<Alex.... hey mate, it’s time to wake up.>
     <I don’t wanna wake up now. Just give me five more minutes.>
     Silence, which was rudely interrupted by something cold and stony touching his thigh. His eyes were open in a flash and his right fist was colliding with the stone solid skin of Zelgadis Greywords. Big mistake, since blood issued from the nice breaks in the skin of his knuckles a moment later.
     “Nice to see you’re awake,” Zel said, his voice alerting Alex to his precise location since there was no light, “I wouldn’t recommend punching me again unless you’re using the Visfarenk spell.”
     “Be glad I’m not Lina,” Alex said, rubbing his bruised and broken knuckles, “otherwise you’d be toast.”
     “I heard that,” Lina said from off to his right. A very weak light spell came into existence a moment later, illuminating the sorceress supreme and some around her. Alex blinked a few times, since something seemed different about her, about everyone. Then it dawned on him; they were all naked. Not just naked, but bald and naked.
     “Before you start freaking out,” Mackenzie said from his left, “they dragged us here, stripped us naked, shaved us bald, and then used some sort of cream to keep our hair from growing back. Then came the hundred and one injections and some collars to keep our powers from manifesting.”
     “This is the best that any of us can do,” Lina said, nodding towards the light spell, “this is incredibly taxing, and yet the spell is so dim.”
     “I told you that you would be my slaves,” Tormaline’s voice boomed a moment later. Blinding light flooded the room following the voice, and when everyone regained their vision they could see Tormaline standing atop a tower of sorts, guards flanking him. “It was so nice of you to try to kill me,” he said sarcastically, “but I had a mission that even a setback like that couldn’t stop.”
     Alex stood, hate blazing in his eyes. He held his right arm towards Tormaline with the palm facing the ground, a magic circle forming beneath him and spiraling in a clockwise direction, an unseen wind blowing through the room, giving people goose bumps.
     “Alex, are you trying to kill yourself?!” Jubilee said, “He’s got your chaos emeralds and power rings and Lina’s talismans, all of our power items, and Gourry’s sword to boot.”
     “I don’t think he’s listening to you chica,” Angelo said, “I could feel it from the minute I met him, but I wasn’t sure until now, that he is one of the strongest in the group. His magic and will are strong, so have some faith in his spells.”
     “But he usually uses the emeralds for something this strong.”
     “Though I agree with you about this, I think our leader has cracked,” Andrew said.
     Alex’s chant filled the air a moment later, the energy sending chills up and down people’s spines.
 “....I command the celestial gates to be opened. Unleash the crushing blow of destiny!”
     Tormaline arched an eyebrow, noting how worn out the spell caster began to look without even have fired off the spell. “You’ll never hit me,” he taunted, pulling down his eyelid and sticking his tongue out. The energy that crackled around Alex solidified into a single black globe with a seemingly smooth exterior, waves of gold and crimson rippling through it.

     No matter how many times she had seen this spell cast, Lina couldn’t help but stare in awe at the perfection of everything pulling together moments before the command words were spoken and everything returns to being chaotic. She felt a momentary lapse of weakness before she redoubled her efforts in maintaining her little light spell.

     Zelgadis could feel goose bumps rising on his stone skin, though he wasn’t sure how that was possible. In the time it takes to blink the collar around his neck was gone and a protection spell was cast around all those in the proximity of the spell.

     Tormaline looked at Alex with some doubts in his mind. Could he actually block this spell? It was like nothing he had ever seen before in his life, and the words were new to him. Was this a new type of magic that was being used by this caster? It felt like it was on a level above that of the Giga Slave or the Ragna Blade, but how was that possible? The troops were starting to feel uneasy with a person casting a spell, especially of this magnitude. The power generated by the spell was already breaking down the collars his subjects wore, freeing them and their powers, and giving him a larger headache by the minute.
     “Nightmare...” Alex shouted, bringing the sphere before his body, one palm on each side of it. The gold and crimson ripples congealed in a central point, pulsing like the beat of a heart. “Fury!” he finished, a large mass of darkness bursting forth, spreading out, each tendril forming some kind of nightmarish figure. These nightmares attacked Tormaline, most being scattered off to the sides where they attacked the soldiers, tearing them down until little remained. When the spell ceased Tormaline was by himself, the jewel from his crown laying at his feet half eaten. A look of sheer horror and disgust sat frozen on his face as he blinked at the panting spell caster below. His lips moved for a minute, words unable to form. Finally he said, “You... you’re not human. No human could possibly pull something of that magnitude off while wearing an inhibitor collar.”
     “You’re absolutely right,” Alex said, getting an expression on his face that looked a lot like Xellos’, “I’m not human. I’m a half elf. Half dark elf to be exact.”
     “Which means his magical output is about 300% greater in a stressful situation,” Andrew said, “meaning he can kick your ass into next week!”
     Tormaline chuckled evilly and a cold chill went down everyone’s spines. Alex blinked a few times, his mouth opening in awe, since right now Tormaline’s power reading was twice his max and still rising. The agent of evil noticed Alex’s expression and said, “I take it you’re impressed? Well, there’s more where this comes from.”
     ‘We are so dead,’ ran through Mackenzie’s mind as he looked at how Alex was reacting and how still the others remained, ‘we can’t beat him... and if we can then there will have to be great sacrifices.’
     From a side door stepped Ryoko, dressed in a princess type gown of a soft crimson material that fit to all of her contours. Her hair was pulled back by a band of the same shade of red, and in her eyes there was no sign of the usual anger and intensity that there usually was.
     “Darling, why are you here?” Tormaline asked, turning to face her.
     Ryoko simply folded her hands before her body and said, “Well... I wanted to know what you were doing that would keep you from me for so long.”
     “DARLING?!" several people said at once, “When did *this* happen?!”
     “Silence!” Tormaline said, gaining the desired result a second later. He turned to Ryoko and said, “Come, let us away from these.... mules, and make happy love in the bath.”
     “Who are you calling a mule?!” Lina grumbled as the pair walked off, “HEY! Come back here and let me hit you with a Dragon Slave!”
     “Calm down Lina,” Gourry said, walking over to the smaller group. He looked different without his long blonde hair, and his blue eyes seemed sadder than usual, “I know that unless we get free than we’re all doomed.”
     “Why not just use a Dragon Slave and blast our way out?” Amelia asked. She too looked very odd with no hair.
     “I tried that already,” Lina grumbled, turning around to show a burn mark on her posterior, “for one my power was insufficient, and for another the wall reflects common spells.”
     “And for a third think about who we’re dealing with,” Zelgadis said. Somehow they managed to shave his head, probably with wire cutters. “Tormaline’s plans are frightening to think about.”
     A sigh rose collectively from the people in the room as they shuffled about to talk in smaller groups and find out who was there and who was still on the outside. From time to time a new body or two was tossed into the room and the process began anew in explanations when they awoke. They were given meals at times, though it was below par and only the hungriest sampled it.
     When “night” fell and the lights in the room were dimmed a single and very solitary figure entered the room on the floor level. She searched for one person, and eventually found him curled up next to Zelgadis, his head resting on the chimera man’s shoulder.
     “Alexander,” she whispered to the figure, “time to wake up Phase.”
     Alex blinked and came face to face with Ryoko, her golden eyes filled with a devilish grin. A light spell formed above his head, and he yawned before saying, “Don’t call me Alexander. And just how did you find out my old mutant designate?”
     “Tormaline’s vast database,” she whispered, “Washu taught me how to hack computers and stuff, and his system was a cinch to break into.”
     Zelgadis mumbled something and rolled over, one arm circling Alex’s midsection in a gentle embrace. A warm blush spread over his face, which he shook off before saying, “What type of info did you bring me?”
     “One, that you should be careful since they plan to take you to the nether realm and sell you to the highest bidder. Two, that your abilities will come in handy to almost everyone in that realm, and that your power items will bring a hefty price on the gold market. Three, that you’re all so pumped full of drugs that you won’t be the same for quite some time.”
     “Anything else?” he sighed, scratching his head, tears filling his eyes when he recalled that he was now bald.
     “Nothing major. If you really have to you’ll be able to use Star Power to transform, but use it in an extreme emergency only.”
     She kissed him on the forehead before she left, silence and darkness returning. He turned and resettled himself so that he could rest his head on Zel’s stomach, which felt incredibly warm and soft though made of stone.

     Outside of the mansion complex a certain violet haired mazoku priest hovered, one leg crossed over the other, a smile on his face. Unopened eyes viewed all that happened below, and a chuckle came from him.
     “So, young warrior of the stars,” he said, “the Demon Queen is helping you. Well, I, Xellos Metallium, shall also be by your side come the time for the final battle.”
     His cape billowed out behind him as a gentle breeze filled the air. A moment later Celia Chere Briggs appeared next to him, her red - gold hair trailing out behind her. She smiled at the mazoku priest and said, “So, Xellos, when does this climactic battle take place?”
     Xellos began to say his famous line, but Celia grabbed his finger, pulled back on it, and said, “None of that secret business. You tell me NOW or else I’ll make you sorry.”
     Xellos mock pouted and said, “The battle will happen very soon, and we will be ready.”