(Stage directions and interpretations of character reactions
are parenthesized)
Narration and asides are in italics
[Commentary by the editor is bracketed]
Enjoy!
Lina: (softly) Rezo-san.
Rezo: And just what are you doing, Zelgadis? Trying to help her escape?
Lina: (surprised, then looks at Zel)
Zel: (grr)
Rezo: (the dear children were bad) Seems you weren't quite honest with me, were you? (the noble, long-suffering look is ruined by a smile that's barely there) It's obvious you've turned against me.
Lina: (appalled) Against you? As in, you were working together?!
Zel: (so angry he can hardly get words out) Silence! I don't have to obey you anymore!
Rezo: (very deliberately) Oh? Is that so?
Lina: (seems to think something's a little sketchy) Uh, I happen to be here, too.
Rezo: You turn against me after I mercifully grant you the power you sought?
Zel: What was merciful about it? Yes, I said I wanted power, but I don't remember asking to become a chimera in the process!
Rezo: (perhaps a little irritated) It was the most efficient way to give you that power. (smirk) The means and the reasoning matter not. You must live with the consequences. And now to settle things! (raises staff)
Lina: (eheh) Why don't I just see myself out?
Zel: (grabs her and spins her into hostage position. His hand is splayed right over her left breast)
Lina: Watch what you're grabbing, there! Lemme go!
Rezo: (is briefly disconcerted, then smiles) You intend to use the girl as a shield?
Lina: (uhoh) As a shield?
Rezo: Ridiculous! (You silly boy) What will that do against me?
Zel: (serious) While I have her as a shield I can't escape you. (smiles) But I'm not using her as a shield! (hurls her at Rezo's head)
Lina: YAAAAAAA!
Rezo: (ducks)
Lina: (flies past him)
Rezo: (blinks at her)
Zel: (grins--well, for him it's a grin--and zips past Rezo at demon speed)
Rezo: What the...?
Lina: YAAAAAAHAHAHAAAA! (terror)
BOOM
Lina: (hugs the tree, peels her face off it) Koala!
Zel: (snappishly, snagging her as he passes) Don't be an idiot! (hurls a collection of yellow glowing disks at Rezo to cover his escape)
Rezo: (chokes, is enveloped by raging inferno. Anyone who thinks he's gonna be so much as singed has possibly not been paying attention.)
Lina: (tucked under Zel's arm) Not so rough!
[Nightfall: she has a point, actually; stone body+panic=tight grip.]
Zel: You can complain later!
Flames: (peak and disperse like mist, leaving a blackened clearing where there was forest)
Rezo: (steps on a twig. Is not sooty. Or disconcerted.) Hn.
Zel: (continues to run with Lina. And, where appropriate, hop like a bunny rabbit. No, really)
Lina: How far are we running?
Zel: (hops over really a tall cliff. There's a river winding below and everything) A little further and we'll be safe.
Lina: A little further?!! (they are falling) HOW MUCH FURTHER?!
Dilgear: What?! That little witch got away?
This is probably an appropriate time to explain the word 'chimera' as used in the Slayers canon. Chimeras are living things made out of at least two parts--in Zel's case, a human, a golem, and a Brau demon, or in Dilgear's a troll and a wolf. It's also possible to use inanimate objects or normal animals. There are a lot of animal-human chimeras in this room.
Dilgear: (stares intently at a rope) That little brat... she fooled us all. (stops, sniffs. Throws a minor temper tantrum) Who is it? Who's fixing a snack at this hour?
Chimeras: (two more of them, coming in from outside, carrying Noonsa) Disaster! It's Noonsa!
Dilgear: (appalled) Noonsa!
Noonsa: (is crispy. And dead)
Chimera: We saw him floating in the lake, and...
Dilgear: (strokes crispy scales) Who could have done this? To do this to Noonsa... to reduce him to this crisp, delicious-looking morsel!
Chimeras: Eheheheh... (drool)
Dilgear: Noonsa, I swear I shall avenge you!
Rezo: (just his voice. Sends rays of purple light in through the window) Oh? Then go and attack Zelgadis.
Dilgear: Rezo!
Rezo: I ask that you take care of that traitor, Dilgear. (light goes away)
Dilgear: Zelgadis, a traitor? (eye glints)
Chimeras: (slurp, slurp)
Dilgear: (turns suspiciously)
Chimeras: (sweating, cheeks bulging. More slurping and as soon as Dilgear looks away. He looks back, they turn around. One pops up complacently with a knife and fork, realizes he's been seen, and hides again)
Dilgear: Aaa-AAAAAH?!!
Noonsa: (is a skeleton)
Dilgear: (turns furious red) You--YOU ATE HIM ALL! (is heard far and near)
Zel: (satisfied) Looks like we gave him the slip.
Lina: (examining her reflection in a quiet river) Oh, now my nose looks like somebody smashed it in.
Zel: (might be smiling) It looked like that to begin with.
Lina: (wounded) Now, hold on.
Frame: waterfall.
Frame: back at the river, Zel's leaning against a tree while Lina sits on a big rock
Zel: You tired or something?
Lina: Of course. It doesn't matter how tough you are, running around in the middle of the night'll wipe you out. Although I was mostly being carried around by him.
Zel: (sits against rock. softly) I'm a little tired as well.
Lina: Lucky!
Zel: (pulls hood over head) Don't think of running off while I'm asleep.
Lina: (foiled. Embarrassed laugh) I wasn't even considering it! (sighs) I'm too tired, and I've only gotten a bit of my power back.
Zel: (untranslated Japanese, sorry. In the novel he asks if that means it should recover soon.)
Lina: Anyway, I'm not running off.
Zel: Good policy to have.
Lina: Anyway, you think you can explain some stuff to me now?
Zel: May as well. You're mixed up in this pretty far. (is not markedly displeased) You have a right to know.
Lina: (nods cheerfully) I have rights up the wazoo! (flops back against rock)
Zel: Well, then, where shall I begin?
Lina: How about with that guy? He calls himself Rezo the Red Priest. But who is he, really?
Zel: He really is the man they call Akahoushi Rezo. But suppose he wasn't always what he is now?
Lina: (soberly) Okay, what's he up to?
Zel: (Crosses his arms) Surely you know. Searching for something with all his might.
Lina: Then...
Flashback: a dark corridor
Rezo: They were apparently sent by Zelgadis.
Lina: You know him?
Rezo: Yes. He is my enemy. He's trying to resurrect the Dark Lord, Shabranigdo. He wants to resurrect the Dark Lord to destroy the world. He's a creation of utter evil.
Lina: ...you aren't trying to resurrect Maou Shabranigdo? It's really Rezo, isn't it!
Zel: (huh?) The Dark Lord?
Lina: I see. You screwed up trying to get the statue from me, so you decided to bug out on your own.
Zel: (let's stay on topic) Shabranigdo? What do you mean?
Lina: Eh? He isn't?
Zel: The thing he's had us looking for looks something like this. (picks up a small rock) It's quite famous. The Philosopher's Stone. (throws it in the river)
Lina: (giku!) You mean...?!
Zel: (nods) The Stone is hidden within the statue.
Lina: No way!
Gourry: (yawns) Well, that didn't work. And after I spend the night here, too. If I knew this would happen, I'd have stayed at an inn! Jeez, it's getting light already. Where did that Lina get to? (takes statue out of pocket and looks at it morosely)
Lina: The Philosopher's Stone. Any sorcerer worth their salt has heard of it. There are all sorts of theories that it's a fragment of the Staff of the Gods which support the world.
Stone: (develops crawling red electricity)
Lina: But one thing's for certain; it'll amplify magic power beyond anyone's imagination! Whenever the Stone appears, the course of history is changed! Mainly because it's said that a single sorcerer using the stone--
Visual: A city goes up in a mushroom cloud
Lina: --Can destroy an entire kingdom.
[Fans: So what do you need it for?]
Back with Zel and the rock
Lina: But what would a guy like that do if he had that Stone? (throws up hands) Don't tell me he's trying to conquer the world! That's just sooo stock fairy tale! (flops back against rock again)
Zel: As the rumors say, Rezo was born blind. He wants his eyes healed. For that reason alone he began to study white magic. And after he mastered it--
Visual: Rezo walking towards people
Zel: --he traveled many lands, performing great miracles as he went.
Visual: Rezo heals a boy's face. The boy's mother cries in joy
Zel: He would cure people's blindness. But while he could heal their eyes, for some reason he couldn't heal his own. And so he began to study shamanism and the Black Arts. And still his eyes refused to answer to the light. And so to finally cure his blindness...
Lina: (opens a hand) He went after the legendary lost Philosopher's Stone.
Zel: (nods)
Lina: I get it. That stuff about reviving the Dark Lord was a lie. He was just stringing me along. Ah?
Zel: (has moved to crouch by the river. Actually, the waterfall's about ten feet away, and we're at the bottom)
Lina: So why are you so eager to make sure he doesn't get it? You want to interfere with him?
Zel: I don't want to interfere with him--(eyes narrow)--I want to kill him. And for that I need the Stone. (fists clench)
Lina: (ookay) Is he really that bad?
Zel: Yes. I can't beat him as I am now. Why did I ever...
Flashback! Younger, human Zel is practicing his sword work.
Zel: HaaAAH! (slashes and retreats his way across the forest until his sword gets caught in a log)
SFX: CHIME! CLANGLE! JANGLE!
Zel: (turns)
Rezo: (is behind and above him) You wish to be strong, Zelgadis? Help me to search for the Philosopher's Stone, and I will grant you power beyond imagination. (points his staff in Zel's face)
Zel: (sweats and doesn't answer)
Rezo: You don't want the power?
Zel: (it may or may not have been meant as a nod, but his head drops an inch or two)
Rezo: (takes it as a yes and smirks. His staff charges up.)
Zel: Hyaugh! (covers face with arms)
Back at the river
Zel: (eyes pulse) I was a fool not to realize the meaning of those words. (a leaf floats by and shatters his reflection.)
Lina: Uh-oh, he's getting depressed again. So, how'd you know Rezo?
Zel: (stands) I've known him since I was born. I don't know how long he's lived, but I imagine he was both my grandfather and great-grandfather.
Lina: (squicked) You mean...
Zel: Yes.
[Rezo: Time out! It says either/or in the book, Mister!]
[Zel: And I really don't care either way.]
Zel: The blood of the virtuous Rezo flows within me.
Lina: (sweatdrop) Maybe I shouldn't have asked. (flops back against rock again) Anyway, now I think I know what the deal is. Now let's see about getting some sleep.
Zel: (smiles, a little unwillingly)
Birds: (make a fuss)
Zel and Lina: (get alert fast)
Elsewhere
Gourry: Lina! Where are you? If she was here now... (looks at sorry attempt at fishing pole) She'd use her magic to get us some breakfast. (is sitting a low branch of a tree, overhanging the river)
Zel: We're surrounded.
Lina: What are they?
Zel: Twenty to thirty trolls. Rezo isn't with them. We'll manage somehow.
Lina: (sniffs) Confident, aren't we?
Dilgear's voice: Come on out, you two! Time we settled things, Zel!
Lina: Hiya, Dilgear-san! Terrible of us to put you out! And after you came all this way!
Dilgear: (steps into view) Heheheh. You remembered my name! I'm flattered. (is joined by many trolls. A big green one steps protectively in front of him) DO YOU MIND?!
Green one: Erk! (retreats)
Zel and Lina: (this is silly)
Zel: (hand on hip) Dilgear. Aren't you loyal to me?
Dilgear: Once you turned against Rezo-sama, you became nothing more than another enemy!
Zel: (smiling) I see. So you think you, a mere man-beast, can defeat me?
Dilgear: (deadly smile) A mere man-beast? Well, then, why don't I show you this 'mere man-beast's' power. Get 'em!
Trolls: GRAA!
Lina: Oh, you got be kidding! (dodges a lot and jumps on some spinal columns) I'll teach you to fool around with a girl who's hurt bad!
Elsewhere
Gourry: (much alarmed) That's--!!
Gourry: (makes 'this is nasty' face at burned fish) Another raw one. (sorrow) Why can't they cook faster?!
Back at the fight
Zel: (protecting Lina with sword)
Lina: Zelgadis!
Zel: Mind your own business!
Lina: (huddles behind him) I still owe you one.
Trolls: Graaaah.
Zel: This'll take forever. Earth below me, submit to my will!
Lina: Ehhh!? (terror) A Dug Haut?!
Zel: DUG HAUT! (there is much teal and violet electricity, and spikes of rock push out of the ground to impale the trolls)
Lina: YATTA!
Dilgear: (unimpaled, slides off a spike) Not bad. But can you beat me without your shamanist's tricks?
Zel: (spreads his hands. Sudden resemblance to Xellos.) You wish to defeat my be sword alone?
Lina: (is intent. Seems to think she might miss something if she blinks)
Dilgear: As you say.
Zel: Try, if you dare. (raises sword)
Dilgear: (Draws) Prepare yourself.
Zel: (turns to Lina) Out of the way, sorceress who can't use sorcery! (shoots out a ball of violet energy that knocks her heels over head and she's down. He and Dilgear cross blades about twice and come face to face.) You're quite good!
Dilgear: I'm happy to hear that! (clang clang)
Lina: (looks up) Zel! (is picked up by the ankle by an uninmpaled troll)
Troll: Graaah.
Lina: (annoyed) Hold up! This whole unrelenting act is getting really old! (kicks him in the nose)
Troll: (is offended and wishes to express his disapproval of such uncivilized behavior)
Lina: (running away) Guess I'll have to sink or swim!
Dilgear: (jumps up, decapitates a spike, sending some big ol' boulders Zel's way)
Lina: (continues to run away. Slips out of her cloak and, as it covers the troll's face, jumps up) Too slow! (leapfrogs over his head) Sleep! (lands facing away and doesn't turn around)
Troll: (meh, this whole mincemeat idea is getting boring. Time for a nap.)
Lina: (picks up her cloak) See? Even in this condition I can manage some magic.
SFX: BOOM!
Lina: Zelgadis!
Zel: (steps back to avoid boulder)
Dilgear: (volleys out from behind it, leading with his sword) You're mine!
Visual: Red splash
Lina: (runs over. Gasps in astonishment)
Zel and Dilgear: (have locked blades again. Zel's sword is lodged in Dilgear's shoulder)
Zel: No good--you underestimated me! You thought you could get me in the middle of all this smoke!
Dilgear: (retreats a little, holding shoulder) I'd say you're the one who needs to prepare himself. (shoulder heals)
Zel: (gasps)
Dilgear: (pats shoulder proudly) Ya think? You forgot I'm a wolf/troll mix, you see.
Zel: I see; I did forget that. (lifts sword over head and charges)
Lina: Oh, no! He's leaving himself wide open!
Dilgear: You FOOL! (slashes Zel's waist. They both pose dramatically.)
Dilgear's sword: (mother!)
Dilgear: (gapes at chipped sword) What?!
Zel: And apparently you forgot that I'm one-third golem. (His shirt is gashed open, revealing rock-hard abs.)
[Nightfall: (ducks)]
Zel: (reflectively) It's times like this I'm actually thankful that Rezo gave me this monstrous body. (Grins fiercely) If you wish to kill me with a sword, it had better be the Sword of Light!
Dilgear: (grr) Sheathes sword and bounces away up rock-face. I won't forget this! I'm telling Rezo-sama on you!
Zel: Ch'. Ridiculous. (sheathes sword)
Lina: (applauds and cheers) Wow! Way to go, Zelgadis! Great! Fantastic! Woohoo!
Zel: (embarrassed) All right already...
Lina: (scolds him cheerfully) I'm recognizing your skill! But now it looks like Rezo knows where we are. You got anyplace besides he we can run to?
Zel: Nope. Not a one.
Lina: (sweatdrops, minivault) ...Oh, well. (Starts to walk off, then turns around, as one struck with an idea.) You may as well come with me, then.)
Zel: And where are you going?
Lina: (disingenuous) I was headed for Atlas City. I should be able to meet up with Gourry there. That should change the situation a little for us.
Zel: (a real smile for once) I suppose I've no choice.
Lina: (smiles and nods) All right, then, we're off to Atlas City! And we can continue things in the next episode!
End episode