It was another headache on the road south of Atlas
city as Naga chuckled to herself and mumbled things none of us could hear.
Amelia hopped along without concern of the fact that we were marching off
toward a battle with some goof-ball who thought he could bring Shabronigdou
back to life, I mean, he's already dead, right? I killed him a while back
when I first met Gourry, and Zelgadiss. So maybe he just got the names
mixed up and is resurrecting some other monster. Well, whatever it was,
we were hired by Phil, Amelia's princely father to go and stop Aro.
As usual, Gourry with his lack of understanding
of the simplest things, just stared at me cluelessly as I attempted to
explain the purpose of stopping the moron who wanted to call forth the
monster. My philosophy is, "You can't make a brick understand." Thankfully,
Zel knew what I was talking about and Naga...well, how can I describe that
hideous laugh and beyond comprehensible fashion sense?
"So...why are we going after this guy?" Gourry looked
down at me blankly.
"How many more times do I have to say this!?"
"Just one more time...I think," he responded.
Heaving a big sigh, I tried again, "Gourry."
"Yeah?"
"Mazoku want to destroy the world."
"Yeah..."
"You are on the world."
"Uh huh."
"If a Mazoku destroys the world, it destroys you.
That is bad."
"Uh huh."
"Understand?" I gritted my teeth, waiting for the
answer.
"Oh."
"Oh!?" I tried to contain my anger, "Do you understand
or not!?"
"Um..."
"Well!?"
"Can you go back to the part about destroying the
world?"
"GOURRY!!" I desperately tried to strangle him to
relieve all of our agony.
Zelgadiss and Amelia watched and sprouted familiar
sweat drops. Naga was spaced and continued to revel in her thoughts.
"Gourry you useless, clueless, brainless--"
Ahem.
"Huh?" a momentary pause in my murdering
of Gourry.
Excuse me, Lina, but shall I continue now?
"Oh...oh yeah...sorry Mr. Narrator, just don't interrupt
me when I'm trying to kill Gourry next time!"
Riiight...anyhow...
The sun was setting behind the rim of trees
and the path seemed too obvious. It was Zelgadiss' suggestion to take a
more subtle route by taking a commonly used road to reach Aro's tower.
He probably wouldn't be expecting an open attack, but instead, a sneak
attack. So off they went, in plain sight, ready for anything.
That's when Naga stopped to investigate a small
gathering of civilians that were staring at her. Lina decided that Naga
would catch up once she had realized that no one had waited, so they ignored
her. Deeply interested in the peasant's problem, Naga only stared back
and attempted to get one of them to speak.
"Now then, Gourry, where was I..." Lina reached
at his throat with her hands.
"Uh...Lina, I don't know everything, but I do know
some stuff!" Gourry said the line that usually stopped Lina from
doing irrational things to him.
"all right, Gourry, but the next time you don't
try to understand, I won't be held responsible for my actions,"
Lina stepped away from him and kept walking.
"Maybe we should find someplace to camp for the
night," Zelgadiss offered, now used to Lina's eccentric way of expressing
herself.
"Wow, it's getting dark already," Amelia stated
the obvious.
Lina planted herself on a patch of grass, just off
the road, "This looks like a good spot!"
Gourry sat against a tree and stared upward for
no particular reason. Amelia plopped down next to Lina and started to rehearse
her speeches again. Zelgadiss leaned against a different tree than Gourry's
with his arms crossed and eyes closed, displaying an expression that looked
as if her were deep in thought.
"Don't get too cozy," said a high pitched male voice
that sounded almost female.
Lina glanced around and Amelia silenced. Gourry
had fallen asleep and Zelgadiss' expression did not change.
A man in a brown robe stepped forward with three
dingey cohorts just behind him, "Give me your goods and you won't get hurt,"
the man with the high voice demanded.
Lina fell backwards with laughter, "That voice...ha
ha!!" she didn't stop when the four bandits drew swords.
"Lina!" Amelia stood up, battle ready.
The bandits looked at each other, "Lina...as in
Lina Inverse...Bandit Killer!!?" They were on the verge of running away.
"You sound like a woman!!" Lina could barely say
through her laughter.
By this time, Gourry had woken up and just dozed
somewhere between awake and sleep, totally oblivious to the situation.
Lina suddenly stopped and leapt to her feet, "Mega
Brand!!"
Gourry's eyes whipped open, Amelia flew from her
spot a few feet and landed hard, Zelgadiss opened one eye, then closed
it again.
Meanwhile, in the present, at the exact same location...
"Sailor Moon, NOW!" cried Sailor Mars.
Luna and Artemus clung to the pavement as the monster
known as Bura prepared to attack again. Chibi-usa and the four inner Senshi
huddled together, barely able to avoid being blown away by the energy the
monster was emitting. Eternal Sailor Moon stood up. The wings had been
ripped from her costume. With scepter in hand, its shaft extended, she
gripped it with both hands. Bura attacked with a condensed ball of power.
"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!" Sailor Moon yelled,
pointing the elongated staff at Bura.
The two attacks collided and a strange power enveloped
them all.
Tsuzuku...