Hello, and welcome to Slipping into Symphonia Chapter 1 version 2. I got a better idea for the plot, so I decided to change som things. I'd like to thank all those people who read the first version. I'd also especially like to thank yggnomial for the review for the original, it really helped. I hope I've made this story better.

I shivered, stuffing my hands into my coat pockets as I stepped out into the chill winter air. I glared at the several inches of snow on the ground. "Someone tell me where Jack Frost is so I can strangle him." I muttered under my breath as I grabbed the trashcan and began to pull it down the driveway. In case you haven't noticed, I hate the cold, it sucks.

I reached the bottom of the driveway and set the trash by the curb before turning back to return the house. The sooner I was inside where it was warm the better. However, the ground was slick with ice, and in my haste to get warm; I was careless.

I slipped.

The back of my head connected painfully with frozen ground, my vision swam for a moment, and finally I blacked out.

* * *

The next thing I knew I was hearing voices. I tried to open my eyes, but to no avail.

"Is he going to be okay Professor?"

Professor? Why does that voice sound familiar? If only my head would quit throbbing…

"Yes, he'll be fine. It's only a mild concussion. It would be best if we just let him rest."

This voice sounds familiar too. Why? It's right on the tip of my tongue…

"Why do you think he was lying outside of Iselia anyway?"

A third voice, higher pitched than the other two, and also familiar. Gah! If only my head would quite hurting.

Wait. Iselia?! Iselia the Village of Oracles Iselia?!

My eyes snapped open and I sat up suddenly. Aagh. Bad idea, paaiin.

After a moment, the pain in my head receded again and I straightened my glasses, which had become crooked, and began looking around at my apparent rescuers in shock.

The first voice I had heard belonged to none other than Lloyd Irving in all his blindingly red glory. The other two voices had been those of the Sage siblings, Raine and Genis. Currently, they were all staring at me with shocked expressions. I guess my miraculous recovery surprised them.

Of course, I was staring right back, my eyes wide with a mix of shock, panic, and confusion. In this moment of shocked silence, a million questions raced through my mind. How did I get here? Why was I here? Was this a dream?

I took a few deep breaths to calm my nerves. This had to be dream, right? I'll just play along until I wake up or something.

"Calm down, you're safe. My name is Raine Sage. You were found just outside the village by these two." She gestured toward the two boys standing quietly in the background.

"I'm Genis, Raine's brother."

"Hey, my name's Lloyd, are you okay?"

"Um, m-my name is T-Tyler. Tyler Wilson." I stammered. It isn't every day you speak to your favorite videogame characters, even in a dream. This just had to be a dream.

"Well, at least you seem to remember your name. Now, can you tell me what happened?" Raine inquired.

"The last thing I remember I tripped and hit my head." This just could not be real. It had to be a hallucination from that fall. I'll wake up in the hospital or something soon, right?

"I see, well we'll let you rest for now and continue this conversation later. I have some business to attend to." with that, Raine ushered Lloyd and Genis out of the room and shut the door. I then heard the distinct sound of the door locking. Apparently, Raine didn't quite trust me. Admittedly, I wouldn't trust a strange boy who was randomly found on the outskirts of my hometown either.

After the trio had left, I was able to take a closer look at the room I had been taken to. It was relatively small and had a pair of beds, one of which I was laying on. There were also two small desks against the wall opposite the beds and some well-stocked bookshelves. There were books lying all over the desks too, some open as if for someone to begin reading again later. After a moment, I recognized the place as being Raine and Genis' house from the game.

Now you see I happen to be a bibliophile. A super book lover. I could not just lie there in bed while all those books called to me. So, I slowly stood up, leaning against the bed frame for support seeing as I was a little light headed. How could I be light headed and have a headache in a dream?

I finally decided to prove to myself that this wasn't real, no matter how real it seemed. I pinched myself as hard as I could on my arm, to my surprise it actually hurt. There was no way that could be right. So I decided on a second test. I hit my head against the wall.

"Oooww…" I moaned, rubbing the sore spot on my forehead. That wasn't my smartest idea…

Then it really hit me, it had hurt. You couldn't get hurt in a dream. I started shaking, was I really in Iselia? No way. This couldn't be real.

Seeking to calm myself, I scanned the shelves looking for something interesting. Maybe if I read something I'd be able to calm down and think about my situation more effectively. At least I hoped I would… After a few seconds, I noticed an odd, blaringly purple book. It was titled The Culinary Arts for Geniuses, it was written by The Wonder Chef.

"Now this I've got to see." I muttered. I have the unfortunate tendency to talk to myself you see. Now, as I was about to open the book something happened.

"Hey." A voice spoke from behind me.

I jumped, not having heard the door open or anyone come in. I whirled around to see who had spoken, my heart racing from surprise.

Standing there, next to the second bed was a woman. She seemed to be in her early twenties, with long blonde hair that fell to her waist. She was also wearing a red gown. It was a ball gown, but it was tattered towards the bottom and had black lace. However, what I found most noticeable were her eyes, they were blood red.

"Wh-what the? Who are you?" I knew she wasn't a character from Tales of Symphonia, what was she doing here? Who was she?

"I'm the one who brought you here. Now, shut your trap and listen up."

My, she was blunt wasn't she? I gulped; I was in a strange place with some strange woman. This didn't seem like it was going anywhere good. I glanced around; looking for something I could defend myself with if she tried anything.

I know I may seem paranoid, but I tend think the absolute worst of most situations. This woman was really intimidating. Not to mention the fact that in this world, she could probably kill me with a spell or something.

The woman took a few steps forward, and I noticed that she was actually slightly taller than I was. That was kind of odd, seeing as I'm a decent 5' 11", so she seemed to be a bit more than six feet tall. This made her seem more intimidating. She put her hands on her hips and looked down at me with a thoughtful look, as if sizing me up for something.

"Well, you're not quite what I expected, but I guess you'll have to do." she sighed. What was she talking about? She was acting like she was disappointed with a gift she had received.

"Um, excuse me, but what are you talking about?" I managed to say, despite my fear. This was confusing, what was going on?

"This is just great, I decide to try my hand at the Gambit and my warrior is a scrawny runt of a boy." What?! Scrawny runt?! Whoever this lady was she was beginning to get on my nerves. However, my outrage was overridden for the moment by fear. But now, I had a question.

"E-excuse me. What gambit?" I ventured. Maybe this would explain why I was here.

The woman turned back to me with a surprised look. Had she forgotten that I was there? "Oh, nothing that you need to worry about. Now, I suppose you're wondering how you got here. Well, I, the great Medea, brought you to this world!" Oookaay, this lady needs to make up her mind. One minute she's rude and intimidating, the next she's acting like she did me some big favor.

"What the hell is going on?!." I exclaimed. Medea stared at me in disbelief.

"Well, now wouldn't you like to know?" she smirked. "Now, I don't have much more time to speak with you, so I'll keep it short."

I didn't trust myself to speak anymore, this woman, Medea, was confusing me. So I just let her continue.

"I brought you here and you need to help the Regeneration group on their journey, got it?"

I nodded numbly. She was explaining things as if I were a toddler.

"Good, because if you don't you won't be going home any time soon. I gave you some supplies; they're in that bag over there." She gestured to messenger bag leaning against the bed I had woken up on. "It has enough gels, gald, and bottles to get you started, among other things. Are you following me?"

I nodded again; this was a lot to take in. I was in another world and I'd have to help save it. This was unbelievable, how could this be happening?

"There is also a dagger in it for you to fight with, as well as an exsphere."

Wait. An exsphere? That immediately snapped me out of my daze.

"An exsphere?! B-but those are made from someone's life! I can't use that!" I protested, outraged.

"You'll need it. If you don't have one there's no way you'll be strong enough to survive. Frankly, it doesn't look like you have much of a chance even with an exsphere. Now shut up and let me finish." she took a deep breath before continuing. "Things are not the same here as in that game, I'm giving you a fair warning. Don't expect things to be exactly as you know them. Now, I have to go and work a few things out."

As she turned to leave she added almost as an afterthought, "By the way, I hope you like your new clothes." With that she left, vanishing into thin air.

I immediately glanced down at clothes. Gone were my blue coat, jeans and tee shirt. They had been replaced with a long sleeved green shirt, tan pants and a collared black vest. I also had a pair boots instead of my shoes. It didn't look bad per se, but it wasn't really what I preferred to wear. Bah! Forget the clothes Tyler, you have more important problems.

Why had Medea brought me, an average, lazy, obsessed with video games, 19-year-old boy to Sylvarant? I couldn't fight. I couldn't use magic. What good was I? I am sure it has something to do with that gambit thing she mentioned. What exactly was it?

After a while of uselessly pondering these questions my headache had returned and I decided to go ahead and lay back down. After a few minutes of staring at the ceiling, I fell into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

A while later, I would guess a few hours, I was awoken as the door opened. Raine walked in, a stern look on her features. She was also holding a plate of what looked like chicken and rice.

"Genis made an extra serving for you if you're hungry." she said handing me the plate.

"Uh, Th-thank you very much." Darn it, I was stuttering again. Why do I have to be so shy around women?

I quietly took the plate with a word of thanks, and began to eat. It was amazing! It was quite possibly one of the best meals I had ever had! The game said Genis was a good cook, but this was just superb!

"My brother made it. Now I would like to ask you some questions, if that is alright." Straight to business, right Raine?

"S-sure, ask away." I hoped she would ask anything too difficult.

"Where are you from?" Crap, straight to the question I had been dreading most.

"I-I'm from a really small town, you probably wouldn't have heard of it." Think Tyler! What if she asks for its name? Think up one hurry!

"Would you mind telling me what it's called anyway? There is always a chance." Darn it, quit it with the interrogation! I mean no harm!

I shifted in my seat and answered in as even a voice as I could muster. "It's called Muspellheim. It's in the mountains to the Southeast, near the desert." Good work Tyler, your insane obsession with mythology finally paid off, as did my habit of reading player's guides when I was bored. I'd partially memorized part of the map of Sylvarant.

"I see, you are right I haven't heard of it." I could tell by the way she said that that she wasn't buying my story. "Why were you so far away from home?"

"I was traveling, I wanted to see the world while was still young." Okay, looks like I've hit my stride with lies.

She questioned me on various details of my past, saying she wanted to ensure I had no memory loss. After about 20 minutes she stood up.

"If you don't mind I'll take you to an inn where you can stay the night." An inn? There was an inn in Iselia? Apparently Medea was telling the truth, things were different from the game.

"Uh sure, lead the way."

She led me out of the house and through the village. I decided I needed to figure out as much as I could about my situation, so I asked a few simple questions.

"Is it true that the Chosen lives here?"

"Yes, incidentally the Chosen received the Oracle earlier today and she left shortly after."

That last part was a blatant lie. I wasn't too surprised that I had arrived on the day of the Oracle, but why was Raine so suspicious of me? Was she worried that I might working with the Desians? I knew Colette would leave early the next day. Though it seemed that I wouldn't be able to convince Raine to let me tag along. I sighed; I guess I'll just have to follow Lloyd and Genis later.

Wait a second, that means I'll have to survive the Desian's attack on the village. There's no way I could make it through that! This was not going to end well for me. Besides, what I screw something up? The worlds might not be saved, I might not get home. What was I going to do? I couldn't see any way of getting out of this mess without completely messing things up. I began to panic on the inside.

"We're here." Raine's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked at the building in front of us. It seemed small for an inn, but then again Iselia was a small town. The inn was simple wooden building, it didn't seem like it'd have many rooms. "I'll rent a room for you, wait here."

"No, that's all right, I can pay for it myself."

"All right" she nodded curtly, "Goodbye."

As she turned and walked back towards her home I sighed. There didn't seem to be anyway to earn her trust at the moment. I turned and trudged into the inn. I was already beginning miss my family. Who knew how this was going to turn out?

Well, there we go! I hope you liked it, and if Tyler starts turning into a Gary-Stu please let me know. I REALLY don't want this to be scorned as a lousy Gary-Stu self-insert fic. Please read and review, but no flames please. Constuctive criticism would be appreciated.