Slayers: Chaos

Chaos 23

Slayers: Chaos

Episode 023: Evasive! The Chimera Dilemma

Lina, Gourry, Xellos, Filia and Pokota made their way through the streets of Sairaag, looking every which way in hopes of seeing familiar faces. "Do you think they left town?" Pokota frowned.

Lina pouted, finding Amelia and Zelgadis was turning out to be quite the wild goose chase. "Let's look around town for a while and if we can't find them, I'll call Fang to sniff them out and teleport us straight to them." Filia opened her mouth to complain, but Lina's impatient look was so determined and deadly that she silently closed it again.

It was surprisingly Gourry who first spotted the familiar man whose face was covered hiding his identity. Yet in a place where people's faces were in plain view, the attire made him stand out just as much as his chimera condition would. "Hey Zel!" When Gourry called out to him, lifting his arm in a friendly waving gesture, the man in light colored clothing stiffened.

For a split second, Zelgadis looked like he was debating if he should look back or pretend he didn't hear. The latter choice won over and he quickened his pace, tightening his grip around the large shopping bag he carried in his arms. Several medicinal; herbs of various types and an assortment of fruits and bread peeked out from the top of the large bag. This was exactly what Zelgadis didn't want, for his closest friends to be involved in this dilemma.

"What's his problem?" Lina grumbled. She was sure that Zelgadis had heard Gourry calling him. Though his pause only lasted a split second, the perceptive redhead saw it. Zelgadis was definitely hiding something.

"Come back here!" Upset, Pokota rushed after Zelgadis who had made his way through the crowds in the street.

Seeing that Pokota had already taken off into a run, Lina, Gourry, Filia and Xellos followed him. Up ahead, Zelgadis dove into an alleyway. Pokota turned the corner, but found nothing but an empty dead-end at the space between the two shops. Of course, the Taforashia prince was not so easy to lose when he decided to give pursuit. "Levitation!" Pokota made it to the roof of one of the shops and sure enough, Zelgadis was speeding away, jumping from the roof of one building to the next. "Stop right there!" Pokota rushed after him.

The rest of the group followed Pokota. Lina paused, ready to cast a spell to help Gourry levitate to the roof, but he seemed to do well enough on his own, using the two close walls of the shop structures to jump from one to the other and propel himself upward to where Xellos and Filia had already reached. "Let's go Lina, or we'll lose them," he extended his hand to her.

Lina reluctantly jumped catching his outstretched hand and allowed Gourry to pull her up to the roof. He held her by the waist as soon as he had pulled her up high enough to reach and set her down on her feet. Lina wasn't sure what to say or do, until a loud noise caught her attention from further down the street. She hurried to the location where Zelgadis had jumped down and used a wind shamanistic spell aimed at the bare streets full of loose dirt that was lifted creating a sort of smoke screen.

Pokota was quick to dissipate the smoke screen with his own wind magic, but he didn't know in which direction Zelgadis had ran off to and the citizens of Sairaag had enough of the odd band of travelers that disturbed the peace of their town. With the people that occupied the streets giving Pokota and his companions nasty warning looks, Lina decided that it was best to end the chase there. The leader placed her hand on the prince shoulder and shook her head. "Let him go for now."

"But he's acting suspicious!" Pokota argued, but Lina was firm. Her look told him that she wasn't going to allow him to argue and if he did, he would have not only Zelgadis to deal with, but her as well.