Tales of the Wizard - Palmacosta Ranch part 1
'The group entered the Human Ranch.
"Let's be careful, the Desians know the layout of the ranch better then we do," Raiden said.
"I agree," Kratos replied.
They made their way through a hallway, Raiden scouted ahead.
"Two groups of Desians and a group of droids," Raiden grinned, "This is too easy."
"That's quite a force," Raine spoke, missing Raiden's comment, "What are we going to do? If one gets away.."
"Hey guys, are you coming?" Raiden called.
The room was littered with bodies.
Everybody was shocked that Raiden had killed the guards so easily.
He was so.. cheerful about it.
"Raiden, are you alright?" Kratos asked
"Why shouldn't I be?"
"You seem little affected by taking lives."
"I am affected by death," Raiden whispered, "Everybody around me dies, but I always live."
"Huh?"
Raiden shook his head, "Nothing, let's go."
He followed the others, who had already moved on.
A table stood in front of a teleporter.
Raine and Lloyd were talking about a ring.
Lloyd used it, the area turned green and the teleporter activated.
"It looks like the surrounding area changed somehow," Lloyd said
"It's…something like a radar," Raine said.
"Ray…dar?" Lloyd wondered.
"It allows you to see things you can't see normally. Some animals, like bats, also use a sound-related counterpart.
"You know that, Raiden?" Raine asked.
The ninja nodded.
Lloyd activated the teleporter but before he could step on it, he was stopped by Raiden.
"You should go last. We don't know how long the teleporter stay active, you might need to activate it again."
Raiden went first, followed by Genis and Colette. Raine and Neil were the third group and Kratos and Lloyd came last.
Raiden looked at the next teleporter, it had three slots in it, "Hmm, we need three keys to advance."
To both sides of the room were doors.
He stretched his arms, "Colette, Lloyd, which door do we take?"
"Let's go left," Lloyd said.
"Why left?" Raiden asked, "Why not right?"
"Well..uhh..that's.." Lloyd began.
Raiden smiled, "Don't knock yourself out, man. I was just wondering if there was a special reason you chose left."
"I hate you," Lloyd muttered.
"I am offended."
The group proceeded to the next area.
"It's the captives…" Genis spoke.
"Please, let's save them," Colette said to the others.
Raine agreed, "Yes, when you consider what'll happen, we can't just leave them here like this."
"Shall we split into two groups, then?" Lloyd asked
"No, please leave this to me," Neil said, "Members of the Palmacosta army will be coming in soon. I'll remain here, join up with them, and free those people. Please, take care of Chocolat."
"Okay, we'll leave it to you, then," Lloyd said.
One of the prisoners, a young boy stayed behind.
"Hmm? What's wrong? You're not going to run away?" Lloyd asked
"Thank you for saving me, Here, take this," the boy said.
"What is it?" Raiden asked.
"I picked it up over there. I saw a Desian treating that card as if it was really important."
"Thanks," Lloyd said.
Raiden glared briefly at the kid, "Now scram."
The kid ran away.
Lloyd looked at the DataCard, it was blueKratos suggested they should go on. The group left the room and took the left door.
The group cleared some blocks to get to the other side of the room.
Some Desian soldiers attacked but Lloyd, Kratos and Raiden quickly defeated them.
One of them dropped another DataCard, a purple one.
Raiden picked it up, and threw it at Raine.
"Two down, one to go," he said.
They searched for the last card but they couldn't find it.
"Something sparkled!" Colette said suddenly
"It's too high up to see," Lloyd said, pointing to a higher platform.
"I'll go and check," Raiden said as he transported himself to the platform
Colette brought out her angel wings and flew up to the platform.
"Let's see, it was around here…" Colette spoke.
"Got it," Raiden said, holding up a red card.
Raiden and Colette jumped down, Raiden crouched down to absorb the impact and Colette used her wings.
The group left for the teleporter.
"Hey Colette, how did you get those wings?" Raiden asked.
"I received them when I released the first seal. The wings are the first part of the transformation from Human to Angel."
"I see, interesting. And with each seal released, you get additional angelic power?"
"Yup," the girl replied cheerfully, although in Raiden's eyes a little too cheerfully.
They reached the teleporter, using the three DataCards it was activated and the group vanished.
The next set of rooms were all connected by teleporters.
Raiden used the 'point me' spell to get the correct device, the others didn't notice.
"Lloyd, look!" Genis said. Raiden also looked, Chocolat was surrounded by two Desians.
"Stop! Let her go!" Lloyd shouted.
Raiden and Kratos took on the Soldiers before they could do anything. Death came swiftly.
"You came to rescue me?" the brown-haired girl asked
"Yup! Did they hurt you? Are you okay?" Colette said.
"Yes, I'm fine, Chosen One, everybody, thank you all so much."
"Ah, don't mention it…" Lloyd spoke.
"There is no time to be celebrating. We still need to take care of Magnius." Kratos spoke.
"I'm all in for kicking butt," Raiden said.
"Assistant Governor-General Neil is taking the people imprisoned here to safety," Raine said, "Our job is to secure the control room and assure a safe escape."
"Dorr finally mobilized his plans, didn't he?" Chocolat happily.
"Um…uh, yeah," Lloyd said hesitantly.
"I'm not sure if it's in the control room or not, but in the back is a platform that leads to a room filled with sparkling lights and other magical looking things. I'll show you the way."
"Hmm, it may be a bit dangerous, but we'd appreciate your help," Raine said.
"Between the six of us there shouldn't be to many problems," Raiden said.
"I know that, but still..."
"Please. Follow me!" Chocolat said.
The group followed Chocolat to the teleporter to the control room.
They arrived in the control room.
"So this is the control room." Raiden spoke. A voice came from around them, 'Speakers,' Raiden realised
"So the forsaken Chosen and her entourage of vermin have finally arrived."
"For…saken?" Kratos repeated
Magnius appeared using an levitating seat.
"You got it all mixed up Magnius, you're the one that's forsaken. Your time here is up," Lloyd spoke.
Desian soldiers appeared from the teleporters surrounding the group.
"We're surrounded!" Colette called out.
Raiden rolled his eyes, "Gee, what gives you that idea?"
"Hahaha! Just like a bunch of stupid vermin! I know your every move. And I know about those inferior beings trying to escape, too."
Magnius pressed a button and a projector came online.
"How did Neil get in there?" Colette asked.
"That's a projector. A product of magitechnology," Kratos said.
"It's a device that displays images of people and things that are far away. We were displayed on here as well," Raine explained.
"You had us all figured out, Magnius. But you didn't try to stop us. That will prove to be your fatal mistake," Raiden said in a cold voice
The projector showed the doors closing around Neil and the prisoners.
"Oh no! They're trapped!" Genis shouted
"Hahaha! A wasted effort! Everything you've done is meaningless!"
"How so?!" Lloyd shouted, "We can rescue everyone after we take care of you!"
Manius laughed, "Big words from someone whose futile actions caused the disaster at Iselia!"
Lloyd became uncertain, "Th…that was…"
"I know, how about I recreate that incident using the vermin on the projector? Watch. I'll unleash their Exspheres and turn them into monsters!"
"No! Stop!" Lloyd shouted.
Raiden also looked at the Desian leader, "You bastard! I'll kill you if you do that," he was glowing with rage.
"Come on now. I'll be more than happy to turn them into monsters, just like that old lady Lloyd killed… Just like Marble! Hahahaha!"
Chocolat was shocked, "Marble? You don't mean…"
"Oh, but I do, my little Chocolat. Dear old granny Marble was sent to the Iselia ranch, where she was killed by Lloyd. I heard she met a pitiful end!"
"I heard Marble blew herself up, hurting Forcystus. She also said that Genis was a grand-son to her," Lloyd looked at Raiden, who smiled at him, "I heard the story from Pheadra and Frank."
"I..I see," Chocolat mumbled, "She died."
"Lloyd killed her," Magnius said.
"No…No, he did not. I heard it for myself. You could recreate that incident. It was YOU who killed Marble!"
The girl tried to attack the Desian soldiers, but it was futile.
The soldiers grabbed her and shoved her on the teleporter.
"Chocolat!" Colette called out as the girl vanished.
"Dammit! Let her go!" Lloyd shouted.
The Desians surrounding them, came into action.Raiden and the others drew their weapons.