To Live Another Day 86

Slayers: Alive

Episode 086: Annoying! Tricky Treasure Guards

After the Dragon Slayers poisoned Filia and Phythan, Filia made Phythan take the only antidote and thus a new mission began to find a spell book that could heal Filia of her fatal poisoning. The needed book was in a vault underground beneath the wooden clock tower that required three keys to open it, which needed to be inserted into locations far from the vault itself. Looking to speed things up, the team took four separate paths with Xellos and Filia heading towards the vault. Lina and Gourry had the first key, Amelia and Zelgadis the second, Onyx and Phythan the third. Unfortunately, Celo and Tiffany failed to warn them that the paths were guarded.

Lina and Gourry found an unpleasant surprise in the shape of a giant octopus that used an incantation to curse them into speaking octopice, rendering Lina unable to cast any spells. "Octo, octo, octopus!" The giant octopus attacked Lina and Gourry, who jumped left and right of it to dodge the coming hits. "Octo, octo, octopus!" The beast swung its tentacles around, impacting the walls as Gourry and Lina jumped out of the way, and causing rubble to fall everywhere.

"Let's sit here and play cards for all eternity!" Lina warned, although it made no sense what so ever in her current condition. What she meant to say was 'that thing's going to bring this place down!'

The two continued dodging the tentacles, meeting in the middle of the chamber, where Gourry looked at Lina and stated with a stupid look of confusion. "Bare my children." Lina turned bright red, although Gourry's intended comment was a simple and innocent 'I don't understand,' in reaction to her random gibberish.

Lina flailed around, trying to communicate something that wasn't random. She pointed at the octopus and made a motion as if wielding a sword. Gourry finally got the message, nodded and went on the attack, chopping off the tentacle that was heading towards him. Two more tentacles followed from the left and right. The skilled swordsman jumped, leaving the two appendages to grab each other instead of him. He chopped another as he fell, then hurried to cut the next with an upward slash.

'Three down, five more to go!' Lina cheered, though in octopice it came out as "I will never be a memory!" She quickly dodged another tentacle that was heading towards her and attacked it with her dagger, stabbing at it repeatedly until she managed to cut it off. Half the tentacles had been cut off, leaving only four more to threaten them.

"Ogres are like onions!" Gourry exclaimed with confidence as he went on the attack again. He was trying to express 'we're going to win this!' He ran around the octopus causing the creatures remaining four tentacles to become tangled under it as it spun around trying to follow Gourry's fast motions. With the four appendages in a knot, Gourry leapt into the air and brought down his sword, chopping them all off in one final attack. "May the force be with you!" Gourry smiled at Lina, declaring 'looks like it's finally beaten' in octopiece.

The tentacle-less torso and the severed appendages glowed suspiciously, cutting the victorious feeling short. All the pieces turned to smoke and gathered together in a cloud. The cloud of smoke separated into four pieces that turned into smaller octopus in four different colors, blue, yellow, red and green. "Octo!" The yellow one screeched. "Octo!" The blue one squealed. "Octo, octo!" The green one shrieked. The four creatures surrounded Lina and Gourry, spinning around them in a circle and chanting "Octo, octo, octopus! Octo, octo, octopus!"

The ground beneath their feet began to glow within the circle created by the four colorful octopi. "They've got more fur than any turtle ever had." Lina urgently pointed out, which should have been 'I don't like what they're doing, let's attack!' She was really fed up with the octopice curse, octopus didn't have fur and neither did turtles, all that gibberish was getting on her nerves. Without further ado, Lina went on the attack, stabbing the yellow octopus with her dagger. The creature dissolved into smoke on contact as the other three began to spin around faster with the glow from the floor becoming brighter.

Following Lina's lead, Gourry attacked the green octopus with his sword, but instead of having the same reaction as the yellow one had with Lina, it split into two with the extra one becoming yellow so that there were four once more. "Octopus!" All four creatures shouted, raising their tentacles as the floor glowed brighter and threw Lina and Gourry into the air like with a Dill Brand spell. Unable to levitate, the pair fell painfully on the ground and the octopi's strange behavior continued. The previous scene was repeated again. "Octo!" The yellow one screeched, "Octo!" The blue one squealed. "Octo, octo!" The green one shrieked. The four creatures spun around Lina and Gourry, chanting "Octo, octo, octopus! Octo, octo, octopus!"

Gourry was about to go on the attack again, but Lina stopped him and shook her head. Knowing that her words would serve no purpose in effective communication, she pointed at the yellow octopus, which Gourry attacked. The creature disappeared into smoke just as it had before, causing the three remaining beings to spin around faster. Lina pointed at the blue octopus and Gourry attacked it. Just as with the yellow one, the blue one also dissolved into smoke and disappeared. Lina's theory was correct; they needed to be attacked following a specific pattern.

Unfortunately, the two remaining octopi sped up their spinning so much that Lina and Gourry could only see a mixed blur of red and green. Gourry looked at Lina awaiting her instructions. She tried to point at the green octopus and signaled a number two by holding up two fingers in her hand. Gourry looked at the blur around them and shrugged in confusion. Lina tried to point again, but at that speed it was impossible to see what she was pointing at. To top it all up, the ground glowed brighter and Lina had a feeling that they were soon to run out of time before the entire process reset itself and they had to start all over again. That, plus the inconvenience of being thrown harshly and painfully.

Trying desperately to convey a message Gourry could understand, Lina pointed at her hair and shook her head, trying to say 'not the red one.' Then she held up two fingers again indicating that he needed to attack the green octopus twice. Gourry looked at her clueless and Lina considered going on the attack herself, but as a magic user though she had some practice with a sword, she knew she wasn't as fast as Gourry in that area and thought she would probably miss. Lina tried to communicate again, pointing at her hair, shaking her head and holding up two fingers.

Gourry finally nodded with a smile and went on the attack, slashing at the green octopus twice. The creature disappeared into a dissolving cloud of smoke and the red octopus stopped spinning. The being declared, "octo, octo, octopus!" Before retreating into the jar from where it came.

"Oops, I missed... twice..." Gourry frowned, though his facial expression became more positive when he realized he was saying what he actually meant to say. "I can talk normally again!"

"Me too, I think," Lina tested, "yeah, I'm cured, finally!" She let out a breath of relief, though she had to ask. "What do you mean you missed? You hit that thing dead on even if it was spinning so fast, that was pretty amazing."

"Thanks, but I still missed, it doesn't look like it mattered too much though. Things worked out anyway," Gourry smiled.

"I still say you didn't miss," Lina insisted in confusion. "I was telling you not to hit the red one and to hit the green one twice," she explained.

"Really?" Gourry blinked in realization. "I thought you were telling me not to miss the red one and making a victory sign because if I managed to hit the red one we would win."

Lina considered getting annoyed at the misunderstanding, but decided not to. "Never mind, things did work out in the end," at least Gourry made an effort to interpret something from her signals. She walked past the jar with the golden key on hand and inserted it into the keyhole in the tile on the wall. She turned the key with a clicking sound and headed back towards the narrow passage that led to the large cave chamber. "That's it for our mission," if Celo wanted to lock the vault again, he could make his way over and retrieve the key himself. "Let's go back to the clock tower and have a snack, plus I did promise you a massage." Quite happy with the arrangements, Gourry followed Lina back through the tunnel from where they came.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, Amelia and Zelgadis had also gone through an annoyingly long journey in a very lengthy and narrow tunnel. The tunnel led them to an underground river with a small boat on its side. On one end, the river flowed from below a wall of rocks and on the other end, towards which the soft current was moving, it flowed into a narrow tunnel. "I guess we're supposed to go that way," Amelia concluded, since there was no where else to go.

Zelgadis pushed the boat into the river, the moist soil of the riverside making it easy to move the small vessel in. "This trip turned out a lot longer than I thought."

"That's true, but it's not so bad," Amelia joined Zelgadis on the boat. They both sat there as the vessel was carried by the gentle current. There were no paddles anywhere to be found, but at least they were moving.

Giving it some further thought, Zelgadis concluded, "I guess not." Being alone in a dark tunnel with Amelia? That certainly didn't sound like a bad thing, plus he got to hold her hand the whole way.

The following river tunnel had many glowing crystals on the walls, though they were small enough so that the light was still dim. Amelia dispelled the orb of light she had been holding through their trek on foot in the previous area of the tunnel. "This place is beautiful," she leaned close to Zelgadis.

The chimera wrapped his arms around his beloved princess, "you're much more beautiful." They looked into each other's eyes in the dim romantic light until their lips met in a tender loving kiss. They were so focused on each other that they didn't even notice the river current speeding up considerably as they moved along downstream.

It wasn't until their new speed became so obvious that it was impossible to miss that the loving couple finally took note of it, but it was already too late. The small boat rocked wildly as it was carried through the narrow passage with the speed of a roller coaster. Amelia and Zelgadis held on to each other to avoid falling overboard. The crystals in the walls became less until the gray cave walls became bare and the tunnel was left in total darkness.

Suddenly, the small boat crashed into a rock that protuberated from the bottom of the thinning river. The old wood of the boat gave in and the vessel fell apart on impact, tossing its occupants into the merciless rapids. The tunnel became narrower with the water pressure increasing. Zelgadis and Amelia fought to stay afloat against all odds.

"Zelgadis!" Amelia called out, feeling that the harsh currents were pulling her away from him.

"Amelia, don't let go!" Zelgadis tried to hold on to her, but her small hand eventually slipped out of his and they were thrown around in opposite directions in the dark merciless river.

The currents pushed them underwater, taking each of them to separate subterrain tunnels that spat them out harshly into individual underground ponds of immeasurable depth. It was especially difficult for Zelgadis to try to get to the surface due to his added weight, being part rock golem. He casted an emergency Aqua Breathe spell and pushed himself up with a Diem claw spell. Zelgadis reached out his hand to grab hold of the edge of the deep pond. Just as he was about to reach it, he felt a hand holding on to his and pulling him out of the water, then he came face to face with Amelia.

"Are you alright?" She asked with a smile.

"Taking a deep breath, Zelgadis replied, "Yeah, I'm fine, are you okay too?" He looked her over for any signs of injury, but fortunately found none.

"Never been better!" She smiled brightly.

Zelgadis examined the area they were in, hoping that they were somehow still going the right way. He also hoped that there was another exit to the cave because it would be extremely difficult to go back the way they came. "It looks like we have no choice but to keep going."

Amelia nodded and they continued walking, their way once again illuminated by the glowing crystals on the walls, until they arrived at a point where the tunnel split into two. The left side seemed to lead to a new cave chamber, while the right hand tunnel twisted in a U turn back in the opposite direction behind the cave wall of that area. Assuming that it was more logical to keep going in one direction, Zelgadis picked the tunnel to the left, with Amelia quietly following him.

Zelgadis walked towards the chamber ahead and saw a silver tile on the opposite wall with a keyhole on it. Several feet away leaning against the gray cave wall next to the silver keyhole tile, there was a large mirror about eight feet tall and five feet wide, though its reflection was hard to see from afar in the very dim light of the cavern. "We finally found the keyhole," at least that was one problem out of the way. The chimera looked at the princess again, waiting for her to produce the key and when she didn't he inquired. "Do you still have the key?"

Amelia shook her head. "I'm sorry, I must have dropped it."

"In the water?" If the key had fallen on the ground, which was unlikely, then it wouldn't be so hard to find, but if it fell out of Amelia's pocket when they were being tossed in every direction, it would be practically impossible to find, especially if it fell into that seemingly bottomless pond.

"Probably," Amelia frowned apologetically.

"Maybe Celo has a spare," Zelgadis mused. Monsters were calculating, right? Celo was one of Beast Master's monsters; they were supposed to be cunning tricksters if Xellos was any indication.

"Maybe," Amelia agreed.

Perhaps that other U turn tunnel would lead them outside. Then they could have a word with Celo about this whole situation, throwing in a few complaints and possibly a few Fireballs while they were at it. As Zelgadis stood there looking expectantly at Amelia, she approached him and wrapped her arms around him. He returned the embrace somewhat unsure, "it's okay, we'll find another key," he reassured.

"It's not that," Amelia spoke softly; "I love you."

Zelgadis blushed at the sudden show of affection. "I love you too."

Amelia leaned closer whispering sweetly, "kiss me," she closed her eyes and tried to close the distance between them, but Zelgadis abruptly stepped back.

"Who are you?" He demanded to know.

"I'm your beloved," Amelia smiled.

"What's the name of my beloved?" Zelgadis asked suspiciously.

"Don't you remember my name?" Amelia looked sad.

"You're not her!" Zelgadis accused. He wasn't sure about it before, but suddenly everything made sense. "Why are your clothes dry?"

"I dried them with a wind spell," Amelia or rather, someone who looked like her tried to reason.

"When I surfaced in the water you helped me out of the pond as if I didn't weight more than a feather." Zelgadis knew Amelia was very strong and she had a mighty Pacifist Crush to show for it, but it would take a lot of bulging muscle to lift him so easily. "The real Amelia would be upset about losing the key; she would be worrying about Filia right now."

The false Amelia smirked darkly. "You could have made this so much easier on yourself, dying while kissing your beloved!" Her arms stretched out, becoming like water as her entire countenance melted into a watery monster. Zelgadis jumped back trying to dodge the incoming attack, his back a few feet away from the mirror. But the watery tentacles rapidly stretched and wrapped themselves around Zelgadis, instantly paralyzing him.

"Zelgadis!" Amelia's voice called out as the real princess arrived in the cave chamber. "Elmekia Lance!" The bright light of the spell collided with the attacking monster disintegrating it on impact. "What was that?"

"I think it was an illusionist water sprite," another voice very much like that of Zelgadis explained. It seemed that Amelia also had a companion with her that looked identical to Zelgadis. "I've heard about them. Touching them causes the victim to become paralyzed until they are released. They can cast an incantation to take on the shape of the one a person loves, even if they have never seen them before. Then every person would see the water sprite with the face of their beloved, until the sprite reveals its true form to attack. Be careful, this is clearly a trap." The false Zelgadis accused the real one. "They're setting us up to doubt each other!"

The illusionist water sprites were another of those creatures that were exceptionally tricky, but did not possess much of a defensive power against astral attacks. Thus they were hard to discover, but easy to destroy. Unfortunately, most people were unable to unveil their true nature until it was too late. "Don't worry, I won't be tricked!" Amelia pointed accusingly at the real Zelgadis. "Terrible creature, how dare you try to use my love for Zelgadis to trick me? You shall feel the rightful punishment of justice!"

"No, Amelia, I'm the real one!" Zelgadis tried to reason with her. "Just ask me something only I would know!"

Amelia wasn't about to stop her attack, holding out her hands towards the real Zelgadis she called out, "Elmekia Lance!" She turned at the last second and fired the attack at the false Zelgadis who became like water and disintegrated much like the other illusionist water sprite had. "Are you alright?"

Zelgadis nodded in relief. "Yes, I'm fine now. How did you know I was the real one without even asking me anything?"

"It's that mirror behind you, Celo said he had the mirror of truth and that it wasn't in the vault. I think that's the one," Amelia explained.

"I get it; the creature appeared in its true form in the mirror," Zelgadis concluded, not yet turning around to see the mirror.

"Actually, he was too far and it was too dark to see him clearly, but I saw your reflection." Amelia created a light spell so that Zelgadis could see himself on the mirror clearly. "Take a look."

Zelgadis curiously turned around not really expecting to see anything but his usual reflection, but he soon found himself staring into the mirror in shock. Amelia approached, standing next to him; her reflection was identical to the original one. Yet Zelgadis reflection didn't match his physical form. "This is," he looked at his chimera hand then reached out to touch the smooth surface of the mirror, a human hand mimicking the motion. "It's me... the human me..."

"It's like I've told you before," Amelia smiled as she lovingly hugged Zelgadis. "You're human on the inside and that's all that matters."

To be Continued

The octopice quotes have references to: "bare my children" (Miroku from Inuyasha), "I will never be a memory" (Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children), "ogres are like onions" (Shrek), "may the force be with you" (Star Wars) and "they've got more fur than any turtle ever had" (opening song from Samurai Pizza Cats). The mirror of truth is based on the one from (the original) Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals.