Uhh… Sierra, please don't mention fire around Pit. Whispered He is a pyromaniac…
Pit: Jumps up and down a few hundred times in a few seconds. "Fire! Where, where's the fire! Fire! Fire,fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire!"
Inri: Massages her forehead. "Ugh, not again…"
Oh no….
Pit: Suddenly appears inside of a tank. "Sierra, this means WAR!" Tank starts rolling off.
Inri: "Oh no! PIT! Get your (the next four word are CENSORED) back here. Oooh boy it's too late. Sierra, watch out, he's tricky."
On with the sto- WHOA did he just fire that cannon?
Inri: Moans into her hands. "Pit, don't shoot that in here."
"BOOM"
Inri: "No, that was the plotline for the next chapter. You idiot!" Runs after the belligerent idiot in a tank.
Before he blows anything else important up, On with the story!
"I do not own Tales of Symphonia." – I.K.A. Valian
A deep base voice rung through the air, "AHHHHH!"
Gaar's eyes shot open and he sat up. His heavy breathing slowed dramatically and his mouth fell open. "I… I… I don't get it… it was… only a dream?" He looked around at the others spread around the fire exactly as they had been before. Even Kratos was asleep, slumped on his side. Gaar stood up on shaky legs and looked all around him. "No, it couldn't have been a dream… could it?"
Gaar walked over to Lloyd and looked down at him. "He still has the bruises from Kratos' training." Upon inspecting Colette he saw that she was also peacefully sleeping, a slight smile played across her face as she dreamed. "Colette's definitely out like a light bulb." Gaar moved to sleeping Sages and poked Genis.
"… Mmm…" slowly Genis sat up and rubbed his eyes. "What? What is it Gaar?"
Gaar kneeled down and said, "Uhh… you didn't just have a weird dream about a black knight, did you?" Gaar watched Genis' expression go from bed head to shock.
"You mean you had that dream too?" Gaar nodded. "I thought I was gonna die!"
"Yeah, I was about to be sliced in half when I woke up. Everyone else had been knocked out, even Kratos." Gaar looked over at the mercenary as he rolled over and crouched into a fetal position.
"I remember that thing running at me after knocking out Colette and Lloyd, he moved so fast though. It didn't seem possible that someone wearing that much armor could move that fast." Genis rubbed his head. "My head hurts just thinking about it. I hope that monster didn't hurt Raine." Genis looked down to see dried blood on Raine's face. "That monster, he did hurt her."
"Actually Genis, you did that when you collided with her." Both boys looked over at Kratos as he sat up. "This wasn't what I expected," he muttered to himself.
"Kratos!" both boys shouted. Colette started to move and she too sat up. "Colette!" they both chimed.
"Oh! Good morning!" She smiled and waved at them cheerily.
"Colette, didn't you have that dream. The one with the guy in black armor." Colette looked at them curiously.
"You mean you had it too, I thought it was just me." Colette looked down at her hands. "That's funny. I thought I had a cut on my hand. I guess it really was a dream."
Genis sighed. "Yes Colette, it was a dream…"
"But then why was Professor Raine's nose bleeding?" Gaar pointed at the dried blood on Raine's face.
"I… I don't know!" Genis peered closer at Raine's face and poked the blood spot a few times.
In Hima, an adventurer asked the vendor, "Did you hear someone screaming?"
The vendor shrugged replied, "Yes, but it sounded very far away."
Genis was rubbing a bright red hand mark on his cheek and grumbling as Raine dusted her self off and walked stiffly away.
Gaar turned to Colette. "Would you please stop me from ever doing that to Professor Raine?"
Colette stared wide eyed at Gaar. "Only if you do the same for me." Gaar nodded.
"Ugh…" Sheena sat up and rubbed her head. "Did anyone catch the number of that elemental transport?" Everyone looked at her like she was crazy, except Kratos.
"An elemental what?" Genis asked.
"Uhh… never mind." Sheena quickly got up started searching herself. "Huh… I thought that…"
"Yeah, we all had the same dream." Sheena looked at Gaar in askance. "You know, the one with the guy in black armor." Sheena's eyes widened.
"You had that dream too." Everyone nodded. "Corrine!" A small explosion and a puff of smoke later, Corrine appeared next to the fire. "Corrine, I remember hearing your voice in the dream, did you have it too."
Corrine nodded. "I did have a strange dream. It wasn't like a normal dream though. It felt like someone else's dream." Corrine looked at Gaar and wagged his tail at him. "It was Gaar's dream." Corrine disappeared as everyone looked to Gaar, who just stood there silently.
"Well Gaar?" Gaar looked at Genis, speechless.
"Whoa, my head feels like a balloon." Everyone turned to Lloyd who sat up and held his head. "I think I would rather dream about one of Professor Raine's classes."
"Lloyd, I know that black armored guy was tough, but…"
Lloyd looked at Genis sideways, "Wha… I wasn't talking about him. I was talking about the pink fairies and the Unicorn." Lloyd's eyes widened as everyone's face screwed strangely. "Wait, you all the same dream?"
"Lloyd what did you mean about pink fairies?
"And a Unicorn?"
Lloyd looked at Genis and Colette and blushed, then shook his head. "I'd rather not talk about it." Colette giggled and Genis snickered. "But what about that Black Knight, what happened after I was knocked out?"
"I believe we should ask Gaar, he was the only one left awake when I was… incapacitated." Kratos stood up and turned to Gaar questioningly.
"Well, when that knight defeated you, it came for me… I thought he killed me when I woke up."
"Hey!" Raine ran ecstatically into the gathering around Gaar. "I found something. It's fantastic!" Raine's quick speech made Genis wince. "It's, it's, it's, oh just come see." She ran back the way she came skipping and jumping. "Mwa ha ha ha ha ha!"
"Uhh… Genis what is wrong with your sister?" Genis turned to Gaar and threw his hand into the air, defeated.
"She always gets like this when she is excited. I've tried hiding it…"
"Come on!" shouted Raine.
"Coming Professor!" Colette skipped off, Kratos hot on her heals. When they got there they found Raine stooped down, inspecting the object.
"Is… is that the Black Knight?" Sheena trembled, Genis shook, Colette looked on curiously, and Gaar acted like Lloyd and just stared. Kratos grabbed his sword's hilt.
"Whatever it was, it's dead now." Everyone calmed down, but only a little.
"What do you mean Professor?" Raine knocked her hand against the armor a few times, creating a hollow sound.
"This armor isn't even worthy of calling armor. It's just a thin piece of metal." She stood up and looked down at the husk. "The armor is also empty. Nothing is inside of it. And look at the chest plate, it has been severely damaged and burnt."
"But nothing we threw at it did any damage. How could it just be lying here, dead?"
"I don't know Lloyd, but something did it."
"It must have been magic." Everyone looked at Kratos curiously. He sighed. "Who ever was inside of this armor must have used magic to force us all to dream the same dream. In that dream he would have been invincible. Did any of you notice how the moon didn't move, the stars stayed stationary. Time had stopped for the world, yet not for us." Realization dawned on a few faces. Kratos pointed at the black husk. "Apparently this being was going to attempt to defeat Gaar mentally before physically."
"But we all had that dream. Not just Gaar."
"Did you forget Corrine's words, Chosen? It was Gaar's dream we were all taking part in, therefore Gaar was the intended target. No doubt this Black Knight was surprised when he found us in the dream as well." Kratos walked over and kicked the empty helmet, it rolled away. "Apparently what ever Gaar did, when this thing was defeated, the magic from the spell he was using consumed his body completely."
"That would explain why he didn't attack us out right. He might have feared our combined might." Raine picked up the empty helmet and soot fell to the ground. "He really was burnt to a crisp."
"But Professor, in the dream we couldn't lay a hand on him, how did we defeat him?" Lloyd turned to Gaar. "Gaar do you know?"
Raine turned to Lloyd and asked, "How would Gaar know?"
"Because sis, he was the last one to be awake."
"Oh… Gaar, how did you defeat him?" Gaar gulped. The stars above slowly faded from view as the sun crept closer to the horizon.
"Uhh… I was trying to use fire magic…"
"You what!" shouted Raine. Gaar cowered under Raine's overbearing form.
"I'm sorry Professor, but all of you were being hurt. I had to do something. And besides, if I can't use magic when I need it the most, what good is it? It was only a dream, right?"
Raine sighed. "I suppose it is alright, as long as that headache of yours doesn't return."
"So I was trying to use fire magic while Kratos was holding the Black Knight off. I had finally gotten the magic to fuse with an arrow when-"
"Uhh… Gaar, did you say you fused the fire magic with an arrow?
"Yeah Genis, why?"
"Look." The sun broke the horizon and cast its magnificent gaze upon the smoking arrow thrust into the center of the black chest plate. "I don't think that was a dream we all had last night." Genis was pale. Raine pulled the arrow out of the metal plate and examined it.
"This arrow is indeed the byproduct of a magical attack. But the Mana signature is nothing like Gaar's, if possible, it's even… odder."
"I know, maybe its dream magic."
"Lloyd, that is the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Lloyd growled and attempted to smack Genis.
"He could be right."
"Kratos! What do you mean? There is no such thing as 'dream' magic. Lloyd was just saying stuff, like he always does. Oww…" Lloyd succeeded in smacking Genis.
"In any case, the sun is up. We should get ready and make our way toward the Ranch."
"Your right Professor, we have to save all those people, and I want to avenge my mom. Kvar, you're going down!"
"I agree with Lloyd, besides, we promised Sheena." Sheena turned toward Colette and nodded.
"Thank you, Colette."
"No problem Sheena." Colette walked back to camp and started clean up.
Raine wrapped up the empty black helmet in a spare cloth before it disappeared into her brown overcoat. Everyone did their own things to prepare for the fights ahead. Gaar picked up his bow and stared at it.
"Did I really do that…?" Gaar winced slightly and rubbed his forehead unconsciously.
"Commander Ikarus, we've found something!" Ikarus turned to the offending Whip Master. He ran over to the commander and saluted. "Sir, we've found what appears to be the remains of a metallic behemoth. The mages believe that he was defeated by an extremely powerful magic spell. That might explain the lights reported last night. There was nothing left of the being but soot within the armor."
"Was there any sign of a battle?"
The Whip Master shook his head. "No sir, it was as if he stood there and let the enemy mage defeat him."
"That was also the reported camp sight of the chosen's group," Ikarus mumbled. "Get back to your duties."
"Sir!" The Whip Master ran back the way he had come. Ikarus slowly walked back toward his tent.
When Ikarus had reached his tent, another Whip Master walked out. He saluted Ikarus when he saw him and said, "Sir! Your tent has been set up and your personal belongings removed from the wing pack. Are there any further orders."
Ikarus nodded to himself. "Yes," he said at length. "Pack it back up, we're moving out in ten minutes.
The Whip Master balked. "B-but sir!"
"I said pack up, we're moving out."
The Whip Master gathered his wits and saluted. "Yes sir!" He turned and dutifully marched back into the tent. Ikarus, mean while, was brooding, lost deep in thought.
"First to the ranch… then to Hima… and then back to…" Ikarus' eyes snapped open and he shouted to the nearest Evil Sorcerer, "You, order the men to prepare to leave. We are heading back to the ranch, on the double.
"Yes Sir!" shouted the mage as turned and ran quickly off.
Ikarus ran back to his tent, which was half way though being dismantled and retrieved his sword. Running back out, he surveyed the rapid dismantling of the half set-up camp. "If that little boy is learning to control his powers…"
Meanwhile…
"It was somewhere around here…" Kratos stopped in a clearing just outside of the Asgard Ranch.
"I don't see anything like a hidden entrance."
"Duh, Lloyd, that's why it's a hidden entrance." Genis sighed and Lloyd turned on him.
"Hey guys, I think I found it."
Everyone looked around, but were unable to locate the origin of the voice.
"Gaar, did you turn invisible?"
"No, Colette." They could hear Gaar laughing. "No, I'm over here, behind this tree." Gaar started to wave his hands up and down behind a tree that was behind several other conifer trees. Once everyone had gotten through the corpulent and furry tree branches, they found themselves facing a large boulder.
Sheena looked around as Gaar hopped out of the tree he had climbed. "Definitely a hidden entrance," she snorted.
"This has to be it." Lloyd's confidence was evident in his stride as he walked up to the large grey rock.
"So it would seem… Let's try moving it," Raine suggested. It was twice as tall as Lloyd, but he none the less put his hands onto the side of it and pushed. And pushed. And pushed. Finally, Lloyd gave up and slid to the ground, panting.
"It… it's no use… It won't budge." He wiped the sweat from his brow. Raine shook her head and Kratos was busy looking at the trees. Colette went over to Lloyd to help him up while Gaar and Sheena kicked the rock, but Gaar kicked it too hard.
"Ow ow…" Gaar hopped away from the rock while holding onto his foot, he fell over shortly afterward. Genis started to snicker until Raine gave him 'the look.'
"Lloyd," Raine exasperatedly handed Lloyd the Desian Orb. "Let's try using this. Pietro said he used it to escape." Lloyd rolled the orb around a few times in his hands.
"Wow, you can see a light from the inside, I wonder if I can do the same thing with some onyx and purple quartz…" Raine sighed and snatched the orb from Lloyd's hands.
"Honestly, you can think about crafting another time." Raine strode over to the rock and after looking over the stone for a few seconds cried, "Aha!" and pushed the stone into a small depression in the rock. There was a slight whooshing sound and the rock rolled by itself away and to the right of the cliff it was nestled against. A dark tunnel appeared as the rock rolled away.
"Bu-but when I pushed it, it didn't even budge…"
Raine marched forward into the darkened tunnel saying, "Let's go, we've got a job to do."
Lloyd nodded. "Yeah…" Lloyd strolled into the small opening with everyone but Gaar following. Gaar stared up at the cliff side and then let his vision settle on the opening.
"Gaar, you coming?"
"Yeah Genis." Gaar re-adjusted the bow hanging on his left shoulder. "I'm coming…" Gaar clenched his shaking fist. "I… will defeat you Kvar. For all those who suffered because of you, you will pay." Gaar's eyes set and he ran into the dark hold in the cliff. The rock rolled back in front of the hole, the black orb fell and rolled onto the ground.
Gaar was surprised to find that further into the dark tunnel lights had been attached to the ceiling. The lights though looked like they hadn't been used in a long while; some of them had already burned out. Eventually the dust filled and roughly cut passageway turned to an immaculately clean and precisely crafted hallway. Light was emitted from where the walls met the ceiling and the floor. Their footsteps, which had sounded like scraping leaves on a blistery day in all the dirt, now sounded like the clapping feet of a tap dancer. Everyone came to a stop in front of a large vent.
Lloyd turned to the rest of the group. "I'm sorry guys, but it's a dead-mmmph" Kratos had covered the boys mouth and all had become quiet. Then voices started to filter though the vent.
"-re they? Lord Kvar will have our heads if we don't find them."
Then a feminine voice added, "They have to be here somewhere, the tracking software put them within the vicinity of the ranch."
The first voice came back with, "But you saw the map! They just vanished from the face of Sylvarant."
"No!" argued a second male voice. "They are here somewhere, they are just in hiding. Remember the tracking software isn't the… hey, did you hear something. It came from this vent."
Raine smacked Lloyd in the head. "Next time don't go shooting your mouth off." Lloyd rubbed his offended head as a tapping and a rapping came from the vent.
Kratos unsheathed his sword, as Lloyd did his own. Raine pulled her staff out and Gaar prepared an arrow. Sheena had her cards in her hand already while Genis fumbled with his Kendama. Colette had her angel wings out and was praying silently. Before anyone could knock the grating away from the tunnel, it fell down on its own. With a loud creaking, the metal groaning, it fell into the Desian fiddling with it and both fell to the floor in a heap. The groups on either side were so surprised that neither did anything right away.
Finally, an Evil Sorcerer pointed at the group and shouted, "Who the hell are you." Lloyd broken out of his stupor, lunged into the room. "Ahh, you're the chosen's group. Sound the alarm! We've found them! We've found the-" The Evil Sorcerer fell to the ground, blood spurting from his torso as Kratos wrenched his sword from the Desian's gut. A Whip Master was running for the wall, a big, bright, red, obvious button was begging to be pushed. Just as the Whip Master had gotten to the wall a high pitched whistle pierced the air and an arrow lodged itself in the back of the Desian's neck, severing his spinal cord.
"I won't be defeated so easi-"
"Thunder Blade!" Genis raise his Kendama and the purple Mana shot to the ceiling, moved to the Spearman, and then shot downward again. The rain of electrical charges fried the female Desian to a crisp. Everyone looked around for more enemies, but found none. They were completely alone in the control room.
"Ha!" exulted Sheena triumphantly. "And don't come back!"
Colette turned to Sheena as her wings disappeared and said cheerfully, "I don't think they can come back."
"Uhh..." Sheena hesitantly replied. "You're becoming more like Lloyd, aren't you?" Colette just looked at her funny.
Lloyd turned to Sheena and asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"
Sheena turned and strolled toward Raine and Kratos as she said, "Heh… Never mind." Lloyd shrugged and joined everyone as they crowded around Raine. She was studying a device that had a three dimensional map of Sylvarant floating above it. The names of several towns could be seen scrolling next to their locations. Gaar rubbed his forehead again.
"This must be some form of magitechnology. Let me see if I can…" Raine tapped a few of the buttons in front of her and eventually the image floating above the machine fluctuated and shimmered before it fazed out. "Ah! I think I got it. Ok, I'll bring up the ranch wide-map." Suddenly four three-dimensional maps appeared stacked one on top of another.
Colette's eyes widened, "Wow! Professor you're fantastic!" She clasped her hands together and giggled. Raine brushed it off as she continued to type, though she did gain a smug look on her face.
Sheena folded her arms and watched Raine work. "Hmm, so there are people on this side who can operate machines too…"
"On this side?" Genis left the question hanging.
Sheena's eyes widened and she quickly said, "Ah, um, nothing." Then she mumbled, "Just talking to myself." A pinpoint of white light started flashing on the second floor map, exactly in the center.
"This is where we are now…" Raine explained. A new blue light started flashing on the top map. "…and this is where Kvar should be." Raine typed for a few more minutes as information scrolled quickly past on a smaller screen just above the keyboard. Nodding to herself, Raine said, "It appears that in order to get to the floor that Kvar is on, we'll have to deactivate the guard system."
"Guard…system?" Colette scratched her head.
"Here." Raine typed a few more key strokes and a purple light started to flash on the third floor map. "It appears that the guard system deactivates the warp pad that leads to the top floor. This wouldn't be a problem except that Kvar is on the top floor. If we don't deactivate this guard system, we can't get to Kvar."
Lloyd gave out a cry of frustration. "What are we supposed to do then?"
"Calm down," Kratos said coolly. "There should be a switch somewhere to deactivate the system."
Raine again started tapping away at the keyboard, text scrolling down the smaller screen. "Here it is." Two orange lights began blinking on the bottom most floor. "See the two switches at the end of the left and right passageways? Those are the deactivation switches."
"Okay then, let's go deactivate it." Lloyd moved to leave.
"Wait a minute. I'll bring up the route leading to Kvar's room." Raine typed a few commands into the keyboard, and a thin red line went from the blinking white light through the factory, up an incline, into the blinking purple light at the warp pad, and ended in Kvar's room at the blinking blue light. Raine stops typing and studies the map. "It looks like the conveyor belt prevents passage through there. In order to stop that, we'll need to stop the conveyor belt control mechanism, but…" Raine falls silent for a moment. "…it seems it's constructed in such a way that you can't get close to the control mechanism while containers are on the conveyor…" Raine started to type at the keyboard again. "Let's see, in order to adjust the container dispatch control system…"
"WEEEIOOOO! WEEEIOOOO!" Colette grabbed her ears in pain while everyone else looked around the room curiously. Red lights flashed and the three-dimensional map vanished as the machine shut down with a soft whir. Raine attempted to access the computer again, but nothing happened.
"Dammit. They've detected my access of the main computer." Raine slammed a fist into the keyboard, sending a few of the buttons flying off.
"Lloyd, what do we do? The Desians will be here any minute!" Genis looked nervously from door to door around the room. "We don't know where they'll come at us from. We're vulnerable." Gaar knocked an arrow but didn't pull the string back. He pointed the arrow at one door and then back toward another.
"Genis is right, we could be surrounded." Gaar dropped his aim. "It would be a good idea to get out of here."
"Dammit…" Lloyd punched his right fist into his left hand.
Inri: Kicking body in a bag on the floor. "If you ever try to do that again, I will do things to you that you wish you'd never heard of."
Pit: Groans. "Ohh… like what…" Groans again.
Inri: "Hehehe… like I'd tell you." Pit escapes the bag while Inri isn't looking and runs away. "Hey get back here!"
Pit: Still running. "No, I have to give Sierra a present!" Disappears.
Inri: Shouts at the air. "Like what?"
Thin Air: "Oh, just a shot from a fully powered Mana Cannon. Mwaaa hahahahahaha!"
I am so sorry Tobiasa. I really am, you are one of my only two faithful reviewers, I can't believe Pit would do this. Please watch out Sierra… Prays for Sierra's safety.
Inri: "I can't believe how stupid my brother is. Men are such idiots!" Stalks off.
Please review, maybe those will sway Pit back to his senses… maybe…
On another note, I salvaged some of the plot line that was destroyed.