Hello, my fellow readers. Yes, this is a new story that I am writing. I feel that I need to take a new fresh path before I continue on with my other story. Don't worry, that one is definitely not dead. Anyway, this is a story that I have been thinking up for almost a couple of weeks now. I hope you like the prologue to my story Tales of Symphonia: The LK-9 Project. Please read and review!

I do not own any of the characters from Tales of Symphonia. They all belong to NAMCO.


Prologue

"Why don't you two just go ahead and give it up already?" a man with short graying hair and pointy ears who was holding a heavy metal staff in his hand suggested with a sigh at two people, a man and a woman, whose backs were to an edge of a cliff. "I have you cornered like the little sneaky rats that you are. You've nowhere else to run now."

"Do you honestly think that we would just give up because you told us to?" the auburn haired man with his back behind the cliff asked in what one could consider an overconfident tone when put into consideration the circumstances as he tightened his grip on the sword he had drawn out. "You must think really small about us, especially me considering the fact about who I am."

"Who you are bears no weight as to why I'm here nor are they the judge of my actions," the man with the staff replied as the two people that were behind them readied themselves for an attack. "All that matters to me is what you have in your possession. Now, how about you return to me what is rightfully mine? If you do so, then I just might consider sparing your lives."

"I don't think you have much choice in the matter except to spare our lives," the man who was standing protectively next to the woman said. "I may not be in league with the organization anymore, but I'm sure he still wants me to come back into it and wouldn't want you to go killing me. That and while I still draw breath, I won't let you lay a finger on my wife. Besides, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Feigning ignorance won't help you here," the man said with a snarl as he outstretched his hand towards the pair and left his palm open. "You know perfectly well what I am talking about. I want the results of my unfinished research handed back to me. I want the pitiful human woman that you seem to cherish so back into my possession. To be more precise, I want the developing Cruxis Crystal that has been manifesting off of her hospitable body. It is a very valuable piece of my research and I would like the fruits of my labor transferred back into my hands. Refusal is not an option for I would simply obtain it by any means necessary."

"I will never go back to that Human Ranch!" the woman, who had long black hair and was quiet for most of the time and was carrying a small bundle in her hands, exclaimed. "I will not allow you to continue your experiment on my body anymore!"

"Yet I'm afraid you do not have much say in the matter, you filthy human," the pursuer replied calmly. "After all, you cannot remove the incomplete Crystal without wearing the proper charm around it, which, I might add, you do not have. I'm sure you both know full well what might happen if that were to be removed."

"Yet if you do not have me under your constant watch, you can't continue on with your research, thus putting all of your work in a stand-still," she countered as she began to cradle the bundle in her arms that had started to cry."You won't be able to figure out how the process works. As long as I can hinder you from figuring it out, I would be more than happy even if I can't take it off and it continues to grow off of me."

"That may be true, but there is one thing that you have yet to know. I do not need to have you as the crystal's sole host. With the right procedure, I can just transfer it onto another compatible host. Why, I have a right mind to just kill you here right now and take your child as a substitute for it. After all, you are the mother of the child and it would be more than suitable for my research."

"You will never lay a hand on my son!" the man with the sword exclaimed angrily as he moved himself into a position that would better protect both his wife and child. "Your research is a direct violation of his orders! I'm surprised that you haven't been taken out of his forces yet."

"That's because I have managed to stay on his good side for so long. Now, enough of this idle banter. Are you or are you not going to hand me that girl quietly? It will be so much easier on all of us if you would do just that. Why, I would even let you keep your son if you would only hand her to me. I really would like to keep this as clean as possible."

"Well, you can forget about keeping things clean. You better get yourself ready because you'll be getting dirty very soon. Noishe, now!"

Suddenly, a big green and white blur passed between the two groups. Within an instant, it appeared behind the opposing group and did away with the two men behind the leader.

"What the…!" the leader exclaimed as he turned around in an attempt to see what was going on. "What's going on here?!"

Before he could even fully comprehend the defeat of his two elite men, the blur made a mad dash towards him. With lightning-quick reflexes, he managed to bring his staff in front of him as a defensive front before it could have made contact with him, but only barely. Seeing that it had unsuccessfully hit it's mark, the blur quickly closed the gap between the couple and the opponent.

"Hah," the man scoffed as he brought his staff arm to his side. "A surprise for me, huh? Then I guess you should consider my surprise as compensation."

"What are you talking about?" the swordsman inquired with a cocked eyebrow while keeping his sword trained at his enemy.

"Oh, you haven't noticed? But I am sure the lovely woman beside you knows what I am talking about. Isn't that right, my dear?"

"Wh-what is he talking about?" the man stuttered as he turned around to see what he meant by addressing the mother of his son. "What did he do to… Ah!"

As if to answer his question, he saw the woman tremble violently as if there was a brutal arctic wind blowing in the area. However, he did not have to think hard to figure out why she was acting like this. What once used to be around her beautiful neck was suddenly gone. But he could have sworn that it was still there before he told Noishe to attack.

"Wh-where… H-h-how did… When…!" the man stuttered as he quickly took hold of his son that was still in the woman's now violently quivering arms.

"Surprised, aren't you?" the pursuer said with an evil smirk as he tossed a shiny object within his hands. "It's amazing what you can do with just a little bit of magic and applying it at the right time. It's a terrible shame, though, that I have to rip it off of one of the most compatible hosts I've ever seen. Humans like her hardly ever make themselves known. Ah well, what's done is done."

Figuring out that his enemy had the item in question, the man quickly put his son on Noishe's back and turned to face his enemy who had what his wife had on only moments ago.

"Give me back that Cruxis Crystal!" the man demanded as his voice was on the border between anger and desperateness.

"Actually, I made a small miscalculation," the pursuer replied calmly as if nothing was happening. "I thought that this had already developed into a successful Cruxis Crystal. It appears that I was wrong. It's still in the Exsphere stage. It requires more maturation."

"Just give me back that darn thing!" the swordsman practically shouted.

"It's just as I thought," the man continued on as if the demand was never voiced. "It went into permanent dormant stage because of being ripped off so suddenly. Oh well, nothing a little Mana surge back at the ranch can't fix."

"Enough with this!" the man shouted so loudly that even Noishe started to inch away from his master. "Just give me back the darn thing!"

"Are you still here yelling at me? Don't you think it's about time that you diverted your attention to something else? I would be that last thing on your mind about now. To be more precise, shouldn't you be keeping your focus on the human next to you?"

Just then, a terrible and monstrous sound echoed throughout the area they were in. Turning around to the same sound that was just behind him, the swordsman was shocked at what laid before him. What once used to be a beautiful woman that was holding their son only moments ago was now a hideous monster that looked to be seriously deformed with very long arms and scaly, almost flaky-like, reptile-ish skin.

"Anna, no!" the man shouted in surprise as he saw what his wife had turned into. "Don't turn into such a creature! Not now! Try to hang on until I get the crystal back from this monster!"

"Who exactly are you calling a monster, my dear Seraphim?" the man with the pole asked with mocked hurt. "You know as well as I who's the real monster here. Besides, I would expect you of all people to know what would happen once something like this is taken from a human's body that lacked the proper charm to bind its power. Its host turns into one of these poor creatures."

"I don't care!" the swordsman shouted angrily as Noishe, who had already put the baby on his back onto the ground, slowly walked up to the creature that was once Anna. "Just give me back the crystal so I can restore my wife!"

"Are you truly demanding me of something that you already know the answer to? If so, then you must be truly desperate to save her life. Ha, ha, allow me to kindly burst the bubble. Your wife…is dead! There's nothing you can do to save her now. Even if you did manage to retrieve this back from me, it would do you no good for it is already too late."

"If that's the case, then I'll rob you of your life as compensation for Anna's!"

Before he could even make good on his threat, though, the monster that was behind him took a mighty swipe at his ribs. With such force applied to the blow, it was a wonder that there was not a sickening crack echoing throughout the area. However, it was so strong and sudden that it practically sent the swordsman flying a good yard or so away.

"You may be a very old human, but you still look and act like an impulsive young man," the man with the pole sighed. "No matter. I've got what I came here for. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll allow you and your faithful pet to play with your monstrosity of a wife while I take your only child from under your nose. After all, he is the child of the host who was compatible to this wonderful experiment, and I think that he would be a perfect fit, just like his mother."

"You…stay away…from my son!" the wounded man breathed out as he struggled to get back onto his feet. "Don't you dare…lay a finger…on Lloyd!"

"Oh, so that's the little mongrel's name, isn't it? It's got a nice ring to it. I'll be sure to make a note of it. Moving on to more pressing matters, I don't think you have much say in whether or not I can take your son. You are in no position to have a say in it. You can hardly even stand on your own two feet. Now, let's see if this boy is compatible with this Exsphere."

"NO!" the auburn haired man exclaimed as he made a futile attempt to lunge at the man. "DON'T!"

At this, Noishe tried to jump at the man in his master's stead, but was stopped by the monster's long arms and thrown to the side.

"Humph, a pitiful attempt," he said as he tried to attach the stone on the young boy, but failed to do so. "Well, that's interesting. I was sure he would be a compatible host for my little experiment. It appears I was wrong. It seems I have no need for your child after all."

"Then…put him down," the swordsman said as he finally managed to get onto his feet. "Give him back to me!"

"Oh, I'm afraid I can't do that," the man holding Lloyd exclaimed as if he had just remembered something. "You see, I still have another experiment that I have been working on. It's been going on for even longer than this one has. I've started work on it three centuries ago. I believe that this boy would be the perfect candidate, wouldn't you say so?"

"I said…, give me back my son!"

"Oh, don't worry about him. I'll take good care of him. After all, it seems like he'll be in my care for the rest of his life."

"N-No!"

"And just as a small sign of respect to you as a Seraphim, who are of higher stature than me, I shall impart to your son his true name once he is old enough. Whether he remembers it or not matters not to me."

"Y-you…!" the man panicked as he struggled to close the wide gap between himself and the man who was threatening to take his only son away from him. "Please, don't take him!"

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be going now. I've got to get to work on my project that has been three centuries in the making. Take one last look at your son, for this will be the last time you will ever see him. Now you two go on ahead and play with your wife, or what's left of her. Ha, ha, ha!"

And with that, the gray haired man quickly ran away from the cliff with the child in tow. As he was doing this, he had on the most evil smile one could ever imagine. He continued to smile in this fashion even as the man was crying out for him to give his son back.

"NO!" the shouts of the distraught father echoed throughout the area as the monster advanced towards him. "Give me back my son, you monster! Give him back to me! Lloyd! Don't you dare die until I find you! I swear I'll find you! Lloyd!!!"