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A few days later finds our friends on the road to....well....wherever it is the most powerful people on the planet go to for a family reunion.
Lina was storming along the road, explaining things to Gourry yet again. "I'm half Mazoku, Gourry. My father is one of the most powerful entities in existence. My grandmother is the most powerful entity in existence. My sister is also my cousin. Xelloss is my second cousin. Do you get it now, jellyfish brain?!" Gourry blinked.
"Um....but....how can your sister be your cousin?" he asked. Lina ground her teeth in frustration. She was just about to completely lose her temper, when Xelloss, of all people intervened. "It's because they have different fathers. And their fathers happen to be brothers! See? It isn't at all strange!" he said cheerfully. This confused poor peanut-brained Gourry even more, as he couldn't quite grasp the concept Xelloss had stated.
"I still don't get it," he said. At this point, Lina had had quite enough of Gourry's stupidity. So, she did the logical thing for the daughter of a Dark Lord, whose minion had angered her to do.
"Grr....FIREBALL!!!" she screamed, flinging the afore mentioned spell at Gourry. It impacted with a nice little explosion. "Ahhh.......much better..." she said.
"Well, at least now we know why she does this," said Zel.
"Yes, punishing minions is standard procedure for Dark Lords," Xelloss said, throwing his arm around Zel's shoulder.
"I still don't see why we have to go," said Amelia, guesturing to herself, Filia, Gourry, and Zel.
"Zel is coming on three counts." said Xelloss. "One, he's part Mazoku. Two, he's Rezo's grandson and great-grandson, and Rezo's already considered part of the family, for numerous reasons, which I won't go into at this time. And finally he and I - "
"DON'T SAY IT!" Amelia interjected.
"And why shouldn't I?" Xelloss asked.
"Because you're a namagomi bastard," said Filia sullenly.
"I know you are, but what am I?" was Xelloss' mature comeback.
By now, Lina had just about reached the boiling point again. "Will you all stop bickering! We still have a long way to go to get to the next town, and I want to sleep in an inn tonight, not outdoors, like the past couple of nights!"
"Of course Lina-chan! As it happens, I'm tired of being outside as well," Xelloss said.
"I too, would like to have a comfortable bed," said Zel.
"Gahhh!" said Filia. "As if we can't guess why you two want a bed."
Xel looked back at Filia. "And why would that be?" he asked. Filia turned bright red. She was so enraged that her tail popped out, and full-scale fighting would surely have broken out again, had not, at that moment, a running man collided with the group.
Lina brightened immidiately at the man's harried appearance. "Where is it, and how do you want it killed?" she asked.
The man gave her a strange look. "I'm...not...hah...run..huff...running from anything," he said.
"Well then why do you look as if you are?" asked Zel.
"Be...huff...because I have an urgent message for a Filia Ul Copt," he answered. Filia walked up to the man.
"What is it?" she asked. The man handed her a letter that looked suspiciously familiar. Filia waved the man to go now as she read the letter. Everyone waited patiently for her to finish reading it, when she fainted.
"Of couse it says what you think it says Lina-chan!" Xelloss said brightly. "Filia-chan finally gat her invitation! Of course," - and here his smile turned slightly nasty - "Ryuzoku always were slower than Mazoku. At everything." Now this, of course, not only brought Filia out of her current state of shock very quickly, but caused her to violently attack Xelloss.
"BAKA!!!! NAMAGOMI!!! YOU TAKE THAT BACK!!!!!" She threw him into a tree, and then pounded him into the ground with her mace.
"Ahh...Filia-chan....whilst this is.......a most amusing........diversion....." Xelloss said, in between being smashed and pounded.
"We really have to get to the next town," Lina finished for him. "NOW."
Lina waded into the fight and pulled Filia off of Xelloss, and Zel rushed in to help Xel up. "Are you allright Xel-chan?" he asked, helping Xel brush the dust off of his clothing.
"Oh, I'm fine Zel-chan, it's nothing you couldn't fix," Xel replied, a seductive look crossing his face.
"HOLD IT YOU TWO!" said Lina.
"Why ever should we?" Xel said.
"Because. I said so." Zel and Xel both opened their mouths to say something. "AND," Lina said, cutting them off before they could say anything. "You can do that when we get to the inn. BUT now we have to GO." Lina looked around at her collective friends. "Have I made myself perfectly clear?" Zel nodded.
"Yes," said Filia.
Amelia gulped and nodded. "Y...yes Lina-san." Gourry, for once didn't make a stupid remark, or any remark at all, for that matter, most likely because he knew that if he said anything, anything at all, Lina would Fireball him.
Xelloss, being his usual cheerful self said, "Yes, perfectly clear Lina-chan. Zel-chan and I can wait a little bit," Xel turned to Zel and opened his eyes slightly, looking even more seductive and ever-so-slightly predatory. "Can't we?" Xel wrapped his arm around Zel again. Zel returned his look.
"Hmm...yes, I think we can wait," he said, his voice low and droolsome.
Xel's smile grew. "Anticipation adds to the experience," he said, and then he took Zel's face in his hand and kissed him.
Amelia's eyes widened. "Gak!" she said. Filia made barfing noises. Gourry didn't even notice, as all of attention was absorbed by a cloud formation that (he thought) looked like a chiken dinner.
Lina rolled her eyes. "Whatever, you two," she said. "And now, if you're quite finished we have someplace to go." Xel and Zel stopped kissing.
"Okay, now we can wait," said Zel.
"For a little while, anyway," Xel added.
"Good," said Lina. She turned and began marching off towards the town.
"Lina-san!" Amelia called. "Wait for us!" she chased after Lina . The others followed at a more sedate pace, Gourry with his eyes still on the cloud formation. Of, course, if he was watching the clouds, his eyes were most certainly not on the road, or on the people in front of him. So, it was no surprise when, a few moments later, he bumped into something.
"Oof!" said Lina.
"Huh?" said Gourry. WHAM! Lina bashed Gourry.
"Itaaiii.....why'd you do that, Lina?"
"You bumped into me, jellyfish for brains!" Gourry blinked and got up.
"But I didn't see you there," he said, as he brushed himself off. "You're so short - " he was cut off by an enraged Lina smashing his face into the ground. Again.
"Hey, Lina-san," said Amelia.
"What is is Amelia?" said Lina.
"What's the name of this town we're headed to, anyway?" asked Amelia.
"Blue Creek," Lina replied.
"Oh," said Amelia. "When will we be there?"
"Another hour, maybe a bit more at this pace, if we have no further interruptions. Why do you ask?"
"No reason, just getting a bit tired, is all."
"Oh, okay."
The group walked on in silence for a while when Gourry piped up. "Hey, Lina, when will we be there? I'm hungry," he said.
"Gourry, Amelia just asked me that about half an hour ago. We will get there when we get there. Understand?" Gourry considered this for a long moment.
"Yeah," he said finally. 'We'll get there when we get there' being one of the few concepts that Gourrys primitive brain could grasp.
"Good," said Lina shortly. "Don't ask me again." The group kept walking into the slowly fading light. Amelia chased, caught, and then released a butterfly. Xel and Zel walked together and whispered stuff at each other. Lina walked along, a contented smile on her face, sunlight glinting redly off her hair. Filia was humming tunelessly. Gourry smiled in simple-minded bliss. It was sweet, touching, awwww.....inducing scene. It lasted for about five minutes. Lina stretched her arms above her head. "Ahhh...." she sighed contentedly.
Gourry just happend to look that way. "Hey, Lina..." he said.
"Hmm...what is it Gourry?" Gourry pointed at her chest.
"Well, did you know you look even flatter when you stretch like that?" he asked. Which, obviously, was a very bad mistake.
"WHAT did you say?!" Lina demanded.
"Well, I said you look even fla - " Lina smashed his face into the ground. "That's what I thought you said," she said, and continued walking. Amelia sweatdropped. Gourry got up and rubbed his head.
"Itaaii..." he said. Xel and Zel barely spared him a glance, as they continued to follow Lina. The world had returned to normal. About fifteen minutes later, and, without further incident (what? you were expecting maybe a bandit attack? Sorry to dissapoint you, but that just ain't happening in this chapter), they finally reached Blue Creek.
"Finally," said Lina. "C'mon, let's go find an inn." The group nodded their collective agreement. So, they went and found themselves an inn called...oh, let's say....The Cardboard Tub. "Hey, innkeep," said Lina.
"Yes?'' the innkeep replied.
"We want five rooms for the night. And some dinner. How much will that cost us?" The innkeep considered this for a moment. Now, although not the brightest star in the sky, the innkeep knew a profit when he saw it. And so, he thought, 'If I charge them full price, they might go to one of my rival's inns. But, if I give them a discount, they will probably stay, and maybe even come back sometime. Or reccomend my inn to their friends.' So, he came to a decision. "Well, since you have such a big party, instead of chargeing you the full price of five gold pieces, I'll give you a special discount. Only two gold, for one night for all of you, and all you can eat," he said, fully unaware of the peril of offering this praticular group of people a discount all-you-can eat.
"Both dinner and breakfast?" Lina asked. The innkeep nodded, not wanting to lose the customers.
"Yes, of course," he said. Lina, Gourry, and Amelia brightened visibly.
"GREAT!" said Lina. "We'll take it!" She handed the two gold over to the innkeep. "Now, where do we go to eat?" she asked.
"In there," the innkeep pointed to the general room.
"Thanks!" said Lina. "C'mon, what are you waiting for?" she said to her group, walking into the general room. The whole group sat down at a large, round table.
A waitress walked up to them. "Hello, how may I help you?" she asked, handing them menus.
"I'll just have coffee," said Zel.
"Nothing for me, thanks," said Xel.
Filia opened up her menu and looked it over. "I'll have this," she said, pointing to a sane meal.
Lina opened up her menu and glanced ovr it. "I'll have all of this," she pointed to everything on the menu. "Double portions of this, this, this, this, this, and this," she said pointing to the items in question.
Gourry, who had, meanwhile, been looking over his own menu then turned to the waitress. "And I'll have all of this," he pointed to a whole row of food. "In quadruple portions." Now, the waitress, being a simple girl, and having never seen such things as Lina and Gourry, could only nod.
By now, Amelia had decided on her dinner. "I'd like this, this, this, and this," she said, indicating her choices. The poor waitress nodded, and headed towards the kitchen with their order.
"I..it'll just be a minute," she said.
Lina nodded impaitently. "Yeah, yeah, whatever, just so long as it gets here," she said. The waitress nodded, and scurried into the kitchen. The group settled back to wait for their food.
"Hey, that's MY food Gourry!" Lina hit Gourry and snatched back the offending piece of food.
"It is not, Lina. I had it first!" Gourry countered.
"Well, I ordered it!" Lina shouted, and stuffed the object in question into her mouth. This mayhem would have continued on for quite sometime, had not, at that moment, a figure wearing a cloak, but never the less, with a very familiar build walked into the room. Lina and co. noticed tie afore mentioned figure.
"Hey is that..." Amelia trailed off, as a piece of aqua hair poked out from the hood of the cloak, confirming everyones suspicions. "It's Valgarv!" said Amelia.
"Yeah it's me," said Val. "So frickin' what?" He looked at all of the party. "I assume that you are all going to the reunion?" he said.
"Of course! Where else would we be going?" said Xelloss cheerfully.
"Stupid fruitcake," Val muttered. "Well, then, would you mind if I joined you? We are, under a stupid enforced truce by L-sama's law."
"Nope," Lina said, resuming her face stuffing. "Just don't try to take any of my food."
"What the hell makes ya think I want yer stinkin' food?"
"Good answer," said Lina. Val went and sat down in a place where he could watch the rest of the party. In very short order, Lina and co. had finished their dinner. "Ahhh.....well, I'm bushed," said Lina. "Time for bed. We have another long day ahead of us tomorrow." She got up and started walking up the stairs.
Xel and Zel, seeing no reason not to go to bed, and quite a few reasons to go to bed (the main ones, being of course, eachother ((^_~)) ) started to follow her up. Then, a thought occuring to him, Xelloss looked back (can ya guess what thought?). "Hey Val-chan, would you care to join us?" he asked.
Val's eyes widened. "WHAT?! Are ya crazy ya stupid fruitcake? I'd have to be fricken' nuts!"
Xel shrugged. "Your loss..." he said, as he and Zel went upstairs. Gourry followed close on their heels, went to his own room, and, shortly after divesting himself of his armour, he was sleeping like a log. Amelia and Filia went up to their respective rooms shortly thereafter. Val stayed downstairs for a while more, then snorted and went up to his own room.