The Amazing Chris got my hundredth review, it seems. MUCHOS GRACIAS MR. AMAZING!! And everyone else, too! One hundred reviews? That's like… one hundred times, someone thought this story was good enough to warrant a review! –tears up-
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!! -scurries into corner to cry-
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Chapter Twenty-Five
"I've found you, Kvar." Lloyd said in a very low and scary voice as he stepped into the high-tech room. Kratos and Sheena leapt out after him.
Kvar, who actually was in the room, turned away from the computer screen with which he had been conversing. A green-haired woman who was pictured on the screen leaned over to try and see around the man's back.
"Hey!" Lloyd pointed to the woman on the computer. "That's the chick who was in that picture Magnius had. Except she wasn't wearing anything."
"WHAAAT??" the woman screamed. She started bouncing around on the screen, looking furious. "H-how did he get that?? That bastard! I'M GONNA KILL HIM!!"
"Calm down, Pronyma," Kvar told the woman, sounding bored. "He's already dead, remember?" The half-elf then turned to Lloyd and company. "So, you've come."
"Duh-oi!" Lloyd said, pulling a stupid face.
"So, this is Lloyd." Pronyma, who had apparently calmed down, said thoughtfully. "I see. He does bear a resemblance."
"Say what?" Lloyd snapped. He was ignored. Kvar turned back to the computer screen.
"Moving on... I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't change the subject, Pronyma. It's clear you've been stealing data from my Angelus Project."
Pronyma rolled her eyes. "I grow tired of your accusations, Kvar. As I have told you, I know nothing of it."
"Pfft. Stubborn woman. Still, I guess I should expect no less from the one who usurped the leadership of the Five Grand Cardinals." He crossed his arms and pulled an evil grin. "Take heed, Pronyma. Once I've retrieved the exspere from this inferior being, I will become the leader of the Five Grand Cardinals. When that happens, you'll be begging for my forgivness."
"Hey, does anyone understand what they're saying?" Lloyd asked, turning to his posse. Sheena's face was screwed up in thought, but she shook her head. Kratos looked like he was going to be sick.
"You speak nonsense, Kvar," Pronyma continued, oblivious to the three humans standing in the room. "I've also heard that Rodyle's talked you into joining him in one of his schemes."
Kvar didn't say anything.
"Don't believe you can decieve Lord Yggdrassil for long. He's not that stupid." She tapped her head before the computer screen went blank.
Kvar turned back to Lloyd and his lackeys, tapping his chin and looking thoughtful. "Hm, so the Mana Canon is no longer a secret. Well," he clapped his hands together and looked right at Lloyd. "It doesn't matter. Once I get that exsphere, all suspicions about me will be but a distant memory."
Lloyd held his exsphere'd hand to his chest. "You are not gonna take this from me!"
"Pfft." Kvar chuckled evilly. He held out his hand, in which a long staff appeared in a magical sort of poof. "Just try and stop me."
And then he attacked.
Now, Lloyd had (unintentionally) chosen the strongest fighters in the group to be in his posse, as we have seen from Raine and Co.'s lack of fighting skills. This would've been great had they been fighting another buff Desian like Magnius. As it was, what Kvar lacked in strength and good looks he made up for in crazy magic skills, zapping the trio with several hundred volts of electricity in such quick succession that it left Lloyd dazed and upside-down-rightside-up, running in circles and swinging at thin air.
Sheena seemed to have some sort of fear of lightning, seeing as she gave a high-pitched shriek every time a bolt struck the ground. This made it very difficult to give Kvar any sort of paper cut at all.
Kratos, who had been so keen on fighting Kvar, ended up being too busy with First Aid spells to even attempt to attack the Desian.
And Lloyd, as we remember, was running around in circles and screaming loudly, failing to hit anything at all. However, in one large sort of loop-de-loop, Lloyd found himself standing directly behind Kvar. Before the half-elf even had a chance to turn around, Lloyd had swung his swords in a sort of X at Kvar's unprotected back.
The short hesitation in lightning was just long enough for Kratos and Sheena to rush over and start attacking as well. They stood there, hacking and stabbing and swinging and paper cutting, for a good minute or so. At last, when they paused for a breath, Kvar had been reduced to a bloody pile of half-elf on the floor.
"Phew..." Lloyd sighed, wiping a slightly charred hand against his forehead. "For a minute there, I thought we were done for."
"You weren't much help, swinging around at everything that wasn't Kvar." Kratos gave Lloyd an angry sort of glare, but somehow he managed to look happy at the same time. Much happier than Lloyd had ever, ever seen Kratos look. Which was pretty sad, really.
"Ha, Kratos!" Lloyd laughed and pointed at the mercenary. "You're smiling!"
"No, I'm not."
"Yes you are!" Sheena giggled as well. "Look! You're still doing it."
Kratos turned away and crossed his arms. He looked down at Kvar, who twitched slightly, and - much to his dismay - his smile widened. Suddenly, he started laughing.
"Ha! How's that floor taste, bastard? Regret messing with me yet? You'll have to remember that when you're BURNING IN FUCKING HELL." Still laughing loudly, Kratos kicked the Desian in his bloody head.
"Ow." Kvar said.
There was a moment of silence, in which the only sounds heard were Kratos' loud breathing and the sound of Kvar bleeding all over the floor. Finally:
"That... was the scariest thing I've ever seen." Kratos turned around to find not only Sheena and Lloyd, but the rest of his friends as well, huddled against the other wall and looking terrified.
"Kratos happy is even scarier than Kratos scary." Genis agreed.
Kratos coughed and turned away again. "Better... better find that self-destruct button, then, huh?" He said loudly.
The group nodded slowly and started searching the room, still huddled in a bunch as if afraid Kratos would attack at any second. After several tense minutes, Genis gave a cry of discovery and pointed to the large blue button, labeled "SELF-DESTRUCT" in large letters.
"Good job, Ge-Lloyd! Look behind yooou!" Sheena screamed and pointed to Kvar, who had somehow managed to get to his feet and raise his staff over his head. Before he could bring it down on Lloyd's big head, however, Colette jumped in front of her friend, taking the blow and earning a large purple bruise on her forehead.
"That... di'n hur' so much..." she mumbled, tumbling backwards into Lloyd's arms. Lloyd gave a cry like a wounded rhinoceros.
"YOU BASTARD!" He screamed. "I'm gonna kill you!!" With that, the teen dropped Colette to the floor and thrust his sword into Kvar's belly. Suddenly, Kratos was beside him. He threw his sword in directly above Lloyd's.
"Grhk," Was all Kvar could say after getting stabbed in the stomach twice. Then: "Kratos, you pathetic, inferior being!"
As Lloyd pulled his sword out, Kratos swung his to the left.
"Feel the pain -" He growled as Kvar's body was nearly torn in half. He swung again. "-of those inferior beings-" Kvar's head hit the ground with a dull thump, quickly followed by the rest of his body. Kratos sheathed his sword and crossed his arms. "-as you burn in hell."
"Uh, and, uh..." Lloyd desperately tried to get in the last word. "And don't come back!"
All he got was a skeptical sort of look from Genis. Oh well, it was worth a shot.
"Colette!" Raine cried, scooping up the Chosen. Colette blinked.
"I'm alright, Professor. Really." Apparently she didn't notice that her head was already swollen about as big as a melon.
"Like hell you are!" Sheena shouted. "Raine, you can use healing arts, right? Why don't you heal her??"
Just then, Lloyd stepped between the girls. "Colette," he began. "I can't keep it a secret any longer." He stood up straight and raised his voice so that the whole room could hear. "Everybody, listen up. Colette is... a virgin!!"
Dull stares.
"Also," Lloyd continued, holding his forefinger in the air. "She can't feel anything, or eat or sleep, or even cry, despite what the author writes!"
Gasps all around.
"Are you fo' rizzle?" Sheena asked, horrified.
"Colette, is he serious??" Raine turned to the Chosen, who looked angrier than anyone had ever seen her. Which wasn't very angry. Think angry puppy, or angry Care Bear.
"Lloyd." she sighed. "It's no wonder no one's trusted you with a secret since the first grade."
"Second." Lloyd corrected.
"But, it's OK. I'm fine, so... so don't worry about it."
"But that's not fair!" Sheena shouted. "You can't enjoy the foods you like, or feel the warmth of someone hugging you... that's just too cruel. You should give up this crazy world regeneration right now!"
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Genis asked slyly. He was "shut up"'d and smacked.
Just then, Colette passed out. Everyone decided that it would be best to take her somewhere to rest. Why they decided on Asgard, which was at least half a day's walk away, I do not know. Still, they slammed the self-destruct button on before they scooped up Colette and ran out of the ranch.
Seconds after they left, the screen on which Kvar had been conversing with Pronyma flickered to life. This time, however, a somewhat familiar purple-haired half-elf appeared. His eyes fell on the bloody mass that had once been Kvar and chuckled.
"Oh, my, Lord Kvar. Where is your head?" Rodyle giggled and adjusted his red glasses. He turned to Kvar's head, which lay a few feet away from his body. "Ah, there you are. Well, I came to thank you for you generosity to my Mana Canon, but I guess you can't hear me anymore, can you?" More high-pitched laughter. "Then, I suppose you won't mind me taking your research data from your Angelus Project, hm?"
On the other side of the screen, Rodyle flipped a few switches and hit a few keys. While he waited for the extensive research notes to download, he pulled a squinty-eyed face.
"Ooh, look at me. I'm Lord Kvar, and I slick my hair back because it makes me look better than you."
Just then, a Desian walked in, clipboard in hand. He stared at Rodyle, then Kvar, then back to Rodyle.
"Uh, um..." Rodyle blinked. "Th-the ranch is gonna blow!"
And, with a small plip, the computer screen went blank.
--
The next morning, Lloyd and company were having a very serious conversation about Colette's health in their inn room in Asgard.
"I'm being completely serious." Lloyd said seriously. "Colette has a serious problem."
"Seriously?" Sheena asked, more because she wanted to say serious again than because she was actually questioning Lloyd.
"I agree. This is so totally unfair!" Genis looked angry. "I'd say she should stop the world regeneration, if it didn't mean dooming the entire world to utter destruction."
"There must be some kind of cure, or something." Lloyd looked thoughtful. "Like, the cure for that Pietro guy. Maybe it'll work on Colette, too."
"Lloyd..." From underneath a mountain of blankets, Colette's voice sounded muffled and far away. She thrust her head up so that she could speak and breathe properly. "Please don't worry about it. If this is what I have to do to save Sylvarant, then it's OK with me."
"But, it's so uncool." Sheena said, sounding grumpy. "You shouldn't have to suffer for everyone. It's not cool."
"Sorry, Sheena," Colette said as she climbed out of bed and stood up. "But you're not gonna talk me out of regenerating the world."
The ninja shrugged. "It was worth a try."
"Besides," Colette continued. "I'm sure this is what Father wants..."
"Which one?" Lloyd asked curiously. Colette blinked.
"Um, well... both of them, I guess." she giggled. "I have more Daddy's than anyone here!"
The group gave a collective sigh.
"Well, seeing as the Chosen is feeling better, shall we get going?" Kratos asked, grumpy and quiet as ever. Everyone agreed, and about an hour later they had packed up and set off.
As they walked, Lloyd took to examining his exsphere. He scratched at the surface as he had done so many times before, until he remembered that this was his mom's life.
"Well, Mom," he told the exsphere. "You've been avenged. I dunno about you, but I'm feeling a helluva lot better!"
"Lloyd," The teen jumped about a foot in the air when Kratos walked up from behind him.
"Wha-whu-huh...? Oh, Kratos. Man, you're pretty scary. Have you ever considered plastic surgery?"
Kratos ignored him. "Lloyd, the one who killed your mother wasn't Kvar, remember? It was..." He coughed a bit and blushed. "-your father."
Lloyd frowned. "Oh, yeah. But... it wasn't really his fault, right? 'Cause Kvar was the one who caused the situation which forced Dad to kill Mom. So, it's not like I have to kill my dad or anything, right?"
Kratos looked nervous. "Yes, but... but what if your father was actually one of the leaders of the Desians, and when he betrayed them they tried to find him and bring him back, and then he met your mother and they were on the run together, and then Kvar found them?" He paused to catch his breath. "Wouldn't it, indirectly, be your father's fault?"
Lloyd stared for a good minute. "Kratos, you think too much."
Kratos didn't say anything. It took Lloyd several moments before he realized that Kratos was still expecting an answer.
"Um, well, if that was what happened, I guess my dad didn't try to get caught, so it's still Kvar's fault. I think." Lloyd now looked thoroughly confused. Kratos sighed and actually managed a sort of smile.
"Yes, you're right. Forgive me, it was a silly question."
"Silly?" Lloyd laughed. "More like, the stupidest most random question I've ever heard in my life. But, it's OK."
They walked in silence for several minutes.
"Y'know what?" Lloyd finally said. "This whole 'bonding' thing can't really compare to me throwing stuff at you."
"Meaning...?"
"Meaning, I'm gonna start being mean to you again."
Kratos sighed. "OK, fine. Whatever."
Just then, Colette's voice broke through their conversation from ahead.
"Ooooh, look at that pretty lake!" She turned to the Professor. "Professor Sage! Can we go there please? We could have a picnic or go swimming or pick flowers or-"
"Well..." Raine looked at Kratos. "What do you think, Kratos?"
The mercenary crossed his arms. "I think we should hurry on to the next seal. We don't have time for these meaningless detours."
Raine turned to the Chosen. "Well, Colette, Kratos says we shouldn't go."
Colette frowned.
"So, I say; let's go."
"Hooray!!" Cheered Colette, along with Lloyd, Genis, and Sheena. Kratos gave a very annoyed growl and refused to speak for the rest of the walk to the lake.