Well, getting expelled had its good side and its bad side, Lina thought. The goods included not having to wear this stupid sailor outfit, not having to attend school, and not having to deal with weirdos like that Naga and Martina. The bad would be summed up in one word, or should she say one person. Nee-chan.
Oh gods, Nee-chan is going to skin me alive and use me as a rug!! Lina mentally groaned. What am I going to do? The principal will definitely call her and even if she didn't get a call, Nee-chan will find out and then I'll wish I WAS dead!
Whack!
"Ouch!!" Lina cried, gripping her head where there was now a big round reddish lump. She looked to her left at the attacker. That damned smug Zelgadiss had hit her with his ancient history textbook. "What the hell did you do that for?!"
Zelgadiss didn't answer.
"Hey! I'm talking to you! Why did you just hit me on the head with that book?!" Lina yelled, standing up.
"Miss Inverse!"
Lina froze. And then looked slowly over at the ancient history teacher Zolf.
"Since you're so eager to answer my question please feel free to do so. When was the was the Felgar Kingdom destroyed by the ogre horde lead by Kelisham the Skull?"
Lina shot Zelgadiss a you-die glare which he ignored and then turned to face the front. "15 years before the coronation of Jhonasan the Third, who is the great-grand uncle of the reigning king of Saillune." And she sat down.
"That was incorrect," Zolf said haughtily. "The date is actually 10 years before the coronation."
"No," Lina countered. "It is FIFTEEN and you would know that if you read the article in the winter edition of the Mage Guild's Journal written by ME where I set down conclusive evidence that the historians misinterpreted the year of the necromancer's bid to destroy Saillune. But I guess you can't expect much from a third rate mage who has to teach an ancient history course."
"Third, third RATE!!!" Zolf shrieked, ripping apart the lecture notes in his hands.
"Of course, any mage worth her salt would keep up with current literature," Lina smirked.
"Now look here you flat-chested arrogant tomboy! I heard of the stunts you pulled this morning and during lunch. Don't think that just because you're going to be expelled that you can get away with whatever you want!"
FLAT-CHESTED?!?!?!
"Just because you can't read don't take it out on me you penny spell caster!!" Lina slammed her hands on her desk.
"BRAT!"
"LOSER!"
"TEMPER LIKE A TROLL!"
"LOOKS LIKE A SCARECROW!!"
Zelgadiss sighed and looked out the classroom window. Lina and Zolf were face to face trading insults. He looked back at them.
"Isn't this more like a little kids' argument?" Zel wondered aloud.
"SHUT UP!!" both Lina and Zolf yelled, taking time out of their own match to turn on Zel.
"I won't let her get away with calling me third rate!!"
"I get enough of this attitude on the road. No way am I letting a third rate wizard like him get off on this!"
"Don't yell at Zelgadiss-sama!!" chipped in the Zelgadiss fan club crowding the doorway of the classroom.
"Return to your classes!" Zolf ordered and they disappeared.
Lina pulled at her hair. "That's enough, I'm ending this right now!" Lina let the light gather in her hands.
"F-f-f-f-fireball?!?!?!" Zolf screamed, his arms flying. "Evacuate evacuate evacuate evacuate!!"
The entire class fled with Zolf in the lead. Lina found herself in an empty room of overturned desks and scattered notebooks and pencils. She grinned.
"And just what does that prove?"
Lina whirled around to find Zelgadiss still sitting there looking rather bored. She covered her surprise and grinned evilly.
"Perhaps you'd like to try it since you missed the morning one," she smiled, holding the flaming red ball of energy dangerously close to him.
"Perhaps..." Zel shrugged, and then poked a finger at the magic. The "fireball" just floated. "If it wasn't just an altered Lighting spell." He smiled slightly. "That was a good trick."
Lina carelessly shrugged. "What can you expect from a third rate mage anyway?" Actually, Zelgadiss didn't look so bad when he smiled. "Wonder how long it'll take them to figure out it wasn't a Fireball."
"Long enough for us to get to our next class," Zelgadiss replied packing away his books and gathering his school bag.
Lina blinked. "But, don't we stay in the same room and the teachers change?"
"For the most part," Zelgadiss explained patiently. "Usually, the school admin wants students of the same age to be in the same class. Exceptions are only made in the magic and weapon usage classes which are based more on skill. You're probably in the fourth year magic class like me."
Lina thought about that. Well, it didn't really matter where the class was or by whom it was being taught. It had to be better than modern literature and domestic skills.
"Right." Lina dispelled the light sphere and sweeped her untouched notebook and pencil case into her bag. "So then where do we go? I hope it wasn't the top floor."
"No, actually it's outside. At our level, we're allowed to hold mock battles or experiment with new magic so there's a special field set aside in the middle of the four high schools for that use," Zel explained as he and Lina reached the shoe locker on the ground floor.
Inside the building, everyone had to wear "indoor shoes" and they stored their normal shoes in a locker near the school entrance. The lockers were also a convenient way to send someone a letter.
Zel didn't hide his grimace as he looked at his stuffed-to-bursting locker. Standing to one side, he popped open the door. Like a waterfall, pink and white scented envelopes cascading from the locker, much more than the small shoe locker could realistically hold. By the time the flood stopped, Zel was up to his knees in love letters.
"Don't they ever get a hint?" Zel grumbled at this daily routine. Every morning, every lunch, every fifth hour, and every afternoon his locker would be crammed with love letters. And every time Zel would dump the whole load of letters in the garbage bin. Couldn't they find someone else to fawn over?
"Yuck what is that smell?" Lina asked wrinkling her nose as she looked to see what was taking Zelgadiss so long. Zel was just straightening up from picking up the pile. Seeing Lina, he hastily backpedaled to the garbage bin.
"N-nothing," he stammered, turning red.
Lina grinned evilly. Payback time for hitting her over the head with that book. She pounced and managed to get a handful of letters as Zel dumped the love letters into the garbage.
"Give that back!" Zel hissed, swiping at the stolen letters. Oh this was the last thing he needed.
"Ooohhh, someone has lots of love letters," Lina giggled looking at one of the envelopes covered with heart stickers. "You want them? Catch!"
She threw the letters up in the air. Zel swore as he quickly caught them and threw them into the garbage.
"To my dearest Zelgadiss."
Zel froze.
"You are silver stone that anchors my restless heart in the turbulent seas of love..."
Zel tore the open letter out of Lina's hands, blushing furiously as he ripped it into tiny pieces and disposed of it. Lina was laughing hysterically.
"...rest-restless heart...seas of love..." she gasped. "By Ceiphied where did she copy that junk from? A ten copper trash novel?"
Zel scowled as he left the building, a chuckling Lina following behind.
"I figured you were popular with that fan club but that letter! That was too rich!" Lina burst into giggles again.
"Hurry or we'll be late," Zel growled, ducking his head to hide his blush.
"You're blushing," Lina teased.
"Am not."
"Are too."
"Am not."
"Are too."
"Mr. Graywords, is that the new student with you?" barked a young woman.
Zel stopped and Lina who was right behind him walked right into his stone back.
"Ouch!" Lina rubbed her noise. "Jeez what are you made of?"
"This is our teacher," Zel introduced Lina to the young woman with short black hair.
"Eris!"
"Lina Inverse!"
Zel looked at first one and then the other. He took a step back to get out of their growing crackling battle auras. "I take it then you know each other."
"You should be locked up." Lina glared at the older sorceress, a Fireball prepped and ready in her hands.
Eris smirked. "You could say I got out early on good behavior. Besides my clones do have some uses." Eris waved a hand to other students already spell casting. "A constant supply of practice opponents for young aspiring magic users. Surely you can appreciate that given your past experiences. As it is I am the teacher now and you are the student, I'm the one with the upper hand now."
Lina glared at her and Eris returned it. After some uncomfortable moments of silence, Eris broke off the stare first. She turned to Zel.
"I'll send a couple of Vrumuguns over. Instruct her on the rules of the field first," she ordered before returning back to observing the rest of the class.
"Aren't you in enough trouble already?" Zel asked Lina. "Fireballing a teacher sure isn't going to go down well with the principal."
Lina simply growled in response and carelessly threw the ball of fire at a flying Vrumugun. "When did she come here?"
"Last year. How do you know her?"
"I shut down her cloning and chimera project," Lina said shortly. "Vrumuguns were literally coming out of the woodwork when I located her lab."
"I see."
"Speaking of chimeras," Lina looked suspiciously at Zel. "You're one aren't you."
That wasn't something Zel wanted to talk about, much less with a stranger. "Well, there are some rules you're going to have to follow during class out here. If you're practicing a spell battle you have to make sure you don't get close to other students. Spells have to be limited to short range, the teachers don't want runaway fireballs blowing up the classrooms. No widespread destructive spells. Practicing new spells requires the proctorship of at least one mage teacher."
Lina snorted. If he thought he could distract her that easily, he had another one coming. "Can I kill the Vrumuguns?"
Zel raised an eyebrow. "There's nothing against killing them though few of the students have managed to do that."
"Babies," Lina muttered under her breath then in a louder voice. "How about dueling against other students?"
Zel had a good idea what she really wanted to know. "Before we had the Vrumuguns that was what was usually done."
"And now?"
Zel glanced at her sidways. "It isn't allowed."
Lina pouted.
"Hmmm, Eris must think a lot of you, considering how many Vrumuguns she's sent over," Zelgadiss noted the five Vrumuguns approaching.
"Isn't it usually one per student?" Lina asked. How did ANY self-respecting sorceress wear a skirt and cast spells?
Zel nodded.
Lina looked up at him. "But you get more than one don't you. You're pretty agile. I'm betting you can deal with three of them."
Zel smiled faintly. "Not that good I'm afraid. Eris only gives me two."
"Are we here to use our magic to play games or to learn how to keep ourselves alive against another mage?" Lina grumbled. "And are you a chimera?"
"What does that have to do with anything?" Zel snapped. "I have to practice now. The Vrumuguns can tell you whatever else you need to know."
Zel turned abruptly away to face his two Vrumuguns, immediately calling forth a Dug Haut. He was soon in a blurring web of spells with his opponents. Lina watched with a critical eye. He had speed, faster than anyone she's ever seen, and his spellcasting was precise and calculating.
"Damn, it would have been fun dueling against him," she muttered turning back to her group. "But noooo, instead I get to play with the Copy Men."
The only response was three pairs of blank dull eyes looking at her.
"And great conversationalists too. Perhaps with three of you at once this may get challenging," Lina sighed. "Well it probably will be since I can't use my trademark spell to end it all in one swoop."
Martina quickly looked around before opening the secret door to her secret weapon. When she arrived at school in the beginning of the year, she had also brought along her country's greatest weapon. Now she would make that Lina pay. Both for blowing her up out of the city and for daring to claim Zelgadiss-sama.
Lina groaned with her head on the desk in detention. She couldn't remember the last time she felt this sore. She may have been able to beat most of the other students in the swordmanship class but the instructor Rodimus insisted that she practice her form.
Like she cared!
But she still had to spend the entire hour holding a guard position until it pleased the old man. And then he would take swings at her to check her balance which was always off for some reason or other Rodimus would name. Lina wasn't sure now which bruises she had were from field hockey and which were from swordmanship.
And lucky her, who would be the detention supervisor but old-stick-in-the-mud Rodimus. One of the rumors floating around was that Rodimus was a disgraced knight and his harsh teaching was a means of making up that disgrace. Lina didn't care. She thought knights were overly romanticized anyway.
"Achoo!" Lina sneezed.
"Bless you," Rodimus said automatically.
"O-HOHOHO! Little girl catching a cold?" Naga laughed.
"Quiet!" Rodimus ordered, slapping a ruler on Naga's desk. "You are to be silent during detention. Plus aren't you ashamed of yourself, dressed in such a wanton manner."
Rodimus proceeded to lecture Naga on the proper behavior of a lady. Lina knew it was a lost cause but it at least kept Naga quiet. Those teachers must be talking about her.
"That girl is a wild animal. A monster. She is a danger to the school and the students. You must expel her immediately," Cassie demanded, slamming a hand onto the principal's desk. He was seated in his high back chair, facing away from his irate teachers.
"I for once agree whole-heartedly with Cassie," Zolf added. "She has no respect for authority, no self-control."
"You're just angry that she tricked you with that Lighting spell," Cassie snorted.
"Shut up!" Zolf yelled back. "This Inverse girl will only continue to disrupt the classes, rile up the school, and cause mayhem and destruction!"
"...really?" asked the principal.
The two teachers straightened up quickly as the principal's chair swung around. A pair of yellow eyes fixed onto both teachers.
"Maybe then I should go see her in person?" he smiled.
Zel dumped yet another pile of love letters that had built up in his shoe locker. Placing the white school shoes back into the compartment, Zel closed the locker and proceeded out of the building. He had reached the school's eastern gate when he came upon a woman with purple hair wearing a long white cape looking at the school with a nostalgic air.
"Excuse me," she called to him.
"Yes?"
"You're a student here?"
Zel nodded.
"Perhaps then you know of a new student who just enrolled today?"
"Do you mean Lina?"
"So you've met?"
Zel shrugged. "You could say that."
The woman pulled out a package from under her cape and held it out to him. "If it isn't too much trouble for you, could you give this to her today? I would do it myself but my work break is almost over and I need to get back."
Zel took the package and looked at it. "What is it and who are...you?"
There was no one there.
Zel looked back at the plain wrapped package. He sighed and turned back into the school.
In detention Lina was dying. In between Rodimus's lectures on how a proper lady should act and Naga's laughing, she was enduring torture. Not as bad as she would get from Nee-chan but still bad.
"That's it!" Lina screamed standing up. "If they're going to expel I might as well get it over with right now!"
"No one is leaving this room!" Rodimus declared, hefting his halberd and blocking the door.
Lina gave him an exasperated look. "Who needs a door?" she muttered opening a window.
"We're on the second story!" Rodimus yelled as Lina disappeared.
Lina had dropped farther than that before so she wasn't too concerned. And she could have landed perfectly on her feet and without injury (anymore than she already had) if that kid hadn't been exactly where she was going to hit the ground.
She crashed on to him.
"Owwww," groaned the boy.
Lina scrambled off him and helped him up. "You aren't hurt are you?"
The boy shook his head, his short black hair swishing at his chin. He dusted off his navy sailor shirt and shorts.
"You should be more careful," Lina scolded lightly. "What are you doing here anyway? Are you waiting for an older sister or brother?"
The boy shook his head. "I don't have any siblings."
"So then are you one of the teacher's son?"
"Lina!" Zel called as he ran up to her. "Aren't you supposed to be in detention? And who is the kid?"
"That's just what I was trying to - "
Suddenly the ground shook, throwing all of them to the ground.
"Earthquake?" Lina exclaimed.
"Not in this area," Zel replied.
"Wow! Look at that!" the boy called, pointing to a very large hulking thing approaching the school. As it approached, they could see it was humanoid shape though lacking a head. Lina had a disturbing feeling that she had seen it somewhere before.
"It's coming this way!" the boy laughed, clapping his hands.
"This isn't the time for laughing!" Lina snapped, grabbing the boy and running with Zel away from the thing as it stepped across the school wall. Oh gods, if that was what she thought it was...
"There is nowhere you can hide from me Lina Inverse!" cried Martina.
Lina stopped and looked back and way up to see the green haired figure of Martina standing at the controls in the golem's neck region. Great, it was what she thought it was.
"Do you think I, the president of the Zelgadiss Fan Club, will allow you to continue to desecrate the heavenly object of our love with your presence?" The golem pointed at Lina.
"Will you get a clue already?!?! I am NOT after Zelgadiss!!!" Lina screamed back at the delusional girl.
Zel shook his head.
"What is that?" the boy asked.
"Zoana's golem," Lina muttered.
"Golem? A mechanical one then?" Zel pondered looking at the towering metal construct.
"More mechanical than magical at any rate if she's controling it like that," Lina continued. "And wouldn't it be just my luck if - "
"You may have tricked with your petty spells earlier but it won't work against THIS. My Orihalcon Golem!!" The golem struck a pose and flexed.
Lina smacked her hand to her head. "Figures."
"And now to see my beautiful golem's destructive potential." Martina pulled some levels, turned a few gears, and pushed some foot pedals. The golem's chest cavity opened to reveal some object resembling a cannon pointed at them.
Zel's ear twitched. He grabbed both Lina and the boy and shoved them to the ground. "Down!!"
A ray of energy blasted from the cannon, striking behind the three and blowing off part of the teacher's lounge where Cassie and Zolf were still arguing with each other. They never noticed the missing walls or roof.
Lina and Zel gaped at the destruction. The boy only laughed and clapped.
"Again!" the boy cried.
"This isn't a game!" Lina yelled grabbing the nearest thing to whack the boy with and found herself holding a dark brown scepter capped on one end with a brass knob and the other end with a red heart with three gold points sticking out from the top. "What is this?"
"That and this book seemed to have been in that package," Zel mused, flipping through the book.
"What package?"
"The one that a purple-haired woman handed to me at the gate and wanted me to give to you."
"Purple...hair..." Lina stammered. "She wouldn't happen to look anything like this..." Lina quickly drew a sketch of her sister on the ground.
Zel looked and nodded. "That's her. You know her?"
Lina just screamed and pulled her hair.
"You may have gotten away the first time but I'll get you for sure this time," Martina gloated, fixing Lina in the crosshairs. She pressed the button to fire.
Lina, Zel, and the boy went flying from the blast and landed behind part of the broken remains of the teacher's lounge.
"That was fun!" the boy grinned.
"Damn it," Lina swore. "How am I going to stop that maniac?" She looked at Zel who was still reading the book and hit him over the head with the scepter. "Hey I could use some ideas here!"
Zel winced slightly. He felt that whack. "Well, this book seems to be about how to use that scepter you're holding. And there might be something here about how to defeat the golem."
"What is it? What is it?" Lina asked, pouncing onto him.
Zel tried not to blush with her so close to him and failed utterly.
"Are you thinking naughty thoughts?" the boy asked innocently with big yellow eyes. Zel blushed even harder and shook his head vehemently.
"Ne, what does it say about beating the golem?" Lina asked again.
"Er, well," Zel tried to concentrate on the book. "It says you have to do this...dance routine and then say 'With love to guide my heart, with goodness to guide my hand, I call thy power to me. Heart Love Shock!'"
Lina whacked Zel over the head again with the scepter. "THERE IS NO WAY I'M DOING THAT DANCE ROUTINE OR SAYING THAT IDIOTIC PHRASE!!!!!"
"Hey, I'm just reading the book!" Zel protested.
"There you are!" Martina's voice was amplified to nearly glass breaking pitches. "Trying to take advantage of our innocent virgin Zelgadiss-sama...Oh the depravity!"
Lina scrambled off of Zel. "That's not it! You're not even listening to me. I'm just sick of this entire thing!!!" Lina threw the scepter straight at Martina.
Her aim was perfect as it hit the princess of Zoana smack in the forehead, knocking her out instantly. The sceptre bounced off and rolled down the front of the golem.
"Oh! Oh! I have been struck a mortal blow!" said a hollow metallic voice. Lina, Zel, and the boy watched dumbly as the golem put a hand to its chest, staggering as if it was suffering from mortal blow.
"...I thought...it was only controlled by Martina..." Lina muttered.
"It seems...that there is an elemental spirit in there after all," Zel added.
"How can it talk?" the boy asked. Lina and Zel shrugged.
"Oh! Oh! Is this the end of the great Orihalcon Golem? Shall the ballads end with this ignomious defeat?" the golem lamented.
"That's the worst acting I've ever seen," Lina groaned. Zel and the boy simply nodded their agreement.
"Ah! I breathe my last," the golem gasped as it collapsed on to the Eastern division of Slayers High School.
Lina, Zel, and the boy all sprouted sweatdrops.
"I wonder if this will count toward my expulsion?" Lina laughed weakly.
"There is something glowing!" the boy exclaimed, pointing at the wreckage of the golem.
"That cannon is still active!" Zel yelled, ducking as a random blast flew their way.
"At this rate the whole city could be destroyed," the boy pondered and then smiled brightly. "That would be so cool!!"
"When Nee-chan learns I'm being expelled, she'll kill me. If the city gets blown up, she may not learn about the expulsion but then she'll kill me for letting the town get blowned up." Lina thought aloud. "Well, I guess there's only one way to go then."
She stood up and walked past the broken building.
"Lina what are you doing?" Zel yelled. "Normal spells won't work against Orihalcon!"
"Normal spells no," Lina agreed in between chanting the Chaos Words to her spell. "But I'm not planning on using a normal spell."
Zel frowned as he tried to catch what she was saying. Darkness beyond twilight? Crimson beyond blood that flows? Oh no, she couldn't possible know THAT spell...
The boy's yellow eyes sparkled. Oh this was going to be fun.
Lina couldn't help grinning at the familiar sensation of her trademark spell as the roiling red energy gathered in to her hands. "Dragu Slabu!!"
She fired the most powerful of the black magic spells directly at the cannon.
When the smoke cleared, Zel could now see a small crater right where the Eastern building and golem had been. The only thing that remained was a small fountain on which sat a blue-haired woman with a fishing pole.
The little boy covered with soot bounded out from the ruins of the teacher's lounge with a smile wide enough to crack his face in half. "That's was great! The destruction! The utter annihiliation!" He waved to the figure fishing in the fountain. "Hey Sea! How's the fishing?"
Sea simply waved back, never looking away from her fishing.
Zel choked. Sea, the rumored to be insane division principal of the Western division of Slayers High. He pointed at the little boy. "You...you know Sea?"
The boy nodded. Zel turned pale.
Lina who was smiling smugly slapped Zel on the back. "What's up with you? You look like you've just seen a ghost."
"Maybe I am one," Zel muttered and then grabbed Lina and whispered in her ear. "Do you have any idea who that kid is?"
Lina shook her head.
"That's the PRINCIPAL! Principal Fibs!" Zel yelled.
"EEEEHHHHHHHHHH!!" Lina stared at the kid who smiled back.
Fibs just smiled.