble of reserving and covering the finest rooms AND securing the services of the finest restaurant in town for an exclusive dinner for all of us...." The shaking continued unabated. "And what do you do? You go and pick a fight with the freaking town guard, that's what! Do you have any idea how much you cost me?" At that point, Lina's eyes were spiralling and Briar let go.

Behind the group, Briar could see the charging mass of the Null Knights. "Quickly, this way. I've found a safe place to regroup or hide. Tim's already there, waiting on us."

Lina nodded. She would have fought with Briar... no one called her a ditz and got away with it! ...but those Knights weren't much fun to play with. "Let's go!" she said to the group, brushing back some hair from her eyes.

"This way!" Briar said, taking off. The group rounded a corner and there it was, a gaping, natural maw leading below the ground. "Down there. They won't be able to surround us there, and we can lose them in the tunnels below the city!"

Briar stopped a few yards into the cave. "Go on, guys. I'll catch up in a minute. Gotta get the rest of the company." She knelt in front of one of the walls. "If you rest here, lover, you're gonna get trampled when the cavalry comes trompin' through. I can carry you if you like."

Tim sneezed and the invisibility spell dispersed. If Briar thought Tim looked bad before, he looked much worse now. Much, much worse. He was propped up against a staff he'd found somewhere. His body looked like it belonged to an eighty-year-old and not to the twenty-year-old that Tim was. "It's too cold to get any rest here. The attacks are beginning to take their toll on my body. We'd best get to the catacombs and end this. If you could kindly cast the appropiate spells; I will need to rest as much as possible if it's required that I use magic," he said, in almost a whisper. "Thank you, Briar."

"No prob," she said, glancing to the entrance. An armored figure was silhouetted there. "No time for spells or modesty, lover. Hop on." She knelt down so Tim could climb on her back. "Hurry!" Her spell wouldn't hold if the Knight came much closer, and it looked like it was going to. As soon as Tim's arms were tight, she stood and dashed off to catch up with the rest of the group, carrying him with almost no effort.

"It's no use, Captain," said one of the Null Knights. Several minutes had passed since the miscreants had escaped into the catacombs, and no trace of them could be found anywhere. "They're gone."

Peering into the shadowed depths, the expression on the Captain's face was one of intense frustration. You may have escaped me this time, Lina Inverse. But....

"Sir?" asked another of the knights. "There's something you should see here." Quickly a young man was led in front of the commander -- no, a young elf. There was something about his eyes that disturbed everyone who saw them... an alarming vacancy, as if the person behind them were obscured by layer upon layer of mental fog and haze. "We think that Lina and her gang left him behind."

"One of her victims... all right, then. We've wasted enough time on that villain tonight. Let us now bend our efforts towards cleaning up our city. And this youngster...." The Captain gazed at the young elf. "Let's see if the healers can do anything for him. Knights, away."

Words tumbled from Constance's lips. They were strange words, and had been unfamiliar and halting while she had been learning them. But here and now, she spoke them with a liquid grace, as though she had spoken the language all of her life. The present dropped away; somewhere, she was aware of Lina and Arcius trying to defend her (although it looked more like they were trying not to hit each other more than anything else); aware of explosions echoing through the giant cavern. Only the pace and flow of the words concerned her.

In front of her, the small building began glowing with a golden light, a light that shimmered and dimmed to green as she spoke. On each side of the building, a pair of shutter-like doors were opening, slowly, in time to the chant. The inside of the building was empty, save for a single object. A sword hung in mid-air. The hilt was gilded with pearls and diamonds; the blade curved back at the top, and near the end of its length, it was translucent or immaterial. The words sprang into Constance's mind unbidden. "The Astral Saber..."

The chant ended, and suddenly, the real world came crashing down. Constance was tired, so very tired. The world began to fuzz and sway, and she started to swoon from weariness.

"Get the blade," Arcius cried to Lina. "I'll get her!" He flung his rapier at the nearest of his assailants and ran to Constance. A piece of wood in front him him reformed into a broom and began to rise. In his haste, Arcius tripped over it and tumbled past Constance.

Lina smirked. "Sure thing! FIREBALL!" she shouted. The brooms automatically counteracted the ball of energy she threw at them, tossing their bucketfuls of water at what was, in actuality, only a minor Lighting spell. But heck, it bought her precious seconds to act. She hauled ass to the treasure like only Lina Inverse could.

Had it been a foot race, there would have been no doubt as to who the victor would be. Someone else, however, cheated. A figure materialized in front of the building, a figure with a black mirror of Gourry's Sword of Light. "Dragon R--" His eyes widened as he saw Lina. "Rosa?"

Before either of them could move, a massive explosion of wind ripped through the area, blasting the brooms away, sending Constance tumbling to the stairs, and forcing Lina and Metcliff away and to one side of the building. Two darkly cloaked figures materialized opposite to the pair, dressed in the hooded robes of Sleepless Ones. One had no weapons, but from the other, oily light glinted off of metal points barely concealed by the sleeves of its robes.

"We claim this, interloper," the weaponless one said in a harsh, grating voice. "Begone, or we will slay you alongside them."

Suddenly Eric stepped forward. "I think not. By rights, they got here first. They deserve the weapon under the ancient text Findus Keeperus, looserites weepus!"

Zelgadis had seen the wind blast, and after propping Tim next to one of the pillars, charged up the stairs, sword drawn. On the other side, Eric did the same, arrow nocked. And to complete the gathering, Jin ran up the front, spell on his lips and staff ready.

Meanwhile, Arcius ran like hell, hoping his luck would hold and the Sleepless Ones and the new stranger would not notice his action before his companions did. He had a better chance with them, anyway.

Zelgadis wasn't entirely sure what was going on, between Arcius disappearing -- probably running away -- and this interference. He was, however, entirely sure that he would get the Power of Command, and return himself to normal... and to hell with anyone who got in his way. Constance was down, and Tim was out, but Zel didn't care just then. Pausing for a moment to focus on his sword, he chanted "Astral Vine," and sent power flowing into the blade.

Summoning his magic again, the chimera formed a globe of flame in his left hand and hurled it at the beweaponed Sleepless One. "Fireball!" Hoping the blast would cover him, he charged up behind it, enchanted sword angled to strike at the other robed figure who had no visible weaponry.

The blast of wind had blown the redheaded sorceress off to one side, and she watched the action unfold from a fair distance. "What is going ON?" she cried as she picked herself up and dusted herself off, utterly incensed. "Who are those robed guys? Where'd they come from? Where did the brooms go? Who is THIS guy," she snapped, pointing at an unwitting Metcliff, "and who is this Rosa person he's talking about? And, most importantly, why the heck is no one listening to meeee...!"

Instead of charging in and waving her sword about, and probably endangering everyone within a two-metre radius of her, she decided to stay right where she was, partially sheltered by the side of the building. Her companions were all busy either flying around, or fighting the two robed characters, or preparing to fight the two robed characters, or running away. Even the new arrivals were ignoring her. All, of course, except for the guy who'd mistaken her for someone named Rosa.

It was the strangest thing; she could've sworn she'd seen him somewhere else. He seemed to be very familiar for some strange reason.

The last time she'd come across someone who seemed to be oddly familiar, he'd turned out to be a longtime companion of the real Lina Inverse, and she'd nearly gotten herself into a whole lot of trouble. So she figured she'd better find out exactly who this guy was, before getting herself into even MORE trouble.

Plus he was carrying a sword that was glowing black. Even though her magical abilities were temporarily extremely low, she could tell that it was bad news. If HE knew the real Lina, then....

"Rosa... my beloved... is it really you?" he suddenly rasped. Strangely enough, the look in his eyes seemed to be... almost pleading?

She peered closely at him for a few moments, noting his handsome features, his dark eyes, his short violet hair which fell over one eye and which defied gravity, sweeping up at the sides and back.... Suddenly realizing exactly why he seemed so familiar, she couldn't help herself. Before she could stop, she burst out with, "ZELGADIS! You look just like that Zelgadis guy! Only human, and not all covered in rocks and stuff!"

He seemed to be taken aback by this. "Are you... are you my Rosa?" he asked once more. He sounded somewhat disappointed, as if he knew it wasn't true but couldn't stop himself from asking nonetheless.

She stood there, lost in thought for quite a while. Of course she wasn't his Rosa. She'd been passing herself off as Lina Inverse for the past five months... and she'd only been alive for the past five months.

Or had she?

It's true, her first solid memories were of five months ago. Before that, she had only a few hazy recollections of glass tubes, laboratories, and scientific apparatus... and of kindly voices, saying things like "She's awake!" and "It was a success!" She'd always taken that to mean that she was a... clone. A clone of Lina Inverse, the world-famous sorceress whom everyone she met mistook her for.

But what if she wasn't? What if she really was Rosa, and she'd been injured, and taken in by some nice doctors or scientists or something, and lost all memories of her previous life?

So she answered the guy who looked kind of like Zelgadis with complete and utter honesty. "I don't know." He was confused by that, she could tell. And before she could say another word, he disappeared into thin air, just like he'd appeared. "Oh foo," she muttered, then figured there was no reason to keep standing off to the sidelines while there was a fight brewing. Brandishing her nice new longsword, she dashed off in the direction of all that action.

Constance still felt very light headed, but she managed with some effort to pull herself into a sitting position. Zelgadis had gone after one of the Sleepless Ones, while the other grabbed the Astral Saber and tried to get past Eric.

The two of them were heading towards her and she tried to get out of the way, but she wasn't fast enough... Eric narrowly missed Constance, but the Sleepless One with the saber tripped over her and fell, the saber comming loose and tumbling from his hands. "Quick, Constance," she heard someone say. "Get the saber and run!" No sooner had she heard this than she discovered that she was in the air thanks to a Reywing spell, and she had the saber in her hand.

Zelgadis, for his part, was heavily engaged with the pair of Sleepless Ones. He had to keep them from getting the Astral Sabre -- and count on someone else to grab it for the group. Lina's usually infallible treasure instinct seemed to have failed, but during a pause in the battle Zel noticed the blade in Constance's hand before she fell, literally, out of sight.

"Elmekia Lance!" A beam of spiritual energy flew toward the dagger-wielding Sleepless One, but the other raised a shield in time to deflect it. They fought well together, and their skills matched closely with the chimera's. He'd taken to making one work to defend the other: attacking the magic-user with his sword and striking at the knife-wielder with magical attacks. Still, he knew it was going to be a long fight, and victory was by no means assured.

The robed magic-user raised his hands. "Flare Arrow!" and a bolt of fiery magic flew at Zelgadis. He batted it away with his red-glowing sword, but right behind its flash the blade-bearing figure struck. Zelgadis, half-blinded, barely deflected a fatal hit and stumbled back, sleeve torn by the attack.

"Damn it!" Zel cursed to himself as he squared off against his foes for the next pass. They'd lined up between him and Lina -- he couldn't use any big spells without endangering her, too.

Constance had successfully grabbed hold of the saber and cast the Rey Wing spell so quickly that she hadn't had a chance to think about what she had done. Now that she was airborne, however, she zipped off away from the heated battle taking place between Zelgadis and the Sleepless Ones. And smacked straight into a newcomer wandering through the city.

Zangulus stood, shaking his head, and stared at her dumbfoundedly for a second. Holding his hat in place, as it had almost fallen off, he snapped, "What the... HEY! Watch where you're going!" He brushed his hair messily back, mumbling something under his breath. "I come down into some cavern, strange brooms attack me... and the moment I find someone normal, they knock me over? Hmph... this place doesn't even have anything interesting to fight for! I mean... erk...." His eyes grew wide as his pupils shrunk. Slowly, he looked to his right, to see Lina standing there, tapping on his shoulder. A huge sweat drop rolled down the side of his head, and he suddenly broke out laughing, scratching the back of his head.

"Hahahaha! What a weird place! The monsters here are so underdeveloped...."

"UNDERDEVELOPED?" the redhead shrieked, then whomped this strange newcomer upside the head with an elbow. No one, but no one, insulted her figure and got away with it! As he yowled in pain, she suddenly noticed Constance floating around, holding the amazing sword with the translucent edge that everyone was after. "Oooh, there it is!" she crowed and dashed off towards Constance.

Explosions, shouts, and the whistling of extremely sharp weapons through still air could be heard somewhere behind her, back at the temple where Zelgadis and Jin were battling the Sleepless Ones. However, one of the robed guys had managed to wriggle away from the carnage, and was also moving towards Constance at a fast clip. "Oh no you don't!" cried the sword-wielding sorceress as she waved her longsword over her head and darted towards him.

However, she was cut off by something tall, spindly, and extremely annoyed. "Dammit! Not more of those broom guys! I thought they were all gone!" In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. A veritable squadron of the apparitions were crowding towards her and the others. Muttering various impolite things under her breath, she hacked savagely away at the nearest broom, and even managed to hit it once.

Zangulus looked at the brooms slowly gathering around himself, Lina, and the others. He blinked several times in succession as he pulled out his sword. "Ah well, a good warmup will do me just fine. I need the practice anyway... HOWLING WIND!" He swung his sword, as a huge wave of black energy shot from the tip, heading toward a bunch of the brooms. It shattered the wood handles to splinters. He grinned, mentally noting how easy this was... until he looked down. The splinters were transforming into complete brooms! His eyes grew wide as he screamed, "What the HELL are these things?"

"Oh wow!" cried the redhead as she gazed, starry-eyed, at the newcomer in the hat. Sure, he'd insulted her figure earlier, but... what a sword! "I want it! Gimme gimme gimme!"

"Eh?" said Zangulus, sweatdropping.

"Didn't ya hear me? Gimme that sword!" She quickly sheathed her own weapon and jumped towards the swordsman. Her head was filled with happy visions of herself wielding its awesome power, tossing huge waves of black energy left and right and making thorough messes of various bandit gangs and small villages. With an evil grin on her face, she did her best to wrench it away from him, even as he was using it to defend himself against the brooms.

"What's wrong with you, Lina!" he yelled in utter confusion.

Meanwhile, a slightly stunned Constance was still floating around, gingerly holding the Astral Saber. She didn't notice the mysteriously robed Sleepless One catching up to her, and preparing to cast something no doubt incredibly powerful at her.

Eric watched the battle from the sidelines for a few minutes, becoming more and more confused, and worried, by the second. "What the hell did I get myself into?" he grumbled. Finally, he came to a decision. Aiming his crossbow at one of the people chasing after the woman with the weird-looking saber, he fired. Although normally an excellent shot, due to his confusion his accuracy was WAY down. Thus, instead of nailing the person in the back of the neck, he hit a target... MUCH lower. The person leapt high into the air with an arrow protruding from his behind.

The whistle of a crossbow bolt through the air made the petite sorceress jump. Ignoring Constance, the Astral Saber, and the Sleepless One who was now hopping around comically in pain, she looked this way and that until she found her target. "It's the guy who shot me!" she yelled savagely, and went barrelling off towards Eric. Still gripping the Howling Sword with all her might, she dragged a hapless Zangulus behind her. "This time I'm gonna kill you SOOOO dead...!"

Tim looked at his surroundings and cringed. Zelgadis had managed to take him in the exact opposite direction that he had asked him to. This is why Tim liked to work alone. People can't be trusted to carry out even the simplest of tasks. At least Zelgadis was smart enough or pushy enough to tackle the Sleepless Ones while the others dashed after the "Astral Sabre".

Of course, the Sleepless Ones were the least of Tim's concerns. As annoying as they were, servants are rarely behind the chaos. It was the MASTERS that Tim worried about.

Tim was also feeling the attacks on his mind and memories slowly intensify. His foe was close, really close. No, the real danger was behind them, just preparing to enter the city. He'd have to go off and face it alone. This time he decided not to tell Zelgadis his intentions. It wasn't that Zelgadis wasn't trustworthy, it was just that the chimera really wasn't that much of a help.

Tim looked around and found something along the lines of a wizard's staff. He grabbed it and used it to help himself up. He then pulled out three red gems and grinned. THIS time the spirits would find a much tougher foe. Tim then proceeded to the exit.

"Eeergh." Geltro grunted as he put the finishing touches on the final contraption. There, that ought to be tight enough, he thought to himself. When those fools come dashing up here, wounded and scared, they'll run right into these traps. Hmm, was this supposed to be a clove hitch or a sheet bend knot? Oh well, shouldn't be important.

The group raced through the catacombs away from the Null Knights. Perhaps it was because of their hurry, or maybe because they had chosen an entrance with a more direct path to the bottom, or because they asked this guy they met wandering for directions (Ryouga, his name was), but the group soon ended up in a large cavern. Splitting the middle of the cavern was an immense chasm, spanned only by a single enormous slab of stone. Bisecting the room, right through the stone bridge, was a shimmering plane of hazy green energy.

Across the bridge, placed around the far exit from the chamber, was a bizarre array of cables, wooden beams, springs, large rocks and other unpleasantnesses. Somebody had obviously left a surprise welcome for anyone trying to retreat this way from deeper in the catacombs.

From where he was concealed, Geltro observed the new arrivals. Wha? How did the red-headed sorceress and the scholar get by me? And if they escaped, WHY are they coming back? Something stinks here!

From his perch on Briar's back, Tim stared down at the corridor from where they'd come, then back at the group. There was Lyssa, the terminally cheerful elf who was beginning to drive Tim nuts. He could tell that she was driving Ninoa up the wall, too. Actually, Ninoa's mood was picking up and she was mumbling something about an Astral Sabre. Tim fought back a retort about Ninoa wanting to go to Sairaag instead.

Instead, he looked at Kerrem. A swordsman who might or might not be decent. He noticed that Lyssa and him seemed to be very close. Tim had no real comment about that. Sai and Rill were close by as well, the strange scaly boy having rejoined the group once they were in the tunnels and safe from the Knights. Tim took a particular delight in seeing Rill miserable. As far as he was concerned, he had it coming.

Also along in the group was Mr. Jupiter. Tim took a double take at him and wondered just exactly what planet he was from.

Then there were Filia, Lina, and Gourry. Filia was still very concerned for her child and the other two were trying to comfort her as best they could. Tim felt sorry for her but knew he couldn't do anything until they got some more information. He was hoping Briar would have found something, but so far that wasn't to be.

Before anyone set foot on the stone bridge, Renzzoku pointed out the traps set just beyond it. Tim nodded. Any adventurer who planned on having a career longer than fifteen seconds looked out for that sort of thing.

Tim's reverie was broken when he felt a very very sharp pain. He looked at the bridge and the traps and squinted his eyes in an attempt to get a better view. He didn't see anything, but he now knew for certain the source of his troubles was behind all those springs and beams. "Let me down, Briar," Tim said simply. "There is more danger here than just some simple traps. We will have better luck with all of our limbs free."

Kerrem was intrigued by the Rube Goldbergian inventions blocking the far end of the chamber. He quickly led the way across the stone bridge, ignoring the green barrier. "Great traps, aren't they? Well, everybody duck, and if you don't it's not my fault!" He then picked up a rock and threw it at the traps, then quickly ducked. A moment passed and nothing happened, so he stood up and attempted it again.

*Plick!*

Oddly, something knocked Kerrem's rock out of the air. He tried again.

*Plick!*

It happened again. How odd. Kerrem tried once more.

*Plick!*

Somebody was throwing rocks at Kerrem's rocks!

Ninoa shook her head, feeling a little woozy. There was something incredibly important... something that was calling to her.... "The Astral Saber!" she said all of a sudden. "I can feel it! It's that way!" She pointed directly towards the mess of cords, pulleys, beams and springs that Kerrem was unsuccessfully trying to set off. "On the other side of those traps!"

Everyone stared at her, confused. She stared right back. "We HAVE to get our hands on the Saber before anyone else does! What if Metcliff... or worse...!" She harrumphed and walked quickly across the stone bridge. "Stop playing with those rocks, Kerrem! Someone just... blow the traps up, or something!"

Sai sighed. "Hum.... There are probably death traps waiting for us. Oh well; if it was meant to be easy, anyone could do it... so let's get this Astral Saber and let's get it A.S.A.P."

"SWIGHTFLANGE!" From the shadows, a spell was cast, filling the cavern room with obscuring fog. The traps were concealed, and passage accross the stone bridge became very risky.

Lina cringed. "Damnit! Why can't L-Sama just gimme a SMALL break?!" she cursed, staring at the fog. A sweatdrop formed as a few pebbles fell from the edge of the stone bridge, showing its danger. "Ehehehe.... YEAH LET'S GO!" she yelled, closing her eyes and running like hell. Even Lina Inverse didn't like this....

A quick dance of Briar's fingers put the bridge back in everyone's sight, and a few of the traps as well. With the well-placed illusion, at least, now, the blindly charging Lina wouldn't go sailing off the edge. Briar sighed. Maybe the moron factor was contagious. She wished Kerrem had thrown a few more rocks; she could have located the source. A fireball would have fixed the traps and saved a lot of trouble. "Be careful, guys! There's someone else in here!"

Just to be safe, her fingers wiggled again; an illusion of herself and Tim appeared over her. Turning the real pair invisible, she moved the illusion several feet away, on the off chance whoever was in here picked off competent people first. Then she waited to see what kind of hell Lina would set off.

Halfway across the bridge, Lina was tripped by something not included in the illusion. Only her limitless instinct for self-preservation allowed her to cling to the stone bridge, her feet dangling in space.

When the robed wizard took off after the Astral Sabre, Zelgadis didn't lose any time seizing the advantage and attacking the other one. Lina could handle that guy. Or if not, Zel could take the sabre from him later. Or something.

Either way, sword and knife locked hilts as the two met. "Now I'll show you some real power," Zel challenged.

In a low voice from beneath his hood the other growled, "Try me!" Blades clanged as the two clashed, their fight taking them outside the temple a few moments later. Skipping back to take stock, the chimera focused on the Sleepless One, who stared back with equal intensity.

Then a yowl of pain filled their ears, and simultaneously they turned their heads to see the other Sleepless One jumping up and down, a crossbow quarrel protruding from his posterior. A large sweatdrop formed on both the knife-fighter and Zelgadis as the first shook his head, "How embarrassing!" while Zel replied, "That must have hurt."

Then Zel fell right over and the Sleepless One facefaulted as Lina came tearing between them, dragging Zangulus -- Zangulus?! -- behind her and screaming for blood. While the swordsman's head repeated skipped off the stone ground, somehow that hat of his managed to stay on the entire time.

Metcliff watched the fight with a scowl on his face, ignored for the moment. And suddenly, all of the attention was completely drawn from him, as everyone was busy watching the Sleepless One pull an quarrel out of his ass or Lina dragging some lunatic by the sword as she charged yet another figure.

Chance! He teleported.

A heavy weight crashed into Constance, causing her to do some fancy acrobatics to hang on to the Saber. In midair, someone grabbed her roughly by the hair and pulled her head up. At the nape of her neck she felt a dark chill.

"The Saber! Give it to me or I will run you through!" Metcliff growled, the tip of his sword touching Constance's neck.

Suddenly, the aerial squadron of the broom brigade attacked, raining sharp blows with their ends on the hapless pair. They both danced about, swatting the brooms away. After a few seconds of vicious swatting, they resumed their conversation, in the same position.

"Now, woman!"

To her surprise, Constance could only reply, "I dropped it!"

"You dropped it?! Damn!" Metcliff loosened his grip on Constance as he contemplated going down into the fray below to retrieve his prize. The odd thing was that he didn't see it anywhere, considering that it would be very hard to miss....

Constance took this chance to elbow her captor in the ribs. Metcliff cried out in pain and let her go, and soon she was facing him. "You jerk, you made me drop the saber!" she shouted at him as she whacked an oncoming broom away from her with her arm. She quickly took out her war-fans and steadied herself, ready for an attack from either the brooms or Metcliff... whichever came first. Although, she would've liked to go look for the saber to see where she'd dropped it....

Allen could only shake his head. "It isn't in the temple, Constance. In fact, I have no idea where that Astral Sword-thingie is."

Arcius took a bite out of the apple. He could see the fireworks going off near the temple and regretted having to miss such a marvelous fight. That was alright though. He could make up something and embellish it, should no one tell him what had happened. Besides, his gut feeling said that this was the place to be, and Arcius always listened to his instincts.

Sure enough, a glittering blade fell from the sky, embedding itself point first in the ground at his feet. This was it! He grabbed it and took off as fast as he could, ducking into an alley.

Still completely floored by the unexpected appearance of Zangulus, Zelgadis almost didn't notice his robed opponent preparing to attack. Seeing the Sleepless One charge towards him in time, he barely had time to turn to face the enemy, let alone to raise his weapon. But just when he thought he was really in trouble.... "Freeze Arrow!" A blue streak flew past Zelgadis, and impacted against the knife-wielding Sleepless One. That voice was familiar....

Like a flash of lightning, the chimera realized who was helping him. Though he didn't take his eyes from his opponent, he had no doubt that his new ally was no other that the copied sorcerer, Vrumugun. How he'd gotten in, why he was helping Zel, and most importantly, how he'd survived, were already nagging the chimera. He decided to wait to ask questions, though, until the battle was over.

Zangulus bounced off of the floor several times, but somehow managed to plant his feet into the ground. He slammed on the brakes, trying to get Lina to stop. All that managed to accomplish was to carve huge lines in the floor where his feet were planted. Waterfalls of tears were flowing from his eyes, as he yanked and pulled.

Finally he'd had quite enough of this indignity. Zangulus gritted his teeth, and his sword glowed. This is gonna hurt, he mentally told himself, as he screamed, "HOWLING WIND!"

The energy from the sword flew out in front of the sorceress. Since she was running so fast, however, she was quickly catching up, about to run into it in fact.... Zangulus braced himself, putting all of his might into preparing to wrench the sword away at the moment when he felt even the slightest give in her hold.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa!" yelped the sorceress, arms and legs flailing as she attempted to keep herself from pitching headlong into the roiling energy that Zangulus's sword had emitted. She let go of the sword and backpedaled furiously, arms windmilling, and just barely managed to stop in time. Now that she'd halted, the energy soared on ahead of her, dissipating more or less harmlessly into the air.

All of Zangulus's strength had been put towards straining against the girl's hold on his sword. So when she simply let go of it, he found himself soaring backwards, the blade clutched protectively in his arms.

Meanwhile, the Sleepless One had finally managed to remove the crossbow bolt, and had drawn itself up to its full height. Looking every inch a powerful sorceror, it flung his robed arms to the side, and began chanting eldritch words. Power crackled around it, and just as it prepared to toss a powerful spell towards the ones attacking its robed companion...

...Zangulus bowled right into it.

At about this time, a wave of broom guardians swarmed onto the stage. This disruption had gone on quite long enough. They started sweeping with all their magical might, as they thundered towards the temple and those fighting there.

"Yeah!" shouted the redhead in Zangulus's general direction. "You take care of that guy! And those brooms! And I'll take care of...." She grinned wickedly, and darted off towards the shadows, where an untrustworthy-looking man with silver hair and a black cloak, wielding a crossbow, was standing. "YOU. Prepare for some deep hurting, buster!" She rushed towards the bane of her existence.

For his part, Eric stuck one hand out, planted it on her head when she came close enough and watched, mildly bemused, as the small- limbed sorceress snarled with rage, swinging her fists with wild abandon yet utterly unable to reach him.

"Grrrr! Just you wait...! In two days you'll be sorry, mister!"

Eric raised an eyebrow at the girl, who was trying her best to hit him. With a mental shrug, he looked down at her and sighed. "I REALLY wish it hadn't come to this," he said over her childish babbling. "HURT!"

Where his hand met her head, a surge of blue energy throbbed. In moments, it had laced itself around her nerves, and begun testing them. One second later, it had found the point just beyond her pain threshold, and began to... well... hurt her.

The spell was a very simple one, so Eric took his time and aimed at the other Sleepless One, the one fighting Zelgadis. Firing his crossbow, he watched the quarrel sail through the air and slam into his target's hand.

Then his crossbow was grabbed from behind; he was jerked around, and found himself face-to-face with the sorceress. Her agony-racked grimace was truly a sight to behold. With blazing fury radiating from her narrowed eyes, she growled through pain-clenched teeth, "You'll pay for this." Then, with something akin to a whimper, her eyes rolled back and she dropped like a stone.

Eric shrugged as he looked down at her unconscious body, and went back to watching the action. Only to see that his quarrel had bounced harmlessly off of the gauntlets the Sleepless One wore. It ducked as a powerful blast of magical wind streaked over its head, catching Zelgadis and sending the golem back to the steps of the temple.

The spellcaster, done saving its companion, then pivoted to face Eric and shouted, "DIMILAR WIND!"

Eric barely dove out of the way in time, only to find that the other robed one had used the spell as a cover to get up close. The Sleepless One pressed close, poisoned daggers glinting in the light. "Your true colors bleed through at last," it growled, attacking fast enough that Eric could neither take aim nor cast. In fact, it was taking most of Eric's concentration just to avoid the left-handed dagger of the Sleepless One, the one that seemed to unerringly seek out the string of his crossbow with each thrust.

The robed spellcaster glanced around, finding itself in a momentary lull. "Ysmaren! Now!" Barely had the words left its mouth when the brooms closed in.

Eric growled in frustration as he did the only thing available to him; he slammed his crossbow down onto his attacker's head. This most definitely knocked the Sleepless One out, although the dagger found its mark in his right shoulder. It would take a few minutes for the poison to set in, however.

The black-clad crossbowman wasn't cruel. Although his weapon was broken, he put himself in between any threats and the still-unconscious sorceress, because he needed her for information, AND because he didn't want to see her hurt any more than she had been.

Jin knocked back one of the brooms with his staff, then shot a freeze arrow at another one. "Man! I thought I'd lost these stupid brooms!" Then one of the apparitions whacked him in the rear and he jumped up and dropped his staff. "HEY! Why you little...!" He reached out, grabbed the guardian, and swung it around, knocking down the other ones clustered around him. Then he flung it away... and it flew right into the Sleepless One. Jin blinked. "I hope I don't regret that...."

Zel groaned, shook his head to clear it, and pulled himself loose from the wall. He was starting to get fed up with all this, especially the parts that had him being knocked around and doing all the fighting, while Lina goofed around with Eric and Zangulus. Will she ever get serious?

He brushed off his clothes, picked up his sword - the enchantment on which had worn off - and grimaced.

Maybe it's time to end this in a single shot....

"Lina!" Gourry dashed to her. Unwittingly, he stepped on a line as he ran. A great scythe unhooked itself from the ceiling and swung at the blonde swordsman. Howling in terror, he leapt up, over the blade.

...And got smacked in the face by the pole on which the blade was attached. The wicked blade embedded itself into the ceiling again, Gourry hanging on for dear life.

"Get Lina, someone!" Briar directed to one of the people standing around. "Someone either fireball the damn things, or summon something that can go through and trigger it all."

From somewhere in the room, a young sounding voice growled in frustration. "Not trying to trap YOU, go AWAY!" Then, with a soft *thump*, something hit Ninoa in the head and knocked her unconsious.

"RayWing!" screamed Lina, floating up away from the bridge. She then grabbed Gourry from where he was hanging up on the ceiling. What a baka....

Filia looked to Ren, completely clueless. What was going to happen now?

CHANCE!! Briar thought as she moved to 'help' the unconscious Ninoa. The little bitch had given herself away, and what luck! A bottomless pit!

Then Ren picked up the Mazoku, saying, "You've got Tim to handle. I'll take care of her." Next to him, Filia nodded, and the pair set foot onto the bridge.

When Kerrem started to press forward, intent on following Briar's advice and finding a way to trigger it all, he activated an arrow trap. "Ow!" Kerrem yelled as it struck his left arm.

"Stop that, idiot! Traps not for YOU!" The mysterious voice was ranting. You could almost picture it belonging to someone hopping up and down with frustration. These traps were so incredibly obvious from this side, they must have been set to trap people coming OUT of the catacombs, not going in. Yet, a group of apparantly foolhardy louts were DELIBERATELY and WITH FOREKNOWLEDGE walking into the traps, and hence volountarily accepting potentially serious injury.

The mysterious trap-setter was going mad with frustration in seeing his carefully-laid plans being bungled by a pack of goofs. Gosh, he was making a lot of noise.

"AIR WALL!" Kerrem was then pushed back by a strong wind, though easily remained on the bridge.

Sai moaned. "This sucks." He then did a Ray Wing of his own and followed Lina. You know, I wonder if I can still give all this up and become a shoe salesman, Sai thought to himself. No WAY.

Unfortunately for Geltro, someone who could do something about his traps had heard him. To make it doubly bad, that figure wasn't among those in front of him. Tim, having made his way back from the temple in the underground city, caught the little thief's entire rant. He wasn't happy about it, either. He walked forward, entering the chamber, and....

*TwangtwangtwangWHOOSHClanketyclanketyBOOMfwitfwitfwitTWANG!*

EVERY SINGLE TRAP WENT OFF. Darts flew, snares pulled, deadfalls fell, chains dragged and blades whirled.... one instant AFTER Tim walked past. Screaming, terrible carnage ensued... on the three poor brooms that had been sneaking up behind Tim. After nearly a full two minutes of injurious harm, the last sad wisps of straw drifted down into the chasm.

Geltro bigsweatted. "Damn. It WAS a sheepshank."

Tim then threw one of his gems right near the young thief's feet. Geltro almost didn't notice the sound of the gem breaking. He was made quite aware of the ten foot pillar of fire that nearly engulfed him, though. When the thief turned around he saw Tim standing in the entranceway, a blue aura crackling around him. He didn't need to be a master mage to know that the aura meant business.

Tim, who had been severely weakened, found a source of new strength. His team needed him, even if they were incompentents. His voice bellowed, revealing to everybody his power. "So, you're behind this. You should choose your foes more carefully. I will make short work of you." The next thing Geltro heard was the words "Ra Tilt."

The next thing Tim saw was Geltro hurling himself off the edge into the chasm. Outnumbered, with his location revealed, the small thief realized he had no chance, and took the only opportunity for escape that presented itself.

Some distance down the chasm, Geltro arrested his fall with a quick Levitation spell. Finding purchase on the wall of the hole, he began a slow, cautious ascent. He felt it best to wait until that pack of hero-types shoved off before making good his escape.

Ignoring the thief, Briar stared at the blue-glowing Tim silhouetted in the entranceway, then stole a glance back at the Tim who she'd carried through the catacombs. She looked at Tim and back to Tim. Again, faster. Again, even faster. Shaking her head in disbelief, she suddenly made the connection. "That's the bastard who's been attacking our Tim! He's a doppleganger of some sort!"

As if to confirm her statement, the glowing Tim turned and faced Lina. His eyes were stony and cold and he pointed a finger at the sorceress. "RA TILT!"