Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia.
Summary: Lloyd's friends are late to the Renegades' Triet base, and he finds himself on his own. Will he find his friends again?
Lloyd glared at the cyan-haired Desian, a cocky smirk in place. "Funny, 'cause I don't see the need to give my name to a moron who doesn't realize just how pathetic he is." He taunted.
"Why you...!" The man growled and launched the ball of lightning compressed within his hand.
Lloyd quickly edged to the side around it, letting the attack dissipate against the door and charged, bringing his twin blades around for a slash at each side.
The half-elf in front of him edged backward and twisted, swinging his Swallow in a full circle and bringing a large, smooth edge around to slice into Lloyd's chest.
The red-clad boy grimaced as it dug through the thick leather of his top, leaving a thin cut across the center and quickly retaliated, slamming his wooden swords against the other mans weapon and locking eyes. "Desian scum...!" He spat, eyes clouded with hatred.
His opponent's smirk widened, as though amused by his words. "Is that what you think?" He almost purred, eyes bright with humour. "You really don't have a clue, do you?"
Lloyd pulled back, letting his swords' tips rest against the ground as he huffed out a breathe of exertion. "I know enough!" He yelled, suddenly twisting wordlessly as though to slam into the enemy.
The man smirked at his words and lazily brought up his weapon to defend against the sloppy attack, only for his eyes to widen when Lloyd fell short, sliding to a halt mere inches away from him. "Wha-?"
"Demon Fang!" At such short range there was no way to block the attack; so Yuan improvised, swinging to lessen the force of the blow with a cleave of his blade and take the brunt of it with his left forearm.
"You-!" He stopped short, realizing the boy was no longer in front of him. He glanced about the room sharply with narrowed eyes, only relaxing when he realized that the boy was not in the room anymore. "Damnit. Clever punk, just like his father..." He conceded.
"Lord Yuan!" Botta burst into the room, panting from the brisk run to his leaders' private office. "The Chosen's group is here!"
"What!?" He hissed, aggravated. "One thing after another... Botta, I can't let him see me, or our plans will be ruined. Hold them off!" He ordered, swiftly retreating out the same exit that Lloyd had left from.
Sighing, the bearded man turned to confront the group before him. "Well, if it isn't the chosen's group...!"
Lloyd panted as he crested the sandy hill a distance away from the base. "Shit...!" He cursed, realizing that he likely wouldn't be able to meet up with the other's now that he had lost Genis.
He turned and started trekking back to Triet, hoping to gather information. 'Maybe the psychic woman knows something.' He mused, making his way back down the sand dune.
"What do we have here?"A nasal voice sneered, prompting him to turn and greeting him with the sight of two bandits, both clad in thin bandages and turbans with coarse, cheap material gloves and trousers. They looked to be brothers, though it was difficult to tell with their eyes shadowed by the white headgear they had on.
"Back off." He growled, turning to confront them with swords drawn. Despite his words Lloyd knew all too well that they weren't smart enough to heed his words.
One of them chuckled as he saw Lloyd take a step back and stepped forward himself. "You ain't goin' nowhere." He mocked, slashing his knife through the air.
Faced with the two in front of him and the open desert behind him Lloyd realized that the two wouldn't just let him go and so charged forward, blades outstretched like a pair of talons.
The one closest stepped forward and jabbed at Lloyd with his jagged dagger in a rudimentary stab, only for his blade to be knocked aside by one of the boys' own, leaving him open to the iron sword that sheathed itself within his stomach. "Guh!" The man collapsed like a puppet with it's strings cut.
"Jake!" His companion lunged forward to avenge his friend, just as sloppy as the other man and getting batted aside just as easily.
Lloyd quickly hopped to the side as the man lunged again, yelling a battle-cry as he repeatedly attempted to impale him with the shoddily made weapon. A sudden swing from Lloyd on a straight attack had the mans' wrist bloodied; he automatically released the weapon with a yelp and Lloyd took advantage, bringing one of his blades across hilt-first to slam into his opponents' skull, sending him to the floor.
He stopped and stared at the two downed men and sighed, adrenaline still high from the battle. "Heh..."
After a brief few moments searching the men and taking two small pouches of gald and three apple gels, using one of them on the first bandits stomach wound, Lloyd continued on, making his way back to Triet.
It took around half an hour of walking, during which he fought off a few wild scorpions and snakes and another group of bandits, before he finally reached the small desert town. "Finally! It's so hot!" He wiped the sweat off of his brow and stepped through the small gates. "Better start asking around."
He walked over to a fruit stand near the gates and greeted the owner. "Hey, has the chosen's group been through here?" He queried anxiously.
The dark-skinned fellow behind the wooden stall smiled up at the lanky youth. "Ah, yes! They came through here yesterday. They were in quite a rush, must have been in a rush to finish the Journey of Regeneration, eh?" He grinned eagerly. "So, want to buy something?"
Lloyd left the stall ten gald shorter munching on an apple. "Ah, man, I took too long coming here. Maybe they went to the inn, or another store. Either way I've got to replace my weapons." He frowned down at the cracked and slightly jagged edge of his long-sword. "Soon."
The red-clad young man made his way over to the stores further down, thankful that the streets weren't too crowded as it made traversing them that much easier. "Hey!" He called to a bearded man, stocky, dressed in light colours and standing in the shade off to the side of the road. "Could you tell me where the nearest weapon or armour store is?"
The man nodded and pointed down the street. "The nearest weapon store is down the street, that boy there sells them. As for armour, you can go back down the road and just before you reach the fruit store there is a man that sells simple armour. Before you go," He continued as Lloyd started to walk away. "Have you ever heard of Synthesis?"
"Syn-the-sis?" Lloyd sounded out confusedly. "Can't say I have, why?"
The man grinned brightly. "Why? Because I specialize in it!"
"Huh." Lloyd raised his eyebrows. "Alright, I'll bite. What is it?"
The man puffed himself up, as though prideful of his profession, and went into a speech. "Why, my boy, it's an art! The art of turning old into new, making better out of worst, making armours harder, bigger, greater; Making swords sharper, longer, stronger. Changing items and creating them anew!"
"Okay..." He stared at the man. "Has anyone ever told you you look a little like a bear?"
"Bwah!" The man stuttered. "That's irrelevant!" Lloyd frowned and mouthed the large word, puzzled. "Look, bring me a beast hide and I'll show you!" He hedged.
Lloyd grinned once more, happy to help. "I have a beast hide right here!" He reached into his pack and pulled the required material from a side pouch.
"Great! Brilliant! Wonderful!" The other mans' eyes shined, ecstatic with the offering. "If you'll hand it over for a second..." He followed the mans order, giving him the object. "Now, follow me!"
Lloyd naively followed the man, stopping behind him when they reached a small metal bench. "Hey, wait a...!" He yelped, watching the man pull a hammer and small bottle of pins and screws out.
The man ignored him and pulled a small set of leather armour from beneath the bench with many more of it's ilk and laid it next to the material. He then wrapped the hide across the armour, tearing several strips from it in the progress, then pulled it across the chest and tucked it into the spot the steel pauldron had laid, taking a thread needle and stitching the material together before setting a newer, shinier set of pauldrons in place on the shoulder. Finally he took a belt and wrapped it around the lower-half of the set, slotting a set of chest armour in place from the small armour and stitching the strips of leather back in place and finally fitting chainmail beneath, stretching the beast-hide leather armour above it and then snapping it into place, finally setting it with pins and stitching around the arms. "And there we go!"
"Whoa!" Lloyd gawped at the thicker, stronger and hardier armour. "That was amazing! I didn't know you could connect and remake armour like that!"
The frizzy-haired man blushed and scratched his head. "Ahaha! All it takes is practice, m'boy! Here!" He presented the clothing to the brunette with a flourish.
"Seriously? For free?"
"Of course! I just enjoy making new items and materials! Feel free to come back any time or try it yourself, all you need is the materials!" He informed the joyful boy.
"Thanks! Great job!" He praised, eyes bright.
"Haha, no problem! Be careful out there!" The man warned, putting on a pair of dark sunglasses.
"I will!" Lloyd waved goodbye, smiling all the way. "What a great guy! Now all I need is a new set of swords." He pondered, making his way over to the kid on the stall a few feet down the street.
"Excuse me!" He called, reaching the turbaned child in seconds. "Do you sell weapons?" He questioned earnestly, trying to make sure that he had the right place."
The child's eyes brightened at the possibility of a purchase. "Yes; long swords, short swords, daggers, axes, polearms, spears, broad swords, nunchucks, kendama, bows and arrows, if you want it we've got it!"
Lloyd chuckled at the obviously rehearsed line and the fact that his friend's toy could apparently be considered a weapon. "Cool, I've got to replace thses..." He pulled out the twin blades and placed them on the counter. "Preferably with the same model."
The kid looked over the swords with a critical eye and then nodded decisively. "I think I've got a pair of Knight's swords. That'll be 400 gald."
Lloyd's eyes lit up at the cheap price. "That's a lot less than last time, why so cheap?"
"If we take the damaged swords they cover the material needed so really you're just paying for the forging process." The kid shrugged.
Having been raised by a dwarf Lloyd wasn't entirely unfamiliar with this practice, however Dirk only did specialized jobs for the most part and therefore never received materials for the job unless they were rare. "Cool."
He waited for the boy to take the blades out back and return with a replacement set, watching as he placed them down in front of him and scooped up the pouch of gald on the counter. "By the way, why are you minding the stool and not your dad, or your mom?" He quickly added, in case the boy had no father.
Said boys' eyes darkened as he looked down, as though remembering a particularly vivid memory. "The Desians came by earlier and when Daddy wouldn't give them weapons for free they started hitting him."
Lloyd tensed, remembering the attack on Iselia. "I'm sorry." He apologized lamely.
The boy jolted, as though shocked back to reality. "It's fine. Daddy's just resting for a few days and then he'll be good as new! For all your future weaponry needs come here, you won't find better prices, or if you did we wouldn't be surprised to see you shop there instead!" He quipped.
The dwarven-raised lad laughed at the make-shift slogan and started back towards the street, only to pause as he caught sight of a familiar shaped hole in the wall. "Gah!"
"Isn't it amazing?" He heard from beside him and turned to meet a small elderly woman with a beaming smile across her wrinkled face. "This house has been blessed by the CHOSEN!" Her smile got even brighter.
"Uh...Huh." He deadpanned, face blank. "Any idea where the... Chosen has gone?" Heasked, using her title distastefully.
The old woman evidently didn't notice as she turned to him. "I heard the silver-haired elf woman say something to the red-haired man about heading over the Ossa Trail after they'd been to the old city that was burnt down by Efreet." She pondered. "To the West."
"Gah...!" He flinched as though struck, realizing that the journey to Ossa trail would take at least a full day. 'I'd be better off using the last of my money to fill up on gels and buy cooking ingredients. And I should hopefully have enough for a room at the inn.'
"Thanks." He said out loud, walking away from the old lady to the final stall on the street, filled with various gels and bottles. 'First here, then the stall near that Fortune teller's place, and then I'll catch a night's sleep at the inn and try to catch up to them at the Ossa trail.' He decided resolutely, nodding firmly as he pulled out his gald pouch once more.