Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Slayers-Quest ❯ The quest begins- A New Sword for Gourry! ( Chapter 1 )

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Chapter one



Chapter one

The quest begins-
A new sword for Gourry!

A buzzing sound roamed around the field watching the picnickers, yes! SHE was there with one her friends, the former swordsman of light. The wings slowed as the being reflected on how much that she had heard about her. While watching the fire haired girl turning and screaming at her partner and seeing how he backed off, a memory of Zelas with her wolf pack surfaced. The girl had the potential.

"L-Sama, please let my search be closer to completion, please let her be one of the ones I am searching for."

*****

"Hey Gourry, I got a lead about another sword," taking advantage of the pause Lina grabbed the last bun and took a large bite.

"Really, what was it?" Gourry looked at her hopefully then added suspiciously, "You didn't just tell me that to get the last of the food did you?"

"Naw, timed it right though, didn't I?" Lina continued, "There actually were rumours of two swords, one was the Chaos sword, which after our last adventure even I wouldn't touch, and the second was the Dragon sword."

"Dragon sword, never heard of it."

Slipping into teacher mode, Lina explained, knowing that if it had to do with weapons Gourry wouldn't need a second explanation (anything else though, Oy). "The Dragon sword was created during the monster wars by the dragons to kill monsters, the dragon using it was overwhelmed and the sword was never recovered from the battle field; it was thought to be a myth. However, an old letter was found placing the battle near Sayruin. The Library there should have some more information in the archives now that we know what to look for."

"Fantastic Lina! What are you waiting for? We can visit Amelia at the same time and maybe get some news about Zel."

As the two partners took off down the road, the winged girl watched them go out of sight, then with a loop that was surprisingly graceful for her pudgy, oops, her full figure, she followed behind them.



"Here we are Gourry, Sayruin City, Home of the best restaurants and the widest selection of, ugh, white magic shops around."

"Remember the meals at the palace, it's almost lunch time," Gourry smiled at Lina.

"Yep, we better get a move on. By the way Gourry, do you notice any area that would be a good strategic area for a battle between monsters and dragons?"

"Well, depends who was attacking, a good defensive area would be the side of the mountain. The terrain would force the attacking force between the foothills and limit where they could attack, almost herding them into place. If I were setting up an ambush, that narrow pass would be perfect. However, keeping in mind the nature of the two forces, I wouldn't be surprised if they just went head to head over the plains. Monsters and dragons do tend to be overconfident in a fight."

Lina smiled, how could he be so smart when it came to tactics and such a jellyfish when it came to real life?

"Hey Lina, I'm hungry, hurry up!" Gourry shouted as he stared to run down the path.

"Wait you're not going to finish off all the food at the palace before I get there!" Lina shouted as she took off behind him. "Last time you only left me a sausage!"

As they ran down the path a giggle came from the bushes.

********************************************************** *******

Amelia was sitting down at her desk staring though the paperwork that was piled up on top of it. At first it was fun, helping daddy run the country, her sense of justice still made the court matters interesting but there was a limit on how much even her perkiness could take when it came to chicken raising permits and ditch digging contracts. She sat up straighter as she heard the thud of boots running down the corridor. A white-faced guardsman fell into her office gasping a warning.

"She's here, she's here!"

"Who's here, is it an attack?" Amelia quickly searched her memory for any hiccups in the various treaty negotiations.

"No her, the dragon spooker, the bandit killer, the enemy of all who live!" The guardsman wheezed, a panicked look in his eyes.

"Lina's here, great bring her and whoever is with her to the dining room. I'll meet them there. Just tell the cook to double, no triple the amount we served last time they were here or we'll have fireballs for desert again." Amelia's smile turned into a grin, an excuse to get away from th... no a chance to fight for justice, they just had to be on a new quest. She smoothed her dress and hurried out the room.

After Amelia left, a disappointed sigh wafted softly from the corner of the room. She wasn't one, the winged being thought to herself. Such a nice girl and she would have a role to play but it wasn't her. She was just too orderly to be one of the ones. The being consoled herself with the knowledge that the other one should be drawn to Lina's company. There should be two, one would be lonely, she knew that well enough, three too much to hope for.


******************************************************** *****************

"Amelia, there seems to be a few more manuscripts than last time," Lina looked sharply at the blushing sorceress, then grinned. "Is there some reason you set everyone on manuscript quests and doubled the library staff? Maybe something to do with our friend Zel?"

"A sorceress in the quest for justice must have knowledge!" Amelia jumped on a chair. "The pursuit of Justice takes not only a pure heart and a strong mind but also knowledge. Only that way can wrongs be righted. The wrongs done to Mr. Zelgadis must be put right, a true lover of Justice such as yourself Miss Lina must see that."

Lina hid a grin. "And if she finds a cure Zel will be here as fast as he can get here," she thought to herself. "If there's a cure out there Amelia will find it."

"I don't think your Librarians really appreciate you jumping around like that," Lina glanced toward an elderly man who was glaring pointedly at them.

"Oh, they're used to me," the princess climbed down from her chair. "Where is Mr. Gourry?"

"You know Gourry. He's not really into the library thing. He was talking to one of your guardsman last night and they were going to do some sparring today. What have you heard from Zel and the rest?" Lina asked.

"Mr. Zelgadis was last seen in a ruined castle to the north, he hasn't written though. Miss Filia is still working in her pottery shop. I received a letter from her saying she was expecting a hatching any day now. Oh right, Miss Martina sent a trade delegation here last week, it seems like Mr. Zangalus has really put her kingdom on track.."

"About time, at least I don't have to worry about running into her on the road. She's almost as annoying as Naga was."

"Naga?" Amelia queried.

"Before your time. Put it this way, Xellos's secrets weren't as bad as Naga's laugh. Grown men would hide under their beds cowering at the sound of her laugh." Lina shuddered. "Let's see what your librarian has found for me, so we can get to lunch before Gourry eats it all."

"But Miss Lina, we just had breakfast a half-hour ago..." Amelia's voice trailed off as she remembered past travels. She shook her head ruefully and led Lina to the Head librarian's office.


Meanwhile, Gourry was sparring with the Captain of the guard while the rest of the guard was watching in awe. The clash of weapons reverberated through the courtyard as Gourry easily parried each of the Captain's attacks. No one noticed a pair of eyes watching the match through the battlements, a pair of eyes that judged and evaluated on a tougher level than any of the fighters below.

A sword flew though the air as Gourry's opponent was disarmed. "You won my lad, you're damn good," the captain exclaimed in good humour. "I can see how even the likes of the dragon spooker would keep you around."

"It's not a good idea to call her that," Gourry warned. "She has a temper, why the other day she fireballed me just for asking when she was going to fill out, I mean, can't she tell she's flat whenever she takes a bath?"

The other man sweatdropped. "Women tend to be a bit sensitive about their looks," he informed Gourry.

"Really? Lina gets mad a lot." Gourry shrugged. "You get used to being fireballed. I really don't mind too much anymore, but I really feel useless without a good sword though, she tends to tangle with some pretty nasty types. All I can do is watch her back." He grinned and added, "Her back is generally the safest place to be, anything in front of her tends to disappear."

The Captain gulped audibly, "I had heard that. Why are you here anyway?"

"Lina and I are searching for a sword that was lost on an old battlefield during the monster wars; if we can find it I'll be able to do a lot more if we come up against monsters. She's searching for information in the library right now." Gourry scratched his head. "I think she said it was nearby."

The Captain thought for a second, "Do you mean a battle between the gold dragons and the monsters? When we were younger my brother and I found the skeleton of a dragon in the mountain cliffs near some cave entrances. Great-Grand da used to tell us stories of a battle there. I think I could show you where it is on a map though."

"Better if you show Lina, I tend to forget stuff like that." Gourry sighed, "Then its fireball time again."

The watcher settled down on the battlement. It was about time to talk to Lina and she had an idea that the black sorceress was not going to react well to her words at all. This was going to take a lot of tact, not the being's strongest point. "Think of it as a trick," she told herself. "You're really good at those." Maybe if she helped Lina get the Dragon Sword for her friend first that would put her on Lina's good side and make the news a little easier for Lina to take. It would also give her a chance to evaluate Lina's other companions as they showed up; Lina attracted such strange people.

Convincing Lina that the Chaos Sword needed to be brought into play was going to be a problem; the other little items were going to be even worse. The being hugged herself as she started to giggle; as serious as this all was, it was going to be so much fun. It had been too long since she had really played.


Amelia, Lina and Gourry sat at the table; the harried staff ran around trying in vain to replace empty plates with full ones as soon as they were emptied. The palace staff had a reputation to maintain and they were going to make sure that no one got in the way of their quest to be the best staff in the kingdom (Amelia's attitudes did tend to rub off after prolonged exposure).

"No luck in the Library yet, Gourry, but we're trying," Lina informed the swordsman as she grabbed another piece of meat. "Did find some info about the knights diamond." Lina became starry eyed. "It's a huge rock that legend says once belonged to a mysterious priestess, it has the ability to amplify magic talismans. Imagine the knight's diamond combined with the talismans I got from Xellos could triple my firepower? Imagine a dragon slave with that power."

Amelia and Gourry gave terrified looks to each other and sweatdropped, "We'd prefer not."

"Talking about Xellos, has anyone seen him around ..."Lina broke off as she caught a glimpse of someone materialising in the corner of the room. "Get out in the open you fruitcake before I fireball you into the next century."

Her eyes widened as instead of the purple haired monster she was expecting, a pudgy figure floated into view. She took in the sight before her: a rounded body about half her height, long blue hair, pointed ears, gossamer wings, and a giggle that just wasn't stopping.

"What is Xellos doing looking like a fat fairy?" Gourry asked, question marks popping out over his head.

"That isn't Xellos," Lina answered, hitting him over the head. "I'm not fat," added the being not giggling anymore, "just full figured." Punctuating her comment with a second hit to Gourry's head.

"Mr. Gourry, you have to learn to think before talking," Amelia admonished while handing him the ice pack she had learned to keep nearby. "Welcome to Seyruin. I am Amelia, these are Lina and Gourry, you would be..."

"What would you be?" Lina grumbled, "Not another monster."

The being fluttered down to a chair and snuggled into it. After arranging herself in a comfortable position (like the posture of a teenage girl on the phone), she smiled broadly. "You can call me Melee as for what I am I really don't remember anymore, my race has been gone for quite some while. I'm not a monster though or a dragon. I have come to talk to Lina as I believe our travels are going the same way for a while."

"What do you mean by that?" Lina sputtered, a fireball forming in her hand. "I refuse to be set up again."

Melee gulped, she wasn't afraid of Lina's magic but this was too important to be misdone. Plastering a bright smile to her face she considered quickly, "I'm searching for clues about where my race went to, some ancient manuscripts are with the Dragon Sword and they just may be old enough to help me."

"How did you hear that we were searching for the Dragon Sword?" asked Lina, while lifting the fireball.

"The Guardsmen your friend Gourry was sparring with were talking about it in the village." Melee tried to make her body look as intimidated as possible. "Please let me come along."

Lina let the fireball go out, "Tell me what you know," she ordered Melee.

"Not much, but I remember the battle, it upset the balance terribly as did the death of Garv and Hellmaster." Melee looked off in space. "Not that the balance wouldn't have been destroyed irrevocably by their plans, balance in all things is so important. You are balanced Lina..." Melee shook herself. "That wasn't the question though, I think Gourry has the answer. Don't you dear?"

Gourry squirmed as Melee's look turned hot for a minute as she addressed him. He forgot about it as she then started to do loops around the room giggling.

"Well Gourry?" He brought his attention to Lina and looked at her blankly.

Lina took a deep breath and counted to ten, "Did you find out something today?"

"Right, the Guard Captain said something about finding dragon bones as a kid in the mountains, now why was that important?" Gourry scratched his chin. "There was something else though... I told him to talk to you."

Shaking her head Lina reminded herself that if it wasn't fighting or weapons it just didn't stay with Gourry. "Okay, I'll go talk to the guard captain. You and Amelia get the packs ready."

Meanwhile on Wolfpack Island, Zelas was calling her priest. "Xellos, I can't see what they're up to anymore! A mist has formed around Lina Inverse and her friends. Get your scrawny butt down there and find out what's going on."

Scrying for an area close to the mist, Xellos prepared to teleport, it would be interesting to see what Lina was up to now. All of the Beastmaster's comments registered just before he left and he muttered an indignant "My butt is not scrawny," before he teleported.



Xellos wondered what Lina was up to now, the inability to scry was upsetting. He had only seen a similar effect around the other monster lords lairs and even that was not as effective. Had Lina discovered a new spell, and if so what was she doing that was secret enough that she felt she had to use it? A fun as all of it was he hoped that Lina hadn't decided to push Zelas too far, their little trips were the closest thing he had to vacation time. Really, just one of Lina's temper tantrums was enough to feed him for a week without any further effort on his part and it was such a nice pure rage, devoid of other adulterating emotions.

Xellos kept on trying to probe the mist, the boundaries were clean cut but moved in a peculiar pattern almost as if it was centred on some one moving around inside. It could be a talisman but he hadn't heard of any that worked in quite that way before. Quite a puzzle but it was time to see Lina, he smiled happily, if he could only see where to teleport to things would be perfect. She hated being surprised.

Keeping to the shadows, he heard Lina's voice coming from the guardroom. She was asking directions to the foothills and descriptions of the caves. What was she searching for? He took a sharp breath as she asked about the Dragon Sword, a nice piece of metal and quite effective in the right hands but not enough to merit the type of spell that was blanking out the scrying. He calculated carefully, no the centre of the mist was not with Lina. He waited quietly as Lina placed the map in her bag and walked through the door.

"Hello Lina! You weren't thinking of leaving me out of the fun were you? And here I was counting the days until we saw each other again. Life has been so boring lately!" Xellos smiled brightly.

"Xellos what are you doing here?" Lina screamed. "As if I don't have enough weird people around me."

"Weird? Who me? Never! How could you say such a thing about our old friends Amelia and Gourry, I know sunshine and stupidity are hard to handle but I've never heard you call them weird before."

" I'm stuck with you aren't I" Lina grumbled "Just remember if you get out of hand I'll have Amelia sing her love and joy song to you."

Xellos paled lifting a hand in surrender "Anything but that please, our paths are simply going the same way again. We've worked so well together in the past I thought it might be fun to do it again"

Lina glared at him "Are you telling me you have no interest in my newest travelling companion "

"Someone new?" Xellos started, then thought about the mist. Someone with power was interested in Lina. A new power was involving themselves in her life. A possessive anger bubbled up in his chest, no one else was allowed to play with his toys. He reined in the emotion and smiled at Lina wagging a finger at her, "not one of ours, I'm afraid. Have you checked in with the dragons? They like playing with humans too. They're just more orderly about it"

Lina looked at Xellos closely then sighed, "You haven't outright lied to me yet. I'd describe Melee to you but I don't think I could do her justice, this is one individual that you have to meet for yourself."

Motioning for him to follow Lina started back to the castle entrance a smile quivering on her lips. This should pay the monster back for a few of the tricks he had played on her in the past.

As they arrived at the door, Amelia and Gourry rushed through almost knocking Lina down. Behind them Melee followed looping around oblivious to the destruction in her path. As the newly arrived duo looked pleadingly at Lina as the sound of Melee's off key singing wafted through the door.

"Make her stop, please just make her stop" Gourry groaned. "I'll do anything, I'll give you all my food just make her stop."

Any other time Lina would have found their plight hilarious but not when she was being subjected to it as well. She did take a mental note of Xellos standing frozen with his eyes wide open so she could remember it later.

"Hey Melee! Come meet the newest member of our team"

Melee stopped immediately stopped singing and flew over to Xellos and Lina. Hovering in the air, she started examining Xellos, poking at his cape and peering into the stone at the top of his staff. He took it in good humour until she grabbed for the pouch on his belt, as he rapped her knuckles and backed away he growled dangerously.

"Who and what are you?"

Melee's eyes went distant. "Xellos child you don't remember me? I was there at your birth ... such a lovely child so full of anger and spite... you've grown and changed... not better not worse but more balanced ... perfectly balanced no not quite. So beautiful and so terrible are you one of the one's ... you could be... not now...maybe soon... yet you could be... I hope you are..." her voice trailed off as she looked inward. Then with a quick change of expression she smiled happily, laughed and performed a quick loop de loop.

"You will be travelling with us" Melee giggled "Good, we could use another handsome man. I like keeping warm on cold nights and what better than two of you. One for each side."

Lina and Amelia started laughing helplessly. Seeing the scared looks they were receiving from the two speechless men, tears started rolling down their faces.

"Still think she might be a dragon Xellos?" Lina asked as she caught her breath.

"I don't know her and I've never seen anything like her before" Xellos explained in a strained voice. "What she said at first, I have no explanation except senility for"

Becoming more serious, Lina queried "You mean her race is totally unknown to you, you've been around for a while Xellos how is that possible?"

" I don't know Lina, I just don't know." Remembering the mist around Melee in the scrying field he reminded himself to keep a close watch on winged woman. There was something going on here and for once he was not the one with the secrets.

After a hard day of travelling, the intrepid group of travellers expertly made camp and finished off the evening meal amid much shoving and food snatching. Afterwards, Melee happily tried to see exactly how red she could turn Gourry while Lina and Amelia settled down for a good round of gossip. Xellos found himself a comfortable tree a bit off from the group and looked up at the cave entrance in the side of the mountain.

Xellos didn't like being out of the loop and the insect was getting on his nerves. He had been right there was more going on than a simple search for a sword but what? Taking advantage of Melee's attentions to Gourry he started to review what he had sensed from the thing. She was of a race completely unknown to him, there was her cryptic comments when they met and that strange mist. What was the worse was that strange familiarity to her power, it seemed almost to be a blend of every power that he had ever felt even Darkstar's. It was innocence and lust; hate and love in equal measure. Her power called to him pulling him towards it. He shook his head she was right though travelling with the slayers had changed his nature, their adventures had forced him to use restraint for the first time and depend on others for more than nourishment. Usually monsters used humans that were closest to their own nature "Good" humans were only manipulated and killed. He ground his fists into his eyes, he was going to have to get some answers out of Melee one way or another.

He felt a warm weight snuggling into his side. He looked down and saw Melee using him for a backrest with her feet up on a rock. Glancing over he saw that Gourry had rolled up near the fire and had gone to sleep.

"What did you mean by one of the ones?" he asked quickly hoping to get a rational answer.

"one of hers of course, and one of mine too. I've found two of the ones, one is unready, one is unwilling"

In one of her lightning quick moods Melee flipped up and grabbed the sides of Xellos's face while hovering front of him. "You are not ready but must you be chosen before becoming balanced? Choosing you will cause unbalance until you are ready I think but how much of tilt will it cause."

"What are you talking about?" Xellos asked.

"The Beastmaster would know if she could remember" Melee grinned, kissed Xellos full on the mouth and laughed as he backed away wiping his mouth furiously. "In the past you would have pretended lust just to get information. Why can't you do that now my child?"

"Do you want me to?" a furious edge came to Xellos's voice.

"Not really, You don't know what you're missing though." With a mischievous wink Melee landed and walked away with an exaggerated waggle to her hips. Xellos just turned around and started banging his head on the tree behind him. A hand on his shoulder made him turn back.

"Lina dear have you gotten any information out of her?" he asked the girl.

"What did she tell you Xellos" Lina replied.

"That is a secret." Xellos replied with a forced smile and a shake of his finger.

Instead of the anger he was hoping for Lina just sighed. "Didn't get anything out of her either did you?"

"Not a thing that made any sense" Xellos sank down to rock. "I really don't like this Lina, I'm completely in the dark and it's driving me crazy."

Lina smiled, "Now you know how I've felt with your secrets" she added "It's this one of the ones thing, it feels almost like cheesy prophesy. I want to keep away from destinies but then I remember what could have happened if we hadn't followed the prophesy about Darkstar..."Lina trailed off. " I don't like this Xellos"

"Take comfort Lina this one seems to involve me this time, I don't have a clue about what she means about becoming balanced though. I assume it has to do with my nature but how."

Lina smiled "Maybe you'll grow wings and become a dragon"

"That's been done in reverse already so I doubt it"

"Valgarv just exchanged the nature of the dragons for the nature of the monsters so it would have to be a mixture of the two, Oh no! Xellos, not again. I am not getting mixed up with her again!" Lina disappeared in a flurry of activity and soon all that was left was a tiny point coming from the ground.

"Did you talk about her sister Mr Xellos" Amelia yelled over the fire.

"No, I think I managed to find something worse" Xellos answered faintly he now knew who was the unwilling, and tried to cheer himself that he also knew one thing that Lina didn't, not that it would help either of them.

A cough was heard from the forest, "who mentioned Lina's sister" a voice asked from the trees.

"Mr Zelgadis" Amelia shouted happily as she threw he arms around his neck.

"I heard you guys were on the road again and I had to make sure you, well all of you didn't get into trouble." Zelgadis detached Amelia slowly a blush coming to his cheeks.

"Another one, no you are only balanced on the outside. You are orderly aren't you! Can I hug you too? Xellos didn't like it at all and Gourry just turns purple, can I please please?"

Zelgadis looked at Melee as she jumped up and down in front of him. Slowly, one of his rare smiles broke out on his face. "You're just like a puppy aren't you?"

"Yes, yes! You understand. That my nature at the moment" Melee hugged him happily. "But it might be different soon."

Zel was taken aback, "Sounds like Lina's mood swings"

Melee just giggled and flew though the branches looping happily around them.

"Should we get Lina out or should you tell me what's going on first."

"Explanations first I think Lina needs some time to calm down, I think Mr Xellos has a few things to say." Amelia looked sharply at Xellos, "You were about to explain weren't you."

"It's very simple really, it seems our little Melee is involved with the Lord of Nightmares and she has some plans for me" he glanced at the pyramid tip "and for Lina as well"