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CHAPTER 2THE SECRET VILLAGE OF MIZUHO
Kratos held Lloyd at arms length to analyze his son.
He smiled affectionately and said, "You've grown," then he frowned slightly, "But perhaps a little too much. You appear to be nineteen or so."
Lloyd looked at him, puzzled, and said, "Well, yeah. It has been about two years since you left."
Kratos's eyes widened in shock, but then narrowed and became deep in thought. Then it dawned on him.
"Of course…the wormhole."
Lloyd continued to stare at his father quizzically.
"To get here, I had to travel through a rip in space. This wormhole probably not only sent me across a distance, but time as well. The last time I saw you was only a couple days ago. You were still seventeen," Kratos explained.
"What were you doing going through a hole in space?" Lloyd asked, raising an eyebrow.
"We finished collecting all the exspheres on Derris-Kharlan, and had sent them out into space when we realized that an important artifact had accidentally slipped in with them. I saw it get pulled into the wormhole, and warped through to try and retrieve it."
"What artifact?" Lloyd asked and looked around the crater.
"It is called Odin's Tear. It is a crystalline object that was found on Derris-Kharlan from long before Mithos and the angels inhabited it."
"What does it do?"
"That's the problem. We don't know. Whenever someone tried to examine it, its intense aura drove them off. The mana level is off the charts; there are few who can even touch it."
"Well, where is it now?" Lloyd bent down and curiously lifted a rock and looked under, as if he would find it there.
"That I do not know either," Kratos sighed, "It is possible that after hitting the ground it could have fractured and spread to other regions. There are other possibilities, but I can't be sure."
"I know!" Lloyd stood up happily and smiled brightly, "Why don't we ask the professor? She's bound to know something about it; or at least a way to find out more."
"Yes…that's a good idea. Do you know where to find her?"
"She and Genis travel all over the place so it's hard to track them down sometimes," Lloyd said as he began walking up the slope to the forest, "but I'm sure Mizuho could track 'em down easy. I was just heading over there myself."
Kratos followed right behind him and asked with a sly smile, "What business did you have there? Visiting Sheena perhaps?"
"Well, yeah, it's always good to see old friends," Lloyd said ignorantly.
Kratos just smiled happily and thought, the same Lloyd I remember, oblivious as ever.
"That's not the only reason though. I've been hunting down all the exspheres out in the open myself, but there are many more hidden or lost. Every time I get one the next is always harder to find," Lloyd said solemnly as the two walked side-by-side through Gaoracchia Forest, "I wanted to ask the Mizuho intelligence network if they could tell me about any exsphere locations they could uncover."
"I see," Kratos side glanced to his son and chuckled quietly to himself, "Well done Lloyd, you seem to be doing fine for yourself."
Lloyd beamed with pride at being praised by his father and walked with an even lighter step.
"By the way," Kratos looked around, "Where is Noishe?"
"Oh, I sent him to give a message to Regal for me. He should meet up with us at Mizuho."
"A message?"
Lloyd just winked and said, "You'll see soon enough."
They continued to walk along the path, occasionally finding a monster or two. However, what once might have given Lloyd trouble was easily swept away with a few deft strokes of his swords.
"All right. Another one down," Lloyd cheered as he defeated an especially tough Iris.
Kratos smiled and looked on proudly at his son and said, "Your sword skills have improved even more. Soon you will probably surpass me."
Lloyd rubbed the back of his head bashfully and muttered, "Nah, you've got way more experience than me. I had to train really hard to get this far. I -"
Both Lloyd and Kratos became alert as they sensed a presence nearby. It wasn't a monster, but it didn't seem benevolent either.
"Lloyd…" Kratos began to say.
Suddenly a small streak came rushing out of the brush, tackling Lloyd to the ground.
"Lloyd!" Kratos called out and reached for his sword.
He stopped mid draw, however, when he saw the mysterious attacker. Lloyd was on the ground wrestling with a small boy, probably only eleven years old. The boy was trying to distance himself from Lloyd in order to launch another attack, but Lloyd got a hold of him and held him in a tight headlock.
Sitting up cross-legged, Lloyd firmly held the boy still and, obviously annoyed, asked him, "What the heck was that about?!"
Kratos walked over to the two and noticed what the child was wearing. He was garbed in the traditional ninja outfit, complete with a shuriken pouch strapped to his leg, and shinobi headband.
Kratos opened his mouth to comment on this when the child rudely shouted, "You are not welcome here! Turn back now and forget about this place! Do so and your life shall be spared."
"Uhuh," Lloyd snorted disbelievingly, "Spared by whom? You?"
"This wouldn't be an act to keep the location of Mizuho a secret, now would it?" Kratos asked amusedly at the child's threats.
The boy paled, but snapped back as rudely as before, "What are you talking about old man?! That has nothing to do with…"
His words died out as his eyes widened and he looked, terrified, to the direction he had came.
"Oh, crud. She's coming…" he whispered.
"What? Who's-" Lloyd began but snapped his head to the same direction as he sensed an aura coming rapidly closer. A very angry aura.
A chill ran down everyone's spine as a blood curdling yell called out towards them.
"SHINTA!!" a raven haired young woman came stomping through the brush, obviously calling to the boy.
Lloyd had long since released the boy and backed away next to Kratos to avoid the rampage.
"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO RUN OFF BY YOURSELF?!!!" the woman grabbed the collar of the boy raising him up to her eye level. She then continued to give him an earful of scolding, "Not only THAT," she pointed to the father-son pair without looking, "but you pretty much give away the location of Mizuho to-"
She cut off as she saw Lloyd and gave a small gasp.
"Uh, hi Sheena," Lloyd said timidly, not sure if it was the right time to greet her, "Sorry to interrupt…"
Sheena stared at him for a moment, then turned to the boy, a new look of anger coming over her.
"Shinta! Did you attack Lloyd?!" she turned back to Lloyd and noticed Kratos for the first time, "and Kratos?! What are you doing here?!"
"Lloyd? I didn't know he was the Lloyd," Shinta said looking away stubbornly, feigning ignorance; although he couldn't hide the thick sarcasm in in his voice.
"Oh really? As if the bright red suit wasn't a dead give away," Sheena snapped as she dropped Shinta back to the ground, but keeping a tight grip on his shoulder.
"Hey! It's not that weird is it?" Lloyd retorted indignantly, while Kratos tried to suppress a chuckle.
Although Lloyd's outfit had changed a bit (the shirt was a tighter fit and the sleeves were cut shorter. Instead of thick gloves he wore bright red fingerless gloves, and the trousers were replaced with a type of cargo pants, still tucked into his boots) it was still the outrageous red they had all grown accustomed to.
"You're not helping," Lloyd turned to Kratos and scowled.
Kratos allowed himself a small laugh as he ran his hand through Lloyd's hair and ruffled it affectionately; just as he had done when Lloyd was young.
He then said playfully to Shinta, "There was also the fact that I called his name at least twice. No doubt you've been following us for some time, as well; meaning you should have realized who he was."
"Really? Why didn't you say something?" Lloyd curiously asked Kratos.
"I wasn't too sure myself. He was hard to pinpoint. Besides, he didn't seem to mean any harm at first," Kratos shrugged.
Sheena glared at Shinta and grumbled, "Yeah, if there's anything he's good at it's keeping out of reach."
"Hmph," Shinta just stood there and pouted.
"Now," Sheena pushed the boy forward, "Apologize to them!"
"I have no reason to apologize. I was just doing my job."
"Whatever, it doesn't bother me too much," Lloyd sighed and shrugged.
Shinta responded in kind by sticking his tongue out, complete with rude hand gestures.
"Why you little…" Lloyd struggled to suppress his anger.
"Shinta!" Sheena gave him a good slap upside the head.
"Lloyd," Kratos sighed and put a restraining hand on Lloyd's arm.
Lloyd huffed and grumbled.
"Well, let us move on from this little incident shall we?" Kratos attempted to change the subject.
"Oh! Where are my manners?" Sheena said, blushing and slightly flustered, "Come, the village of Mizuho welcomes you."
The small group followed her into the village entrance, immediately greeted by its inhabitants as they walked through the streets.
"Welcome back, Chief," a young man passed by and gave a quick, small bow of his head to Sheena.
"Hey," Sheena waved back.
"Oh, yeah, that's right. You're the head of the village now," Lloyd smiled at Sheena, "How is everything going?"
"Very well, actually. We've expanded the village a bit," Sheen a pointed out the extra section in the east that looked recently made, "and this generation of shinobi are very talented."
Shinta allowed himself a very slight smirk as he treaded behind Sheena that was only seen by Kratos.
They reached the Chief's hut, which also had new extensions recently made to it. Sheena led them to the meeting room, making sure they were comfortable.
"Let me just change out of these training clothes. I'll be right back. Make yourselves at home," she smiled and closed the screen behind her.
The screen opened again and Shinta stuck his head through, "And don't you dare peek at Onee-san!"
As the father and son stared dumfounded at the boy, he was dragged out by a very embarrassed Sheena, who pulled him by the ear and slammed the door shut. Faint sounds of an enraged Sheena and a Shinta in a lot of pain could be heard receding down the hall.
"…."
"…."
"Well…that was awkward," Lloyd broke the silence.
"Indeed."
So yeah… that's it for this chapter…..REVIEW!!! Nah, I'm just kidding, you don't have to……cough,cough anyway, I'm gonna try to update as much as possible, but don't be too expectant for them to come so fast.
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