Episode #23
(taken from Slayers
Universe)
Visions of Gourry appear in Lina's dream...
"A kid? I thought she'd be some babe..."
"Don't you have anything other than that overkill
Dragu Slave?"
Lina wakes up with a start; it's mid-morning. Tears are streaming down her cheeks
as she just sits there, thinking. Lina stands, looking out the window at all
the people for a minute before getting on with her day. She finds herself thinking
about all the times Gourry was there by her side...
Lina shows up for breakfast in an ecstatic rush. Overly ecstatic, one might say... Lina makes a grab for the meat on her plate, and offers one to Gourry... he's not there.
The group resolves to chase down the Hellmaster, deciding that he would be heading in the direction of Sairaag. Lina wants to go chase him down by herself, without risking the others, but the others convince Lina that they should all go together, Martina included. So they go...
Lina brings bandit strongholds along the way to smoldering heaps, running off with their riches. She seems to be back to all her old tricks, stealing from the thieves... so it's no surprise that someone tracks her down. Lina throws a spell attack at the hidden messenger; it's Sylpheel, but Lina doesn't seem to notice and attacks her again.
In any case, Lina apologizes, amidst a chiding remark by Amelia, and Sylpheel learns that Gourry had been abducted by Fibrizo, the Hellmaster. Sylpheel was looking for help for her home town of Sairaag, as a great tragedy has happened to the citizens there, so of course she accompanies the group there. But the reunion is interrupted by an icy wind, and trees falling over.
Fibrizo's voice can be heard, accompaniying a dark, masked swordsman. The henchman has Gourry's Sword of Light! Fibrizo commands that the henchman attack; his offense is met by spells from Lina and the others. The swordsman has found a new technique for the Sword of Light - creating a gigantic blast of energy which rips through the countryside! Lina narrowly misses the attack, her thigh grazed in the process... but a Flare Arrow from Sylpheel saves the day!
... or not, it fizzles at the swordsman's back. More spells get thrown at the swordsman, but he is still alive. So Zelgadiss challenges the swordsman, charging his own sword with the Astral Vine spell. No matter how hard Zelgadiss fights, the swordsman deflects all attacks, sword or not, with the Sword of Light. Fibrizo talks for a bit, and charges his swordsman with even more negative influence, so Lina and the others flee... Lina chants the Dragu-Slave as she runs, and flings it back at the swordsman! Only... the Sword of Light absorbs all of the destructive potential, and sends it back at Lina and the others!
As Lina and the others lie in the wake of the reflected Dragu-Slave, the swordsman steps up to Lina and tries to stab downward, when suddenly he's struck with an awful headache. When he regains his composure and swings again, Lina isn't there - she's been whisked out of harm's way by Zangulus, who has suddenly reappeared! He asks Lina where Gourry is, as he wants to fight him... the reply is that Gourry isn't there, but that that swordsman has his blade. So Zangulus challenges him, summoning the force of his Howling Sword to counter the Sword of Light...
As the two swordsmen fight, Lina throws her own magic into the ring, her own Laguna Blade! The three blades clash in a giant explosion, and when it clears, Fibrizo's henchman seems to be losing his armor... his face mask crumbles away, to reveal Gourry underneath!
Episode #24
(taken from Slayers
Universe)
Sylpheel spats, "This is crazy! Gourry!!!" Fibrizo laughs at the humans
before him, as Gourry is revealed to be the secret swordsman under his control.
Fibrizo continues, "He's going to kill you now, he's nothing more than
my pawn." Zangulus is hardly amused, though, as he is still intent on challenging
Gourry to battle yet again. Fibrizo seems terribly amused, on the other hand,
at the thought of Lina and Gourry doing battle. He thinks of it as a game, and
Gourry as nothing more than a puppet.
Fibrizo surrounds his puppet in black smoke, spiriting him off yet again. Lina and the others try to figure out where they could possibly go. Together, they figure out that there's probably only one shot they have at beating Fibrizo, the plan which Lina fears most : using the dreadful Giga Slave yet again. Zangulus, at any rate, is determined... mainly to fight Gourry yet again. He walks off, and Martina, well, swoons over him, like she does for every guy in the series who says a cool line.
Sylpheel leads the group to Sairaag, her home town. They hitch a ride on the back of a hay truck. She shows them the tree, where her father carved notches off to chart her growth. In fact, the town seems to be pretty prosperous, considering it was completely obliterated about a year ago (Slayers first TV series) by the Copy Rezo. While the group wonders why the town seems to have come back to life, Sylpheel hears her father call to her. She sees her father and runs to him for a hug...
Sylpheel's father explains to them that it seems that they have been revived by Fibrizo. However, the townspeople aren't quite alive, more like ghosts than anything else. Sylpheel is shown that her 'father' has no heartbeat. The source of the problem seems to be the 'temple' to Fibrizo, a giant dome just outside the city. So the group agrees to go check it out...
The dome is sealed all the way to the top, so it seems that the only way inside is to break in. The Dam Brass spell doesn't work, but just when Lina starts casting the Dragu Slave, an entrance appears. Lina runs in, and then all of a sudden, runs right back out! Lina blinks, turns around, and tries it again, and once again finds herself running back out. Amelia tries out this entranceway too, and dips her hand inside the darkness. Surprisingly, her hand pops right back out of the darkness, backwards. While Amelia ends up scaring herself out of her wits with her experimentation, the group seems to be surrounded by curious townspeople. Check that, somewhat stern-seeming townspeople. The group decides to try again later, at night, when the people are supposedly asleep.
They split into groups - Lina runs off one way, and the others stay behind. Sylpheel chases after Lina, though, rather concerned that Lina's going off by herself. Lina explains that she feels responsible for the situation and Gourry's capture, and since Fibrizo seems to be after her, that she must go alone. Sylpheel can't forgive Fibrizo for taking Gourry from her, either... Sylpheel begs to come along with Lina, and after much debate Lina finally agrees to let her.
Sylpheel and Lina continue on towards the temple, but suddenly they are interrupted by a blade spinning towards them. Seems the townspeople are wise to them, and not only that, aggressive. Not to mention the fact that there's now winged heralds of destruction hovering overhead...
Lina suddenly is attacked from behind, and she disarms her assailant with a quick slash of her dagger to the wrist. She reels with horror as she finds her attacker was a mere child, and Sylpheel implores Lina to keep her cool. They run to the temple as quickly as they can, without directly injuring any more of the townspeople... when they clear the town, Zangulus appears and clears the winged monsters from their path.
Zelgadiss and the others, meanwhile, are dealing with the townspeople in their own way. Amelia takes out a large group of them with a wide-range Sleeping spell, yet the people keep coming...
Lina finally breaks through the barrier with her awesome Laguna Blade power. As they enter the temple, Fibrizo looks on with amusement as Lina steps right into his domain...