In a previous review by Christoph, I got asked where Colette was, and I always try to answer questions that won't give a plot element away too soon. If you remember a few chapters back, Lloyd, Kratos and Yuan were going to investigate what Stromm was up to on their own and decided it would be best to leave everyone else out of it, so they dropped Genis, Raine and Colette off in Iselia. But when the they decided how they were going to attack Stromm's base and how they were going to stop him from destroying Tiberia, they decided they'd need Genis's and Raine's help. Colette wasn't there because they decided she wouldn't be needed for the operation.
Also, in my profile now, I have updated information on my next story after this one. It's my eighteenth Ross and Mike story (but only the second to be put on the web) and plot details and a few other things about it will be mentioned. So if you want to check it out, please do. The story is entitled The End of Time.
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Lloyd, Kratos and Kayne were now searching through the dark and threatening base after Skelter ran off to supposedly cover and to fight off any people who tried to stop them.
Lloyd wasn't scared about how he was going to have to confront Stromm. He knew for a fact he would win the fight. But he wasn't sure about whether or not they would make it in time to stop the laser from destroying Kayne's world.
The group went in door after door, only to make a quick sigh of annoyance and find no one was in there.
After running through door after door, the group finally walked in the correct one. As it turned out, Stromm was still in the same room he was in when they first invaded his base after Regal helped them.
Stromm had his back to them and was staring at a giant computer screen. The screen was centering on a picture of a lavender-colored planet (that Lloyd assumed was Tiberia) and it had a small circle around it with four tiny lines coming from equal distances on the circle. It was no doubt the target.
"I see you people can't help but get involved in these things," Stromm said before he even turned around. How did he know that they were there?
Stromm slowly turned around and stared at the three people as they gave him a hated look.
"I thought I told you that you shouldn't get yourself caught up in this!" Stromm sharply said to Lloyd. "If you want to go home and just get out of my way, it's not too late, you know."
"Yeah, right!" Lloyd said. "You think I'm going to let you destroy an entire world full of innocent people!"
Stromm just laughed in a manner that Lloyd had gotten used to hearing over his first journey. Of course, the laugh only made Lloyd hate him even more.
"Stromm, you don't need to destroy an entire world to win a war," Kratos gently assured him.
"Yeah!" Kayne yelled. "You think it's worth the lives of all those innocent people just so you can get what you want?"
"You should be the last to speak!" Stromm yelled. "And I'm not putting up with this anymore!"
Stromm turned around and started hitting a few buttons on the giant computer in front of him. They clicked and made computerized beeps as he hit each one. He finished by hitting one more, and the words TARGET LOCKED appeared on the screen. A countdown clock starting at five minutes started counting down.
"You see that?" Stromm said in a hideous way as he gave the three a vicious sneer. "In just five minutes, Tiberia will be completely obliterated. You can all go home now and forget you ever got involved."
"You bastard!" Lloyd screamed. "You think I'm gonna let you get away with this!" Lloyd quickly unsheathed his material blades. Kratos added on by drawing his sword.
"You wish to fight me?" Stromm asked in a surprised voice. "So be it. It will be the last mistake of your life."
Lloyd started charging at Stromm, but Stromm pulled out a handful of his explosive pellets and started throwing them one-by-one at Lloyd, trying to slow him down as much as possible. One pellet hit Lloyd on the foot and knocked him down for a minute as he tried to walk off the pain.
Stromm took this opportunity to tighten his gauntlets and make sure he could dish out the most pain possible when they were used.
Kratos came up from behind and gave Stromm a quick slash across the back, causing a trail of blood to soak through his white commander uniform.
Now realizing he was in a bit of trouble after seeing how powerful and quick Lloyd and Kratos really were, Stromm realized that if he wanted to stay alive, he would have to keep on his toes.
Lloyd jumped back into action and started swinging his material blades around so fast that they were nothing except a red and blue blur.
Stromm made several ducks and jumps out of the way as the two blades came dangerously close to making contact with him. When Lloyd had to take a split second to recover from his last swing, Stromm took the opportunity and gave Lloyd his hardest shot right in the stomach.
With the wind knocked out of him, Lloyd fell over on the floor on his back. He moved around a little bit while he tried to get his strength back, but when he opened his eyes, he saw Stromm was about ready to drop an entire handful of explosive pellets on top of him.
Lloyd braced himself for the pain and for the end to come, but just as Stromm was about to unleash the pellets, Kratos charged from behind and struck Stromm in the back of his head with the end of his sword.
Stromm screamed in pain as he released the pellets. The pellets fell only a few feet besides Lloyd, but harmlessly exploded.
Kratos and Stromm were now fighting one-on-one. Kratos tried casting a few fireballs from the tip of his sword, but it was fairly easy for Stromm to jump out of the way. After that, it was very easy for Stromm to bounce back by throwing some very quick punches.
Kratos, however, had no trouble dodging them. In fact, he even had time to put up his sword to block the punches being thrown at him.
After Stromm's gauntlet came into contact with Kratos's sword, the gauntlet got dented and basically was rendered useless.
Lloyd was finally able to get up after lying down for a few seconds and having his senses come back to him. He was finally able to get up, but was disappointed to see that Kratos was handling the fight fine without him.
However, Lloyd just tried to think of this as something that would make the fight easier. If Stromm was struggling to stay alive when fighting Kratos, then how much would Stromm struggle (better yet, how long) if Lloyd were helping Kratos fight?
Lloyd picked up both of his swords and started charging at Stromm and gave him another giant slash across the back.
Stromm screamed in pain as he fell to his knees as more blood started trickling from the newly formed wound in his back. Still, he refused to give up. He started standing again and started fighting even more viciously than he had before.
"Wow, this guy refuses to give up," Lloyd commented when he saw how stubborn Stromm was being.
Stromm started swinging his gauntlets at Lloyd so hard that Lloyd thought he could actually be knocked out on impact if the weapons were to hit him. Luckily, Lloyd made another quick slash when he was ducking one of Stromm's punches and managed to slice Stromm across the ankles, dropping him immediately.
"We got ya now!" Lloyd said as he put his material blades in a position that would fatally wound Stromm and finish him.
When Stromm was about to make his last breath, he reached both hands into his pockets and pulled out a handful of explosive pellets in both of them. He threw both handfuls, one at Lloyd and one at Kratos.
The pellets exploded and sent both swordsmen flying backwards and both of them crashed into a wall.
Staggering, Stromm got up and started walking over to Kratos and prepared to give a fatal blow to the Seraphim's skull with his gauntlet, but just as he was about to, Kratos rolled out of the way, causing Stromm to strike his gauntlet into the solid metal wall instead.
Somehow, Stromm seemed to be getting some of his strength back, despite having two massive gashes across his back and a slice at his ankle, making it harder to stay supported on two legs.
Stromm started taking pellet after pellet from his pocket, but for some reason he only threw them at Lloyd. After trying to dodge one after another, Lloyd eventually got hit by one and was knocked to the ground.
Stromm proceeded to running over Lloyd and grabbed his flamberge. Now Stromm had a sword as well.
Growling angrily, Lloyd got up with his icy-blue Vorpal Sword and tried his best adjusting to fighting with only one sword. Stromm didn't seem to have too much trouble fighting at all.
When Lloyd and Stromm were clashing blades, Kratos saw that this would be an ideal time to strike. He ran up from behind, but just as he was about to strike Stromm, Stromm turned around and gave Kratos a hard kick in the stomach, then pushed him onto the ground and instantly resumed battling Lloyd without taking too much time.
But it didn't take long for Kratos to get back up, and soon it was a three-way fight. Somehow, Stromm was doing an excellent job holding off both swordsmen, even though he was outnumbered two-to-one.
No matter how many swings or how quickly the swings came from either sword, Stromm was able to parry it and keep himself alive.
"No wonder he was made into a commander so fast if he can fight when in pain like this," Lloyd thought to himself as he continued trying to swing the Vorpal sword, hoping to pierce Stromm with it.
The clashes back and forth continued as Lloyd and Kratos desperately tried to put a finishing blow on Stromm, because they only had about a minute left before the laser would fire and destroy Tiberia.
Making one last final attempt, Lloyd signaled for Kratos to get down on his knees when Stromm was too busy focusing his attention on Lloyd. Not sure what Lloyd was getting at, Kratos agreed.
Stromm turned around and saw Kratos was a target now, which is precisely what Lloyd wanted. As Stromm went around to stab Kratos while he was on his knees, Lloyd ran around to behind Kratos and jumped on his back and did a somersault over him, like he was playing a game of leap frog.
The move, of course, surprised Stromm and his attention drifted back to Lloyd, even though Kratos was right in front of him. But Lloyd was a bit fast with his Vorpal sword, and when Kratos saw that Stromm had his back to him, he was fast with his sword as well.
Both swordsmen proceeded to stick their swords right into Stromm; Lloyd in Stromm's front and Kratos in Stromm's back.
Stromm screamed in pain as both of them dug their swords into him, and even more so when they both ripped their swords out. Stromm was finished now as he collapsed on the floor in a puddle of blood.
But Lloyd and Kratos had no time now to celebrate their small victory. Tiberia's time was still running out and they had to disarm the weapon.
Lloyd ran over to the giant computer and saw he only had thirty seconds left to disarm the laser before Tiberia would become a pile of dust.
Kratos turned his attention to the back of the room and saw Kayne standing there, now looking very anxious and maybe a bit disturbing.
"Kayne, do you know how to disarm it?" Kratos asked.
"I'm sorry, I don't," Kayne said, still looking very nervous and almost creepy.
Lloyd hit button after button, trying his best to disarm the laser.
"Dammit! Where are Genis and Raine!" Lloyd asked as he pressed any button he could see.
Now there were only about twenty seconds left. Lloyd still tried doing everything he could with the system and trying to shut it down. He mashed every single button he could see.
Ten seconds left. Sweat was now pouring from Lloyd. His eyes were clearly scared and his teeth were grit as he still tried to disarm the weapon.
Finally, Lloyd hit one last button, and the words LASER ABORTED appeared on screen with only four seconds left to spare. Lloyd stared wide-eyed at the screen, unable to believe he had just managed to stop Tiberia with only a few seconds to spare.
"Fools!" yelled a voice from behind him. Lloyd turned around and saw Stromm now standing on two legs, but with giant bloody patches all over him. "Do you have any idea what you've just done!"
Saying this, Stromm's eyes closed as if he was passing out, and then he just plopped onto the floor and didn't move after that. He was dead.
"Whew," Lloyd said.
"So Tiberia is saved," Kratos coolly said. "I'd say that's mission accomplished."
"Yeah," Lloyd said, relieved.
There was a silence that filled the room that was lively with violence only a minute before. There was no sound heard except Lloyd and Kratos's heavy breathing. Lloyd went over to Stromm's corpse and picked up flamberge, and then sheathed both of his swords. Out of nowhere, a sound broke the silence.
"Heh heh heh heh heh," Kayne laughed in an evil sounding way. His once friendly and almost timid look was now replaced with a malicious one.