This is the longest chapter yet. I've decided that the best way to get reviews is to ask people for an idea. I ask that anyone who wants, tell me what they think Gaar's defence technique is, and you don't have to stop there. You can suggest spells that he can use, items, weapons, it doesn't matter. If I like the suggestion, which I probably will cause I'm not too picky, I'll include it in the story and give kudos 'on air' to the originator of the idea.
I don't know if this will work, but who knows. It might.
Anyway, thanks Tobiasa for reviewing. Sorry Contraltissimo for not giving you enough time to review the last chapter before I added this chaper. I was so excited about finishing two chapters in one day that I couldn't wait.
On with the story!
"I do not own Tales of Symphonia!" – I.K.A. Valian
The Desian commander stalked back and forth on the platform adorning the top of the main gate. The antiseptic whiteness of the floodlights that surrounded the Ranch gave a feeling of ominous despair. The manned searchlights on either side of the thin platform scanned back and forth across the pathway leading to the main gate. An Evil Sorcerers stood next to each of the searchlights as they swept back and forth.
Suddenly, one of the Whip Masters that stood behind a searchlight stopped his sweeps. "What the," he exclaimed. "Commander, someone approaches." The other searchlight swiveled to point at the group of seven approaching. The commander stopped pacing.
"Finally, it took them long…wait that's not Patrol Echo. Who then…" The commander squinted his eyes as he peered at the approaching group.
"It appears to be two Spearmen," said one of the Evil Sorcerers. "And they appear to be escorting prisoners. Perhaps Patrol Echo ran into trouble."
When the two Spearmen had escorted their five prisoners to within feet of the gate, the Desian commander shouted, "Stop!"
"We've done it!" Shouted the lead Spearman as the seven came to a stop. The Whip Master and Evil Sorcerer at each of the searchlights looked at each other, then back at the Spearman.
"Done what?" the Commander hesitantly asked.
"We've found the wanted criminal, Lloyd Irving!" The Spearman threw a thumb at the red clad prisoner behind her with his head hung low. The swordsman flinched when he heard his name.
"What!" shouted the Commander.
"Good work!" shouted one Evil Sorcerer.
"And you even caught him alive!" shouted the other, "Even the Five Grand Cardinals had trouble with this one."
"I want to turn him over to the Five Grand Cardinals immediately," the lead Spearman shouted up to the Commander. "Let me through."
"Understood," the Commander shouted. "Go on in!" He turned to the Evil Sorcerer on his left and yelled "Open the main gate!" The Evil Sorcerer saluted once and started operating the controls that rose up from the back of the platform. The large metal gate groaned as the gears turned and the doors opened. Raine and Sheena escorted Lloyd, Genis, Colette, Kratos, and Gaar into the Desian compound. Once they were inside, they stopped and looked around. To their left was a fenced off area where Whip Masters whipped dirty, grungy humans while they worked. To their right were boxes and boxes of materiel and directly in front of them were several different Desians milling about.
One of them, a Whip Master, walked by Raine and gave a rather lewd cat call. As he passed Raine, she tripped him with her spear and he went flying. Genis laughed loud enough for all to hear. Raine immediately turned around and 'affectionately' smacked him in the head. "Quiet you!" she said in her authoritive voice.
The Desian who she had tripped got up and shouted angrily at her, "Get those prisoners into the Control Room and process them already." He then turned and stalked off, red in the face. Raine shrugged and lead the way toward the back of the ranch. A couple of the Desians they passed glared hate at the 'prisoners' but said nothing.
A tear slid down Gaar's cheek. "All those people are suffering," he whispered, "all because of the hate the Desian's feel. And here I'm too afraid to face them because I might…I might…
"It's ok Gaar," whispered Colette reassuringly, "be strong. We're here with you." Gaar smiled but stayed silent as more tears fell down his cheeks. Raine and Sheena brought the group into the ranch, stopped in the first room they entered, and looked around.
An Evil Sorcerer who was guarding a doorway pointed to an unblocked doorway on the other side of the room and said, "Excellent job! No one is in the control room right now so you'll have to register the prisoner's ID numbers." Raine nodded and started toward the unguarded door, Sheena 'ushered' the rest of the group through the door. Once the door closed behind them with a pressurizing hiss, Sheena and Raine immediately started tearing off the Desian uniforms. The others faced away from the two, Kratos having to forcefully turn a bewildered Lloyd.
"Finally," a relieved Sheena said. "That was the most nerve shocking, gut wrenching thing I've ever done."
Raine, who had completely disrobed the Desian uniform and revealed her own clothes beneath, said, "I most certainly agree with you Sheena." Once the two imposter Desians had disengaged themselves of their fake guises, the entire group walked over to the other side of the room. Taking up the entire wall, a screen showed a large factory conveyor belt system.
Raine was slowly scratching her chin, deep in thought, when she said, "It looks…like this is an Exsphere manufacturing plant." She continued to manufacture skin flakes by scratching her chin thoughtfully.
"So it would seem…" Kratos cautiously surmised.
"These are all Exspheres?" burst Lloyd. "Incredible…"
"Umm…I know this is going to sound stupid…like how I asked about mana, but… What are Exspheres?" Lloyd and Genis looked at Gaar incredulously, Colette looked at Gaar and smile, but with a 'oh, you don't know?' look, Kratos looked at the boy questioningly, and Raine was too busy thinking to look at Gaar. "Hey, don't look at me that way," Gaar said to Lloyd and Genis, "I can't even remember my own name!" Genis, Lloyd, and Colette looked down apologetically, and Kratos stayed silent, though he was shaking his head slightly.
Raine noticed the three children's expressions and asked, "What's wrong?"
Genis turned to Raine and said "Gaar doesn't know what an Exsphere is." Raine looked shocked and turned to Gaar, who nodded. Genis continued, "He can't remember."
"Oh, I see," Raine said, striking a pose as if she were about to lecture. "Gaar, since you no longer remember the world, I will take it upon myself to teach you along with the rest of my students on this journey."
"You're in for it now," Lloyd whispered to Gaar, before he was smacked in the head by Raine. Genis chuckled.
"Oh, yay. You get to learn with us." Colette shook her fists up and down excitedly in front of her. "This is going to be fun!"
"Gaar, your first lesson, the Exsphere." Raine roughly held up Genis' right hand and showed Gaar the jewel mounted on a golden star. It glinted once in the light. "An Exsphere," Raine continued, "enhances the abilities of the wearer to a level that would not normally be possible. Take Lloyd for example, if he didn't have an Exsphere, he would be unable to fight."
Lloyd looked offended. "I could still fight," he pouted.
"Enough chatter. We have a job to do," Kratos impatiently prodded.
"Yes," Raine apologized, "you're right." Raine and Kratos walked over to the back of the control room and began looking at the computer consol there. Lloyd, Genis, Colette, Sheena, and Gaar all looked back at the monitor and at the hundreds of Exspheres being transported on the conveyor belt.
"Wow," Gaar said bedazzled, "So this is how they make Exspheres." Genis and Lloyd nodded unconsciously in agreement with the statement.
Colette suddenly turned toward the back of the room. Her eyes widened and she exclaimed, "Shh. I hear voices coming from the next room." Everyone in the room looked toward the rear most door.
Genis looked bewildered at Colette, "I don't hear anything…"
An unsurprised Lloyd said, "Be careful anyway." Everyone standing in front of the wall high screen ran over to stand around Kratos and Raine. Suddenly the back door hissed open and three figures rushed into the room. The tallest one, the only one not in a uniform skidded to a stop in front of Lloyd and Genis.
"You!" the leader shouted.
One of the two Foot Soldiers said, "Lord Botta, it's them!"
Lloyd's brow furrowed as he angrily shouted, "Uh-oh, these are the Desians we ran into in the Triet Desert!"
The first Foot Soldier laughed and said, "They still think we're Desians."
The second Foot Soldier turned to Botta and said, "Sir, this is the perfect chance!"
Kratos didn't give Botta a chance to reply. "Are you looking for a fight?" he threatened.
Botta had his hand on his weapon, and stopped withdrawing it when he heard Kratos' threat. "Wait. Kratos is with them. We'll retreat for now," Botta said over his shoulder. The two Foot Soldiers nodded.
"You two know each other?" Lloyd asked Kratos. His right eyebrow rose. Gaar could be heard muttering 'how does he do that?'
"I suppose," Kratos replied, "if you mean the fact that we ran into them at Iselia and Triet." Botta stood still with his Foot Soldiers, but he looked impatient.
"I think it would be in both our interests for us not to fight here," Botta said with force calmness.
"Do what you will," said Kratos with anger that was thinly veiled by indifference. The three Desians sprinted through the group and headed for the doorway. Colette followed them. Kratos, alarmed, ran after her. Just as the three Desians had gotten to the door they stopped, and threw themselves onto the ground. Colette who came to a stop just behind them looked at the door curiously when it opened with a hiss. There stood three Evil Sorcerers mumbling the last lines in their spell incantation. Colette's eyes widened as nine average sized balls of fire whizzed at her head.
"Guardian!" The glowing green sphere from Kratos' shield reflected the oncoming fireballs at odd angles. The fireballs hit the walls and ceiling as the three Evil Sorcerers entered the room and failed to see the Botta and his two lackeys sneaking out behind them.
"Colette! Kratos!" Lloyd shouted as he ran over to the two.
"I'm okay." She said as Lloyd came to a stop in front of her. The rest of the group gathered around Lloyd and Colette, and then prepared to attack the three Evil Sorcerers.
Kratos saw Genis preparing a spell then his gaze shifted and he said, "No time for that, look behind you!" He pointed to a man who had just entered from the door right next to the large wall screen. Gaar stared at this new comer, whose rat like face gave ugly people a bad name, and the blue uniform didn't help that much.
Lloyd looked at the newcomer. "Huh? What now?"
The man raised his eyebrows. "Well, this is a surprise." He looked around the room, taking in each and every one of the group before moving his ice cold piercing gaze to the next. "When I heard we had rats," he continued, "I assumed it was the Renegade, Botta, but instead I find the wanted inferior beings…" He strolled casually to a spot a few feet away from Lloyd. "That attack was designed to kill on contact so I must say that I am quite impressed that you're still alive."
"Who are you!" Lloyd asked. The man walked up to Lloyd and started poking him in the chest accusingly.
"You barge into my ranch and then demand my name?" the man asked.
Genis gave a slight chuckle. "Wow, Lloyd, isn't this usually the other way around?"
Lloyd glared at the man who was standing within reaching distance. "Genis," Lloyd said annoyed, "this is not the time!"
"He's Kvar," Kratos filled in. "One of the Five Desian Grand Cardinals." Gaar looked at Kratos and gasped slightly. He, the unshakable mercenary, was trembling. His fists were clenched, and he was gritting his teeth. He was barely able to stand the presence of Kvar, yet he bore the pain anyway. Gaar saw this before he turned to look back at Kvar, who was now walking around the room, as if he were out for a stroll.
"Hahaha," he laughed. "I see that some of you know me." Gaar looked back at Kratos. He was still trembling, but not as much, and he had the same look in his eye that Gaar had when he was about to kill the Desian in the forest. Gaar looked back to Kvar, who stopped strolling in front of the large screen, and said, "It's just as Forcystus said." Lloyd clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. "That Exsphere," continued the Grand Cardinal "is without a doubt the product of my Angelus Project!"
Suddenly, tens of Whip Masters, Spearmen, and Bowmen started pouring into the control room from the entrance that led outside. A Chakram flew toward Kvar, who threw him self to the ground in front of the large screen. The Chakram flew into the screen and cut into the hard material that the image was projected on. The screen sputtered and the imaged died. Once the Chakram had returned to Colette, Lloyd said, "Good job, Colette!" Lloyd ran through the door that lead into the factory as he said, "Let's go, everyone!" The group ran into the factory behind Lloyd, Kratos bringing up the rear. He hesitated before he went though the door and looked down at the Grand Cardinal being helped up by a Whip Master. Kratos was about to move back and strike Kvar when he looked up and saw the Desian soldiers charging him. He shook his head and went the rest of the way into the factory. When the door was completely shut, Kratos slashed the motor to the right of the door with his sword. The small box gave off sparks and a retreating whine until it was still.
"That should hold them for a while. Let us find another means of escape." Kratos surveyed the damaged door motor before he nodded and faced the group. Raine was busy scrutinizing the machinery conveying the Exspheres, Sheena was standing impatiently with her arms crossed, Lloyd and Genis were checking out a container near the back wall, and Colette was excitedly watching each of the Exspheres go by. Gaar caught Kratos' interest because he was the only one jumping up and down.
"Hey, guys!" Gaar stopped jumping and pointed across the large manufacturing space. "I think there is an exit on that side, but I can't be sure." Raine and Sheena looked up and Kratos walked to the edge of the platform they were standing on to peer across to the other side. Genis and Lloyd looked at Gaar questioningly before he repeated himself. Colette continued to watch the Exspheres go by.
"I see something as well, but how do we get from here to over there?" Raine continued to brood silently.
She was broken out of her brooding when Lloyd said loudly, "Why not follow this path." He pointed down a set of stairs. "It's got to lead somewhere." The door suddenly started to groan. The slashed motor sparked a few times.
"Oh no," Genis moaned. "They're getting through." Everybody sprinted down the stairs and ran into and over a Whip Master, who Raine knocked unceremoniously off the walkway into the machinery below.
"Ahhhh…" screamed the Desian as he fell, and then all was silent. Behind, they could hear the door being wrenched off its track. The seven infiltrators jogged down another flight of stairs and then up another onto a platform that held hundreds of monitors, each of which had streams of data scrolling down their faces.
"What's this," Raine said as she attempted to study them. "Ahhgh…" she choked as she was dragged away by Lloyd and Genis. They all ran down another set of stairs and knocked another Whip Master off the catwalk without stopping until they came to a T-junction.
"I think we should go that way," Raine said, pointing toward the platform with more computer monitors. Lloyd and Genis again dragged her away as they all continued down the catwalk. They eventually came to a stairway that took them up to a wide open landing. Gaar stopped just before the top. He cocked his head to the side.
"Do you guys hear…"
"…screaming!" finished Colette. They all ran onto the platform and saw a conveyor line carrying people. They were brought through a tube into a large square chamber that emanated the screams of the people as they died. Out of the other side of the chamber came Exspheres. Kratos and Raine gasped, and Sheena and Genis were wide eyed in fear, surprise, terror, and disgust. Colette cried large tears as she held her ears to block out the sounds of the screams of anguish. Lloyd stared unmoving with his mouth hanging open, trying to speak, but no words came out. Gaar looked on, but was otherwise unemotional. He watched the people on the conveyor belt, those bedraggled, tortured, humiliated, terrorized, and hurt people as they rolled along on that uncaring belt to their mechanized doom. He imagined the despair they might feel, the terror, the anguish, the fear. He wondered if they cried, if they had any hope or if they had given up hope to a goddess that didn't care. He thought all these things and felt his control shatter. He again felt his emotions began to swirl within him. His imagination again showed all the things that he could do to punish those responsible. And he again felt that one emotion that gripped his heart with its cold fingers, made his mind see with crystal clarity, moved his body with unnatural grace. Hate.
"Wh… what is this!"
Lloyd was answered by Kvar, who walked up behind the group with a bunch of his footmen. "This is where the Exspheres are removed from the host bodies," he explained matter-of-factly. Everyone turned around to face him except Gaar, who continued to stare at the people dying right before him.
"Do you mean…" Raine said with disgust, "that Exspheres are made from…human bodies?"
"Not exactly." Kvar's tone of voice conveyed his extreme boredom. "Exspheres are dormant at first. They extract nourishment from humans to grow and awaken." Gaar slowly turned to face Kvar, his head low, his thick brown hair covering his eyes. "Human ranches are Exsphere manufacturing plants," Kvar continued. "Why else would we superior beings spend our valuable time raising and taking care of these filthy inferior beings?"
Genis trembled as he said, "That's… That's terrible!"
"Terrible? Terrible is what you've done." Kvar responded accusingly. "Stealing and using Exspheres that we've invested so much of our valuable time and care in creating." Kvar walked forward a step and pointed at the group. "You deserved to be punished." Kvar smiled cruelly. The soldiers behind Kvar surged forward and surrounded the group. They had their weapons at the ready but didn't attack. Instead they looked to Kvar for his order.
"Damn," Lloyd shouted as he looked around. "We're surrounded…"
"Lloyd!" Lloyd looked at Kvar, surprised to hear his name. "Your Exsphere was to be an offering to Lord Yggdrasill. It's time you gave it back." Lloyd looked down at his Exsphere in with the same surprised look. No one noticed as Gaar began to float an inch off the ground. His hands were clenched and his muscles bulged. Blood dripped from his fists as his fingers dug into the fleshy inside of his palm.
"Yggdrasill…" Raine said investigativly, "I suppose that is name of your leader."
Kvar didn't miss a beat. "Yes," he said slowly, menacingly. "Now, for the sake of our great leader, Lord Yggdrasill, and for the sake of my own success, I need that Exsphere!" Kvar was about nod to the commander next to him.
"Again!" Lloyd burst out. "What's so special about my Exsphere?"
Kvar stopped and looked at Lloyd as one would look at a pesky fly. He pointed to Lloyd's Exsphere and said, "That is the result of years of time-consuming research. I can finally reclaim what was stolen by that filthy female hose body."
"What are you talking about?" Lloyd asked, confused. "The female host body?" Lloyd gasped. "You're not talking about…"'
"Hmm…" Kvar said, still annoyed by that pesky bug. "You don't know anything, do you? That Exsphere was cultured on host body A012, human name, Anna… your mother." Kvar stopped and watched the realization sink into Lloyd's brain and then dawn on his face. Lloyd's pupils dilated, his teeth clenched, and breathing became ragged. Kvar smiled a sadistic smile of pleasure and said happily, "Of course, she paid for her crime with her life."
"You killed my…"
"Now, now," Kvar said patronizingly, "don't blame me. I'm not the one that killed Anna. Your father did." No one noticed Kratos jolt. Gaar, who now floated two and a half inches off the floor, had gained the attention of several nearby Desians. They trembled in fear as they stared at the floating boy. The air around him appeared to 'flex' every time an Exsphere host screamed in death.
"LIAR!" Lloyd shouted.
"Please," Kvar continued calmly, as if chatting with an old friend. "When her Key Crest-less Exsphere was removed, Anna turned into a monster… and your father killed her." Lloyd was trembling and everyone in the group but Gaar and Kratos were looking at him with concerned eyes. "Pathetic, don't you think?" Kvar asked.
"Do not speak ill of the dead," Kratos spat venomously.
"Hahaha!" Kvar laughed. "Who cares? They were both just a couple of filthy humans," he said as if the word 'human' made him think he were eating garbage. "Worthless Maggots!"
Lloyd, enraged, screamed, "Don't you ever talk about my parents like that!" Kvar nodded to the commander next to him.
"Get 'em," the commander ordered. The group backed up around Gaar as the Desians advance. Gaar eventually floated in front of them. The air now flexed so powerfully around Gaar ever time some one screamed, that it seemed to be bending his image. The Desians stopped advancing when they saw Gaar. Kvar's eyes widened and the commander said, "Lord Kvar…that's him…that's the boy we've been searching for…" Kratos raised his eye brow.
"Yeah Gaar?" Lloyd said. Everyone in the group looked at Lloyd, who was staring at the Gaar and shaking. His face was pale. "Ok." He said. Lloyd unsheathed his left hand sword and tossed it into the air. The sword flew up and over Gaar. It was caught in mid-air by an invisible force that pulled it to Gaar's outstretched hand. The moment the sword touched Gaar's skin, the blade grew white hot, and burst into flames.
"Wow," Genis shouted. His face was pale as he looked on. "I didn't know humans could use mana…"
"They… can't," Raine added, "at least, not that much. No one can. There isn't that much mana available in the world…"
Gaar floated slowly back to the ground. He raised his head and stared at nothing and everything. The traumatized Desian closest to him asked, "Wh… why are you smiling?"
"Hahahaha…" Gaar laughed, and caused a chill to go down the spine of everyone that heard it. "I'm smiling because I'm going to enjoy punishing you for making those," Gaar pointed at the Exspheres moving on the conveyor belt, "out of them," Gaar hand moved from the Exspheres to the people dying behind him.
"Hahahaha," Kvar laughed. "And how does a filthy maggot like you expect to do that? With that little bit of magic you're using. Don't be ridiculous." Kvar laughed again.
"Ahhh!" Gaar screamed as he slashed the blade horizontally in front of him. All the Desians who were near him stared for three seconds, then their top halves slid off their bottom halves and both halves fell to the ground with a sick, wet thud that caused everyone behind Gaar to jump. Kvar stopped laughing.
Growling, Kvar yelled at his commander, "Get them! Get them now!"
As more Desians appeared from the stairway, Colette shouted, "Stop!" The Desians stopped, Gaar stopped, and everyone looked at Colette. "Gaar, please stop this senseless violence! Please!"
"They must be…punished," Gaar rasped darkly.
"The Desians may do horrible things, but people are still dying, nothing can be solved by killing more people, so please, stop!"
Gaar visibly struggled with some internal force, before he finally said in his dark raspy voice, "Your right Colette. People are still dying…" Gaar turned back to the Desians, who tensed up, and said, "…and they will continue to die…" Gaar pulled back his sword, readying to strike. The blade, if possible, glowed even brighter.
"Noo..." Colette moaned and tried to run out to stop Gaar, but she was held back by Raine and Kratos.
As Gaar swung the sword, he said, "…unless I do this!" When the sword's swing reached the apex of its journey, the energy, heat, and light on the blade shot out like a bolt of lightning into the machinery. All the metal in the entire complex glowed bright red before rapidly cooling. Then the machines all stopped with a suddenness that threw everyone off their feet. The sword stopped glowing and dropped from Gaar's hand as he fell to the ground, unconscious.
"Hey look," a Whip Master said as he pointed to Gaar's unconscious body, "He's out cold. Now's our chance. Let's get 'em!" The Desians started getting up and moving cautiously toward the group. Sheena got up and ran in front of Gaar, the Desians stopped, not knowing what to expect.
"I'll handle this," she told everyone behind her. She looked at the card she was holding and said to herself, "I'm gonna use the last one, Grandpa." Sheena held the card out in front of her and withdrew her had. The card stayed in mid air and started to spin faster and faster until in a puff of smoke, it was replaced by a Wind Guardian. Then, slowly, the Guardian disappeared. So did Sheena, Lloyd, Genis, Raine, Colette, Kratos, and an unconscious Gaar.