The Great and Powerful Slayers: Next

by Belligerent Bindlestiff

Where Your Power Flows

Where Your Power Flows

“Keep going, we’ll lose them in the forest!” Lina yelled to Gourry. “We’re already headed in that direction anyways!”

They steered their mounts and went in deeper. After they didn’t hear their pursuers anymore, they slowed down. “Are you sure this is such a good idea Lina?” Trixie asked. “Who knows what’s living in here?”

“Firstly, stealing the map without telling me wasn’t ‘such a good idea’.” Lina said. “And secondly, you’re with me, so there’s no need to worry!” She brought her horse to a stop.

There was a dead silence in the woods. “Looks like we lost them.” Lina said. “Now let’s see where this map will take us.”

Trixie unceremoniously scrambled off of her ride but was caught by Gourry before she could face plant. She blushed a little at the gesture.

“That’s strange; I thought you’d know your way around horses since you were one.” Gourry said.

“Trixie was a pony.” She said, dusting her clothes. “And ponies don’t go riding on top of other ponies!”

“Then who pulls your carts?” Gourry asked with a finger to his chin.

Sweet Luna he’s dense. She thought. “We do, Gourry.”

“Ooooh.” Gourry said and got off of his horse.

Trixie moved over to Lina, who was already consulting the map. The sorceress had her hand outstretched over the paper.

“Hmm, looks like we’re just a bit east of the road.” Lina said.

“Well, it’s good to know we won’t be lost.” Trixie said. “Trixie was about to ask for a compass, but speaking of such things, where are all of our supplies?”

“Come on Trixie.” Lina said. “Do you think I’d go anywhere without my essentials?” She reached into her cloak and pulled out a sack, and tossed it to Gourry. “Let’s get a camp going for the evening.”

“Trixie really wishes she had her wagon. A bed, some oats, and her night cap would be nice.” She said.

“Well, we’re going to be roughing out here.” Lina said. “But magic saves the day once again.” Lina took off her cloak and began pulling items out of it to set up the camp. Trixie only looked on in awe.

“Say Trixie, why don’t you take care of the horses?” Lina asked, here attention at her supplies and not the illusionist.

Trixie only shot a look that inferred “really?”.

“Hey, it’s not what you think!” Lina said. “You still work for me, remember?”

“Yes, Trixie does.” She replied.

“I’m not making you do this because you were a pony before.” Lina said. “But it should help, right?”

“Trixie will be with the horses if you don’t mind.” She said and begrudgingly went off to accomplish her set task.

////

This is too weird. Trixie thought as she approached the horses to inspect them. They’re almost unreal. She had brought them buckets of water, another oddity of Lina. Trixie wonders how she holds onto so many supplies in that cloak of hers. She’ll ask another time.

For the moment, she watched the horses drink and wondered how much bigger these horses were compared to the ponies of Equestria.

Oh, Trixie knows. She thought and then detached the gem from her cloak and held it in her hand.

It normally covered her hoof when she held it as a pony. As a human, her fingers extended beyond stone which rested in her palm. She also noted how distorted her shape was now. Trixie is so much taller.

But even with her height, the horses nearby were much bigger than she. Trixie looked at them and noted the spark in their eyes. They were alive, but they didn’t have much else going for them beyond that, a relatable intelligence, but she wasn’t going to sit down and have tea with them any time soon.

Then Trixie recalled the table manners of Lina and Gourry. But at least they can talk.

////

Trixie found herself playing around with a ball of magic. She tossed it at a patch of grass, and few blades crusted over with frost. She shot another and steamed the ice away.

“Not a bad shot.” Lina said. “You know, you’re still missing another element.”

“What would that be?” Trixie asked.

Lina put a finger to her chin. “Hmm, why don’t you tell me?”

“But how is Trixie supposed to figure it out, at least give her a clue!” she said.

“How about I tell you how to feel for it, and let you figure it out then?” Lina asked. “Actually, that’s your next lesson Trixie!” she got up from a stump she was sitting on and walked about the encampment.

“For fire and ice spells, you use latent anger and sadness and combine them with your own magic.” Lina said and allowed her hands to be enveloped in the respective elements. “This third element uses something between pure genius and chaos. A sort of unpredictability.”

“Kind of like you Lina, huh?” Gourry asked only to immediately dodge a pot that was thrown at him.

“Exactly like that Gourry.” Lina said, wearing a look of frustration. “The point is that you’ve got to be the one to make some more progress. On your own.”

Trixie returned to her chores after dinner had “concluded”. The pots and plates were a complete mess. If Trixie ever makes it home, those two are not allowed anywhere near Trixie’s wagon. Well, except maybe Gourry. As she set about cleaning up after her fellow adventurers. All in all, she couldn’t complain, they were watching out for her.

After she was done, Trixie plopped on a sleeping bag while Lina and Gourry were already fast asleep. She held out her hand and let the energy coalesce on her finger tip. It was the same shade of color that manifested with her unicorn magic.

“Chaotic…” Trixie said, musing on Lina’s clue. There was that one time Discord was loose and almost all of Equestria was under some sort of effect. Nothing changed with the magic on her finger. Maybe it’s more unexpected. She remembered the moments after she’d fled Ponyville for the first time. She gave a speech of resolute determination, only to have her wagon dislodge itself from a rock and send her face first into the mud and then run over by her wagon.

“Wheels…” Trixie hissed quietly. Her magic briefly tinted a yellow color before returning to normal.

That was just the beginning of her misfortunes…or unexpectedness? Lina falling from the sky on top of Trixie. More wheels ricocheting from nowhere in a random village. Plunging out of an airship, clinging for dear life to a levitating Lina. Finding a mirror or strange stone in the middle of the desert.

The unexpected. Trixie thought. Life’s funny like that. Trixie would never have thought to be out here learning black magic from a human sorceress as an actual human, but here we are. Unbeknown to Trixie, the magic in her hand took on a yellow glow once more.

Never knowing where these events are going to happen, it sort of like- A huge crash sounded, breaking the silence of the night, along with the bolt of lightning that struck and flung Trixie from her spot into a tree.

She had only moments to react and grab onto a branch to keep herself from falling down. Moments later, Lina approached the tree, casually stretching. Gourry was half asleep, walking along with her and in…jellyfish pajamas?

“Wow, you figured that out really quick, Trixie.” Lina said. “You might have the makings of a sorcery genius.” She yawned and made her way back to bed.

“Wait! How does Trixie get down?” she said before the branch snapped and she hit the ground. The horses nearby snickered as if by response. “Ha ha, very funny.” She said as she got to her feet. “Ugh, why is Trixie talking to you?”

////

The party continued on its way to the monster palace after a morning of breakfast, arguments, and chores.

“Let’s get a move on!” Lina said. “I don’t think Nepanox is the kind of guy to let a thing like a missing map keep him from treasure.”

“Do really you think he’ll keep sending soldiers after us for the map?” Trixie asked.

“If anything, he’s probably either scrambling to keep up with us or beat us to the palace.” Lina said. “And since he doesn’t have the map, I bet he’s pretty paranoid and will try to get to the palace before we do. No doubt he probably realizes that we might actually beat him there with the map.”

The group continued on horseback. Trixie and Lina rode on one mount, while Gourry was on another.

“So it really didn’t matter that Trixie stole the map then?” she asked.

“Well, it did something at least.” Lina replied. “Now we can go after those treasures instead of that idiot Nepanox.”

“But Lina, doesn’t that mean that Trixie couldn’t really save that guy from doing any dangerous stuff that could happen to him?” Gourry asked.

Trixie felt that if she still had her pony ears, they’d be drooping right now. “So Trixie failed yet again.” She said.

“Look Trixie.” Lina said. “Don’t get all depressed on me because you couldn’t stop someone from making the same mistake you did.

Lina’s words stung, but Trixie knew exactly what they meant. “Trixie went after the Alicorn Amulet anyways, even though you warned her.” She said. “but why did Trixie fail while you can wear those talisman and not be swirling in dark magic?”

“The difference, Trixie, is practice and control.” Lina said. “You just don’t go around casting the most powerful magic around if you can’t even handle the basics. Furthermore, you gotta know when and where are the best places to cast spells!” Lina pointed a finger in the air, matter of factly.

“There’s nothing worse than watching a spell blow up in your face.” Lina said. “Heck, it doesn’t even have to be magic at all. Gourry, help me out here!”

Gourry gave a puzzled look. “I don’t know any magic Lina. “He said.

“Of course you don’t!” Lina replied. “But that sword you’ve got, The Sword of Light, you didn’t straight up just train with it when you were learning to fight, did you?”

“No way.” Gourry said. “My family didn’t even let me touch the sword until a few years ago. All my dad did was make me use wooden and regular swords growing up.”

“You see Trixie?” Lina asked. “You, and probably Nepanox, were making big mistakes by messing with stuff you didn’t even understand!”

“But what about your talisman?” Trixie asked, insisting. “You said you got them from a monster! How do you even prepare for that?”

Lina put a finger to her chin. “Well, the thing is that I sort have made the choice to use them because I had no magic when I acquired them. But, the difference was that I knew it was risky to depend on the kindness, or rather the negotiations, of a monster.”

“So you took the risk anyways?” Trixie asked.

“Yes, I understood them.” Lina replied. “It helps that the spells I wanted to cast were ones I already knew. I just needed to adjust to using the talisman as a conduit for my magic, and with plenty of practice, I’ve made these talisman an important component in my spell casting.”

////

After a few hours of trekking later, the party was again taking a break. Trixie was tasked, to her dismay, with taking care of the horses upon Lina’s insistence. It didn’t help matters that Lina’s reasoning was because Trixie had “prior experience”.

Trixie was about to get to her task when she stopped and noted Lina rummaging through her cloak. “Say, Lina.” Trixie asked. “Are you carrying all of our supplies in your cape?”

“Yeah, it definitely saves on space.” Lina replied.

“But isn’t it heavy carrying it around anyways?” Trixie asked.

“If you’re worried our horse won’t be able to hold the two of us and our supplies don’t worry.” Lina said. “You should know my enchantments make everything I’m carrying weigh a whole lot less.”

“That makes sense.” Trixie replied. “Trixie wouldn’t know how you would walk around always carrying those things.”

“It’s too bad it doesn’t make everything weight absolutely nothing.” Lina said.

“But that’s where I come in.” Gourry said. “Lina even made it so I can hold onto the food we eat.” He looked into his chest piece. “It’s too bad it never really lasts.”

“With the amount of food Trixie has seen the two of you eat, she isn’t surprised.” The showmare said, walking about the area. “Everything in this world is so strange, the pon-people, and some of the rocks.”

“Rocks are rocks.” Lina said, not noticing Trixie approaching an odd rock.

“Even the furry ones?” Trixie asked.

“Whoa, I’ve never seen anything like that.” Gourry said, noting the rocks with a purple-black fuzz all around them. “Is that comfy?”

“Let’s find out.” Trixie said.

Lina turned to face Trixie. “What the heck are you talking about?” Lina asked. “Trixie don’t!” she tried to warn the showmare, but her bottom had already seated itself.

The “stone” shifted, which sent Trixie jumping and screaming from her seat. “Ahhh!” she screamed.

The “stone” then blinked two eyes and screamed with a huge, gaping mouth. It then bounced into the denser foliage.

“What was that?” Trixie asked, exasperated.

“Trouble.” Lina said with a groan.

“But Lina, it ran away.” Gourry said.

The sorceress then held up her hand with her fingers extended and began to count backwards with them. Then there was a loud roar and a much larger version of the creature that had initially ran away. It was easily twice the size of the party put together, and it hopped into the clearing with them.

“I hate staying off the roads.” Lina said.

“Never fear!” Trixie said. “Your astute and diligent apprentice, Trixie will deal with this!” She channeled her magic until it changed to an orange color and threw it at the creature.

“Fireball!” Trixie yelled and launched an orange orb at the creature. The projectile then took the shape of a radish, complete with a stalk, before mildly exploding on the beast.

The creature rose what could be assumed to be an eyebrow on its hairy face/body, and then let out a huge roar complete with spittle at the former showmare.

“You idiot, that’s not how a fireball spell works at all! Lina said and then began an incantation aloud. “Source of all power. Light which burns beyond crimson, gather thy power in my hand. FIREBALL!”

Lina launched the spell with exploded violently on the creature. “That was a Fireball.”

“Trixie doesn’t get it.” She said. “She even followed through on your finesse.”

“Another lesson about spells.” Lina said. But before she could continue, the creature roared again. Smoldering bits of hair fell off and new hair bean to grow on the creature.

“I got this!” Gourry said and brandished the Sword of Light. He slashed at the create, taking more chunks of hair off, which only served in carpeting the area in fuzz.

“Quit giving it a haircut Gourry!” Lina yelled just before the creature launched itself at the group.

Trixie and Lina dove out of the way. “Alright, impromptu lesson Trixie, this here is exactly why you don’t just focus on one type of element in black magic. Burning it away didn’t work, so you’ve got to try something else.”

“Ice then?” Trixie replied, unsure. “Okay, uh…ICEBALL!?” she exclaimed and shot out a snowball at the beast, which crumbled as a normal one would be expected to.

“Freeze Arrow!” Lina yelled and sent a magical spear of ice at the fuzz creature. Frost appeared over a great section of its body, hairs became brittle from the cold.

“Hya!” Gourry cried as he followed in with another strike from his sword. It broke off a frozen section of the creature. But once again, the creature bean to regrow its hair, but its size was notably smaller.

“Well, that’s not that great either.” Lina said. “Gourry, stab it with the metal blade of your sword!”

But before the swordsman could make his move, the creature charged at Trixie with its furious furry mass, knocking her against a tree. Everything was a haze, and she only caught a brief glimpse of the battle while she tried to remain conscious as the battle continued.

Gourry stabbed at the creature, but then it began to pull Gourry in as well with his sword.

“Let go of your sword Gourry!” Lina said.

“But what if it gets sucked into it?” Gourry replied.

“We’ll get it back, just let go of it before it eats you!”

Trixie saw Gourry release his blade and Lina cast her spell. “Source of all power. Light which spans earth and sky. Gather thy power in my hands. Digger Volt!”

Electricity coursed all around the monster and moments later it exploded, leaving singed hair all about. Gourry went to retrieve his sword, and was mildly shocked when he touched the handle.

“What a mess.” Lina said. “Phppt! Eww, I’ve got hair in my mouth and hair in my….hair!”

Trixie slowly got to her feet, still regaining her bearings. “Ugh…my head.”

“Oh good, you’re still alive.” Lina said, continuing. “Well, at least you survived one of your biggest mistakes you could make as a novice.”

“Trixie doesn’t understand.” She said, putting a hand to her head from the pain. “She called out the spell after channeling her magic.

“That’s just it.” Lina said, taking a moment to spit out more fuzz. “The incantations are important to black magic. You can’t go on shouting…” she stopped and looked directly at Trixie with an evil look.

Lina thrust her hand towards Trixie yelling, “FIREBALL!”

Trixie’s eyes went as wide as saucers and she let out a loud screamed that sounded more like a whinny than an actual scream. She dove to the ground and ended up in a rather undignified position.

“See? Nothing without the proper words, Trixie.” Lina said.

“Oh…” Trixie said, regaining her composure and standing, just before the sound of hoof beats was heard.

“Hey look, our horses came back.” Gourry said. “The monster scared them off, but now they came back?”

The two horses stopped next to Trixie.

“Huh, maybe they heard that scream of yours and came running to help a mare in distress?” Lina said to Trixie.

“Ha ha.” Trixie said, bemused. Then one of the horses nuzzled her from the side. “Look buddy, the beautiful and single Trixie has standards, okay?”

Comments

[Blade Dancer]

oh yes a sequel !

[Glen Gorewood]

I have but one question.
Will Naga make an appearance?
I like it so far, not that I'm a critic or own every slayers season but the OVAs on DVD or anything..

Glen Gorewood

[Belligerent Bindlestiff]

8358384
Haha.
Man, I wish I had copies of the OVAs.
Naga, probably won't be making an appearance though, sadly. There might be other nods to the OVAs still

[Glen Gorewood]

8358552
They are hard to find, I should have purchased them at a convention I found all of the OVAs in English sub and dub at last year. But when I got back to the booth they were gone.

Aww, but will the box of tangerines make an appearance? What about Jellyfish, summoned jellyfish?
What if Trixie gained the ability to summon Jellyfish! She's already got the laugh down after all.

My apologies for my enthusiasm, I just really like Slayers.

Glen Gorewood