Chapter Four
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Amazon Bunny- Wh00t yea, baby! chapter four!
Raine- ::slap:: You better make a decent outcome from the battle in the colleseum! And make something good happen to me once in a while!
Amazon Bunny- Heh, you'll have to read to see...
Kratos- ::pulls out sword:: Do you enjoy your face?
Amazon Bunny- Yes. Do you enjoy yours? ::Sends to hell::
Kratos- EEP!
Raine- Wow, I haven't heard that in a long time.
Amazon Bunny- Very manly...eep...
Lloyd- NOoooooooooooooo! Dad!
Amazon Bunny- Help me demolish more families just by reading and reviewing!
Kratos- ::crawls back from hell:: my beautiful face...
Zelos- That's stealing someone else's line! I'm sueing!
Kratos- No! Not my money too!
Amazon Bunny- This is getting pathetic...Keep in mind I don't own Tales of Symphonia.
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"Now, our true fight can begin, Lloyd, my son."
Kratos wiped a smudge of blood off his cheek with his thumb and spat bitterly on the ground. He held up his sword to the sunlight, and took a deep breath.
"I understand. I'm ready Dad," Lloyd responded quietly. He, too, got in a battle stance, his twin swords poised to lash out at his command.
The announcer charged in the double doors. "The fight is now down to Lloyd Irving versus Kratos Aurion! Who will win this Colleseum battle and who will walk away, his reputation scarred for life?" He ran towards th doors again. "Begin!"
The doors creaked shut and-
"Rising Falcon!" Lloyd yelled, jumping up into the air and thrusting himself forward to strike his opponent. Kratos lashed out at Lloyd, and with a lightning fast strike of his sword, sent his hurling back 20 meters.
"Dammit...He's too strong..." Lloyd muttered, wiping a trickle of blood off his lips. "Gotta think of a way to catch him off guard.." So, devising a plan while stealthily dodging Kratos' strikes finally lead the teen warrior to realize what his father's fighting flaw was.
He was too aggressive.
And that would lead to his downfall. Lloyd smirked. He evaded his opponent's next attack by sidestepping to the right. Then to the left. Finally, Kratos' aggressive charge sent the mercenary running into the wall, his sword embedded into its yellow-ish cement. While the mercenary yanked fruitlessly, Lloyd took the opportunity to strike him with a Rising Phoenix attack. The blade pierced the purple armor and blood seeped through, splattering all over. The four thousand year old angel groaned in pain, and the anguish of ruining his favorite purple costume. With a mighty pull, he removed the sword and swiveled around to face his son.
"You've gotten smarter, Lloyd," Kratos praised.
"Heh, that's a pretty nice comment to be coming from you, Dad. I always thought you as harsh and tough," said Lloyd, holding up his swords defensively.
"But you'll need more strength than that to defeat me!" Kratos called, pushing off from the ground and lunging at the red-clad boy. Indeed, was Lloyd smart enough to evade the attack, but this time, he was able to counter it, and then hurl his sword straight at the foe, stabbing it brutally and causing it to fall in a graceful arch and collapsing to the ground.
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Raine staggered along the dirty alleyway. She felt...dirty. The half-elf's vision was foggy, she seemed to see in double-vision. Very blurry...She stumbled into the inn and managed to retrieve her staff. On her way out the door she headed for Zelos' house. Perhaps her comrades were there...
There was an instant uproar nearby. If she didn't know better, she would have thought there was some sort of explosion nearby. But it wasn't. She was nearing the middle-class area, and the ''explosion'' was the noise of cheering in the Colleseum.
Halfheartedly, the silver-haired woman walked slowly into the vicinity. She noted the fact that the man that was supposed to guard the entrance to the arena was on coffee break, so she took the leisure to stride into the sidelines to get a better view. What she saw stunned her.
Kratos was sprawled on the ground, blood gushing out of his body, a sword jabbed in his stomach, and Lloyd kneeling over him, desperately trying to save his father.
"Will you look at that! Lloyd is now trying to SAVE his opponent! In all of my career, I've never seen anything like this! This is amazing!" The announcer was yelling.
The crowd was in uproar. A death wasn't supposed to occur. "Get the medics!" "Someone call in the doctor!" "Omigod, he's gonna die!"
The announcer paused in his commentary and accepted a piece of paper. He read the note in confusion. "Ah, yes, well...Is there a healer in the audience?" He called nervously. "We need a healer to report straight to the arena, it seems one of the fighters have recieved fatal injuries..."
Immediately, many women jumped over the stone barrier and crowded around Kratos. Lloyd, having been shoved out of the way, spat out a mouthful of dirt and attempted to get back into the circle.
"C'mon, that hottie can't die!" "Give him a Miracle Potion!" "Life Bottle!" "Dammit, those don't work, stupid whore!" "What did you say?!" The women argued.
"Step aside," Raine harshly shoved a part of the crowd apart. She kneeled down and took the mercenary's pulse. Slow and steady, but getting slower...slower...
"Raine? What are you doing here? I thought-" Lloyd began and was hushed by the many Kratos fans.
"Ressurection!" She said softly, pointing her magical staff at the man. A bright blue light engulfed the angelic being and angel wings appeared to consume him...and then they faded, the Cruxis Angel standing there as if nothing had happened.
The cheering was immense. The angel blinked in confusion as it was beginning to grasp what was going on. "What the-?" He mumbled, helping Raine up to her feet. "Wasn't I just fighting Lloyd? And I thought you were on a walk..." As he said those words, her reaction was almost instantaneous. She had those sad, sad, downcast eyes...
"Hey, did something happen?" Kratos asked her softly. "Please, tell me." His fingers closed around her slim wrist, as a feeble attempt to comfort her.
"No!" Raine said, tearing away from his grasp. "Leave me alone!" She ran across the dirt path and disappeared into the double doors. Kratos and Lloyd looked after her in confusion. Meanwhile, the others were beginning to wake- Genis, Zelos and Sheena all started stirring.
"Wut happened?" Genis said sleepily, rubbing his eyes. He took the miracle gel a tall lady handed him and chewed slowly on it.
"Whoa, did I miss anything?" Sheena sat up and took her lemon gel. Lloyd and Kratos thought it best to shake their head.
"Nope, resolved everything." Lloyd lied.
"Ha, well that's good to hear, I was hoping to get a good chunk of the action," Zelos said obnoxiously. "Obviously, you're too weak and not beautiful to put up much of a fight anyways."
An eyebrow twitched in Kratos' eye. "Well," he said, obviously restraining the urge to beat the Tethe'alla Chosen to a bloody pulp. "I'll go now, if this fight's done." He walked quickly out the door.
"Wait, lemme come with you!" Lloyd yelled after him, and then, knowing he wasn't to be stopped, ran, to catch up with Kratos.
Genis shook his silvery head. "Whatever. Leave them to do their buisiness."
Lloyd ran down the cobblestone path. "Damn, I lost him..." He returned to the Colleseum to tell the others.
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(The Otherworldly Gate)
"Mother..." Raine Sage rubbed the large stones gently with the tip of her fingers and pressed her tear-stained face against it. "Mother, tell me...If I die, will it go away?" Tears streamed down her cheeks. "Will everything stop? The discrimination, the cycle of Chosens? The pain and suffering? My-" She cut off, a dry sob racking her body. "No, no, this won't do...I'm a half elf!" she said bravely. "I can't let these things get to me." She wiped away her tears and stood resolutely, her eyes glaring at the stones.
There was a very soft whoosh of feathers as Kratos landed on the island. Raine's posture went stiff. It was pretty evident that she didn't want him on the island. Pretty evident she didn't want anyone on the island but herself. But no matter, Kratos thought. He walked up to her, and asked, "Why did you avoid me earlier today? Did something happen?"
Raine's features hardened. "No." Kratos noted that her answer was cold and abrupt, indicating something did happen.
"Alright...If it's too hard for you to tell me-" Kratos turned around and was just about to fly off when he heard a distant sob.
"I'm sorry...I can't..." She pounded her fist against the cold stones. Another sob shook her body violently. "I was...on the walk I told you about...and in the...in the slums...I ran into a drunkard named Blaret..."
"Blaret?! I thought I had killed him years ago!..," Kratos said, shocked.
"He...he..." she couldn't go on. But Kratos knew full well what she was trying to say. His heart ached for her. So sad...
Tenderly, he drew her into his arms and held her while she sobbed into his chest. Raine didn't seem to mind with him...much. She flinched when he touched her, that was for sure. But no wonder...with the traumatizing ordeal she went through...
The next time he saw Blaret, he would personally kill him slowly and painfully.
And he would make sure he was dead.
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Ariel-Wow, I'm glad you're still reading my fics, even though Raine suffered her ordeal! ::bows:: Please continue to read, enjoy, and review!
Pant Burner- ::cheers wildly:: OMG thank you sooooooo much for your review and the play-by-play, now I can kick ass twice as hard! #.# Marvelous!!!
ToSFangirls 1 ::and:: 2- Aww, thanks so much for your review! I loved your fic, it was so sweet! Please continue to read my stories!
Kitten Kisses- Awesomeness! I hope you like this chapter! Please continue to update your fanfics too! Promise?
Willow-189- Thank you for your review! Keep on reading and reviewing!
Hamano Ayumi- Yay, the legend reviews on my story again! ::cheers:: please update your stories, they're really good, but you take foreva to update! And by the way, thanks for helping me bash kratos! You're welcome to do so anytime! Keep on reading my fanfic and keep on reviewing!
GirlyButTough- Thank you for your review! I hope you enjoyed this chapter...REVIEW! lol
Forest Liger- Thanks for the review! I know the combination of KratosRaine are unlikely, due to...certain circumstances...but I love this pairing and will continue to write about them.
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Amazon Bunny- That's another chapter done! YES!!!
Kratos- What are you high on?
Amazon Bunny- nothing but coffee! ::drinks more coffee::
Kratos- .....
Raine- I MUST ANALYZE IT!
Amazon Bunny- ::throws coffee cup at raine::
Raine- EEK EEK! ::Runs behind Kratos::
Zelos- Dont you worry, baby, I'll save you!
Sheena- ::knocks him out and drags him away:: sorry about that...he's overly stupid.
Kratos- Gee, you're smart.
Sheena- Yep. Anyways, aren't you supposed to be flushed to hell right about now?
Kratos- You just had to remind her...::glances at Amazon Bunny::
Amazon Bunny- ::Sends to hell:: Hope ya enjoyed the story! Review!