Miffin: Ready, Axel?

Axel: (sigh) Why do I have to do the disclaimer again?

Miffin: Because, if you don't, Hikaru will take away you're Pocky!

Axel: --;; Miffin does not own Tales of Symphonia.

The group stepped into the dark coolness of the Martel Temple. "Wow, it's dark," Lloyd commented.

Colette nodded. "It is, isn't it?" She took a few steps forward. Genis smirked mockingly at Lloyd. "Are you scared, Lloyd?" He teased. Lloyd's cheeks flushed red with indignation. "No! I-I'm not scared!" He protested. Genis snickered.

"Riiight. You're just scared because Mr. Wuffles isn't here,"

"That's enough," Kratos stepped in. "We should hurry and get to the main chamber. The Chosen will receive the Oracle there," Colette nodded. They started to walk forward, Lloyd trailed behind. "How did he know about Mr. Wuffles?" He muttered. A seal and a locked door blocked their way. Lloyd groaned. "Aw, man! It's locked! Now what?" He complained. "Colette, you've been here before, right? Colette nodded. "I think we need the Sorcerer's Ring to get past the seal," She suggested.

"Ok, where is it?" Lloyd asked. Colette frowned and cocked her head, thinking. Genis sighed and sat down. "This might take a while,"

5 minutes later…

"I don't know!" Colette exclaimed happily. 3 emotion bubbles appeared above Lloyd's, Genis' and Kratos' heads, in this order: a scribbly-thingy, a sweatdrop and a … "And that took you…5 minutes to think of?" Lloyd asked slowly. Colette just closed her eyes and nodded cheerfully. Kratos cleared his throat. "I suggest we look around. The Sorcerer's Ring should be further in," He started to walk off. Lloyd, Genis and Colette ran after him.

After about 30 minutes of getting lost (Lloyd's fault), getting attacked by monsters (Colette's fault), and Lloyd desperately needing to go washroom, they finally came into the chamber with holes in the floor. Genis plopped on the ground panting heavily. "Hey…let's…take a…break…ok?" He panted. Lloyd plonked down next to Genis.

"Yeah…Man, who knew that those green blobs could move so fast?"

Kratos rolled his eyes. "Well, if you hadn't provoked it, it would not have chased you around the whole Temple," he replied and leaned against a wall. Colette walked further in the room, completely oblivious to the various large holes that would result in one heck of a fall if she fell in one. Suddenly, she spotted a weird brown thing walking around. "Oooo!" She started to run towards the golem. Lloyd watched all of this curiously. "Hey, Kratos?" Kratos grunted. "What's that weird brown thing that Colette is running to?" Kratos' eyes snapped open. "Stop!" He yelled, running towards Colette.

The screen blew up in a bunch of pieces and a fight ensued. Kratos and Lloyd ran up and whacked it with their swords. Genis stayed back and cast random spells and Colette tripped…a lot. Finally, they beat it. "Phew, that was tough!" Lloyd commented, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.

"Perhaps you should not charge into battle like that," Kratos advised. "You are always being hurt unnecessarily because you don't block or take any defensive measures," Lloyd scowled at Kratos.

"Yeah? Well…" Lloyd stuck his tongue out at Kratos childishly. Genis tugged on Lloyd's sleeve. "Hey, look! The weird thingy turned into a big block!" He pointed towards where the golem had been, in it's place was now a large block. Colette started to walk over to the block…when she tripped and knocked the block into one of the holes. Lightbulb's appeared above Genis' and Kratos' heads. "Oh, I get it," Genis said. "I see.." Kratos also said. Lloyd looked confused.

" Get what?" Lloyd asked cluelessly. Genis just shook his head.

"Never mind, Lloyd. Just follow my lead, ok?"

After about another half-hour, they had filled all the holes in the floor below. They ran across the blocks and climbed the stairs, to where the Sorcerer's Ring floated. Lloyd ran over and took it and put it on his finger. Fire shot out of it. "…." He looked down at the Ring. "Is that all it does?"

A scribbly thing appeared in a emotion bubble appeared above Genis' head. "Is that all!" Genis exclaimed. "Geez Lloyd! You've had the Ring for barely five minutes and you're bored already!" Lloyd sighed.

"Well, yeah. If I wanted to burn something, I would've just found some ants and that magnifying glass of yours,"

"We should head to the seal. Now that we have the Sorcerer's Ring, we should be able to break the seal and continue on," Kratos stated. The three kids nodded and the group headed off.

They reached the seal in good time, except for an incident with an exploding blob. "Here goes," Lloyd shot a small fire ball at the seal, which disappeared on contact with the fire ball. They walked into the warp.

They arrived in a large room, with a big circular altar-like thing in the center. A bright light appeared overhead. A man in green with blonde hair and wings floated down. "Chosen of Sylvarant," The man said. "I am Remiel, (Die Remiel! Die!) an angel of Cruxis. Today is the day that you will accept the Oracle and Regenerate the world. By doing so, you will restore peace and prosperity to the land of Sylvarant. Will you accept?" Colette stepped forward. "Yes, I will accept my duty," She said. A red, glowing object came floating from the altar, towards Colette. It went to the space between her collarbone. As the glow died down, a red crystal could be seen, surrounded by an intricate design. "Wow, is that a Cruxis crystal?" Genis asked, amazed.

"It's shiny," Lloyd remarked. Genis sweatdropped.

Remiel continued on with his grand speech for 15 minutes; Meanwhile, Lloyd dozed off, Genis started doing tricks with his kendama, Kratos had leaned against the wall and Colette was the only one listening the whole time. Finally, Remiel finished his speech and started to float up. "Ouch!" He exclaimed as his head bumped against the ceiling. "Stupid flippin'…." Remiel swore underneath his breath as he disappeared into the ceiling.

Kratos quieted his laughter. "Haha…ahem, I will return to the village with the Chosen," He said and walked into the warp with Colette.

Lloyd and Genis walked down the stairs. "Did you hear that noise his head made when he smacked into the ceiling? I swear I heard something break!" Lloyd commented about Remiel's 'incident' with the ceiling. Genis giggled. "Yeah, the ceiling! I bet his skull is way too thick to break that easily," They both doubled over laughing.

Thump!

"Lloyd Irving! Genis Sage! I thought I told you to stay in class!" Lloyd and Genis looked up to see a very angry Professor Raine. "Eh, well…y'see…um…" Lloyd tried to come up with an excuse. "No excuses!" Raine picked up Genis and started spanking him. Lloyd winced as he watched.

Raine put down Genis, turning to Lloyd. "You're next. Are you ready?" Lloyd blanched. "No! Stop!"

"Oof!" Lloyd hit the wall. "Ow…"

"Now, go back to the village, alright?" Raine asked. Genis and Lloyd nodded slowly. "Alright. I'm going to stay here and look around," With that, she walked off. The two boys started to walk out of the temple, when they heard a very disturbing laugh. "MWAHAHAHAHAHA!" Lloyd looked back, surprised. "What was that!" Genis sweatdropped and shook his head. "You don't wanna know," Lloyd gave Genis a confused look. "I don't?" Genis shook his head again.

"No, trust me, you don't wanna know,"