Chapter Fourteen: Uniting! The Big Scramble!

The first thing the redheaded sorceress saw as she came to was a lot of blurry shapes. As her vision cleared, the bluish blob above her started to take a shape. A human shape. The girl looked into the face of someone she'd never seen before. A blue-robed wizard with a ruby in his forehead. He seemed to radiate creepiness.

"Lina Inverse?" he asked in a voice filled with apathy. He nodded, as if to himself, and said, "I have some questions for you...."

Eric turned around and saw the odd man standing over Lina. "Hey! You! Get away from her!" he said, dropping into a defensive stance. The poison in his system nearly made him fall over, but he managed to hide that fact well enough that it wasn't apparent. "I'm warning you...."

The hooded man slowly looked up at this new voice. There was no familiarity in his face. "I don't know who you are," said Vrumugun evenly, "but I will not leave now. I don't intend to hurt this girl in any way." He glanced down at the redhead, then continued. "But if you attack me I will fight back," he concluded. The jewel on his head gleamed slightly.

Eric nodded, his vision blurring. "It wouldn't matter anyway, 'cause I'm about to go night night from the poison on the dagger that just stabbed me." he said. Then, without further comment, he collapsed to the ground.

Vrumugun watched the crossbowman crumple into a heap, making no moves towards or away from him. He thought for a moment, then said to the girl, "If you want me to help you, I will, but I still want my questions answered. I have a general idea where the Sabre is right now. Do we have a deal? Or must we do this the hard way?"

The young redhead was still wracked with agony, though it was beginning -- vaguely -- to lose its hold on her. Due to the pain, as well as to her watering eyes and her recent unconsciousness, the world around her was still fuzzy and blurred. Including the face of the strange creepy man who had been talking to her for the better part of a minute now.

Now that the crossbow guy had pitched over, this new guy was watching her silently. He seemed to be waiting for a reply. She groaned, trying to remember what he'd been saying to her just a short while ago, and trying desperately to formulate a coherent response.

Then, as another wave of pain swirled around her, she gave up. "Questions...," she mumbled, almost too low for him to hear. "'S all everyone wants when they meet me. Ask me questions. The stony Zel man... Mister Crossbow... now this creepy guy, too. I'm sick an' tired of ans'rin questions. Go find yer own answers."

With that, she slipped back into blissful unconsciousness.

Vrumugun considered her words for a moment. In all his askings about this girl in taverns and so forth, this was one response he had NOT expected. This girl was supposed to be excitable, energetic, and grouchy. Someone who was just tired... this didn't make sense.

Finishing that thought, he vanished. Very well then. He'd very possibly saved the rock-skinned swordsman's life only a few minutes previous. He'd ask him.

If his teleport spell worked properly this time, that is.

Lina jumped to the side, pulling the dumb blond with her. He automatically shielded her from the blast. "Damnit!" she cried, looking back and forth between the Tims. What's going on now? she thought, her brain just about fried. Quickly she jumped up, facing the Tim who had just Ra Tilted her, and growled. "That's it!" Her eyes narrowed and she prepared to do something sufficiently nasty to him.

Then she heard Gourry's whimper. "N-Nani?" Lina exclaimed, looking down at the swordsman who was in quite a bit of pain. Getting clipped by such a powerful spell would be expected to cause some damage even to the strongest warrior.

"I'm fine!" Gourry growled, forcing himself up and next to her. He pulled out his sword defensively, and watched for the next move.

Lina, a bit worried, decided it was best to take care of the Tim problem before taking time off for healing. "What'd you do that for?!" she snapped at the still-glowing Tim, her tone beyond mere annoyance.

Sai was in shock. He desperately wanted to know what was going on, but he didn't want to say anything, because he didn't want to sound like Gourry. "Tim, are you quite yourself?" he asked the glowing figure, holding his hands behind his back. We can't have even just five minutes of peace anymore.... he thought to himself.

"What did I do that for?" the glowing Tim asked Lina mockingly. "You know, Rose, you may be a mere third rate illusionist, but your clone magics are totally lousy." Tim pointed to Lina. "Everybody knows that the REAL Lina Inverse has no chest."

He looked straight at Briar Rose. "What I am doing is taking out your little distractions. I don't need more minions of the Sleepless Ones interfering in my affairs. Your little trick with a Clone Tim is really quite annoying. So tell me, Rose. Which one of the Sleepless Ones are you sleeping with?" He cast Rey Wing and began crossing the chasm.

For his part, the other Tim was getting annoyed. Here was the clone, and he had just accused Briar of everything when obviously the clone himself was at fault! "If that's the way he wants it...," Tim mused, then screamed, "I have had quite enough of you! Prepare to die!" Both Tims were now flying towards each other, preparing to do the other one in right over the chasm.

"NO CHEST?!" Lina wasn't going to let that one slide. After stewing about it for a few moments, she growled, eyes narrowed, then threw a flare arrow smack into the middle of the Tims' battle. She managed to hit the right Tim, too. As well as the other one, for good measure. And began preparing to cast something a little more potent.

Gourry sighed. "That was... a bad idea, Tim."

Blinking, Lyssa blipped in next to Gourry. "Wow... I feel sorry for them. Lina-san is real sensitive about that, isn't she?"

"Shouldn't somebody stop her?" Kerrem asked as he walked up behind Lyssa and Gourry. "I only say this in our own interest. If we run into trouble, we may need Tim unhurt, right?"

Blue hair bouncing as she shook her head, Lyssa folded her arms. "Well, I suppose someone SHOULD stop her... but who in their right mind would want to get in the way of...." A slow grin crossed her face, eyes glinting mischeviously. "Gourry-san... you've known her longest of all, right? How about YOU talk her out of... yeah... and then... um... er.... Lina-san?!" Grumbling in her confusion with the recent goings ons, the young elf pushed Gourry straight into Lina.

Somewhere in the depths of the chasm, Geltro listened to the sounds of battle above. Well, this is a surprise. With luck, I can loot the bodies afterwards.

It was unfortunate for Vrumugun that his teleport spell chose that particular moment to dump him in the cavern. It was even more unfortunate that he appeared directly between Gourry and Lina. An audible "Oof" escaped his lips as Gourry tripped into him from behind, sending them both on top of the furious (and now quite surprised) Lina.

Lina screamed, "GET OFF ME!" as she tried to get up to no avail. She sounded really pissed. Anyone in their right mind would be scared to face her wrath.

Somehow Vrumugun got to his feet and darted off to the side, watching with interest. Lina wasn't paying any attention to him; instead, after throwing Gourry off her and standing up, she began chanting some insanely powerful spell. In fact, he strongly suspected that she hadn't even noticed his presence. Was he familiar to her, then? Some common sight? Somehow he doubted it.

Still, the sorceress did look pissed -- the sorceress?!

Vrumugun looked again, and blinked. Wasn't she in the other cavern, totally unconscious and nearly incoherent? Something was very wrong here....

Cringing, Ren ducked behind Filia and tried to hide from the now quite pissed off sorceress. "Don't hurt me!"

Filia sweatdropped and whispered at him, "She's not mad at YOU." Then a metaphorical lightbulb appeared over her head. She whispered to herself, "Drag... uh oh," and switched places with Ren.

Kerrrem tried to stick himself between Lina and the Tims. "We need to continue not fighting among ourselves, okay? Now let's just stop all this and get going." He started moving towards the exit, hoping that Lina would snap out of it soon.

Lyssa ran after Kerrem. "Don't let Lina-san hurt me!"

The cavern was suddenly lit up by the furious Lina's blazing aura. She prepared to unleash her sure-fire spell against he who'd insulted her. "You... will... di...?"

A polite tap on Lina's shoulder broke her focus. Lina's head whipped around, giving the poor fool a demon's glare. "W... H... A... T!"

Briar stood there smiling, not the least bit perturbed by Lina's face. "Why are you mad? Someone call you flatchested?"

Everyone with a shred of self-preservation dove behind some protective cover.

Briar reached out. "They're pretty lousy liars if you ask me," she said as she >poiked< Lina's chest. "I'd say you've doubled since we met."

Lina covered herself with her arms and blushed as Briar poked her. This was followed by Briar flying to the ground and Lina stomping on her -- as a matter of principle, of course. Then, looking down proudly at her chest, she smiled widely. The magical brassiere was working!

Gourry grinned. "Wow, Lina, you're not so--"

Lina looked to her guardian, tears of joy in her eyes. "Let's go, Gourry!" She then began walking towards the exit, completely ignoring the Tims. She was in a VERY good mood, as she thought about finding a better outfit... for her better figure!

Ninoa peered over Lina's shoulder. "Yeah, they do look a little... bigger.... *snicker* Excuse me, I was thinking of someone I used to know a while back. Shall we go?"

Sai put his hand over his face, pretending he didn't know these people. "I don't believe this." He looked at the group, turned away, then looked back. "Oh well. Things could be worse... I guess." He sighed.

Ignored or not, the two Tims were on a collision course, each intending to knock the other one out of existence.

The still-glowing Tim sneered. "Hmm, they attack and then back off to discuss the pros and cons. How utterly ineffective. Their eyes should be at the task at hand. Me. This will easy. My, how pitiful the Sleepless Ones are to have the likes of you as allies."

The other Tim got in closer. "It's you who will be easy to defeat. I'm right here and my eye IS on the prize. Your destruction. Sayonara, scumbag." He then swung and hit his opponent dead on with a Mana Bolt. Neither of the Tims could have guessed that the resulting expolsion would be so huge.

Simply put, the blast was loud, blindingly bright and deafening. The caverns shook and only those who were holding onto something tight (like Geltro) didn't fall on their keister because of it.

One of the Tims flew into the far side of the cavern face-first and slid for a good twenty feet. He was bleeding significantly and only remarked, "So that was the trap. Ow! That hurt," before going unconscious. The other Tim disappeared, seemingly destroyed in the explosion.

"Tim!" Briar shouted. She glanced at the others. "They're up to something! Get in there and stop them! I'll handle Tim! Go!" she said to Lina. The other red-head nodded and ran through the exit.

Vrumugun rotated his head slowly as he watched the girl and her entourage leave the room. He would have acted had it not been for utter surprise, something he'd rarely experienced. It was like she couldn't even see him. Then, finally, he acted.

He gawked.

Then he followed them.

The cavern was strangely quiet with no one there. Briar knelt beside Tim, checking his pulse with one hand. Out of habit, the other went through his pouches, looking for anything that felt valuable other than beanie babies. It wasn't like she could do anything for him at the moment, assuming it was the right Tim in the first place. If it wasn't, she'd toss him into the chasm.

She glanced at the chasm every so often. Those had been some excellent traps, which meant their maker had had a plan when he dove into the chasm. Weaving a quick glamour of silence so Tim wouldn't hear anything, she looked over the dark pit.

Down in the pit, Geltro watched and listened. When a back-lit face appeared over the lip of the chasm, he froze, counting on the shadows and the dark colour of his clothes to hide him. Were these people EVER going to leave? His arms were getting tired.

Briar didn't see anyone, but that didn't mean much of anything. Heck, she WAS an illusionist. She very well knew how easy it was to deceive peoples' sight. Still cautious, she turned back to Tim.

Go with them, an oily voice said in her mind.

She started, then scowled. She layered her illusions again, and dragged an illusionary Tim over to the wall, leaving the invisible real one where he lay. Then she rushed after the others.

Zangulus picked himself up off of the ground. He growled low, as he looked behind him. He gained a rather large sweatdrop, and suddenly fumed. "Alright, I've had enough of this playing around. It's time for a real fight!"

Suddenly, the background music changed. Zangulus's forehead bulged with veins as he concentrated all of his might into the sword. The howling wind's energy surged around the blade, creating an outer shell of dark energy. Zangulus spun around at the Sleepless One behind him, and cut it in half longways. The energy surged through the Sleepless One's body. It was way more than it could control, and the being dissolved.

The swordsman then looked over to the oncoming surge of brooms, and placed the tip of his sword onto the ground, as the energy still surged through it. "HOWLING WAVE!" Zangulus screamed. As he sliced the sword upwards, a huge wave of dark energies arced up like a tidal wave, heading toward the brooms. As it reached them, it slammed down onto them, doing the same thing to their bodies as it had done to the Sleepless One.

Zangulus stumbled to stand, as sweat poured from every pore of his body. He was breathing rather heavily. "Damnit. I'm still not used to using so much of my energy... I hope the others can think of a way to defeat these things, 'cause I can't do this too many times."

Zangulus ran through the city streets, ending up near Zelgadis. The chimera was surrounded by a half-dozen menacing-looking robed figures. What...? I thought there were only two of them! I guess they must have called in the cavalry or something....

The swordsman leaped into the fray, and fought his way to Zelgadis's side. Turning around to face away from the chimera, and to face a few more of the Sleepless Ones, he held his sword towards them in a defensive manner. "Do whatever magic you can, NOW! I'll try to hold them off... but hurry!" With that, he charged a few more of the robed beings. His sword wasn't charged up... he seemed to be trying to stall them while giving Zelgadis a chance to chant a magic spell.

Zangulus easily parried a Sleepless One's stab. Spinning around, he made a deep cut into the being. The cut took only a few seconds to heal, but gave him enough time to slice into the Sleepless One on his left. However, the one to the back right of him landed a hit onto his shoulder, and he winced from the pain as his shoulder bled. Jumping back, he sliced backwards, cutting right into its face. He took another defensive stance as he watched the five Sleepless Ones in front of him. He was sure there were others near....

Arcius ran through the city, through the mazelike warren of alleys that probably was where the poorer residents of the city had lived. He ran like he'd had a map of the city to study (which he had). Finally, away from the sounds of fighting, he stopped to catch his breath. That damn sword was heavy! He held it up and studied it. It was a pretty piece of work, and he could feel the power radiating off of it.

It was useless. Completely useless. He was half tempted to throw it away, except the rest of the party would have his head. That, and there was more going on than he knew, his instincts told him.

"There you are." The voice was cool. A strange man, ressembling Zelgadis, was the speaker.

Arcius glanced around and realized he had stopped in a dead-end alley. "Why so I am," Arcius replied, smoothly. "I do not believe I have had the pleasure of meeting you." He bowed. "I am Arcius Le'Donal. Who might you be?"

Metcliff scowled. "My name doesn't matter. Give me the sabre."

"How rude!" Arcius exclaimed, as he leaned against the wall. "Give me your name, and I will consider it. I have no use for it anyway and you might save yourself some trouble."

"Metcliff. Now give it to me!"

"Hmmm... I've considered it. No. Now go away. I have other things to do."

Metcliff blinked. "What?!?" He drew his sword; a blade of blackness sprang forth. "I don't think you understand the situation. You are trapped. If you cast any spells, I will cut you down before three words have left your mouth."

"Oh? I think you are sadly mistaken, Lord Metcliff." Arcius held the sabre in front of him, expertly. "If you speak three more words, I will cut you down and you shall die namelessly."

Metcliff studied the bard intently. He had seen the man fight earlier, and it seemed that he had no style at all, yet now... Perhaps the Sabre had bonded with him already. No, it wasn't possible. The bard was bluffing. "You will die."

Arcius smiled pleasantly and shouldered the saber. "Shame on you! That was three."

Metcliff heard the rustle behind him, barely. He whirled around to block the attack. It was a weapon, being swung in a overhead chop, he could tell by the sound. The Sword of Night deftly interposed itself between him and his foe. Had it been a normal foe, even a master like Gourry or Zangulus, the block would have worked perfectly, for such was Metcliff's skill and strength.

He didn't expect a giant.

Ysmaren's massive blade crashed down on to the black blade of Metcliff with enough force to drive the man to his knees. He narrowly avoided being cut by his own sword. Off balance, he tumbled awkwardly out of the way of her massive, hob-nailed boot. He swung at her, attempting to put some space between him and her. She easily avoided the wild swing and thrust at him. This time, he wasn't fast enough. A tiny, tiny cut appeared on his arm.

And the world exploded.

Arcius winced as Ysmaren's sword suddenly blazed a brilliant azure. There was an explosion of blue and black energy that nearly blew off Metcliff's arm and slammed the man to the ground.

She snorted derisively. "Mazoku pact," she said, lowering her sword. Then she looked at Arcius. "It's been a while."

Arcius bowed low. "Lady Ysmaren."

"Why?" she asked.

Metcliff was in agony. Not since he had lost Rosa had he felt such pain. He could not feel his left arm. He still had his sword in his right and he struggled to rise. "It's... not... over... yet."

Ysmaren paid him no mind, as all her attention was focused intently on Arcius. "Why?"

"Would you deal with him?" Arcius pointed to Metcliff. "I prefer privacy and you know my aversion to blood."

Not taking her eyes off of Arcius, she kicked Metcliff once, in the side. The man collapsed in a bloody heap. With her other foot, she nudged him into a gutter. She whispered a spell. "We are now alone and none shall spy on us."

There was silence for a moment. "Must you stay that way?" she finally said.

With a shrug, Arcius reached into his vest and pulled out a ring. He slipped it on, and suddenly, he was the same size as Ysmaren. "Now, my Lady, what may I do for you?"

She sheathed her sword. "Why did you leave?"

He sighed. "There are reasons, but I fear that you might not understand them."

She looked annoyed, but resigned, like she had dealt with this mood of his before. "Why are you doing this? I thought we were in this together."

"We are."

"Then why are you opposing me?"

"Because. The balance of the world is a funny thing. Many people would see your quest as an act of villiany. In fact, the majority would. And in such cases, the world balances it out by sending a group of 'heroes' to oppose such deeds. That way, the balance is maintained and the outcome is fair. I choose to be the reaction to your action. I can not tell you more; such an action would compromise my position and start a new reaction. You have to trust me."

She scowled at him. "You never give a straight answer, damn you. Was it not sweet?"

He looked sad. "Yes... it was sweet. But it must be this way. I must oppose you every step, for only then will you be able to make your dream come true."

"Give me the Sabre, Arcius." She drew her sword. "If you must oppose me, then I must harden my heart. If you do not, I will strike you down."

He shrugged. "Certainly, although I must ask a favor of you first."

"What?"

"Use your ring and I will tell you." With that, Arcius removed his ring and returned to his normal size.

She turned a ring and suddenly, she was Arcius' size. "What is it?"

"Strike me twice in the face with your fist and slash my clothes," he said, extending the Sabre to her, hilt first.

She looked startled. "Why?" she asked, taking the blade.

"Because it needs to be done."

She shrugged. "I'm sorry, Arcius. I wish it did not have to be this way." With that she struck him.

"This is getting old," said Oni.

The illusionary Briar could not have agreed more. They'd been sitting there for hours, waiting for whoever had thrown Dobal's corpse into the camp. "Whoever it is must have left by now," she said.

"He's still here," Oni replied. "I still smell him." He pulled his mask back over his face. "I'll just have to flush the weasel out. DARK CLAW!" All the underbrush around the camp evaporated.

"Look!"

Oni turned, facing in the direction Briar was pointing. A small shadow dashed away into the night. "Oh no, you don't!" he said as he leaped into the air and tackled the shadow. With another leap, he was back at the camp, holding his catch. It was an elf. Oni held the quivering creature up to his face. "Who are you?"

"Please," the elf begged, "don't kill me!"

"And why shouldn't we, you cowardly elf?" Briar's illusion asked. "Oh wait," she answered herself. "That would be merciful." She smiled pleasantly. "I can think of a good number of things that are much, much worse than dying."

She then picked up a stick and held it in front of the elf. "You get one chance. If you screw up, I swear to god that I will kill your body and stick your soul in this stick. And I'll take this stick and whittle it down so the big guy there can use it as a toothpick for all eternity." Her smile became much less pleasant. "And that's if I'm in a good mood. Talk, Points."

The elf shivered at the thought of being lodged in 'the big guy's' teeth for all eternity. It was bad enough that the thing was holding him right now. And the female had no pity for him whatsoever. It was just one of those days. He cleared his through and tried to speak. "My name is Froard, and I was sent to find Lina Inverse."

The illusionary Briar looked at Froard, a menacing look that made him wish he had stayed in bed. "What would an elf like you want with her?"

"Well, um... I have... that is to say...."

Oni cut the jabbering creature off. "Because he isn't truly an elf." Both the illusion of Briar and Froard looked at him, 'Briar's' expression full of questions, and Froard's full of fear. "He's a Changeling," Oni concluded.

"A what?" the illusion asked.

"A being that has the ability to change into any other creature as long as it can suck out half of its life force." Oni then stuck his hand into the robe Froard was wearing, and produced a bag of gold. "So, Froard, who's paying you to impersonate Lina?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Froard said. Oni looked into his eyes, then pinned him to the ground in one swift easy motion. "What are you doing?!" Oni smiled, and drew his saber. "STOP!" yelled Froard.

"Not again!" said the illusionary Briar.

Oni forced Froard to produce his hand, and without hesitation, sliced off his fingers. "OWWWWW!!!!" Froard cradled himself into a ball and held his now fingerless hand.

"What did you do that for?" the illusion of Briar asked.

Oni picked up one of the fidgeting fingers, displaying it in his palm. "Watch," he said. "Now you see it," the finger suddenly evaporated. The illusion's eyes grew in wonder. "Now you don't." Oni then seized Froard, and showed off his diced up hand. The hand looked as if nothing had happened. "Changelings can regrow lost limbs. Not even beheading can kill them. That was just a test." An old, worn sheet of paper fell from Froard's robe. Oni picked it up, looked at its contents, and gave the changeling a look that made him grow pale. "So you're after the Eye as well, hmm? Briar? Be a dear and bring me Dobal's pack, will you?"

Briar's illusion shrugged, and walked over to Dobal's lifeless corpse. She bent down to grab the pack around his shoulder, when the pack started to move slightly. "What the?"

"This is so strange!" Lazar looked around at his surroundings. He had left an hour ago and it seemed he wasn't getting anywhere. He sat down on an old log, and suddenly realized what had happened. "That wench got me good," he said to himself with a chuckle. "But at least I can still find Lina with my mind." He placed his staff on the ground, put his hands on his forehead, and reached out to Lina's mind with his. "Lina?"

Seconds passed, then minutes. "NO!" Lazar yelled out loud. He dropped his hands to his side with a scowl on his face. "She must be in the catacombs. I wasn't able to reach her at all." He clenched his old fists in anger. As long as he had this spell on him, he wasn't going anywhere. "If only there was someone who could go to them."

"Mind if I go?" Lazar spun around to see a young boy standing with his arms crossed, a smile on his face.

"Yun?" asked Lazar.

"Who else?" the boy replied.

"But Oni beheaded you!"

Yun gave a little snicker. "Nice illusion spell, huh? I even had you convinced." The boy's look became serious. "But enough of that. I'm goning to the catacombs to help Lina. I owe you one, Laz."

"Wait! Yun! St--" But Yun was gone before Lazar could protest any further.

With a low moan that turned partway through into something approaching a growl, the red-haired sorceress slowly sat up. She rubbed her aching head, muttering curses under her breath, then tried to stand up. Three tries later, she was finally upright, though cursing somewhat more loudly.

The last thing she remembered with any certainty was attacking that crossbowman. Well, trying to attack him. Since using any magic at all was temporarily beyond her, she hadn't been able to make so much as a dent in his armour. Then there had been a blaze of pain, and... she vaguely recalled a creepy-looking face with a jewel implanted in its forehead. Shudder. She tried to put that whole experience out of her mind.

"Anything interesting happen while I was out?" she abruptly wondered, and peered around the city. There, by the temple, amid explosions and other exciting things, was that stone-skinned guy, Zelgadis... as well as the man with the hat. They seemed to be surrounded by a whole bunch of robed ones. Where the heck had THOSE beings come from? Last she remembered, there'd only been two! They seemed to be winning, too.

She couldn't see anyone else; not the bard (and HIS clothes would certainly have alerted her to his presence if he was ANYWHERE near the battlefield), not Tim or Jin or Constance... no, wait, was that Jin way over there, utterly swamped by dozens of broomsticks?

"Hmmmph." The girl loosened her sword in its scabbard, looking very smug. "Can't handle ANYTHING without me, can they? Don't worry, everyone," she cried out, striding towards the thick of battle. "I'm on my -- AAAGH!"

She tripped, falling flat on her face... well, actually, falling flat on the thing which had tripped her. Which was warm and human-shaped. "Eeep!" Scrambling quickly to her feet, she looked down... at over six feet of black- clad, silver-haired crossbowman, stretched out unmoving on the ground. Slowly, an expression of insane glee crept onto her face. "I've got you now!"

He didn't react. "Hey, I'm talking to YOU!" she cried, and kicked her nemesis in the ribs. He let out a low moan and shivered a bit. "HEY!" A little confused, she knelt down and took a closer look. There, on his shoulder... a deep knife wound of some kind. Festering, as if it were poisoned. His skin growing cold, his shivering slowly dying down... from the look of things, he wouldn't last much longer.

"POISONED?" She sat back on her heels, overwhelmed with rage. "No! That's not right! He's MINE to kill! Not some overzealous chemist's! MINE!" Quickly she bent over him once more, stretching out her hands. A feeble white glow bathed his shoulder.

"Somebody! ANYBODY! There's a guy DYING over here! Some help would be appreciated!" she yelled, then gritted her teeth and concentrated fiercely. No matter how much effort she poured into the spell, it wouldn't do him much good. Still, she had to try and keep him alive until someone with greater skill at magical healing showed up. No one, but no one, was going to take her revenge away!

The explosion still ringing in their ears, the group dashed out of the cavern, leaving the Tim situation behind. The moment they took a good look at the view on the other side of the exit, however, all motion stopped. Faced with this amazing vision, no one said a word.

They were standing on a ledge, at one side of an extremely large cavern. Below them stretched an entire city. It glowed faintly, and emitted a strange aura of stillness.

Except, of course, for the loud explosions and sounds of battle coming from several different directions at once.

Lina jogged to the edge of the platform and peered towards the city's centre, where most of the fireworks were coming from. "Hey! Is that.... Nah, can't be. But what if...." Suddenly she made up her mind. "Everybody! We're going this way!" She led the way down the stairs and into the city proper.

Once they were on their way through the eerily unpopulated streets, Ninoa halted. "Wait! The Astral Saber! I can feel it, I think! And it's this way." She started running off towards a side street.

Before Lina could say anything, the group was approached. By a massive number of brooms; giant brooms as far as the eye could see, walking in perfect unison. Amid shouts of confusion, or maybe fear, everyone scattered. Some followed Ninoa; some took to the roofs; some just ran off. Except for Lina and Gourry, and for Vrumugun, still trailing a short ways behind them. Lina just stood there, staring at the brooms. Gourry, not sure what to do, simply stood there behind her. And Vrumugun stuck to the shadows at the side of the road.

The spindly apparitions strode en masse down the street, straight towards Lina. But just before they met, the stream of brooms split itself in two, flowing around Lina and Gourry as if they weren't there. It took a while, but all the brooms passed by them, on their way to some battle or other no doubt. "That was weird," said Lina, a little unsettled by the entire experience. Then she looked around herself. "Hey, where did everybody go?"

Enjoying the view from the rooftops, Sai stood up and stretched. "Oh man...." He ran his fingers though his hair, then sat back down, thinking. "What is it? We are missing something; I just know it. Something is NOT adding up." Not wanting to think about too many Tims or walking brooms right now, Sai took out his flute and started to play again, a strange, soothing tune.

The music flowed out into the empty city, and was quickly swallowed up by the stillness. Once he felt a bit better, Sai put the flute away and got out his sword. He sprang to his feet, then started jumping from rooftop to rooftop. He had no idea why he felt like doing this, but he did it anyway. If nothing else, it's good practice. It has been a while, after all.

Filia was more or less wandering through the somewhat silent city, passing row after row of empty shops and houses. She had lost track of everyone after the scary broom figures had shown up, go figure. She was good at that.

Her eyes wandered, then fell on an unexpected sight. She froze; there lay a man, seemingly injured. And -- and who was with him? "L-Lina-san?" she asked, hurrying towards the two and extending a helping hand as she cast a healing spell. Soon the poisoned wound in his shoulder was replaced by a patch of healthy pink flesh.

Eric's eyes suddenly opened, and his hands shot up and grabbed both Filia's arm and that of the redheaded sorceress. Looking at them quite seriously, he said, "Thank you... you've saved my life, and I owe you both a great debt of honor. From this point onwards, I will do my best to repay you for your kindness." He looked at Filia. "You, because you had no reason to help me, other than kindness." He then looked at the red-haired girl. "And you, especially, since you had every reason to let me die."

Filia froze as the man's hand wrapped around her tiny wrist. She slowly relaxed, and let out a light sigh. "No worries," she replied with a smile. "As long as you are well, sir, there is no need for a repayment." She smiled sweetly. As long as life went on... as long as she found her son... as long as she.... "Actually, sir," she began again, in a much quieter tone. "Could you please... please, help me find my son."

Eric smiled and nodded to Filia. "That, I will do."

About then, Ren skipped by, singing to himself and completely ignoring everyone else.

"...On through the dead of night..." *dada daaa* "...with the four horsemen ride..." *dada daaa* "...or choose your fate and die!"

Apparently reaching the guitar solo of the song in his head, Ren head-banged on past Eric, Filia, and the sorceress.

Eric blinked. "Oh geez...." He felt his forehead to make sure he wasn't still sick from the poison.

Filia rolled her eyes and stated matter-of-factly, "At least he's not running around saying Jupiter."

Eric looked up at her. "Uh...." He felt his forehead again.

The red-haired sorceress stared openly at the utterly unexpected sight of a tall, powerful, somewhat familiar man skipping, singing, and headbanging his way through the city. Then she blinked. Yep, he was still there. Oh boy. Maybe if I ignore it, it'll just go away....

With that, she turned her attention back to Eric, who was still gripping her wrist. "So!" she said cheerfully, while trying to pry his fingers off. "Looks like you're feeling better now!"

She'd been a bit startled when the blond lady had appeared from out of nowhere and immediately started healing him. From her flowing white robes, she seemed to be a priestess of some kind. Well, I guess even mysterious underground cities can have good samaritans crawling out of the woodwork. With that, the lady was suddenly graced with a brilliant smile. "Thanks! If you hadn't shown up, I dunno what I'd have done!"

Finally freeing herself from Eric's grasp, she stood up, dusting herself off. "Ha! That'll show those robed weirdos." Ignoring the priestess, she began to grin somewhat disturbingly in the crossbowman's direction. "The only person who gets to kill you... is ME! PREPARE TO DIIIIE!" With that, she launched herself at a rather startled Eric, and attempted to throttle him to the best of her ability.

Filia, for her part, was utterly floored. "Lina? What are you DOING?"

Eric, as the girl launched herself at him, had only one thought. "Wow, you're pretty." Unfortunately, since he was in shock, he actually SAID his thought out loud. This was, of course, directed at the angry redhead, and just managed to come out before her hands encircled his neck in a rather unpleasant way.

As she realized exactly what Eric had said, the redhead froze in place, mouth gaping, unable to believe what she'd just heard. She held the position for a good three seconds before backpedalling furiously.

Once she was a safe distance away, her mouth developed a life of its own. "So what exactly are you saying? That... that shooting me in the arm, and doing that weird hurting spell, and stalking me through the streets of Kytares... all that was just some... bizarre COURTING RITUAL? Huh? Well, buster, whaddaya have to say for yourself? I'm waiting!"

Filia blinked several times, but still.... "Something isn't right," she said, and pushed the redhead aside. "Lina, what are you doing? We are still on our mission! You were taking it VERY seriously earlier. What's wrong with you?!" The girl just stared blankly at her. "Well? Lina??"

Ye gods, not ANOTHER person who knows the real Lina! WHAT mission? Who IS this lady? What am I supposed to say? What can I do? This has NOT been the luckiest day of my life by ANY stretch of the imagination.... A strange half-giggle escaped the redhead as the stranger waited for an answer.

Suddenly, the red-haired sorceress did a very obvious about-face, then pointed and proclaimed in an overly-dramatic tone of voice, "Oh no! Are those broom-guardians I see approaching us, ready and willing to attack?" Actually, the broomlike apparitions in question were dozens of metres away, moving hastily towards the sound of explosions in the city centre. "Best defense is a good offense! No time to talk! Tally ho!" And with that, she whipped out her sword and ran full tilt into battle.

Eric blinked. "Courting...?" He chuckled a bit as he leapt into pursuit, eventually catching up to the girl. "No, that was me trying to extract information from you," he said, just moments before crashing into some broom guardians... and straight through them.

"Oh. Okay. In that case... you DO realize that now, I have NO motivation whatsoever to stop trying to kill you." The crossbowman seemed perfectly fine with that. Well, as far as she could tell, since he was currently ignoring her in favour of being pummeled by a broom. No accounting for some peoples' tastes....

The mysterious, broom-like apparitions HAD been perfectly content to pass by the small group of people talking, yelling, singing, healing, and attacking each other... after all, they hadn't been causing any property damage, had they? However, now that a couple of them had seen fit to start a battle, the entire area started being swamped by the tall wooden beings.

The redhead charged straight towards one of the spindly creatures and swung her longsword vaguely in its general direction. She managed to clip the thing, and it spun around like a top. Hence the world was treated to its first sight of an overly dizzy broom.

Shouting something that vaguely ressembled a battle cry, she then attempted to slash viciously at a couple of the apparitions which had popped up right behind her. Somehow she managed to miss completely, instead taking the arm off a broom beside them utterly by accident. While sweatdropping, she had the opportunity to watch a single wooden arm transmogrify itself into an entire broom, increasing the numbers arrayed against her by one. "Have to find a different strategy," she mumbled to herself.

With that, she tried jabbing forcefully outwards, and managed to avoid connecting with anything for a good half minute. Soon she was back to swinging her sword around, but this time tried to use only the flat of her blade to push the brooms away from her, with variable success. "Ha! Take that!" she cried out joyfully as she knocked one apparition down the street, then did a little victory dance which involved waving her longsword around in a somewhat menacing way.

"WATCH IT!" snapped a man's voice, halting her little dance in its tracks. It was Eric, in the middle of a brawl with several brooms at once. His black cloak was now slashed to ribbons.

"Ooops!" She giggled, utterly unrepentant, and returned to whomping brooms with glee.

Eric grumbled something as he tossed his cloak aside. Underneath he wore a heavy, black-leather jumpsuit. Yelling over at the girl, he said, "I just never really got a good look at you before. You really ARE quite beautiful." Kicking another broom away, he said, "Wow... I wonder if these things are possessed by some severely disgruntled janitors or something...."

Filia chased the two of them, dodging brooms left and right. "Tally ho?" she questioned upon catching up. "And when have you started using a sword, Lina?"

About that moment, the headbanging guy they had seen earlier dropped off of a roof and landed right on top of the group of brooms, giving them the preoccupation of digging themselves out of the crater he'd left. Ren backflipped out of the crater and landed next to the redhead, grinning from ear to ear.

The sorceress growled, "Hey! I remember you!" She then put a hand on her hip and smirked. "I see you've gotten a new belt since last we met."

Filia now fumed. "Ignore me, will she?" A blue aura surrounded the golden dragon as she reached for her mace, and swung it out dramatically. "GET BACK HERE, LINA! I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOUUU!!"

Ninoa, appearing from somewhere behind Filia, hastily grabbed the angry Dragon Shrine Maiden. "Calm down!" Ninoa tried to hush Filia, but her aura seemed to be growing. I hope this doesn't hurt much..., Ninoa thought to herself as she shut her eyes, waiting for what was about to erupt.

"W-What are you...." Filia stopped for a second, halfway stunned. That's when she realized what she was doing. "Sorry!" With that, she squirmed out of Ninoa's grasp and continued swinging her mace at Lina.

Just then a rock, loosened from the ceiling by the big man's impact, fell directly towards his head. Ren looked up and rolled his eyes.

*THUNK*

"Uranus?"

Vrumugun looked around in bewilderment. Everyone had scattered, just because of a few brooms. How odd. He then dashed (floated?) off after Lina. Just getting a chance to talk to her was turning out to be a lot harder than it should have been.

Lina was more than a little annoyed at being abandoned by the rest of her companions. "Are we gonna have to search this entire city? Where is everyone?" she snapped, looking around.

"I'm here," answered Gourry helpfully.

She rolled her eyes. Then she noticed another person nearby. A creepy-looking man, in a dark cloak, with a bright jewel embedded in his forehead. "Vrumugun?" She did a double-take, then fell over from sheer surprise. What was he doing here?

Vrumugun looked silently at the fallen form of Lina. Yes, this was her, all right. Whoever it was he'd met earlier had obviously been some kind of impostor. He'd keep that in mind. THIS girl had a definite magical aura. "Lina Inverse? I have a few questions for you."

Lina looked at the creepy mage, wondering what he meant. "Questions? What kind of questions?" she asked uneasily. Gourry stood behind her protectively. Whatever this former enemy wanted, she wouldn't just let him have his way. She just wasn't that sort of person!

Vrumugun thought silently for a moment, then replied, very simply, "I have some questions about myself."

Lina faced him seriously. "What do you want to know?"

He shook his head and said, "I want you to tell me who I am." His face didn't indicate that he was aware of what an unusual question this was, but knowing Vrumugun, he probably did.

Tim woke up and saw himself nearby. Dead. And Briar, keeping a careful watch over the body. No, that's not right, Tim thought to himself. "Nice illusion, Briar. Looks like me and acts like me as well. I suppose you're just going to leave me here until I tell you which one I am."

He stared out into space. "Here's my answer. Filia has my book, and so does Zelgadis. There used to be two of me. Two different Tims who were essentially the same person. I am neither of them, but I have the memories and feelings of both. It was all caused by a trap, set six months ago by a mysterious creature called a Tymonree. It split me into two, though I didn't know it at the time. And this is the first time since then that I have been whole."

"Now be a good girl and dispel this illusion. There are two Linas in the city down there. BOTH of them know the Dragon Slave, and BOTH of them are likely to use it on the other -- on sight. Two Dragon Slaves in underground catacombs are a very good way to get everybody killed. You'll need me to prevent that tragedy. You'd better hurry unless, of course, you want to die," Tim said, tapping his fingers impatiently and smiling.

It was surprisingly quiet, Tim noticed as he waited. And waited. And waited.

Then he noticed that Briar wasn't moving much. At all, in fact, aside from a semblance of breathing. Pretty much like the illusion of himself. Pretty exactly like the illusion of himself.

That explained it. She'd left with the others, but didn't want anyone to know it, so had left an illusion of herself. Clever.

Tim rolled a coin from where he was sitting. He couldn't see it for three feet, then noticed it roll upon the floor. Clever indeed, Tim thought, but why all the elaborate smoke and mirrors?

Trying to make sense of everything he'd discovered over the past few weeks, the collector made a checklist of his various thoughts.

One, the mystery of Celise was solved. She was a Mazoku who had reformed, and who had even become one of the Shinzoku. Specifically, she'd become the ambassador to Lina Inverse. The Shinzoku planned on using Lina to some ends against their demonic brethen. Ashrid was connected somehow; so was Metcliff, and possibly even the Sleepless Ones. This also made the answer to Briar's question, of whether a Mazoku could become good, a resounding yes.

Two, Briar was protecting him, but against what? True, he was injured... but why not listen to his story and allow Filia to heal him on the spot? Especially since he knew more about their troubles than almost anybody else. Maybe the bard knew something about the Sleepless Ones. Why wouldn't Briar let Tim share this infomation with everyone?

Tim skipped over those thoughts for a while and noticed some other disturbing facts. He couldn't dispel any magic, which meant for now that he couldn't cast any. Also, the links he had to both books appeared to be severed. He had no idea if Filia or Zelgadis still had them, or even if they were working. At best, he was a swordsman for the time being, and even that wasn't great. He needed healing, physical healing, and soon.

His first instinct was to get up, but then he remembered the trap setter. Before he'd been able to pin the creep with a Ra Tilt, the boy had jumped down the crevice. The odds of the trapster's survival, and of him being rather angry at the one who had destroyed his plans, were both fairly high.

Tim decided to wait until the trapster walked away, or until a day had passed, or until his friends returned. He thanked Briar under his breath for her foresight in casting an invisibility spell on his true self.

Then he realized that the trapster most probably wasn't the one she'd been worried about. Tim didn't know the full extent of the danger. He got this aching feeling that Briar did, but why and in what capacity he didn't know. His head still ached too much to think about such things.

As Lina and Vrumugun talked, there was an ominous swishing sound. Gourry turned around quickly to face the danger appearing behind them. Lina was used to the sight of charging mobs of angry townsfolk. A charging mob of angry brooms? Now that was a bit disconcerting, to say the least. It seemed that the broom guardians had just decided to attack anything that moved. Moving as fast as they could, the mob charged them.

Lina fell back a little, holding off one of the broom things. It had caught her off guard. Growling, she threw a few fireballs at it, then sweatdropped as the fireballs were greeted by a bucketful of cold water that fizzled the spells nicely. The rest of the brooms then swarmed onto her, Gourry, and the creepy Vrumugun in earnest.

Briar had lost the brooms that had come after her. She hoped so, anyway. She stood in a section of the town where the sound of battle was oddly dimmed.

"Impressive, isn't it?" The voice came from the shadows.

She glared at De'Esem. "What do you want?"

He ignored her. "You humans can be quite amazing, given the limitations you pitiful creatures have." He pointed to a huddled form lying on the ground. "Take him."

Briar leaned over and blinked. If it wasn't Val-chan! But how had he.... She eyed her slaver warily.

De'Esem smiled. "The game is fixing to get amusing. Play your part well, servant. Someone else is playing the game as well. Split them and sow discontent among them. You shall understand when you see." And he vanished.

Lyssa and Kerrem raced after Ninoa and Ren, who raced after Filia, who raced after the girl who looked like Lina. About three blocks away from them, a dozen brooms, borrowing a trick from Ren, dropped onto them from above, whapping and violently sweeping.

Kerrem stopped briefly to splinter a few brooms with a few easy sword strokes. He watched in horror as each splinter started to grow into a new broom. "THEY DON'T DIE!" he yelled as he ran to catch up with Lyssa and the others.

In the city, Zangulus and Zelgadis battled back to back, desperately trying to keep the Sleepless Ones at bay. A few of the robed beings had formed a rough circle around the pair and were pressing the attack, while a few others were using their talents to keep the irritating brooms away. At least those in the middle didn't have to deal with the brooms anymore.

Arcius hobbled out of the alley. The bard was a mess. His clothes were ripped and torn, and he was bruised all over. Sure she is sorry. She did not have to go this far. But somehow, the fact that his clothes were in shambles did not help the gaudiness of his garb. In fact, if it were possible, it made it even worse. Somehow, the bard had managed to acquire clothes that, when ripped, had a different pattern on the inside than the outside.

He looked around. Down at one end of the street, near the temple, Lina and several strangers were fighting the brooms. Up the other end of the street, Lina and several other strangers were also fighting the brooms. Despite the pain in his face, he grinned. This was his kind of paradox.

Underfoot, he felt the ground rumble slightly. The first line of the city's defense had failed. It seemed that the second line was getting ready to make an entrance. Arcius nodded to himself. It was time to leave. Now if he could just convince the others.

Back in the chasm room, Geltro finally dragged himself over the edge, back onto solid ground. There was no one there, aside from a man who seemed to be dead. He sat there for several minutes, breathing deeply and rubbing his sore arms. What now? No point setting up more traps, they'd be expecting that. I could follow them down, but only a fool walks into a known battle. Hmm. If only I knew where that damn bard was. Well, a look around shouldn't hurt. Good thing I'm on the right side of that barrier.

"DIVINE"

His spell didn't work exactly as he'd hoped, instead showing him the location of the sorceress who'd passed through this chamber a short while ago. Okay, that's where she is. Now to have a look-see.

"VISION"

In the city below, a flickering, translucent image of a very dirty fourteen-year-old boy in loose black clothing appeared near Lina, and quickly scanned the area.

Damn. I was hoping he'd be close enough to see. Now what?

While jumping from rooftop to rooftop, Sai noticed a few familiar figures ahead of him; there were Lyssa, Kerrem, Ninoa, and Ren. And Filia was up ahead. He'd finally caught up with them.

He watched incredulously as they spontaneously developed a little sweeping problem, and raised an eyebrow. "Oh man. Just when you thought you've seen it ALL." He followed his friends from the rooftops, waiting for a good time to drop in.

His thoughts drifted, then suddenly he found himself going faster than they were. And up in front were two houses a little farther apart than usual. "Oh no." It was too late to avoid it; he did his best to jump across, but only proved... that not even HE was that good a jumper.

Sai fell down to the streets, landing right in front of his friends. "Ow.... That sucked."

The redhead ducked quickly under a strike from one of the brooms surrounding her, then attempted to jab another of the apparitions. Suddenly, she felt the ground tremble beneath her feet, then settle down. Whoa! Someone cast an earthquake spell or something? It sure hadn't been her. From the look of things, it hadn't been Eric either; the crossbowman looked just as confused as she was.

Whatever had just happened, even the broom-warriors seemed slightly distracted. But only for a moment. Soon, they were launching themselves at her just as wildly as before, and she got back into the rhythm of sword-strike, parry, duck, dodge, swing.

"LIIIINAAAAA...." A terrifying sound made her freeze mid-swing. It was the mace-wielding priestess lady; she'd caught up with her again! Oh no. I thought I'd lost her already! Even better, behind the priestess was running at least a half dozen people who the girl had never met before. Plus the strange man who kept saying 'Uranus.' And another one dropped in from the rooftops while she watched. With MY luck, they'll all end up being best friends with the real Lina herself. She groaned, barely remembering to dodge an attacking broom. What I need is a plan!

In the absence of a plan, however, she decided to just run for it.

The redhead soon ended up floundering through a sea of brooms. "Where'd they all COME from?" she finally snapped, exasperated. They were really starting to get on her nerves. Plus they were impeding her progress, and the priestess was getting closer to her every second.

She caught a hint of a broom-free zone up ahead, right near the temple, and immediately made a beeline for it. Anything to get away from these things! However, once she got there, the blasts of magical power everywhere made it clear that the reason why brooms were scarce here was because this area was already occupied by something worse.

It was those robed guys again; a whole bunch of them were ganging up on a couple of familiar faces. "Hey! Zelgadis! And the guy with the hat!" She smiled happily before shouting, "Couldja use some help?" Without waiting for a reply, she charged forward, slamming straight into one of the robed beings and knocking it over.

Unknown to the girl, Eric had been following her closely for the past few minutes. He sweatdropped as she charged into battle, but got distracted as a Sleepless One attacked, engaging him in a duel.

Zangulus looked at Zel with a rather hard look in his eyes. "Damnit...! I come to help, and this is how you repay me? By ignoring me? Well, I have something in store for you, stone boy!" Zangulus whirled around, smacking a Sleepless One in the face with the broad side of his sword, and knocking it back into Zel. Zangulus grinned. "What's the matter, can't you handle your OWN!" He said the last word rather loudly as he sliced into another, jumping over its head, then driving his blade through its back.

He stopped, as he looked over his shoulder. "What the...?" Apparently, a few of the other Sleepless Ones were thinking the same thing, having seen the girl trip over one of their robed brethren. They all made their way towards the girl, as Zangulus gained a rather heavy sweatdrop. "HEY! WHAT DO YA THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" Zangulus bee-lined towards the girl so fast that all that was left of him was a dust trail. He hacked and slashed, making as good of a hole as he could, and knocking the other ones over by running through them.

As he reached the girl, he lowered himself, wrapping his arm around her stomach and throwing her over his shoulder. He jumped into the air and concentrated into his sword. "HOWLING WIND!" he screamed while spinning around, unleashing a huge wave of energy which knocked the Sleepless Ones back.

Zangulus landed on his feet and crouched. He put the girl down and started moving back toward the rest of the Sleepless Ones. He looked over his shoulder for barely a second, not even realizing who exactly it was he'd just rescued. "Baka... don't interfere! You'll only get yourself hurt! Go back to your mom; I'll take care of this."

"Go back to my...." Since he wasn't looking in her direction, Zangulus didn't notice how pale the girl's face had become. As if she were so angry that she didn't trust herself to speak. Or so shocked that she didn't realize how much he'd just humiliated her. Even if he had seen it, he probably wouldn't have cared.

He launched himself back into battle, muttering choice words under his breath about foolish young girls and how they didn't belong in REAL battles. Brooms and Sleepless Ones fell under his expert sword, the brooms easily, the Sleepless Ones somewhat less so, as he fought his way back towards Zelgadis.

As Sai went slamming to the ground, Ninoa finally noticed he was there. Before she could get to him, however, he was surrounded by brooms.

"YOU NO HURT SAI-SAMA!" she said to the wooden guardians as she readied in spellcasting formation. "BALLISTIC FIRESHOT!"

Multiple fireballs seemed to appear from behind Ninoa and flew forward to decimate the wooden ones. A vein popped out of her forehead as she realized more and more brooms were appearing even as she cast the spell.

As Ninoa's machine gun version of fireballs streaked towards the brooms, however, she was treated to a unique sight. One broom, looking very much like someone had hit 'fast forward', was meeting each and every fireball with a bucketful of water.

Then ten others tossed water on her, taking care of the rest of the fireballs popping up around her, keeping her under a steady stream of water until the fireballs quit appearing. And the remaining twenty-five brooms? They charged in, surrounding Ninoa and Sai, whacking and shuffling them down the street.

Lyssa had taken off the moment Ninoa began casting her fireballs, deciding it might not be a good idea to stick around for that. So she had ducked off into an alleyway and kept right on going.

Until she tripped.

Lyssa blinked. Having been running aimlessly, she hadn't intended to stumble upon anything important... yet here she had. A soft smile touched her lips and she tucked the object away. It could be worth something... a great big something, for all she knew.

She was still smirking at her newfound treasure when she felt a sharp intense pain at the back of her skull. Stunned momentarily, she allowed the two dozen or so brooms which had finally caught up with her to push her along.

Vrumugun was still fighting off the brooms. "Enough of these games," he said, producing a glass orb from his cloak. "Boost Bolt!" He and Lina, as well as her blond guardian, were surrounded by an electrical shield, and any brooms hapless enough to charge it were burnt to death. Now that he'd bought himself enough time to prepare, he chanted,

"You who cross between sky and earth, raging water, gather in my hand and give me power. Demona Crystal!"

With most of the brooms frozen, Vrumugun figured Lina could handle the rest.

Above the din of the battle, a new sound emerged. Someone was sounding a horn. All of the Sleepless Ones suddenly broke off their attacks and jumped back, as the spellcasters among them cast a series of area spells designed to give them room.

The others quickly gathered up their comrades too injured to move. Just as quickly, they bolted, fleeing the battle, heading towards where a different entrance must have been. At the top of that cliff, a figure stood, large enough to be made out clearly. When the last reverberating note of the horn sounded, the figure turned and vanished.

With no one keeping them at bay, the brooms charged in on everyone else.

The Sleepless One toppled onto Zelgadis, knocking him back. He shook his head clear of the cobwebs that it had left, and then looked towards Zangulus with anger in his eyes. Zel had seen him running from the fight, but hadn't noticed the woman who he'd been rescuing. "Come back here, coward!" he yelled, but another Sleepless One got in his way before he could do anything about it. Zel poised for a strike, when all of a sudden a horn sounded. His Sleepless opponent took off in a hurry. A question mark appeared over Zel's head. A bit puzzled, he looked around, only to discover that all of the Sleepless Ones were gone.

But the brooms were still around. In fact, there seemed to be more of them than ever before, and now that the robed beings were gone, there was nothing preventing them from rushing in. It soon became practically impossible to see anything through the forest of six-foot-tall brooms surrounding him. With a growl, he tossed a couple of Flare Arrows at them, just to buy enough time to draw his sword and attack.

Whatever had shocked the redheaded sorceress so, she seemed to have gotten over it by now. Or at least temporarily put it out of her mind. "Not the brooms again!" she groaned, as a pack of them closed in on her. Out came the gem- encrusted longsword once again, whistling through the air as she viciously slashed at her attackers.

The ferocious sound of sweeping... the hollow clatter of sword-blade on wood... the "YIPE!" of a crossbowman nearly getting impaled by an overly-enthusiastic sorceress.... Hold it....

"Aheh, sorry, Eric," she said, somewhat sheepishly. It's generally not a good idea to accidentally kill someone who keeps calling you 'beautiful'. Though she still hadn't finished making him pay for that crossbow quarrel in the arm....

Despite that little near-mishap, Eric stayed near the girl, covering her rear (not THAT way, you hentai!), making sure the brooms didn't overwhelm them.

"I STILL say these things are possessed by a bunch of disgruntled janitors," he grumbled.

Now Ninoa was pissed. She then decided to summon her energies and tried ignoring the brooms as she did so. Then she realized that her Moshi was wet. A dead silence surrounded all.

"You...," she started, a vein popping out of her head, "you... you... got my Moshi... wet?" Her anger was plain to see, and anyone could tell that she meant business. A red glowing aura appeared around her and continued to grow. "NOW YOU ALL DIEEEEE!"

With a deadly cry, she began to fry the brooms even as they splashed more water on her spells. The flames simply evaporated the streams of water.

Ninoa then gathered energy into her hands and smacked the ground, yelling, "VOLCANIC UPSURGE!" The ground around her melted into a pool of lava. All the brooms around her disintegrated at the touch of the molten rock. She was beyond pissed, and she didn't look like she was about to stop now.

Behind Geltro and Tim, the greenish barrier abruptly turned gold.

In the city, the rumbling suddenly stopped, and all of the brooms popped out of existence. In the middle of whatever they were doing, they just... vanished. Silence descended on the city.

Arcius looked around. "Uh-oh." A slight updraft ruffled his cape.

Occupied by his own set of broom-guardian attackers, Kerrem hadn't noticed Ninoa's spellcasting. So he raced around in panic, yelling out "Volcano! We've gotta get out of here! Follow those cloaked guys! WE HAVE TO GET MOVING!"

Sai stood at the edge of the lava pit. "Good Lord, is she trying to kill us all?" He called out, "Ray Wing," and rose into the air just above Ninoa and the lava lake. "Ninoa, please stop... you can't be so enraged that you can't even think straight." He looked around himself. "Or maybe you can. Oh man, this is not good."

Grumbling something about brooms, Lyssa appeared, hovering in the air next to Sai. She rubbed her head as she sat cross-legged in midair. "No, by all means, let her stay enraged. That way, when the bad guys come back, she'll already have her best spells ready. By the way, you ever seen one of these?"

Lyssa pulled out her treasure. It was a sword. As she held it, her own weapon glowed a bit; she ignored it and awaited Sai's response. "By the way... what is it that Lina-san and the others are lookin' for?"

Zelgadis smashed his sword down on a broom, intending to smack it out of his way. It would have worked, too, if the broom had actually been there. As it was, he overbalanced and spun around in a circle before recovering.

Once he regained his balance, and his dignity, he quickly scanned the area around himself. All the brooms were gone. Confused, he looked around again, checking every possible doorway, rooftop, nook, or cranny where the might possibly have hidden themselves. Not a single one was left; not even a splinter or a wisp of straw remained.

He clenched one fist, growling low. "Damnit! Everything is running away." He calmed down, sheathing his sword. "At least they won't be bothering me anymore, though."

Now that this battle was over, it was time to get back to the important work of locating the Astral Saber. He began striding off in the direction he'd seen Constance leave in, hoping that she'd managed to hold onto it. Before he got very far, however, there came Zangulus, charging back towards the battle. Even though the battle was over.

Remembering quite acutely the nasty stunt which Zangulus had pulled right before his disappearance, Zelgadis smiled humorlessly, closing his eyes. He knelt down, slamming the palms of his hands onto the ground. "DUG HAUT!" he called, as huge spikes shot up out of the ground. That'll teach him.

Once Zangulus had finished hacking through the surrounding pack of brooms, he began charging back into battle... only to find no one there. Even the broom-guardians had left. As he stopped and looked around, he noticed that even the girl he'd saved had taken off. He let out a puff of air as he sighed, but was interrupted by the ground shaking. "What the... AAAH!" he screamed, as a spike barely missed impaling him from below.

He gained a huge sweatdrop as he began dodging all of the spikes that were so eagerly looking for a victim. "GYAAAA! What is this!?" he screamed, spinning around, and cutting a few of the spikes away with his sword. A spike formed under him faster then he could move, and he moved his sword in place to block it, but instead was hurdled into the air as if he'd been launched from a cannon.

Watching Zangulus fly off into the air, Zelgadis chuckled grimly, then tossed a few Flare Arrows at the swordsman for good measure. Then he turned and continued on his way.

As Zangulus flew over the city, with waterfalls of tears flowing from his eyes, he felt something nail him. Something fiery and hot, like a fireball. Oh, and painful, too. He was instantly charred, and, taking the usual anime stunned-by-an-attack pose, he began to fall.

The next thing he felt was the ground, smacking him right in the face. He lay there for a few moments before attempting to get up. He could feel pain throughout his face, and as he sat upright, he sheathed his sword and rubbed his poor aching nose.

"Damnit! That is the last time I try helping somebody. Especially some two bit rock man, flailing a sword like he actually knows how to use it. When I get my hands on him I'll...." He stopped, seeing someone right in front of him. His eyes bugged, as he noticed who it was. Lina again... and with her this time, Gourry.

He immediately jumped to his feet, all of his wounds from being fried suddenly dissapearing. "Well, you know, you just can't trust chimeras when you have your back turned... heh-heh...," he said, gaining a sweatdrop and scratching the back of his head.

Lina fell back. "Z-Zangulus!" she exclaimed, as Gourry scratched his head in bewilderment. "What are you doing here?"

Zangulus gained his knowing smile as he tilted his hat down slightly, closing his eyes. "Well, I had just escaped... er, I mean... got a break from the honeymoon... yeah... and asked myself, 'I wonder if I can finally defeat Gourry.' You see, living the life of luxury means nothing to me if I cannot know I am the best swordsman. After all, what more is in a swordsman's life than being the very best?

"While rebuilding the kingdom's castle... er.. it was a workout for me really, and I've become much stronger since.... I practiced with the Howling Sword day in and day out, experimenting with new techniques, weathering everything nature could throw at me!" By this time, Zangulus was crying tears of pride. "Just for this solitary moment!"

He ripped out his sword. As he posed with it in front of him, pointing at Gourry, it glowed with a stronger magical aura than ever before. "Gourry Gabriev, I challenge you, to find out once and for all just who the best swordsman is!" He grinned darkly, his eyes never leaving Gourry. Finally, he'd found him, his one purpose for being here. Soon it would all be over. And was he ever looking forward to it.

Lina sweatdropped, and walked right between the two. "We don't have time for this--"

Before she knew it, she'd been picked up and put to the side. Then Gourry drew his own sword. "Sorry, Zangulus. But I'll have to kick your butt again!" Gourry exclaimed, grinning confidently.

Zangulus grinned back, tilting his hat up a bit with his free hand. "I'll have you know this won't be easy." With that, he leveled his sword with Gourry's, and his eyes leveled with his also. One of his feet slid back as he took a bracing position. His sword glowed while he grinned. "I claim first! Hyyaaaa!" he said, coming across to Gourry's right side with a quick strike toward his kidneys.

Gourry jumped to the side, swiftly making a counter attack, until.... Both fighters jumped hastily to avoid the fireball coming their way.

"I SAID STOP!" Lina snapped. She stood right in front of Zangulus now. "Have your little fight later!"

Zangulus finally looked over to Lina, gritting his teeth. "Stay out of this, Lina! I'm wa...." He stopped, seeing her in front of him. Closing his eyes, he shook his head. "Lina, listen to me. This is my life, right here, right now. The heat of battle, knowing that you can either lose or win with a single wrong move. It is who I am, and how I will run my life." His hand gripped into a fist. "To live as a swordsman and know you are not the best, to give up the only chance you might have had to see if you are, in fact, the best or just a plain second... to wonder your entire life which you are, is pure torture. And thinking about other things than your fate will prove equally disturbing. A swordsman's life is not only being the best, but showing himself that he is the best. You must have both, or your life will just be a blank slur of meaningless things! How would you feel if there was a pile of gold right over there," he pointed off toward the north, "but decided not to chance it because 'you didn't have time'!? How would you feel? For the last time, step aside!"

Seeing that she would not move, Zangulus shook his head, fixing his hat again, and leapt into the air over her head. He drew his sword, screaming, "Howling WIND!" He fired a huge wave of energy at Gourry's chest, and landed about five feet behind Lina.

Gourry parried swiftly, then leaped back, on the defensive. "Zangulus!" he growled, then began to press forward with an attack.

Lina was angry. Eyebrow twitching, she plowed right into the battle and grabbed Zangulus's cape, making him turn. "Had to get away from Martina... didn'tcha?" Her grin was smug, as she watched his dark face turn blue.

Zangulus's eyes twitched as a large sweatdrop ran down the side of his head, and his face turned bluer than a ripe blueberry. His fingers twitched while he put his hands out in front of him and shook them furiously at her. "No-no! Whatever would give you that idea? Hahahaha!" He laughed, scratching the back of his head. He gained another sweatdrop, then looked down.

"It's horrible! Simply horrible, I tell you! Do you remember at our wedding ceremony, when she said I would be helping rebuild her kingdom's glory? She meant it... LITERALLY! Day in and day out, ever since that horrid eve, I've been building houses, stables... outhouses! And on top of that, I've had to practically rebuild the entire castle... by myself! They hardly had any money after you ravaged their kingdom, and so I have to do... 'volunteer' work, including chopping down the wood I need to use to build everything!"

Zangulus fell to his knees in front of Lina, holding himself up by her cape, as waterfalls of tears flowed from his eyes. "I never knew being married could be so cruel! Not to mention the only thing she does all day is...." Zangulus regained his composure after a swift hit on the head from Lina. He stood, fixing his hat, as if nothing had just happened. He sheathed his sword, shaking his head. "Which was the reason for my training... I knew if I could defeat Gourry, at least I would have some happiness in my life. Knowing that I am the best swordsman would make my daily trials worthwhile. Besides that, I need a good excuse to not only get Martina to give me a little bit more respect, but also a good reason why I snuck out in the middle of the night on her...."

He turned from Lina, holding his chin between his thumb and index finger, closing his eyes, and thinking to himself. "Fine! I'll allow our fated duel to be delayed. But on one condition... I'm not going to leave until I get my match with Gourry, understood?"

Lina twitched, her mouth wide open. H-How could he be so demanding? Of HER, no less?

Gourry only tilted his head. "We'll fight after we finish this stuff... whatever we're doing."

Then Lina's face turned all at once to a smirk, with that oh-so-smug 'I told you so' expression. Slowly she brushed back her hair, giggling to herself. Then she pointed a finger toward Zangulus, winking. "You know, Zangulus... you shouldn't have gotten married 'til you were ready!" She laughed a bit louder, thinking to herself, Martina, you did not win!

Zangulus sighed, letting out a puff of air. "You call me getting dragged to the altar 'ready'? I was so dumbfounded I might've even married you if you'd dragged me there..." He shook his head. "Thank the gods it was Martina," he spoke under his breath. Then Zangulus blinked. "By the way... what exactly are you doing that's so important that we can't fight now?"

Lina only coughed and started walking toward the others, Gourry following. "If you want to know, then follow me. It's a bit... complicated right now." She sighed.

Zangulus tipped his hat, and nodded. "Fine by me. Er... can I ask you something?" he said, with a questioning voice. He pointed off down the street, towards a figure visible in the distance. A VERY loudly-dressed figure.... "Who's that?"

Lina almost fell over. "Him?!" she said, perhaps a bit louder than she intended, clenching her fist.

But it wasn't long before another person showed up, interrupting what might have turned into a rant. Kerrem had run a long way while trying to avoid Ninoa's 'volcano' and, now that he'd realized it obviously wasn't the threat he thought it to be, had calmed down considerably. "Look, Zangulus, right?" he said as he walked forward, rejoining his recent companions and intruding on their recent conversation. "There is more to being a swordsman than being the best. It means you are a fighter, but for what? There has to be meaning; there has to be something you fight for... the people you care about, your friends, even, if the situation calls for it, your enemies. As long as you can find meaning and do what you need to do, there is nothing special in being the best. I don't judge a person by how well they can fight, or their spellcasting abilities. I judge them by their heart, by whether they care for others or not. I'm gonna tell you right now that, even if you beat Gourry, with what I've heard from you I'd put you dead last on my list of the best."

Zangulus looked at the man with no interest at all, just distaste. "For one, I never 'asked' you anything. Second, I don't fight for money, fame, or anything else! I fight for my own reasons, and for myself. You just don't get it, do you, kid? There is nothing in being the best at anything, you say? So, if you weren't the best healer, and your patient died anyway, it would be okay because you tried? BAH! To be what you are is constantly to strive to better yourself, and make sure you are the best. Besides... I really don't care what you or any one of your 'make peace, not war' fighting-hating 'let's go down to the town market and buy candy for all the children' idiot friends! I don't need your or anyone else's approval before I do something. Go cry me a river if you don't like it, or you can continue to complain... or you can accept it, and move on. Those are the only three real choices in any difficulties in life." Kerrem looked stunned. Taking the opportunity to move on, Zangulus turned his back on the swordsman and continued following Lina and Gourry.

From several feet away, Vrumugun watched the three swordsmen and the sorceress. Lina he recognized. The blond swordsman... it must be Gourry Gabriev, he thought to himself. He certainly matched the description Vrumugun had heard. As for the other swordsmen, they were altogether unfamiliar.

Or were they? One he was sure he'd never seen before, but the other looked vaguely familiar, thought the sorcerer. When his ears caught the name "Zangulus," he started. That name... why did that jog something in his memory? He decided to find out, and floated toward the quartet.

Zangulus fixed his hat, trying to ignore Kerrem and succeeding marvelously, when he caught a flash of motion from the corner of his eye. Looking to the side, he saw a familiar robed figure. He raised an eyebrow. "Vrumugun...? Is that you? ...or one of you, at least?"

Vrumugun game Zangulus a quizzical look. "One of me, you say...?" He seemed puzzled. "In any case, you seem familiar. What can you tell me about myself?"

"How can I put this...? Well, I could just come out and say it... you are one of many... or perhaps one of the only ones left. You see, you are a clone. A few months back, there was this wacko priest and his woman, who thought they could tell me what to do. I didn't like the thought of it, really, but given the prospect of a new, enchanted sword and a chance at one who was known as the best swordsman in the world, I couldn't really refuse. The only catch was I had to escort you around... or... one of your 'others'... to 'help' me with Lina over there." As he spoke, he motioned towards Lina with a tilt of his hat. "I really didn't see why until she... blasted one of your clones to smithereens. Then, just as you had 'died', another came and took 'your' place."

"But it's odd," continued Zangulus. "The sorceress died back a while ago... why would you still have a ruby?" He smiled and shrugged. "No matter. Being that she can't control you anymore, you're pretty much free to do as you will... but isn't it kinda painful?"

Kerrem was still a little stupefied by Zangulus's speech, but ran to catch up with him anyway. "Fine, you wanna still fight Gourry? Then you're gonna have to get through me first," he said as he unsheathed his sword. "Okay, you're gonna regret this." The young swordsman took one step forward. "You get one more chance to back down; if not, you fight."

Another onlooker appeared out of nowhere. Lyssa had decided, now that the brooms were taken care of, to try to find Kerrem once more. And now that she'd located him, here he was, itching to get into a fight. She smacked her forehead and groaned. "Baka."

Zangulus looked at Kerrem out of the corner of his eye, giving a distasteful "Hrmph" as he continued walking. "She's right, you know. You have no idea what you're going up against... I have only lost to Gourry, and that is because he used his Sword of Light to throw my own attack back at me, something I didn't even think possible. Now that I know better, I am better prepared for such an attack... have you even come close to matching Gourry? I highly doubt it. No offense, kid, but you'll just get hurt." With that, Zangulus waved him off with the back of his hand, and continued forward, walking behind Lina and Gourry.

"Were you even listening?" Kerrem said as he moved in front of Zangulus, cutting him off. "I'll repeat it, then. I said you must go through me in order to fight Gourry. Did you hear me this time?" he said, a growing anger apparent in his voice. "Now fight me, or go home with your tail between your legs!"

Zangulus gritted his teeth, looking at the man who was holding a sword in front of him. He closed his eyes and then grinned. "Fine, if you want it that bad... sorry Lina, but it looks like...." However, he was interrupted by an acute case of fireball.

After that, neither Kerrem nor Zangulus tried pushing their luck again.

Sadly for Geltro, his attention was elsewhere, so he didn't notice the barrier behind him changing colours. Ninoa's wrath, on the other hand, was immediately obvious. Whoa. Note to self: never let this girl catch you messing with her 'Moshi'. I'm glad I'm not really here....

The shimmering, translucent image of Geltro looked around. Now, where's that bard...? Uh-oh. Geltro had been counting on the broom chaos to mask his projection's presence. With their sudden disappearance, his manifestation could be seen by all. Geltro STILL couldn't see Arcius, though, much to his annoyance.

"Pardon me," a voice said behind the Geltro projection. "But can I ask you something? What is your opinion of the two Lina complication?" Geltro's eyes opened wide. Arcius, right there behind him, seemed to be in thought. "I think I am leaning towards the grassy knoll and the trick mirror. How about yourself?" The bard waved to the others, seeking to get their attention as he waited for a reply.

The phantasmal Geltro bigsweated, then sloooooowly turned around. "I'm starting to hate that." He looked over the bard's tattered apparel with an appraising eye, then grinned roguishly. "Suits you."

Then, he drew himself up to his full height (not very much) and looked Arcius firmly in the eye. "You have many enemies. Some would consider mercy. Others would not. You can't run or hide forever. Think about it."

"My suggestion, Arcius," said another voice at the same time, "is to convince the two not to kill each other until we are safely out of the catacombs. Two Dragon Slaves will be sufficient to destroy this place -- and us with it, when the city of Kytares falls on our heads," Tim said simply. Apparently he'd decided to come back down into the city after all.

For an indeterminate period of time now, Constance had been stumbling around town in an attempt to look for the Astral Saber that she'd dropped during her struggle with some guy over the city's rooftops. She still couldn't believe that she'd been such a klutz!

She was about to give up her search and find her way back to the rest of the group. Luckily, those stupid brooms had disappeared; she'd been very tired of fending them off by herself. Then she noticed a brilliant flash of colour not too far ahead of her. She dashed towards it, almost running into Arcius from behind for the second time that day.

"Arcius, do you have any idea where the Astral Saber is?" she asked, not bothering to even greet him.

"Well," Allen said when Arcius didn't answer Constance, "either he didn't hear you, or he's deliberately ignoring you."

"No one ever listens to me," she grumbled under her breath, then took matters into her own hands by tapping the bard on the shoulder this time. "Hi Arcius!" she said as cheerfully as she could. "Would you happen to know where the saber is?" Because of where she was standing, she couldn't see anything else ahead or around her... just Arcius' back.

Arcius looked around, at Geltro, at Tim, and at Constance, calmly. He smiled sheepishly. "What?"

All three of them began speaking at the same time, again. Arcius just smiled and waited. When they finished he nodded sagely. "I understand. The missing Saber has enemies who want to blow up the city above! Horrible!" He looked at the trio. "Where did you hear such a thing?"

The three blinked at him. "NO!" they said in unison, and promptly repeated themselves.

"Ah-hah!" the bard replied when they finished. "But why would two dragon slaves be running and hiding from the Saber?"

Again, the other three blinked. "Listen!" they said in unison, and promptly repeated themselves.

A look of understanding appeared on the bard's face. "Oh! I see! The missing Lina has the Saber and she's in a bad, unmerciful mood and she wants to bring this place down on our heads." A sudden look of concern appeared. "Wait a moment. There's a third Lina?"

Suddenly the thee of them towered over a chibi Arcius with flailing limbs, a massive storm flashing in the background. "NO!!" they growled with looks of inhuman fury. "WOULD YOU PAY ATTENTION!!"

Just as suddenly, the situation was reversed, an inhumanly faced Arcius towering over the three flailing chibi figures. "WOULD YOU SPEAK ONE AT A TIME?"

Geltro, more used to quiet than cacaphony, was stunned by this outburst and lay (or at any rate, his image did) flat on his back, eyes spiralling and arms akimbo. But soon the phantasmal Geltro pulled himself to his feet, and frowned at Arcius. "Go ahead. Listen to them first. My message only regards your continued well-being. It can wait."

Arcius nodded. "Thank you, my Lord. I do appreciate your patience."

"Huh? Where'd they go?" The sorceress was more than a little confused. One moment she'd been whomping on the spindly broom creatures with gleeful abandon; the next moment, her sword was slashing through nothing more than air. Eric, still close by, didn't seem to know what was going on any more than she did; and that stone-skinned Zel guy, standing by the temple steps, seemed similarly at a loss. Of the guy with the hat, who she was convinced had been around just a minute ago, there was no trace.

With all the brooms out of the way, it was easy to spot her companions and other intruders into the city. Why, just a ways down the street... those hideously bright clothes could only belong to one man. "Hey! It's Arcius!" she called out. "Maybe he knows what's going on." With that, she sheathed her sword and went trotting off in a beeline towards the bard.

Jin slowly got up from the ground, a little ways away. "Ow.... What happened?" He rubbed his head. "I musta got knocked cold during the battle. Where is everyone?"

"Oh, it's you!" said the sorceress cheerfully as she noticed Jin. "Brooms got you good, eh? Well, they're all gone now. Dunno why, an' I don't really care." She kept jogging ahead towards Arcius, but then slowly came to a halt once she made out the people who were crowding around the bard. "That's Tim, and the lady there is Constance, right?" At Jin's nod she continued. "But who's that other guy? The one with a little opacity problem? You ever seen him before? Or you, Eric?"

Eric blinked and looked at the person who the girl was indicating. "I'm not entirely sure. Events have been happening a little to fast for me... I mean, come on, it isn't every day I get attacked by guys in weird cloaks and a bunch of brooms." Somewhat regretfully, he said, "Sorry I can't be of more help."

Ninoa finished her work on the brooms and looked around. "Where did everyone go?" She then started to levitate to find her companions. What she did see was a bard in very LOUD clothing. "Well, given the person-mark is in clear view, I'll see who I can find from over there." Ninoa smiled as she floated over towards the bard.

Briar had been watching the assorted parties attempt to congregate. Even now, every time she glanced at the central point, at the man who seemed to be the focus of both groups, she would wince. She wasn't sure if even her spells could fix the damage the man was doing to the word 'fashion'.

There were other problems as well. She was watching Lina, but her spells said that Lina was somewhere else, just out of sight. Apparently, this would lead to the chaos that that damn Mazoku wanted.

She hopped down from her vantage point and lifted the still slumbering child gently. And like everyone else in the undercity, she began walking towards Arcius.

In a way, it was kind of neat. Each group entered the square at the same time, each converging on the bard in what could have been an elegantly choreographed dance. The group assembled around him, quietly for the most part, although there was some bickering. He felt the wind begin to pick up. It teased his collar and the feathers in his hat.

"Lords and Ladies," he began, voice elegant and smooth as ever. "This is an inappropiate time for greetings. Sadly, there was one among you who overreacted against our foes. As a result, the city, rather than activating its second line of defense, moved to its final line." He looked around. "We are trapped in here, now. The barrier surrounding this city is proof against all but the most powerful of Shinzoku or Mazoku." As the faces around him darkened, he continued. "However, it seems that here, we have gathered the strongest group of mages and warriors this continent has seen in ages.

"Working in concert, we surely can destroy the barrier. The problem arises from the fact that only the most powerful of spells will have any effect. These spells have the unfortunate side effect of being extremely destructive. If the barrier is overloaded in such a manner, the city above will surely collapse upon us." He shook his head. "But we have enough magic to resolve this as well. Those who lack the knowledge of the highest level spells can wait and cast their strongest spells to destroy any rubble that might flatten us.

"Unfortunately, above us, there is a great and thriving city, with thousands of people migrating in for the winter. I imagine there will be very few survivors other than us, when the city collapses."

He smiled grimly. "If anyone has a better idea, then I am most certainly up to hearing it. Be quick, however, for we have very little time."

Ren raised his hand politely with a suggestion. "Uranus?"

The phantasm of Geltro sighed and rubbed his head. "Fine. I'll be there in a minute or two. I'm not getting paid enough for this." With that, his image winked out.

Zangulus stared at the strangely dressed person in front of everyone, with much disbelief in his eyes. He walked right past Kerrem, not even looking at him, and said in passing, "If you still want to fight, you are a fool. We could all die right now. If you still want your fight, it will have to wait," he said, waving the swordsman off again.

Zangulus then turned towards Arcius, and spoke directly to him. "What about the caves around here? Do any of them lead out of the city? I mean, I'm not totally up to par about this city, I just found my way here by chance... but does this shield around the city form a complete sphere or just a dome?"

"From the looks of this place," piped up the redheaded girl before Arcius could answer, "whoever built it did a really good job. I doubt they'd have made such a dumb mistake."

She then stepped forward, arms folded across her admittedly small chest, looking distinctly unimpressed. "So basically, we're trapped here till we blast our way out... and if we do, then the entire city above us gets totalled. That pretty much it, Arcius?" Getting a close look at the bard -- rather, at his tattered clothing -- for the first time in quite a while, her eyes nearly popped out. "What happened to YOU? Get attacked by a fabric sample catalogue or something?" She shook her head as soon as the words escaped her. "Nevermind." If he's telling the truth -- and why wouldn't he? -- there's no time for worrying about little things like that.

There were a fair number of strangers gathered nearby, as well as several familiar faces. All were looking towards Arcius, either accepting him as an impromptu leader under the circumstances, or wondering what the heck was up with his fashion sense. Or both. Wow, there's a lot of people here. Must've been another group after the Power of Command. Or the Astral Saber or whatever the heck we were looking for anyway. She didn't recognize most of the assembled throng; they seemed to be a ragtag assortment of swordsmen and sorcerors, hardly the 'strongest group of mages and warriors' that the bard had proclaimed them all to be. In addition to her original set of companions there were scruffy youngsters, a group of swordsmen types who seemed just moments away from springing into a fierce duel for no apparent reason, even an elf for good measure.

And a powerful-looking sorceress, resplendent in sorcerous garb; with protective amulets adorning her shoulders, a headband embroidered with magical symbols holding back her flame-coloured hair... and a face absolutely identical to the girl's own. A face which didn't look pleased in the least with how circumstances were turning out....

"Waaaugh!" The girl leaped back, letting out a short cry, trembling hands held up before her as if to ward off the unavoidable situation she'd found herself in. No one said a word as the sorceress... the other sorceress... began to stride forward, eyes narrowed, an aura of power seeming to form around her. "You're the real Lina Inverse, aren't you."

Oh ye gods what am I going to do.

Jin blinked and scratched his head. "There're two of you?"

Zangulus blinked, looking at the two redheads. "Two of you!? If I knew this was going to happen, I'd have stayed with Martina!" he screamed. Probably a bit too loud.

Lina's eyes were wide. It-It didn't seem to be the reflection-Lina... she wasn't... nice enough. Gulping, she stood, her cape blowing in the wind. "I dunno WHO you really are, but you're copying me! Am I really that popular now?" She smirked evilly at her 'twin'.

Eric didn't quite comprehend the bard's words... in fact, it was an active attempt on his own part NOT to comprehend. Words like 'trapped' and 'few survivors' didn't sit very well with him, and he'd be damned if he'd let any thoughts like that influence his judgement. However, at this point, he was more concerned about the two Linas. He walked over to the Lina he'd been following around and stood by her, almost protectively, while carefully watching the real Lina. "I've REALLY got to pay more attention to things," he grumbled.

Vrumugun watched the two Linas with a bystander's curiosity. "Just as I suspected," he said quietly. "This may be interesting," he concluded, and continued to watch the confrontation.

Slowly Filia arrived in the square, taking in the scene. She stopped dead in her tracks upon seeing the two Linas... TWO LINAS?! OH MAY THE GODS HAVE MERCY ON US ALL!!! Her hands covered her mouth, which formed a surprised little 'o'. "L-Lina... err... Linas?" She turned to Ren, hoping for an explanation. But he only responded with....

"Uranus."

Filia sighed loudly.

True to his word, Geltro soon showed up in the flesh, borne aloft by Raywing. Landing a polite distance away, the grubby boy slouched up to the perimeter of the group. Standing silent and sullen, he appeared even younger than his fourteen meager years; the very image of a precocious young boy caught being naughty.

Catching a glimpse of young Geltro from the corner of her eye, Filia couldn't help but be reminded of her poor, missing Val-chan. The ache in her heart, the one that never really left, surged. A feeling of emptiness overwhelmed the golden dragon. Her son.... The images of the two arguing Inverses quickly left her mind. The entire situation left as well. She could think of nothing but the most important thing.... "My son," she whispered brokenly. She bit her lip, continuing to stare at the child, and then staring at the ground, heartbroken.

Geltro noticed the elegant blonde woman look at him, then collapse in on herself. Curious, and sensing an opportunity, he slouched over to where she was standing. He stared at her while she wept for a while, uncomprehending. Then he poked her with his finger. "Oi, lady. Oi, Oi. What's wrong wit--GYAH!" Geltro cried out, shocked. Filia, lost in the depths of her pain, had reflexively swept the small boy up in her powerful arms and crushed him to her chest.

"Val-chan, Val-chan! Will I never see you again, my precious son?"

Geltro flailed his arms wildly, but was unable to escape Filia's greater strength.

"AHEM," coughed Tim. "When all of you stop concentrating on the two Linas, I DO have a suggestion. A very simple one if all of you would stop panicking at the bard's news, becoming severely depressed, or picking a fight with each other."

Tim walked around towards the center, making sure all eyes were on him. "There are two things that one must keep in mind. First of all, the real traps in this cave are fairly benign. The brooms were designed to literally sweep us out and keep the sword safe. This means that the only way it's going to be fatal is if we make it fatal. It will only destroy Kytares if we make it destroy Kytares."

"The second thing is that the traps were cleverly designed. A lot of time has been spent on them here. What that tells me is that the designer of the traps planned a way out, just in case he accidently activated all the traps. The solution is nearby, I'm sure of it. My suggestion is that we go look for it."

Not paying attention to anything other than her double, the redheaded girl continued backing away, face frozen in a sickly smile. "Y-you're really her. The real Lina. I mean the really real one. Really you really are...." It was turning out to be quite a tragic case of 'mouth on, brain off' for her.

"Umm.... Duh?" Lina said, hands still on her hips. "Sorry, kid, but this is the real thing. You should get your own style!" She smiled at this, looking at the girl with raised eyebrows.

Meanwhile Gourry was... attempting to hide behind Filia.

"Get my own style," the girl said, still in shock. Then she seemed to gather herself, and repeated the words once more, slightly louder. "Get my own... style." She began walking forward, advancing on her doppelganger at first slowly, but then faster and faster. "And just how am I supposed to do that... looking like THIS?"

Lina's hands turned into fists at her sides. "Cut your hair or something! Listen, I don't mind fans, but...." She looked over the other Lina, and got a really eerie feeling. "Anyways, what are you trying to do, pass yourself off as me or something?!" Her voice was raising to dangerous levels.

Now that the two Linas were side by side, it began to strike everyone just how similar they were. Not in costume; while both were wearing traditional magic-user style clothes, the real Lina sported a cape, lavender gloves, and a burgundy outfit, the ensemble topped off by a series of magical gems. The other Lina was decked out in blue breeches, a dark cloak, and a pale yellow shirt; the headband she wore seemed to be made of leather.

No, their similarities ran deeper than that. They were exactly the same height, and as the other Lina began to recover from her shock, her defiant posture was a familiar sight to any who knew the real Inverse. Their voices sounded remarkably the same, not only in timbre but in tone as well. And the expression on the not-so-real Lina's face, of seriousness undercut with anger, was one that all of Lina's companions had seen before. On a face so absolutely identical to her own, the effect was beyond eerie.

Actually, the only difference between the two, many people noted in surprise, was that the real Lina's chest was slightly larger than the other's....

Mentally, Briar chuckled derisively at the bard. Getting out was no doubt easier than the garish fool had made it out to be. He was apparently the leader of the other group, in spite of the fact they had their own Lina. She'd have to be somewhat careful, especially with Tim like he was. She set her invisible bundle down and moved into the crowd, looking and listening. And smiled. It was time to begin.

What Zangulus saw was Kerrem turning to him and growling. "I'll put you in your place right now!" With that, the younger swordsman drew his sword and lunged.

What Kerrem saw was Zangulus tipping his hat back. "Fine, then. If you are so eager to die, I shall oblige you!" In a blur of motion, the Howling Sword was out and slicing at Kerrem's arm.

What everyone else saw was the two swordsmen inexplicably attacking each other.

Filia looked down at the boy clasped in her arms. What she saw was Val-chan, staring right back up at her. "Mommy!" He squeezed her, demanding a tighter hug.

Briar looked at the two Linas appraisingly. From the look of things, they wouldn't need any of her own special brand of encouragement to start causing mayhem.

So. Let the chaos begin.

Zangulus barely drew his sword in time to block Kerrem's attack. Growling, his eyes squinted as he pushed his sword hard against Kerrem's, giving him some room. Leaping back, he began to glow. "I don't have time for you! I'll make this quick... Howling Wave!" he yelled. As he swung his sword in front of him, a huge tower of dark energy slamming into the ground, rebounding off and coming down towards Kerrem like a tidal wave would crash down onto a shore.

Kerrem barely managed to dodge the massive attack. Once he was safe, he stood laughing at Zangulus. "If that's the best you can do, then you'll never be able to come close to beating Gourry!" After mocking the other swordsman, Kerrem rolled towards him and slashed a couple of attacks designed to keep him at bay.

Sai folded his arms. "Well, this is interesting. Kerrem, will you just calm down?" Sai looked coldly at his companion. "Will you relax? When you get a rival of your own you will understand."

Grumbling something, Lyssa moved to stand with Sai. "If he keeps this 'I can kick yer ass' attitude up... I might start clobbering him just to get him to shut his yap."

Eric noticed the two swordsmen inexplicably begin fighting. This was getting to be too much for him; he didn't need a new bunch of idiots showing up and causing even more trouble. "ENOUGH!" he shouted, loud enough to be heard by everyone. "Can't everyone set aside their little squabbles until we get out of here? Or would you all like to spend the rest of your lives TRAPPED!?" Then, with a glare, he said, "I don't care WHAT everyone does when we get out of here, but for now SHUT UP and help think of a way out!"

But both swordsmen were far too absorbed in their duel to pay heed to those around them.

Zangulus gritted his teeth, easily blocking each of Kerrem's attacks. He grinned. "Come on now, is this the best you've got... ha! Ol' Stonehenge over there could beat you! Dodge this!" With that, he forcefully blocked one of Kerrem's side swipes, and quickly came forward with a slice toward his abdomen. He put himself in a perfect position to swing his sword back to block any attack the other swordsman might try to throw back at him. Zangulus knew better; he knew he would dodge the attack rather then attempt a block that obviously wouldn't work.

Kerrem saw the attack coming just in time, so he slammed his right shoulder in to Zangulus's chest. This moved his opponent back a few steps, but also allowed his swing to cut Kerrem's left arm. Kerrem responded with a hasty swing to the chest. It was unbalanced and easily deflected. After that, Kerrem pulled himself into a defensive stance. "You're good," he admitted reluctantly.

After all of this, Lyssa slapped her forehead again and groaned, repeating her earlier statement 'Baka' and adding a few less polite phrases to it. She took a deep breath, testing the air.

Vrumugun turned toward Zangulus and Kerrem, who had paused for a moment, standing face to face. As they began to fight again, the creepy mage cast a single spell. "Freeze Arrow." The bolt of icey magic flew between the two, striking a far wall but also causing the two swordsmen to halt.

"If you two wish to fight," he said, an edge of anger in his flat voice, "wait until we have escaped from this place. I don't want your foolish duel to attract more brooms. Or other things which might be even worse. Now, if you insist on continuing this fight, I'm going to take drastic measures. Do I make myself clear?"

At this, Lyssa walked forward, grabbed the startled Karrem, and forcibly made him sit down. When he seemed likely to protest, she added, "Shut up, idiot."

Zangulus looked to Vrumugun, his eyes twitching with anger. "Come on now! Didn't you see how he attacked me first? I told him to knock it off! And who are you to command me, anyway!?..." Zangulus sheathed his sword, muttering something. "But, you are making the point I was trying to make. So I'll stop." Zangulus looked to Kerrem. "And as for you... next time, I'm not going to hold back. If you ever challenge me again, without knowing the cause, or without having some knowledge of being a swordsman, you will die. So I suggest you back off," he said, a thick venom running through his words. He walked back up to the two Linas and watched them, his curiosity idle... but slightly tainted, his anger getting in the way of him thinking totally clearly.

The moment Lyssa let him, Kerrem stood up and began to bandage the cut on his arm, continually mumbling under his breath.

Filia hugged her son tightly. "Oh, Val-Chan, I thought I'd never see you again!" she cried out, hugging him until he was blue.

For his part, Geltro struggled weakly against the dragoness. As time passed, his face became an interesting colour. Somewhere between the blue of lack of oxygen and the bright red of acute embarrasment. Somehow he managed to gasp out a few desperate words. "Now is not the time, illusionist! If we all kill each other, who rescues YOU?" Geltro then shot a pleading look at the others, hoping that someone would save him from Filia's clutches, and soon.

Tim looked around and shook his head. The crossbowman seemed level-headed; might as well give him something constructive to do. "Eric, start looking for a way out. Let me know what you find," he said softly.

"Now... Zelgadis, I think it's time you returned my book. Please give it to me," Tim said calmly. Zelgadis shot him a questioning look, but Tim answered it by saying that his personal crisis had passed. Grabbing his book, he walked up behind Filia and hit her as hard as he could right upside the head with it. Even in her state, Filia could feel that. When she turned around, she found a very upset Tim yelling at her.

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! THIS ISN'T VAL-CHAN! IT'S THE STUPID THIEF WHO TRIED KILLING US WITH HIS TRAPS! SNAP OUT OF IT! YOU WON'T GET YOUR CHILD UNTIL WE GET OUT OF HERE!!!"

Tim then lowered his voice enough so that only Briar could hear him. He couldn't see her, but Tim knew she would be watching him like a hawk. "Briar Rose, if you do not undo what you have done, you will die in this cave with the rest of us. I'd rather not have that happen. I'm beginning to put two and two together and I'm not caring for the number. I don't think you want me to make any further guesses, especially since I tend to think out loud when angered...."

Filia stared at Tim in disbelief. Her hands shook as she dropped the child from her grasp and fell to her knees. Her sorrow-filled eyes refused to rise from the ground. "It's not Val-chan," she repeated through her tears. "This is beginning to be hopeless...."

For his part, Geltro looked uncomfortable. He shuffled over beside Filia and patted her haltingly on the shoulder. "Um... I'm sorry I'm not your kid? I'm sure you're... uh... a good mum, an'... I'm sure the kid's okay. Really."

Wholly embarassed now, Geltro looked down and began kicking distractedly at a pebble which seemed to have gained the whole of his attention.

Tim reached over and hugged Filia. "No, it's not hopeless. Val-chan, however, will not have a mother if we don't get out of here. Let's focus on pacifying the rest of them." Tim reached in closer to Filia and whispered, "I really need your help on this one. Right now, I can't cast any spells. Not a word of this to anyone, though."

Filia looked at Tim with great surprise. "Y-you have no... power?" she whispered back, slightly tightening her small fist. "But... why?"

"'Why' is simple enough. I didn't kill my other self. I combined with him. Until my body, mind, and spirit recalibrate themselves in sync, no casting. I expect it to be a temporary condition, but I have no idea on how long it will be. What matters now is to leave this place. We have more than enough allies if we can only get them focused properly," Tim said matter of factly. "Now is not the time to worry or ask why, only a time to accept. Now, let's see what we can do."

Filia made a quick nod. "You're right," she said quickly, raising to her feet. "Let's hurry. We must find Val-Chan."

Another voice cut in. "So that's it." Briar smiled, suddenly standing next to Tim. "I was thinking that the wrong Tim had won. And what number have you come up with? I haven't done anything. Look at these jokers. They're doing just fine by themselves. Would you like me to put a stop to them?"

Tim stared right at Briar. "We will discuss the addition and subtraction later. Right now, I'd just prefer you put a stop to your illusions. We're in enough trouble as it is. You don't need to encourage their distrust in one another."

At about this time, Ren decided to wander away from the group. "Uranus Uranus...." Humming to himself he walked between buildings, rather quietly for such a big person, and eventually made his way to a tall pillar-like structure that seemed to go up quite a ways.

Upon closer examination, he found a small, round object embedded in the pillar to one side. Putting his index finger to his chin, he reached out with his other hand. "Uranus?"

Pushing against the object, it gave way. Ren looked around confused, seeing no signs of his actions having yet done anything.

*Rumble*

"Uranus?"

Meanwhile, the catfight continued. "Who's to say that it's not YOU trying to pass yourself off as ME?" snapped the redhead, her mouth responding to Lina's words before her brain could catch up. Ooops. Oh well. She decided she might as well run with it. It wasn't like she had any other options, anyway. "I've always looked like this! This is how my hair naturally grows! Why should I change MY image just because I keep on getting mistaken for YOU?"

"Of COURSE you should change!" an enraged Lina stated, screaming in the other woman's face. "No other woman could pull off this super beautiful petite figure as well as me!" Her hands now on her hips, she stood, sort of... posing.

Gourry sweatdropped.

Eric, not always being the wisest of people, decided to try to stop the two Linas from killing each other before trying to find a way out. Standing in between the two, he placed a hand on each forehead. "Alright, you two, stop it. Don't fight now, fight later, if at all. Help me find a way out, now, so we can live to SEE later."

Both girls summarily ignored him.

There was something inexplicably rude about the way Lina was screaming in the redheaded girl's face. Lina's words themselves weren't all THAT inflammatory, some part of her realized; but the way they were said.... Something about Lina's posture; her tone of voice, her... entire attitude. For some reason it made the girl far more angry than it should.

So she screamed right back at Lina. "Petite? You're just plain SHORT!"

Which was kind of ironic, considering that they were both exactly the same height.

Lina's eyes narrowed, as her posture straightened. THAT WAS THE LAST STRAW! Her fists clenched and her crimson eyes burned. "Welllll YOU'RE the FLAT one!" she yelled, pointing straight at her copy's chest. To which the girl had no response, other than her mouth opening and closing a couple of times, inarticulate with rage.

At this point, Eric, who was still between the two Linas, sighed. "I'm in for a world of pain when they wake up." he grumbled. For some odd reason, the Linas hadn't noticed that his hands were on their foreheads. With a small sigh, he said, "I'm sorry about this, but... it's for everyone's good, including your own. HURT!"

The spell found the point beyond each of their pain thresholds in under a second. It wrapped around their nerves and pain receptors, causing extreme and uncontrollable agony.

Ye gods, not AGAIN! The girl who looked like Lina crumpled to the ground, fighting the wave of darkness that threatened to overwhelm her as her body shuddered. And when did Eric get here anyway? This time, his Pain spell didn't seem quite as bad as it had the last time; she figured she was getting used to it, or something. A delightful thought, that. "If it doesn't kill me, it'll make me stronger," she mumbled to herself a couple of times, in the hopes that she would eventually come to believe that.

Lina fell to the ground in pain, swearing. Then she realized something. She could hurt him back! "FIREBALL!" she screamed, burning Eric into li'l Ashy Eric Pieces. She still held her head, as the pain slowly ebbed away. "THANK YOU!" she screamed sarcastically, still firmly in a bitchy mood.

"What are we waiting for again?"

Oni flinched as the whiney words left Froard's mouth. He looked back at the small 'elf' with fire in his eyes. "As I said before, we're waiting for Lina and her goon squad to leave the caverns." Oni turned back to the view. He watched as the sun slowly rose in the sky, turning the clouds pink and green, and spreading its light over the trees.

"Wow..." said Froard with wonder in his voice.

Oni didn't get it. How could anyone think that was impressive? It was only the sun, for crying out loud! Oni suddenly noticed something. "Hey," he said standing up. "Where's Briar?"

Froard stood up and looked around. Indeed, the red head was gone. "Who cares?" said the changeling.

Oni plucked the small creature by the back of the neck. "I do! I need her help to get my job done!" Froard began to laugh. It was a laugh that expressed fear, but a laugh nonetheless.

"No worries. I'm here." A wrinkled old woman appeared across from the two of them. Both of them stared at her. She shook her head. "Don't worry. It's me. I'm assuming that we are going to be dealing with that group, correct? I don't need complications from them, such as them recognizing me. Therefore, from now on, my name is Thorn." She took a seat next to the changeling. "What's the plan?"

"A simple one, Thorn." Oni sat down in front of her, and continued. "I need you to tell me if the groups have left the caves yet and if so, which one has the Astral Saber." He reached into Dobal's pack, and brought out a dark green jewel. It began to glow, and then faded. "Not to worry," said Oni. "You'll be whole again soon."

Arcius sighed. He looked at the much larger, less manageable group. "PEOPLE!" he shouted. The volume of his voice was truly surprising. Everyone in the room was looking at him. The people next to him were wincing, holding their ears.

"There. That is better." He smiled, collar rustling in the wind. "We need to get moving, and quickly. Lord Timothy's suggestion has merit. We shall split off and investigate the city. If any of you find something, signal with a harmless spell."

"You," he said, pointing at Kerrem. "And you in the ninja outfit. And the little floating girl. And the dark-haired elf. Go see what the big gentleman with the extraterrestial body obsession has done at the temple." On afterthought, he added, "You with the crossbow. Go with them. Check out the north end of the city when you finish."

"Lord Zangulus. You, Vrumugun, and you, young lad," he said, pointing at Geltro. "Check the western perimeter of the city." He pointed at the section by which the Sleepless Ones had left. He glanced around. "Lina."

Both sorcereresses pointed at themselves. "Me?" they said in unison.

"No, you. The one who has been travelling with me for the past day. Go with them." The bard looked at the remainder. "Lady Filia. You, the Lina with the Gourry, and Gourry." He nodded. "Check out the eastern side of the city." Nodding, the bard turned. "Zelgadis, Timothy, and you, the other redhead. Accompany me to the southern end."

He looked at everyone standing and staring at him. "What is wrong? Are all of you hard of hearing? We have not much time. MOVE IT!" His words shook them, and they began moving out like he had suggested.

Sitting in the middle of the town was a large man with red hair, looking rather dazed and confused.

"Where am I..."

"..."

"Ah! I know!"

Ren raised his hand.

"Teacher teacher! I know! Ooh ooh I know I know! 1 times 1 is 1. 2 times 2 is 4. 4 times 4 is 16. 16 times 16 is...."

Geltro walked over to Zangulus and Vrumugun. "To the west, then. Who wants point?"

Zangulus caressed the hilt of the Howling Sword. "Fine, I'll do the work. You two can sightsee." With that, he tugged his hatbrim in farewell to the group, and started out.

Geltro, about to follow, looked back at Filia once, then shook his head and left.

After glaring at Geltro, Vrumugun followed Zangulus. "The fool," he muttered to himself. "He'll only get himself killed going alone." With that, he floated after the swordsman.

Assuming the creepy sorceror had been talking about him, Geltro glared back at Vrumugun, while walking along the old fashioned way. "You have a problem with me?"

Not having heard anything at all, Zangulus looked back towards the approaching Vrumugun, nodding to him. "So, you decided to join me after all, eh?" he said, looking forward again. "In a way, I'm kind of glad," he said with a short chuckle. "These jobs without you have been getting quite boring."

With that, Geltro slipped away and followed the two men at a short distance, slipping effortlessly from shadow to shadow. No point revealing the group's whole strength, if it could be avoided.

"Hey, wait for me, guys," said Lina's double, rather weakly. She still hadn't quite recovered from Eric's Pain spell. Glancing bitterly at the real Lina, who seemed to have bounced back from it in no time at all, she began planning all sorts of fun things to do to that crossbowman when next she got ahold of him.

Slowly she began trotting after the group she'd been assigned to help. Not that she'd be able to do much, in her condition. Heck, even the wind down here was able to push her around right now....

Tim looked at Briar and extended his arm out to her. "Shall we?"

Briar smiled shyly at Tim's offered arm. "Certainly." She took his arm and dashed off with him in tow.

Lina jumped. Had that bard just... ordered her around? Ah well, Filia looked so helpless right now and she did have the urge to help her. Looking to her friend, she grinned. "Let's go eastward, Filia! I feel we're getting closer to finding your son!" Gourry nodded, walking right behind his Lina.

Filia nodded quickly, walking with them. They were headed eastward, and she had the hopeful feeling that they were going the correct way. "Lina-san, Gourry-san, let's hurry!" she cried out, bringing herself into a jog. It will be soon, my Val-chan....

Lina almost fell over, but a slight smile painted her face as she saw Filia in such good spirits. "Come on, Gourry!" she exclaimed, holding onto his wrist and running.

Eric got up and coughed, him being severely charred. "Well, *cough*, at least they stopped fighting for now *hack* *cough cough*."

Walking over to the group of people the bard had indicated, he said, "Sorry, I bashed my crossbow over some guy's head. I won't be of much use in the magic department, either, since most of my higher level spells tend to do... well... odd things more often than not. I guess I'll take rear guard."

Two Linas? Trapped?!? Constance had been too busy being stuck in shock to notice anything going on around her... go figure. Lately she had been scatterbrained and utterly useless to the group for some strange reason, but this was definitely not the time for her to try and figure out why she was being like this....

Since virtually everyone else was gone (and the bard usually knew what was going on, moreso than the others, anyway), Constance asked him the simple question, "Arcius, is there anything I can do to help?"

"Of course, Lady Constance." Arcius smiled brightly. "Would you and Jin assist Zangulus -- he's the dark-haired one in the floppy hat -- Vrumugun -- the eerie chap with him -- and the young boy with them to search the west side of town for an exit?"

Constance shrugged. "Sure... sounds easy enough." She then went to go follow Zangulus and Vrumugun.

Geltro, scouting around, noticed Constance approaching the western group as they searched. He approached her from behind, unseen, and asked, "So, if things get hot, what good are you in a fight?"

Constance leapt twelve feet in the air. Landing, she clutched at her heart and rounded on Geltro. "Don't DO that!!"