Inri: "My stupid brother is still off. Being stupid no doubt."
I would like to thank my reviewers again, mainly Contraltissimo and Tobiasa, and sorry about Pit attacking Sierra... he really is stupid...
Inri: "You can say that again! Where did he come from anyway, what part of your twisted mind came up with that thing that is called my brother?"
Uhh... changing the subject. In this chapter...well n/m, you'll find out.
On with the Story!
"I do not own Tales of Symphonia!" – I.K.A. Valian
Raine sighed. "It looks like we don't have any other choice." Raine walked away a little bit before she turned and faced the group. "Let's split into two teams. One will go and deactivate the Guard System. The other will head to and infiltrate Kvar's room."
"What!" Genis burst out. "We're going to split up?"
"There would seem to be no other way." Kratos eagerly added, "I would like to be in the group that goes after Kvar."
"Me too!"
Genis' outburst made Sheena jump, but she added quietly, "And me as well."
Raine shook her head in dismay, and then turned to Colette. Colette was staring off into space. Her reverie was broken when Raine said, "Colette, please choose for us."
She gaped at Raine for a few seconds, clearly flustered. "Ah, um, well, then…" she turned to Lloyd and said cheerfully, "I'll leave it to Lloyd."
"What? Me!" Lloyd had taken a step back. He looked like a wild animal ready to bolt.
"I know you'll do a good job of splitting us up." Colette smiled at Lloyd and he seemed to calm down a bit.
Genis snorted and rolled his eyes. "He lives only by intuition and instinct."
Lloyd glanced at his short elven friend. "What's that supposed to mean?" Then he looked down at the jewel on his right hand. "Anyway, I'll pick. I'm going after Kvar. I want to avenge Mom." Lloyd walked down the steps right behind the group to stand in front of them. "I'll take Kratos and Sheena with me. I'll leave deactivation to the Professor and everyone else."
Kratos and Sheena walked over to stand beside Lloyd. "… Thank you." Kratos' eyes burned.
"Leave it to me. Kvar won't know what hit him!" Sheena imitated beating Kvar's head by slamming her fist into her hand. Lloyd nodded to Kratos and Sheena.
"Leave the deactivating to me." Raine turned and walked toward the front most door of the control room.
Colette turned to Lloyd as she was passing him and said, "It's too bad I can't go with you." Before Lloyd could answer she ran to stand next to Raine.
As Genis passed Lloyd he loudly sighed, making his frustration very evident. "So I'm going to be on the other team." Genis hung his head dramatically. "That's disappointing."
"Lloyd?" Lloyd turned to Gaar. "Be sure to give Kvar my regards."
Lloyd grinned like a Cheshire Cat. "And then some," he added. Then he said to Raine, "Let's meet up in the control room." She nodded. Lloyd, Kratos, and Sheena entered into the factory.
Raine turned to the three around her and looked at each of them, her eyes hiding the calculations going behind them. Nodding she said, "Let's get started," and led the group through the door into the main lobby of the Asgard Ranch. Raine stopped though once she had gotten though the doorway. She sighed, annoyed. "We don't have time for this…"
Then Gaar, Genis, and Colette looked at each other as they heard, "Woman! What are you doing here?!" Raine had her staff in her hand before another word could be said. She ran into the room and started bashing an Evil Sorcerer on the head. Behind the Evil Sorcerer were two Whip Masters, a Bowman, and a Spearman, all of whom were moving to attack Raine.
Once Raine cleared the doorway Colette sprang through and flung her Chakrams almost immediately. Genis ran into the room and started casting spells while Gaar stood next to him shooting arrows.
Colette's Chakrams flew high into the air and on their return paths sliced though the fingers of the Spearman. The spear that she was holding fell to the floor as she stared at her single fingered hand. Blood spurt from four finger stumps, two on either side of the remaining finger.
"Ahh… my… my hand…" The Spearman fainted as Colette's Chakrams returned to her.
"Wow," she said, looking at the dark blue rings, "These are very powerful Chakrams. Best to be careful."
"Why Colette?" Gaar then turned and quickly shot an arrow through the leg of the Bowman. The Bowman grabbed his leg and grimaced. He fell to the floor attempting to pull the arrow out of his leg.
"Because," she said seriously, "I don't want anyone to get hurt."
Gaar looked at Colette like she was talking backwards.
"First Aid!" Green Mana slammed into Genis and sealed a few of the cuts that had formed on his arms, courtesy of the two Whip Masters he was holding off with his Kendama.
"Uh, Guys," Genis shouted as he jumped back from a lashing whip. "I could use some help!"
"Oh, right!" Colette rushed to Genis' side and attempted to throw her Chakrams carefully, but she tripped. The Chakrams flew around the two Whip Masters in lazy circles. The Whip Masters stood back to back, attempting to remain still, having seen what the bladed rings did to their comrade's hand. When the rings clattered to the floor, they took a deep breath in unison.
"I though we were goners." The Whip Master's fellow Whip Master nodded solemnly.
"Think again! Ice Tornado!" The air around the two shocked Whip Masters started to spin faster and faster, growing colder and colder until the water in the air condensed and froze on the spot. This swirling mass of frozen bits of water turned deadly when the ice crystals started to slice up the Desians. It became fatal when Colette's Chakrams were lifted up by the twister and began slicing the Desians left ways from right ways. When the spell had run its course, the Desians fell to the ground in several hundred pieces.
Colette stood up and caught her Chakrams as they were about to fly past her. "See," she said to Gaar while pointing at the steaming pile of body parts. One of the organs let loose a burp sound. "That is why it is best to be careful." Genis shook his head and Gaar gaped at her. Colette turned to the pile of body parts and started to pray.
"Let's move on." Raine sounded impatient. She walked over to the stairs leading down and waited while tapping her foot. "We have to deactivate the Guard System before Lloyd and the others reach the warp pad. If we don't…"
"What?"
Raine looked at Gaar, then turned and descended the stair while saying, "The Desians could send reinforcements and overwhelm them. We must have that warp pad activated." The four of them continued down the stairwell in silence.
The room was completely dark when Raine and the other walked in. Raine held up her staff and murmured a few words. The gem on top of the dark blue staff glowed bright. The light only traveled far enough for the four travelers to see each other, whatever was beyond lay in darkness.
"It's completely dark in here, I can't see a thing." Genis conjured a fireball in his hand. The fireball flew off into the darkness and after a while of traveling the light from the fire was too distant to see. "How big is this place?"
"Genis, this floor is directly underneath the factory. If you recall, there was an inordinate amount of machinery on the upper levels. This large amount of space is probably for maintenance." Raine waved her staff about. "According to the computer, this room should be full of mechanics repairing the damage Gaar caused. I wonder where they are… Something isn't right here…"
Genis snorted. "Well, at least Gaar's attack cost them something."
"Yes," Colette nodded. "Hopefully, no more people have died since because of the damage." She turned to Gaar. "Gaar, it's all thanks to you." Gaar blushed and scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"I… uh…"
"Yes, it was all thanks to that pathetic maggot." Everyone jumped and quickly turned around. There, standing behind them just outside of the light cast by Raine's staff, was Kvar. "Thanks to you, I've had to repair every piece of equipment in the entire facility." Gaar was trembling as he glared. Genis and Raine were completely still while glaring. Colette's fingers were fidgeting with her Chakrams as she glared.
"Kvar." Gaar spat the name at the owner. He moved to take his bow from his shoulder.
"Yes," the Grand Cardinal hissed. He turned to his right and shouted, "Activate the lights in sub-level 1." The dark room exploded in light. Overhead, enormous light fixtures that appeared to be the size of a hundred year old Spruce tree came to life. They rained light down onto the two elves, the angel, and the human. Surrounding them were tens of Bowmen, Evil Sorcerers, and Spearmen. "I knew you would be returning. It was predictable to say the least." Genis growled. "This time around, I came prepared for you." Kvar pointed at Gaar.
"Ahhh…" Gaar fell to the ground, clutching his head. His forearms bulged as he clamped his fingers around his skull. His bow clattered to the ground, the previously readied arrow rolled away.
"Gaar!" Genis and Colette ran to Gaar's side.
"Hah, pathetic maggot. Did you really believe that you could defeat me?" Kvar laughed. "Don't be ridiculous."
"Stop it!" Colette shouted, "Leave him alone!" She threw her Chakrams at Kvar and watched them fly straight through his body, leaving no scar or any other mark. "I don't get it, I hit him…"
"It's a holographic image, Colette, Kvar isn't really here. It is like the map on the computer" Colette jumped forward a bit as she retrieved her Chakrams from the air.
"I see some of you are smarter than the rest." Kvar sneered at the four. "No matter. Men, proceed." The image of Kvar vanished and the Desians surrounding the group started to close in.
"What are we gonna do?" Genis looked all around quickly. "We are surrounded!"
"We are going to do… what we came here to do. We must find the switches and deactivate the Guard System." Raine started chanting a spell. Colette's angel wings sprouted from her back and she started chanting, while Genis stood above Gaar and watched the Desians close in.
"Fire!"
"Now!"
The air around the four exploded into hundreds of whistling arrows and dozens of sailing spears. Genis' eyes widened and ducked as three arrows flew over his head. One landed right in front of his face and lodged itself into the flooring. He looked perturbed by the arrow for a few seconds, before another volley of missiles started their flight. The air was thick with arrows and spears. Raine and Colette had canceled their spells so that they could dodge the arrows and spears as best they could. Raine though had to speedily cast First Aid every few seconds as arrows and spears nicked and cut. But the three were able to dodge most of the arrows and spears thrown at them.
Gaar was on the floor, still clutching his head in a death grip. His body writhed in pain. His mouth screamed silent screams of extreme pain.
Genis ran in front of Gaar and shouted, "Force Field!" Nearly two hundred arrows and just as many spears pinged off of the shield in the few seconds that it as surrounding Genis and Gaar. Genis hit the ground as more volleys were flying overhead.
"G-… Ge-… Genis," Gaar rasped. His eyes were screwed tightly shut, his face was red, and his teeth were clenched. Genis leaned in close as far as he could, trying to avoid a set of arrows that decided to lodge themselves in the ground next to his head.
"Y-yeah Gaar?" Gaar's clenched teeth ground themselves back and forth as he growled. Genis began to back away in fear, but stopped when Gaar opened his mouth but no sound came out.
"G-… Genis! Grab my hand… T-… Take… AHHHH!" Gaar clenched his eyes shut tighter and his hands turned to fists. He writhed in pain as a million suns were born and went supernova, galaxies collided, infinity was crammed into his finite skull. Genis winced as several arrows lodged themselves in the floor behind him, some grazed skin getting there. But he grabbed one of Gaar's tightly clenched and nail gouged fists.
Raine landed from a backward leap and looked around quickly. She gasped as she saw tens of arrows and a few spears hit Genis' body. The next thing she knew she was on her back, blown over by a tremendous force. Colette, who had been flying over the heads of the Desians and distracting the Evil Sorcerers, was on the ground. All the Desians were on the ground. Some with arrow wounds from friendly fire, others with spear wounds.
Raine struggled to stand up, and when she did, she gasped again. "G-Genis?"
Genis was breathing heavily. He was standing, his left hand clasped tightly around Gaar's fist. His eyes were glowing bright white and blue. Around him and Gaar were scattered the arrows and spears that had hit him, having been repelled. The Desians all stood up and stared, everyone stared.
"Professor… Why is Genis glowing…?" Colette flew over to stand next to Raine. Nobody moved.
"I thought the boy's magic was canceled out," said one of the Desians. "What happened to the inhibitors?"
"It isn't the boy's magic, it is that elves!" shouted another.
"Look out, he's moving." All the Desians readied their weapons and began attacking again. But they never got the chance to loose one arrow, throw one spear, or cast one spell.
"COMPLETE INDIGNANT JUDGMENT!" Genis' voice carried through the entire chamber as if his voice were part of the very air. The lights dimmed as static electricity began building up in the air. The entire floor was covered in blue runes, lines, and circles. The static electricity in the air became flames of electricity. In nanoseconds, the entire room was filled with the electrical discharges of the spell. All of the Desians died in less time than it took for the electricity to burn away their dead corpses. As the spell wore down, the light covering the ceiling sputtered and began going out, a few began to fall and crash into the ground.
"Professor…?" Colette nervously looked around and jumped when a light crashed to the ground just three feet from her. "I don't think it is safe here."
Raine nodded. "I agree, we'll sort this out later. Genis, bring Gaar." Genis, who had fallen to the floor when he cast the spell, looked up. Raine looked at him and then craned her head upwards.
The sound of the impact registered in Raine's mind after the image. She couldn't move. She couldn't breath. She couldn't think. She couldn't blink. The sight of the light fixture crashing into Genis' outstretched hands burned to the back of her retinas. Colette stood with her hands over her mouth. She fell to her knees was breathing in large ragged breathes. But Colette didn't register in Raine's mind. The only thought going through her mind was, 'He's gone.'
...I'm so eeeeeeeeeevil, I'm so EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVIL!
Inri: "We know that... oooh, but I do so love the cliffhanger."
And what a cliffhanger... Please review to save Genis!