Hi everyone. Yes, it definitely looks like things could go a little slower update-wise for the next couple days. Mostly because I'm still trying to adjust to my new schedule now that I'm back in school for another nine and a half months. Also, any plans for a Kingdom Hearts fanfic are pretty much off right now. A couple nights ago I was really excited about making one, but now I'm kind of just shrugging it off.
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"Well mom…and dad, I'm home," Lloyd said lowly as he walked over to the small memorial stones for both of his parents outside Dirk's house.
The weather was very clear and beautiful. It had been three days since the decisive battle on board the space station where Kayne was defeated, Cesara was found out, the plan to destroy Aselia was foiled, the crystal was destroyed, with all hopes of a happy-ever-after getting destroyed along with it. And worst of all, it was because of that battle that Kratos lost his life.
Lloyd knelt down on the soil surrounding the two tombstones. He stared at both memorials, suddenly feeling like he never knew either of his parents and that they both died before he even got a chance to know them. It felt like forever since that battle took place.
Dirk saw Lloyd standing outside and decided to walk over to him, trying to cheer him up.
"He was getting tired of livin'," Dirk said, trying to make Kratos's death as positive as possible. "He's not suffering any longer."
"I know," Lloyd said lowly. "But,…I mean…sometimes it just hits me…he's gone."
Lloyd closed his eyes and tilted his head forward so he would be looking at the ground if his eyes were open. He took a deep breath in and exhaled it.
Suddenly, a loud sound was heard coming from way behind them. The loud noise caused Lloyd and Dirk to both jump.
Lloyd felt his heart rate suddenly spike, and before he could even get his breath, he loudly asked, "What was that!"
"I dunno," Dirk said. "But it sounded like an explosion coming from Iselia."
"Iselia!" Lloyd said in a not very loud but very scared voice. He then turned around and bolted away from Dirk's house and threw the forest back to Iselia.
Lloyd was horrified with what he saw when he reached the village. Just like it had been when Lloyd and Genis tried to help out Marble at the Iselia ranch, the town was now on fire and getting destroyed yet again.
"What the…?" Lloyd said, trailing off at the end. He was horrified beyond words to say anything.
Houses were on fire and were collapsing, grass and plants were charred, and a large black cloud of smoke was hovering above all the buildings that weren't burned down. Luckily enough, no people seemed to be hurt or killed.
"You!" said a familiar voice from the side. "This is your fault!"
Lloyd turned to where the voice coming from. He saw a short figure who looked a bit overweight. He had gray and a bushy white mustache, along with a very sour looking face. Of course, it was the Mayor of Iselia.
"My fault!" Lloyd yelled angrily and defensively. "Where the hell do you get that!"
"The people who attacked our village said they were looking for one named Lloyd. And you're the only Lloyd in this village!"
"What?" Lloyd asked. "Why would they want me?"
"It doesn't matter!" the mayor said. "You just can't help but get into trouble, can you! You already caused our village to be destroyed once before, and now that we've rebuilt it…after all the time and money we put into trying to fix our lives from your carelessness, you've gone and destroyed it again!"
"Just shut up and quit laying the blame on me for once," Lloyd sharply told the mayor. "I don't see you doing much right now to try to help things get better. And I can't think of anyone who would want to punish my by burning this village down."
"How dare you!" the mayor said angrily. "This is your fault this village is burning down again! I'll bet you don't even care about the lives of everyone in this village! You just go around and do whatever you feel like, and you don't even think of the consequences. You irresponsible, lazy, selfish, stupid, little…"
Before the mayor could finish the barrage of insults he was throwing at Lloyd, Lloyd balled up his fist and gave the mayor the hardest punch to the jaw that he got. As a result, the mayor got knocked onto the ground and was completely unconscious.
Without even looking at the knocked-out-cold mayor, Lloyd started running through the village, looking for whoever it was that wished to do him harm. It wasn't a long search.
"There he is!" someone said.
Lloyd turned around and saw a man with reddish-orange hair that was spiked. He was wearing a military uniform that was dark yellow in color, and he had several badges all over his uniform, so he must have been very experienced. Lloyd couldn't help but shake the feeling that he had seen that person somewhere before…
Lloyd was even more surprised when he saw the group of soldiers the man was leading. He would recognize that outfit anywhere now…they were from Tiberia.
"Tiberians!" Lloyd said when he saw all of them.
"Men!" the commander (or at least Lloyd supposed he was the commander) yelled to all the grunts behind him. "There he is! Get him!"
The Tiberian soldiers ran over to Lloyd and pulled out their razor-edged boomerangs. They all simultaneously threw theirs at Lloyd, but all Lloyd had to do was take out his material blades and block all of them.
Not having to try too hard at all, Lloyd ran over to the Tiberian grunts and gave them quick slashes with his material blades. They went down without much of a fight.
"Who's next?" Lloyd challenged as he got on his guard.
The Tiberian soldier raised his right arm, and suddenly, over thirty Tiberian soldiers started charging at Lloyd. Lloyd knew that this wave would not be so easy.
But still, he had to do his best. Lloyd cast a few quick demon fangs, which easily knocked off two or three Tiberians. Lloyd also got lucky when he ducked when a boomerang was coming right at him. Because he ducked, the boomerang kept going and it hit a Tiberian soldier behind him instead.
Lloyd didn't have time to make a smart remark after that. He stood up straight again and started swinging his sword at any enemy that was within reach of him. This was hard because it caused him to have his guard dropped for a short amount of time, so the Tiberians could easily attack him then.
And sadly for Lloyd, that's exactly what happened. When he was slaying two Tiberians who were only a few inches in front of him, a Tiberian threw a boomerang from behind and it hit Lloyd in the back of the head.
Lloyd only felt the pain for a few brief moments before he was knocked out and on the ground.
One of the Tiberians were about to finish Lloyd, but their commander stopped them.
"Don't kill him yet," the commander said. "We could get a few good things from studying him and that jewel he has in his hand."
The soldiers obediently carried Lloyd into a mysterious portal that had appeared in Iselia. As they took him into the portal, Lloyd slowly regained consciousness. He opened his eyes just in time to see the burning buildings and the ravaged town of oracles disappear in front of him.
When he regained sense of where he was, he saw that he was back in Tiberia. He was still being carried by some of the inexperienced Tiberian warriors, and their commander seemed to know full well where he wanted Lloyd to be.
The soldiers followed the commander as he led them inside the Tiberian headquarters-the same building that turned out to be part of the space station that was going to be used to destroy Aselia.
As Lloyd was led in there, he was forced into the small dungeon that Cesara was "held" in. He was thrown on the floor, and all the guards left, leaving the commander alone in the dungeon with Lloyd.
Lloyd slowly got up and the commander waited until Lloyd was fully aware of what was going on around him before he started saying anything. When Lloyd was finally back to his senses, the commander started speaking.
"So, you seem to be quite powerful," the commander said coldly as he stared at Lloyd.
"What do you want with me!" Lloyd yelled.
"What do I want? I want you to surrender that jewel in your hand to me. Studying it could prove very useful when we try another plan to destroy your world after you foiled our last one."
"You want my exsphere!" Lloyd shouted angrily. "Forget it!"
"Let me rephrase that…" the commander said in an almost gentle tone. "Surrender that exsphere, as you call it, to me. If you do, you could join our highest ranks of soldiers and become even more powerful."
"Forget it!" Lloyd yelled. "I know you're not gonna stick to that!"
"I tried to reason with you…" the commander said in a sorrowful tone. "But I guess I'm going to have to take that jewel from you then."
"I don't think so!" Lloyd yelled as he drew his two material blades.
The commander pulled out a sword that looked similar to Kayne's except it didn't have the double prongs. But the blade was definitely longer and sharper than Kayne's was.
In no time, Lloyd and the commander were swinging their swords at each other. Lloyd was still kind of drowsy after being unconscious for a short period of time, which unfortunately gave the commander an advantage.
The commander was going to strike down and cut Lloyd right down the middle with his sword, but Lloyd put his two material blades in the shape of an X and was easily able to block the swing.
Lloyd used this opportunity to put his leg out and kick the commander hard in the stomach. The commander was hit onto the ground from that, and Lloyd didn't waste the opportunity.
Lloyd jumped on the table that he had jumped on when he was battling Kayne in that cell only a few days before. He then jumped off the table and pointed both of his material blades right towards the floor, ready to impale the commander and finish him.
But the commander kicked his legs into the air like a martial artist and was back on his feet without having to use his hands.
But Lloyd didn't give up there. He ran back over to the table and picked up some of the metal instruments of torture and started throwing them at the commander, hoping to hit him.
The commander had to keep dodging, but there was a point when Lloyd actually hit the commander. A pointed object used for piercing through skin and into body organs hit the commander in the wrist and lodged itself there.
The commander yelped in pain, but he grabbed the tool and pulled it out, leaving a steady trail of blood flowing down is arm and into the sleeve of his uniform. As he pulled it out, he made a small grunting noise and threw the tool onto the floor.
Soon he and Lloyd were battling again, and Lloyd was a bit more awake now, but he was still having a few problems.
Lloyd tried a different approach and tried going for the legs. The commander was able to jump over Lloyd's sword without too much trouble, but he was wounded when Lloyd took his second blade and hit him over the back of the head with it.
The commander got knocked onto the ground, and just as Lloyd was about to stick his sword through the commander and finish him, the commander took his sword and stabbed Lloyd's ribcage with it.
Lloyd moaned loudly in pain as he walked backwards. More pain was caused when the commander pulled the sword out of him.
While Lloyd was still trying to recover from the stab wound, the commanded slammed the side of Lloyd's head with the end of his sword.
The blow was a direct hit and Lloyd was on the ground. The commander walked over to Lloyd and pointed the tip of his sword at Lloyd's throat.