As Xelloss sat down, Lina started her 'tale'.
"Once there was a little girl in the orphanage. She didn't know her name so the other kids in the orphanage gave her one. Reddy."
"Reddy? What kind of name is that? What's her real name?" Xelloss asked.
"Don't know. Reddy is the name almost everybody calls her. She suffered in an orphanage until she was six years of age. After that she went her own way. Unfortunately, her way was the hard way." Lina told her story as Amelia and Zelgadis came and joined them.
"What happened to her?" Amelia asked, she was getting kind of interested in this story.
"Well, lets just say she ran into a bandit gang."
"A bandit gang?! What happened to her?!" Amelia asked.
"Nothing happened to her." Lina said as she leaned back.
"Uh?"
"The bandit gang took the girl in. The bandits taught her how to fight her opponents, how to survive in the wilds, and many more. But then the gang was caught by assassins. Luckily, the girl got away and -- "
"Got away?! How?!" Amelia asked, cutting Lina off.
"Could you please stop interrupting her?" Zelgadis demanding more than asking.
"I'm sorry." Amelia said as Gourry and Sylphiel with a tray of snacks came and joined them.
"It's okay. Anyway, in answer to Amelia's question, the assassins didn't think the girl was one of the bandits. They thought the girl was just some captive for ransom and let her go. But then the girl had no where else to go. By then she was ten years old so she thought she could get a job at some restaurant. She did as a dish washer, but then after she had worked in that restaurant for some time, pirates started to invade those near towns. They saw the girl and took her along with many other women and valuables. Once on the boat they asked her what was her name. She told them and they laughed. Soon enough, the girl got another name, Cabin Boy." Lina said grabbing some bread from Sylphiel's tray.
"Cabin Boy? You mean she was the pirates' Cabin Boy?" Amelia asked grabbing a sandwich from the tray.
"Yep. The pirates didn't do anything to the girl, but she had to work. They did teach her the basic of using a sword, which she did find it very interesting." Lina said as she reached for a sandwich.
"What happen after that?" Gourry said, blindly reaching for the sandwich Lina's reaching for.
"Hey! That's the sandwich I wanted! First come, first serve!" Lina shouted into Gourry's ear and of course that sandwich ended up being in Lina's stomach.
"Geez, I didn't know that was the one you wanted. So what happened after that?" Gourry said, reaching for another sandwich.
"Well, the pirates attacks anyone they can encounter, you know, like any normal pirates, no offense. One day, the pirates attacked the wrong ship."
"Which ship did they attacked?" Zel asked, despite his curiosity.
"The Ceipheed Ship." Lina said, leaning back again.
Everybody gasped at the mention of the ship's name. Everybody worth their salt knew about the Ceipheed Ship. The biggest ship next to the Shaburanigdo Ship. The Sea of Chaos War was a fight between these two ship. But the Ceipheed's followers outnumbered and overruled the Shaburanigdo's. But at the end, both Ships ended down on the ocean. Nobody have heard it to have been rebuilt though.
"How could anybody be stupid enough to invade THE Ceipheed Ship? And who was on it? Last I heard that ship was down at the bottom of the ocean, right after the Chaos War was over." Amelia asked, menacingly.
"And along with the Shaburanigdo Ship. Or what's left of it anyway." Xelloss put in.
Lina sighed and went on, "Well, I don't know who was the one to lead the ship to attack, but all I know was that the girl had to fight for her life. I don't know how it happened, but from the ship the girl was on, the attackers were now on the Ceipheed Ship, meaning there were no more ways to go. But the girl was tough, she fought most of the guards. No matter how much she put the guards down, more would just replace them, until the Knight of Ceipheed herself came out of her room. She was beautiful yet she showed the sign of danger. She started to attack. Though, the girl knew she was using little to nothing at all to stop her, the girl also knew that the Knight of Ceipheed was very ... very.."
"Good? Tough?" Amelia said helpfully.
"Admirable. She was quick and good. With no effort at all, the Knight beat the girl." Lina trailed off after that. Seems she was thinking of something that happened to her that was very important.
"Ms. Lina. Ms. Lina? What happens after that? Did the girl just die or become a prisoner of the Ceipheed?" Amelia said after the long pause from Lina.
"Princess Amelia! The Ceipheed Society would never do a thing like that!" Sylphiel quickly said. She was to be one of them soon enough and she knew that Ceipheed Society would never do a thing like having a prisoner underneath them, trainees maybe, but prisoners, never. Not before, not now, not EVER!
"No, no, the girl didn't die. She was merely asked about her name and where she came from. The girl told the Knight, or rather Lady Luna, that her name in the present being was Cabin Boy. For what seem like an eternity of wait, which was only minutes, Lady Luna thought. What she thought about was anonymous. Finally, she said she was going to give another name to the girl ... " Lina said looking up at the now evening sky.
"Ms. Lina! Quit stopping in the middle of the story and continue it. What name did Lady Luna give to the girl?" Amelia complained which brought back Lina's attention.
"Lina. " Lina finished, which nobody said anything for a few minutes.
"Ohh.. so that girl you were talking about was you? I didn't know that." Gourry said with a goofy face.
"Wait! So you just became one of the Inverse Clan??" Amelia asked.
"I didn't say Lina of the Inverse Clan, did I? I said she just gave me a name rather than calling me Cabin Boy. She did, however, take me into the estate to work there." Lina smiled. "It was kinda fun being one of the Helpers in the estate."
"So how'd you get to be in the Inverse Clan?!" Amelia asked, now out of pure curiosity. She knew Lina for a year now yet she never did know about THIS!
"Would you hold on a sec!?! Geez.. I'm gettin' to that! Well, one day Lady Luna's guards came into the Helpers' lounge and took me. They said it was Lady Luna's orders, no question asked. It appears that Lady Luna wanted me to train pretty early for my age because her guards took me to the Training Halls." Lina had to smile again. She could still remember it like it was yesterday, the only girl in there and better than most of the guys in there. What fun she had!
"Training Halls?!! You were a girl right?! How old were you?!" Amelia asked all of a sudden.
Lina thought about it and said, "About twelve or thirteen, I think."
"TWELVE or THIRTEEN?!! No way!!" Amelia shouted out, standing up.
"Why? What's wrong with going into the Training Halls at that age? I used to train with my uncle at that age." Gourry asked, kind of cluelessly, but you couldn't blame him for that since he's in no deal with these estate or castle rules stuff.
Amelia abruptly turned to Gourry and shouted, "You don't know?!"
Gourry hmm'ed and answered, "No."
Amelia fell down and pried herself back up in sitting position.
"Amelia, you can't blame him for not knowing these stuff. He isn't living in a castle much less follow ones' rules." Lina said casually leaning back into a comfortable position.
"But still, Ms. Lina, he should know these stuff. Oh whatever. Anyway, you can't go into the Training Halls at the age of twelve OR thirteen, only by sixteen. And I'm not sure if they allow girls in there because I've never seen one in there. But most girls, ladies, and women prefer being in a safe place rather than being in those tough training halls." Amelia rubbed her chin.
"Most." Xelloss said, looking at Lina.
"Hey! I didn't volunteer to be in those kinds of training! It was an order, much worst from Lady Luna! Disobeying her is worse than disobeying hell. So I've learned." Lina complained.
"So how's it like in there? Huh? Huh? Huh? Was it tough? Was it cool? Tell me! Please!" Amelia said.
"Sylphiel, did you give her too much sugar today?" Lina asked.
"Um, no. Why?" Sylphiel replied.
"Just wondering. Anyway, in the Training Hall, I trained. Most of the men in there would usually taunt me rather than help me out, though. I understand why, of course it's because I'm a twelve year old girl at the time and because I was better than all of them. Actually, not all of them, most of them. I was too small to fight the Captain back then." Lina said, in thinking-mode again.
"Still, a twelve year old girl. Wow! And beating most of the men in there! Most women would just collapse the first day! Oh, I envy you, Ms. Lina!" Amelia said, excitedly.
"Well, you see that's because she's not a woman." Xelloss said, right before Lina's elbow connected with his guts. "Oww ... "
"Just shut up!" Lina shouted. "At least I past the whole course in two years! Most men can't even past it in three years. Don't I even get a comment for that?!"
"So you were fourteen about that time? So happened to you after that?" Zel asked, sipping coffee.
"I'm glad you asked that Zel! Because that was when my Bandits/Pirates Kicking Asses career came in. I was just having some girl fun, you know, walking around in the forest, minding my own business, on my own time-off, when who and/or what should appear before me?" Lina said, smiling.
"A squirrel?" Gourry said.
Lina hit the floor. "No! Bandits, Jellyfish Brains! Bandits!"
"Ohhh ... ."
"Anyway, bandits appeared and it wasn't easy being a girl. 52 against 1 was just so much that a Fireball couldn't handle it ... so instead I used Burst Rondo. And you know, all those screaming and yelling really irritated my ears for weeks." Lina whined in a girlish/kiddish way, then giggled. "Oh it was so funny! Watching them all scream in horror as a fourteen year old girl burn their bottoms off." Lina laughed.
"You do magic?" Zel asked mildly.
"Of course. One of my specialty." Lina said proudly.
"What other skills do you have? Do you know how to use a sword?" Gourry asked handing Lina his sword, which he should know better than to give a magical Sword of Light to a sorceress. Not any sorceress, Lina Inverse sorcery supreme, who automatically knows a magical item when she touches, see, or encounters one.
Lina took the sword out of its sheath and whirled it around before she knew what she really was toying with. She didn't say anything but she did take its blade out of its hilt. She smiled and, "Light Come Forth!" A glowing light saber grow in stead of the blade. Lina giggled madly, Gourry looked shocked, so did Zel, Xelloss smiled, Amelia and Sylphiel just stared at the magnificent pure white blade.
"How did you..? What did you..?" Gourry stammered.
"It is! It is! It's the Legendary Sword of Light! Oh, can I have it?!! Please, pretty please with a cherry on top!!!" Gourry took his Sword away from Lina and put it above where Lina couldn't reach.
"No way!! It's my family heirloom!! I'm not going to give it to you!" Gourry said as Lina tried to reach up to grab the Sword like a little kid trying to grab a candy from an adult. She finally gave up and pout.
"Fine! Then you shouldn't have given it to me in the first place!" Lina pouted cutely at Gourry.
"I didn't know you were going to find out about my Sword!" Gourry protected his Sword.
Lina giggled again. "Lina the Bandit/Pirate Ass Kicker knows when a valuable item is in sight!"
"Could you please lay off the part about Pirate ass kicker part? I mean, we are some sort of Pirates." Zel said.
"And it's inappropriate for a Lady to be saying those kinds of words, Lady Lina." Sylphiel said.
"Yeah, Yeah! Everything I do is inappropriate to you Sylphiel! What do you want from a street kid? I wasn't born and bred in an estate or castle like you and Amelia did! So could you just think that Lady Lina's on vacation somewhere and just call me Lina? As a normal girl, you know? It wouldn't hurt would it?" Lina said desperately.
"It.. it wouldn't be proper, Lady Lina ... I truly am sorry.." Sylphiel said, looking down.
"And could you please stop apologizing to me? You didn't do anything wrong! Just stop it!" Lina shouted to Sylphiel, who cowered away.
"I'm.. I'm sorry.."
"ARRGHH!! I've had it up to here with that proper girl stuff! Okay Sylphiel, this is an order! Stop calling me 'Lady Lina', stop apologizing for no reason, and stop saying everything I do is inappropriate! Got that?!! If you don't do as I say, then I'll report to Big Sis that you disobeyed my orders AND is not worthy of going into the Ceipheed Society!" Lina said, actually demanded.
Sylphiel gasped. "N-no! Please, no! I'll do as you say, Lady -- I mean -- Ms. Lina! I-it's okay if I at least call you that, right?" Lina smiled a wide smiled. "Yep. Now that's more like it. Umm ... where was I on that Tale of mine?"
"The bandit part." Amelia said helpfully.
"Oh yeah! Right! Anyway, there I was, all frighten and scared as the bandits ran out of sight because of my magic, well, after the bandits were out of sight, I was getting back to the estate. Actually tried to because suddenly Lady Luna was in my way." Lina shivered slightly. "She smiled and said something about me being perfect for something or another. I didn't know what she was talkin' about until she took me into the estate and maids started to put me into a dress. After a thousand times of asking what was going on, Lady Luna smiled and said that I was to enter a dancing party as her little sibling. I'm not sure why she did that but after the party she announced that she will really adopt me for her sister. Naturally, everyone started to oppose me going into the estate, mostly from the councilors organizing the estate, but Big Sis said not to worry because I will learn how to behave as a Lady in front of anybody. I was actually being pushed into that position but I was being pushed by Lady Luna! Who dares to oppose ANY of Lady Luna's ideas, commands, and/or orders?! Not me for sure. So I started to act like a Lady, since I had to. I had some trouble doing what was expected of me at first, but I managed." Lina finished off, standing up. "Mostly because Sylphiel here kept me 'company'. Later I met Amelia, I think. Yeah, I met you after I met Sylphiel, right?"
"Yeah, I think so. But you really could act, Ms. Lina. When I first met you I thought you were one of those weak girls. I actually wondered why Lady Luna ever gave you to escort me the first time I went outside of the castle." Amelia said, looking up at Lina.
Lina giggled. "Yeah, that first escorting job I got was so fun! I beat up these stupid bandits for trying to capture Amelia for ransom. They thought I was no use so they left me alone, of course making a very bad move." Lina laughed. Everybody else sweatdropped.
"Ahh.. so you act like a good girl in front of the lady?" Gourry asked.
"Not just her, anybody who could think of telling Big Sis. But there's no point in acting in front of Big Sis, since she already know how I really am. I do it just to not get punished." Lina answered, then turned to Zel. "Hey, you still want that rematch? Come on, come on, it'll be fun!"
"Naw.. not now. I wasted too much time listening to you, I have to make it up by working now." Zel said, getting up to leave.
"Later."
Lina sighed and said, "Booorring. Oh well, maybe next time."
Xelloss got up. "I guess I'll go get something to eat. I'll see you all later."
As Xelloss left to go to the kitchen, Gourry got up. "I think I'll join Zelgadis. Help yourselves if you need anything." Gourry smiled and left.
Amelia and Sylphiel got up and joined Lina.
"La -- Ms. Lina, you should change your clothes." Sylphiel said, motioning to Lina's present clothing.
"Oh alright. I'll change, into something I like, though." Lina smiled and ran into her and Amelia's room. Amelia shrugged and followed, along with Sylphiel in tow.
Once everybody was relaxing, mostly Lina, Amelia, and Sylphiel in their rooms, Hell broke loose. More accurately, cannon balls started to hit the ship. The ship rocked heavily while the passengers started to attack. The 'prisoners' came out of their 'cells' and tried to find out what had happened.
"What the hell's goin' on?!" Lina asked no one in particular, while trying to see who the leader was. She squinted her eyes to see the attackers flag and realized something. "Amelia! That's-that's ... "
Amelia's eyes followed Lina's pointing finger. She only saw something standing on the ship's platform, high where no one could hurt him. By now the cannon balls stopped shooting. Amelia squinted her eyes to see who it was and fell down on the cold-hard floor.
"It-it couldn't be!" Amelia stuttered.
"Beware my wrath, for I shall save my dear Amelia from your hands!" the speaker said as he took out his rapier. Gourry, Zel, and
Xelloss fought down a whole horde of Lesser Demons. Once they fought the Demons down, they faced the Leader. No, not the one on the platform, the one who actually looks worthy to fight with. He wore a black armor, covering his whole body, leaving only his eyes that is seen. Gourry of course takes his action while the others went to the girls' side.
"You know who he is?" Zel asked the shocked Lina and Amelia.
"He's-he's my ... oh no ... " Amelia managed.
"He's ruining this ship! He better stop before I -- " Lina never finished that sentence because the speaker jumped down from the platform, and landed right on his face. He wore an ill looking armor that was green and had a short red cape on the back.
"Beware evildoers, for taking my dear Amelia and my master for hostage and -- "
"Jeffery! Stop that stupid ranting already! She is not hurt! So shut up!" Lina shouted. She went to Gourry and his opponent. "Golda! Stop that! They didn't do anything!"
Gourry's opponent stopped fighting him and looked at Lina. "I beg your pardon, Mistress Lina. I did not mean to displease you." Golda bowed to Lina, and put his sword away.
By now, everyone was confused.
Who is Jeffery? What is he doing? And ... what the hell is going on exactly!?!
Still lame for words, you know ... oh well, what can I do?
If you want to keep reading, please do when another part comes oSlayers Ship