It was a typical morning for the Inverse gang. Amelia yawned, stretching simultaneously. Lina was already outside with Filia. Gourry was snoozing on his feet while Zelgadiss finished his tea. As soon as everyone had gathered outside, they proceeded to continue their little excursion. Lina had heard of a treasure, and of course, had to take the challenge. The others decided to humor her as things usually became more than what they seemed whenever Lina heard something. They left town and at a casual pace walking South, taking a short cut Lina insisted on taking. The place they were looking for was some hidden location that no one else had heard of.
    "Hurry up! I know we're close!" Lina sounded way too excited for it to be a healthy condition, full of enthusiasm, wailed her arms above her head, motioning for the rest of the group.
    "I really don't think--" Filia started.
    "I think I see something!! Come on!" Lina made a leap into the air and dashed off over a grassy hill with Amelia in close pursuit.
    Gourry, with a delayed reaction, finally began to run after the two sorceresses when an explosion erupted from right behind Zelgadiss and Filia. Zelgadiss crouched after relocating himself away from the contact point, but Filia lacking Zelgadiss' sense to defend herself, flew into the air and landed head first into the hill.
    Kagemi's form arose from the dust cloud. She had her tube-like weapon poised in front of her.
    "Who are you?" Gourry raised a confused eyebrow.
    Temporarily lowering her weapon, she asked in a professional sort-of-way, "Which one of you has a..." Kagemi stuck her free hand into her cloak and pulled out a piece of paper, "A Hikari... no Ken?"
    Zelgadiss unintentionally looked over at Gourry.
    "Thanks," Kagemi walked up to him and held out her hand with the crumpled paper, "I was hired to retrieve a stolen weapon. Please return it immediately and I won't take it by force."
    Gourry scratched his head, "Why?"
    An ominous sweat drop appeared over her head, "I am a hunter and that's what we do! I was told that the Hikari... no Ken doesn't belong to you!" she looked at the paper again.
    "But Grandpa gave it to me!" He put his hand on the hilt, ready to draw if need be.
    Kagemi was frustrated, "I'm going to count to three, and if that item is not in my hand when I'm finished counting, you won't be in one piece!"
    Gourry looked around for support but found none. Zelgadiss was watching the hill and Filia was sitting on the ground holding her face with her hands.
    "One..."
    Gourry stepped away, nodding his head in innocence.
    "Two..."
    "No way! It's mine!!" Gourry turned and headed for the hill at high speed.
    "Three!" She aimed the tube at Gourry, who was sprinting to meager shelter, "FIRE!!"
    A white light gathered in one end of the tube (the end facing front) as a ball of energy condensed and shot in Gourry's general direction.
    Zelgadiss, the only one with the sense to run had already taken cover while Filia just sat there without concern for anything but her smashed in face.
    "AAAAHHHH!!!!!!" Gourry yelled as he flew up into the sky, followed not too far behind by a dismayed Filia.
    "Naaaaaaaaaaaniiiiiiiiii!!!????" Lina's voice whined as her head poked out of a clump of dirt once the hill had become a valley.
    Lina growled and emerged in a hurry, stomping over to Kagemi, "Okay! What's you're-- oh, I remember you. You crashed into me yesterday!" Lina grinned evilly, "Fire..." she raised her right hand with an accumulating red flare, "BAAALL!!" she chucked in without grace at Kagemi.
    A look of shock appeared on Kagemi's face as she leapt to the side, doing a fancy flip, narrowly missing the fireball, blowing apart a patch of trees behind her. In the back wind, the fabric coverings on her hair were pulled off and her hair fell into pigtails of a large amount of white hair, "Oh no!"
    "HA HA!!" Lina psychotically burst, placing her hands on her hips.
    Just then, Gourry crashed back to Earth and Filia landed on him, feeling MUCH pain. Both were out cold for a loooong time. Zelgadiss emerged from hiding and stood with his arms crossed and Amelia rolled out of the dirt from where the hill used to be.
    Kagemi dropped her weapon, dropping to her hands and knees in a panic and dug through the fireball rubble to find her hair pieces.
    "White hair...?" Lina though about it for a moment, "strange.... I knew someone...?" she mumbled to herself and became lost in her thoughts for a few minutes.
    Lina snapped out of it and a small white thing caught her eye. It was one of the girl's fabric coverings. She picked it up and knelt beside Kagemi, "Is this what you're looking for?"
    Kagemi looked at Lina on the verge of tears, "THANK YOOOUU!!" she hugged Lina without warning.
    "HEY!" Lina protested, trying to pry her off her person.
    Kagemi gasped at the anger in Lina's voice, backing off instantly and opened her hand, revealing the other scrap of white fabric. Lina looked at her closely... she looked like...
    "Oh... why are you after the Hikari no Ken?" Lina took on a serious tone.
    "The.... ooooh! That! I was hired by someone to retrieve it. He told me that it didn't belong to the person who currently had it," Kagemi glanced at Gourry's disabled-ness underneath Filia, "I'm only doing what I was paid to do. He even gave me this stone that was supposed to lead me to whoever had it." she looked back at Lina.
    "Can I see the stone?"
    Kagemi reached into her cloak and searched around a bit. Seemingly finding it, she drew her hand holding a round, white jewel, "Oh... that's not it..." she dove back in and drew her hand again, this time pulling out an ordinary gray pebble. She handed it to Lina without hesitation.
    "Hmm..." Lina studied it, turning over in her palm. Suddenly it burst open and a tiny blue crystal evaporated from inside of it, "Just as I thought."
    Zelgadiss had wandered over in the mean time, catching the event, "Mazoku?"
    "MAZOKUUU!!" Filia screeched, instantly waking at the word of hell, fists clenched, eyes red, and tail pointing straight up.
    Kagemi pointed at Filia in shock, "A...a TAIL!?"
    "Don't ask," Lina stepped into Kagemi's line of vision, "Mazoku?" Lina successfully drew the girl's attention from Filia.
    "You do know what the Mazoku are, don't you?" Lina zoomed in at exactly Kagemi's eye level.
    "They are the evil, chaotic destroyers are they not?" she whisked the hair that was obstructing her face to behind her shoulders.
    Lina realized at an inappropriate moment that the white-haired girl was exactly her height and stature, "Uh...that about sums it up. You're not working for one are you?"
    Kagemi's eyes opened wide and teared, "OF COURSE NOT!"
    Lina gasped and stepped back, "Gah! NOW I recognize you!"
    "Lina-san?" Amelia joined the sort-of circle around the huntress.
    "Lina...?" Kagemi repeated, "Lina In...Inverse!?"
    "It's YOU!!" Both girls pointed at the other in shock, causing the confusion to spread even further.
    "Kagemi?" Lina said while Kagemi exclaimed, "Lina!" the two of them in unison.
    "Kage... mi?" Gourry, Amelia, Filia, and Zelgadiss all repeated, quite surprised to find out that Lina seemed to know the girl.
    "Lina! I went back and your sister told me that you already left!" Kagemi gestured frantically, not sure whether she should be angry or happy.
    "My... sister?" Lina clearly shuddered at the thought.
    "...huh...?" Amelia was utterly confuzzed.
    The girls looked at the little princess to find more than a singular inquisitive face glaring back at them. Laughing in an extremely fake manor, Lina began introductions, "Gomen, gomen, Everyone meet Kagemi and Kagemi, meet Gourry (he's a swords man)," she gestured to each accordingly, "Amelia, the daughter of Prince Philionel of Saillune, Filia, a Gold Dragon Priestess, and Zelgadiss... he's a chimera, not by choice mind you."
    Once the formalities were rapidly concluded, everyone agreed to camp just inside the forest lining, as Lina and the others had been searching for the place where the treasure was supposedly located. The day had gone by amazingly quickly and the sun was beginning to set, although inside the forest, it was already dark, due to the light inhibiting foliage. But then they all heard something... a crashing through the undergrowth, or was it from above? Gourry slowly drew his sword.
    "Are you sure it's not one of us?" Amelia asked, while temporarily stopping to listen.
    The group exchanged glances without reply.
    "yoouuu....." came an undistinguished voice.
    "Hello?" Lina called out.
    It was silent again.
    Filia scanned the dark shrubbery and crowded trees with no success in finding anything when a flash of light caught her eye, "Hey!" she walked toward it, tripping on a root that had conveniently grown above ground, her cape then catching onto a thorn bush, "Oh for crying out loud..."
    Gourry and Zelgadiss continued on Filia's path when they all heard another, " ...eeiiieee...."
What they saw was not something one could describe in great detail because of certain ...things, but it was not a pleasant sight for anyone who happened to walk by, and by certain coincidence, all the members of Lina's traveling group had the rare opportunity to see it. She was on her head, feet high in the air. Apparently a 'post-falling-from-tree' position.
    "ooouu..." she groaned from her awkward upside-down posture.
    "N-N-NAAGAA!?" Lina shrieked, sending all birds and small fuzzy animals in the general area into a fray into the air or other places.
    Gourry jumped back in horror as soon as Naga's cape fell, revealing her revealing outfit. Zelgadiss hastily turned away in absolute disgust. Naga's legs fell to the ground and she slowly stood up, definitely towering over Lina, Kagemi, and Amelia.
    Kagemi wasted no time in covering her eyes with her hands, "Don't expose me!"
    "Lina?" Naga asked, leaning in close for a better look, not providing the most pleasant view (at least for other females) on Lina's behalf.
    "Um," Lina didn't know what to say... until an idea hit, "No! I'm not Lina, heh heh, my name is ... ... ... I'm Kyanal!" Lina added a cute laugh, trying hard to deter her long-time 'rival'.
    "OOOOOH HO HOHO HOHOHOHOO!" The tall, leather-clad woman laughed hideously, "Lina, Lina, you can't fool the most beautiful, most powerful, sexiest, ultimate rival, NAGA the SERPENT!!"
    "But I'm--"
    "Hey, Lina! She knows you!" Gourry oh-so-generously provided.
    Lina hit herself in the head, causing a strong pain, but she didn't care about that, "GOURRY!!!" she  kicked him a good hectare away through BIG trees and SPINEY bushes.
    "Ne, Lina, you're still kicking people around?" Naga was not at all surprised at this, Kagemi, on the other hand, merely stared in the direction that Gourry had left and displayed an expression that could be described as fear as Gourry crawled back with tears streaming down his face, feeling much pain.
    "Yeah? Ah-heh... what are you doing out here, Naga?" Lina observed the repetitive pattern of fauna.
    "Dunno," Naga stated bluntly, "OOOH! Who are these!?" she approached Gourry with much interest, then Zelgadiss, who without pause, quickly wandered behind Gourry.
    "Uh... this is Gourry, that was Zelgadiss, this is Amelia and this is Kagemi," Lina rapidly went through introductions AGAIN, "And everyone, this is Naga, a companion of mine from before I met all of you."
    Gourry and Amelia nodded in understanding.
    "What? Amelia? Amelia ....?" Naga eyed the younger and MUCH smaller girl, "Oh, hi there! How's Papa-san these days?"
    "Huh?" Amelia scratched her head, "What do you..."
    Upon closer investigation, something like a rubber band snapped inside Amelia's head, "Are you... Gracia-san??"
    "You mean you don't remember me!? I'm crushed!" Naga wiped away a single tear that had somehow appeared from her left eye, "You should remember your only, best, favorite, older sister!"
    "It... is you... but I can't believe you ran away way back then!" Amelia cried with her fists clenched in emotion, "Papa-san was so WORRIED!!"
    "Pshaw, don't be silly! Daddy knows I can take care of myself!"
    "Um... pardon me, but, did you just say you were relat--sisters? Or am I experiencing the after effects of intoxication?" Lina couldn't believe anything she was seeing played out in front of her.
    "That's definitely the effects of al--" Gourry was assaulted by Lina's boot again, this time right in the mouth.
    "Hey..." Kagemi looked around, cutting off the melodramatic reunion of the Saillune sisters and Gourry's innocent stupidity, "Where's Filia?"
    Zelgadiss pointed to a nearby bush with a gold tail sticking out of it, decorated with a huge, pink ribbon tied into a bow.
    "And that would be Filia, a Gold Dragon Priestess," Lina concluded.
    "I've never met a Gold Dragon before!" Naga bounded toward the tail, grabbed it and shook it up and down rather excessively, "Nice to meet you, Filia!"
    "IIIIIIIIIAAAAAAA!!!!!" Filia rocketed from the shrub and hauled her tail back under her skirt, "Don't be touching that!!" She whipped out her mace and aimed the large spiked end at Naga.
    Naga flew backwards from the unexpected burst and into Kagemi, crashing into the ground, Naga sitting on her.
    "NO!!" Kagemi whined and covered her eyes once more.
    Naga got up, dusted off her clothes (or what little she had) and walked over to Lina, leaving Kagemi scarred for life.
    "I'm going to travel with you again. After all, it has been quite some time since I've had a lackey to call my own!" Naga hugged Lina.
    Lina succeeded in slipping out of her grasp before being smothered by her *very* large chest. Zelgadiss was shaking his head in pure disagreement, trying to signal to Lina to decline.
    "Uh... I don't think that's too great an idea, Naga," Lina forced a smile, "And I'm NOT your lackey!"
    They were suddenly bathed in light. Amelia cast a light spell to eleviate the darkness if this was going to continue any further.
    "Maybe we can discuss this tomorrow. All of us should get some sleep," Lina sat on the spot. And that was that.