| Slayers |
| Episode 22: Vice! The One Who Was Left Behind! |
| The eerie image of the building leading into Rezo's laboratory is seen, shaded in gloomy, foreboding light. The scene dives into it, through and down many stairs and passageways. The Slayers are still continuing on their journey to find the loweest chamber, and it seems that they weren't very successful. As they neared yet another staircase downward, the five of them stopped walking as Gourry decided to sit down out of exhaustion. "Lina, how deep is the laboratory?!" he asked. "How am I supposed to know?!" countered Lina. She clenched her fist in determination. "C'mon, we have to get down there before Rezo and Eris!" "But it's so deep!" Amelia commented. "We didn't get much of an idea of what Rezo's legacy is..." Lina admitted, "....but if it's hidden this deep, it's bound to be great!" She peered down the stairs. Zelgadis began continuing onward, his expression resolutely set. Gourry asked what Lina meant, and Lina explained that when things in laboratories got too powerful and important, then that's when and why you begin to build them so deep. Zelgadis added, as he continued downward, "In case whatever you're working on goes out of control, you can protect some of the surrounding area." Gourry grimaced. "Out of control?" he echoed. Zelgadis was almost not to be seen now, having gone down ahead of them. "It's pretty rare," he said. And then he was gone. Lina added to the story by telling of another deep laboratory she'd found before, the bottom of which she had only found one thing: the skeleton of a dead sorcerer, who had died of exhaustion from trying to dig too deep. While they'd been talking, Zelgadis, who had long since reached the next platform, cast a light spell, and illuminated the entire platform, showing doors that looked promising as the end of there journey. "There it is! There it is! There it is!" exclaimed Lina, as the four of them dashed down the stairs to catch up with Zelgadis and the lit-up platform. "All right, the deepest chamber!" Lina said resolutely as they became a group again. Ugly looking faces were on the walls, adding to the gloomy environment. "The decor's really in bad taste," Amelia commented accurately. "You're right," agreed Sylphiel. Lina got back to the task at hand. The main set of double-doors in front of them looked powerful and fancy. "Rezo's legacy must be in that room," Lina deduced, walking up to the doors. She took hold of the handles, with everyone watching, and announced that she was opening the doors. The others watched with curiosity and eagerness as she slowly opened the doors to the final room, and... "Treasure!" Lina exclaimed happily, closing her eyes as the doors opened wide enough to see inside of, but she suddenly let out a huge gasp. The others crowded around, wondering what was wrong. And let out gasps and disbelieving looks when they saw what Lina saw: another staircase. Everyone was very disappointed, and most pissed off of all was, of course, Lina. "What's with him?!" she raged. "Why would he put a door in front of it?!" "Because," Zelgadis spoke up, catching their attention, "Rezo built this. We should have been prepared for bad jokes like this." Lina realized that the platform they were on couldn't be the lowest chamber, then. "Apparently," agreed Gourry. Amelia pointed out something else: "Miss Lina, look. Another door." Everyone looked where Amelia was pointing, and indeed there was another, plainer-looking door that wasn't visible before when they came in due to its position. "Now what?" inquired Gourry. "Which do we take?" Lina crossed her arms in thought. "The logical choice would be to go down," she muttered out loud. "On the other hand, it could really be a trap! This is Rezo we're talking about, after all." "Equally, the other door could lead us into a dead end," added Zelgadis, analyzing the whole situation. "Either way," commented Lina, "I'm getting tired of climbing down these stairs!" Elsewhere, Rezo and Eris entered a room through their own passageways. Eris was leading the way, but Rezo stepped up as they neared a seemingly solid stone wall. He pressed down three stones in the correct sequence, and the secret doorway opened up perfectly. They continued onward silently for a moment, and then Eris spoke, chuckling, "With my knowledge of the interior of this laboratory, there's no way the others can catch up with us!" She added to that comment with the thought that she would be the one to activate Rezo's legacy. A dramatic picture of her resolution is shown at this point. The Slayers had stepped up to the alternate door, wondering what to do. Lina took hold of the handles on the doors. "What happens if there's another stairway in there?" asked Gourry. "I turn violent!" Lina decided. She swung open the doors with sudden force, but inside, there were no stairs. Just a room. "Looks like there's no stairway," Gourry commented. "All right, let's check it out!" decided Lina. Zelgadis suddenly looked back in alarm at the doors leading down the stairs that that they had left open before. Fire burst out of it ragingly fast in a furious explosion. The five of them all yelled in an alarm, hurriedly running into the room they were standing in front of, and shutting the door just as hurriedly behind them. "So, it was a trap," stated Zelgadis simply. Lina's expression told nothing. "Let's go," she said. The five of them continued onward through the "room", which turned out to be a very long passageway. Amelia commented on its length, and Zelgadis replied, "In a dungeon this deep, the builder designs it so that only he knows where all the convenient shortcuts are." Quite suddenly, they all came to a stop at the next obstacle, two identical further-leading passageways, one leading left and one leading right. "Oh, now I'm getting mad!" exclaimed Lina angrily. "Which way do we go?!" Gourry told her to calm down, and Lina did, slightly. "I know!" Lina exclaimed, turning back towards Amelia and Sylphiel. "You're both clerics, right? Can't you tell which way we're supposed to go?!" Amelia and Sylphiel looked at each other. "Well, that's easy to say, but..." Amelia began. She let Sylphiel step forward. "I don't know if it'll work," admitted Sylphiel, "but I'll give it a try." Sylphiel stepped up to right between the two passageways, and materialized a tool in front of her, a crystal ball that would presumably tell the right direction. She hovered her hands over it, and the others were enchanted by it. A tear fell from Sylphiel's eye, making Lina flustered and wondering if she'd done something wrong. Sylphiel turned to Lina apologetically. "I'm sorry, I just suddenly thought about my father," she explained. "Father gave me this rod. I was just praying for him to help me do this." Gourry, Amelia, and even Lina all were very touched by this, tears running down their cheeks. "Oh, Miss Sylphiel! You poor thing!" offered Amelia sympathetically. Zelgadis wasn't moved, unsurprisingly. Sylphiel started the process again, hovering her hands over the ball. "All right, let's try it again," she said. She removed her hands from the object, and let it fall to the ground on its own. It fell down towards the passageway on the left. "I sense something from that direction," Sylphiel said simply, pointing in the direction that the rod had fell. Lina was dumbfounded, even angry. "You mean...?!" she raged at Sylphiel. "It's just like letting a stick decide the way!" "Calm down, calm down," Gourry offered kindly again. And so the five of them continued the way Sylphiel's rod had fallen, Lina leading the way again, although her steps were noticeably skeptical. Finally, she reached the end of the passage. "So, what about this?" she asked triumphantly, gesturing at the solid stone wall they had reached. "Um, I, er..." Sylphiel mumbled, idly twiddling her fingers. Lina assumed the same hand postures. "Um, I, er..." she began in a mocking, feminine voice, "MY ASS! It's a dead end!" Sylphiel looked back sheepishly at the furious Lina. "Funny, isn't it?" she asked lamely. "Oh, hilarious!" Lina agreed sarcastically. "Come on, she didn't mean any harm," Gourry pointed out, trying to defend Sylphiel. Meanwhile, Amelia walked up to the stone wall, and there was a definite hollow sound when she knocked. Curious, she glanced at the empty candlestick-holder next to the wall, and touched it. The holder went into the wall, catching everyone's astonished attention, and the room began to shake, causing them to look around. And the wall in front of them indeed lifted up just as it was supposed to... Lina's attitude abruptly changed. She congratulated Sylphiel by slapping her on the back as if nothing had happened, and then continued onward again, leaving Sylphiel astonished as to what had just occured. "Changes moods at the drop of a hat," commented Gourry, walking up beside Sylphiel, "but she's not all bad." "I can see that," Sylphiel agreed, smiling a little. The five of them entered a new room after they'd apparently went down the length of the chamber, and it looked like a storage room of some kind judging by the appearance. "What's with this place?" asked Lina. "Looks like no one's used this room for ages," observed Zelgadis in reply. "What would a shortcut be doing in here?" asked Gourry. "Quit grumbling and look," Lina ordered, as the five of them moved as a group into the room. As they passed another shadow, Sylphiel pointed into a corner of the room. "What's that?" she asked, causing the others to look. Amidst the old rubble was the shadow of a creature of some kind. "A ghost!" Amelia exclaimed, scared. The others looked in out of curiosity. The scene zooms in on the figure, and soon it is not a shadow anymore, and is quite clearly seen to be... a chicken?! "Who are you?!" it demanded. "Who disturbs the sleep of the great Tiiba?" Yes, it looked very much like a chicken, the only visible differences being that it was talking, and that it was wearing a green vest-like thing. Gourry and Zelgadis glanced at each other. "What's with the chicken?" asked Gourry, confused. "Chicken?!" Tiiba demanded. "You dare call Tiiba of the Monster Race a chicken?!" He gestured at himself using one of his "wings", his feathers frilling out in anger. Gourry and Zelgadis exchanged a glance again. "Monster?" Zelgadis inquired. Tiiba was apparently very proud of this, for he went on about his "magnificent form". "Tell me what you see!" he demanded again, after bragging and turning himself about. "A chicken," Lina stated. "A chicken," Amelia seconded. "From every possible angle," Zelgadis added. "The chickenest-looking chicken I've ever seen," Gourry further added, his gaze rather blank. There was an awkward silence, at least, for the "monster". "And what do you think?!" Tiiba demanded of Sylphiel, who hadn't said a word. Sylphiel flinched a little in surprise, and then admitted, "A very pretty... chicken." She sweatdropped a bit. Tiiba let out somd kind of chiekn-like squawk, falling on the ground in a heap. "So, what are you doing here?" Lina asked, breaking the silence. Tiiba looked back at them all with hatred. "I have nothing to say to a bunch of beauty-blind idiots like you!" he boldly declared. "What...?" Lina half-smiled. "Elmekia Lance!" She hit Tiiba full-force with her spell. "So, what are you doing here?" Lina repeated as if nothing had happened, although Tiiba was now lying singed on his back. "Mr. Chicken?" "Lord Rezo summoned me to this lab to help with his research! Yes!" Tiiba admitted. He smiled. "They're spells that only a Monster would know, you know!" Zelgadis half covered his eyes, almost out of shame for what he was seeing. "You're the poorest excuse for a Monster I've ever seen," he said simply. "You sure he isn't a chicken?" asked Gourry, still dwelling on the previous conversation. Lina narrowed her eyes meanly. "If you helped Rezo with his research, then do you know where Rezo's legacy is?" she demanded. Tiiba thought about this. "Hm, I'd say that you're talking about that secret research Lord Rezo was working on years ago." "You don't know?" Lina asked in exasperation. Tiiba nodded. "Oh, for Pete's sake!" Lina muttered. "Tell us the quickest way to the bottom-most chamber," Lina ordered Tiiba. Tiiba, however, turned away resolutely. "I won't tell you!" he stated. "If you don't tell me..." Lina began dangerously, causing Tiiba to look worriedly at her. "...then I'll turn you into a fried chicken dinner!" she finished, holding knife and fork menacingly. "I'll tell! I'll tell!" exclaimed Tiiba desperately, cowering. Elsewhere again, Eris and Rezo continued along their secret route. Ahead of them in the darkness, pairs of red eyes stared back at them, revealed to be bizarre spectors of some kind. "Guardian Monsters, eh?" Eris commented. "We don't have time to fight these things!" The weird spectors started walking toward them... but Rezo told Eris to leave it to him. "You mustn't bother us," he ordered the monsters. Indeed, the specters fell back a little at his words. "Leave this place at once!" Rezo ordered. At his word, the monsters all disappeared without a trace. "Of course, all the monsters here were summoned by Rezo," Eris realized. "Come, let's hurry on ahead," Rezo said, and the two of them continued towards the legacy. Back down below, Tiiba led the Slayers back out of the door which they had originally entered the passageway through. "Well? Where's the shortcut to the laboratory?" Lina demanded. "Oh, yes! Right here!" Tiiba explained, as they got to the center of the room, which was surrounded by a circle. "This leads straight to the lab." He pointed downwards. "Huh? This does?" Gourry pondered. "Okay, climb aboard, Mr. Chicken," Lina said. Tiiba still struggled in vain: "Please! I'm a Monster, remember? My name is Tiiba-" Lina's expression turned meaner. "I asked you if we're all set to go, Mr. Chicken!" she demanded, powering up a blast in her hand. "All right! All right! Let's go!" Tiiba gave in, and in a flash of light, they all disappeared. They hurtled exceptionally fast through some weird portal, and then landed on a heap in a new chamber; if Tiiba hadn't lied, they had reached the lowest chamber. "We're here," Tiiba stated simply. Lina groaned, struggling to get up, and then noticed another set of double doors in front of them, the pattern blue and green. "So, Rezo's legacy is behind this door, huh?" Lina asked. They all got up, and Gourry pounded against the door, but to no avail. "Hey, it won't open!" he complained. "Well, it only opens for someone who possesses great magical powers," Tiiba explained. "If you need great magical powers, then it's my turn now," Lina declared. "After saying that," Zelgadis commented bluntly, "you're going to be very embarrassed if you can't open it." "Mind your own business," muttered Lina indignantly as she walked up to the doors. She assumed a specific posture, and then chanted the incantation: "Unmoving doors, by my magic powers, open yourselves to me!" After she finished, a green light extended from the door, supposedly taking her magical energy, and the doors opened perfectly with Lina still in that posture. Her four companions all got happy expressions on their faces, even Zelgadis, exclaiming that it had worked. "Piece of cake!" Lina bragged. The five of them, followed by Tiiba, entered an absolutely colossal room. "Man, I've never seen a lab as big as this one," Lina commented, them looking tiny in only one corner of the laboratory. "It's going to be difficult to find Rezo's legacy in here," Zelgadis put in. "Hey, Chicken!" Lina demanded. "You have any idea where Rezo's legacy is?" Tiiba shook his head. "Oh, no. Lord Rezo never let me in on exactly what his research was." "Really?" Lina narrowed her eyes. "You REALLY don't know?" "You don't trust anyone, do you?" Tiiba muttered, holding his wing in front of him instinctively. "I don't want to end up as fried chicken- I mean as fried demon! I swear I'm telling you the truth!" "Then can I ask you what sort of research he was doing here?" demanded Lina, frustrated. Tiiba raised one wing. "Something involving fighting a powerful Monster, apparently." "F-Fighting a Monster?" asked Amelia, surprised. Lina thought about it, catching everyone's attention. "Rezo resurrected Shabranigdo to try and cure his blindness, right? Now, he wasn't expecting him to be reborn in his own body... meaning he was expecting him to be reborn somewhere else." A flashback ensued, showing Rezo being taken over by Shabranigdo. "If he let Shabranigdo run loose-" Lina began, after the short scene had ended. "-the world would be destroyed," Zelgadis finished. "So he was looking for a way to destroy Shabranigdo." "Right," agreed Lina. "It's not strange that he'd get ready to go after the Dark Lord in a stand-up fight." They deduced that the entire laboratory had been devoted to researching to prepare for the battle with Shabranigdo. "Hey, Sylphiel, could you do what you did before and find Rezo's legacy?" Lina asked. "I'll try," replied Sylphiel, concentrating on the objects. Finally, she spoke up: "Miss Lina, that ornament!" exclaimed Sylphiel, pointing at a pink stuffed bear on one of the shelves. "That thing?!" exclaimed Lina in disbelief. There was a pause... "Isn't it cute?" inquired Sylphiel, causing everyone to fall over. "Who cares if it's cute?!" Lina shot back. Sylphiel explained that everything in the room had a lot of magical power, and so she couldn't even begin to tell which one was Rezo's legacy. "Well, that's no excuse for acting like an idiot in here!" Lina shouted at her. Gourry grabbed Lina, telling her to calm down again, but this time with a lot more difficulty. "We'll have to check everything in here," Zelgadis stated "Looks that way," Amelia agreed. "Whatever, let's get to it," Lina muttered, breaking out of Gourry's hold. The five of the them got to work, trying to check over every item in the laboratory. Although they found lots of weird, erratic items, none of them could be the legacy... Meanwhile, Tiiba slunk off by himself down some other path through the huge laboratory. Sylphiel noticed him going off somewhere, and, curious, followed after him. "Mr. Chicken?" she whispered under her breath. Tiiba reached one of the far walls; there were two odd-looking masks hanging on the wall. Tiiba reached up and took one of them down.... "What's Mr. Chicken doing?" Sylphiel pondered. "This should do it," Tiiba muttered, and put the mask on. After he put it on, blue light immeidately started shining from it, as if the union was drawing on some greater power. Sylphiel gasped in surprise as Tiiba morphed into a very large, fierce-looking chicken. Sylphiel moved back a little in alarm, accidentally kicking something. Tiiba, now huge and menacing, turned around and looked at her with fierce eyes. "So, you saw," he stated simply. "Gourry!" Sylphiel shrieked in alarm. "Sylphiel!" Gourry said resolutely, hearing Sylphiel's cry. He hurried off in Sylphiel's direction. Sylphiel cowered under the now much-larger chicken between more endless shelves. "Sylphiel!" Gourry greeted her quickly. Sylphiel clutched him for support. Lina, Zelgadis, and Amelia appeared close behind. "Who's this guy?" asked Lina. "Um, it's Mr. Chicken," Sylphiel whispered hesitantly. Tiiba chuckled menacingly, crossing his wings. "Now you behold my true form!" "What?!" Lina exclaimed with some fear. "That chicken is...?!" Zelgadis edged forward a little. "Then what was wrong with you before?" he asked. Tiiba explained that his power had been sealed by Rezo previously into the mask when he had been summoned forth. "That seal was the form you saw before," he concluded. "And now that I have this mask back... I won't let any of you have Rezo's legacy. No! I will allow no human to possess any research which can be used against my people!" With that said, Tiiba abruptly hovered up into the air, flapping his wings to send thousands of streaks of light to attack them like needles and pins. The Slayers all shielded themselves defensively. After blocking, Lina resumed her position and fired a Digger Bolt spell a Tiiba, striking him head-on and causing a cloud of smoke to billow up. Although Amelia thought it had worked, Tiiba revealed himself to be unaffected. He chuckled under his breath. "You'd be well-advised not to underestimate my power!" he declared confidently. "Why, you big, overgrown chicken...!" Lina insulted him fiercely. Tiiba laughed again, unfazed, and then flew up into the air to resume his attack. This time, the blasts all caused explosion when they hit the ground, causing the Slayers to duck for cover again. "Hey! No fair!" Amelia complained to the levitating Tiiba. "Why don't you quit hovering up there and come down?!" Tiiba complied to her request eagerly and without hesitation. This threw Amelia off track, who admitted sheepishly, "Um, I really didn't want you to come down here..." "Take this!" Tiiba shouted, firing another barrage of difficult-to-dodge attacks. It seemed that the five of them could do nothing but try to dodge the attacks. "Lina! Don't go for him head-on!" warned Gourry. "Thanks for the tip!" Lina replied. Tiiba had flew up into the air in a frenzy again, firing more and more blasts. "I can't cast a Dragon Slave underground like this!" Lina thought frantically. "What do I do?!" Due to the amount of blasts, Lina wasn't able to even chant the incantation to a spell. Meanwhile, Gourry charged towards Tiiba with his sword. He swung the sword downward, but he wasn't able to hit the demon at all. Tiiba laughed at him. "I'll finish this right now!" the demon declared, firing a huge blast with his wings. It sent the Slayers all sprawling in a heap... Tiiba walked up to them triumphantly; the tables appeared to have turned. "I think you underestimate us, Chicken!" Zelgadis spoke up. "DON'T CALL ME CHICKEN!" Tiiba raged, furious at still being made a fool of. "Chicken!" Zelgadis taunted, getting ready for a spell. "Chicken!" Lina added, charging up a spell of her own. Tiiba got more and more angry, charging up for a powerful attack. "I'm going to try a Ra Tilt," Zelgadis announced. "Then I'll try an Elmekia Lance," Lina added. "Let's do it!" At that moment, a stone slab fell from its place on the wall, hitting Lina squarely on the head and sending her to the ground. The tablet began to glow strangely, and it sent Tiiba into a panic for some reason. "Don't touch that!" he yelled, attacking suddenly. However, a force field acted up immediately, preventing his attack from reaching him at all. "You don't suppose...?" Lina pondered, staring at the tablet with its odd shape and strange symbols. "This is...!" "Oh, no!" Tiiba cried. "I don't believe it!" The demon raged. "How could it just fall into your hands?!" He shielded himself. "Looks like I got the prize!" Lina laughed, holding the glowing tablet in front of her. "Even your attacks can't break through Rezo's legacy!" "That's Rezo's legacy?" asked Zelgadis. "That stone tablet?" "Rezo's legacy?" Amelia added. "That's...!" Sylphiel wondered. Tiiba cowered under the power illuminating from the legacy, which Lina held while chanting the incantation: "Light! Gather within me and become a flash! Smash the abyssmal darkness apart!" A ball gathered into her hand, and then she fired the spell: "ELMEKIA FLAME!!!" She threw the spell at Tiiba, and it completely hacked off one of his arms. He stumbled in pain. "Zel! Amelia! Now!" Lina glanced behind her. Amelia and Zelgadis both chanted the incantation to the Ra Tilt together. After they finished the very long incantation, they fired a double Ra Tilt at Tiiba, completely destroying him. Tiiba screamed in agony as he was incinerated. Amelia and Zelgadis both clenched their fists in triumph. Then, each seeing the other was doing it, abruptly stopped their awkward display. "Is this stone tablet really Rezo's legacy?" asked Gourry, peering at it in Lina's hands. "Who cares how it looks?" Lina asked. "What matters is what these runes say!" There was deep laughter above them. Familiar laughter. "That isn't the true power of the tablet." "Huh?" Lina muttered, and then suddenly gasped in total shock as the tablet just flew out of her hands into the air. To their surprise, it zoomed across the whole room - and into Eris's hands. She and Rezo were standing in the doorway, having made a very good entrance indeed. The situation was bleak. "At last, it's mine!" Eris gloated. "Lord Rezo's legacy... The manuscript of the Claire Bible! At last... At last, it's mine!" She lifted the tablet above her head in total triumph, and beside her, Rezo smiled. |
| Overall Episode: 22 |
| Episode 2 of Video 7 |
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