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When the word came it was afternoon and Zelgadis was busy massaging cream into Amelia's legs and chatting idly. Aya had burst in the room out of breath and excited. He stopped massaging, holding the princess's leg by the calf muscle and stared at Aya concerned.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes," she wheezed, "There's been word from the site." Zelgadis's ears perked up instantly.
"What's happened?"
"Daisy, she found a way to find more Trialcon easier."
"How?"
"She's been doing some experiments the last few days on minerals that react to Trialcon and she's had a breakthrough. They're going to spray the site and redouble the digging today. They think by morning we'll have more Trialcon then we can handle."
"That's . . . great," Zelgadis said.
"I told Joliet and she's very excited too. I want to have another look at the medical treatments. If we get as much as they say, I can use more of it in the medicines and the solution bags," she said, taking out her notebook to jot a few things down.
"Like more serum injections?" Zelgadis asked, feeling the budding excitement set in. "We could do two at night along with the day ones, couldn't we?"
"I think so, she's been responding well since we started, but I was also thinking of trying Odayaka's slab theory if we get the chance," Aya said thoughtfully. Zelgadis looked at her confused.
"What exactly is a slab theory?"
"Odayaka thinks that if we could find a big piece of Trialcon, about the size of a table top and place Amelia on it a large amount or eventually all of the miasma would evaporate out of Amelia's body."
"It makes sense, then you'd be able to do Resurrection or Recovery to completely heal her."
"Not quite," Aya said.
"Why not?"
"We decided early on that since her body's been bombarded with high levels of magic for an extended period it would be beneficial for her to be magic free for a period of time after the Liquid Nightmare is gone. No using magic and no casting magic on her."
"But those spells are healing spells," he said.
"Very high level healing spells, and Liquid Nightmare is still a pretty new thing for us to deal with, even with all the progress we've made. We don't know what will happen if we try to cast something that strong on her and what side effects it could have."
Zelgadis nodded but still felt the brewing sense of enthusiasm well up in him at this new turn.
"In other words, let's not get careless because of good news," he smiled.
"Exactly," she smiled, "I'm going down the hall to start working with the formulas and her charts to see how much of an increase we can handle."
"If you hear anything new about . . ."
"I'll come as soon as I get the details," Aya said
Zelgadis went back to work on Amelia's leg with a bit more enthusiasm.
"Did you hear that? There's a chance you could be waking up a lot sooner then we first thought," he said and massaged in more cream.
"All right everyone, here's how it works. Daisy and Bubbles are going to fly above with us on their backs to spray the site. When we finish any pieces of Trialcon will turn green. That's what we'll be digging out," Lina shouted.
"It'll be a little wet, so everybody watch your step," Gourry added.
"If we see any large patches of green from the air we'll signal the team closest to that location," Bubbles said. "If all goes well you won't be here digging anymore and Amelia will be up and about in no time." This got cheers from the mass of volunteers that had gathered around them.
"Now that everybody's in a good mood lets get started," Bubbles continued. "We need small groups at various points along the site border. Once everyone's in place we'll start the spraying and wait for the color change then start digging."
The people began to divide into groups and gather their supplies. Lina fielded questions from team leaders and showed them parameter locations on the site map. During this, Gourry showed some of the volunteers what the Trialcon would look like after it was sprayed.
Bubbles and Daisy checked on the spray mixture housed in large water drums to make sure it was ready for the site.
"We'll have to start getting in the air soon," Bubbles said, watching some of the groups heading out. "We've going to have to figure out something special to thank everyone in town for doing all this."
"I was thinking that too earlier," Daisy said. "I was also thinking that after we spray we'll know whether or not Zelgadis's calculations were right or not."
"At this point it wouldn't make a difference since we'll know where every piece of Trialcon is."
"Don't forget to yell if you see any large hunks of Trialcon. Odayaka wants us to bring one in if we can."
Lina and Gourry came over as they finished with the drums and checking the harnesses that would hold them in place.
"The groups are getting organized and heading out," Gourry said excitedly.
"Good now it's our turn," Daisy said.
"Before we go up you'll need something," Bubbles said. He opened up his hyper-dimensional pocket and pulled out two crystals and handed one to Lina and the other to Gourry. "This way we know what the other's doing," Bubbles explained
"Lets get all this stuff on so we can head out."
The two muzuko transformed into their large dragon forms and stretched their wings in preparation.
It took Lina and Gourry several minutes to make sure the drums were secure in their harnesses as well as the hoses attached to the drum openings were closed tightly until it was time to spray. After making one last check Lina and Gourry climbed onto their prospective muzuko dragons and took off.
Daisy and Bubbles took positions on the opposite ends of the site and waited for the signals from the groups below.
Lina and Bubbles watched as one by one groups from their side signaled their positions, while Daisy and Gourry did the same. Lina pulled out her crystal to call Gourry, after all the groups for her end were in place.
"Gourry, you there?" She asked into the crystal's cylinder of light.
"Yeah, I can see you guys . . . well almost anyway," he said.
"Are your groups in place yet?"
"The last one just got to their spot. Are we starting now?"
"Yes."
"Okay, bye Lina," Gourry smiled and the crystal went dark.
Lina tucked the crystal back into her cape and patted Bubbles to get his attention.
"You heard him Bubbles, lets get started."
"You ready with the hose?"
"Yep."
"All right, then hold on," he said and changed altitudes.
Lina positioned the hose off of Bubbles back and opened it and started to spray the mixture through the nozzle attached.
On the other side of the site Gourry and Daisy were doing something similar. Gourry sprayed and Daisy flew at a low level to better hit their intended target.
The dragons flew slowly trying to spray as much as possible. As the water hit the rocks the Trialcon began to turn a bright green that seemed to glow like a small flame. At the first sign of the green glow the groups cheered at the success of their new effort.
Gourry looked at the site as he sprayed and was pleased as well.
"There's more Trialcon here then we thought," he smiled.
"I know," Daisy said. "We shouldn't have started digging from the edge, otherwise we'd have had more a lot sooner."
"How long till me meet up with Lina and Bubbles?"
"We should both hit the middle section shortly."
"Where we were digging at before?"
"Yeah," Daisy said, looking out to see her brother close by.
In minutes they converged in the sites center, spraying the last of the maracon mix. As it hit the rocks, the green color of the revealed Trialcon radiated to the point of it blinding them.
After Bubbles eyes adjusted he looked down and saw a vast abundance of shining green winking back at him. In the area they had been digging, it was bordered on some sides by the ocean of green and on other plain rock.
"I guess Zel and Daisy were right about the area, we just picked the wrong spot to start digging," he laughed and flew a little closer.
Lina shot a small light spell in the air to signal the spot they'd found. She then pulled out her crystal and called over to Gourry and Daisy as Bubbles circled around.
"Gourry?"
"I'm here. Look at how bright all the green is down there," he said excitedly.
"We see it, how's the green on your half of the site?"
"Okay I guess, not a lot of it though until you get to the middle and a little ways around," the swordsman said.
"Lina, did you get a look at the section with the Liquid Nightmare," Daisy interrupted.
"It's still there but not as bad as before. I think the surrounding Trialcon is slowly evaporating it," Lina said.
"Looking down it seems like Zelgadis's explosion theory was right times two," Bubbles said.
"What do you mean?" Gourry asked.
"Let's take a higher altitude and I'll show you," he said, flying higher. Once they were high enough Gourry and Daisy could see what Bubbles meant. There was the center of the first possible explosion, which they all assumed was Zelgadis's room and the second that was wrapped in Liquid Nightmare farther away.
"One spot is where Zel was and the other, where we found Amelia would have been where they were fighting, maybe?" Daisy asked into the crystal.
"Yeah but look at the spot where we found her," Bubbles insisted. "There's no trace of Trialcon in the whole area and that is definitely a blast pattern unlike the one where we think Zel was."
"This only confirms what we've all been thinking about what might have happened to her up there. They must have tossing around some pretty powerful spells," Lina said.
"That place doesn't have any Trialcon at all, why?" Gourry asked.
"So there would be nothing around to hold back her Liquid Nightmare, if she decided to use it on potential victims," Lina said. "I think we should set down somewhere and start helping the others," she ended quickly.
They touched down a little ways from the site's rim and unstrapped the empty drums. Daisy and Bubbles transformed back into their human forms and took a few minutes to stretch out their arms and legs.
"Exactly whose idea was it to use giant water drums?" Bubbles asked.
"Yours," Daisy said.
"Well next time I have an idea like that stop me. My back couldn't take any more."
"It won't have to now that the sites glowing green and the volunteers have already moved in," Daisy smiled. She looked over to Gourry and saw him sitting in the grass deep in thought.
"What's wrong Gourry?"
"Lina what did you mean about the potential victims thing you said before?" He asked suddenly.
Lina sat down a few feet in front of him and explained.
"Nephillo must have used that place in her fortress to take people and kill them like she planned to do with Amelia."
"No . . . I mean, there's no Trialcon there so why was it everywhere else. I mean it absorbs her Liquid Nightmare so why keep it around? Wouldn't it hurt her?"
"Not necessarily. The Liquid Nightmare is a spell that she could cast whenever she needed. I think the Trialcon was there to keep her spells under control. Especially since they're self-sustaining," Bubbles added.
"How do you know that?" Gourry asked.
"Nephillo's gone and her Liquid Nightmare isn't," he said simply.
"I also think it made sure no one would stumble on her spot in the astral plane investigating unexplained activity."
"Like who?" the swordsman asked.
"Other muzuko or dragons. It seemed like she only wanted to be seen when she chose to be," Lina said.
"But we still don't know if Nephillo's really dead or not, she could still come back."
"She's had almost two weeks to show up. I've heard of making a dramatic entrance but this would be ridiculous," Bubbles said.
"I just really hate the fact that there is so much about all of this we still don't know," Daisy sighed. They all fell silent in their own thoughts of worry and concern.
"All right everyone, snap out of it," Bubbles said loudly. The others looked at him startled. "Every time we venture down this road of conversation we get depressed and moody. So we don't know what happened up there to Amelia. But we know that she's getting better and we have a way, thanks to my sister's brilliance, to find enough Trialcon to help her."
"Let's get back to work," Daisy smiled. "Bubbles is right, we have a lot to think positively about."
"We know," Lina said as Gourry stood and dusted off blades of grass. "It's just you can't help thinking about it."
"We know Lina," Bubbles whispered. "We know."
The hours at the site passed quickly. The volunteers worked hard, concentrating their efforts in the middle of the fortress wreck. The digging went much easier now that the treasure they sought was illuminated in bright green. The groups worked effectively, digging and carrying out pieces until the early evening hours started to creep in.
"I think we should stop," Bubbles said, setting down a bundle of freshly dug Trialcon.
"Yeah everyone's getting tired," Gourry added, setting down his own load. "And we can't dig late since both crews are here too."
Daisy came up beside them, helping one of the volunteer's carry some supplies.
"Are you guys stopping?"
"Yeah," Bubbles said, "Everyone's starting to get a bit tired, plus we still need to weigh all this and get it over to the center for Aya to use."
"I'll let everyone know, where's Lina?"
"She's off looking for that large piece of Trialcon you said Odayaka wanted," Gourry answered.
"I'll find her after I tell everyone we're closing down for the night," Daisy said. What do I say about tomorrow?"
"That we won't be digging and for everyone to sleep in. They've earned it," Bubbles said.
The word spread quickly and soon the volunteers were all heading home leaving the four with a rather large pile of Trialcon to deal with.
"Umm, guys?" Daisy started.
"Yeah," they answered.
"I don't think we're going to be able to weigh all this."
The other three could only nod and stare silently.
"Do you think this is enough for Aya to work with?" Gourry asked.
"I don't think Amelia's medication will be a problem anymore," Bubbles said.