Gourry, Zelgadis and Copy all sat in the bath.
A floating tray with warm sake drifted beside them.
"It's been a while since I had a chance to relax
like this," murmured Copy to the others.
"Yeah," agreed Gourry with his eyes closed.
"Don't get too comfortable," commented Zelgadis.
"We'll have to leave soon."
Copy dunked his head under the water, and came back
up shortly. "I know, I know. But it'll be a while until the
next time we will get to just not do anything."
"But it is important to keep your mind on what's
on ahead."
"You worry too much." Copy shook his head.
"Yeah, Zelgadis," agreed Gourry. "Relax, for
once. It'll do you good."
"It's no good to enter a battle all tense.
You'll get an ulcer that way," Copy finished.
"We have to come up with a strategy first, after
all, the big battle's tomorrow."
"I'm not worried," commented Gourry. "Lina
always has a plan."
"It's not like we're dealing with a demon lord after
all. Just some little sibling of one." Copy waved his hand
as if dismissing the seriousness of the potential threat.
Zelgadis threw down the pad of steel wool that he
was using to scrub himself. "You guys are impossible," he said.
"I'm done here. I'll see you two inside." The chimera got up,
walked to the edge of the bath, grabbed a towel, wrapped it around himself
and climbed out.
"Wow. I keep forgetting how uptight Zelgadis
could be," commented Copy.
"Yeah, I know." Gourry shook his head.
"Hey! There's still some sake left." The swordsman reached
for the floating tray. "Want some more, Copy?"
"Sure."
In the other section of the baths, the girls were
relaxing as well. Lina was sulking. Both of the other women
in the baths were better built than she was. She decided that concentrating
on her drink was preferable than looking at her companions. And
they're both younger than I am... she thought to herself.
It's just NOT fair...
"It's so nice to be able to relax like this, don't
you think, Miss Lina?" asked Amelia.
Lina grunted.
"What do you think, Kitsuan?"
"I think that this is heavenly. It's so nice
to just wash all of this dust off. I'm not used to travelling."
The young thief chuckled. "Of course, I'm not used to saving the
world like you guys are, either."
"Actually, Miss Lina does most of the saving parts.
I do get to help though."
Kitsuan sat up, her face gone all-serious.
"Speaking of the saving parts... Shouldn't we have some sort of plan
in mind when we go face the Big Bad Boss Guy tomorrow. Do you have
such a plan, Lina?"
"Yep. Win." Lina's head was sinking
into the water.
Kitsuan shot up, out of the water. "That's
it?!?" she yelped. "That's your great plan?!?"
"Why worry about it?" asked the sorceress.
"There's not really much to plan. We go in, beat up the bad guys,
grab the treasure then split."
"It seems a bit simplistic, Miss Lina," said the
young princess hesitantly.
"What?!?" Lina stood up, and glared at her
companions. "What did you say?!?" she screeched, marching up to Amelia.
The Seyroon princess backed down until her head was almost under the water.
"Nothing..." she burbled.
"And you!" shouted the redhead at the pickpocket.
"Do you have anything to add?!?"
"Nope. Not at all." Kit knew that the
secret to survival was the knowledge of when to keep one's mouth shut.
"Good." Lina went back to her spot and sat
down. "We need more food..." She raised her voice to be heard
by all. "Hey! Can we get something to eat out here?!?"
Back in the men's baths...
"Hey Copy?" asked Gourry.
"Hmmm...?" The young kopii was floating on
his back, totally relaxed.
"Can you teach me now?"
"Huh?" Copy sat up.
"The flying spell. Can you teach me now?"
"Sure," Copy shrugged. "Why not?"
"Great!" Gourry was excited. "What do
I do first?"
"You have to clear your mind."
"That's easy."
"I know."
"And this is the spell..." Copy recited the
chant that made up the Raywing spell. "Got it?"
"I don't know..." Gourry sighed. Copy recited
the spell again...
"RAYWING!!!" and he left the bath, floating
up. He stopped at rising at about 15 feet. "See? It's
easy!"
"Sure looks that way," commented Gourry. "But
aren't you a little high up?"
"What do you mean?"
Lina leaned back, relaxing. She sighed.
According to the management, food could not be brought out to the bath,
but they assured her that it would be ready shortly. She was staring
at the twilight sky when she heard a male voice cry out.
"RAYWING!!!"
Copy must be trying to teach that spell to Gourry,
she thought. I wonder if he'll have any luck doing it? Actually,
the idea seemed pretty scary to her. Copy, who was a kopii of Gourry,
was trying to teach a spell to Gourry. Never mind the fact that Copy
had a bit of the ol' Lina Inverse aptitude, his mind was still too much
like the one of the dumb blonde swordsman. She looked up at the top
edge of the wall that separated the men's baths from the woman's and she
saw a figure floating above. A well built figure...
"WAK!!!" screamed Kitsuan from beside her.
"COPY!!!"
The young man spun around at the mention of his
name. He saw the three women and froze.
"What are you doing up there, Mister Copy?!?" shouted
Amelia, with her eyes tightly closed.
Copy was still frozen, his eyes bugged out at the
sight of the well-built women --and Lina.
Lina stared back. I wonder if Gourry is
built the same way --What am I thinking?!? She shook herself
and trembled. Then she got mad.
"YOU PERVERT!!! What the hell do you think
you're doing?!?" She grabbed one of the sake glasses and threw it
at the young man. It bounced off his head. The glass was followed
by the bottle, then the tray. It was the tray that took him out.
Copy lost consciousness and he fell.
Zelgadis was just coming out of the change room,
fully dressed, in his customary canvas outfit. (What else can be strong
enough and not wear out so quickly?)
"If you two are done," he started, "I thought you'd
like to know that the kitchen has the meal ready..."
He never got to finish his sentence as he was drenched
by the splash that Copy made as he hit the surface of the bath.
"...if you want to come in."
"Sorry about that Zelgadis!" shouted Gourry.
"Copy was just trying to teach me how to fly!"
"..." The chimera just stood there with water
dripping down his face. Do I REALLY want to know? he asked
himself. He watched as the blonde swordsman ducked under the surface
of what was left of the water, bringing Copy up to the surface.
Probably not.
"My, my. That Copy is certainly a talented
individual…" came a voice from behind Lina. She turned and saw a
familiar figure on the opposite wall.
"Xelloss!!! What the #*@% are you doing here?!?"
she shrieked, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around herself.
"Mister Xelloss! You ought to be ashamed of
yourself!" shouted Amelia. "Sneaking up on three defenceless women
while they are in the bath is an act of Evil!"
"Well," the trickster priest gave a huge smile,
"but so am I. So it's okay, right?"
"This clown is starting to get on my nerves," muttered
Kitsuan. "Please Lina, just hear what he wants, then get rid of him..."
she begged.
"I intend to," Lina reassured the young thief.
"Okay Xelloss, what do you want?"
"I just wanted to let you know one little thing,
before you go to the big battle tomorrow..."
"And what's that?" asked the petite sorceress.
"The Golden Idol of Chaos can only be used once.
One wish. That's it, no more."
"One wish?" asked Amelia.
"No more after that?" asked Kitsuan.
"Why are you telling me this NOW?!?" asked Lina
exasperated.
"No reason, really. Just so you don't throw
away your one wish needlessly, I suppose. You just might need it
tomorrow." The mazouku shrugged as if it made no difference to him.
"In what way? How will I need it, Xelloss?"
Lina was clenching his fists in rage.
"Sorry, Lina. I can't tell you." Xelloss
spread his hands in a gesture of mock helplessness.
"And why is that?" A vein in Lina's temple
appeared ready to burst.
"Because, that is a secret," finished the mazouku
smugly, wagging his finger at the ladies.
A low growl escaped from Lina's throat. The
glare that was directed towards the figure sitting on the wall could have
melted steel. "Get out, Xelloss. Go. Now."
"If you wish. I'll catch you later."
Xelloss got up and was about to leave. Then he turned back.
"You know something?" he asked. "Gourry was right. You really
are flat-chested."
"FIREBALL!!!" Lina screamed as she let loose
the powerful spell on the deserving mazouku. She would have used
something else, but she had already thrown the tray and its contents at
Copy.
"What a jerk," sniffed Kitsuan as she watched the
scorched figure topple off of the wall.
Back in the men's changing room, Zelgadis was in
the process of wringing out his cloak. Copy had managed to cast a
very small fireball spell to assist in the drying process.
"I'm real sorry, Zel. I didn't mean to make
such a huge splash," said Copy from under the towel that he was using to
dry his short hair.
"I'm sure you didn't," muttered the chimera.
"He was just showing me the Raywing spell..." imputed
Gourry.
"Then Lina lost her temper and knocked me out, not
that it was entirely her fault."
"..." Zelgadis didn’t know how to respond
to that. He sighed. "Never mind. If you two could hurry
and get dressed, we can go and eat. I'll be waiting outside."
He went into the hallway.
"What's with him?" asked Copy. "I said I was
sorry." He quietly dispelled the fireball spell.
"Aah. That's just the way Zelgadis is, you
know?" Gourry just simply figured that if he left things alone, they
would blow over.
"Yeah, I guess." The kopii started to reach
for his clothes. He stopped. "Hey, Gourry?"
"Yeah?"
"Wanna trade?"
"Sure."
In the women's changing room, Lina was fuming as
she yanked the brush through her hair. She was muttering obscenities
under her breath as she did so. Kitsuan and Amelia ignored her for
the most part.
"You know, Miss Kitsuan?" asked the princess.
"I really like your boots."
"Thanks Amelia," said the young thief. "And
it's just Kitsuan. We're the same age, so I really feel uncomfortable
being called 'Miss'."
"If you really say so, ...Kitsuan."
"I do. And I really love your cape.
It's a neat style how it comes off the back of your outfit."
"Thanks."
Lina wasn't certain about how to handle the inane
babbling of the younger girls. At least it's better than having
them argue about the finer point of stealing and whether it is right and
wrong.
"If you two are done, we ought to be going now,"
she suggested acidly. "I am very hungry and very cranky."
"Yep, we're right behind you, Lina," chirped Kit.
"Right Amelia?"
"We're coming, Miss Lina," agreed Amelia.
Lina stalked into the hall and noticed Zelgadis
waiting for her.
"It's about time," he said.
"Where's Gourry?" she asked. "And Copy?"
"They're still getting dressed."
"Nope. We're done," said a male voice.
There was no way of knowing whether the voice belonged to Gourry or Copy.
"I really wish that they didn't sound the same,"
muttered Kitsuan from behind Lina.
"No kidding," replied Amelia.
The two came through the door. Something appeared
slightly odd about the two swordsmen.
"What do you think?" asked one of them. Lina
had to do a double take. It was Gourry that spoke, but he was wearing
Copy's clothes.
"We wanted to trade for a bit," commented Copy.
"After all, we wear the same size and all." He was wearing Gourry's
armour.
It was odd, Lina decided. Looking at them
was like looking at a slightly off-colour painting. For Gourry and
Copy were still almost identical. Copy looked just like Gourry, except
for his shorter, reddish-blonde hair, and lavender eyes. Gourry looked
just like Copy, except his hair was longer and more blonde and his eyes
were bluer. He looked a little uncomfortable with Copy's headband,
though.
"Please go change," suggested Zelgadis. "Looking
at you two is giving me a headache."
"Do we have to?" asked, uh, Gourry.
"Do it." Lina sighed, it was going to be a
long night, and she just knew it.
"Fine. Okay," mumbled Copy. "We'll go
change..."
"Underwear too?" asked Gourry.
Everyone's eyes bugged open. Including Copy's.
"Um, why don't you just keep them until the next
time we do laundry?"
"Oh. Okay."