I've been wondering how I can increase the number of reviews I get. I always thought that even if you ask readers to review, they would do so only if they really felt like it...even I am guilty of that...sadly. Besides, I've always thought that stories shouldnt be written on the reviews gotten from them. Anyway, I figured that some people need incentives to say something, so I'm trying think of one. Any suggestions?

Thanks again for reviewing Contraltissimo and Tobiasa. :)

Anyways, On with the Story!

"I do not own Tales of Symphonia!" – I.K.A. Valian

The sun was low in the evening sky. Its red and orange blanket covered the sky. The Asgard Ranch was as a termite nest, completely infested with Desians. Groups of six patrolled with drilled stiffness around its perimeter. Every five minutes another six man patrol passed the same point. Bright floodlights lit the immediate surrounding area and were complimented by five large spotlights that swerved about, shining their lights on the surrounding areas. On top of the gate was a large assortment of soldiers, from Whip Masters to Evil Sorcerers, who were looking at the surrounding area for enemies.

Seven shadowed figures snuck stealthily into a small copse of trees to the left of the path way that lead to the main gate. The last one into the copse stopped to look behind him before he continued. Once all seven people had come into a circle, the smaller of the two shortest members of the groups held up his hand and quietly said, "Fireball!" At first, nothing happened. Then a miniature glowing whorl wind grew in the boy's hand until it was as large as an apple. The mini orange tornado gave off sparks as it slowly pulled in on itself until it was spherical. The fireball lit up the copse enough for the people inside to see each other in the dying sunlight.

The one holding the fireball said, "This place is locked up tight. The security is intense. It's completely different from Iselia."

"Yeah," Lloyd said as he peeked through the trees at the guards around the main gate. "Even if we were to get inside…" Lloyd turned back around and faced the group. "Any ideas?" Everyone either shrugged or was too deep in thought to respond. They all fell silent and Genis dimmed the fireball even further as a patrol marched by. They all remained silent as Colette walked over to the edge of the copse and peered through to watch the patrol that had just passed walk up to the gate.

"This is Patrol Bravo returning to base," the lead Whip Master shouted to the Evil Sorcerer on top of the tall gate. The gate creaked and groaned as it parted and repeated the process when it closed after the six Desians had entered.

"Wow," Colette exclaimed in surprise, "the Desians get to go in so easily."

"Hmm…maybe there is a way in after all," Raine surmised cautiously.

"Professor, I bet you're thinking the same thing I am!"

Lloyd almost shouted too loud and caused Kratos and Genis to look around quickly before they both went "Shhh!" Lloyd looked down sheepishly and laughed lightly.

Colette tilted her head slightly to the side and with a confused look asked, "What? What are we going to do?"

Lloyd continued to outline his plan, though much quieter. "We'll disguise ourselves as Desians and sneak in." Raine smiled and shook her head apologetically. Lloyd looked at her confused. "Professor, what's so funny about my plan?"

"It's not the plan. It's that I only get to see the gears in your head move this quickly at times like this." Genis and Colette both held back laughter and Kratos smirked his smirk.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lloyd looked at Rain for an answer but she put her hand over her mouth to hide her smile.

Then Colette said excitedly, though quietly, "Oh, I see! If we look like Desians, we won't get caught and will be able to get in as easily as them."

"Well, well." Sheena nodded her head in approval as she said, "That is quite a daring plan Raine." Raine nodded and looked toward Kratos. He nodded once before turning to look out for a patrol.

"Uh…do you guys have uniforms to dress up in?" Gaar looked curiously at Raine and then at Lloyd who both hung their heads. "Well, don't give up, that plan was good!"

"I don't thing this is the best plan either." Raine's exasperation came across clearly. "But do we have any other choice?"

"…The next patrol is coming," Kratos interrupted. "What shall we do?"

"Why not take their clothes," Gaar asked and then attempted to raise an eyebrow but failed.

Sheena's and Colette's faces lit up like they just had an epiphany.

"Let's do it," Sheena said excitedly.

"Yeah," Colette added, a determined look appeared on her face.

"Okay," Lloyd agreed. "Let's hide here and then ambush them before they get in sight of the main gate."

The seven of them readied their weapons and stood in a place near the edge of the copse that would allow them to jump out at a moments notice. Gaar's legs were shaking slightly and his knees were nearly knocking together. The sun slipped below the edge of the world as it slowly dragged its orange blanket behind.

"Lloyd," Gaar whispered to the boy next to him, "I…don't know if I can…" Lloyd looked at him confused. "What if I loose control again…? I…don't know if... I can deal with those emotions again… I'm afraid I won't be able to stop…" Understanding finally lit Lloyd's features.

"It's ok," he replied. "Just stay back near Genis and Rain. Leave the fighting to me!"

"And me!" Colette smiled at Gaar from his other side.

"Thanks." Gaar said as a tears formed in his eyes, before he wiped them away with his ripped sleeve.

"Ok, here they come." They watched the Desians march slowly by. Two Whip Masters behind an Evil Sorcerer and three Spearmen. When they had moved into the spot directly in front of the waiting seven, Lloyd yelled, "Now!"

Kratos jumped out first, he punched the closest Spearman in the face and sent her flying. The Desian grunted a surprised "Ugh…"

Lloyd was next. He jumped out and started slashing his twin sabers at the closest Whip Master. He swung his swords up and down, cutting up the Whip Master and lifted him off the ground. Before the Whip Master could fall an inch, Lloyd slammed him with a ferocious 'Beast'. First he shoved the Whip Master with his shoulder, and then swung his sword hard into the Desian's gut. The Whip Master flew over everyone's heads, into a four foot tall tree, and then slid to the ground unconscious.

Colette had jumped out and thrown both Chakrams at once, slicing the staff of the Evil Sorcerer in half and turning a Spearman's spear into fire kindling. Both Desians looked at their respective weapons before they turned to Colette, who had an impish smile on her face.

"Hehe. Sorry," she said too cheerfully. Colette then stuck her tongue out at them.

The Evil Sorcerer clenched his fist and growled, "Why you little…" then started chanting a spell.

The Spearman pulled another spear from somewhere and took aim at Colette. "I'm gonna stick you good, little girl," she sneered.

Colette caught both of her Chakrams as they returned to her and lost her balance. Her arms wind-milled several times before she fell over and hit the ground with a thud. Over her head sailed the spear in one direction and an oversized fireball in the other. The fireball hit the Spearman and flash fried her on the spot, and the flying spear flew straight through the Evil Sorcerer's chest and killed him instantly. "Wow," Colette said, smiling, "that was easy. Hehe."

In the mean time Lloyd and Kratos were holding off a Spearman and the last Whip Master while Raine and Genis chanted their respective spell. Lloyd was dodging the whip cracks left and right, but was hit on the hand by a third whiplash. Grunting, he rushed the Whip Master and started attacking him, but the Whip Master dodged the attacks. Meanwhile, Kratos had somehow been disarmed by the Spearman and was dodging the thrusts and electrical discharges of the spear. He eventually was hit by one of the bolts of electrical energy and fell to the ground. "Hahahaha, pathetic human," the Spearman gloated.
"Kratos!" Gaar's outburst grabbed the attention of the Spearman

"You're next," she said menacingly as she started running toward him. Gaar, who was standing a little bit off to Genis' left, froze up. He watched unmoving as the Spearman sprinted while she leveled her spear at him, point headed directly toward his chest. Kratos suddenly materialized behind the Spearman and grabbed her around the neck with one arm. The Spearman struggled for a half second before Kratos tightened his harm and caused a wet snapping noise to come from the Desian's neck.

"Fool! If you refuse to fight," Kratos shouted at Gaar, "don't draw attention to yourself!" Gaar's knees shook as he fell unceremoniously to the ground.

Suddenly, Genis shouted, "Eruption!" at the same time Raine shouted, "Photon!" Both magical attacks started to manifest at once, one underneath and the other within the Whip Master's body. The Mana on the ground turned the immediate area into a boiling pit of lava while the Mana in the Photon attack shined so bright that the beams of light emitted from the Desian's body manifested themselves as white beams. Then, the center of the light moved from the Whip Master's chest down to the ground and merged with the boiling lava. Raine looked at Genis and Genis grinned back and asked, "Ready Sis?"

"Let's do this," she replied.

Raine raised her Battle Staff, Genis his Falling Star, and together they shouted "Radiant Eruption!" The Mana below the Whip Master turned from boiling lava to bubbling light. It then exploded upwards and sent out a massive beam of white hot light that seared the clothes, hair, skin, muscles, organs, and finally skeleton of the Desian away until there was nothing left.

Sheena, since the get go, had been fighting the Spearman Kratos had initiated the battle with. She whittled the Desian's spear down to a short, thin stick, which the Spearman was waving around madly in attempt to fend off Sheena's attacks. Sheena dodged the waving stick and darted in to slap a strip of paper covered with exotic writing onto her opponent. Sheena did this until the Spearman was covered in a fair amount of paper strips, which stuck without any form of adhesive. Finally, Sheena grabbed the stick the Desian was waving about and slammed a final strip of paper down on the Spearman's forehead as she shouted "Life Seal!" All the paper strips glowed a light red before the Desian fell to the ground and shook violently. The Spearman clawed at the strips of paper but was unable to even touch them. Sheena turned away as her victims skin sank into itself as the body dried out, leaving the Desian a dehydrated corpse.

"Whew." Lloyd sheathed his sword and whipped the sweat off of his brow. "That was tough." He fell lightly to the ground and rested. Kratos walked around to each of the corpses and inspected them. Raine looked over each of the corpses and nodded her head to some internal thought. Genis walked over to Sheena, who was wiping the blood that had gotten on her cards off on the dead Evil Sorcerer. The stars had come out, the absence of a moon making their brilliance all the more remarkable. The copse of trees bathed the seven in shadow, rendering them unseen by the ranch guards.

"I've never seen cards like that," Genis said, "I meant to ask you about them when we first met, but you were trying to kill us, so…I never really got the chance." Sheena's face brightened and she held out a freshly cleaned card to Genis. He looked at the strange writing on the cards. "How does it work? Is it some kind of spell? Do you have to use Mana? Are there special words that you have to use?" Sheena was baffled by the onslaught of questions coming from the young boy.

"Stop," Sheena cried exasperatedly. "Not so many questions at once."

Genis looked shocked for a second before he handed the card back to Sheena and dejectedly said, "Sorry." Sheena moved to respond but was interrupted.

"Everybody, we have a problem." Everybody turned to Raine as she continued. "We'll have to decide who will be the Desian." Everyone looked around at the assortment of bodies, then back at Raine.

Colette tilted her head to the side slightly, a curios look on her face, and asked Raine, What do you mean, Professor?"

"Only two of the Desian uniforms looks like they are serviceable," the Professor explained. "So everyone else is going to have to be prisoners."

"Me! Me! I'll be the Desian!" Lloyd was throwing his right hand into the air and jumping like an excited schoolgirl.

"… This is not a game," Kratos told the annoying boy.

Gaar looked around at the bodies again and then pointed out, "It looks like only girls can wear those uniforms."

Raine nodded. "Right, so which one of us is going to become the Desian?" Raine motioned between herself, Colette, and Sheena. Colette suddenly fell over. Raine looked at the floored Colette and then she looked back at Sheena and said "It looks like it's me and you." Sheena nodded and went over to the dried husk of a Desian and took the clothes off of it while Raine did the same for the one with a snapped neck.

Lloyd pouted as he whined, "Hey that's not fair, Professor!"

"It's not about fairness," Raine said with finality. "This will look the most natural, and as Gaar pointed out, these uniforms are only for females. You wouldn't be able to wear it." Lloyd continued to pout. Kratos was again looking out for the next patrol, his sword in his hand.

Genis walked over to the sulking Gaar and asked, "Hey Gaar, I noticed you didn't fight. How come? The way Lloyd was talking about you, you could have easily handled all six of those guys by yourself." Gaar looked down at the ground. Genis continued to wait for an answer.

Finally Gaar said, "It's…cause I'm afraid."

"Afraid?" Genis looked confused, "Afraid of what?"

"Afraid of," Gaar paused. "Afraid of what I might do…again. I don't know if I will be able to stop myself from becoming that…thing again."

"Hmm," Kratos grunted from a few feet away. "Will you let the fear of what you might become control what you do become." Gaar looked down again.

Genis turned to Kratos and asked, "Kratos, how can you be so mean?"

"Call it what you like," Kratos rebuffed, "I am merely telling the truth." He then turned and walked off.

Genis was about to go after him when Gaar stopped him by saying, "No Genis, Kratos is right. I… I just haven't come to a decision yet. You know?"

Genis nodded solemnly. "Yeah." Then Genis' eyes lit up and he said excitedly, "I know, you can use defense techniques." Gaar looked at Genis uncertainly. "That way," he continued, "you can protect yourself if you're attacked, and you won't have to fight back." Gaar continued to look at Genis sideways with a skeptical look. "Come on," Genis said excitedly, "it's easy!"

Gaar nodded slowly and said, "Alright." Lloyd, who was staring at the dried up corpse curiously, turned and walked over to Genis and Gaar.

"I'm bored," he said simply.

"Hey, Lloyd," Genis turned to Lloyd as he approached. "Do you think you could show Gaar how to use defense techniques? I'm gonna show him mine too." Lloyds face brightened at the suggestion.

"Sure," he said. "First you gotta figure out what your reaction to immediate stimulus is." Genis and Gaar stared at Lloyd.

"Lloyd, do you even know what 'stimulus' means," Genis asked.

Lloyd nodded his head, confident. "Yep, sure do."

Gaar sighed. "Does he always say things he has no clue about?"

"All the time," Genis remarked sarcastically.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Genis ignored Lloyd's outburst and continued.

"What you have to do is act like you do when someone is about to attack you, like hold your hands out in front of you, or what ever it is that you do." Genis demonstrated by holding his hands out in front of him, as if he were pushing away an oncoming attack. Then Genis said, "As soon as you are in the position that is most natural when defending yourself, you focus your Mana into repelling the attack. This creates a temporary shield around your body that can repel most damage." Genis closed his eyes for a few seconds. When he opened them he pushed his hands out in front of him and shouted, "Force Field!" Genis was covered in a green glow for a few seconds before it faded.

Gaar watched Genis perform Force Field and when he was finished, he said, "It looks easy enough. But what is Mana?" Lloyd and Genis looked at Gaar like they would a rock that just spoke about cheese.

"Are you telling me you don't know what Mana is?" Gaar nodded to Genis, who then said, "And here I thought Lloyd was the dumb one."

Lloyd again turned to Genis and asked, "What's that supposed to mean."

Genis ignored Lloyd again and said, "Mana is the very building source of matter. So when I say 'focus your Mana', I'm talking about the Mana that is inside of your body."

Lloyd looked at his hands and said, "So that is where Guardian comes from."

"Lloyd, don't tell me you didn't know that?" Genis crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Never mind Gaar, Lloyd is still the dumbest one around?"

"Genis stop with the dumb stuff, Ok." Lloyd turned his back to a chuckling Genis and said to Gaar, "So do you think got the hang of it." Gaar nodded slowly as Raine and Sheena came out from the copse of trees dressed in the Desian uniforms.

"Just wearing this uniform makes my skin crawl." Sheena picked at the blue cloth underneath the armor. "Yuck!"

"I agree, let's hurry up." Raine picked up the spear lying on the ground next to the Spearman with her head hanging upside down and too far to the left. Sheena looked around for another spear. Kratos, who walked over to the Evil Sorcerer's body, pulled the spear out of his chest with a large wet squelching noise. He tossed the spear to Sheena who wiped the Evil Sorcerer's blood off in the grass that grew on the side of the path. When she was done Raine said, "Let's go."

Genis stood next to Lloyd, Colette stood behind Lloyd and next to Kratos, and Gaar stood on the other side of Kratos. Sheena went behind the five 'captives' and Raine took the lead. She looked back and checked where everyone was standing. "Act like your hands are tied together," she said, "and like you've lost all hope."

"Oh yeah, right." Lloyd dropped his head and in a defeated voice said, "How could this happen?" Colette put on a sad face that would make a Klingon cry, Kratos shaded his eyes with his bangs, Gaar did the same, and Genis kept his eyes on the ground.

"Good," Raine said. She faced forward and in an authoritive voice shouted, "March humans!"