Disclaimer: Ownership of the Tales of Symphonia gang and everything related to them falls under the rights of Namco, not me.
Ch. 8: Horror House ~ Part 3, Dancing with Death ~
Thud! Thud! Thud! was the repetitious beat of the many footsteps sprinting around the final floor of the Horror House, the fifteen floor. The first to get there was the two members left of the star team. Then, after them, it was the heart team along with their prisoner. Last came the unlucky-klutz combo of the smiley-faced team with their guide fox. Upon reaching the fifteen floor, all the teams shot out into full out adrenaline mode. The thought of being the final floor was enough of a motivator to lug their legs as they ran. The trek up had really done a toll on their legs, making them sore and heavy. It was a if their shoes were replaced by hundred pound weights. Such a feeling was not lovely at all. But even so, the teams kept frantically searching for that one way up to the rooftop, for victory was close. All they had to do was seize it by climbing that last flight of stairs. With the thought of winning on their minds, everyone pressed onward, triumphant expressions on their faces as they ran, dreaming of what they were going to do once they were winners.
"I'm gonna make everyone make food for me!" thought Lloyd. He licked his lips at the thought of an endless buffet of gourmet meals.
"…" Presea thought. Apparently she harbored no true wishes.
"Zelos has got it coming to him! If he thought getting a punch from me in the face was bad, then he'll be devastated at what he has to do when I become the winner!" smirked Genis in thought. He manically laughed to himself.
"A free, full-year access card to a soothing spa with massages, hot tubs, and complementary cucumbers… Yeah, the perfect prize for after running through this hellish house," Mithos daydreamed.
"Heheh," Zelos laughed in his mind. The red-head smirked to himself. "They don't have the slightest clue…"
"To have Zelos get the hell off my back and stop blackmailing me… I could die happy," Sheena thought, sighing.
"Hmmm… Maybe I should ask for a fox like Corrine? Oooh, oooh! Even better! A dog!" Colette squealed in her mind.
However, in the midst of everyone's dreaming, they lost sight of what stood before them. And as they all rounded about one final corner, they all collided amongst each other, bumping heads and bodies. Stepping backwards back towards the hallways they just came from, they all rubbed their foreheads and bruises from the collision. Immediately, all their eyes bulged wide as they shared awkward glances, noticing that every team was standing at the same four-way intersection, which only meant one thing… The staircase that led to the rooftop was down the hallway that none of them came from. In concert, their heads all twirled off down the empty hall. As they had suspected, there were perfectly shaped wooden stairs leading up to a single door, and on that door was a single sign. It was a bright yellow one that said, 'ROOFTOP'. Whirling their heads back, they glued their attention on one another. They glanced up and down everyone, looking for the slightest movement that would suggest that they were going to take the suicidal plunge of initiating the first sprint up the stairs. No one dared to take that chance, afraid that they would get ganged up on, although there was one man brave enough to assert himself. His name?
"Hey, Mithos… Your zipper's undone," someone pointed out.
"R-really?" Mithos embarrassedly babbled. He looked down at his pants, but what he didn't see was an un-zipped zipper. It was a brutal impact to the face. Zelos, since his hands were still tied up from the light binding spell, used his elbow to jab the blond freshman in his face. Even though he didn't have much acceleration behind the blow, it was enough to throw Mithos off guard, causing the spell to be interrupted and the light bind around his hands to vanish. Mithos threw his hands up to his hurting face, and everyone, concerned for the blond's well-being looked at him.
"Nope!" wickedly laughed the red-head as he bolted off to the stairs when everyone was distracted.
Zelos Wilder.
"Hey! Why you—!" Genis roared but shut himself up when he realized Lloyd had ran off behind the red-haired sophomore. "Damn it! Mithos, come on!" Genis impatiently ordered, pulling on the blond boy's arm. Being too hurt to protest, Mithos shook his head and followed. Hastily with all their remaining energy, the heart team narrowed in close to Zelos and Lloyd, who were neck and neck by now. Genis and Mithos shared an understanding quick glance, and they commenced their plan. Genis took to one side of the hall and Mithos to the other side of the hall. As they closed in next to Zelos and Lloyd, they pinned the two on the inside as they reached the bottom of the stairs, pressing against them like a sandwich. Genis pressed Zelos, while Mithos pressed Lloyd.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Brat!" growled an irked Zelos. "You're in my way!" He tried pushing away the silverette, but he failed to do so.
"No," Genis remarked, "you're in my way!" The silver-haired shoved Zelos more harshly than he did.
"Would you both quit shoving!" shouted Lloyd, annoyed. "I'm trying to get to the rooftop first here!"
"What? But, Lloyd, if your team wins, then that means Zelos wins too!" Mithos yelled from beside him.
"And if I lose, he loses too… I don't wanna lose my food!" Lloyd cried, running even harder. The rest of the group struggled to keep up with the increased pace.
"You're doing this just so you can make us get food for you?" incredulously asked Genis.
"Well, not get—more like cook me food actually," Lloyd answered nonchalantly.
"You traitor!" Genis angrily hollered, wanting to reach over and pummel the brunette.
"Enough!" Zelos interrupted the quarrel. "None of you will win—"
"What?" the boys all said at the same time.
"—because that's for me!" Zelos loudly announced. Quickly he bashed into Genis first, shoving him vehemently into the wall. The silverette sharply yelped as he made contact with the wall, falling down the steps. Just as Zelos moved to shove Genis, he fluidly motioned back, tackling his own partner, Lloyd, into Mithos and forcing them both to tumble down the steps like Genis had. With all the guys left in the dust - quite literally actually - Zelos stood at the top of the staircase, scowling all the while as he placed his hand on the doorknob and turned it, pushing the door just like he pushed the people that were in his way. "Hello~ rooftop! Zelos sang as he stepped out into the moonlit surface of the roof, uncaring that he hurt so many people.
Below at the bottom of the stairway, the boys that fell started to sit up. The girls, who had witnessed the hole spectacle, rushed beside their sides to make sure they were doing okay. The first to get up was Lloyd. He was dizzy from the fall and was feeling disorientated when he rose too quickly. "Whoa… I-I'm seeing d-double Colette," the brunette said woozily. Lloyd grabbed onto his head to lessen the effects.
"Lloyd, are you all right?" asked Colette worriedly kneeling beside him.
"Yeah now that my eyesight's getting better now," Lloyd told her with a reassuring, warm smile. Wondering if everyone else was doing fine, Lloyd looked around. To his left was Mithos, who was rubbing his sore bottom. Sheena was busily searching for any wounds that were visible on all of them, making certain no one was bleeding. Presea was overlooking everyone and watching the vicinity, ensuring everyone was present and not going to be attacked again. However, there was one person that the pink-haired failed to find.
"Excuse me, Lloyd, but it appears that Genis is not visible," Presea informed.
"He's not?" Lloyd responded quizzically. The brunette scratched his head, stumped at where the little silver-haired could be. "I wonder what happened to him. He was just with us a while ago—"
"I'm down here, you idiot!" screamed the voice of Genis. "Now get the hell off my head!"
The brunette's eyes swiftly dropped down to what he sat on, seeing tuffs of silver. Lloyd immediately sweat dropped, realizing what Presea meant by 'Genis is not visible'. Not meaning that he was not present, but that Lloyd himself was sitting on the silverette's head, causing him to not be seen. Without a second thought, Lloyd jumped up and apologetically rubbed the back of his head, " Sorry, man. I didn't know."
Genis scoffed and mumbled, rubbing his pulsing temples as he rose to his feet, "Figures that I would get sat on not once but twice…"
Joining them, Mithos stood up from the floor and made his way to the rest of the gang, "Wait… if Lloyd's here, Presea's here, and Colette and Sheena are here—"
"—Then that means no team has won yet," Genis finished, one of his sapphire eyes twitching.
All the guys' eyes shot wide open. Glares were shared in between the heart and remaining star team, trying to intimidate and psych out their opponents. And in a cloud of dust, they were back running up the stairs at mach speeds. The race was still on.
Lloyd, on the way, snatched onto Presea's arm, pulling her behind him easily as if she was light as a feather, "C'mon, Presea!" rallied the brunette. "We can win this!" Despite not having a response, Presea stayed silent and didn't complain as she was led up the steps. So Lloyd inferred that she was all right. However, Genis did not.
"H-hey! Don't tug Presea so violently, Lloyd! She's fragile!" Genis caringly cautioned as he caught up to the star members.
Mithos whined in a whisper, "Genis obviously cares about Presea, and yet he didn't care at all when I was bashed in the face by Zelos' elbow." The blond sighed to himself, sniffling a little even. "I feel so forgotten…"
Back on the fifteenth floor at the bottom of the staircase, both Sheena and Colette traded the same unimpressed look and shake of the head after watching the guys and innocent bystander Presea disappeared through the rooftop entrance. Moonlight soon replaced their presence within the indoors of the Horror House as they left the door wide open. Breathing in through their noses and then exhaling through their mouths, they said one word, "Boys." When they felt ready, they began their casual ascent up the final stairs, and Corrine disappeared, materializing back into Sheena's heart for whenever he would be summoned at a later time. The winner's circle was long gone from their reach by now, so they didn't bother to waste their energy quarreling with the guys.
~ S.S.D. ~
The race to see which team would make it to the highest floor of the Horror House began at 11:00 p.m. on the dot. Less than an hour later, fifty-five minutes later to be precise, all three teams had finally set foot on the barren, forgotten rooftop of the Horror House. The dark, cloudless night greeted them with moonlight's embrace, lightening up the vicinity for everyone to see. Similar to their own dorm rooftop, the Horror House had a flat cement foundation for a roof, providing people passage to stand atop the building. For safety, concrete walls that stood four feet high adorned each of the four edges of rooftop so as to no soul would fall from the fifteen floor housing complex. Not counting the entranceway they had came through, nothing else was present on the lone rooftop. The only things keeping it company were the colossal treetops that surrounded the Horror House and whose branches were dancing in the wind, following the steady beat of the whistling gale. All the teams had then begun to idle around in a compact circle. The sound of bickering from amidst the congregation drowned out any noises rustling from the trees.
"Ah-ha!" rejoiced Lloyd with a smug grin. He raised a fist with a pompous thumb pointed to himself. "Our star team got here first, so we won!"
"What?" shouted Mithos and Genis in disbelief.
"But we all came through that doorway and made it to the rooftop at the same time!" Genis retorted defensively.
"So there's no way you guys won. It was a tie!" Mithos proclaimed.
"Nuh-uh!" pouted Lloyd, shaking his head. "It wasn't a tie. We. Won."
Stepping forward to the brunette, Genis countered with a death glare. Gravely, Genis spoke, "It was a tie. There is no true winner."
Defiantly, Lloyd took Genis up on his challenge. Taking a step closer to the silverette elf, Lloyd pinned his serious gaze dead on with Genis' and hissed, "It was not a tie."
"Was to," Genis quipped under his breath, holding back his anger.
"Was not," Lloyd growled, pressing his forehead onto Genis' head violently.
"Was TO!" Genis retaliated with a roar, head-butting his own forehead into the brunette's.
"Was NOT!" Lloyd yelled furiously as he pushed back.
The two childhood friends, who were now currently bitter rivals, persistently duked it out. Their heads bobbled back and forth as they rotated who was being pushed and who was the pusher time and time again, their teeth grinded like chainsaws screeching to cut through a block of wood, and the electric sparks in their eyes clashed in a stalemate of resentment. Rather than letting the argument escalade into a full blown massacre with blood and carcasses, Colette intruded with her innocent cry, "Lloyd, Genis, please stop! We're all friends, aren't we? So we mustn't fight over trivial things."
"Colette's right," Sheena backed the blond girl up with a stern voice. "We should be capable of deciding things without getting into fights in the first place," the raven-haired paused as she walked up to the taciturn transferee standing beside Lloyd, "or dragging people around without their consent. Are you okay, Presea?"
Presea appreciatively nodded, "Affirmative. Thank you for your concern, Sheena-senpai."
"Good," Sheena said with a smile. Turning around, the young kunoichi asked the dumbfounded brunette, "Is that clear, Lloyd?" She sent a deathly glare to the boy.
"Y-yes, Sheena!" Lloyd sputtered and saluted. Then, he said apologetically, "Sorry for mistreating you, Presea."
Staying silent, Presea acknowledge his apology with a nod.
"Now that we've settled down and got things back in order, what's the big problem?" Sheena questioned aloud, laying her hands down to rest on her hips. One of her obsidian eyebrows raised as she examined the two hooligans before her.
"It's all his fault!" Lloyd and Genis brashly bellowed, both of them pointing accusing fingers at one another. Realizing they had said the exact same sentence, the two freshmen's flashed each another a look of wonder; however, it soon was erased and replaced by growls of anger and haughty heads thrown in opposite directions.
"You've gotta support me here, senpai," Genis pleaded urgently. "With this thick-headed idiot around," he knocked on Lloyd's hollow skull, "we aren't going to be able to settle this rooftop race fair and square." He crossed his arms when he finished.
"What the—? I am so being fair! You're the one who can't accept the facts that we got here before you!" Lloyd bitterly remarked. Sticking out his tongue, Lloyd then added, "And for your info, I am not an idiot! Mmm!"
"You got here before us? Yeah, right! The star team and the heart team got here at the same moment, so there is no way you've won. Mmm!" mocked Genis, sticking out his own tongue at the brunette.
"Okay, so we have a tie between teams. Well, it should be simple enough to resolve an issue like that—" Sheena started to say.
"No, that's not true, Sheena! Since Zelos was the first person on our team to get to the rooftop before anybody else, we should have the dibs of being the winners, that way we'd have no tie and the problem would be solved. Piece of cake!" exclaimed Lloyd, grinning a carefree smile.
"But that's not fair! This entire race is supposed to be a team effort, so the winner should be decided by when the whole team got to the finish, not by which member of a team made it first!" frantically retorted Genis. He was unrelenting in this verbal battle, and he wasn't going to give in just yet. Trying to gain, Sheena's vote, Genis pried with a blissful, boyish tone, "Isn't that right, Sheena-senpai?" He flashed a forced innocent beam her way.
"Oh, no you don't!" cried Lloyd. Knowing that Sheena was getting reeled in through childish charms, the brunette shoved Genis to the side and stepped underneath the limelight. "Winners are those who grasp victory first! Right, Sheena?"
"No," Genis said as he recovered, pushing Lloyd in the side, "they are the ones that follow the rules and are those who believe in justice! Right, senpai?"
"Ugh!" groaned Lloyd, rolling his hazel eyes, "I hate that word… Justice. Bleh! Winners don't need justice, 'cause we've got victory! Right, Sheena?"
"But, senpai—!" Genis attempted to refute.
"Sheena!" interrupted Lloyd.
"Senpai!"
"SHEENA!"
"SENPAI!"
The brunette and silverette fury kept badgering away at the misfortunate raven-haired's mind. If there was one thing that drove the young ninja insane, it was the fact that two naïve boys were trying to get her attention through being the loudest and most obnoxious. It was so unbearable, Sheena had placed her hands over her ears and shut her eyes, although her efforts were feeble. She could still hear the sound of her name being called. In thought, she groaned to herself. The repetition of their voices scratched away at the backboard of her mind. The horrendous vibrations irritating her sanity. If this was at all a physical object, take a record for instance, Sheena would've grabbed the record player, ripped out its cord, taken the record itself and snapped it into minute pieces of shrapnel. Then, similar to the photos previously, she would toss it up into the sky and dance around the remains, jubilant at the sound of silence. However, the event before her was not a record she could turn off or break. As a substitute, Sheena had to settle for something else, which was fighting back fire with fire, and in this case, sound with sound.
"ENOOOUUUGGGH!" erupted the traumatized Sheena. The vibrations of her voice pierced the night sky and the souls of the people before her. The first to shut their traps were Lloyd and Genis. Their mouths were left ajar as they were in the middle of a dispute, but after listening to Sheena's vocals, they muted themselves without a second thought. Following the two, anything and everything went silent. The rest of the gang stayed quiet, not even letting the sound of their breathing disturb Sheena's yen-like state. The trees that were once rustling in the wind were not rustling any longer, and the chirping of insects abruptly disappeared as well. It was as if not only Sheena's command was meant for the boys but as for the world around them too. Regaining a stable attitude, Sheena heaved in and out before she directed herself to a certain red-head and spoke, "Well, Zelos! This is your competition! So why don't you help resolve this issue, hmm?"
Zelos had been the only rebellious one of the group who didn't fancy congregating into a circle. He had stayed out of it, facing his back to the quarrels forming in the gang and, instead, stared admiringly at the glowing, yellow-white full moon. A smirk broke out on his face when he heard his name. "You want my help to create a resolution to this? The answer truly is quite simple really." Zelos chuckled as he spun around on his heels, returning his attention back to the gang. Putting his right hand on his chest, Zelos chivalrously announced, "I am the one and only winner, so you all must do as I say." His devious smile only led everyone into more of an uproar.
"What the hell, Zelos?" shouted Mithos through clenched teeth. "That doesn't make sense at all!"
"It so does make sense, Blondy. Ever since you took me in as a captive, I was no longer a part of the star team, nor was I a member of your heart team either. From that moment on, I technically did not belong to any team, and so, I formed my own team, consisting of me, myself, and I! And because I was the first one to reach the rooftop, I am the winner of the race to the rooftop challenge! So ha!" Zelos explained cheerfully in mock-tone, provoking a majority of the gang.
Lloyd gritted his teeth. "You bastard! How can you do something so twisted and double cross us? This isn't fair at all!"
"Heh," Genis scoffed as he rolled his eyes, "this coming from the guy who hates the word justice."
"Shut it, Genis! Now isn't the time."
The crimson-haired threw back his head and heartily laughed, "You're joking right, Bud? With all the things I've done, you've got be a serious idiot to not realize what kind of guy I am. I'm a—"
"—dumbass," Genis intervened coolly.
"Very funny, Brat! I'm a—"
"—douche," Mithos joined in nonchalantly.
"No, Blondy, I'm a—"
"—pervert," Sheena eagerly put out.
"All right! That's it!" Zelos screamed, throwing his hands up and being fed up with getting interrupted so many times. "I—"
"—am a person who can't finish a sentence!" Colette happily popped in. Lightly clapping, the blond girl giggled, "Oooh, no wonder everyone else did it. This is really fun!"
Facepalm to the forehead. The red-haired sophomore was no longer in a defensive mood to retort. Giving up, he gloomily said, "Since everyone else is feels so inclined to do so, would you like to add something too, Presea? What do you think I am?"
"A threatening being," Presea replied monotonously, eliciting much laughter from the gang.
"G-good one, Presea!" Genis managed to praise with minimal stuttering and a smile.
"No," Presea said seriously, shaking her head. "The one I am referring to is not Zelos. A threatening being is approaching." The pink-haired girl lifted her arm and pointed off to the farther end of the rooftop where a gray cloud of smoke began closing in on their position.
"Oh, that's just fog, Presea!" Colette surely answered. "Other than visibility, it isn't much of a danger at all."
"Colette, I wouldn't say that just yet…" Mithos softly mentioned as he stared at the smoke.
Hovering in an erratic pattern, the dark gray cloud of smoke was unpredictable like nature itself. It moved slowly and obeyed not even the slightest guidance of wind. The smoke actually at some points went against the wind. Nobody said anything about it, thinking it was just their imaginations deluding them. Over time, it slowly edge its way closer to the gang, and at the same time, on occasion it would seem as if more and more smoke began to materialize from within the cloud and disperse outward, making the cloud grow bigger and bigger with each passing second. This now raised many brows, and some were now doubting that this was their imagination's doing. Caution soon became a priority as the suspicious cloud enveloped the entire gang, surrounding every inch of each and every one of them. Coughs then later escape their mouths, and the familiar tingly feeling tore through their noses. Then after, sneezes shortly followed the coughs. And after that, it was a mixture of both. Neither the coughing or sneezing was beginning to yield, and it only worsened as they felt the fog become thicker with them still in it.
"Ugh! What the hell is this fog?" Lloyd croaked through coughs. He raised the collar of his t-shirt over his nose to filter out the fog.
"Achoo! I don't know, but it's doing a toll on my heath here," Sheena sniffled.
"Your health? Who cares about your health? It's ruining my beautiful complexion, leaving all these stains on me," Zelos whined, trying to pat out the many trails that the fog put on his clothes. "Damn it! There's too much. I can't get it all off me without having more drop on by!"
"Stains?" Genis quizzically repeated. Wandering off to the crimson-haired, he brushed one of his fingers across Zelos' shoulder, picking up a wad of residue left by the ominous fog. Inquisitively, the silver-haired scrutinized the matter on his finger. He then tested the texture by rubbing his thumb and finger together. Finalizing the results in his mind, Genis deduced, "It's just dust."
"Just dust? More like the dust from hell! Look at what it's done to my poor clothes!" cried Zelos, moping about his fancy designer coat and pants.
"Worry about your clothes later. We've got more important things to worry about, like what that is off in the distance!" Mithos said.
With a finger, the blond youth pointed off to where the cloud of dust originally materialized from. What he pointed to was a much more condensed form of the gray smoke. This time it was much darker and took the form of a perfectly, rotund sphere. It floated roughly ten feet from the rooftop floor before it stopped and begun to take shape of something new. The blackened sphere of matter distorted its spherical form, twisting and turning to transmogrify into a grotesque skull of a human, except this one was five times as large as a normal cranium and was hovering without a body to support it or any lines attached. The group's spines tingled with dread as the floating skull lowered its bottom jaw and chattered its brown-grayish teeth. Sheena and Colette both shrieked out cries of fear, the guys gulped and their knees rattled as they struggled to support their weight, and Presea was the only calm soul who was capable of saying, "Enemy finally spotted."
"Eheh, Presea! Don't say something like that. You never know, it could be friendly," Sheena disbelievingly said, forcing a hopeful smile. As if to contradict the misfortunate raven-haired, materializing in a bright, white light above her was none other than the golden fox, Corrine, himself. Courageously, he took a fighting stance, ready to pounce at whatever was dangerous that may come his way.
"Grrrr!" taunted the fox, baring his tiny razor-sharp fangs. "Where's the enemy? I can take 'em and protect you, Sheena!"
Sheena sighed, lightly cradling her forehead. "Not again… I didn't summon you, Corrine, so why are you here?"
"I sensed danger! So I came running once again, and this time, I simply presented myself like you had asked."
"That's… very considerate of you, Corrine. But, now's not the best of times to present yourself…"
"What's that thing?" Lloyd curiously asked. Lloyd stooped down to the fox's level and gently tapped it on its head. He then blinked several times as he stood back up. "It's real?"
"His name's Corrine! He's a fox," bubbly informed Colette. "Hiya again, Corrine."
"Hello, Colette!" Corrine greeted with a smile. Referring to the brunette freshman, Corrine said, "So this must be the famous Lloyd. I hear many things about you from Shee—"
"—Ah-pah-pah!" Sheena hastily interrupted, picking up Corrine and wrapping a hand around his face like a muzzle. "We'll do introductions later at a more convenient time."
"Yeah, great idea, Sheena-senpai, because that floating skull thing is growing eyes out of nowhere as we speak!" Mithos informed, once again pointing off to the skull. Just like Mithos said, two black, softball sized masses began to materialize inside the eye sockets of the skull. Once it was completely filled, the black orbs burst with light until the color of the eyes changed from jet-black to a bloody red. Again, it opened its mouth, but this time an eerie shrill boomed out from it. It was so deafening that the gang had to place their hands on their ears to muffle out most of the pain.
"AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!"
"That shriek! It's the same as before," Genis realized, his eyes widening. Looking at the red-head, Genis badgered, "This has got to be another trick of yours, Zelos! Who else would try to pull off something intense and complex as this?" He sighed as he cracked his knuckles. "I thought I wouldn't have to do this more than once, but if another punch in the face will get you to stop all this madness, then so be it!" Reeling back his fist, Genis prepared to assault the red-head.
In defense, Zelos waved his hands in front of his face, "Hold your horses, hold your horses! I swear to Martel that it wasn't me! I told you before that I wasn't the one who made that shriek, and I'm telling you again that this isn't my doing. Whatever that thing is, it's as real as Corrine!"
Lowering his fist, Genis muttered as he stared back up at the flying head, "If this isn't your doing, then what is that?"
As it floated in the sky, the colossal skull with blood shot eyes lowered its jaw. The jaw creaked as it did so, like a rusty hinge on a door. Once it was fully lowered, it brought the jaw back up and repeated the cycle, nosily chattering its nasty bony teeth. Puzzled as to what it was doing, the gang's eyebrows raised, and then, identical to the floating skull, they too had dropped jaws. What the skull was doing was not simply making noise for the sake of making a noise; its true purpose was to evoke other otherworldly beings, summoning more of its kind through the fog of dust. Second by second, the particles of dust began to unify in balls of obsidian light to form outlines of a human-like figure, except these humans did not have flesh, muscle, or any organs. They were nothing but bone—skeletons—and they too shared the same blood-red eyes as their ring-leader, the floating skull. Lined up in a formation like an army would in the midst of war, the summoned skeletons stood staring into the souls of the gang, waiting for the hovering head's signal.
"Well, whatever it is, it's calling some friends to join us…" meekly proclaimed Lloyd, whom was feeling petrified all of a sudden.
"More friends? That should be fun!" gushed Colette, bouncing on her heels at the presence of company.
"Uh, Colette… I don't think he means 'friends' the way you see it…" commented Mithos.
The skeletons, shortly after Mithos had said that, chattered their teeth. More clouds of dust surrounded them, but this time no more other skeletons were birthed from the fog. What materialized were ancient weapons, such as swords, daggers, spears, axes, and shields, all of which fell perfectly into their bony hands. Now armed, the floating skull made a final shriek, "AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!" And the chaos commenced. Organized in rows, they marched threateningly towards the students, readying their weapons. The gang could only shake in intimidation as they were getting overwhelmed at this sudden battle. Having no yearning to blindly fight such an adversary, they began to step backwards. However, when a single arrow was sent flying past Sheena's cheek, which sliced off a stand of her hair in the process, her thought of possibly having an amicable meeting with floating skull and company was completely diminished.
"Okay, I take back what I said! These beings are not friendly at all! Now let's get the hell outta here!" Sheena shouted at the top of her lungs and was sprinting off to the exit.
The rest of the gang didn't need for her to say that twice, because once they saw that one arrow, they had bolted themselves out of the danger zone along with her. However, when they made it to the door that led back down to the fifteenth floor and Sheena swung open the door, a horde of violent dust came spewing to the outdoors. Unable to keep their footing from such a powerful force, everyone was blown off their feet and harshly thrown back, hitting the cement roofing with oofs and ouches crying from their mouths. As they rose back up and rubbed their sore bottoms, their wincing faces transfigured into helpless ones upon seeing their exit covered by a road block. In front of the one and only exit they had was an edifice of bone, which soared so high and so far across that getting to the exit itself was now impossible. The group of Symphonian students were now caged in not matter how much they didn't want to.
"Damn it! The exit's blocked off!" yelled Sheena, pounding one of her fists into the impenetrable bone barrier. "And there is no way we can bust are way through to it. The bone is too tough."
With no other possible tactics left for them, they were left with one final plan of action, which many thought was pure suicide to attempt.
"Guess we have no choice but to fight…" Lloyd, surprisingly, announced calmly. His face was brooding as he valiantly glared at his foreboding enemies. The brunette, with a fluid motion, reached from underneath his Symphonian uniform to grab tightly onto two hilts before unsheathing them from the scabbards that were concealed on his back. Lloyd then gracefully spun his twin blades with enough speed to create a mini turbulent whooshing sound as he set himself on the offensive. When his swords came to a halt, Lloyd was in full out battle stance, his left blade extended in front to parry an oncoming attack and his right blade was reeled behind him, ready to whip forward and strike. A distinctive courageous glint resonated in the young brunette's eyes, and his swords too were shinning from the light of the moon, thirsting for a fight.
Although Lloyd was prepared for combat, the rest of the gang was left, once more, mouth agape in astonishment at the enthusiastic youth of a freshman.
"Y-you've had two swords on you this whole time?" Genis, Mithos, and Sheena exclaimed.
"Yup! I always do," beamed Lloyd's boyish smile. "You never know when the zombie apocalypse will begin."
"Well, we could've used those swords back when we busted down the double doors of the Horror House an hour ago…" Mithos quietly rambled to himself, wearing a peeved look on his face.
"Of course," Genis chuckled lightly, then shut his sapphire eyes, gently grabbing his own forehead and shaking it, "typical, typical Lloyd."
"But how—? How can you hide those twin blades so well? You're not even a ninja…" Sheena wondered, astonished at the feat.
"Well, Sheena," spoke Zelos, "a man must be ready for any peril that awaits him, possessing weapons and concealing them is just one of the many necessities." As he finished his sentence, the crimson-haired, similar to Lloyd, whipped out from underneath his clothes weapons. The sophomore's choice of weaponry though were not twin blades but just one majestic noble sword that rest in his right hand and circular shield on his left. Again, identical to Lloyd, he took an offensive stance of his shield held ahead of him and his sword lingering by his backside.
"You too, Zelos?" cried Sheena, stepping back in alarm at another armed man. However, the thought hit her, causing her to quip, "Wait! You knew something like this was going to happen at the very beginning, yet you still brought us here to this dangerous hell hole!"
"Actually, I didn't know that this would happen. But, I am a bit superstitious to the rumors that get around school to be honest," admitted the red-haired with a shrug.
"Why, you—!" Sheena hissed, about to pounce Zelos.
However, Colette interjected the argument using a sweet, innocent voice, "Um, you guys? Please don't fight."
"We aren't fighting!" "Why shouldn't we?" meshed the two sophomores' voices.
"Because, the enemy has arrived. We are now completely surrounded," Presea answered, pointing at the scene around the group. The skeleton army had marched in, trapping the gang in a small, enclosed bubble between them and the bone wall. This time the gang seriously had nowhere else to run, for there was no room to do so. To put simply, they were like mice backed up against the wall by a vicious, hungry cat.
"Oh, Martel! What are we going to do now? I don't want to die!" panicked Mithos.
"Never fear!" sang Colette. "Sheena's a ninja so she must have a seal that could teleport us to safety! Right, senpai?" The blonde, hopeful girl smiled at Sheena.
Sheena responded with a nervous laugh and a weak, apologetic grin, "About that… I don't have any seals anymore…"
"YOU WHAT?" boomed the gang, sending her incredulous glare galore.
"Don't go blaming me now!" Sheena defended. "After the incident last year, Tiga has put supplies under special authorization only, so we can only receive equipment only if extremely necessary."
"I wonder who's fault that is," teased Zelos with a mocking grin.
"Be quiet, Zelos!" Sheena commanded viciously.
"We have only two people that are armed… I am so gonna die!" Mithos cried, breaking down into hysterical fits.
"Snap out of it, Mithos!" Lloyd shouted back. "You and everybody else are going to live. Believe me when I say this—I got your back!" He flashed a confident, goofy grin their way and a thumbs up. "You and Genis just be sure to protect the girls as me and Zelos are fighting on the frontlines. You got me?"
"C'mon, Mithos. Believe in us and yourself!" encouraged Genis, whom patted the blonde teen on the back.
"So this is what it means to trust, huh?" Mithos murmured softly. Then raising his gloomy head, he eagerly decreed, "Alright, let's do this!"
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" rallied Lloyd from the front, pumping himself up for the struggle to come. Lloyd gritted his teeth in anticipation of his adversaries' next move.
Although surrounded in nearly all angles, the skeleton army had not attacked. The skeleton beings only stared with empty, blood-red eyes, not even chattering their teeth anymore. Staring back with an equal amount of fierceness was Lloyd's party. Lloyd was at the head of the formation, acting as leader. Zelos was at his wing, his right-hand man if he needed assistance. At the very rear were the spell-casters and girls. Using the mana within them, Genis and Mithos had fortified a large enough spiritual force field with their hands, which was to protect them from any outside magic attacks. The tension continued to mount and beads of sweat soon manifested on the brows of the men and butterflies in the girls. Everyone was edging to get it on, but none of them dared to make the first retaliation. Sensing the build of mana and restlessness of souls, Corrine decided to dissipate back into Sheena's soul, mentioning that it wasn't his battle to fight after all. However, Sheena scoffed at the excuse, knowing all too well that he had begun feeling too scared to stay and protect her. Sadly for Corrine, he would miss the main event.
In a split second, Lloyd had a rocket start, sprinting to the first skeleton he saw. With lighting speed he galloped past the skeleton being, swing his swords outward to his sides as he did so. Once he skidded to a stop mere feet behind the enemy, the skeleton's body from the bottom of his ribs and up was slice cleanly through, causing it to fall to the ground. The sounds of bones clattered on the ground, and Lloyd couldn't help but cockily grin as he opened his eyes, triumphant with his first kill. However, his enemies were no longer hesitant to strike any longer. The war had finally begun.
Clang! emitted from the clashing of swords. Lloyd had blocked a skeleton's sword with his left blade. Trying to pull off a counterattack, he pushed away the skeleton, whom stumbled back a few steps. Just as his opponent tried to come back, Lloyd had reeled his left sword back on his right side, and then swiftly with his left sword he vertically slashed from the ground up into the sky and shouted, "Demon Fang!" A bright blue essence poured out from his blade and went flying across the floor rooftop. When it came in contact with the skeleton, the skeleton was ripped of its legs, and it too fell to the ground. Tally another one up for Lloyd Irving.
Meanwhile, Zelos was doing his best to prevent any stray skeletons from wandering too close to Genis and Mithos' shield. By utilizing his circular shield on his left arm to push skeletons back and finishing them off with a lunge to the face, crying out "Sonic Thrust!" as he did so, Zelos easily took care of any adversaries that threatened to destroy the shield protecting his 'hunnies'.
This process of hack and slash away aimlessly at enemies was actually working fairly well for the party. And few attacks reached the barrier that which protected the rest of the gang, most of which were arrows or daggers, but since they were mystical weapons of old, they disintegrated back to dust upon hitting the magic force field. So far, so good. Soon enough, half of the enemies had fallen.
Lloyd, whom was happily slicing and dicing left and right, sprinting up and down the rooftop, had joyfully chimed in all the excitement, "Aw, man! This is sooo badass! It's like High School of the Dead!" His grin was as big as a child during their birthday; it was as if this event was his wish that was granted.
From inside the force field, Genis remarked smartly, "Well, except the fact that these are not zombies but skeletons and that High School of the Dead is not real, it's an anime! Now focus on the enemy, Lloyd! You still have less than half to get rid of, and mana reserves doesn't last forever you know!" The silverette was right. Out of the thirty or so members of the skeleton army that were remaining, roughly fifteen were currently now left.
"Hey, same back to you! It's no cake walk over here," Lloyd manage to retort as he narrowly dogged the swing of an axe by back-stepping. Missing its target, the skeleton's axe hit the cement, breaking into the stone and making fragments fly into the air. However, this now played well for Lloyd, for now that the axe-man's axe was stuck in the ground, he could use this opportunity for an easy kill. Shouting "Demon Fang!", the azure light directly struck the axe-man, blowing him to pieces, and the light kept going until it killed four other skeletons in a row. Continuing the winning streak, he fired away two more Demon Fangs, which miraculously killed five each, destroying the remaining ten. Beaming in success, Lloyd haughtily boasted, "You picked the wrong guy to mess with!"
"Nice one, Bud! That takes serious skill to pull off!" praised Zelos.
"Well, I try," Lloyd said modestly and grinning his proud smile.
Just as the two swordsmen were going to re-sheath their swords, Colette cautioned, "It's not over yet! Look! Their bones are moving again!"
Turning back to the battle field, the two swordsmen watched as the skeletons they thought were 'dead' rise back up. Those who had damaged bones or weapons repaired themselves by summoning dust, letting them regenerate back what they lost. Yet again, standing before them were thirty skeleton soldiers. In this second round, however, they were more hostile for revenge was their new goal. The gang's hope sank a bit as they realized if they continued to fight this way, they wouldn't come out victorious.
"What the hell—? Our attacks didn't kill them?" yelled Lloyd, falling back to stand beside Zelos. He didn't harbor the strength to go wildly cutting the skeletons back down again.
Informatively in the safety of the force field, Presea explained, "It is because physical attacks are ineffective to them. Attacking with physical attacks may weaken them temporarily; however, due to an undead's ability of self-regeneration, physical attacks are virtually futile. If you so wish to kill them, magic is the only thing that can inflict damage to not only their bodies but also their souls which connect them to this world."
"Magic, huh?" Lloyd said aloud, then in union, everyone slowly turned their heads to stare directly at a certain silverette.
Knowing that he was unanimously volunteered to whip out the army of skeletons by himself, Genis yelped, blinking ferociously, "M-me? B-but what happened to the plan of me being on defense?"
"That plan is in the past! Now it's 'Operation: Bring in the Mage'!" declared the brunette.
"B-but—! Mithos! Don't you need help with holding the force field?" Genis asked, hoping to get out of the responsibilities of being the man of action.
As if to mock him, Mithos replied, "C'mon, Genis! You heard the man. Besides, I can handle my own. Promise."
Sighing, Genis agreed, "Okay." The two magicians lowered their arms, making the force field dissipate. Hesitantly stepping forward, Genis entered the treacherous ring, leaving behind him the safety bubble, which he saw Mithos re-fortify when he left. There was no turning back for the young silverette now. This was his time of valor, his time in the limelight.
"Alright, welcome to the party, brat! Hope you don't die too quickly," Zelos joked from the front.
"Haha," Genis forced a laugh, "real funny, Zelos." Inwardly though, he knew, especially for him, there was a high chance of that happening. He gulped down the thought before fear made him succumb to shaking.
"Here's the deal, we'll corral these skeletons and protect you while you cast. Then, whenever your about to let loose, give the signal so we can fall back," ordered Lloyd.
"Got it," nodded the silverette. His job wasn't too hard, just simply cast and fire away. He just prayed that Lloyd and Zelos kept their bargain of the deal and guarded him as he was spell-casting. Thankfully they did despite how hard it was to keep thirty enemies at bay and somehow keep them clustered to finish them off. Lloyd, since he was the fasted, acted as the decoy, the one who distracted the skeletons and rallied them in a big group by running around them in circles. Zelos, who stayed standing in front of Genis, acted as a buffer to suppress the ones that were attempting to harm the silver-haired mage. Closing his sapphire eyes, Genis had focused on his incantation, reciting words that were not understandable to the human ear. What Genis was saying was nothing but Elven to them. The longer the incantation went on, the more Genis' hair and clothes began to flutter as if air was passing underneath him, but the gang knew it wasn't air. It was the fast flowing mana that coursed through his blood that caused an intense pressure to fluctuate from the mage. An electric-orange magic circle soon followed after the pressure, forming below his feet. Glyphs of ancient Elven writing one by one appeared within the outer rim of the circle and then formed in the inner core. The spell was almost finished; however, time did not bode well for the rest of the offensive line. They were weary from the first round and it was beginning to show as Lloyd started to slow down and get caught up in the midst of soldiers, even tripping amongst them, and Zelos, being unable to parry oncoming blows, was pushed back.
Desperately, Lloyd called out with his remaining breath, "Genis! You know when you said you'd change my definition of pancakes? Well, now's a great time to do that!"
"Yeah, kid! Crowd clearance would be lovely right now!" Zelos complained as he hid behind his shield, the skeletons relentlessly pounding their clubs and swords on it.
"It takes concentration to cast a spell I haven't done before, so hold on!" Genis irritated retorted, his eyes still shut. A few more seconds passed by as Lloyd and Zelos began to perform less and less, fatigue setting in their muscles. But those mere seconds felt like an eternity before Genis suddenly announced their saving grace, "Now!" Hearing the signal, the two swordsmen swiftly ran behind the silver-haired mage, taking a well-deserved breather from fighting.
Once everyone was behind him, Genis' eyes flung back open, his eyes not sapphire orbs anymore but orange in color like that of the magic circle underneath him. Loudly, Genis proclaimed, "It's pancake time!" Then with a clenched right hand, he fiercely punched the ground with all his might, exclaiming "STALAGMITE!" as his fist hit. Abruptly, a violent tremor shook the building. Transcending from out of the ground were brown-orange, earth spikes. The first barrage of spikes had trapped the skeleton army, so by the time the second wave of spikes came protruding out higher up than its predecessors had, many skeletons were skewered, the nasty sound of bones being crunched resounded in the air. And when the final third wave came in, a single large, earth spike pierced the remaining few, soaring up into the heavens. As the earth retreated back into the ground, the spell now over, everyone could witness the carnage of skeleton decay back to dust. The army that had stood before them seconds before was gone in a blink of an eye and by one spell none the less. Smiles crept on the faces of the gang, and even Genis was starting to feel really good about himself at what he accomplished. He turned around to face his friends, rubbing the back of his head and slightly grinning jubilantly.
Unfortunately those smiles didn't last long, instantly fading upon witnessing danger. Atop the crumbling tower of bone, earth, and rock was a lone soldier rising from below his comrades fallen bodies. It slowly and unsteadily at first came to stand at its feet before staring directly at its next foe. Its ruby eyes shined bright through the dust of decaying bodies hovering all around him. Chattering its teeth a final time, it hostility summoned an axe in its hands and raised it above its head as it vaulted from the debris. Lloyd, realizing that it was the same axe-man he had fought, expected that he wanted revenge on him. Although that did seem logical at the time, the axe-man did not go pouncing toward the brunette. It was going after its new nemesis, Genis, whom slaughtered his allies through a single spell.
Lloyd, as swiftly as he could, tried to sprint in front of Genis, who was being targeted, to guard the defenseless mage. However, upon falling back a while earlier, the brunette had ventured too far back from the frontlines, making his run to the silver-haired impossible to manage, especially since the axe-man was already airborne and about to crash down upon the unsuspecting silverette. Helpless on what to do, Lloyd, while he continued to sprint, could only extend his hand out to Genis and shout in horror at the top of his lungs, "GENIS, BEHIND YOU!"
The rest of the gang watched on the edge of their seats, the nail biting suspense eating away at them as they saw Genis' smile get erased from his face, fading into confusion and fear. The silverette had turned back around to see soaring down from above was the axe-man Lloyd had killed earlier. Genis' sapphire eyes started to widen and quiver when the axe-man brought its axe downward, bringing the metal blade directly in-between his two eyes. At this point, the pupils of his blue eyes had shrunk to the size of a tiny pebble. The blade of the axe was now centimeters away from Genis' head. Being someone who was skilled in magic and not physical attributes, everyone thought the same morbid thought at that moment, which sent shivers up their spines.
"He's going to die."
And there would be nothing they could do to stop it. Colette couldn't watch any further; she couldn't bare witnessing a death of her friend right before her. The blonde girl had shut her eyes and covered her ears, afraid that the faintest, bloodcurdling scream of Genis' last moments alive would reach them. Sheena gasped, bringing her hands before her open mouth. Presea stared silently, her body not quivering unlike most; however, her eyes shone of distress. Mithos, shaken up by the sight, lost focus of keeping up the force field that protected them. The barrier had then disintegrated along with Mithos' hopes of everything being okay. Zelos stood protectively in front of them all, baring a rare grave look. On the other hand, Lloyd had kept running, believing that somehow he could save his childhood friend. But as he gritted his teeth and his muscles ached of pain during his futile efforts, he knew in the back of his mind that wasn't true.
The truth being—Lloyd couldn't save him no matter what he did.
Out of nowhere, a BOOOOOM! surged out. A powerful wave of skeleton dust flew in the gang's direction, causing them to shield their eyes with raised arms. Once the gust had died down, they all, including Colette, had lowered their arms and with eyes of scrutiny stared awestruck at the cause of such noise. Amongst the cloud of dust that were kicked up into the air, the gang saw a lone figure standing exactly at the spot where Genis was. Jumping to the conclusion that it was the axe-man that was man last standing, everyone gulped down their anxiety to bare a fighting stance. Prepared they were now, although those stances eased up soon after when the dust had settled back down. They could finally see that it was not in fact the axe-man standing at Genis spot.
Lloyd couldn't save him, because he never real had to. Genis could save himself.
There standing at the same very spot where he was attacked was Genis himself with his right hand fully-open and outstretched at an upward angle before him. Trails of smoke floated away from that right hand. A spell circle of a crimson hue was beneath him, elven glyphs and all. And his sapphire eyes shinned a fiery-red. Evidently Genis, despite the pressure situation he was in, had fought back against the axe-man with a quick spell, a fire ball to be precise. The mana within him finally cooling down, Genis regained his regular sapphire eyes. Calmly yet cockily, Genis resounded a victorious mock to his dead foe, "That's what you get for messing with me."
Seeing that Genis was safe all along, everyone busted out in smiles and cheers.
Running to the silverette, Lloyd put Genis in a headlock and have him a hearty noogie, "You idiot! How could you scare us all? You could of just told us that you could do something badass like that, then we wouldn't have worried!"
"My bad," Genis said as he wiggled away from the wrath of Lloyd's noogie. "I thought you all would've guessed by now that I was capable of initiating a quick spell… Hehe, but I guess not." The mage grinned an apologetic smile as he scratched the back of his head.
"You should be!" Colette surprisingly remarked, rubbing her eyes of tears. Through sniffles she said, "You really worried us, you know?"
"Sorry, Colette, everyone," the silver-haired formally apologized.
"I've got to admit," Zelos revealed in an amazed tone, "for a brat, it was pretty impressive of you to have done a spell of a second level caliber, and not only that but a quick spell also? You earned a bit of respect from me for killing off all those enemies, Brat. But don't go thinking that means you won't have to serve me for losing the competition."
"I suspected nothing less from Zelos Wilder," Genis commented quietly to the side.
"I wouldn't declare a victory so soon," Presea warned. "The master skull has not yet to vanished. More hostiles can follow."
The instant Presea had finished saying that, the master skull had chattered its teeth and everyone sighed, knowing that meant a new army of skeletons to fight. However, as the floating skull un-relentlessly continued chomping its ancient teeth and no skeleton soldiers popped out from the layers of dust, the gang began to get suspicious of its actions. Even though no skeleton soldiers appeared, its chattering was doing something, for the skeleton dust that lingered in the air and on the floor went surging to the floating skull, congregating to form a massive current flowing all around the head skull. The violent torrent of dust twisted and turned, forming a tornado and keeping the head skull concealed inside. When the sound of chattering stopped, the dust tornado dissipated in a flash. The group of students took a step back at their new and improved foe with their agape mouths. The once floating skull was not just a skull anymore. Supporting him from underneath was a full skeletal system , but it was no ordinary one. Similar to his skeleton minions were the coloration of the bones, which were a gray-ish black, although from there it differed. For one, it stood ten feet tall, and jutting out of the end of its spine was a demonic bony tail. From its ribcage was another set of arms and hands, making the master skull have four arms in total. Out from its back stretched bony wings, expanding outward into the night sky. And lastly, on the master skull's head was two yellow horns that curled like a ram's. Its eyes though stayed the same, red and menacing as always. But what made it even more terrifying than its preceding minions was the fact that it had morphed all the weapons that had been lying around into four separate swords for each hand. One was red and jagged, which was held in its right hand. The second sword, which rest in its left, was semi-straight with a half-moon like cut on the dull side of the blade. Another sword, lingering in its lower left hand, was the thin and curved slightly. And the forth, which was in his lower right, was the most unique, having an intense curve-like shape to make it similar to a scythe. This new, huge opponent wasn't going to be easy at all.
Taking the defensive, Mithos re-constructed the force field. Zelos proceeded with a cautious step to the frontlines to stand alongside Lloyd. Genis took several giant steps backwards, giving him enough space and therefore a lot of time to cast his spells. Then Lloyd, going back into an offensive pose, somberly announced, "This is gonna to be tough…" The brunette clenched his teeth and tightly gripped the hilts of his trusty twin blades for the final battle to come.
Silence then overcame the battle zone. Any and all natural sounds ceased; everyone stayed statuesque, not daring to move; everyone's breathing stopped, their chests now un-stirring; their hearts halted in mid-pump, skipping a beat. Only when a bead of sweat that fell from the tense brow of Lloyd Irving did the world come back into motion, initiated by the battle cry of the twin blade swordsman charging heroically at his opponent.
"YAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Lloyd howled, wildly slashing his blades left and right into the master skeleton's abdominal area. "HAH! TAEEE!" he shouted with each continuous strike. For his final assault, Lloyd ended his combo with a new arte. Aiming his right shoulder to the enemy, he rammed into the enemy once and then twice. On the second shove, Lloyd pushed with all his might, creating a pulsing azure-blue aura to emit from his shoulder. "BEAST!" and an electric-blue lion-like creature came flowing out from him and collided directly in the master skeleton's gut. Thrown off balance by such a force, the ten feet tall skeleton stumbled backwards and eventually fell on its back.
"Heheh," Lloyd smugly taunted his foe, "you don't like that, huh?"
Shakily, the master skeleton rose back up on its feet and grabbed the swords it had dropped. As if to answer Lloyd, its eyes radiated a more vivid crimson and chattered its black teeth. Dust flew around its scarred abdominal area, regenerating the bone it had lost. In just a few seconds, it was back to its brand, spanking new self. It was as if Lloyd did no damage to it whatsoever.
Seeing his healed enemy, Lloyd gulped. A nervous laugh escaped his lips as he said, "I-I guess not."
Meanwhile, over in the protection of Mithos' force field, Presea was busily searching around for something, rummaging through her pockets and school tote bag. Becoming curious of her actions, Colette and Sheena watched her as she pulled out from her bag a golden eye-patch kind of object. Placing it over her right eye, Presea examined the monster carefully.
"Presea, what is that?" inquisitively asked Sheena.
"Don't tell me you're a pirate!" Colette jumped up at the thought. In a whisper, the blonde girl added, "If so, you might have problems with Sheena-senpai since she's a ninja. So just don't tell her that."
Moving her head left and right, Presea denied Colette's assumptions, "Colette, I am not a pirate. This is a magic lens that allows the user to identify an enemy whether it be a monster or a human. It also has the capability of showing what an opponent's weakness or strengths are." A couple seconds later and the magic lens started to beep. "There! Enemy identified!" Informatively, the pink-haired told the party, "The skeleton monster that you are fighting is called the Sword Dancer."
"Sword Dancer?" Lloyd, who's head was turned to the pink-haired support, repeated in a puzzled voice at the frontlines. "Why the hell is it called that?" However, a strong tremor that originated before him made him whirl his head back forward. Immediately, he spotted the Sword Dancer's two blades coming down from above. Thankfully, he had quick reflexes to dodge roll to the side, making the swords slice down into the paved rooftop and not his skull. Breathing a sigh of relief, Lloyd wiped the sweat accumulating on his forehead. But Lloyd wouldn't rest easy for long, for he had the Sword Dancer's two lower blades to watch out for. Swing its swords horizontally out to its sides, the Sword Dancer would have narrowly sliced into Lloyd's throat if the brunette swordsman didn't lunge out of the way with a back-step. However, Lloyd's body began to shake and his hazel eyes became dilated from shock; his body was left traumatized by his near death experience.
Jokingly from mid-field, Zelos slapped his knee and chortled, "Oh, I know! It's called the Sword Dancer because you have to dance around its swords to live!" Apparently though, nobody else laughed along with the red-haired sophomore, not finding the word pun any bit humorous. Lloyd, especially, did not find it funny, sending only a death glare Zelos' way. Luckily for the brunette, the Sword Dancer too was offended by the comment, graciously sending a black version of a demon fang the sophomore's way. "Aaahh!" Zelos screamed as he frantically dove away from the attack. "Okay, okay! I take it back! No need to attack me anymore!" he pleaded as he rose back to his feet.
"Well, Mr. 'Great'Zelos Wilder," Genis said, "I don't think THAT the Sword Dancer is going to stop attacking any of us as long as it's still standing. If we want the attacks to stop, we're going to have to kill it once and for all."
"Then what are you doing just standing there? Cast something, you Brat!" an irritated Zelos commanded.
"I can't just go blindly casting away magic. If there's a weakness to exploit, I'm definitely going to take it, especially when our lives are at stake," Genis retorted smartly. The silverette then turned to the support group, asking, "Presea, its stats please."
"Yes," replied Presea. Searching through the magic lens, she pin-pointed the needed data. "The Sword Dancer is strong against physical attacks as you all know, but it is weak against magic, preferably those of lightning attribute."
Giving a nod and turning back around, Genis declared, "Got it!" and began focusing on his spell-casting. A purple ring this time around radiated from below him. To ensure his spell wasn't to be disturbed and his concentration broken, Lloyd and Zelos did their best in garnering the Sword Dancer's attention and all the while making sure they themselves weren't going to be hit by one of its attacks. As Genis neared the end of his spell-casting, his eyes that glistened with a violet light shot open. The mage aimed his open right hand into the sky, manifesting a dark gray cloud right above the Sword Dancer. He then clenched his fist, and a loud clap of violet light exploded from within the gray cloud. The purple lightshow began to expand until Genis lowered his fist, aiming it down on the Sword Dancer's skull, where the yellow and violet light rained down from the cloud. "LIGHTNING!" was his cry as the Sword Dancer was struck, lighting up with a purple hue almost like a Christmas tree. Knowing he got a devastating hit, Genis had cheerfully jumped, "Alright! A direct hit!" However, as he continued to stare at the unwavering Sword Dancer, he noticed something was wrong. "Huh?"
In spite of its skeleton body shaking and its bones rattling against one another, the Sword Dancer was not dead. Though electricity flowed throughout its entire body, shown by the occasional wisps of purple light, the Sword Dancer stayed standing and slowly raised one of its swords up to the sky and lowered it back down to be parallel to the rooftop and targeted straight at the fighting party. Suddenly, the outstretched sword began to cackle, an amethyst light enshrouding the blade. Realizing that it had absorbed the lighting spell and accumulated it all into its one sword, they knew too late that it was going to take the attack it had been hit with and deliver it right back at them. And they only cursed even more when they had unknowingly lined up in front of it. Hastily, Lloyd commanded his party members, "MOVE!" and the brunette sprinted out of the line of fire. Genis followed his orders and dodge rolling out of the way. However, Zelos, who was caught being the deer in the headlights, didn't register the memo in time. Just as the sword reached its pinnacle, it erupted its electric, lighting blast, firing it away like a gun would a bullet. It soared untouched over the rooftop, that is until it met Zelos in his chest. He was blown away backwards so far that he flew in the middle of Mithos' force field and shattered it completely. Zelos did finally end his flight thanks to the impenetrable bone wall that trapped them but not without a harsh crash first before he slid and sat on the ground. Concerned for the crimson-haired, the girls and Mithos rushed to his side. Fortunately, he wasn't knocked out from the attack and was capable of opening up his eyes.
"Zelos, what happened? Why didn't you react in time?" Sheena worriedly asked him as Zelos regained his senses.
Wincing from the pain, Zelos lied in a hushed tone, "I-I was distracted by my beautiful reflection in my sword is all. But it's just nice to know that you, my Violent Banshee, is worried about my well-being." He gushed with an appreciative smile and sparkling eyes.
Smacking him alongside the head, Sheena scolded, "You idiot! I am not worried about you at all." Although her head was raised defiantly, Zelos swore he saw a faint redness on her cheeks.
"Whatever you say, Sheena. Whatever you say~" Zelos sang, deviously smiling to himself.
Stooping down to Zelos' eye level, Mithos asked, "Can you still fight, Zelos?"
"Of course I can! I'm the Great Zelos Wilder! A wimpy level one spell won't knock me down," Zelos proclaimed proudly. But as he tried to move to stand up, the red-haired was instantly halted, a static charge flowing through his body. "AH!" he screamed as he was forced back down. The lightning attack had done more than just hurt him but also temporarily paralyze him in the process.
"Or maybe it can…" Mithos ironically mentioned.
"Damn it," cursed Zelos through clenched teeth. "I can't be defeated like this…"
"Zelos-senpai! You shouldn't force yourself to fight, especially since your putting more strain on your body. Just relax, so the paralysis goes away faster," Colette urged in a motherly tone.
Reluctantly, Zelos obeyed, "Fine…" Speaking to the party on the battlefield, Zelos called out, "Guess you guys are fighting without me!"
"What?" Genis mumbled to himself, his hope of survival dying a bit. Turning to Lloyd, he searched for an answer, "If Zelos is out of commission, then how the hell are we going to kill an undead enemy who can heal its wounds and redirect magic attacks? At this rate we're gonna die!"
"After all we've been through, you're still pessimistic," Lloyd grumbled, shaking his head. "C'mon, even you, the super genius, should know the answer! All we need to do is make sure it doesn't do those things."
"Well, I knew that much!" Genis stomped, folded his arms, and rolled his eyes. "But just how are we going to accomplish something nearly impossible—you tell me that!"
"You simply seize the door of opportunity, or in our case bust open the door of opportunity!" Lloyd winked and grinned confidently, flashing a thumbs up the silverette's way. "You catch my drift?"
"That plan again," the silver-haired frowned upon recognizing Lloyd's battle strategy. "And it's suppose to be window of opportunity, not door." He criticized with a demeaning look.
"Hey! Dwarven Vow #103: If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" Lloyd countered tactfully. "And it fit with the operation, so no need to hate."
"Whatever," Genis shrugged, "we'll go with your 'Operation: Door Buster' and it better work."
"There's no need to worry! Besides, what do we got to lose?" Lloyd causally responded.
"Um, let me see here—Oh, wait! I know, our lives!" Genis pretentiously stressed.
"Eheh… You do have a point there," Lloyd admitted with a sheepish smile. "But really, don't worry. As long as you follow my lead, this new and improved version of 'Operation: Door Buster' will kick the Sword Dancer's ass back to its grave!" The brunette stylishly swung his sword towards their enemy, pointing the end of his blade in between the skeleton's eye-sockets.
Underneath his breath, Genis dismally murmured, "We can only hope so…" The silver-haired mage, although having slight doubts, swallowed his apprehension and prepared for another tango with the Sword Dancer. Positioning his feet shoulder length apart, Genis readied himself to cast at will. "… Or else, all we've done was dig our own graves," Genis sternly revealed as he shut his eyes. An amethyst circle once more appeared beneath his feet. He was brewing another lighting spell.
Like a rocket, Lloyd took his cue, shouting, "Except that won't be the case!" and sprinted off fearlessly at his ten-foot tall opponent. Being well-educated that his attacks were futile against it, Lloyd did his best simply trying to distract the Sword Dancer, and he first did that by throwing it off-guard. The fast brown blur that was Lloyd had slid through the Sword Dancer's legs, slicing through its ankles as he slid on his bottom. When he made it out on the other side, Lloyd was quick to get back up on his feet to watch his foe fall down on one knee. Because the Sword Dancer used its hands to catch itself from collapsing entirely, its fours swords fell out of its grasp and clanged nosily on the rooftop. The Sword Dancer quickly countered with its usual regeneration technique, the dust cloud healing its wounds, and easily stood back up in a few seconds. Its swords then magically flew back into its hands, ready for battle.
Expecting it to turn around and charge him, Lloyd scanned the rooftop for an accessible escape route but he didn't have to, for the Sword Dancer proved that it was capable of more than just physical attacks. As it extended out its upper right sword, the Sword Dancer's teeth chattered, summoning forth a dark mass dome that enveloped Lloyd in total blackness. The twin swordsman couldn't see anything anymore, not even his own hand in front of him. He knew whatever dome the Sword Dancer trapped him in wasn't going to be docile. His body and mind heavily ached to get himself out of the shadow hemisphere, but when he attempted to move, he was stopped. Suddenly, an unknown and unpleasant pressure pushed into his body. It came in from almost every angle, except from below, crushing his entire being. "Ahhhh!" Lloyd hollered through gritted teeth, trying to fight through the onslaught of pain. However, as time went on, the pain only increased. Soon enough, Lloyd was experiencing pressure so intense that he could feel his organs becoming squished inside of him, like his whole body was being pressed by sharp pins and needles. He slowly felt his lungs begin to shrivel, his breath was leaving him. This only caused him to scream even louder, "AHHHHHHHH!"
Watching the horrific spectacle was Genis, who had opened up his eyes at the sound of his best friend's cry. The pupils in his purple, radiating eyes shook in uneasiness and rage. Lloyd was being slowly crushed by a gravitation spell before him, and he had yet to complete his incantation. "Lloyd, hang in there!" Genis encouraged and focused even more on his casting, knowing that Lloyd's body wouldn't be able to take much more strain from the gravity. If he didn't hasten his spell, Lloyd would be crushed to death. So in a compromise, Genis lessened the power of his spell for speed. "Let… him… GO!" commanded the silverette with an echoing voice. A bolt of lighting shot out of Genis' open palm, hitting the Sword Dancer in the middle of its chest. Startled by the attack, the Sword Dancer was broken out of its concentration; its gravity spell was interrupted and Lloyd was now free. The brunette sprawled out on the ground had clutched his chest soon after being freed, gasping for air to flow back into him and his insides to swell back to their normal sizes.
Angered that it had lost its attack was interrupted and its prey out of its clutches, the Sword Dancer directed its sword at the silver speck, intending to return the lighting blast that it was hit by. Similar to last time, the sword resonated with a violet glow until the blade was completely engulfed in the bright light. By the time that happened, the sword was fully charged and fired away the lightning bullet.
"Oh, shoot," cursed Genis in a whisper, his eyes wide in realizing that he was going through a bit of deja vu. Luckily, Genis had barely manage to side-step the bolt, although his uniform sleeve was left seared, not that he cared really. The lightning bolt sailed onward passed Genis and dispersed as it hit the bone wall, narrowly missing the group hiding in the force field. The silverette managed to hear faint squeals of terror from the attack, most of which came from Zelos surprisingly. Using his sleeve, Genis wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Phew, that was too close for comfort… Lloyd, are you okay?" he asked his partner stirring on the ground.
"Well… I'm doing better than I was in that black dome," Lloyd meekly smiled despite his soreness. Wearily, he grabbed his swords and picked himself up off the floor.
"We can't keep going on like this. If we keep fighting the way we are, we'll just accumulate more casualties. And the longer we keep fighting, the more tired you'll be and the less mana I'll have," Genis sincerely cautioned. "Whenever you plan on doing that operation of yours, you'd better do it fast or else we aren't going to last."
"I'm trying," Lloyd snarled, a hint of frustration lingering in his throat, "but no matter what I do, it won't stay down long enough for me to initiate it. That's why I need you to be casting like crazy, Genis!"
"Casting takes time! I can't rush a spell without having consequences," Genis replied. "I just sacrificed power for speed to save you, you know? And even if I do cast like crazy, it'll just send every lighting bolt back at me!"
"Not if you hit it when it's down!" Lloyd refuted. "Didn't you see what happened when I attacked its legs?"
"It fell down?" Genis answered unsurely.
"That and it dropped its swords!" Lloyd distinctively pointed out. A devious grin grew on the brunette's face. "So that means…"
"Without its swords… it won't be able to re-direct the spells; therefore, it'll receive the full strike of the blow…" Genis finished in awestruck, his sapphire eyes lighting up with a glimmer of hope. He jumped in exuberance. "Lloyd you may be an idiot, but that's pretty genius of you!"
"But for this to work, we need to be synchronized all the way through. Got it?"
Genis nodded, sending a thumbs up the twin swordsman's way. "You can count on me!" The young mage immediately started up another spell afterwards.
Concentrating in on his target, Lloyd stared determinedly at the Sword Dancer. It edged closer and closer to him with every sluggish stride and step. This time Lloyd wasn't going to underestimate his foe, and he sure wasn't going to hold back any more either. He gripped his swords tighter. His hazel eyes sharpened in determination. Mana was bubbling in his veins, begging to be used. But he didn't jump the gun just yet and let his anxious side get the better of him. Lloyd needed to wait long enough for Genis to cast a strong spell, so even the slightest bit of time helped.
"I'm almost done!" Genis announced from afar.
The Sword Dancer was now mere steps away from entering the striking range, but Lloyd continued to hold back. "Not yet…" Lloyd thought to himself, licking the sweat that rest on his lips. He watched as the Sword Dancer take another step and another and one last one until he could see his own reflection in his enemies swords. Although the Sword Dancer was now in range, the same meant for Lloyd as well. Swinging his blades around like a windmill, the Sword Dancer swung at him but fail to make contact, for Lloyd had swiftly dashed away, circling around until he was positioned behind the building sized skeleton, setting himself up for a devastating strike. And because of that, the Sword Dancer was about to meet its downfall quite literally.
"Ready to let loose!" Lloyd heard Genis cry.
"… but now!" Lloyd yelled to himself, rapidly honing in on the Sword Dancer's back. Too slow to spin around and block Lloyd's assault, the Sword Dancer received a critical hit to the back. "HUNTING BEAST!" bellowed Lloyd, as he tackled his right shoulder into the spine of the skeleton. An azure lion burst out from his shoulder, crushing the vertebral bones. The foul sound of bones snapping hovered in the air as did Lloyd. He flew up high, meeting the monster face to face before he crashed back down to earth, clobbering his sword into the cement and emitting a powerful electric-blue wave from beneath. The wave of mana was so effective, the Sword Dancer had been blasted to the ground, loosing its swords in the process. Even so, it still attempted to get back up.
"Oh, no you don't! LIGHTNING!" Genis boomed, evoking from the skies a godly hammer of light. It rained down from above, striking the Sword Dancer on its skull while it feebly tried to rise. With no sword to use as a lighting rod to absorb the lighting, the Sword Dancer was now feeling the brunt force of Genis' spell for once. Since Genis had taken his time on casting, the spell had been considerably stronger, leaving the Sword Dancer electrified and paralyzed temporarily like Zelos was. "A direct hit to the face!" Genis mockingly declared, extremely satisfied with his magic.
"That's what I'm talking about!" Lloyd praised as he ran to the silverette and rustled his silver hair. "So you ready to send this bastard back to its grave, partner?"
"Ready when you are!" Genis saluted with a smile.
Standing alongside one another with Lloyd on the left and Genis on the right, they prepared themselves for the main event. They faced their backs to one another as they buckled their knees, crouching close to the ground. Their fierce eyes locked onto their target and their teeth grinded together. A cobalt blue light began to radiate from their bodies, showing that their mana was raging within them. And their clothes started to rustle from such intense energy presence. Just as the electric current flowing throughout the Sword Dancer was dying, the skeleton monster now finally able to stir a little, Lloyd took a deep breath and shouted, "IT'S TIME TO GET WILD!"
On that declaration, both teens' legs sprang into action, rocketing them forward at fast sprints and leaving behind a cloud of skeleton decay hovering in their absence. The duo kept close to each other, running at a constant speed. Their tempo was unchanging and their footsteps were in sync as planned. It was an exact replication of their previous feat with the massive double doors, but as they neared the Sword Dancer, it began to differ. The two freshman, as they were steps away from tackling the Sword Dancer, shoved their shoulders into their foe, knocking it back down with a vicious mana wave. Gracefully transitioning from their attack, they both took a step forward, turning inward to face one another. Together they vaulted up into the air at the same time, axel kicking the sky before pounding their feet on the cement rooftop. Another wave of mana surged out from beneath them as they did so, denying the skeleton right to get back up. They shared an understanding glance and a nod before their gazes traveled back to their opponent. Lloyd pulled his left arm far back to his own right side and Genis pulled his right arm far back to his left side. With their arms reeled backward in the middle of the two of them, a mass build of mana began to glow in between their hands. However, this mana was not the same blue hue as before; it was a mixture of cobalt and amethyst. In unison, the two boys resounded, "Roar…" They threw out their arms at the Sword Dancer. "THUNDER BEAST!" Flying out from their two bodies was one huge blue-violet lion with blade-like fangs and a static, razor mane. It cackled with the intensity of several lightning bolts combined as one and roared with the fierceness of a lion. The thunder beast, as it cried out, opened its massive jaws and engulfed the Sword Dancer in a barrage of electricity. On contact, the Sword Dancer's body quaked from the destructive beast and its bones, unable to take the heat, began to crumble into black ash until the thunder beast had passed through its entire body. When the beast had dissipated on the other end, the Sword Dancer and its swords were nothing but dust now. And as its remains floated up to the night sky, it had now finally joined its dead comrades in the heavens. The battle over, Lloyd and Genis shared another glance, one of triumph. They did a congratulatory forearm bump with one another and smiled big valiant beams.
"We did it!" the duo exclaimed in unison.
"I was right to believe in you, Lloyd! You're plan actually worked again. Bravo!" Genis cheered, friendly punching his bud in the arm.
"Aw, shucks!" Lloyd said, rubbing the back of his head in praise. Returning Genis' punch with one of his noogies to the head, Lloyd acknowledged, "I told you before. I wouldn't be able to do this without you, so stop showering me with the praise. You deserve some too!"
"Alright, alright!" Genis surrendered. They laughed as Lloyd released his noogie hold of Genis cranium and Genis trying his best to sort out his messed up hair.
"Lloyd, Genis!" they heard Colette call out. Turning their heads, they saw the blond girl come jogging towards them. Apparently Mithos had dispelled the magic barrier when the fighting had stopped. "Thank goodness you too are all right!"
"Of course we are! With a combo like us, nothing can beat us!" Lloyd boasted.
Shortly after Colette arrived, Presea, Sheena, Mithos and Zelos, who was being assisted around by Mithos, followed.
Zelos, somewhat sad he couldn't have been in the fray, confessed, "I'm impressed! If I could use my hands, I'd be clapping right now! For you two freshman to come together like and attack that monster, I've gotta give you major props for that. What do you call that thing anyway?"
"Um…" Lloyd pondered a bit before he responded, "I guess it'd be a Unison Attack."
"Very befitting for a technique centered on synchronicity," Presea commented.
"And to think it was based off of a childish operation nonetheless. I can't say that I'm not impressed either." Sheena also admitted.
"Great job, you two!" Mithos applauded with a gracious smile. "Because of you guys, we aren't dead and we can finally go back to civilization now that those undead people and the wall that trapped us are gone!"
Everyone laughed upon hearing Mithos. The blond boy was right, and everyone was sharing the same thought as he; they all wanted to go to their dorm rooms and crash for the night, hopefully to wake up the next morning to realize everything that happened this night was nothing but a crazy, surreal dream that they all so happened to experience.
"You said it, Blondie! After the events of today, I'm definitely going to need a lovely massage from you all when we get back," Zelos stated.
"What?" everyone distressed.
"You can't be serious, right?" Mithos asked.
"Of course I'm serious! You people still owe me for winning the competition so chop, chop! The faster we get to the dorms, the faster I'll get me my massage~" the crimson haired cooed, closing his eyes and thinking of the wondrous, soothing time ahead. However, it didn't last long, for when he felt himself hit the ground, Zelos cried and shot open his eyes, "Ooomph! Why the hell did you drop me, Blondie? We have a deal remember? Now help me back up!"
Mithos shook his head, "Sorry, no can do."
"What?"
"We've come to a consensus that your way of picking the winners is way too unorthodox, so we've decided to have a better way of choosing winners," Genis decreed.
"But you can't! I've already won!" Zelos retorted.
"No you haven't," Lloyd mentioned, wearing a mischievous smirk. "No one has… yet."
"Huh? What the—? What the hell are you talking about?"
"The winners will be decided by who can get out of the Horror House," Mithos told him.
"And whoever is the last one out…" Genis freighting started.
"Will be the loser who has to follow the winners every whim," Lloyd ended with the most evil grin.
Realizing what that meant, Zelos exclaimed, "Hey, but I'm a handicap here! That's not fair!"
"Well then, sucks for you, Mr. Great Zelos Wilder~" mocked Mithos in a sing-song voice as he spun on his heel and walked to the exit. One by one, the rest of the gang followed the blond boy, leaving the defenseless and mobile-less left to fend for himself atop the lone Horror House rooftop.
Frantically, Zelos said, "Y-you can't just leave me here all alone!"
"See ya later, Zelos!" Lloyd waved back at the red-head sprawled out on the ground, ignoring his pleas.
Teasingly, Genis called back, "Don't worry! Maybe those skeleton soldiers will come back to keep you company!" He chuckled to himself as he heard Zelos yelp in fear.
"Is it really a good idea to leave Zelos alone? I feel kind of bad for him," Colette whispered as they walked to the exit.
"That idiot Chosen will find a way back. Trust me, Colette," Sheena reassured. "Besides, alone time like this is a good thing for him."
"Oh, okay then!" Colette brightened up with a smile. Turning around, she told Zelos, "Have fun Zelos~"
Being abandoned to tears, Zelos croaked, "Not you too, Colette…"
The gang laughed at that and their laughter only echoed even more as they began to descend down the steps to the fifteenth floor, hearing Zelos desperate begging fade away from their ears.
"You guys! I've learned my lesson! Really! So please, could you come back and help a poor Zelos when he's down?"
The sounds of fading footsteps resounded from the open exit.
"Guys… ?"
No more sounds emitted from the open doorway.
"GUYS?"
And thus, the Great Zelos Wilder was now officially and truly flying solo.
Author's Note Time!
My hats off to you for finishing the entire Horror House Arc! Cue music! Haha!
My wrapping up clause would roughly cover the entire chapter, but because this chapter is so large, I won't be talking about everything. Just want to say that I apologize for the crapaction (crappy action) at the end. Honestly, that was suppose to be my best highlight and asset of the whole chapter, but I feel as if I failed my first go in writing ToS action. Next time around, I promise that it won't be so bad. I'll do my best in trying not to rush the ending through again. I'd like to re-write the third part of Chapter 8 if I could, although I'd be taking away from you guys again in the process. So I'm just going to accept failure and move on with my life.
I told many of you that this chapter would hold up to a couple of twists, so here I go! One, I introduced flashbacks. Two, I brought in Corrine for the first time as well as actual enemies, such as the Sword Dancer. And three, I took a swing at some action. Yup, some surprises were bigger than others, but I may have fallen on the delivery of action. So for you action people, remember next time around! If it happens again, feel free to bash me with your heart's content. Eheh.
Preview:
Next time on Symphonian School Days...
Time has passed since our gang had ventured inside the Horror House. The end of a semester is nearing, and all the while, Lloyd and Genis have been lacking in their studies. With the semester exams coming up in a matter of days, how will the two freshmen manage? Are they going to pass and be able to stay at Symphonia Academy, or will they ride the fail train back home to Iselia?
Find out in the next chapter, 'Beware of the Exams! It's Time to Hit the Books & the Gym'!
On a random note... Happy 10/10/10, everyone~! :3