Sorry for not writing for so long. This is extremely busy month right now... Anyways, enjoy.
Comments are appreciated!
Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Innocence, and Tales of Phantasia, the characters, stories, and everything about them in any way. They are property of Namco. All said, I do not own any Tales related stuff.
The Unexpected Discovery
"Just who the heck are they?!" Lloyd exclaimed. The team had retreated into their break room. In a corner, Raine was casting Resurrection on Genis. Her lips were moving silently, a look of concern displayed on her face.
"Beats me," answer Zelos nonchalantly. He was still embarrassed by his fall from grace in the previous battle.
"Grr…we need answers…" Lloyd growled. Two Eternal Swords, he thought, that man is definitely holding the Eternal Sword. But how could that be possible.
"Is there a possibility that either sword might be a fake?" Regal interrupted Lloyd's thoughts
"That's impossible!" Raine spoke up, "There's no way for Lloyd to use the Falcon Crest without the Eternal Sword. Similarly, the man could not have teleported without the aid of the sword as well."
"Want me to keep tabs on them?" Sheena offered, "I think they are in battle right now. Maybe I can observe them and gather more information."
"Good idea," Raine agreed, still healing the unconscious Genis, "I would like to know more about the person who beat my little brother this badly."
"Be careful Sheena," Colette spoke anxiously, "Do you want me to go with you?"
"Umm…N-no, it's fine," Sheena refused quickly. She still hadn't forgotten how Colette's clumsiness had made her fall into the mines at Ossa Trail.
"Are you sure?" Colette said, genuinely concerned.
"Y-yes," Sheena replied, "Ninja usually work alone on these missions anyways. It'll be easier for me if I go alone." She was evidently still haunted by the memories of her dark escapades.
"I suppose so…Alright…" Colette said, looking dejected.
Sheena arrived at the coliseum just in time to hear the commentator announced the coming battle
"AND IN THE RIGHT WE HAVE TEAM INNOCENCE: RUCA, IRIA, AAND SPADA VERSUS TEAM PHANTASIA: CLESS, MINT, AAND KLARTH!!!"
Mingle amongst the cheering crowd, Sheena managed to keep herself safely hidden as she spied on the competitors below in the arena.
Team Phantasia, Sheena observed, consisted of the guy with red headband she saw earlier (Cless), a cleric in white who reminded her of Colette (Mint), and man with a ridiculous big hat and tattoos (Klarth). Team Innocence, Sheena noted, was made up of a boy with an enormous sword on his back (Ruca), a red hair girl with two guns (Iria), and a green hair boy using double swords like Lloyd (Spada).
"AND LET THE BATTLE COMMENCE!" shouted the commentator enthusiastically.
Team Phantasia was the first to make the move as Cless rush forward with his sword.
The Eternal Sword! It looked just like Lloyd's! Sheena thought.
"Chaos Blade," Cless shouted. Waves of light burst forth from Cless at the enemy.
"Aqua Laser," Iria from opposing team cast. Her spell collided with Cless's move and managed to dispel the attack. But Cless wasn't finished.
"Lightning Blade!" he continued his assault; ironically, his opponent had the exact idea in mind.
"Lightning Blade!" Spada announced. The two warriors collided in mid-air. Sparks of electricity flying as each attempted to push the other back.
"Pow Pow Hammer!" Mint shouted. A gigantic crimson hammer crashed on Spada, stunning him.
Cless took this chance to strike, "Rising Phoenix!" He rose into the air once more and descended towards the Ruca who was charging up a spell. Flames enveloped Cless's body as he reached closer and closer to the ground.
Too late.
"Meteor Storm!" Ruca cried as colossal balls of fire crashed onto the field. Cless was hit in midair by a particularly large incoming meteor, sending him flying backwards.
"Cless!" Mint cried, worried, "Nurse!" A green light appeared in the sky as beautiful angels dressed in white flew down to heal her team. [Note: This is Tales of Phantasia's version of Nurse]
"Humph," Iria scoffed, "That won't help you much. Take this! Ice Tornado!" Blue wind with ice swirled violently around Mint who could only bring her arms up to shield her face.
"Mint!" Cless shouted distracted.
"Yo! Your opponent's here. Keep your eyes on the battle!" Spada shouted. Taking advantage of Cless's sudden determent, Spada attacked.
"Sword Rain Tempest!" Spada charged forward, landing multiple of thrusts on Cless then twirling in midair, slashing the already fazed Cless across the chest.
"And I'm not done yet!" Spada cried. His body seemed to glow.
"Rule the world together!" Spada shouted.
The sky turned dark and Spada disappeared, only to be replaced by a gigantic red sword: Durandal. The sword swung wildly at Cless, faster and deadlier with each successive hit.
"Shinretsu Senkouzan [God Fissure Flash Light Slash]!" the sword cried out as it finished by slamming Cless into the area wall, which crumpled upon the force. Cless slumped in a heap, knocked out.
"No Cless!" Mint cried.
"Don't lose focus!" Klarth alerted Mint, "I summon thee…Pluto!"
A giant, grotesque, serpent head monster with many sets of arms immerged out of thin air: Pluto. Pluto waved its many arms as swarms of fireballs from hell emerged and began pelting at Team Innocence. Majority of the fireballs managed to strike Spada, who had just recovered from his Mystic Arte.
"Ahh!" Spada scream out of agony as the seemingly endless fireball cascaded on him. The fireballs pushed Spada onto the ground until finally, when Pluto had disappeared; Spada was sprawled out on the ground unconscious.
"Spada! No!" Iria cried, "Resurre—" Iris attempted to bring Spada back into consciousness, but was abruptly interrupted by Mint, who cried,
"Time Stop!"
Everything suddenly turned gray. And except for Team Phantasia and the spectators (who were too far away for the spell to take effect on), everyone was immobile—frozen in time.
"Perfect!" Klarth cried as he began another summon while Mint began charging up Resurrection to bring Cless back into battle.
"Resurrection!" Mint cried, a glimpse of relief on her face. The sky turned green once again as a golden hair angel descended. The angel opened her mouth and expelled a long stream of melody which brought Cless out of his slumber. [Note: this is Tales of Phantasia's version of Resurrection]
"Ohhhh…my head hurts…" Cless complained, rubbing his temples, "Feels like I've just woken from a drunken sex party…"
At this Mint turned bright red.
"Cless! Hurry!" Klarth cried who couldn't really care less what Cless did, having experienced much more, "Get that enemy mage/shooter!"
"Oh…umm right…" Cless mumbled, still dazed from having just woken up, "Ummm…what's that you said again?"
"Oh for god sake, you're no use!" Klarth said with a hint of urgency on his face, "We're in a middle of battle! Can't you see?"
"Wow! Everything's still. What happened here? Did a Snakeman turn up?" [Note: Snakemans are enemy monsters in Tales of Phantasia that can turn people into stone]
"You-Are-Useless! Have you been knocked in the head too hard?" Klarth exclaimed while Mint watched anxiously as her spell began to wear off, "I summon thee! Maxwell!"
There was a blinding flash of light as Maxwell appeared. Huge transparent bubbles materialized and shot towards the enemy.
"No! What are you guys doing?" Cless exclaimed jumping into the fray and slicing each bubble with his Eternal Sword, "How can you be attack when everyone's like this! This is not a fair battle!"
"The hell!" Klarth was really losing his temper.
"What?" Cless shouted indignantly.
"Mint!" Klarth turned abruptly to the cleric who currently was casting protective charms over and over, trying to prepare for the incoming assault when the Time Stop spell lifts.
"Yes?" she answered timidly.
"Knock Cless out," Klarth said coldly, his eyes drilling into Mint's as if threatening her to object.
"Ah…." Mint was taken aback at the thought of hurting her own teammates. But Klarth's stare looked so dangerous that she had no choice but to comply.
"Cless…I'm really sorry…" she said miserably, "Pow Pow Hammer!"
A gigantic hammer appeared above Cless's head. For a moment it hung in midair. Then without warning, it slammed straight down on Cless, who fainted immediately at impact.
"Glad that's taken care of," Klarth said nonchalantly and began another summon, "I summon thee! Aska!"
A magnificently bright bird appeared. At the moment it was summon, it instantly dived at the enemy spell caster.
However, just as Aska appeared, the Time Stop spell had wore off. Fortunately for Team Phantasia, Aska managed to strike Iria before she could resume her spell. Iria, surprised and unsure of what happened, stumbled back and passed out.
"NOO! IRIA!" Ruca cried, "HOW COULD YOU! ARGGGG! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!!"
Ruca was glowing, as he prepared his ultimate move. The sky blackens.
"I will prove to you that I am the supreme ruler of the heavens!" Ruca cried as he transformed into a gigantic black horn demon: Asras
"Maou Shakumetsujin [Devil Miraculous Destroy Blade]!" Asras shouted, aiming his attack at Klarth
Unfortunately, in his rage, he missed and most of the attacks stuck Cless who was already unconscious.
"Ugh, I'm sure glad that wasn't me…" Klarth stared as Ruca (now Asras) set to mutilating the conscious Cless.
"Klarth! Help him!" Mint cried, desperately casting, "Barrier"
"Nah…" Klarth thought If Cless dies here, then he won't compete for girls with me. Damn that Cless! He already got Mint and Arche. This is my chance! If he dies, the girls will fall for me! Muhahahahaha!
Up in the stands, Sheena couldn't believe what she was seeing. It wasn't the gigantic Asras that got her so stricken with fear, but Klarth's summoning arts.
"My Maxwell…My Aska…" Sheena gasped, "How did he get them? That's simply not possible…"
"There are a lot of things that are not possible," a voice spoke silently behind Sheena. Sheena spun around on her heels, her spell cards in her hand. The voice belonged to a blue hair archer, who had already aimed his arrow at her head.
"You!" Sheena was shocked. How did he get behind me?! I didn't even notice!
"I will suggest you not to move…" This time a little girl's voice spoke. Sheena suddenly found cold, hard steel pressed against her throat.
"WH-What?" Sheena gasped.
"Yo-yo-yo," a pink hair witch on a broomstick zoom out of nowhere and approached the blue hair archer, "Ohhh, Chester, what did you catch? Hmm?" She smiled mischievously.
"Arche…" Chester said impatiently, "Can you end Cless's battle? We need to win. Mint can't attack and that stupid old man is off in his fantasy world again."
"OK." Arche replied cheerfully for this gave her another chance to demonstrate her magical prowess.
"Let's see…hmmm…what should I cast?" She began listing spell off her fingers, evidently taking her sweet time.
"Arche…" Chester warned menacingly.
"Oh alright," Arche pouted, "Ray!"
Several beam of light descended onto Asras in the battle field below. Asras, now devoid of energy reverted back to Ruca and fell onto the ground, out cold.
"You cheated!" Sheena exclaimed.
"It's not like you didn't," Arche replied, sticking out her tongue, "Believe us, we saw your previous battles."
"You will keep everything you saw quiet…" the little girl commanded monotonously, still keeping her knife against Sheena's throat, "I would hate to kill…my own family…"
