The Magic Knight is headed for the Temple of Waters. Zagato inspected his chief minions and picked one paticularly eager face. Ascot. Go rid us of that pesky girl. The young face lit up immediately.
"Ha... Hai!"
"Lina!" The armoured man whined after his skipping companion. "Quit fooling around! You're supposed to be claiming the Guardian Celes!"
"Oh Ferrio, shut up! You're starting to sound like a woman!" The little sorceress replied cheerfully and resumed her enthusiastic soft chant of "treasure, treasure".
"Do not!" He protested, turning strawberry red. "And what makes you so sure there's treasure to be had here, anyway?"
She whistled. "You told me Celes is a dragon, which means he'd have a horde."
"And what if he doesn't like you stealing his horde?" He yelled, waving his arms wildly about. "He'd have us for lunch, that's what!"
"No he won't," Lina replied with the smug smile that was her mark of confidence. He screamed a strangled cry of frustration. A part of him was horrified that he was doing all that. I'm sacrificing all my grace and dignity staying with her! He grumbled to himself. Emeraulde and Clef had better appreciate this! A LOT!!!
In the diluted, rippling shadows, a good shudder generated several Tsunamis on the surface. The ancient blue dragon braced himself and reflected that maybe it was about time he retired.
"Are you absolutely sure about this?" The sharp, blood-shot glare Clef gave her was enough to freeze burning lava. Presia slid further down her chair. "Well, she's still the Messiah," She managed a last feeble protest before looking uncomfortably away to the bundle leaning in the corner.
"This Messiah is going to ruin us." He rasped venomously and drank from a mug. Presia stole a worried glance. Sunken cheeks, blood-shot eyes, dull grey hue and shaking hands, Clef looked like he was going through hell and worse. Which indeed, he was. It had been nearly a week since he last touched coffee and withdrawal was not something to take lightly.
The mug left pale brown rings on the yellowing parchment, which he disregarded. The condition of the ancient map of Cephiro was the last thing on his mind right now; assuming that it ever was on his mind in the first place. A thin, frail man huddled up outside the back door, but seeing It's just the Royal Archivist mourning over the fate of the books and maps Clef borrowed, we can ignore him.
Clef spared a moment to frown at the mug. The tea was disgustingly weak and did nothing towards easing his pain. "We have to get to the Temple of Water. Get us a fast transport, Presia."
"I know your previous two sprites are gone, but why don't you summon more?"
He met her eyes levelly. "I can't."
"Why?" She was surprised. Summoning was a mere palor trick for someone of Clef's power and e xpertise.
"They won't answer my calls anymore because of what happened to the other two."
"What?" She had never heard of sprites refusing to answer Clef's call!
"She ate them."
"Oh."
Lina bounced into the main Hall and stopped short, causing Ferrio to almost trip over her. In an infinitely good mood, she smiled at the small blonde shadow in front of the sacrificial alter. "Hello,"
"Greetings, soon-to-be-ex-Messiah." It stepped into the light wearing green and cream robes. Long golden hair, childish, feminine face and a lovely pale complexion most girls would kill for, Ascot bore the unholy resemblance to Feria as Ferrio did to Gourry.
Lina was a little taken aback: she had expected Amelia. Then she saw the ancient mural of a majestic blue dragon covering the wall behind the alter. "Dragons. Of course." She muttered sarcasticly, having lost some of her cheer to the fact that this "Feria" was bent on killing her as well.
"Zagato-sama sent me. My name is Ascot." Ascot searched under the robes and came up with a menacing mace in hand. Ferrio couldn't help but grin ear to ear at the stance the kid put up.
"That's not the way to hold a mace, little missy," He stepped around Lina to offer the sweet-looking creature his help. She's cute, He thought. VERY cute. Ascot glared.
"Don't call me that!" The scream could have shattered glass if there was any around. Ferrio decided that he liked her even better when she's angry. A intense, fiery glow spread to Ascot's entire form, masking the transformation from pretty humanoid to golden dragon. Ferrio lost his balance in surprise and stumbled backwards. The rampant dragon gave a wild scream of rage, scorched the alter with a warning burst of dragonfire and dipped its head down to stare Ferrio in the eye. "Never. Call. Me. Missy." It hissed, punctuating every word for emphasis. "I. Am. A. Guy!"
From where she stood, Lina had a pretty clear picture of everything. "He's right, you know." She said finally, a little upset that Ferrio was getting all the attention, especially since she was supposed to be the target. A large and extremely explosive fireball hit Ascot in the side. Well, maybe slightly more than "a little". Razor-sharp icicles thunderstormed on his golden and somehow rather tender hide.
(Alright, I take that all back. It wasn't "a little upset" or even "slightly more", Lina was EXTREMELY upset. ^^;)
The blonde swordsman dropped his jaw like a landed fish. Ascot lashed his tail out at Lina, who slashed at it ruthlessly with her new sword. Having seen how terrifyingly clumsy she was with it through the DarkAqua Mirror back at Zagato's, he quickly brought his tail back. In the moment of fragile balance when he hugged his precious tail to him, Lina hit Ascot with another full-scaled fireball, slamming him up against the murals. Then, it happened.
I AM CELES GUARDIAN OF THIS TEMPLE OF WATERS
No voice spoke, no lips moved; the words were suddenly just there, in all their minds. The blue dragon decorating the wall a moment ago moved. It was thrice the size of Ascot and blue rainbows ran across its scales when it dipped its majestic head out of the flat picture. Lina took a step forward to meet the first of the Mashins.
I RECOGNISE AND I CHOOSE YOU
A tingle of excitement ran up Lina's spine as she came closer to the God-like being, and stopped dead in its tracks. Celes swirvled around with eyes, or what passed for them, only for Ascot.
I CHOOSE YOU ASCOT OF THE DRAGONKYN YOU ARE NOW THE GUARDIAN OF THIS TEMPLE PERFORM YOUR DUTIES WELL SUCCESSOR
A flash of light wiped the mural from the wall put a permanent blue tinge in Ascot's scales. Ascot changed back into human form and found that the blue stayed in his long golden hair as well.
"Oh, I'm ruined!" He cried when he realised there was no way he could get it out. "My beautiful, beautiful hair! My tail! My scales! Oh I'm ruined!"
"It's okay," Ferrio whispered comfortingly, coming out of his stupor. "Guy or girl, blue streaks or no, I like you anyway." Lina fell flat on her face. Ascot's fists trembled. Ferrio knelt before the new Guardian and put a hand on Ascot's arm. "Your body betray your emotions, fair one, don't deny your excitement and admiration for me any longer! I..."
"Proposterous!!!" Ascot screamed. "I am NOT like you, you PERVERT!!!" And sent Ferrio rocketing back down the long hallway with a heavy Right Hook Punch. Lina proped herself up with a embarassed laugh for want of something to say. This is crazy! She thought.
"Messiah-dono! Teacher!" The dragon-boy suddenly turned and clasped her hands with big, round, shining bambi eyes. "Teach me your magic!"
Lina sweatdroped. "Are are..." It was beginning to dawn on her that this Quest wasn't going to be any ordinary Let's-Save-A-World one.