(no subject)
Title: Wanderpriester! (2/2)
See below.
Valgaav stretched his arms wide and let Gaav fall up against his chest. He wrapped his arms around the taller man and bore down on one knee a bit in order to support the two of them. The Chaos Dragon was a bit lighter than Valgaav remembered him as having been, but that was likely due to the fact that the trenchcoat probably weighed a whole lot, too. Then again, it wasn't like Valgaav had never supported the weight of Gaav naked before, either. But too much was racing through his brain right now for him to calculate things like that.
Gaav lay slumped forward, his hair dangling down in thick, wet locks from his head. Valgaav put a hand on his chin and lifted his face up to stare into his eyes. The stare that looked back at him seemed oddly vacant. "Gaav... it's me..." Valgaav said softly, fighting back the urge to weep with joy.
The Demon Dragon King looked back up at him blankly. His jaw slowly fell open and a dull groan escaped. "Where... am I?" he asked. His eyes didn't look like they were focusing. Valgaav tried to hoist Gaav up to his knees.
"We're home," Valgaav responded. "My home. Our home."
Gaav peered back down at him with the same empty expression. "I... I can't see..." He was mumbling. Before he could stumble, Valgaav quickly braced his arms out again. "Who... who're you?" Gaav asked.
Valgaav stared up at Gaav. "It's me! It's Val!" His voice sounded almost like a pathetic, girly whimper. "You remember me, right?"
"Val... gaav..." Gaav repeated back slowly. His eyes looked like they were slowly moving back into focus. "I..."
"Come on, Gaav! Aren't you happy to see me?" Valgaav pleaded. "Say something to me!"
But Gaav kept looking back at him with the same look of near-stupefaction. "Who..." The unfinished question trailed off into nothingness. Valgaav's eyes began to tear up ever-so-lightly.
"Aren't you even angry with me?" Valgaav demanded. "Or hey! I heard that Hellmaster Phibrizzo said that he could whoop your pansy little ass any day of the week! Are you gonna let him get away with that?" He was determined to get some reaction out of Gaav. He was pretty sure that he saw Gaav's eyes twitch at least a little when he had said 'Phibrizzo,' anyway.
Whatever was going through the Chaos Dragon's head didn't seem like anger, however. He seemed more dull and boring than anything else, actually.
Valgaav grabbed Gaav firmly by the shoulders and began to shake him wildly. "Damnit, Gaav! Take your aggression out on me! Hold me down and make me your bitch like you used to!" He had completely forgotten that Jillas and the Vrumuguns could probably hear him, as he was shouting very, very loudly now.
If anyone hadn't heard him before, they were certainly going to in a few moments.
"Make me your bitch, Gaav! Make me your bitch!" Overwhelmed with rage and frustration, Valgaav reached back and slapped Gaav hard across the face with all of his strength. Gaav reeled back heavily, stood dazed for a moment, and then turned back to face him.
"Why did you hit me?" he asked, reaching up to rub his cheek. He sounded more legitimately confused than angry. But at least he seemed more... attentive.
Valgaav sniffled. "Gaav, what's wrong with you?" he asked. "Why are you acting so strange?"
Gaav blinked a few times, and stared back down at Valgaav with an expression that still looked like confusion. This time, however, it was a markedly different kind of confusion. "I'm sorry. I don't think we've met."
At that moment, Valgaav shrunk back inside his own thoughts, and watched as the vision of he and his Gaav living happily ever after shatter into countless pieces before his mind's eye. Gaav, the man (dragon?) was back.
But Gaav, the person that he knew and loved, was gone.
-=~=-
Xellos pitter-pattered about giddily, waiting and waiting. He was desperate to see how his efforts would pay out. It was all so very exciting! After all, as of late, it wasn't like he got to do things like this every day. The things that he did every day made him want to put sharp, pointy objects into his skull--assuming, that was, that he had an actual skull to put sharp, pointy objects into. Being an entity whose true form lay on the Astral Plane did have its disadvantages.
Part of him wished that he would've gotten a chance to have interfered even more. It was simply just that fun to get to watch pawns file into their places so neatly and mindlessly like this. Xellos never tired of basking in the warm, wonderful glow of the Greater Beast's infinite wisdom. Of course, he most certainly did tire of his job as Animal God Official, but he would never, ever tell her that.
He wondered how long things were going to take before the next phase of his master's plan came into fruition. By his estimate, it wouldn't be long. Mistress Metallium was infallible, after all. Waiting was just a tiny bit irksome. That was all the problem was. He wanted to see with his own eyes just how wonderful everything was bound to turn out. He felt like a young child waiting restlessly to open his presents on his birthday.
A distinct chill filled the air. Xellos licked his lips. Things were beginning to start... he could feel it. Time to check and see exactly how this all turns out...
-=~=-
"You!"
"Oh, please, I don't have time for this again!" Lina muttered as he pulled her hand back. "Flare Arrow!" She fired her spell out at the copy of Vrumugun that she had just encountered. Why the Hell were there Vrumuguns here, of all places? Without even moving (perhaps out of shock) the Vrumugun took the Flare Arrow dead on the chest and collapsed back against the wall as his cloak and his flesh burned.
Dashing down the hallway, Lina gritted her teeth. Gourry had better be all right, or there was no guarantee that she wouldn't resort to using the Giga Slave for the sole purpose of channeling her wrath. Of course, if things came to that, it would mean that everything was perhaps already too late for her anyway.
Two more Vrumugun copies came rushing at her. Before they could even raise their arms, Lina's fireball had already struck between them, effectively blasting them out of her way (and out of existence). Finally, Lina saw the very literal light at the end of her tunnel.
"Freeze Arrow!"
Without her having realized it, one of the Vrumuguns she had broken through before had evidently survived, and had come after her. Split-second reflexes caused Lina to drop to the ground and roll, letting the magical icicle pass over her head. As she brought herself up to her knees, Lina raised her hands before her and shouted.
"Damu Bras!" This time, for sure, Vrumugun collapsed and did not move.
Lina got back to her feet and dusted herself off, then flung her cape back over her shoulders neatly. She headed back off towards the light that she knew lead to Valgaav's inner sanctum... and hopefully, to Gourry.
There was loud shouting coming from inside. It sounded like Valgaav, she thought, but she couldn't be sure because it was too muffled and hysterical. Just what was going on here, anyway?
Soon, Lina arrived at her destination. And there, she stopped and blinked several times at the scene that played out before her.
Valgaav was standing there, holding up a very wet and very naked Demon Dragon King Gaav. Behind them was a row of Copy Chambers, very much like the ones she had found and destroyed in Xoana. Most of the chambers looked like they were still growing whatever (or whoever) it was that was being grown. A few of them had mostly-formed Copy Vrumuguns within them. Still another seemed to be piping out a rapid stream of weird, crab-looking critters that were crawling all over the floor. But one stood out among all the rest. On the inside of one of the chambers was the unmistakable figure of Rezo the Red Priest.
"What the Hell is going on here?" Lina shouted, having been wholly washed over with confusion at this point.
"It... it's not what it looks like!" Valgaav cried out, immediately sliding over and blocking Gaav's indecent bits from view. Then, the Ancient Dragon stopped and stared at her for a few seconds, reaching up and brushing a few strands of green hair from his eyes. "Wait... why are you here?"
Lina looked back at him. It certainly didn't seem that Valgaav was using Gourry as bait or anything. In fact, if Gourry had anything to do with this at all, shouldn't Valgaav have not been surprised at her having been there? "Wait a second..." she muttered.
Suddenly, a host of Vrumugun clones poured out from the room behind the Copy Chambers. One of them stepped out in the front, eyeing the three of them. "Mr. Valgaav, what are you doing?" he asked.
Once again, Valgaav spun around, trying to cover Gaav's nakedness. "It's not what it looks like!" he repeated.
The same Vrumugun stood and stared for a few seconds. "It looks to me like you've been using our equipment without permission. It also looks like you--" The magician's words were cut off as Valgaav fired a greenish ball of energy which vaporized his head. The other Vrumuguns widened their eyes in surprise as one of their number was so suddenly and so brutally bumped off.
"Silence!" Valgaav shouted. "I'm sick of you guys and your damn machines being in my home! Get out of here now or I swear I'll eliminate every last one of you!"
The crowd of Vrumuguns began to shuffle forward. "Then I'm afraid our friendly relationship has come to an end, Mr. Valgaav. Though I daresay, I don't think you're aware of quite how many of us there are.!
"Can I just ask something?" Lina said, raising her hand.
"What?" Valgaav, Gaav, and the entire group of Vrumuguns all spun their heads and shouted at her at once.
"Am I right in assuming that Gourry isn't here, and that I've just been led here because I'm a sucker?"
Valgaav huffed. "Gourry? Your little swordsman friend? What use would I have with him?"
Lina put her hands on her hips. "See, that's what I had just started wondering myself. I mean--" Lina's thoughts and words both suddenly cut short. Several very vivid images went through her head. "Wait, Valgaav... why are you here? I already defeated you! Shouldn't you be a dragon hatchling or something right now, living with Filia?"
"What the Hell are you talking about, little girl?" Valgaav asked with a sneer. "Defeated? Me?"
"Think about things for a moment," Lina suggested. "What do you remember about the last time we met?"
Valgaav sighed and scratched at the side of his pants. "Well, let's see... I summoned Darkstar, got eaten..." He stopped and tapped his foot. "Found out that I was merged with him and Volphied, went on a rampage... made my whole whiny-as-heck speech about wanting to return the world to nothingness. And then..." Valgaav stopped again and rubbed his forehead. "I... I dunno."
Lina wanted to feel happy about having been right, except that her being right only made her more confused. What did any of this mean? None of this made any sense.
One of the Vrumuguns coughed politely. "Excuse us, but... we're still going to have to kill you both, you know."
"Oh well," Lina sighed. "Better make this as quick as possible, then."
-=~=-
Valgaav let a fierce scowl cross his face. Even an entire legion of copies of this two-bit sorcerer could never hope to compare to his might! Focusing his mental energy, Valgaav transformed his arm and hand into the dark limb and claw of an Ancient Dragon. Sprouting black wings from his back, Valgaav rushed forward and drove his fist through the belly of the closest copy sorcerer, crushing his intestines between his fingers after his hand burst out through his back. With his other hand, Valgaav fired off a few more energy blasts, cleaning up some more of the cannon fodder.
"Lords of Darkness of the Four Worlds, I call upon thee! Grant me all of the power you possess!"
From behind him, Valgaav heard Lina Inverse begin to chant, followed up by some cool sound effects. Apparently, she wasn't about to be leaving without a fight either. "Dynast Bras!" Out of the corner of his eye, Valgaav saw Lina's latest magical attack wipe out more of their opponents, only for more to continue to rush at them from all sides.
"It's useless to resist, Mr. Valgaav!" another one of the Vrumuguns called out as he fired a spell. Valgaav spun to one side, clawed the face off of one unsuspecting mage, and then charged ahead, neatly decaptiting the one who had just attacked him with a stroke of his arm.
"Useless to resist?" Valgaav chuckled down at the corpse. "I think not!"
-=~=-
There's just no end to them, is there? Three more identical version of Vrumugun came at Lina. In an effort to buy herself more time, she put her hands before her and cast her next spell. "Diem Wing!" With the amplification power of the Demons' Blood Talismans, the gust of wind was more than enough to cause all three of her attackers to be blow back against the wall.
She turned around to see if anyone was coming at her from behind. The ones over at that end of the room, however, seemed more preoccupied with Valgaav--or perhaps Valgaav was simply more occupied with them. Then, Lina's eyes once again fell on the copy of Rezo being grown in the tank. I have to do something about this...
Lina placed her hands before her and cupped them, reciting the words to herself under her breath. "Fireball!" she cried out, and flung her ball of flame forward at the Copy Chamber. Just before contact, however, the sparkling shimmer of a magical barrier of some sort caused her spell to fizzle out. She actually took half a step back in shock that such a barrier could be put up by a bunch of incompetent lugs like the Vrumuguns. Before she had a chance to react, she felt a presence behind her.
"We weren't so foolish this time around, Miss Inverse," the Vrumugun said as he came up behind her. "Even with your amplification spell, your attacks won't break that barrier!" Lina ducked the incoming Freeze Arrow, only to slip on the ground.
Another pair of Vrumuguns who had come from the side had fired their own spells at the floor, creating a slick, icy surface. Lina looked up at the three wizards as they loomed over her, each wearing the same exact smug sneer. Then, as they raised their hands to finish her off, a familiar sound buzzed in her ears as a blue blur spun through the air, neatly cutting her attackers down one by one.
"Lina! Are you okay?"
"Gourry!" Much to her disbelief, the blond-haired swordsman had come to her rescue. He extended a hand down to her, which she gladly took and got to her feet. Gourry nodded at her, then turned back to face the tide of battle, Sword of Light gripped firmly in hand. Lina hopped off of the patch of ice and spun the other way to cover theirs back, hoping that--
Wait... the Sword of Light...?
Lina watched Gourry as he slashed and struck at the sorcerers one by one, breaking through their numbers quickly. Sure enough, the Sword of Light--Gorun Nova--was there, and it was very real. As much as it didn't make sense, she gathered her concentration back to the matter at hand. First things first. Let's end this...
Holding one hand to her side, Lina began to chant the incantation.
"Lord of the dreams that terrify..."
-=~=-
Valgaav laughed in the faces of each of his opponents as he mercilessly slaughtered them one by one. Were they even attempting to put up a decent fight? And now that Lina's little friend with Gorun Nova had shown up, things were getting even messier. Perhaps he'd be able to finish this fight up soon enough that he could still get a good night's sleep.
Suddenly, Valgaav remembered something: Gaav! He scanned the battlefield that his living room had turned into, but there was no sign of the copied Chaos Dragon. Frantic, Valgaav continued to claw and rip his way through Vrumugun after Vrumugun, then stopped dead in his tracks.
Darkness began to crackle and gather in Lina Inverse's hand as stepped forth with determination, speaking in a low voice.
"Sword of the cold, dark void... free yourself from the heavens' bonds..."
-=~=-
Far up north in the mountains, a chill wind was blowing. Not that Lei Magnus had a chance of noticing this fact at all, since being frozen in a giant block of ice kind of put a new perspective on what was exactly considered "cold." He tried to clench his fist in disgust and discontent, but that was very much impossible at the moment.
'Demon King of the North' my ASS! Sure, I'm the living incarnation of one of the fragments of Shabranigdo, but can I melt a stupid block of ice? NO! I mean, what the Hell? How long do I have to stay frozen here before someone lets me out? Where are my legions of followers? And why isn't Mom doing anything to help me out?
A strange noise echoed through his body as his stomach growled at him for what felt like the eighty-seven trillionth time for the past thousand years or so.
I'm hungry...
-=~=-
Rezo resisted the urge to tap his staff along the rhythm in his head as he plodded along happily down the corridor. The sounds of the heated battle coming from within were exhilarating! Such pain, terror, and destruction! It felt good to be alive, even if it were for the third time.
Soon, Lina Inverse would be at his mercy. And then, without mercy, he would destroy her utterly, and probably (okay, most definitely) laugh a sexy, maniacal laugh before, after, and while he did it. It felt good to know that he would finally get his revenge after being killed by her twice.
"Become one with my power... one with my body... and let us walk the path of destruction together!"
Rounding the corner into the main chamber, Rezo arrived at the battle. And there, he stopped, jaw slacked open and eyes wide as he stared at his target--Lina Inverse--as an enormous amount of black energy took shape in her hand.
"Power that can smash even the souls of the gods!"
Rezo blinked once and winced.
Oh, crap...
-=~=-
Lina swung her arms forward and screamed, finishing her spell.
"Ragna Blade!"
The black blade of energy that drew its power from the Lord of Nightmares herself cut across the room, cleaving through the magical barrier with no effort. She raked the Ragna Blade sideways, bursting and shattering the Copy Chambers one by one, smiling widely as they exploded, destroying the new, incomplete Copy Rezo, the Vrumuguns, and the... well, whatever those weird crab-looking things were.
With a tremendous noise, the entire apparatus erupted with an enormous burst of flame as it tore itself apart. Shrapnel and other pieces of the wall around it flew out at her, some of them just narrowly missing. Then, a loud rumble started to be heard, and the ground began to shake. Lina then realized what was going on--she had started a chain reaction that was going to reach the power source that the machine had been drawing upon.
"Gourry, let's get out of here!" She ran over to Gourry and grabbed him by the hand. Before he could utter out a protest, Lina had already pointed herself towards the nearest exit. "Ray Wing!" Shooting through the air, Lina and Gourry barreled past the host of shocked Vrumuguns, Valgaav, and--Wait, who's that other shadowy figure over there?
Without getting a second chance to see who the newcomer was, the Ray Wing spell continued to propel her forward. Gourry's shouting almost distracted her, but she kept bearing forward. The two of them shot out into the daylight, sailed through the air, and landed in a clump of bushes. Soon thereafter, the muffled sounds of a giant explosion echoed from behind them.
Lina dragged herself out of the bushes, dusted herself off, and picked a few stray twigs out of her hair. Gourry was still slumped over in the bushes, looking either dazed or unconscious. The empty hilt of his sword was clutched limply in his hand. Lina reached down and picked it up. It certainly looked like the hilt from the Sword of Light, but where had it come from?
"Light, come forth!" Sure enough, at Lina's words, the blue beam of energy surged forth from the handle. She stood there in awe and confusion, studying it for a few seconds. This was impossible! Sirius had taken all of the Darkstar weapons with him back to his world. How did Gourry manage to...?
Lina shook her head several times and shook her head. The Sword of Light... Valgaav... her having reached her destination much quicker than ought to have been possible...
Something was seriously, seriously wrong...
-=~=-
Valgaav flopped down on the bed with a heavy sigh. It had been tough work, but he and Jillas had finally succeeded in cleaning the house back up. Together, they had made the place livable again, and maybe it even looked better than before. Jillas hadn't even questioned him about why there were so many dead bodies! All in all, things had turned out better than he had hoped.
The only question that remained was the whereabouts of Copy Gaav. He hadn't been among the bodies after the explosion. Valgaav had searched everywhere within his lair, but there was no sign of him.
No matter, he thought. He hadn't remembered him. There would have been nothing there to replace what had been taken away. Valgaav had learned his lesson. He wouldn't play god ever again... until he succeeded in becoming one himself, that was.
Besides, nothing could compare to the real Gaav. Everyone knew that.
Jillas leaned over and licked Valgaav on the cheek. "Finally finished, huh?" he asked. "I'm really glad those guys are gone now. I told you that I had a bad feeling about them."
"Yeah, you're right, foxy," Valgaav responded with a smile, and stroked the side of Jillas' muzzle softly. "Don't worry. From now on, it'll just be you and me here. And nothing will come between us ever again."
Valgaav thought he saw a tiny tear of joy bead up in Jillas' eye as the two embraced, holding one another tightly.
-=~=-
My head hurts...
He had no idea where he was. He had no idea who he was. In fact, he could remember essentially nothing. All he knew was that when he had woken up, he had been wearing very tattered red robes, and that his voice was very, very sexy.
And for some reason, whenever he closed his eyes, he got this bizarre image of a woman, laughing hysterically, with a pair of basketballs strapped to her chest...
-=~=-
Xellos cursed fate righteously.
Sure, he had done his job, but he hadn't even gotten to see how things had turned out. By the time he had gotten there, the battle had been over. And moreover, instead of seeing the fruits of his labors, he had accidentally caught a glimpse of Valgaav and Jillas in bed as they--no... he refused to let himself think about that ever again, even though he knew the mental image would be burned into his mind for the rest of his life, probably.
He sighed. Tomorrow would be another boring day at the office...
-=~=-
The smoke encircled her head like a wreath as she puffed away at her cigarette. Everything was so simple! Things were coming together better than even she had imagined they would! It was so obvious! She had to wonder why no one had ever thought of this before. I mean, was there really any better plan for the job?
She stopped and smiled. No, of course no one else could have thought this plan up. After all, just because something seemed blindingly obvious to Greater Beast Zelas Metallium didn't mean that it would be so to everyone else...
-=fin=-
See below.
Valgaav stretched his arms wide and let Gaav fall up against his chest. He wrapped his arms around the taller man and bore down on one knee a bit in order to support the two of them. The Chaos Dragon was a bit lighter than Valgaav remembered him as having been, but that was likely due to the fact that the trenchcoat probably weighed a whole lot, too. Then again, it wasn't like Valgaav had never supported the weight of Gaav naked before, either. But too much was racing through his brain right now for him to calculate things like that.
Gaav lay slumped forward, his hair dangling down in thick, wet locks from his head. Valgaav put a hand on his chin and lifted his face up to stare into his eyes. The stare that looked back at him seemed oddly vacant. "Gaav... it's me..." Valgaav said softly, fighting back the urge to weep with joy.
The Demon Dragon King looked back up at him blankly. His jaw slowly fell open and a dull groan escaped. "Where... am I?" he asked. His eyes didn't look like they were focusing. Valgaav tried to hoist Gaav up to his knees.
"We're home," Valgaav responded. "My home. Our home."
Gaav peered back down at him with the same empty expression. "I... I can't see..." He was mumbling. Before he could stumble, Valgaav quickly braced his arms out again. "Who... who're you?" Gaav asked.
Valgaav stared up at Gaav. "It's me! It's Val!" His voice sounded almost like a pathetic, girly whimper. "You remember me, right?"
"Val... gaav..." Gaav repeated back slowly. His eyes looked like they were slowly moving back into focus. "I..."
"Come on, Gaav! Aren't you happy to see me?" Valgaav pleaded. "Say something to me!"
But Gaav kept looking back at him with the same look of near-stupefaction. "Who..." The unfinished question trailed off into nothingness. Valgaav's eyes began to tear up ever-so-lightly.
"Aren't you even angry with me?" Valgaav demanded. "Or hey! I heard that Hellmaster Phibrizzo said that he could whoop your pansy little ass any day of the week! Are you gonna let him get away with that?" He was determined to get some reaction out of Gaav. He was pretty sure that he saw Gaav's eyes twitch at least a little when he had said 'Phibrizzo,' anyway.
Whatever was going through the Chaos Dragon's head didn't seem like anger, however. He seemed more dull and boring than anything else, actually.
Valgaav grabbed Gaav firmly by the shoulders and began to shake him wildly. "Damnit, Gaav! Take your aggression out on me! Hold me down and make me your bitch like you used to!" He had completely forgotten that Jillas and the Vrumuguns could probably hear him, as he was shouting very, very loudly now.
If anyone hadn't heard him before, they were certainly going to in a few moments.
"Make me your bitch, Gaav! Make me your bitch!" Overwhelmed with rage and frustration, Valgaav reached back and slapped Gaav hard across the face with all of his strength. Gaav reeled back heavily, stood dazed for a moment, and then turned back to face him.
"Why did you hit me?" he asked, reaching up to rub his cheek. He sounded more legitimately confused than angry. But at least he seemed more... attentive.
Valgaav sniffled. "Gaav, what's wrong with you?" he asked. "Why are you acting so strange?"
Gaav blinked a few times, and stared back down at Valgaav with an expression that still looked like confusion. This time, however, it was a markedly different kind of confusion. "I'm sorry. I don't think we've met."
At that moment, Valgaav shrunk back inside his own thoughts, and watched as the vision of he and his Gaav living happily ever after shatter into countless pieces before his mind's eye. Gaav, the man (dragon?) was back.
But Gaav, the person that he knew and loved, was gone.
-=~=-
Xellos pitter-pattered about giddily, waiting and waiting. He was desperate to see how his efforts would pay out. It was all so very exciting! After all, as of late, it wasn't like he got to do things like this every day. The things that he did every day made him want to put sharp, pointy objects into his skull--assuming, that was, that he had an actual skull to put sharp, pointy objects into. Being an entity whose true form lay on the Astral Plane did have its disadvantages.
Part of him wished that he would've gotten a chance to have interfered even more. It was simply just that fun to get to watch pawns file into their places so neatly and mindlessly like this. Xellos never tired of basking in the warm, wonderful glow of the Greater Beast's infinite wisdom. Of course, he most certainly did tire of his job as Animal God Official, but he would never, ever tell her that.
He wondered how long things were going to take before the next phase of his master's plan came into fruition. By his estimate, it wouldn't be long. Mistress Metallium was infallible, after all. Waiting was just a tiny bit irksome. That was all the problem was. He wanted to see with his own eyes just how wonderful everything was bound to turn out. He felt like a young child waiting restlessly to open his presents on his birthday.
A distinct chill filled the air. Xellos licked his lips. Things were beginning to start... he could feel it. Time to check and see exactly how this all turns out...
-=~=-
"You!"
"Oh, please, I don't have time for this again!" Lina muttered as he pulled her hand back. "Flare Arrow!" She fired her spell out at the copy of Vrumugun that she had just encountered. Why the Hell were there Vrumuguns here, of all places? Without even moving (perhaps out of shock) the Vrumugun took the Flare Arrow dead on the chest and collapsed back against the wall as his cloak and his flesh burned.
Dashing down the hallway, Lina gritted her teeth. Gourry had better be all right, or there was no guarantee that she wouldn't resort to using the Giga Slave for the sole purpose of channeling her wrath. Of course, if things came to that, it would mean that everything was perhaps already too late for her anyway.
Two more Vrumugun copies came rushing at her. Before they could even raise their arms, Lina's fireball had already struck between them, effectively blasting them out of her way (and out of existence). Finally, Lina saw the very literal light at the end of her tunnel.
"Freeze Arrow!"
Without her having realized it, one of the Vrumuguns she had broken through before had evidently survived, and had come after her. Split-second reflexes caused Lina to drop to the ground and roll, letting the magical icicle pass over her head. As she brought herself up to her knees, Lina raised her hands before her and shouted.
"Damu Bras!" This time, for sure, Vrumugun collapsed and did not move.
Lina got back to her feet and dusted herself off, then flung her cape back over her shoulders neatly. She headed back off towards the light that she knew lead to Valgaav's inner sanctum... and hopefully, to Gourry.
There was loud shouting coming from inside. It sounded like Valgaav, she thought, but she couldn't be sure because it was too muffled and hysterical. Just what was going on here, anyway?
Soon, Lina arrived at her destination. And there, she stopped and blinked several times at the scene that played out before her.
Valgaav was standing there, holding up a very wet and very naked Demon Dragon King Gaav. Behind them was a row of Copy Chambers, very much like the ones she had found and destroyed in Xoana. Most of the chambers looked like they were still growing whatever (or whoever) it was that was being grown. A few of them had mostly-formed Copy Vrumuguns within them. Still another seemed to be piping out a rapid stream of weird, crab-looking critters that were crawling all over the floor. But one stood out among all the rest. On the inside of one of the chambers was the unmistakable figure of Rezo the Red Priest.
"What the Hell is going on here?" Lina shouted, having been wholly washed over with confusion at this point.
"It... it's not what it looks like!" Valgaav cried out, immediately sliding over and blocking Gaav's indecent bits from view. Then, the Ancient Dragon stopped and stared at her for a few seconds, reaching up and brushing a few strands of green hair from his eyes. "Wait... why are you here?"
Lina looked back at him. It certainly didn't seem that Valgaav was using Gourry as bait or anything. In fact, if Gourry had anything to do with this at all, shouldn't Valgaav have not been surprised at her having been there? "Wait a second..." she muttered.
Suddenly, a host of Vrumugun clones poured out from the room behind the Copy Chambers. One of them stepped out in the front, eyeing the three of them. "Mr. Valgaav, what are you doing?" he asked.
Once again, Valgaav spun around, trying to cover Gaav's nakedness. "It's not what it looks like!" he repeated.
The same Vrumugun stood and stared for a few seconds. "It looks to me like you've been using our equipment without permission. It also looks like you--" The magician's words were cut off as Valgaav fired a greenish ball of energy which vaporized his head. The other Vrumuguns widened their eyes in surprise as one of their number was so suddenly and so brutally bumped off.
"Silence!" Valgaav shouted. "I'm sick of you guys and your damn machines being in my home! Get out of here now or I swear I'll eliminate every last one of you!"
The crowd of Vrumuguns began to shuffle forward. "Then I'm afraid our friendly relationship has come to an end, Mr. Valgaav. Though I daresay, I don't think you're aware of quite how many of us there are.!
"Can I just ask something?" Lina said, raising her hand.
"What?" Valgaav, Gaav, and the entire group of Vrumuguns all spun their heads and shouted at her at once.
"Am I right in assuming that Gourry isn't here, and that I've just been led here because I'm a sucker?"
Valgaav huffed. "Gourry? Your little swordsman friend? What use would I have with him?"
Lina put her hands on her hips. "See, that's what I had just started wondering myself. I mean--" Lina's thoughts and words both suddenly cut short. Several very vivid images went through her head. "Wait, Valgaav... why are you here? I already defeated you! Shouldn't you be a dragon hatchling or something right now, living with Filia?"
"What the Hell are you talking about, little girl?" Valgaav asked with a sneer. "Defeated? Me?"
"Think about things for a moment," Lina suggested. "What do you remember about the last time we met?"
Valgaav sighed and scratched at the side of his pants. "Well, let's see... I summoned Darkstar, got eaten..." He stopped and tapped his foot. "Found out that I was merged with him and Volphied, went on a rampage... made my whole whiny-as-heck speech about wanting to return the world to nothingness. And then..." Valgaav stopped again and rubbed his forehead. "I... I dunno."
Lina wanted to feel happy about having been right, except that her being right only made her more confused. What did any of this mean? None of this made any sense.
One of the Vrumuguns coughed politely. "Excuse us, but... we're still going to have to kill you both, you know."
"Oh well," Lina sighed. "Better make this as quick as possible, then."
-=~=-
Valgaav let a fierce scowl cross his face. Even an entire legion of copies of this two-bit sorcerer could never hope to compare to his might! Focusing his mental energy, Valgaav transformed his arm and hand into the dark limb and claw of an Ancient Dragon. Sprouting black wings from his back, Valgaav rushed forward and drove his fist through the belly of the closest copy sorcerer, crushing his intestines between his fingers after his hand burst out through his back. With his other hand, Valgaav fired off a few more energy blasts, cleaning up some more of the cannon fodder.
"Lords of Darkness of the Four Worlds, I call upon thee! Grant me all of the power you possess!"
From behind him, Valgaav heard Lina Inverse begin to chant, followed up by some cool sound effects. Apparently, she wasn't about to be leaving without a fight either. "Dynast Bras!" Out of the corner of his eye, Valgaav saw Lina's latest magical attack wipe out more of their opponents, only for more to continue to rush at them from all sides.
"It's useless to resist, Mr. Valgaav!" another one of the Vrumuguns called out as he fired a spell. Valgaav spun to one side, clawed the face off of one unsuspecting mage, and then charged ahead, neatly decaptiting the one who had just attacked him with a stroke of his arm.
"Useless to resist?" Valgaav chuckled down at the corpse. "I think not!"
-=~=-
There's just no end to them, is there? Three more identical version of Vrumugun came at Lina. In an effort to buy herself more time, she put her hands before her and cast her next spell. "Diem Wing!" With the amplification power of the Demons' Blood Talismans, the gust of wind was more than enough to cause all three of her attackers to be blow back against the wall.
She turned around to see if anyone was coming at her from behind. The ones over at that end of the room, however, seemed more preoccupied with Valgaav--or perhaps Valgaav was simply more occupied with them. Then, Lina's eyes once again fell on the copy of Rezo being grown in the tank. I have to do something about this...
Lina placed her hands before her and cupped them, reciting the words to herself under her breath. "Fireball!" she cried out, and flung her ball of flame forward at the Copy Chamber. Just before contact, however, the sparkling shimmer of a magical barrier of some sort caused her spell to fizzle out. She actually took half a step back in shock that such a barrier could be put up by a bunch of incompetent lugs like the Vrumuguns. Before she had a chance to react, she felt a presence behind her.
"We weren't so foolish this time around, Miss Inverse," the Vrumugun said as he came up behind her. "Even with your amplification spell, your attacks won't break that barrier!" Lina ducked the incoming Freeze Arrow, only to slip on the ground.
Another pair of Vrumuguns who had come from the side had fired their own spells at the floor, creating a slick, icy surface. Lina looked up at the three wizards as they loomed over her, each wearing the same exact smug sneer. Then, as they raised their hands to finish her off, a familiar sound buzzed in her ears as a blue blur spun through the air, neatly cutting her attackers down one by one.
"Lina! Are you okay?"
"Gourry!" Much to her disbelief, the blond-haired swordsman had come to her rescue. He extended a hand down to her, which she gladly took and got to her feet. Gourry nodded at her, then turned back to face the tide of battle, Sword of Light gripped firmly in hand. Lina hopped off of the patch of ice and spun the other way to cover theirs back, hoping that--
Wait... the Sword of Light...?
Lina watched Gourry as he slashed and struck at the sorcerers one by one, breaking through their numbers quickly. Sure enough, the Sword of Light--Gorun Nova--was there, and it was very real. As much as it didn't make sense, she gathered her concentration back to the matter at hand. First things first. Let's end this...
Holding one hand to her side, Lina began to chant the incantation.
"Lord of the dreams that terrify..."
-=~=-
Valgaav laughed in the faces of each of his opponents as he mercilessly slaughtered them one by one. Were they even attempting to put up a decent fight? And now that Lina's little friend with Gorun Nova had shown up, things were getting even messier. Perhaps he'd be able to finish this fight up soon enough that he could still get a good night's sleep.
Suddenly, Valgaav remembered something: Gaav! He scanned the battlefield that his living room had turned into, but there was no sign of the copied Chaos Dragon. Frantic, Valgaav continued to claw and rip his way through Vrumugun after Vrumugun, then stopped dead in his tracks.
Darkness began to crackle and gather in Lina Inverse's hand as stepped forth with determination, speaking in a low voice.
"Sword of the cold, dark void... free yourself from the heavens' bonds..."
-=~=-
Far up north in the mountains, a chill wind was blowing. Not that Lei Magnus had a chance of noticing this fact at all, since being frozen in a giant block of ice kind of put a new perspective on what was exactly considered "cold." He tried to clench his fist in disgust and discontent, but that was very much impossible at the moment.
'Demon King of the North' my ASS! Sure, I'm the living incarnation of one of the fragments of Shabranigdo, but can I melt a stupid block of ice? NO! I mean, what the Hell? How long do I have to stay frozen here before someone lets me out? Where are my legions of followers? And why isn't Mom doing anything to help me out?
A strange noise echoed through his body as his stomach growled at him for what felt like the eighty-seven trillionth time for the past thousand years or so.
I'm hungry...
-=~=-
Rezo resisted the urge to tap his staff along the rhythm in his head as he plodded along happily down the corridor. The sounds of the heated battle coming from within were exhilarating! Such pain, terror, and destruction! It felt good to be alive, even if it were for the third time.
Soon, Lina Inverse would be at his mercy. And then, without mercy, he would destroy her utterly, and probably (okay, most definitely) laugh a sexy, maniacal laugh before, after, and while he did it. It felt good to know that he would finally get his revenge after being killed by her twice.
"Become one with my power... one with my body... and let us walk the path of destruction together!"
Rounding the corner into the main chamber, Rezo arrived at the battle. And there, he stopped, jaw slacked open and eyes wide as he stared at his target--Lina Inverse--as an enormous amount of black energy took shape in her hand.
"Power that can smash even the souls of the gods!"
Rezo blinked once and winced.
Oh, crap...
-=~=-
Lina swung her arms forward and screamed, finishing her spell.
"Ragna Blade!"
The black blade of energy that drew its power from the Lord of Nightmares herself cut across the room, cleaving through the magical barrier with no effort. She raked the Ragna Blade sideways, bursting and shattering the Copy Chambers one by one, smiling widely as they exploded, destroying the new, incomplete Copy Rezo, the Vrumuguns, and the... well, whatever those weird crab-looking things were.
With a tremendous noise, the entire apparatus erupted with an enormous burst of flame as it tore itself apart. Shrapnel and other pieces of the wall around it flew out at her, some of them just narrowly missing. Then, a loud rumble started to be heard, and the ground began to shake. Lina then realized what was going on--she had started a chain reaction that was going to reach the power source that the machine had been drawing upon.
"Gourry, let's get out of here!" She ran over to Gourry and grabbed him by the hand. Before he could utter out a protest, Lina had already pointed herself towards the nearest exit. "Ray Wing!" Shooting through the air, Lina and Gourry barreled past the host of shocked Vrumuguns, Valgaav, and--Wait, who's that other shadowy figure over there?
Without getting a second chance to see who the newcomer was, the Ray Wing spell continued to propel her forward. Gourry's shouting almost distracted her, but she kept bearing forward. The two of them shot out into the daylight, sailed through the air, and landed in a clump of bushes. Soon thereafter, the muffled sounds of a giant explosion echoed from behind them.
Lina dragged herself out of the bushes, dusted herself off, and picked a few stray twigs out of her hair. Gourry was still slumped over in the bushes, looking either dazed or unconscious. The empty hilt of his sword was clutched limply in his hand. Lina reached down and picked it up. It certainly looked like the hilt from the Sword of Light, but where had it come from?
"Light, come forth!" Sure enough, at Lina's words, the blue beam of energy surged forth from the handle. She stood there in awe and confusion, studying it for a few seconds. This was impossible! Sirius had taken all of the Darkstar weapons with him back to his world. How did Gourry manage to...?
Lina shook her head several times and shook her head. The Sword of Light... Valgaav... her having reached her destination much quicker than ought to have been possible...
Something was seriously, seriously wrong...
-=~=-
Valgaav flopped down on the bed with a heavy sigh. It had been tough work, but he and Jillas had finally succeeded in cleaning the house back up. Together, they had made the place livable again, and maybe it even looked better than before. Jillas hadn't even questioned him about why there were so many dead bodies! All in all, things had turned out better than he had hoped.
The only question that remained was the whereabouts of Copy Gaav. He hadn't been among the bodies after the explosion. Valgaav had searched everywhere within his lair, but there was no sign of him.
No matter, he thought. He hadn't remembered him. There would have been nothing there to replace what had been taken away. Valgaav had learned his lesson. He wouldn't play god ever again... until he succeeded in becoming one himself, that was.
Besides, nothing could compare to the real Gaav. Everyone knew that.
Jillas leaned over and licked Valgaav on the cheek. "Finally finished, huh?" he asked. "I'm really glad those guys are gone now. I told you that I had a bad feeling about them."
"Yeah, you're right, foxy," Valgaav responded with a smile, and stroked the side of Jillas' muzzle softly. "Don't worry. From now on, it'll just be you and me here. And nothing will come between us ever again."
Valgaav thought he saw a tiny tear of joy bead up in Jillas' eye as the two embraced, holding one another tightly.
-=~=-
My head hurts...
He had no idea where he was. He had no idea who he was. In fact, he could remember essentially nothing. All he knew was that when he had woken up, he had been wearing very tattered red robes, and that his voice was very, very sexy.
And for some reason, whenever he closed his eyes, he got this bizarre image of a woman, laughing hysterically, with a pair of basketballs strapped to her chest...
-=~=-
Xellos cursed fate righteously.
Sure, he had done his job, but he hadn't even gotten to see how things had turned out. By the time he had gotten there, the battle had been over. And moreover, instead of seeing the fruits of his labors, he had accidentally caught a glimpse of Valgaav and Jillas in bed as they--no... he refused to let himself think about that ever again, even though he knew the mental image would be burned into his mind for the rest of his life, probably.
He sighed. Tomorrow would be another boring day at the office...
-=~=-
The smoke encircled her head like a wreath as she puffed away at her cigarette. Everything was so simple! Things were coming together better than even she had imagined they would! It was so obvious! She had to wonder why no one had ever thought of this before. I mean, was there really any better plan for the job?
She stopped and smiled. No, of course no one else could have thought this plan up. After all, just because something seemed blindingly obvious to Greater Beast Zelas Metallium didn't mean that it would be so to everyone else...
-=fin=-