Xellos was dressed in his traditional traveling clothes; he looked a lot like a priest out of some western. He checked his watch; it was a quarter to 7. The morning sun was still just coming over the horizon and there was a lot of morning dew still on the ground. There was also a group of storm clouds to the northeast of Sailoon. Xellos suppressed a small yawn, as he passed through Sailoon's "back door" and out onto the dirt road that headed northward.
"I can get there by nightfall if I hurry," He thought to himself.
The dirt road was well used and there was a lot of litter scattered on the sides: Plastic wraps, soup cans, Sailoon newspapers, and even some half-eaten vegetables. Xellos could hear the sound of a motor in the distance, and soon a small tractor, being driven by a farmer, passed by on the dirt road. The entire area surrounding Sailoon was farmland, so Xellos could easily see farmers with tractors, plows, and fertilizer all over the place. There were also fields full of corn, wheat, strawberries and such other crops. He could see them all, but didn't pay much attention to them. His mind was focused forward to his destination and what his mission was. If Xellos had been paying more attention to the farmer's fields, he would have noticed a certain tuff of red hair that was following him.
About an hour of walking later, Xellos reached the end of the farming land and beyond the crop fields were the ruins of the city of London. It was also easy to see the remains of the famous clock tower known as Big Ben, even from this distance. Xellos stood for a moment and looked upon the ruins. He hadn't been alive when the city had been inhabited, but he had heard many stories about its magnificence. The land surrounding the ruins was filled with green grass and the sensation of life at it's fullest. It made the old decrepit ruins seem painfully out of place. The ruins didn't belong there anymore. Yet, why people insisted in keeping the city there and didn't just tear it down and salvage all the useful materials, was beyond Xellos. Maybe they kept the ruins there to serve as a reminder to the destruction of the 3rd world war. However, that was irrelevant to Xellos at the moment, he had many more important things to worry about.
Xellos was about to continue on his way when his trained ear heard someone sneaking up behind him. The assailant was trying his hardest not to be heard, but Xellos had heard him as clearly as if he had shouted, "Hey, I'm over here." Xellos started to walk forward, trying not to go too fast. Xellos wondered who could have sent an assassin after him, or maybe it was just a bandit try to find easy prey. A few uncertain seconds later, Xellos' hearing said that the assailant was within arm range, so Xellos turned and landed a solid blow to the assailant's face. Xellos heard a satisfying crunch as the punch connected with.... "LINA!" Xellos exclaimed with surprise, as Lina, yelled with pain, covered her face with her hands, and collapsed to a kneeling position. A single line of blood flowed down her face from between her fingers. Xellos then looked for an escape route, but it would seem that Gourry and Amelia decided to show up at that very second.
"Damn," Xellos cursed, as Lina leapt for him with murder in her eyes.
"You die Xellos!" She screamed as she ran after Xellos, who had left in a blur of motion.
The first thing that greeted him as he awoke from his slumber, was the sound of an engine assaulting his ears. Then he noticed that he was lying on the cold, vibrating, metal floor of the tank, Dragon Slave. Zelgadis rubbed his eyes, as he slowly rose from his "bed" on the floor.
"So you're finally...awake." A familiar voice yawned. Zelgadis turned to find Esiro still at the controls of the tank.
"How long have I been asleep?" Zelgadis asked as he rubbed his eyes. Esiro yawned again, "I'd say a good 7 hours, it's only 5 in the morning."
Zelgadis looked out of one of the tanks tiny portholes to only have darkness greet his eyes. Esiro was driving the tank by using night vision goggles as he looked out the pilot's window.
Zel noticed Zangulus was up and cooking a small breakfast with a miniature, portable, propane burner and a worn out frying pan. Zangulus looked up at Zel and motioned to his left. To a small steaming cup and a cracked plate that had some eggs, bacon, and hash browns on it.
"Good morning Zelgadis. I fixed your breakfast and a cup of coffee."
"Thanks," Zel said as he sat down on the floor and picked up an old fork that was missing a prong. Zel then proceeded to casually eat in silence. None of the three travelers said much to anyone else as Esiro continued to drive on. The tank shook from side to side and the hover unit maintained its balance with the ground. About 10 minutes later the tank's engine started to sputter and grow quiet. All three of the tank's inhabitants felt the tank shake as the hover drive failed and the vehicle settled to the ground. Esiro turned from his seat and removed his night vision goggles.
"That's it, the solar batteries are depleted, we'll have to wait for the sun to come out and charge them again." Esiro stated matter-of-factly, since this was a routine occurrence.
"How long till they're charged?" Zel asked calmly as he took another bite of breakfast.
"About...9 a.m." Esiro answered then yawned. Esiro then settled down onto the "bed" that Zel had just gotten off of.
"Where are we?" Zangulus quickly asked before Esiro could fall asleep.
"The computer says," Esiro mumbled, "about a mile or two north of Washington." Then Esiro fell into a well-deserved rest.
"That would put us about 4 or 5 days ahead of Gavv's army." Zangulus pointed out.
"It's hard for an army that size to move as quick as we can in this single tank," Zel sipped his coffee. Zangulus then stole a glance at Esiro's sleeping form.
"So, tell me Zelgadis," Zangulus asked trying to spark a conversation, "you've been traveling with Esiro far longer than I have, how did you two meet." Zel tilted his head back as far as it would go, as he finished off his cup of coffee. He then placed the cup onto the floor.
"There's not much to tell." Zel then thought for a minute. "While I was wondering through Chicago, I heard of a man that had possession of his own tank. As you know, ever since the end of the world war, almost all of the war machines and weapons were dismantled. So to own a tank, or even a plane for that matter, meant either he was incredibly wealthy or he had connections. I thought that maybe he could help me find Rezo, so I could get a cure for my skin. As it turned out, he had neither. Sure, he bought the tank with his own money, but that left him nearly broke."
"So what happened."
"I was weary of walking all over the country to find my cure and I really didn't know where to find Rezo so, I asked if he could take me with him. It didn't matter where we went since I didn't know where to search first. That basically how we met each other." Zel than took the last bite of his breakfast and then wiped the plate clean with a cloth.
"Who's Rezo." Zangulus then asked. Zel put the plate and cup into a small brown box, which was padded on the inside.
"Rezo is my grandfather," Zel spoke with scorn in his voice, "He is considered by some to be the greatest scientific mind in fields such a cloning, genetic engineering, and biotechnology."
"So you figure that he can cure your mutated skin." Zangulus finished off.
"Yes." Zel looked at Zangulus with seriousness in his eyes and on his voice.
Then a small ray of sunlight beamed through the pilot's window and fell upon the three inhabitants. Wanting to get out of the cramped interior of the tank. Zel and Zangulus opened up the hatch and stepped out onto the top of the tank. Then they climbed down to the ground. The sun was a beautiful thing to see, especially at dawn. Off to the right of the tank, Zel and Zangulus spotted the tall buildings of the city of Washington on the horizon.
"I haven't been to the old capitol in years, it's good to be back." Zel said.
"From here we head to the Chesapeake Bay harbor, and then to where?" Zangulus asked.
"We head to England and find Lina." Zel answered.
"What makes you thing she's over there."
"Amelia mailed me an invitation to some Austoria theater for a party, but I didn't want to go. But I'm sure Lina went and so did Gourry."
"How come I wasn't invited?" Zangulus pouted sarcastically.
"The letter stated that she Amelia couldn't find your address."
"Well, I should've expected that since I haven't been home in years." Zangulus then started to head for Washington City. "Let's go find some supplies before Esiro wakes up." Zangulus suggested. Zel just nodded, as he followed Zangulus.
Gourry was supporting Xellos with his arms, as they headed down the dirt road, the London ruins falling far behind them. Xellos had a black eye, and was covered in bruises, and even some of his clothing was torn. Lina, on the other hand, was fine except for her nose, which was still bleeding a little.
"Miss Lina," Amelia said annoyed, "was that really necessary?"
"Yes Amelia, Very necessary." Lina replied.
"Mr. Xellos only gave you a bloody nose, but you almost killed him. That isn't very justice like, beside you're the one who was sneaking up on him." Amelia continued to lecture, although Xellos was not as injured as he looked.
"Look Amelia, a beautiful face is everything to a sorceress, beside how am I to find the prince of my dreams if I look like your father." Lina said with her eyes starting to sparkle.
"Now Miss Lina looks have nothing to do with justice."
"Oh," Xellos interrupted, "so even you admit he looks pretty bad." Amelia just stood there with her mouth open trying to find some way to counter that insult to her father. However, Xellos didn't give her the chance. "Forget that. Way were you following me anyway?" Xellos asked. Lina turned to Xellos and got down to business, "We all know that you always have an ulterior motive for everything, and with the war with the Mazoku starting, we need to keep a close eye on you. Beside, what was the real reason that you came to the Austoria theater and where were you really headed?" Lina expected the answer.
"That is a secret." Xellos replied.
Lina just let the reply slide and continued on, "You said that you were headed home, where is that exactly? I believe that you are on some sort of mission that will take you close to your old home."
Xellos just shrugged, "That too is a secret, beside there could be some unfortunate "consequences" if I told you."
"Either way." Amelia recovered, "we're all still coming with you. As the crown princess of Sailoon and a warrior of justice, it is my duty to foil all evil plans that are meant to take innocent lives."
"Besides," Gourry said, finally, "Phil hired us investigate and Lina will do anything for money." Lina then smacked Gourry over the head while she addressed Amelia.
"Will you just cut it Amelia!" Lina yelled, Amelia looked hurt. "At least you could tell us where we are headed right now." Lina asked the trickster; Xellos sweat-dropped. He knew that once Lina was set onto a goal, especially one that involved money, it was impossible to convince her otherwise.
"I...We are headed," Xellos started, "to the Sailoon airbase."
"The Sailoon airbase?" Gourry wondered, while he receiving ugly looks from Lina and Amelia.
"One of only four airbases that survived the world war and the only one that Sailoon has control over." Xellos finished.
"Hey isn't that where Filia is stationed?" Amelia asked Lina.
"Not only Filia, but the entire Ryouzoku squadron is stationed there." Lina answered.
"What's a Ryouzoku?" Gourry questioned. Lina just screamed with annoyance, as she drop kicked Gourry. The move made Gourry drop Xellos and then Gourry fell on top of him. Amelia scrambled over to help get Gourry off of the now squashed Xellos. When Gourry was finally up and on his feet, Amelia pulled out a first aid kit and started to attend to Xellos' wounds again.
"Miss Lina, you should be careful around the wounded." Amelia lectured again. Xellos just put on his biggest smile, "Yes, you should be careful around the wounded." Xellos agreed. Now he was as injured as he looked.
After much traveling and even some fighting, Lina, Gourry, Amelia, and Xellos finally arrived at the Sailoon royal airbase. The airbase was alive with all kinds of activity. People fueling and loading all of the F-20's at the airbase, which was only a dozen or so planes total. The F-20 looked like the exact twin of the F-16, but the F-20 was faster, more maneuverable, could hold more fuel, carried about the same amount of missiles, and instead of a gattling slug thrower it had a gattling laser gun. It was then they all spotted Filia talking with some yellow haired man by one of the hangers. They then all headed over to Filia with Xellos trying to hide his injuries as much as possible.