Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Slayers: Chaos ❯ Episode 42 ( Chapter 39 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Slayers: Chaos

Episode 042: Metamorphosis! Uncover the New Power

After their confusing arrival at the over-world and Xellos' mysterious disappearance, Lina, Gourry, Amelia, Zelgadis and Filia, set out to find a settlement of people from whom they hoped to obtain information. However, things were far from going their way as Gourry noticed with a sad and worried face that "the sword of light is gone!"

Lina took it as a suspicious event. It was too convenient that the sword of light went missing just when they arrived at the over-world. They were tossed around during the trip between the worlds, but she didn't think the case of its disappearance was that Gourry simply dropped it. It wasn't anywhere to be seen in the brown barren rocky ground. She supposed that it could be floating endlessly lost between the worlds, but she doubted anything could remain between the worlds for long. It felt as if they were breaking free from a gravity-like pull in their world and giving into the pull from the over-world. Lina theorized that Gorun Nova must have fallen to one of the worlds. "This is the place where the sword of light was made," she tried to make Gourry cheer up. Maybe we'll find another one."

"I know... It won't be like Gorun Nova, but I guess it'll have to do," Gourry accepted.

'Not like Gorun Nova...' Lina mused. Gourry had a point, even if there were other weapons of light or similar devices in the over-world, she had a strong feeling that Gorun Nova, Bodigar, Nezard, Galveira and Ragudo Mezegis were all special, even in this world. She was still thinking about it when a shadow overtook the group from overhead.

"What is that?" Filia pointed at the flying thing in alarm.

It was rather large, black and grey. A somewhat triangular structure as big as a building, much wider than tall seemed to be the main piece, with another longer smaller structure attached to its front with a sapphire like material at the tip. Metal wings and spikes extended from the sides, top and back of the vessel and six gems like giant pearls floated in front of the main piece. It was like a sort of flying ship that was fully covered in armor all around. "Your journey is now over." A male voice came from the ship, a voice they did not recognize.

"Mr. Captain," Amelia tried to reason with whom she assumed was the captain of the strange flying vessel. She didn't like the aggressive tone in his voice. "Please allow us to explain ourselves. We are in a very important mission for the good of both our worlds!"

"I know that, I know all about your intentions, I've been listening the whole time as I traveled with the human called Gourry," the vessel replied. "You need not address a captain, for there is no such being within me. Plus it wouldn't matter anyway; a captain is a mere source of power, a disposable and replaceable element. Not that I actually need one to kill all of you. My name is Gorun Nova."

A chorus of "what?!" Overtook the group.

"Gorun Nova! Am I glad to see you!" Gourry stepped forward happily. "Wow, you've certainly gotten big; the over-world must have something that changes weapons of light, huh?"

"This was my original form with which I was created here," Gorun Nova revealed. By now he was used to Gourry's antics and didn't bother explaining things too much, he intended to kill him and his friends soon anyway. "The last thing you should feel is glad to see me, human. My power is no longer yours to wield!" Gorun Nova opened fire with lasers.

Upon yelps of surprise and hurried dashes, the group ran to take over in a nearby cave. Gourry kept complaining the whole way about why the noble sword of light was attacking them, visibly upset about the ordeal. The cave entrance was destroyed by Gorun Nova's lasers, causing the rocks to block the exit and cut out their source of light. But it also made them see another dim light up ahead, towards which they ran. "We'll sneak up behind him and I'll get him with my Dragon Slave!"

"Don't be too harsh..." Gourry requested sadly.

"Are you kidding me jellyfish brain? That thing wants to kill us!" Lina argued. "You may have wielded it in the past, but Gorun Nova has a will of its own in this world and it's the enemy." She began her concentration to cast her signature spell. "Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows," they were almost to the other cave exit. "Buried in the stream of time is where your power grows... I don't feel Shabranigdu at all!" Then it hit her, of course she couldn't borrow power from Shabranigdu, his remaining pieces were sealed back in her world and the over-world was too far to try to call his power from there. "How could I have forgotten? I can't use the Dragon Slave here, Shabranigdu's too far away!"

"Isn't Beast Master here though?" Zelgadis reminded. "Since she is in this world, she should be in range for her spells to work now."

"Good idea!" Lina tried to focus on a different spell instead and chanted the words for Zelas Brid. "From the depths of the forest, awaken from your rest. I call upon the savage beast, on my enemies your fangs shall feast... It's not working!" Lina stopped near the cave exit in alarm.

"Does that mean that something bad happened to Miss Zelas?" Amelia wondered in worry.

"Let me try something..." Zelgadis began another chant for a different kind of spell. "Source of all souls which dwell in eternal and infinite, everlasting flame of blue, let the power in my soul be called forth from the infinite... I got nothing."

"Light!" Amelia gave it a try with a very basic spell that even some of the people from the outer continent could easily cast. "Oh, oh..." The theory that was forming in Amelia's head, which matched what Lina, Zelgadis and Filia were thinking, was not a pleasant one. "I don't think magic works at all in the over-world."

The cave shook and another avalanche of rocks ensued, as Gorun Nova caused the alternate exit to be sealed off as well. The minerals on the rocks where messing with his radar and camouflaging the group's heat signatures, but they were so close to the exit the dark vessel picked up their signal. The five travelers retreated deeper into the cave, bumping their heads on low hanging stalactites and tripping over stalagmites in the darkness.

Finally, there was light and heat. The cave walls shone with gem-like rocks and up ahead there was a cliff. As happy as she was to be surrounded by gems, Lina was too disappointed by the dead end to think about snatching them. She peered over the edge of the cliff and realized the heat was due to the lava below. "How in the world are we going to get across this if we can't even levitate?"

Tired of wondering if his targets had been crushed or not after they were hidden underground, Gorun Nova decided to make sure. If he had a power source it would boost all his system including the radar. Yet after being in sword form for so long, he was left weakened and couldn't stretch the sight of his radar beyond the energy charged minerals hidden within the cave walls. He would crush the targets anyway, or if the cave in didn't reach that deep, he would trap them and soon enough they would starve to death. Magic didn't work in that world and magic was their greatest strength from what he had witnessed. The ground shook with the force of Gorun Nova's lasers raining upon the area above. For good measure, he rammed against the ground protected by his shield, causing an even biggest earthquake.

Rocks fell from the ceiling of the cave and the ledge where Lina, Gourry, Amelia, Zelgadis and Filia were on begun to crumble. They considered going back the way they came, but the tunnel had collapsed, leaving them trapped in a crumpling cliff next to a boiling lake of lava. "Filia, I know it's cramped in here, but it looks like the only thing that can save us right now is if you transform!" Lina urged.

"Alright, look away everyone!" They hastily followed Filia's request and she focused on changing to her dragon form. A moment passed and nothing happened, then suddenly, her back felt tight and bothersome. Her body wasn't responding like it should and she wondered if she would only be able to do a partial transformation. Normally, she would find it hard to control, other than her accidental tail only partial transformations, but for now it would do. She needed wings, she desperately needed them.

"Please hurry Miss Filia!" Amelia reminded them of their peril as more pieces of the ledge crumbled to the lava below, leaving them with less space to stand on and dodge the falling gem encrusted rocks.

"I'm on it!" Filia took off her white cloak, unzipped the back of her pink dress and adjusted the short sleeves on her shoulders to keep the top in place. "Wings... wings..." If only she could get at least her wings to pop out of her back. Something clicked within her body and with a peculiar mechanical sound; a compartment on her back opened and out came a bazooka-like structure. The thing was obviously made of metal, shining and silver, much like Zelgadis' strange armor, and it was attached to her back. "Ah! What is this?"

Filia's alarmed scream caused the others to look at her, with shocked expression soon overtaking their features. "Is that a bazooka?" Amelia theorized.

"Why is there a bazooka thing on my back instead of wings? What has the over-world done to me?" Filia cried out in frustrated desperation. "What has this crazy world done to all of us?"

The cliff-side finally collapsed completely and the group fell, yelling helplessly as the boiling lava below rapidly became closer with their speedy descent. Suddenly, blue fire emerged from the bazooka-like structure on Filia's back, which was actually a jetpack, and she found that she could use it to propel herself to fly, like those special fireworks Jillas knew how to make. Filia could only hope that she wouldn't explode like fireworks did. She grabbed Lina's hand, who held on to Gourry, who helped Amelia, who clung to Zelgadis, who was rather heavy with all the metal. Filia tried to pull the chain of people across the lava, making the blue fire from the bazooka on her back flare in effort.

Finally, they landed on the other side of the underground lava lake and the shaking ceased. Gorun Nova must have thought they were dead. "That was too close," Amelia breathe. "Are you okay Zel? Your hand was really hot at first and then it got really cold."

"I'm alright," Zelgadis replied, looking at his armored hands. "I think this armor somehow regulates the temperature so it doesn't overheat."

"That fire from the bazooka must be special too," Filia realized. "At least it didn't burn my dress." That would have been embarrassing, not to mention dangerous.

"Any ideas on how to get out of here?" Gourry inquired in confusion.

Lina walked to the edge of the cliff on the opposite side from where they had come. The lake of lava provided light, but there wasn't much to look at except a whole lot of rocks and a few gems that Lina began to tuck into her cape. "We'll find a way. After all that, I'm actually relieved."

"Relieved?" Zelgadis questioned with an 'are you insane?' tone of voice.

"How could any of that cause you to be relieved?" Amelia questioned with uncharacteristic pessimism.

"When I couldn't use my magic, I was worried," Lina admitted. "I've always relied on my magic to win, but none of us can use magic here. Judging by how Gorun Nova looks and the changes on Zelgadis and Filia, my theory is that the technology of this world is something far beyond our wildest dreams. In other words, plain old swords will most likely be just as useless as the magic we can't cast. The legendary weapons of light are the enemy and we can't even power a sword with Astral Vine. To put it simply, every fighting strategy we're used to is useless in this world. All the power we had before is gone."

The group only seemed to get more depressed by Lina's speech. If that was supposed to be a relief, then she really had lost it. "Um... Lina," Gourry whispered gently. "I think you're really cool when you go to leader mode and all. No offense, but this wasn't your best leader speech."

"I'm not done yet," Lina referred to both the speech and the war. "We're not done yet, far from it. I'm relieved because we're discovering new powers. We were strong in our world and we're strong here, we just haven't realized how to use our power yet. Zelgadis, there has to be more to that armor than meets the eye. When you master it, you'll be stronger than ever. Filia, your body has changed, but your power is still there and I'm sure it's not just flying. You must have a lot of special abilities just waiting to be discovered. The same goes for all of us. In fact, it's better this way. Our ways of fighting might be completely outdated by the standards of the over-world, but when we came here, we were not only brought to a new battle field, but we were given new abilities. The over-world itself has given us what we need to conquer any dangers we may face in it. We only need to master our new powers. This isn't a setback, it's a whole world of possibilities that we can take advantage of. We'll bring out our new power, get some new weaponry and win this war!"

Despite being buried alive, cheer invaded the group of five. "Well spoken!" Amelia commended, clapping and cheering enthusiastically. "I couldn't have said it better myself. You really are our leader, guiding us back to the path of justice when we need it the most!"

"Alright team, what do you say we get out of here?" Lina cheered.

"Yeah!" The others chorused.

"Stand back, I'm going to try something!" Filia stepped forward and took a deep breath. "Let's see if I have my laser breath in some form in this world too." She focused on making it happen and found that she could indeed shoot lasers from her mouth. She shot a beam of light up diagonally and began to make a tunnel they could climb out of.

"There must be something else to this armor that's useful." Zelgadis tried to figure out what he could do. Energy like a laser gathered in his palm, traveling through the armor's circuitry. "That's it! Filia, I'll give you a hand with that tunnel." He joined the front of the group, as the tunnel progressed faster with the team work.

xoxox xox xoxox

After a lot of digging with lasers, as the rocks were too hard to be broken with bare hands, Filia, Zelgadis, Amelia, Lina and Gourry made it to the surface of the rocky planet. The group sat on the ground to rest from the ordeal. It looked as if Gorun Nova was gone.

Unfortunately, the dark lost ship had remained in the atmosphere, waiting to pick up a signal from his allies for Darkstar so he would know to which coordinates he should travel. His radar picked up the life forms in the otherwise deserted rocky planet and he hurried down to finish the job. He reasoned that they must have escaped from their underground entrapment if they were no longer hidden from his sensors. Gorun Nova was a bit surprised by their persistence, but at the same time, he thought, however illogical such a thought process could be, that he would be disappointed if a cave-in was all it took to finish them off. "I see you're still alive. I should have known you wouldn't be so easy to kill. Resistance is futile; you don't have many places to hide in this deserted planet!"

Gasps of alarm were heard as Gorun Nova flew above the group threateningly. "What do you mean a deserted planet?" Amelia demanded.

"Simple minded fools who spend their lives in only one planet," Gorun Nova mocked. "This world is much bigger than yours. There are many planets here, some inhabited by humans, others inhabited by different civilizations, fauna or flora. There are also some planets, like this one, that are not inhabited by anyone or anything. There is no one here to help you."

Amelia let out a breath, "that's a relief," she smiled.

"What?" Gorun Nova questioned the seemingly nonsensical response of this human. He had observed the creatures for so long and could feed from their minds in ship form if one became his captain, but they still surprised and puzzled him in many ways.

"For a minute there I was worried that Darkstar destroyed this place before we came." Amelia wasn't the only one with that theory, though no one had dared to voice it. "It's good to know that this planet is not deserted because of Darkstar and it's also good to know that there are other planets out there. This sounds like a very interesting world and I'm looking forward to visiting it. I'm also even more inspired to protect it and all its different people, living things and cultures!"

"Your illogical determination is useless." Gorun Nova prepared to fire his main laser canon at close range, but it didn't look like his targets were even planning to make an effort to run. They had been so helpless such a short time ago. Why were they so confident now? They had to be bluffing; it was the only logical explanation Gorun Nova could come up with.

Lina stepped forward brave and determined. They couldn't retreat aimlessly, they needed to fight back. "Prepare yourself Gorun Nova, for the wrath of Lina Inverse!" She began to pull things out of her cape in search of something, anything, that could have been changed by the over-world and become unexpectedly useful. She pulled out a whistle and blew it, but accomplished nothing more than to annoy her companions. She threw that away and pulled out a bag of cookies, she gobbled them up speedily, but felt no different following the action. She pulled out a pink slipper and threw it at Gorun Nova causing no damage what so ever. She threw its twin with a similar lack of effect.

"Fool! You're only stalling, prepare to die!" Gorun Nova flew lower, aiming his main cannon right at Lina.

The redhead stared into the metal barrel without flinching. She could see a faint light becoming brighter within it and she knew that it could reduce her to a pile of dust, but she showed no fear. She had power within her; she just had to bring it out. She pulled out a brass racket from her cape as her friends stood around her left and right. She could feel it, power flowing within her like magic, or at least the over-world's equivalent to magic, psy-energy. "Game over, Gorun Nova!"

To be Continued

The chant for Zelas' spell is slightly based on a translation of the Japanese chant, modified to rhyme, as I could not find an official English translation.