Another World

Summary : A man found himself in another world. Can he survive and go back to his world?

Rating : T

Genre: Adventure/Comedy

Disclaimer: I don't own Ar Tonelico series, its characters, anything, duh.

Chapter 2 = Monster Battle

"Talks"

'Thoughts'

*Sound Effects*

Author Note: To make things simpler, I only included the characters' English names, so no one will get confused. For example, the characters are called: Croix 'Croah', Luca 'Ruka', Cloche 'Chroche', etc… Just imagine that their name talked in Japanese when they are speaking.

Mint Forest

Gilbert had another problem. His game was the English version while Croix was talking in Japanese. He suspected that if Croix spoke Japanese, everyone in this world did too. Gilbert himself only understood a little bit of Japanese, but not enough to even understand the conversation going on before him.

Gilbert looked at Croix. He spoke to others in Japanese. 'I'd better think of how to communicate with them, quickly.'

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"Luca, have you seen him before? Maybe he's Rashek citizen that got lost here," Croix asked.

"No, I haven't. It doesn't look like he's from Rashek or Mint Block."

"Well, he seems be lost, though. Looking from how he ran from rather weak monsters, I don't think he even knows how to fight them."

"He's lucky that we found him," Cocona added

"Besides, we don't even know what he's talking about. Maybe he's speaking in a different language." said Croix.

Suddenly there was a rather loud noise coming from the lost man, namely a rumbling stomach. He looked hungry. Luca then gave him food, which was eaten quickly.

"I wonder how long since he last ate. He sure looks hungry," she added.

After finishing his meal, the man reached for Croix's shoulder, obviously wanting to get everyone's attention.

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'Maybe they'll understand what I'm trying to say with some gestures. I'd better try it,' Gilbert thought. He then trying to show what he was wanted to say.

'I hope this works.'

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The man made some gestures to everyone. First he pointed to himself, shook his head, and pointed to the ground.

"I think he wanted to say something to us," Cloche said.

"I…not…here…I think he's mean that he's not from here," Cocona spoke.

Then he pointed at himself again, towards his mouth, shook his head, pointed to them, then made a hand sign of a talking mouth.

"I…mouth…no…you…talk…Maybe he means that he can't speak our language." Cocona said again.

"Cocona, can you ask him what his name is, and how he got here?" Ask Croix

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Gilbert thought, 'Maybe this is working!' He wasn't really sure but he just hoped that they got what he was trying to say. Gilbert then saw Cocona pointing at herself, and saying 'Cocona', then pointing him. He thought that maybe she was introducing herself and asking for his own name.

"Gilbert," he replied. Cocona then smiled. She pointed to the man in armor and said, "Croix." The other girls seemed to know what Cocona meant and they introduced themselves too.

The blue haired girl in shaman dress smiled then pointed to herself and said, "Luca."

Cloche wanted to introduce herself, but remembered that she's undercover. But then, Gilbert saw her, pointed to her and asked…

"Cloche?"

All eyes instantly set on him. Gilbert suddenly remembered that Cloche is undercover because the Sacred Army was chasing her.

'Dang! How could I forget that?' Gilbert quickly thought of an excuse. He then pointed to his eye, then at Cloche, and gestured about when she did her speech in Pastalia, indicating that he knew her because he saw her at that time.

'Well, if I say that I know her because I play Croix and others, they won't believe it.' It seemed that the party understood what he trying to say through his gesture and calmed down.

Cloche nodded to him, showing that he was right, her name was Cloche.

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"Wait, so he comes from Pastalia?" say Cloche.

"I'll ask him," Cocona suggested. She then pointed to him, drew imaginary picture of a house with her finger, then asked him, "Pastalia?"

Gilbert looked her for a while, wondering what she meant, then shook his head.

"So he is a foreigner…How did he end up here, anyway?" say Croix.

Cocona knew that he wanted her to ask Gilbert about that, so she did. Cocona pointed to Gilbert, then to the ground. Gilbert didn't do anything, a puzzled look on his face.

"I think he doesn't know…" Croix said to Cocona.

"Or maybe he doesn't understand what you're trying to say," Luca suggested.

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Gilbert thinks that he'd better stick with the party, since he knows that in RPGs, any place can be infested with monsters. If he was alone, he wouldn't last long.

'Maybe I can find out how to go back to my own world while adventuring with them. Better ask them now, before they decide to leave me somewhere safe…'

Gilbert then called to Cocona, then pointed to himself, using his fingers to demonstrate walking, pointed to them, indicating that he wanted to go along with them.

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"I think he wants to go with us." Cocona said.

"Well, he can go with us, but does he have any weapons so he can at least fight something?" Croix ask.

"Seeing that he climbed up that tree before when he encountered a monster, I think not," said Cloche.

"I think you can give him your spare weapon, " Luca suggested.

"I do have a spare weapon, but I'm not sure about giving it to a stranger…" Croix didn't seem to like that idea.

"Come on, he doesn't look like a bad person. Besides, we can't let him be helpless, right?" Cocona protested.

"Okay, okay…*Sigh*" Croix said. He reluctantly gave his spare weapon. It wasn't very good, but at least it could provide Gilbert with some attack and defense capabilities. He looked amazed and tried to use it.

"Croix, don't you think you should teach him how to use it?" Luca asked.

"I want to, but I don't know how to instruct him with signs…"

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'Hey, this is lighter than I thought…' Gilbert thought while he swung the spear-gun. He remembered that the spear-gun has some rocket engine inside when Croix attacked with it.

'Now how to ac-'

Gilbert pulled the trigger inside the weapon and accidentally activated the rocket engine. He was flung forwards, destroying the trees in front of him. He quickly released the trigger.

'Wow, it has massive power…' Gilbert then looked at the button beside the weapon. He pushed it and the spear-gun opened and a barrel came out of the top.

'I guess it's the rifle mode…' He then tried to aim it and shot a tree. Gilbert remembered that his accuracy can be better if he used bursts or single shot, so he just pulled the trigger a while. Three bullets came out and hit the tree in succession. Now Gilbert learned another fact: the weapon had low recoil and a lot of power.

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09.00 Mint Forest

"For someone new to that weapon, he's learning fast," Croix looked at Gilbert while the party sat on the ground.

"Why is it he's not wearing any shoes?" Cocona noticed that Gilbert was barefoot.

"Maybe it's a custom in his region?" asked Luca.

"Maybe he just lost them when he was traveling," Cocona said.

Croix then stood up.

"We better get going. Cocona, can you call that-" Croix talked to Cocona just before the party heard a sound from the bush beside them.

It was the birds again, and they were ready for a fight. Gilbert saw this and started to run to the birds ready to attack them. Croix held him back

"No, we'll handle this."

Cocona protested, "C'mon, brother, it's just a weak monster. I think this'll make good practice for him." Croix agreed and released him.

"Alright then…Hey, Gilbert!" he called out, then he pointed to Luca, and giving gestures to protect her.

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'I think it's clear that he wants me to protect Luca in battle,' Gilbert remembered how battle goes in Ar Tonelico 2. He must steadily defend the Reyvateil while he's fighting these monsters, since they're focused on singing their song magic.

Gilbert heard singing by Cloche and Luca, but he didn't look behind, since he needed to focus more on the enemy whenever they decided to strike.

Croix started the battle, jumping to one bird and stabbing it with his spear-gun, while Gilbert shot at another with his own weapon.

'I'd better keep close to Luca; beside I don't really do well at close combat,' Gilbert thought. He also remembered that in game, he could build his attack level by doing what Luca wanted him to do. But he didn't know if it worked here, since he didn't even know what Luca would say to him. Also, now that he was directly involved in combat, which probably didn't have any attack or defense phases.

A bird charged towards Luca. Gilbert quickly stabbed it before it could reach her. Another monster came at him quickly, piercing Gilbert's left arm with its beak. He let out a cry of pain and got ready to stab the bird, which quickly moved back before he could.

'Dammit, I let my guard down…'

Blood started flowing from his wound. It wasn't too deep, but it definitely hurt. Gilbert then saw a fireball flying across to the birds, killing them all. He assumed it was from Cloche's song magic. The battle was over.

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Croix looked at Gilbert's wound. It wasn't too bad, but it needed to get treated quickly.

"Luca, can you help him with this?" Croix asked.

"Sure." She then invoked a song magic of healing. The wound began to disappear. "You shouldn't push yourself too hard…" Luca told Gilbert as she healed his wound.

"He should be wearing some armor to prevent this…" Cocona said. Not long after that, the wound was gone. Gilbert just smiled at Luca. If he had been able to speak to her, he would have thanked her.

"Okay, let's get moving again…" Croix said, and then all of the party stood up and continued to the Mint Block.

END OF CHAPTER 2