Chapter fifty-three.
In Which Infiltration Begins, inside you will find ninjas, battles, debates, half-elves, adorable bits of romance, plans, sexy Tenebrae, and foreshadowing! Gods save us, the big stuff starts next chapter…
Disclaimer: Mystic Yoshie does not own Tales of Symphonia or the Sequel.
Although Altessa's house was not far from Mizuho, because Presea had wasted no time in getting them out away from the Dwarf so as to cause him no more trouble and hurrying them along the path to Mizuho, it was nearly midnight before they reached the hidden ninja village. The moon was out and full, lighting the simple wooden walls that surrounded the village. Despite the fact that it was night, the town was active with the soft footsteps of near-invisible ninjas as they hurried about their business. The city was small and snug, easy to protect from intruders. Although there were no guard towers, Kratos did not doubt that every soul inside the village walls knew of their presence.
His suspicions were confirmed when, in a signature puff of smoke, a hooded ninja appeared before them. "Who goes there?" he growled softly; his stance was not hostile, but Kratos had no doubt that he could have put a knife in Emil and Marta's chests before they could have blinked. His voice, however, was low and dangerous.
"Orochi, are you well?" Presea's calm tone must have been well known to the ninja, as he immediately relaxed and turned to face the small girl.
"Presea, what are you doing here? Who are your friends?"
"Sheena told me to take them to a safe place; I assumed she was referring to the Village."
"You've talked to the Chief?"
"Yes, but perhaps we should speak with Elder Igaguri as well…"
"Of course, the Sages will want to hear of this as well."
When they reached the home of Igaguri, the elderly, retired chief of Mizuho whom Kratos had never actually met before, they found the old man talking in hushed tones with Raine and Genis, however, all sounds cut off when Orochi, Presea, Emil, Marta, and Kratos entered.
"Emil, Marta, what are you doing here?"
"P-Pres-sea?" Immediately Genis turned a vivid shade of red, having eyes only for the pink-haired girl.
"Hello Raine…Genis," Presea sent a small, affectionate smile toward Genis and both children blushed.
"And Kratos has returned as well…" Raine glowered at Kratos.
Tenebrae appeared from behind Kratos and said in a haughty voice. "Ah, Raine, Genis, how wonderful to see you again."
To his credit, Igaguri was remaining admirably calm, "Well now," he smiled serenely, "I think we have much information to swap."
Thus, explanations commenced. Emil and Marta were forced to once again start from the beginning of the Journey in order to help Igaguri catch up with what was happening. Then it was Raine and Genis' turn to explain their journeys after their separation at the Temple of Ice. As it was, almost nothing had happened to them in their search for Lloyd. They had spent much of their time seeking out old haunts or old friends that Lloyd might have asked favors from, but coming up with nothing but misplaced rumors and worried friends. At one point they had met up with Colette who had claimed to be following one of Lloyd's supposed "trails" through Sylvarant. Still, nothing had surfaced until they had come to Mizuho.
Next, was Kratos' turn. He was certainly the most interesting of the group, the fact that he was "Ratatosk" coupled with how he had been the one to see Lloyd the most of any of them. He, however, politely declined. The debate was becoming mildly heated; Raine and Genis were both yearning for information on their friend and untrusting of Kratos. He was growing agitated with them as well, and something drastic might have happened had the Vanguard not attacked at the precisely the correct moment.
The entire populace was gathered outside the village facing an army of Vanguard soldiers. It was not until Kratos and Marta were seen, however, that they attacked. Mass chaos broke out as soldiers and ninjas leapt at each other, swords clashed and shouts of pain came from the fallen.
"W-we have to help them!" cried Emil.
"No, we can handle things here, you three sneak out the back," commanded Raine while Presea and Genis nodded.
"No, we're not going to abandon you!" Marta was glaring across the battlefield as her father's troops attacked the people who were trying to help her. She would not abandon these people; if not for them, she would have been dead long ago.
"I agree with Marta." All eyes fixed on Emil, his red eyes glittered, but not with their usual blood-thirst. "We can't just run, running will only get us in deeper. We'll be backed up against a wall with no way out. We have to take on the responsibilities of the war that we started."
Kratos nodded, Emil-Ratatosk-was correct, they would only get themselves in farther if they ran now. Something was ending. This was the Vanguard's master plan, and it was not only not an option to let it succeed, but perhaps the only time that Brute would be let to public eye. They knew where he was, and the only way to take down the Vanguard was to take down the mastermind behind it. "We will stay." He turned to Tenebrae who had appeared to better contribute to the debate. "Tenebrae, find the monsters, we are going to need all the help we can get. Emil, Marta, stay close to me, you are not used to fighting armies."
Both teenagers nodded, and Raine and the others seemed to understand that they had been overruled. "Right, but be careful," commanded Raine.
………
Kratos had not fought a battle like this since the Kharlan War. It was bloody, neither he nor the Vanguard were about to take mercy on their adversaries, and Kratos was distracted, constantly having to slay the men who snuck behind Marta, the ones that Emil could not. His blade was coated with red as was his person. Every so often, he would see a lithe ninja or the sparks of Raine's light mana or hear explosions and feel the heat of Genis' explosion spell.
After a few minutes, in between waves of soldiers, Kratos realized that Emil and Marta were no longer right behind him, doubling back on himself; he found them speaking softly. He was far enough away that neither noticed him, however, he could hear every word they said.
"These bastards just don't stop coming!" grumbled Emil, though there were no attacking soldiers at that moment. "They were like this in Palmacosta."
"Y-you remember?!" Although Kratos could not see Marta, he could picture her eyes widening.
"Yes, and you've been running ever since. You thought that Ratatosk, Kratos I guess, could solve all your problems. You thought that he could save everyone after he came to full power."
"That's-!"
"But Brute has Solum's Core, and now you have to face him anyway."
"Emil…"
"Stop running Marta, we will do this together."
"Emil, Marta, Ratatosk!" Kratos flinched as Orochi's voice echoed over the-Kratos was only now noticing-emptying battlefield. "The enemy has retreated for the moment, we must return to the Village to heal and prepare!"
Mutely, Emil, still in Ratatosk mode, took Marta's hand and led her back toward the Village, Kratos following silently. When Emil turned around again, his eyes were green.
………………
"So, the Vanguard are staging riots across the world…" murmured Genis, "The government was already weak, but the Vanguard is tearing it apart. Since the government was so entwined with the Church of Martel, now that… And even Dorr was corrupted by the Desians… Grr! Damn it Mithos!"
"Genis!" Raine snapped. "Watch what you say!"
"Professor Sage, I have to agree with Genis…"
Raine looked irritated. "Merely because I reprimand Genis does not mean I do not agree!"
Emil and Marta both looked mystified. Kratos could have found it amusing were the circumstances not so dire. "If you are quite finished Ms. Sage, the weakened government aside, we still need to find a way to defeat Brute and obtain Solum's Core as well as save your friends."
"The best way would be to launch a sneak-attack at Lezareno," stated Orochi, "Our troops may be capable of doing so, as long as we have your help."
"Yes, the rest of the world is far too concerned with the small-scale problems. The only way to end this is to go to the source of the problem." Igaguri agreed with his ninja.
"We are in as well," Raine nodded her consent.
………………
The travels that followed their silent declaration of war were slow, it took them nearly a day to traverse back to Altamira, and it was nightfall by the time they reached the resort, though they had started out early that morning. He, Raine, Genis, Presea, Marta, Emil, Tenebrae, and the monsters were to take a different path from that of the ninjas that were to accompany them. Later, once they had reached the city, the seven of them would infiltrate the Lezareno building while the people of Mizuho attacked from the outside, drawing most of the guards and, hopefully, leaving a clear path through to the control center.
Huddled in the woods that were their last refuge before the city, the group awaited word from Orochi and his scouts. When the ninja appeared, it was in his usual fashion, the startling puff of smoke and his calm, stiff attitude.
"W-whoa! Orochi, you scared me!" cried Emil.
"Y-yeah…" Marta, who had leapt a good foot in the air shivered and scooted closer to Emil, "I'm glad you're on our side…"
"Agreed, I was quite startled." Everyone turned and looked skeptically at Presea, her voice as vague and monotone as usual.
"You don't look very 'startled'," grumbled Emil, obviously ashamed that he had jumped while Presea had only stood there.
"T-that's our P-Presea!" chirped Genis, "She's not afraid of anything!"
"Did I not just tell you that I was startled?"
Genis turned as red as one of Lloyd's favorite shirts.
"Anyway…" Orochi continued, "It appears that the Vanguard have made Lezareno Building Number Two their main headquarters-"
"-You mean there's more than one of them?!" cried Genis.
"Of course, Lezareno is a large company, not all of its works can be housed in one building," Orochi glared down at Genis, "As I was saying, it is heavily guarded, and there's no back way that you can sneak in through, we may all have to take the front entrance and hope Brute does not have an emergency exit…"
"Perhaps we could use the employee entrance."All eyes turned to Presea, "Regal once showed me an entrance that he said would take you to the Lezareno headquarters. We can only hope that he meant Building Two."
"Well, it's worth a try…Sneak into the hotel and see what you can do, contact a scout when you find out what's happening." Without another word, Orochi disappeared.
"Man, sometimes he can be a real ass-" Genis was cut off by Raine smacking him over the head.
"Language, Genis."
"S-sorry, Sis…Anyway, it's like infiltrating the Ranches all over again, 'cept this time we don't have Lloyd…" Genis sighed. "But at least we have backup, we didn't have any for the Palmacosta Ranch or the Asgard Ranch."
"Yes, it will be nice."
They had begun to walk toward the city, hoping that the ninjas were taking care of visual from the make-shift watch towers that surrounded the city. From beside his elder sister, Genis smirked, "But we can't blow anything up this time, I think Regal'd be really mad at you if you wrecked his building!"
"It is not as if I destroyed them for fun!"
………………
"Damn, how are we getting past those guards?"
The city was overrun with Vanguard, though, now that it was late evening, they seemed to be between shifts, only two guards guarded the hotel, their destination. Now would be the only time that they could make it before more guards came…
"Yeah, we can't start a fight…" grumbled Genis.
Tenebrae ghosted in behind them. "You only need to get them away from the entrance, correct?" All eyes were now fixed on the Centurion.
"What did you have in mind Paw Pad?" Presea blinked.
"My name is Tenebrae. And the plan is…this!" With that, Tenebrae disappeared, and Celsius took his place. Her blue skin glittered frostily in the setting sun and her short, blue hair bobbed teasingly around her shoulders. "This should distract them!" The effect was ruined by Tenebrae's voice, heightened by a few octaves and made "feminine." The effect destroyed what he had done.
"That…is creepy." Genis' statement seemed to sum it up quite well.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but that might just work…as long as you keep your mouth shut," Marta sighed. "Martel save us…"
"I miss Paw Pad…" mumbled Presea softly.
Those words seemed to be enough incentive to get Tenebrae moving. He walked straight through the front doors and into the city. His hips swayed and his gait was slightly appalling. As he passed the guards, he raised a blue hand and giggled, though it was obviously faked, both men fell for it. Their eyes wide, they followed the Centurion further down the road, toward the far end of town. By the way they stared at Tenebrae, Kratos silently wondered if Centurions also had a small amount of mind control.
"Hello beautiful!"
"Now you're an angel fallen from heaven!"
Kratos raised an eyebrow at the men's antics, only slightly less disturbing than Tenebrae's own.
"If you three would stop staring," grumbled Marta, referring to the males of the group. "We should get going before those guys realize they're dealing with a drag!"
Marta stomped off, Raine and Presea following behind. Emil looked sheepishly at Kratos, "That's really creepy…"
………………
"Since when do Centurions have a sense of beauty?" grumbled Marta. "Tenebrae, that was just weird!"
"I take offence to that!" cried Tenebrae, "We Centurions have a perfect sense of what is beautiful in the extra space world!"
"Well then, do you think I'm pretty?!" snapped Marta.
"Why of course Lady Marta, you are very pretty."
This seemed to lessen Marta's resentment. "What about Raine and Presea?"
"Both very beautiful," Tenebrae smirked.
"Well then, since you're such an expert, who's the prettiest?!"
"Oh, that's simple!"
"Oh really?" Raine raised an eyebrow.
"Me!"
They should have seen that coming.
………………
"Lloyd!"
"Bud! Thank the Gods we found you-! Hey, who's your friend?!"
Colette and Zelos extra space raced across the Altamirian plains toward their red-clad friend and his…associate.
"Guys, what are you doing here?" Lloyd looked surprised, taking incentive to step in front of his darkly cloaked friend.
"We heard about Altamira, we thought we had to come and help!"
While Colette was explaining, Zelos was working to get a better look at Lloyd's companion. He worked his way around Lloyd, trying to get an improved angle. There seemed to be no good way to see him, however, the cloak he wore covered every bit of him and left nothing visible to an outsider.
"Good to see you too, Zelos, leave him alone." Zelos looked up guiltily, "We should get inside and split up, we can cover more ground that way." Although that was not what either Colette or Zelos had had in mind, they could not deny Lloyd's logic.
"I guess, but wouldn't it be safer to combine forces?"
"Nah, you guys stir up trouble and we'll go for the top. See you on the inside!" Lloyd took off, his long legs carrying him quickly over the flat terrain.
"Good to see you too, Bud…" grumbled Zelos.
"I'm sure he's just got a lot on his mind…" murmured Colette, never one to think badly of anyone, let alone Lloyd. "That must be it…"
"His friend…"
"I wonder who he was…"
"I don't know what he was, but I know for sure he wasn't human."
Colette's wide blue eyes met Zelos' and both shared a moment of worry. What had Lloyd gotten himself into this time?
Being sick sucks.
Meh, hope you enjoyed the chapter and the foreshadowing and whatnot.
R&R
~Yoshi
