"Uh, don't mind me," Amelia said nervously. "I'm just a harmless little girl walking through the woods. La te da, la te da." I hope this plan works, she thought to herself. Amelia tried to scan the trees for her friends, but couldn't see them.
"Whoaahh!!" crash well okay, she could hear Gourry. That comforted her for a couple of reasons. Well first, it might dissuade whatever creature haunted this area, and second it meant that they were around somewhere.
Were they close enough to get to her in case of trouble. She didn't know, but Mr. Thrythlind and Miss Reiko seemed like capable enough people. Of course they were also champions of justice, Amelia remembered them claiming to be demon slayers of some sort.
Of course they could just be like Lina, out to collect money and power and more power. Earlier she was about to ask them to confirm that they were indeed on the path of Justice and Order. Miss Reiko had forestalled her for some reason though. The only explanation the cat-girl offered was the whispered sentence "We don't have the time for one of Thrythlind's 'short' explanations of his philosophical beliefs."
Amelia tensed as the woods suddenly seemed to quiet down, as if some great predator had just entered the area. She froze in preparation, watching the shadows, and then something leaped out of the woods. She screamed and then looked down, oh it was just a cat. A pale white and grey cat with an incredibly cross expression on its face.
"Oh hi, kitty," Amelia laughed and bent down to pet it. The cat seemed to shrug and then gratefully accepted the petting, purring loudly. "Wait a minute, what's a kitty like you doing out in the woods where a monster is?" The cat feigned an innocent expression.
Then there was that feeling of silence again, Amelia stood up nervous and caught a sight of bright red hair and a confident thumbs up. She nodded her head and set her expression into that grim and dramatic face she wore for battle. She noticed that cat playing in the dust and leaves and paid no further attention to it. There was a sudden blur and then a feeling of activated magic and then the blur seemed to slow to a crawl.
"GO!!!" That's him, the time slowing effect that had come from nowhere was quickly deteriating, but it looked to the crew as if all they were fighting was a minirature old man.
"Flare Arrow!!"
"Elmykiel Lance!!"
"Freeze Arrow!!
"Light Come Forth!!"
"Yuge Kiri!!"
"Wrack!!"
That section of the forest was filled with light, steam, ice, fire, a strange crackling electricity, along with a lot "Hai!'s" "Take that!" "Thunk!" "Slash!!" Then the obscuring effect of combining ice, steam, and fire faded and they found that they were fighting each other.
"You fools shouldn't be messing with me," they looked up and saw what indeed was a little withered old man laughing at them. He was much shorter than any of them, a dwarfish little troll. And he was dragging behind him a bag that was stuffed so full that it was larger than he was. Then the growling voice vanished and he sounded like a pleasant old grandfather. "But you did give me these nice pretties, so I'll forgive you this time." He held up a small collection lady's undergarments.
Suddenly, all three of the women felt a draft and turned beet red. Zelgadis and Gourry looked at the "demon" in shock, before leaping forward.
"It's him..." Thrythlind said, snapping the ground twice. "Hey, Happosai!! WRACK!!!" A electrical-like energy surrounded the little troll who began convulsing in pain.
"H-hh-how DARE YOU!!!" Lina shouted, only the close presence of her allies kept her from using a Dragon Slave right then and there. "FLARE ARROW!!"
The old man toppled to the ground an apparent twitching corpse.
"What is the problem with this," Zelgadis asked. "He's just an old pervert!" Then he saw that the "corpse" had vanished. There was a sudden screech and they turned to see the old man groping up Amelia, who soon decided she'd had enough and booted him away, the freak laughing all the way.
Then Gourry and Zelgadis came in with blades, the old man laughed as he parried and blocked all their blows, even the light sword, with his little pipe. leaped into the trees as everybody else started to come into the battle.
"Well I'd like to play," Happosai declared. "But its a little crowded for me at the moment." He leaped away pausing only a moment to swipe his pipe out to clunk into something hiding in the trees. "Watch what you say youngster, I haven't lost my hearing yet." The Slayers were surprised to see Xellos suddenly enter low orbit and rocketing away from the forest at high speed.
"Hey where'd that guy come from?" Reiko asked as she followed the mazoku's flight.
"He's always around somewhere," Lina grumbled. "Damn it, that old freak got away!!! The next time I see him its a Dragon Slave down the throat, the LITTLE FREAK!!!!!!!! ARRGHH!!!"
"What is that thing?" Zelgadis asked.
"Somebody that tagged along with us after our last dimension hop," Thrythlind grumbled.
Everybody turned silent at the sound of near hysterical laughter. They all looked back to see an cat-eared and tailed boy about eighteen laughing hysterically at them.
"Oh yes, that was so entertaining," he the cat-boy got out between laughs.
"How do we kill him?" Zelgadis asked. "Quickly or painfully?"
"Glad you agree with the situation," Reiko asked. "How long have you been there, Hyperbole?"