Alaia Skyhawk: Sorry for the long wait but I was busier with my exam than I thought. To make it worse I didn't pass... I failed by 28 points out of a 1000. The stupid examiners upped the pass mark by over 140 points. (Sweatdrops) Now I have to do it all over again.

Anyway, back to the chapter. This is a mainly fun chapter, as the title says, but it does have a serious part in it.

I don't own Tales of Symphonia so please don't sue me. I do however own Krishka, Dallinius (Dalli), Aluran, the Alurannai and any OCs, except Sanaro and Annule, who belong to Mr.Who2123, so please don't steal them...

Enjoy

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Review Reply:

Mika:

Sorry I kept you waiting, I was expecting to update about 6 days ago but things became a bit hectic and I couldn't find the time.

Yes Mithos is sometimes used for comic relief, but then so are the others. I try to balance it out between them. And expect Kratos to do something funny from time-to-time, I just have to find the right places to put it in so it doesn't seem too silly.

Anyway, thanks for the review.

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Chapter 53: Just for Fun.

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The thud of paws racing through the undergrowth echoed through the air, coming first from one side and then from another, only to stop as soon as they had started. The constant annoyance was beginning to seriously grate on the nerves of the caravan guards, with many actually threatening their fellows when approached without warning. The caravan leader cursed the slow pace of the normally fast vehicles. Two days previously all of them had suffered a strange short out of their main mana drive, resulting in them having to move at a crawl on the auxiliaries. The engineers with them had tried to fix the problem but had declared that several key parts had been reduced to scrap and that they didn't have any replacements for them.

A yell of surprise rose from one side of the caravan, as it moved through the evening gloom, followed by a cry of pain. The leader once again cursed when he heard what followed.

"Dammit, Kain! You could have taken my arm off! I was here to relieve you of your shift you dolt, now someone else is going to have to! There's no way I can hold my weapon now... with a wound like this my arm's going to be in a sling for a week!"

He pulled a clipboard out from under his seat in the control cabin of the lead vehicle, noting down the fifth injury that day caused by an over tense guard attacking the one coming to relieve him.

When he totalled that with the other injuries sustained over the past few days, he came to very disturbing total. Over half of the caravan guards were out of action, with fifteen out of the remaining forty unable to handle a prolonged fight. That left him with only twenty-five men to defend the caravan from attacks instead of the usual eighty. He slammed his fist into the cabin door in frustration, the supply caravan was a sitting duck, and all because the guards were nervous about the local wildlife following them.

He scowled.

"Bloody wolves..."

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"Aww c'mon, Yuan. You're not still annoyed about the pink hair are you? It washed out."

Yuan looked up at his brother-in-law with a barely tolerant expression.

"Don't try the 'cute kid' routine on me, Mithos. I know exactly how old you are so it's not going to work. This is the two thousand and forty-sixth time you've tried it on me since your one hundredth birthday and it's never worked once. So why do you even bother?"

Mithos grinned and put his arms behind his back.

"I dunno, tradition I guess. Besides it helps me keep my hand in as it were. I've got to keep practicing if I'm to get us the sympathy treatment when we have to get supplies. After all, how many times have I gotten us discounts?"

Yuan sighed in resignation.

"Almost as many times as you've tried to use that routine to get away with a prank. I swear every time we enter a shop, if the shopkeeper is female, she'll start to fuss over you."

Martel glanced over from her position in a patch of sunlight on the far side of the clearing.

"Are you jealous, Yuan?" She smiled mischievously. "If you wanted to be fussed over why don't you ask Vayla? I'm sure she'd be happy to oblige... Perhaps give you another haircut."

Yuan looked at her in horror and hearing her approaching footsteps, immediately hid himself behind a tree as Vayla entered the clearing with a handful of the herbs she had been collecting.

"Did I hear someone mention me?"

She glanced around the clearing which was now devoid of any male presence. They had all, like Yuan, hidden upon her arrival. Since Noishe and Annule's departure three weeks previously she had yet to get though her latest bout of mothering and without the two canines present she had been directing it at them.

From his position in a gap beneath a boulder, Kratos looked up at Sanaro in his own hiding place up a tree, and then across to where Mithos had hidden in a bush. The last few days had been exceptionally bad, with Vayla deciding that Mithos hadn't washed behind his ears properly, resulting in her dragging him to the nearby stream and giving him a thorough scrubbing. Mithos normally enjoyed being mothered over by Vayla, but now even he was avoiding her.

Seeing that Martel was the only one present, Vayla turned to go back to her herb collecting only to see Dalli stroll into the camp. His fur was full of bits of grass and twigs where he had been exploring, and he was covered by patches of ingrained dirt. She froze and as he sensed the attention he was getting, Dalli looked up at her. Seeing her expression he began to back away.

Aww, crap...

In a flash she had hold of him and began to scold him while she reached into the nearby wash bag.

"Dalli, you know better than to get so dirty. It's time for a bath for you." Dalli began to squirm and tried to teleport out of her arms, but being a lesser summon spirit he was weaker than her and she stopped him before rapping him on the nose with a bar of soap. "Now stop that, Dalli." She continued in a sweet voice as she fussed over him, heading for the now infamous stream. "I'm going to get you nice and clean and comb your fur so it's all soft and glossy. You'll be the nicest looking summon spirit for miles, won't that be nice?"

Dalli began to struggle even more as he directed a pleading glance at the others in their hiding places. From each of their respective positions, Kratos, Yuan, Sanaro and Mithos all gave the little spirit at look that clearly said, 'you're on your own, mate'. As Vayla disappeared into the trees, Dalli leaned around to give them a last begging look before vanishing from view with a wail.

"HELP MEEEEEEE!!"

As the spirit's wailing retreated into the distance, Kratos put his head between his knees and shuddered.

Spirits preserve us. Let Vayla grow out of this... please let her grow out of this.

He shuddered again as, following the sound of splashing water, a piercing squeal echoed from the direction of the stream.

Please...

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Another yell of pain came from the caravan along with the now familiar cursing of the caravan leader. Looking at each other win amusement, the Arshis and the Vale Wolf nodded and focused their attention on a transport in the middle of the forward half of the caravan. There was a faint flash of magic around them and the once hovering craft dropped three foot to the ground, it's nose digging into the soil like an anchor. Even at the slow speed they had been travelling, the vehicles behind ploughed into the downed transport creating a massive pile up. The remaining transports at the front came to a halt as the guards and engineers who travelled in them spilled out in a rush to see what had happened. With the vehicles now empty of people, Noishe and Annule struck.

The men ran as rays of light screamed out of the sky and demolished the lead transports. A howl split the air and they spun round to see a blue-winged wolf descend on the caravan. As they scattered in terror, Annule dashed through the group and raked the side of all the rear transports with razor sharp feathers flung from his wings. On the other side, Noishe too scattered the terrified men with his charge, following up with a series of lightning spells which fried what was left of the transports' engines.

The two canines met up at the very end of the line of now trashed vehicles and looked back at the chaos with a pair of identical smirks. They looked at each other and with a wink they disappeared back into the undergrowth. Vanishing as if they had never been there.

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The Tethe'allan generals sat around the conference table with expressions of varying levels of satisfaction. Before them on the table was a map of Tethe'alla and on it were marked hundreds of points. The general at the head of the table addressed his fellows.

"As you can see, these are the area where presence of those we seek have been noted. It's no secret that they're there, for anyone can find out by questioning the locals." He pulled out a second map. "This is no better demonstrated by the fact that we have also mapped their locations in Sylvarant and Balacruft."

The generals studied the map, while in the same hiding place as before, the spy managed to take a picture of the second map. The general continued, as he pushed the second map down the table to uncover the first map again, detailing the time they would take action and the way the operation would be handled... All the while the spy recording every word they said...

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Alaia Skyhawk: (Sighs happily) That was just the kind of thing I needed to write after all the stress of last week. Well I'll update soon, and it will be soon this time.