Episode #17
(taken from Slayers
Universe)
There is a town in which there are only females... and in this town, there is
rumored to be another Clair Bible. Lina, Amelia, and Martina can walk into the
town, no problem... but of course, Gourry, Xelloss, and Zelgadiss must wear
disguises in order to pass as female. So, they do, and right as they don their
female disguises, a girl runs in and begs for Zelgadiss' assistance - a monster
has followed them into the forest clearing! Zelgadiss easily dispatches the
monster with a well-placed fireball... but it seems the young girl is the princess
of the town.
The group goes to the palace, and they talk for a bit - about what, I'm not sure, probably thanking them for their assistance or something. As they leave, Zelgadiss notes the princess sitting in the garden alone, and decides to stay behind and talk to her for a while. He gives her a false name, not wanting to reveal his identity, and learns that she is bound to become a priestess. As part of a ritual, she is to purify herself by touching a monument in the middle of a lake. Right before Zelgadiss can find out more, Lina drags him away, saying that they've wasted enough time already.
Then they resume their search for leads on the next Clair Bible. Only, it seems that quite a few women take a liking to the guys in disguise... much to their dissatisfaction. Evwentually, they head off to go eat, and it gets brought up that Zelgadiss has walked off again. But in the middle of the meal they are attacked by an ice fiend named Evia. With teamwork from Lina and Gourry, Evia is supposedly destroyed by an Elmekia Lance.
He went to go after the princess, who has brought a mace to the monument in the lake with intent to destroy it. Zelgadiss stops her, but then she is captured in the lake in a crystal of ice. Zelgadiss attacks, trying to free her - and Lina and the others arrive. Seems Evia wasn't quite dead, and now he has both the princess and Zel captured. Evia manifests himself as a water dragon, and fires round after round of water-bursts at the others. Zelgadiss breaks out of his icy prison, compromising his disguise in the process. Gourry throws off his disguise as well... but Evia is stunned enough, expecting the two to be women! In fact, he suspects Lina of being a guy in disguise as well! In the ensuing distraction, Zel manages to eliminate Evia for good with his Ra-Tilt spell.
But wait! The queen of the village appears, holding a knife to Lina's neck! She says something about the monument and the forbidding of males from the town... but then the "princess" shows herself to be a prince. Zelgadiss, who took a liking to this "princess" is quite amazed... but that's not all, as the rest of the masquerading women in the village reveal themselves to be men as well! So... I guess the plan of the queen fell through, whatever it was...
Episode #18
(taken from Slayers
Universe)
Lina's group starts out where? In a restaurant, of course. They're wondering
where the next Clair-Bible would be... Xelloss suddenly mentions that there
should probably be one just past a particular mountain in the distance. Lina
and Zelgadiss seem a bit disturbed that he withholds key information like that
for so long and starts beating him up, but Martina appears and shoos them away
from her "Xelloss-sama." Wait a minute, how'd Martina get here again?
She's a waitress at the restaurant, and doing a bad job as her boss gets mad
at her for beating up the customers (Lina). Lina taunts her as she gets back
to work, causing even more trouble...
Later, the group heads to aforementioned temple. Once inside the temple, Xelloss helps them find their way into a desertlike dimension. Xelloss makes a gesture, and a large stone monument comes out of the sand -- only there's lots of other similar monuments which follow it. These monuments have some form of writing on it, but it would be impossible to translate the miles and miles of rows of these monuments which have just appeared in all directions.
But then, Amelia spots a mysterious old lady in the distance. She's horrified that it might be a ghost... but suddenly the lady appears beside Lina. Lina clutches Gourry in fear, but then denies anything happened when the old lady asks a potentially embarassing question about that. Anyways, Lina tells her about their search for better ways to defeat Mazoku. The lady, named Aqua, happens to have some information about it; she points out that she knows where the object of their desires is, mentioning Maryuu-ou Gaav (also known as the Chaos-Dragon Gaav).
So, after loading up two camels with enough supplies and food for Lina, with a little thrown in for the others, they proceed into the desert. Lina ends up carrying the little old lady on her back. After a while it gets dark, and they decide to make a camp.
Amelia has a nightmare, and her moaning wakes up Lina. Lina, unable to get back to sleep, leaves the tent and finds Gourry sleepily keeping watch. She talks with him for a moment, asking him a very important question, to find him dozed off again. Too lazy to get back to the tent, she scoots closer and leans his head on the shoulder - a Kodak moment if ever there was one. Apparently, the old lady, who sneaks up behind the two, thought it was as well and decides to comment on it, scaring the bejeezus out of Lina.
Aqua asks Lina to follow her. She does, walking out to an oasis. Aqua stands on the edge of the water and chants something, and a very different stone monument, polished as glass, emerges from the waters. Lina reaches her hand out to touch it, and is suddenly transported into the dreamworld of the Clair-Bible.
In it, Lina sees... herself! Gourry, Amelia, and Zelgadiss are lying inert before the massive Shabranigdu! Not quite a flashback, it seems, Lina sees herself cast the Giga Slave... but it has powerful side-effects. Lina sees herself lose control of the Nightmare energy, and it creates a powerful energy rift which destroys the others... and eventually takes the entire world with it!
Lina steps back from the monument, horrified. Aqua explains that perhaps she should not be looking for the most powerful of all spells, as it could be one of those that was never meant for humans to control. Suddenly, a fireball erupts from nowhere, followed by a somewhat familiar voice -- that of Zeigram! Xelloss rescues the lady and Lina from the flames, and takes them to a safe distance. Zeigram says that it has been a long time since he spoke with Xelloss... but from the side, a stranger appears and says the same thing. Xelloss looks at him curiously, as the new arrival introduces himself: "Maryuu-ou Gaav!" Gaav is one of the Five who served under Shabranigdu, who now seem to be unleashed upon the world with the death of Shabranigdu. Seems Lina's Giga Slave had some powerful consequences after all...