The crew on the SS Wreck, as Alyson had named the wooden ship in a spate of morbid humor, were starving. It had been several days since the tsunami which Lina's Dragon Slave created had wiped out the fleet of ships and destroyed the port town. The first two days after they had spontaneously taken to the seas had been fairly busy for Alyson. She had struck up a friendship with the Slayers Gang, and now felt like she fit in more. Gourry was friendly as a rule, and would probably make friends with the grouchiest of people, Amelia had a natural sweetness that allowed her to open up, Lina was just Lina, and after the first day, Zel had opened up a bit to her questions about mapping and how he was charting the course that they were uncontrollably following. After the second day, though, when hunger started to make itself known, she lapsed into silence, leaning on the railing and watching as the ocean moved by.
Now, the ship was sitting still in the water, with no wind to move it. Zelgadis moved among the crew, turning a severely thinned out Gourry over, and talking with Amelia about the possibility of dying before the adventure started. Alyson just sighed. Truth be told, she was still reeling with the knowledge that she had this Power and, in a way, she didn't believe it. Refused to believe it. She didn't want some Power, she just wanted to return home. Her family and friends were probably worried sick about her, and she missed them dreadfully; however, there was no definite hint of a way home, so she figured she was stuck until this series ended. After that, she didn't know what was going to happen to her.
She was forcibly jolted out of her musings by the sudden lurch of the ship. She was so taken by surprise that she lost her grip on the railing, and went tumbling across the deck, winding up with her back against the wall of one of the cabins, her feet in the air. She righted herself, and looked over to where Lina was standing on the stern of the ship, hurling wind spell after wind spell at the tattered sail, sending the ship flying towards a hunk of land on the horizon.
"What's going on?" she yelled.
"There's land over there, and where there's land, there's food!" Amelia called back.
"Figures. And Lina's going all out," Alyson smiled, happy to be heading towards land and food.
However, her happiness soon turned to worry, because she could feel the ship shuddering beneath her as it cut through the water at a fast clip, thanks to Lina's wind spells. She began to hope that it would make it to shore in one piece. She looked over to the right, and saw Zelgadis clinging to the railing, and she knew by the look on his face that he could feel the shuddering beneath his hands as well. He looked over and met her eyes, and gave an ironic half smile.
"Let me think; you're thinking the same thing I am," Alyson remarked.
"Yep," he replied.
Alyson felt the shuddering increase, and she looked forward, to find they were now bearing down on a seaport town at an alarming speed.
"Hey, Lina!!! We need to slow down now!" Alyson yelled at the sorceress, but Lina was so focused on getting food that she didn't hear or see anything. Alyson renewed her grip on the railing and saw Zelgadis and Amelia, who had joined them on Alyson's other side, do the same. Gourry stayed flat on the deck, not really reacting to anything. As the town loomed closer, Alyson shut her eyes, not wanting to see the impact; however, she felt it, as the ship slammed through the outer wall and came to a skidding halt. All was silent for about a microsecond; then, with a spectacular boom, the ship exploded. No one wasted time in jumping to the ground and running into the town, screaming, "FOOD! FOOD!! FOOD!!! FOOOOOODDDDD!!!!!"
Suddenly, Lina came to a skidding halt, with everyone else ramming into her and bouncing back. Only then did they notice the rather large troll, small red fox, and a band of lizard men that were standing around a large pile of treasure, swords, and other valuables. One of the townspeople looked up with pleading eyes and begged, "Help us please!"
"What's going on?" Amelia asked, looking around.
"Looks like they're being attacked," Zelgadis remarked.
"That's kinda obvious," Alyson said sarcastically.
"Who the hell are you guys?" the large troll asked, glaring at them.
"They're from somewhere else; they smell strange," the red fox, Jiras, said, sniffing the strangers.
"SHUT UP!" Lina screamed at the top of her lungs, the force of her scream knocking Jiras into Golbus (the troll), and sending Alyson crashing to the ground, with her hands over her ears.
Lina leaped onto one of the remaining ribs of the SS Wreck, and proceeded to give a speech, "We're half starved, we barely made it here, and now you think you're gonna get in our way?!"
Gourry stood on a post next to Lina, not looking very intimidating, unless skeletons scare you.
"That's right. If you make us any hungrier, we won't play fair. Who knows what we'll do!" he stated, his voice sounding pitiful.
"What are you guys going on about?!" Golbus yelled. Alyson almost felt sorry for him.
"HA! I don't have to tell my name to anyone who gets in my way of eating food!" Lina stated.
"What?!" Golbus asked, looking very confused.
"You steal valuables from innocent people! That is surely evil! For justice and love, and also hunger, I will teach you a lesson!" Amelia called from her post.
"Wait a minute! What's that 'hunger' part supposed to mean?!" Golbus yelled.
"Anyway," came Zel's calm voice. He was standing on a post near Amelia, looking bored. "Just leave the stuff and get out of here. Or else I won't be responsible for what happens."
"What he said," Alyson replied from her spot on the ground, content to let the Slayers Gang deal with the group.
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! Get them you guys!" Golbus yelled, signaling the lizard men to attack.
"If you're going to resist, I won't have any mercy for you!!" Amelia yelled.
"Let's do it, Gourry!" Lina called.
"Huhhhhhh," Gourry replied, sounding like he was over a hundred years old. Alyson scooted back until her back hit one of the posts, and she rested against it, while watching the scene unfold before her. What followed was Amelia using the lizard men as punching bags, Zel using his head (literally), Lina throwing around Flare Arrows, and Gourry using the Sword of Light, all the while calling for food in his hundred year old voice.
Jiras suddenly got a crafty look on his face, and pulled a small round object off his cape. He threw it at the group, and Gourry, mistaking it for food, bit onto it. Unfortunately, it exploded.
"What was that?!" Lina asked after recovering from the shock.
"A bomb. Rezo was researching it earlier. It explodes when you add fire," Zel explained calmly.
"Explodes?" Gourry asked, looking like he had been blasted back to normal.
"Well, it's no big deal. No match for magical explosions. That's why Rezo stopped researching it."
"What are you babbling about?" Jiras yelled while launching over a dozen of his bombs at the group. "Now you'll be sorry. Huh?"
During this, Lina had looked like she was developing a headache, then calmly lifted a finger (not that finger!) and said, "Aqua Create!" A wall of water blasted up from the sidewalks, and soaked the bombs, rendering them useless.
"If you want explosions, try this one. MEGA BRANDO!!!" The resulting explosion sent Jiras flying and then set off his bombs, making him look like a special from the fourth of July.
Golbus began to look really nervous, and remarked, "Are you a sorceress?"
Lina got a very smug look on her face, and launched into her "I'm the beautiful sorceress Lina Inverse," speech. While this was going on, Golbus reached over, and yanked on the cannon's (Alyson had not noticed it till now) cord, firing a cannonball at the group. Once again, Zel used his head.
"WATCH OUT!" he yelled, and shoved his head in the way of the projectile. It hit his head with a clanging sound, then dropped to the ground, splitting in half.
"He repelled it! That can't happen!" Golbus screamed.
"Sorry to tell you, but my body is part rock golem and part p...g...," Zel began, then passed out before he could finish.
"Rock golem and pig?" Amelia wondered out loud. Alyson snickered. "Now, we're gonna get serious so we can eat!" she yelled.
"YEAH!" everyone else yelled, and proceeded to head towards Golbus, who was trying to set the cannon up again.
"Wait, I'm not ready yet!!!!" he screamed, to no avail.
In a flurry of spell strikes and general mayhem, a single battle cry could be heard, and it sounded like, "FOOD FOOD FOOOOOOOOOODDDDD!!!!!"
Later that day:
Alyson sat back with wide eyes as she watched Lina, Gourry, and Amelia start a minor war over the food. She wasn't really surprised, having seen them have battle royals over food on the TV, but seeing it in person gave a whole new perspective on the occurrence. She watched for a few more moments as spells and bodies began to fly around before sighing and jumping into the fray, just barely hearing an old man thank the group for saving the village.
When they had finished eating, everyone sat back with satisfied smiles. Out of all of them, Alyson had actually eaten the least amount of food, but she seemed content. Once again, the elder approached.
"Are you finished?" he asked respectfully. His answer was several satisfied smiles and mumbles.
"We can't thank you enough. This isn't the first time that group has attacked our village," he added.
"I don't think you'll have to worry about them again," Lina said, and began laughing as she pictured the troll, lizard men, and red fox turning tail and running.
She leaned back in her chair and continued laughing until something caught her eye and she over balanced; her chair flipped over backwards, spilling her on the floor.
"Wha...wha.....WHA?!!" she yelled, gazing at a moving spot in the distance.
Amelia and Gourry joined her, while Alyson gazing over their shoulders.
"It's that Gold Dragon!" Gourry remarked.
"I thought you got rid of it with your Dragon Slave?!" Amelia added.
"Dammit! Come on!" Lina called, and took off running, meeting up with Zel at the base of a set of stairs. Assuring him that she had seen the dragon, the gang quickly took off in the direction that the dragon was flying in. They soon reached an area of rocks, where the dragon appeared to be landing, bathed in a golden light. When they reached a spot where they could look behind the rocks, the group was surprised to witness the dragon turning into a girl. Actually, it turned into Filia.
"It was YOU?!" Lina exclaimed, while Amelia looked back and forth between the dragon maiden and Lina, looking very confused.
Filia didn't answer immediately. Instead, she walked over to a flat rock, spread out a table cloth, and proceeded to pour everyone some tea. She took a sip from her own cup, and commented that all they needed now were some good cookies. Lina sat with a disgruntled look on her face.
"Why did you attack the port city?" she demanded.
"I'm not the one who destroyed the city. I believe your Dragon Slave did that," Filia remarked.
Alyson tuned out the talk that was going on around her. She was still trying to digest the news that Lina had given her when they had first set out on this journey.
"But Lina," she had said after Lina had explained about Types and Powers, "I don't feel any different, and I certainly can't detect this Power that you're saying I have. Shouldn't I at least be able to sense it?"
"You should, but maybe you don't want to sense it," Lina had remarked, looking thoughtful.
"Why is that?" Alyson asked.
"Think of it this way. You're from somewhere that's not used to magic. In fact, according to you, the only thing that passed for 'magic' was mere illusion. Am I right?" Lina began, and continued when Alyson nodded. "Ok. Because of this, you're pretty much in denial about your Powers in general. This is, in turn, causing a blockage to your sensory area. Not only that, but it's also stopping you from accessing the strongest aspect of magic."
"What's that?" Alyson asked when Lina paused.
"The strength of your will. Even the strongest attack will not do a thing unless you believe that it will. For example, if I didn't believe that the Dragon Slave was strong enough to kill a dragon, then it would cause no more damage to a dragon than a fireball would."
Alyson came out of her thoughts when Filia remarked, "Who is this new addition? I don't recall the elders saying anything about her."
"This is Alyson. She kind of, dropped in on us," Lina explained.
"That's one way of putting it," Alyson replied, as she held out her hand to shake Filia's.
Filia took it, but as soon as her hand came into contact with Alyson's, her eyes changed, and took on an inward type look. This lasted for a few seconds before Filia came back to herself. She withdrew her hand, and gazed thoughtfully at Alyson.
"You're part Gold," she said.
"Huh?" Alyson asked.
"You're part Gold Dragon. How can that be? I also sensed some demon, some human, and something else. What I don't understand is how could a dragon have born the child of a demon?" Filia mused.
"Well, at least that explains why my eyes are slit but still reflect light," Alyson remarked.
"I knew she was part demon, but I had no idea she was part Gold Dragon. This is fast becoming a puzzle," Lina added. "Anyway, Alyson, we were just designated as the representatives of humanity."
Filia growled, and replied, "Not representatives, but alternatives."
Lina exploded. "WHAT??!!!"
"One other was chosen before you, but said that she was too busy with her job and suggested you," Filia continued.
"You think that I"m going to go out and risk my neck after being told being told that I'm an alternative?! Go back to your precious first choice!" Lina screamed.
"So you won't do it?" Filia asked casually.
"NO!"
"We were told you might react like this, so we got this letter from our first choice," Filia replied, and handed Lina a small piece of folded paper.
".....?" Lina wondered. She took the paper, opened it, and promptly went pale with a small gasp.
"Lina?" Gourry asked.
"Does this person work as a waitress?" Lina whispered.
"Yes. She said that if you didn't do this, she would punish you," Filia replied.
"NOOOOOO!!!!" Lina screamed, and turned into a whirlwind of fear, quickly built a pyramid, and buried herself in it. The group gathered outside of the tiny part of the pyramid still standing, asking Lina what was wrong. All they got were more screams. Amelia grabbed the piece of paper out of the air and read, "Just do it! From your sister!"
"Lina's sister?" Gourry asked, looking a bit pale himself.
"Who could be this powerful that Lina's this scared of her?" Zel wondered.
"BIG SIS! FORGIVE ME!!!" came Lina's voice from the pyramid.
Alyson sighed, and said, "She'll come out in her own good time. Filia, do you have any tea left?"
"I always have tea!" Filia exclaimed, and the group headed back to enjoy some more of Filia's tea. Eventually, Lina did come out, and went off to be by herself for a bit. Filia shortly went after her, and the two were gone for quite a while. When they came back, Lina announced that they were going to go to the Fire Dragon King's Sanctuary like Filia wanted.
"And this will give me a good chance to teach you how to use your Powers," Lina said with a smile at Alyson.
"Oh boy," Alyson said.