Lina awoke to the sound of pots and pans rattling in the kitchen. She sat up in bed and looked at her feet...they were feet again. "Good. I'm human again." She smiled and hopped out of bed. Just then the door to her room flew open.
"Good morning, Lina," Xelloss said, just a tad bit too cheerfully for this time of the morning. He was in his human form again as well.
"Xelloss, do you have to be so cheerful all the time?"
"What do you mean, Lina?" Xelloss smiled blankly.
"Oh, nevermind. I'm hungry, let's go get some breakfast." Lina dragged Xelloss down to the kitchen and grabbed a menu. "WAITRESS!" A disgruntled waitress wandered over to Lina and Xelloss' table. "I'll have this, this, this, this, and this. Quadruple portions!"
"Grumble grumble grumble morning grumble and you sir?" said the disgruntled waitress.
"Water, please."
"Water, grumble, quadruple portions, grumble, mornings, grumble, hate mornings." The waitress skulked off, grumbling to herself.
After chowing down on a monstrous sized breakfast Lina was ready to discuss the plans. Banging her fist on the table to get Xelloss attention (which really wasn't necessary) she began the discussion. "First, we need to find out who brought us here and why. Then, we will need a way to get off the island."
"There ain't no way offa this island," said a scary looking toothless woman as she leaned just a bit to close to Lina's face.
"AHHHH!" BOOM! That was the sound of Lina's fist in the old woman's face.
The old woman recovered quickly and wheezed some. "There's no way offa this island less'n you want ta become a wolf forever." The old woman began to laugh maniacally, then she began to cackle, then she was howling, rolling on the floor. Some men in white coats came in with a straight jacket, tied her up, and carried her off.
Xelloss sweatdropped as Lina stared wide-eyed at the door which they had just pulled the old woman through. The door opened again and in stepped a young woman with dark green hair and a note in her hand. "Are you Miss Lina Inverse?"
"Who wants to know?" Asked Lina suspiciously.
"I have a note for Miss Lina Inverse."
"A note? For me?" Lina's eyes lit up. "Has someone fallen for the beautiful heroine? Let me see let me see!" Lina snatched the note out of the woman's hand. "Lina, meet me at the edge of the forest at midnight. Come alone and all will be revealed to you." There was no signature but the handwriting somehow seemed familiar.
"Who's it from?" asked Xelloss.
"I don't know. It's not signed."
"Could be a trap."
"Of course it's a trap, but I have to check it out anyway. And you're coming with me."
"The letter does say you have to go alone." Xelloss smiled slyly.
"You're coming with me." Lina had an evil glint in her eyes.
"Yes, of course. Whatever was I thinking?" Xelloss said nervously as he sweatdropped again.
Meanwhile, in the forest, Zelgadis made a deal with someone, so that he could regain his humanoid chimera form at will. "At first she won't recognize me."
"But when she does," added the mazoku, "you'll be able to change form quickly and kill her. Then you can keep her wolf pelt as a souvenir to remember this day."
Zelgadis sweatdropped. "I'd rather not. I just want my revenge for what she did to Lord Rezo."
"Perhaps I could keep it then?"
"Do as you wish," Zelgadis said. He was uninterested in what happened to Lina once she was dead. All that mattered was that he kill her for killing Lord Rezo...twice.
A long boring day that consisted of site seeing and eating and eating and eating ended with the first howl of the evening as the sun just disappeared behind the horizon. The citizen's of Lupine Island sang a resigned howl to the Beastmaster for the conclusion of another day. Lina noted that the transformation didn't hurt nearly as bad this time as it had at first. Xelloss in his wolf shape, joined her outside the hotel.
"Xelloss, stay out of sight until I yell for you," Lina told him. "Got it?"
"Got it," said Xelloss. "Then are we ready?"
Lina nodded at him and Xelloss disappeared (Mazoku style).
A bluish grey wolf stood in the shadows just outside the forest. Lina approached him slowly, watching his every move. Ears tuned in to the slightest rustle of leaves around her.
"You're early."
Lina almost face faulted...that voice! "Zel...Zelgadis? What are you doing here?"
"I woke up here last night. I had no idea you were here too."
"Then...the note"
"You got one too? I received a note this morning telling me to go to the for..." There was a rustle in the bushes and Zelgadis snarled. "Be on your guard, Lina!"
A black wolf stepped out from between the trees. "I see you made it the assigned meeting place. On behalf of the dead lord Shabrinigdo...PREPARE TO DIE!" The black wolf was surrounded by deeper blackness as it transformed into something hideous and powerful.
"A Mazoku!" yelled Lina!
Zelgadis charged the monster and bit it's leg, digging his teeth in deeply. The Mazoku yanked him off and threw him at Lina, knocking her to the ground. "Well, you certainly can't hope to defeat me that way. I'd say neither of you stand a chance without your magical powers. HA HA HA! No GIGA SLAVE this time Lina!" An aura of power began to surround the monster.
"RUN!" Zelgadis yelled, taking off into the woods.
"Xelloss, can you give us a hand?!" Lina screamed as she ran off following Zelgadis into the woods.
Xelloss appeared in human form before the mazoku. "Well, well, well, what have we here? It's been a long time since I've seen you around, Rianus."
"SHUD'UP! XELLOSS!" yelled Rianus. "I'm going to kill you for what you did to me."
"Oh?" Xelloss smiled. "You're still upset over that old thing?"
"You better believe it!"
"Oh, I do. I do. In fact, that's exactly what I would expect from someone like you."
"You can't get away with trying to kill me, Xelloss! You knew I was in your way when you knocked off all those dragons! DEFEND YOURSELF!"
"Actually, I wasn't trying to kill you. Oh well, I suppose I have no choice," mused Xelloss as the infuriated Rianus lounged at him and the two of them disappeared into subspace to continue the battle (mazoku style).
Lina and Zelgadis ran through the trees as quickly as they could to escape the battle. "So, Zelgadis," Lina huffed, "do you know any way off this island."
"I'm afraid I do not."
"I see. So then...where are we going?"
"I have no idea."
"Well that figures."
The two of them arrived at the edge of a cliff over looking a very rocky ocean shore. "No place left to run," said Zelgadis, "we appear to have reached the end of the island."
"Great, then unless Xelloss wins, we're doomed."
"Don't remind me." Zelgadis walked back away from the edge of the cliff a bit so he could trap Lina between himself and the cliff.
"Hey, is that a ship?" Lina asked while looking out over the ocean. "HELP US!!! COME ON!!! HELP US!!!"
"It's no use Lina, they can't hear you," said Zelgadis.
Lina turned around to talk to him and faced his humanoid chimera form. Her eyes bugged out of her head. "You...you're not a wolf anymore!" The moon was still shining brightly in the sky.
"How observant," said Zelgadis as he unsheathed his sword.
"Then this was a trap all along. But why Zelgadis?"
"Because I'm not the real Zelgadis. I was a copy created by Eris while she was studying under Rezo. She was just practicing on me before she copied Rezo the Red Priest. You must die for the things you have done to Rezo, Eris, Kopii Rezo and the others. Rahanimu was my friend, you know!" Kopii Zelgadis slashed his sword at Lina's neck. She dodged it and a bit of red fur fell to the ground where Lina had just been.
"You're a copy? Where were you before, when we were fighting Eris?"
"I was regenerating from one of Zelgadis's attempts on my life. Now DIE!" He thrust his sword at her heart and Lina jumped on his head, leaving red paw prints on his face as she jumped off and landed facing him.
Lina faced Kopii Zelgadis with her fangs bared. "Really? How come Zelgadis never mentioned you to us?"
"He was ashamed of me," said Kopii Zel with a scowl on his face.
"Grrrrr..." a rumbling growl emanated from Lina.
"FLARE ARROW!" Kopii Zelgadis hit Lina with the flare arrow and she fell back in pain.
"What good does it do you to kill me? It won't bring back Rezo or the others."
"They were my FAMILY!"
"They were evil." Lina crawled back to her feet.
"I don't care!" yelled Kopii Zelgadis. "Earth beneath me submit to my will! STONE SPIKER!"
"AHHHHHH!" Lina just barely dodged the spikes of rock as they suddenly jutted out from the ground. Slightly hidden by the flying rocks, she leapt at Kopii Zelgadis, knocking him off the edge of the cliff. Kopii hung on for his life to the edge of the cliff.
"Help me, Lina. Help me, please!"
Lina clamped her jaws down on the sleeve of his shirt and attempted to pull him back up, but Kopii Zelgadis wrapped his free arm around her neck and pushed off from the side of the cliff, launching them both into the air. Lina kicked him off as they plummeted towards their doom on the rocks below. Just then, there was a flash of purple and Lina found herself safely back on the top of the cliff.
"Xelloss, I've never thought I'd be so glad to see you," sighed Lina in relief.
"It's not over yet. We still have to get off this island," stated Xelloss as he set Lina down on the cliff-top.
Just then, a funny looking man with an eye-patch on his left eye and a parrot on his shoulder walked over. "Aye saw yer flare, mateys. Aye's be obliged to sail ye home. That is, if yer goin' to Sairaag."
"Flare?" Lina and Xelloss exchanged a blank look and Xelloss shrugged his shoulders. "That's exactly where we need to go," said Lina. "Thank you for the ride."
"Argh, it's no problerm. Aye 'aven't 'ad a guest in years. Welcome aboard, mateys."
And so they went home, and apparently that little old scary lady really had been quite insane, considering Lina never turned into a wolf again. (The scary lady is fine, she enjoys the padded walls and escape-proof structure of the asylum...really, she does).