Once again, thank you to my reviewers who have stuck by and reviewed this story so far. (even thought it seems a lot of my reviewers have disappeared except for Christoph and Leppers.) Thank you anyway to everyone for reviewing and please keep the reviews coming.
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"Really?" Lloyd asked curiously as the boat continued to rock violently up and down on the waves, causing Raine to start feeling very uneasy and sick. "What is it?"
"Right now, we don't know much about Tiberia. I say the first step to stopping this situation is to obtain as much knowledge about the enemy as possible," Kratos said calmly.
"I agree," Raine said, trying her best not to sound nauseous. "If we're going to strike back and save the world, then we need to know everything we can."
"But what place is going to have any information on Tiberia?" Lloyd asked curiously.
"Sybak, I would presume," Kratos answered.
"Oh yeah," Lloyd said, realizing he probably missed the most obvious answer.
"So, it's off to Sybak then?" Genis asked.
"Yes," Kratos coolly replied.
With the exception of Raine having to lean over the edge of the boat to throw up every once in a while, the rest of the boat ride was pretty quiet and uneventful. Lloyd, Genis and Raine got off the boat while Kratos went to return it to the one who let him borrow it. As soon as he gave the boat back, Kratos was able to just fly over to Sybak without much trouble.
The four headed into the academic city, wondering what information they would find inside that would point them in the right direction. As soon as they walked in, they were greeted by a familiar face.
"Hello again," said a cheerful voice from behind. The group turned around and Cesara was standing there, waving at them and smiling.
"Hi, Cesara," Lloyd plainly said. "Would you happen to have any information on Tiberia. Like how we can get there or why they want to destroy our world?"
Cesara looked shocked at this remark. She let out a small gasping noise and covered her mouth with one hand.
"Lloyd, maybe you should have kept quiet about that," Genis said in a slightly irritable tone to his best friend.
"Maybe," Lloyd said. Now he realized that he may have just frightened Cesara by letting her know that there was someone who wanted to destroy the world. He instantly started trying to say a few things that would reassure her that everything would be okay…or so he hoped.
"But don't worry!" Lloyd continued. "We're the ones who reunited the world! If we can stop someone like Mithos, we can definitely stop a guy like Kayne."
Cesara looked very nervous and uncomfortable now. "Kayne!"
"Oh, that's right, you don't know about him," Lloyd calmly said to Cesara. "He's just this guy from Tiberia who's our enemy and tricked us into getting him a powerful crystal that he…wants to use to do bad things with."
"It's okay, Lloyd. You can tell her he wants to use it to destroy the world, you already told her," Genis cracked at Lloyd.
"Shut it, Genis!" Lloyd said, turning around and giving Genis an upset look.
"Cesara, would you happen to have any information on Tiberia or what it is we're supposed to do?" Kratos asked, trying to get everything back on topic again.
Cesara now looked unbelievably nervous. There was no telling what she was scared about, but her face had genuine terror and fear in it about what the group was talking about. She tried her best to hide it but obviously did not do a very good job.
"I'm sorry, but I don't," she said rather weakly.
"Dammit!" Lloyd yelled. "If no one here has any information, then where are we supposed to find it? We can't attack Tiberia if we don't even know the first thing about it!"
"Of course…" Cesara pathetically said as Lloyd was about to continue his rant, "I may know of one other place that could possibly have information on Tiberia."
Lloyd stopped screaming and stared at her, his eyes brimming with excitement, as was everyone else in the group. (except for Kratos, he didn't show any more emotion than normal)
"Really?" Lloyd asked. "Where can we find it?"
"I wouldn't be surprised if there was some if it the records in Meltokio," Cesara said, sounding like she was doing her best to be helpful.
"Why would it be there?" Lloyd asked.
"The king would probably have records of it," Cesara replied, not knowing what else to say.
"I guess it's worth a shot," Lloyd answered. "Meltokio isn't too far from here, anyway."
"Very well," Kratos said. "Let's be off."
Lloyd, Kratos, Genis and Raine all walked out of the research academy and started making their way towards the Imperial City of Meltokio. It was a fairly quiet walk until they heard something a little bit after they reached the half way point.
"Wait a minute!" called out a feminine voice from behind the quartet. Everyone turned around, and it was Cesara. She was running after both of them. Her white lab coat blew in the breeze as she made her way towards them. "I want to come with you."
Lloyd had an uneasy look on his face. "I dunno, Cesara. It's going to be pretty dangerous journey from here on out. I wouldn't want you getting hurt."
"I agree with Lloyd," Raine said softly. "I don't think you should get yourself involved in this."
"Please!" Cesara pleaded, starting to sound a bit desperate. "I want to come with you."
"No!" Lloyd, Genis and Raine yelled in unison, unable to see how Cesara was not able to understand them about not wanting her to endanger herself by accompanying them.
"Let her come," Kratos coolly said. Everyone's attention turned towards him, and the three others were unsure of what he was getting at. "It seems as if she has made up her mind. Even if we tell her not to come, she'll probably follow us anyway."
Lloyd looked very upset, but finally gave in. "All right. Come on, Cesara."
Cesara smiled, but didn't say anything at all. She took her time as she strolled over to her four new "allies" and started walking with them.
Within a matter of minutes, all five of them had made their way into the kingdom city. They were walking across the solid pavement beneath them as they made their way to the king's castle, wondering if the king still held a grudge on them.
But just as Lloyd was leading everyone closer, he stopped for some reason. He heard a voice coming from somewhere close by, and it was accompanied by several footsteps.
"…so that's when I said 'Hey, don't hate me because I'm more beautiful than you!'," said a familiar male voice.
Lloyd looked to where he heard the voice coming from and he saw a tall, but young looking guy with long, wavy red hair walking around. His pink clothes matched the color of his hair, but were several shades brighter. There were four girls following behind him, all laughing like idiots.
"…Zelos?" Lloyd asked, unable to believe who he was seeing.
The man looked at Lloyd and instantly looked surprised to see him, and then a gigantic smile spread across his face. "Lloyd!" he yelled excitedly. There was no doubt about it. It was Zelos, all right.
Zelos ran over to Lloyd excitedly. "Hey, Lloyd ol' buddy, how's it goin'?" the former Tethe'alla Chosen asked as he ran over to Lloyd and started giving him a series of hard pats (which were more like slams) on the back.
"Ah…everything's just been great," Lloyd said almost coldly as he rubbed his now sore back with one of his hands. "We were just on our way to see the king and ask him about something."
"Really?" Zelos said in a very casual and carefree manner. "All right then, I won't hold you up. Come on, ladies. Let's head somewhere where we can have some fun."
All the girls behind him started shrieking with excitement and happiness at Zelos's remarks. But then one of the girls started screaming louder. Not from excitement, but from horror.
"Ah! Master Zelloooooos!" she screamed in fear.
"Huh?" Zelos asked. He turned around and he ducked out of the way of a boomerang that was heading right toward him. "Whoa! Who threw that thing?"
Zelos and his former allies looked at where the boomerang came from. They saw that there were about ten people standing there. They were all wearing the same military attire that Kayne was wearing the last time the group saw them.
Lloyd gasped when he saw them. "Tiberians!" he said breathlessly.
"Ti-whats?" Zelos asked, having no clue who the soldiers were or what they wanted.
One of the Tiberians stepped forward and looked Zelos right in the eye. "Are you with those people?" he sneered, pointing to Lloyd and everyone in his group.
"And if I am?" Zelos asked as if it wasn't a serious matter at all. "And where did you guys get those suits from, the town's sewer? 'Cause no offense guys, but man! Those outfits are UG-LAY!"
The Tiberian grunt started getting annoyed with Zelos and his rude remarks, and instead of putting up with it any longer, the grunt kicked Zelos in the stomach, knocking him onto the ground.
"AHH! ZELLLLLLOOOOOOOSSSS!" yelled all the girls he was with as they fled in terror.
Zelos slowly got up and grunted, then looked at the guy who had just kicked him. "Okay, that ain't cool."
Zelos pulled his sword and stuck it right into the guy's abdomen, killing him immediately. The grunt fell to the ground with a giant opened wound on him, now bleeding profusely.
"Get him!" yelled the other Tiberians who were standing by and watching. Instantly, all of them started charging at him savagely.
"Wah-oh," Zelos said, but still managed not to sound too concerned as he saw everyone running towards him, ready to attack him and give him a quick, yet painful death.
"Zelos!" Lloyd yelled. He leaped into the air and in front of Zelos, but managed to pull out his material blades while he was off the ground and was able to parry a few of the soldiers who charged at Zelos, keeping his friend safe.
"Love ya," Zelos said as he ran a few feet away after Lloyd had just saved them.
The fight didn't go on much longer than that. Even though there were still seven others, the group made quick work out of all of them. Kratos, Lloyd and Zelos all struck hard with their swords while Genis blasted the remaining ones with some of his magic.
After the quick brawl in the streets was finished and all the Tiberians had been defeated, Zelos let out a loud "Wheeeeeeewwwwwww" sound. After catching his breath a little while longer, he turned back to Lloyd. "Ha! They were easier than that time you had to fight your old man one-on-one."
"Hey!" Lloyd yelled. "I'd like to never have to fight Kratos again, you know. And besides, those guys are bad news."
"Really then," Zelos said. "Then why don't we head back to my mansion and you can tell me all about it."
"All right," Lloyd agreed. He turned back to the other four people in his group. "You guys okay with that?"
Genis, Raine, Cesara and Kratos all replied "Yes" in unison.
" 'K then," Zelos said cheerfully. "Then off we go!"
Zelos led everyone in Lloyd's group back to his giant house, which really wasn't too much of a walk for them. As soon as he walked inside, the group was immediately dazzled once again by how luxurious and attractive Zelos's home was.
"Ah, Sir Bud, how good to see you again," said Zelos's butler the second he saw Lloyd walk in through the door.
"My name's Ll…ah, never mind," Lloyd said in an annoyed tone.
Zelos invited everyone to sit down and to start talking things over with him. As soon as everybody was comfortable, Zelos got his first chance to really look at Cesara.
"Ahhhhh," Zelos said in a flirtatious way when he saw the researcher from Sybak. "And just who is this very intelligent looking honey?"
"Don't talk like that to her, you perv!" Genis sneered. "I'll have you know Cesara is a very smart person who works at the Sybak Research Academy."
"Oh, I have a smart honey know," Zelos said, smiling at Cesara and making her face turn a very bright shade of crimson.
"I…actually wanted to be a business woman," Cesara nervously said.
This was all news to everyone, especially to Lloyd's group. Cesara never seemed like the kind of woman who would be running a company or something like that.
"My parents insisted I use my knowledge to work at the academy instead," she said a little sadly.
"Aw, who cares about what your parents think?" Zelos asked, almost sounding unaffected by what Cesara had just said.
"Zelos!" Raine scolded.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Zelos said, not sure why he was apologizing. "Anyway, what was up with those freaks in the blue outfits that looked about a zillion sizes too tight?"
Lloyd explained everything that had happened so far. Getting stranded on the island, finding the weird statues and using them to find the crystal, killing Stromm in order to get the crystal, only to be betrayed by Skelter and Kayne.
"Then what are you guys doing here?" Zelos asked after Lloyd explained everything. "Why aren't you kicking Kayne's butt back to Ti-whatever-you-call-it?"
"We don't know anything about Tiberia at all," Lloyd said. "We thought we should gather information about it so we could think of the best way to attack and make sure nothing bad happens to this world."
"And you came here?" Zelos asked. He seemed to have trouble understanding why they chose to come to Meltokio of all places to look.
"Yes," Raine calmly answered. "We thought maybe the king would have some records about Tiberia."
Zelos shot up. "Well, why didn't you say so? Come on, I'll get him to let you look at anything you want."
"What?" Lloyd asked, surprised by the sudden start Zelos was getting. Everyone seemed to perk up at how Zelos suddenly bolted from his chair, even Kratos. "Are you sure he'll let us look at it?"
"Come on," Zelos said. "Why wouldn't he?"