Chapter 15

Amelia handed Zelgadis and Valgarv the extra copies of the song they were going to perform. They both skimmed through the words sung and the notes at the same time and replied,

"This is corny . . ."

"What the hell is this crap?" Val gave the rich girl a vague look.

"What's wrong with it?" A large pulse appeared by Amelia's head, signaling an angry short girl. Zelgadis shook his head unbelievingly, continuing to reading.

" . . . . It's . . . too . . . ." He wavered the hand holding the song, finding the word to describe his opinion. "Too . . . . hmmm . . . ."

"Happy?" Lina suggested.

"Corny." Zelgadis said. Valgarv looked up from the paper thinking perhaps he should think the idea over before his style was completely ruined. There was no way in gods' name he will sing the words of the song. He turned to Aya regretfully,

"Change that to eighty dollars."

Somehow things worked out well and Zelgadis was convinced by Amelia to take part as the guitarist. He didn't have it as bad as Valgarv, since he had to actually sing the words. Plus he was the only guy vocalist in the band. Xellos was switched to bass and the two new members learned the piece quickly, with very low enthusiasm, coming from them. Graywords and Angon disliked seeing each other from the start of the practice, since they've always been enemies. With Valgarv bullying Zelgadis and him striking back many times in the past, the two had a void, an 'X' blocking or whatever you'd like to call it. During break time, Zelgadis continued learning the guitar part, which was developing very well. Valgarv glared disgustedly and grabbed an extra electric guitar, beside the stage step and worked his fingers along the strings. His arm and wrists were aching painfully, but the feeling was ignored. All heads turned away from Zel to the upbeat sound of another player. The blue skinned teen responded a competition and put the song aside, creating his own tune. Lina and Gourry, who was still sitting on the drum chair snacking on a large caramel chocolate bar, Filia, Amelia and Aya rotated their glances left to right as the two competitive boys showed of what they got with the instrument in their skilled hands.

"Are we (mogu, mogu) starting already (mogu, mogu)?" Gourry finished the junk food and threw the wrapper behind him. He picked up his drum sticks, twirled them around with his fingers and slammed on the drums with a full stoke at first, gradually turning to strong taps and randomness. The sudden pounding made the girls jump from their seats and fall off from the stage, though the guitarists proceeded.

"You jellyfish brains!! We're----"

"Maa, maa, hotoite agemashyo (Let them be.)." Xellos said calmly with his hands covering Lina's mouth. He seemed to enjoy watching fights in action. The red head was about to protest, but pouted instead. Xellos was soon not the only one who wanted the fight to continue. The beating of Gourry's drum gave the two competitors a rhythm to follow and the heavy metal music began to flow. After one of them got their chance in solo, the other would play one step higher than the last and so the sound kept rising. The four could see sparks flying across the room, not from the cords or electricity, but from the radiant gold and deep blue eyes of Valgarv and Zelgadis. Right when they were ready to blow the glasses apart, two plastic bowls carrying leftover potato chip crumbs smacked the two guys on the head. They immediately stopped and yelled churlishly at the girls.

"What the hell did you do that for!?" Valgarv kicked the bowl beside him and missed his target by a mile.

"Break time's over pal, it's time to practice." Lina ordered while speaking in the microphone. Zelgadis picked out the crumbs stuck in his hair, mumbling something to himself.

"Didn't we start a while ago?" Gourry asked a little puzzled.

"No," Filia said, "That was just them trying to pass the time."

"But that's weird." Amelia wondered and tilted her head, "I though Valgarv said he couldn't play the guitar because he was still injured." Aya walked toward the biker, covered in thin layers of sweat, huffing.

"Karada Daijobu (Is your body ok)?"

"Hmph." She lightly tapped on his side chest, where a bandage is wrapped.

"TE-----------------------E (A---h)!!!" Angon fell to his knees and gripped the place Aya touched. "Bakayarou (Idiot)!! Iteena (That hurt)!!"

"Gomenasai, gomenasai (Sorry 2x)!!"

"Oooooh you poor baby." Xellos chuckled rather loudly. A flying guitar to the face made him stop, though, and left a red mark across his nose.

Tuesday, after school, the circle of friends didn't go to Amelia's place to practice as usual. They all met at a dark part of the city, where they've never been or seen before. Valgarv waited for them near a street lamp, crossing his arms calmly. Most of them still couldn't believe they were actually going to go through this deal just to have the biker in their band. We're they that crazy? Aya explained what he's been through and it shocked them all to hear his story. Maybe they were helping not just because of the Talent Show, but for his sake. Zelgadis carried his sword in the shaft, which was held by his brown belt. Gourry had a sword as well, which he borrowed, or rather took, from his dad's weapon collection and Lina's fists were wrapped in special white bandages used in Kickboxing. Filia just had her handy mace, Xellos had nothing, from what the others could see and same for Aya. Amelia hid behind an alley, nearby with a cell phone and an extra mace Filia lent. This one was light enough for her to lift and whack anyone with the same impact of Filia's original mace. They all stood, nervously by the lamp post. The city was ebony and the artificial lights were the only things to keep the darkness from reaching them. It was a summer night, but the coolness and unpredictable atmosphere brought chills to the teenager's backs. Fall night described it best. Abruptly, a figure in the dark kicked a beer can down the unfilled street of trash. Just as Val presumed, Black Death was in the area and armed, as always. Hopefully, the leader was the only one with the gun. Valgarv recognized most whom were involved in the fight, especially the ones with bandages around parts of their bodies. Greth strode toward the last Hell's Angel, smirking wickedly from the shadows.

"We meet again, Hellbrat."

"Hmph." He and the others readied their positions to fighting stance. The leader cracked. He took the last puff of his cigarette and signaled his group to surround the opponents.

"If you had a brain, you would've disappeared from this city . . . Oh well, the more deaths the better, right?" His rough fingers let the half burning cigarette slip and fall to the ground. The object touched the cement road and the two separate teams attacked. Chains and knives were revealed from under the Black Death's biker coat. Zelgadis swiftly danced side to side from contact with their weapons. The four of them grew agitated from missing their target. The blue skinned teenager frowned and drew his sword horizontally, followed by up and down slices. The chains were shattered to pieces and the knives broke in two. Their jackets and shirts were slit in a curve, nearly touching their skin. Valgarv was not doing as well as his last fight, because of his injury, but he managed to knock out two men with his left arm. Filia was going wild with her lethal weapon and swung each member anywhere she pleaded. Most would be imitating a hyper ping-pong ball while the others shot through walls, flew out of site into the starry night or fell unconscious. Gourry stayed close to Lina, even though she was literally kicking the Black Death mummies. He worked the ancient sword as if he took sword fighting since he was a little baby. The moves were too quick for normal eyes to see. Every person the blade touched fell to the ground, unable to move. Aya, who seemed to be dancing rather than fighting, swirled flatés, flips and uppercuts mixed, yet organized precisely. She was interrupted when Xellos was running away from five other opponents. She and her opposition watched the silky black haired teen fleet hastily.

"What are you trying to do Xellos?" The girl called out. Xellos screeched to a stop and jumped upon the giant square trash can. He took out a mini CD player from his baggy, denim jeans and turned the stereo 'ON'. The mysterious student cleared his throat and inhaled deeply to sing, as the familiar music began to play. Lina trembled in fear,

"No . . . it can't be!"

"What? What's going on?" Gourry asked as he put down another enemy. Xellos was happy as can be and danced around on the dumpster.

"Ne, Imama de----, kimi no ita bashou wa. Douna fuu ni suteki data no? Un, sou da ne, kimi no koto dakara. Seiippai, kenage ni ikite kitan darou?" Filia screamed and took out her acrimony on one of the Black Death teammate who just so happened to be right beside her. Zelgadis' eyes popped out and shriveled agonizingly to the ground. "Atarashi sekai sorosoro ikaga desu? Boku to ishyou ni te to tsunaide saa, tobikomimashyou!" The biker gang's ears were quickly covered with anything that could remove the song from their head.

"The . . . horror . . . " One biker fell to his knees and cried, pounding his fists to the ground. Another smashed his head against the brick wall and shouted,

"NOOOOO!!! It's true!! My nightmare came true!! That damn horoscope was right!!"

"If his nightmare came true, we must all be the same sign as him." The red head teenager grumbled. Aya, however, joined Xellos on the dumpster, singing and dancing n'sync with each other.

"Come on, let's go! Zetai daijobu! Are you ok? Kito daijobu, hoshyou wa choto dekinai keredo . . . But! Saki no, mienai ashita, totemo waku, waku dashi. Sukoshi kurai bouken shimashyo----! Date, a - na - ta bouken sukideshyo?"

"Make . . . it . . . stop . . ." Greth and Valgarv said, with their line nearly reaching insanity. Xellos and Aya finished their duet with a stunning pose. By the time they were finished the song, everyone except for the defeated Black Death members, Lina, Filia, Gourry, Zelgadis, Valgarv, Greth and the newly arrived Amelia, were out of site. Amelia threw the mace down and wiped the sweat away from her head.

"I think that was the last of them." Her face switched from Xellos and Aya to the others, who looked as if they were ready to die. "Let me guess, Xellos sang 'But But But'?" They all nodded their weak heads. The two figures hopped off the rusty dumpster and entered the light of the lamp post.

"Why don't you like that song? It's very catchy and . . . cool!" Xellos smiled happily. Filia answered,

"Sung by Xellos Metallium."

"Need we say more?" Zelgadis shook his head and replaced his cutlass in the shaft. Before anyone could say anymore, two gunshots were fired. The friends snapped and turned to the leader, Greth, holding the gun. Valgarv froze coldly in terror. Aya's eyes were teary, her lips attempted to smile through the awful pain. The bullets stabbed her back. She fell into the young man's arms silently. Her body lifeless and light as feather. This time, he did not have the rain to hide his tears. The leader aimed to his next victim,

"Let me put you out of your fucking miserable life." His finger was nearly pulling the trigger, until another shot was fired from behind. Greth gasped surprisingly. The weapon dropped, as did the body. Not far away was a fairly tall lady with a hairstyle drastically similar the Xellos', covering her eyes, wearing a police uniform holding a gun in her hand. Behind her were team squads of policemen and cars, flashing red and blue lights.

"Onechan (Big sister)!" Lina exclaimed. Amelia waved to the lady,

"Thank you so much for coming Luna-san!"

"No trouble, my part time waitress job was over a few hours ago anyways." The policewoman put her gun away and told the men to take the bodies away into the ambulance truck. The sudden outburst of Valgarv astonished the group,

"You fucking bastards!! How can you be so calm when one of your friend was killed!?"

"Val . . . " The girl, who was supposed to be dead, softly whispered and touched his wet cheeks. Angon almost fainted, thinking she was a ghost or he was illusonating. His words stuttered as he talked and embraced at the same time,

"Oh my god! Aya . . . but . . . How did you? . . . . what happened . . . ?" She gently pulled away from the young teen and showed underneath her light, hooded jacket a bullet proof vest.

"Courtesy of Miss. Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune." Few strands of hair fell out of place in anime style as he glanced from Amelia to Aya. Then Lina, Xellos, Gourry, Zelgadis and Filia. They all had their bullet proof vests on, hiding inside their shirts. The next thing the blue haired girl felt was an aching headache pounding inside from Val.

"You little . . . . b ------------ brat!!" Xellos scratched his head confusingly,

"Are you sure it's not 'bitch' not 'brat'?" The blonde girl slammed the mace on the annoyance of all living things.

"Hearing you sing was bad enough, Namagomi." Aya drooped and stared at the floor guilty, not knowing what she should do.

"I'm very sorry I didn't tell you Valgarv, but I had to pretend I was dead or . . ." The turquoise maned man sighed and eyed his golden iris to her crystal blue pair,

"Don't scare me like that." Somehow he managed a smile.