AN: Hey hey, guys and gals! The next chapter might be a bit late, thanks to my aqquisition of Metroid Prime 2 : Echoes, and my agressive policies towards Metroids, Space Pirates, and anything called the 'Ing'. So my mate Thunder 'Dave' Strike has agreed to step in and help both you and I out with some totally awesome filler. He could easily put this up under his account, but he's very nice to me. He says there could well be about three parts to this in total, so yay! Please review it, becasue I'm certain he'd like to know what you all think of it. Anyway.

Disclaimer: Thunderstrike the Dave does not own Tales of Symphonia, any of the conceptual material, etc. However, he does have a tendency to grab the Heavy Turret in multiplayer Metroid and laugh somewhat nastily as he hurls huge balls of evil green death at us. Tsk Tsk. :p

Totally Awesome Filler, Dude, Thunderstrike you Rock Chapter : Diamond Pietro (1)

"It's all here, all hundred thousand of it." Raine said as she shuffled back from the huge pile of coins that reflected the light from the campfire like a hundred thousand miniature suns. She sat down on one of the logs circling the fire.

"Think of how much research this could fund." She sighed, drawing her knees in close and resting her elbows on them.

"Gee sis, do we really have to give all of this Gald to Pietro?"

"Yes we do Genis, it's the last instalment the people of Luin need to complete the restoration of the City. It's the right thing to do, and we did promise Pietro."

"I know that, but it just seems it's a bit… much! What's he rebuilding the city with, diamonds?"

A third figure stepped out of the darkness and into the circle.

"Genis has a point y'know Raine. A hundred thousand, on top of what we've already paid?"

"Sheena, welcome back! You think so too?"

She joined the half-elf siblings on the logs.

"I'm not saying it's not the right think to do, but for the amount we've given to Pietro…"

"Thee hundred and forty three thousand five hundred Gald." Raine reeled off automatically.

"You scare me, you know that? Well, for what we've handed over to him, we have seen fairly little restoration going on. I made some enquiries with the Mizuho information network, and the shipments going into Luin are… a little concerning."

"How so?"

"Well, while there are shipments of building materials, there aren't nearly enough of them. And it's the other shipments that concern me really."

"What are they?" Genis chipped in.

"Take a look for yourself."

Sheena leant forwards and threw a piece of paper over to them. They studied the manifest intently, all the while furrows appearing in their brows. Genis spoke first.

"I told you so!"

"Diamonds? How could he need this many diamonds?" added his sister.

"Why would he need diamonds at all is what I want to know."

Sheena crossed her arms.

"That's something we really need to find out before handing over all this money. Where are the others?"

"Colette got kidnapped a while back and we haven't got round to rescuing her yet, and Regal and Presea are in Altimira visiting Alicia's grave."

"Oh, what about Lloyd and Kratos?"

Genis squinted off into the distance as he chipped in.

"Kratos told Lloyd he needed more training. They went that way… whoa!"

Something akin to a sonic boom struck the campsite, with a red blur at the center. The three of them were knocked backwards off their respective logs by the air displaced in the object's passing. The flame from the fire was dragged horizontal by the wake and nearly went out before resuming its prior vertical status.

Sheena with her ninja training was first to recover, even if it did amount to;

"Uhhh, w'happen'?"

The object came to a halt about a hundred meters away after carving a swathe into the soft earth. It kicked its legs out and sat up groggily. Lloyd Irving spat out grass and spoke, mainly to reassure himself that he still could. Father or no, Kratos didn't pull his punches and that last one had been a doozy.

"Uhhh, w'happen'?"

Kratos landed beside him, and dropped at his side Lloyd's wooden swords he had been using to train.

"You are holding back."

Lloyd picked himself up and dusted himself off.

"I thought we were just training…"

"I'm not training you to hold back."

Shaking his head clear, Lloyd picked up his wooden swords. For a four thousand year old being, his father's people skills were lacking. His jaw hurt like hell, and he was fed up of Kratos's attitude. He'd beaten him before at the Origin seal, and he would do it again. Time to school him. He held the swords out straight out in front of him, and dropped them. Reaching for his scabbards he pulled out the real steel in one smooth motion.

"Fine then. Bring it on!"

"As you wish."

Kratos moved so fast that even Colette would have had trouble registering it. In one movement he had drawn his own sword and brought down at Lloyd in an overheard arc. But Lloyd did see it; he crossed his blades in front of him and caught the downswing in the crux. The jolt of the impact shot through his arms like fire and he moved his left leg back to steady himself. Before Kratos could pull his sword away Lloyd pushed forward and to the left, and spun a full circle on his right heel curling his left leg round and connecting his foot squarely with Kratos's ribs. He let out the barest grunt but gave no ground. Instead he used the momentum of Lloyds kick to spin in turn, putting all the centrifugal force into his sword as he swung it in a horizontal arc. But the time taken to spin gave Lloyd a split second to throw himself backwards, the blade missing his chest by inches. He had swung his arms out to the side, and Kratos capitalized, dashing forward and landing a single open palmed blow on Lloyd's unprotected chest. The force of the blow sent it's recipient skidding backwards, but he kept his footing and dug his feet in to stop his motion.

The ground around Kratos's feet began to glow red as he raised a hand to his forehead in preparation to cast. Lloyd caught his gaze for a second and then burst into a sprint, trying to charge him down, but there wasn't time to cover the distance and break the cast. Kratos extended his arm, palm facing outwards and wreathed in flame.

"Fireball!"

The first of three said fireballs tore from his hand directly towards Lloyd. As it reached him, Lloyd swung his left sword, slashing across the projectiles path and causing it to expend its energy prematurely. He burst through the cloud of smoke and fire and kept running as the second fireball closed the distance between them. Lloyd attempted another slash, but he was going at a full sprint and judged the timing badly. Instead of exploding the fireball was drawn down the length of the blade and slammed into his shoulder. The heat seared his face and arm, his shoulder went numb and he nearly dropped his sword, but before Kratos let fly the final blast he lunged forward, covering the remaining distance in two steps, and swinging the other sword with his good arm at the last fireball forming in front of Kratos's hand.

"Ooooh, pretty" was all the still dazed Raine could matter as the night sky was illuminated by the blast. Sheena crawled over to where she was lying, not because she couldn't stand up but rather she wasn't sure it would be safe to yet. Helping Raine up to a sitting position, she sat down next to her with her back against a log.

"How much more of this can we look forward to?"

Raine shook her head, clearing the cobwebs.

"Given their history, or perhaps lack of it, I'd say the still have some issues they need to work through."

"Heh, I guess this is what passes for father-son bonding these days."

"Well, I suppose we had better…"

She looked around, flustered.

"Genis? Genis!! Where are you?"

They scanned the area and were about to stand up and make a real search of it as a small hand popped up from behind another log and waved in their general direction.

"Oh, thank goodness. Are you alright?"

The waved became a thumbs-up, and then apathetically slumped back behind the log. Raine and Sheena leaned back again, watching the glow in the distance fade. After a few moments the clashing of steel on steel began again. The younger of the two women spoke.

"It's going to be a long night."