Alaia Skyhawk: 200 REVIEWS! WOOT! Well things are picking up again. Bt the way, how many of you got the 'Thunder' reference... Y'know Thor's Hammer, Thor being the God of Storms, he he. Yeah that was random.

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, and Mika and Fiuras, who belong to WingedWithFireyMana, so please don't steal them...

Enjoy

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Chapter 53: Hook, Line, and Sinker.

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Skirting along the edge of the cliff, a figure clothed in the usual garb of a Desian nimbly traversed the treacherous path. The darkness hid him. No one would see him as he flitted through the shadows towards his destination... Not even the Desian guards who watched this access point to the Remote Island Ranch.

Smirking as he leapt soundlessly over a gap, passing just feet from one of the guards, Little Bird couldn't help but think to himself just how hopeless these men were at spotting a real threat.

Heh, they don't even bother to make regular checks above them. All they do is watch the easy path with no regard to the fact that someone agile can take this upper route with ease.

Dropping down behind the last of the guards, right next to the transporter, Bird tapped him on the shoulder. Clamping a hand over the man's mouth before he could scream, Bird whispered in his ear.

"You know you lot should really pay more attention. If I were an assassin and not Lord Rodyle's spy, all of you could have just let your Lord's doom into the base with your ineptitude."

As soon as he was released, the Desian spun round and hissed at him.

"Dammit, Kale! You almost gave me a heart attack! Don't you have better things to do than play around sneaking up on your comrades?"

Nonchalantly beneath the visor of the helmet that covered the top half of his face, Bird glanced down and inspected his fingernails.

"It's because you're my comrades that I 'sneak up'. If Lord Rodyle knew how lax you were being down here he'd have your heads. This is the only access to the base on the mainland, and the sheer amount of cover around here would make it a tempting Target for the Renegades to infiltrate the base. The last thing we need is them breathing down our necks... Our Lord is bad enough, believe me. You don't have him practically prodding you every time you enter the base. Me, I get interrogated for every last scrap of intel I manage to get on a trip and that usually lasts for several hours. Why do you think I camp near here to eat and sleep before I enter?"

Nodding in sympathy, the guard clapped him on the shoulder.

"Thanks, Kale. I'll let the rest of the squad know they need to sharpen up. Good luck with your report."

The grin visible beneath the visor of the helmet was smug.

"Oh I think he's going to like what I have for him this time..."

Strolling over to the transporter, Bird, or Kale as he was known here, stepped onto it and disappeared. Seconds later he arrived in a chamber on the periphery of the Remote Island Ranch, this part being right on the sea floor.

Walking out of the room, he then strode purposefully down the long glass encased passage that led into the heart of the base, the clear walls allowing him to see the pitch black of the night time sea, dotted with the lights that glittered the length of the structure built against the side of the island the Ranch was named for. Almost the entire facility was underwater, with only dome of the Dragon Stables roof and the island access point visible above the surface, and even then both of those were carved into the rock of the tiny island, making them near impossible to see unless you knew where to look.

Gazing at the structure that rose up through the frigid waters above him, Bird smiled inwardly. This would be his final time in this hell hole of a base, his next trip out would be his last and he wasn't sorry to see the back of this place. He was one among a tiny number of elite agents, carefully recruited via the Alurannai for the most dangerous and delicate of assignments.

Reaching the central elevator, he punched in his personal access code, the platform immediately surging upwards towards the very top floor of the facility. When it arrived at its destination, he stepped off and entered the office of his 'Lord'.

The room wasn't so much of an office, as a mini control room. Everything in the base could be controlled from here, but only Rodyle ever used the consoles in this room. He was obsessive about knowing everything that went on here, determined to root out every secret that might form, even as he schemed and kept secrets of his own.

Once again Bird smiled inwardly.

He's so determined to root out possible spies and mutineers, and yet he's never come close to finding me or the other two agents here. He thinks he's so clever, and yet he has no idea I've been manipulating him all this time.

Stopping and bowing his head in respect, Bird waited for the man sat at the console to speak.

Rodyle regarded him through the small purple-lensed spectacles perched on the bridge of his long nose. The glass the exact same shade as the long hair that hung to his shoulders swept back from the receding line above his forehead. The look on his face unchanging, he tugged at errant fold in the moss green segmented cloak that covered his green and purple mage armour and stared at him.

"Kale, I assume from your smug expression you have something that will interest me. Hand it over immediately!"

Unhurried, and yet brisk, Bird strode over while pulling out the tiny disk Yuan had to given him along with the strict instruction never to look at the plans contained in it, not even when Rodyle brought them up on his screen. The fewer who could remember those plans the better, and Bird wasn't interested in knowing the information on the disk. He'd seen the destruction wrought by it, and knew all too well how bad it could be if this plan weren't so carefully organised... Rodyle wouldn't even know what hit him when the Renegades eventually seized this facility from him. Even greater was the fact that Cruxis didn't actually know where this Ranch was. When the original Cardinals had been picked, one of them had been instructed to build a Ranch that was hidden from the rest. Prisoners were sent in via the transporter on the mainland, meaning that there was no way of the other Cardinals knowing where to look for it. It could have been anywhere on Sylvarant. This inability to spy on one of their fellow Cardinals kept the rest tense enough among each other to never trust each other enough to even think of conspiring against Cruxis, and that was the point. Little did Yggdrasil know that Kratos and Yuan had manipulated one of the more trusted High Angels into suggesting this arrangement back when the Desians were founded. He had no idea it was actually a plant to create a Ranch that could possibly be used against him at a later date.

Stepping back so that he would be unable to see the screen, Bird carefully watched Rodyle's face instead as the Cardinal loaded the contents onto the secure terminal. Seeing the sudden glee in those eyes, Bird bowed his head again.

"Sir, I retrieved the information from the Central Data Core. The penetration of the secure system took place on the Palmacosta Ranch's main terminal after I infiltrated the facility. Should the breach be discovered it will never be connected to you. Sir, if I may have my leave I would like to return to Magnius' ranch. His security is so pitiful I wouldn't mind seeing what else I can get for you at his expense."

Rodyle chuckled maliciously as he turned to face his spy once more.

"It should have been you, Kale, who succeeded Garaelan. That idiot Forcystus is stupid to be so content with his pitiful excuse for a Ranch. Then again, if you had I would never have gotten this information. By all means get more. Seeing that other idiot Magnius squirming while trying to explain why his main terminal was traced as having a data hack into the Core will be very amusing to watch."

Bird laughed just as maliciously before turning and leaving the room. The satisfied expression remaining on his face even as he was cracking up with laughter inside. On second thought's he'd miss this place, the fact that he'd managed to get the Cardinal to respect him almost to the point of being a true partner in crime, made this his most enjoyable assignment to date. Stepping out of the elevator at the bottom and heading for the barracks, he allowed himself a small sigh.

Ah well, I'm sure I'll find something else after a while.

Entering the barracks he barked out an order for one of his usual escort squads to 'get their asses in gear and get moving before hell freezes over', the mad scramble to obey Lord Rodyle's favourite almost desperate as the men assembled. The squad moved out with Bird in less than ten minutes... No one wanted a delay that might make Kale report them to a man who would have them killed without hesitation.

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"Come on, Mika, don't give up. I told you this was the last and hardest of the skills I had to teach you. No one ever manages them the first few days they try so don't beat yourself up that you didn't manage first time."

Lyranve was cajoling a rather downcast Mika, who had already spent almost a week trying to master this final skill. She and the Harriers had met up with Botta and the Steady Nine just a few days before that, and the Second in Command of the Renegades would be leaving in just three days, taking her teacher with him.

"I just can't understand what I'm doing wrong! You told me to picture Fiuras as I called up the power and focus it into him, but I can't seem to get it to work!"

The alurannai woman blinked.

"You've been 'picturing' him? No wonder you're having trouble. Don't picture him as if he were separate from you, picture him as if you are him. Only then will you be able to transfer the power."

There was a long pause as Mika suddenly understood. Not saying anything more, she did as Lyranve had told her. Realising now why the woman had made her spend so much time looking over and learning every inch of her spirit partner.

Fiuras, who was perched on her head, gave a startled squawk as what Mika was doing took effect, Lyranve then clapping in approval. Mika had successfully mastered this greatest of things possible with a Lesser Summon Spirit. A few seconds, that was all it lasted, but it was enough to sear the knowledge into the summoner far more firmly than any spoken lesson. Dropping to her knees with exhaustion as an equally tired spirit fluttered to the ground beside her, Mika looked up at the proud expression on Lyranve's face and laughed weakly.

"I see now what you meant when you told me summoners who learn it hardly ever use it. I don't think I'll be trying again for a while." Her head drooped. "I don't think I've ever been more drained of mana in my life..."

Her teacher helped her up, slinging an arm around her shoulder as Fiuras opted to just teleport back to camp.

"But it's something you want to do again. There's never been a summoner either, that learnt it and never wanted to use it again, no matter how tiring."

Mika laughed again, smiling.

"Oh you're right about that, my friend. You're right about that..."

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Screams rang out all around as his escort fought to defend him from the ambush. Bird swung his sword at one of the attacking Renegades, but pulled the blow at the last moment allowing the man to block it. They were less than a week's travel from the Ranch transporter, still several days from the place where he would have left his escort to sneak into Magnius' lands alone as he had done many times before.

The ambush was going perfectly, the fact that the escort was defending him meant that they believed this attack to be truly genuine. He was almost regretful though, some of these men were good people who had been pushed into the Desians by the prejudice of others. It was a shame some of them would die here, but in the end it didn't matter if they were good men, right now they were the enemy.

The fight continued. Fifteen regular Desians against ten highly trained Renegades hand picked by himself. They never stood a chance, even without the weapon that was about to be pulled. Seeing the short blunt tube with its embedded mana crystal, Bird flung himself theatrically at the cluster of four the Desians as if to fling them away from the attack. Just as he reached them the blast of light mana exploded from what was Yuan's version of a Striker from the Kharlan War. Hitting them, all five were blasted backwards almost fifty feet, tumbling through the long grass to lie limp in charred and smoking armour minus the limbs that had taken the brunt of the blow. The remaining Desians took one look at their fallen comrades and fled as a couple of the Renegades chased after them half heartedly, though appearing serious to the fleeing half-elves. As soon as they were well out of sight and his comrades had made sure the Desians still present were truly dead, Bird rolled over laughing as he spit grass out of his mouth.

Getting up, several pieces dropped off his armour, his helmet disintegrating and exposing his short midnight blue hair and eyes. As what was left of his Desian uniform fell apart, he stepped over the armless corpse in front of him and accepted a plain robe from one of the other agents, slipping it on as the last of his charred armour dropped away.

"You've gotta love it when you can be blasted by that much Light Mana and not get so much as a scratch. I haven't had as much fun in twelve thousand years as I've had in the last twenty... and in the name of a good cause too. Remind me to thank the Alurannai for looking me up."

Kaleian, the oldest Cruxis Crystal user currently alive, stretched his arms out and grinned before hitching the neck of the robe so it didn't rub the skin around his Crystal mount. He'd long stopped counting how old he was, though he was sure the Alurannai could tell him how long it had been since he'd journeyed to Crystal Point. These days if someone asked him his age he'd reply 'older than I look'. Like most of the Crystal users at the time, Kaleian had kept his head down during the war, and even more so during the time since. It was only twenty-four years ago that the Alurannai had managed to track him down, approaching him to ask if he would use his not inconsiderable experience to help the Renegades. The meeting with Yuan had been an eye opener for the lightning mage who had actually gawked when introduced to him. Anyone who had bothered to learn the names of famous Crystal users had heard of Kaleian Yorei. He had been as famous in his time as the Nine Companions had been during the war.

Turning, he idly seared the corpses to ashes, also searing over the spot where he had landed. If anyone came to check the site they would find nothing to indicate that any had walked away from here. Not even the number of scorch marks would fail to match up with the statements the survivors could make. Evidence dealt with, he indicated with a nod that they should get moving, before spreading his white bird-like wings and with some effort managed to fly. He wasn't even going to leave an extra set of tracks leaving this place... After all, it was this attention to detail that let him hide so well for so long.

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The three surviving Desians lay in a heap, crushed by the fury flung spell Rodyle had used on them. Scowling darkly, he turned and regarded the plans that he'd spent the last two weeks studying. Ignoring the corpses, he leaned his hands on the edge of the console.

"Kale... Those Renegades! They cost me my best ally! ...They'll pay, oh I'll make sure they'll pay." Tapping on a few keys, he studied the calculations he'd been making. "Hmm, without Kale to frame Magnius as the thief, how can do this? This cannon is powerful already, but I can double its strength with nothing more than a Cruxis Crystal to modify the mana absorption unit. Kale could have got it, I've no doubt of that... but how am I going to get my hands on one now?" He continued to mull this new dilemma over, before he suddenly grinned with triumph and pulled up another of his late spy's 'gifts'. "That Kvar is useful for something at least... Now to find a way to improve on his failed project. Not one of his Crystals matured, let's see what I can do to better that..."

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Alaia Skyhawk: I thought it was about time to introduce one of the 'other' Cruxis Crystal users I implied existed besides the Companions back during Prequel. Happy reading.