"Our ship was attacked by the Dred Pirate Rodimus," Gourry told her as they tramped through the Gassy Swamp. He drew his sword, and started hacking away at vines blocking the trail. "And what I told you about my saying please was true. The pirate guy was surprised, and kept me onboard at a deck hand. For a long time, he would always say, 'Good work Gourry, I'll probably kill you in the morning.'" He chopped down a huge vine stretched acrossthe trail. "He said that for probably five years. Then he took me to his cabin, and told me something strange, and I still don't think I understand it."

"What'd he say?" Lina asked, hoping the jellyfish remembered.

"He said," Gourry started. "He said, 'I am not the Dred Pirate Rodimus.'" The vines started to clear away a bit, so he put his sword away.

Lina frowned at him. "Are you sure? The Dred Pirate Rodimus has been around here for twenty years!" she said.

"Like I said, I still don't really get it. But I think the thing is, the guy who I thought was the Dred Pirate Rodimus inherited the title from another guy, who wasn't the real pirate either. And the guy he got it from wasn't the real Dred Pirate either. As a matter of fact, according to the guy, Rodimus retired twenty years ago and's living like a king," Gourry told her.

"Really?" Lina asked. "Wow. Talk about a big conspiracy."

"So," Gourry went on. "We docked in, and got a whole new crew. The guy stayed on as first mate, calling me Rodimus all the time, 'till the crew all knew me as the Dred Pirate Rodimus."

Lina nodded, and said, "I suppose it's the name that counts." She smiled. "I doubt anyone would surrender to the Dred Pirate Gourry."

Gourry laughed, and pushed past a curtain of vines, Lina right behind him. Suddenly, from somewhere around them, they heard a strange sqeaking noise. Gourry half-drew his sword, and looked around urgently. When nothing leaped out at them, he relaxed.

It was just then that a geyser of green gas billowed up from the ground right in front of where Lina was standing. Lina staggered backwards, coughing awfully, one hand over her mouth, the other around her stomache.

"What is it, Lina?" Gourry asked her concernedly.

Lina pointed at where the geyser was, still coughing, and said, "That stuff--" cough "--reeks!"

Gourry sniffed at the air, and grimaced. It smelled worse than rotten eggs, mixed with mayonaise kept in the summer heat for a week. He coughed a few times, and said, "Maybe that's why they call this the Gassy Swamp?"

"You think?" Lina asked sarastically. Her coughing eased up, and she stood up again.

"So," Gourry said after they had walked a bit. "Could you explain the whole Dred Pirate thing over to me? I can't make any sense of it!"

Lina rolled her eyes, and refrained from kicking him. She instead walked in front of him along the faint trail. After only three steps, she fell through the ground into a deep pit of Flash Sand. Flash Sand acted in much the same way quick sand did, except it used air instead of water, and was much, much faster.

Gourry stared. One minute Lina had been there, the next she was gone. He looked at the ground, and saw that one patch of earth was different that the rest. He looked around urgently. He grabbed a thick vine, and steeled himself for what he was about to do. He took a deep breath, held it, and dove in after Lina.

The vine went taut. There was still no sign of Gourry or Lina. Just past the Flash Sand pit went a huge frog. It was about two feet tall and nearly twice as wide, and bright pink with purple spots. It hopped out of sight, and around a corner.

Suddenly, Gourry burst out of the Flash Sand, using the vine as a rope to pull himself out. Lina held onto him around his neck, clinging to him tightly. When they emerged, they started coughing from their lack of breath, and from the smell of the Flash Sand.

Gourry dragged them away from the pit, and they collapsed onto steady ground. Gourry held Lina against his chest, both of them breathing deeply. They were covered from head to foot in very clingy sand.

"Lina," Gourry gasped. "Are... you... Okay?"

Lina nodded, and said between breaths, "Fine... You?"

"Great," Gourry said.

Lina let herself relax against Gourry's chest. "We're not going to make it out alive," she said, shaking her head.

Gourry stroked her hair, and said, "Sure we are. What are the three dangers of the Gassy Swamp?"

"The Gas Geysers," Lina told him.

"No problem," Gourry said. "They squeak before they erupt."

Lina nodded, and said, "The Flash Sand."

Gourry smiled, and said, "You found out what that looks like, and now we can avoid that too!"

"Well," Lina said. She reluctantly pushed herself to her knees. "What about the F.O.U.S's?"

"Huh?" Gourry asked, sitting up as well.

Lina looked at him, and said, "The Frogs of Unusual Smells!"

"Oh, those," Gourry said. He shook his head, and told her, "I don't think they exist."

Just as he said that, something huge and pink jumped down on him from above, knocking him backwards. Gourry gasped, and tried to shove it off, but its skin was slimy and his hands just slipped off. The huge pink something was one of the non-existant Frogs of Unusual Smells.

"Gourry!" Lina shouted. She held her hands up to throw a spell, but then stopped. She would hit Gourry if she tried anything. Cursing, she drew her sword and waited for a chance to attack.

The frog suddenly opened its mouth, and a reeking odor wafted over Gourry's face. "FAUGH!" he shouted, closing his eyes and turning his head. The frog then lifted a webbed forefoot, and talons flew out. The talons came down sharply, tearing Gourry's shoulder.

Gourry shouted in pain, and wrestled the frog away from him. He reached for his sword, but the frog bowled him over again before he could grab it. To his right, he saw the pit of Flash Sand, and he got a sudden strike of genius (Gourry Genius Mode). He rolled over and over, taking the huge frog with him. He turned a final time, and gripped the edges of the pit, face-down. He was suspended over the sand with his hands and legs on the solid ground, but the frog fell off and into the pit.

"Lina!" Gourry called out. "A little help!" He said this because he realized that in his position, he couldn't move without falling into the Flash Sand pit.

He heard Lina's footsteps from behind him, and felt her grab the back of his shirt. She pulled him up, and he collapsed against her, leaning on her for support. His shoulder burned fiercely, and he felt as though he couldn't move that arm.

"Gourry," Lina said, holding him up with a hand on his shoulder and another on his chest. "Are you okay?"

Gourry nodded, and said, "Yeah... Fine... Never been better." He forced himself to stand on his own, and said, "Come on. I think we're almost out now."