Where could Pit be...
Inri: "I have no idea." Looks around innocently.
Ok, what really happened, did you make all that up about Pit going to war with Sierra?
Inri: With shifty eyes "I... I have no idea what you're talking about."
Inri?!
Inri: Laughs nervously. "Uh... On with the story!"
"I do not own Tales of Symphonia!" – I.K.A. Valian
In the dim light of sub-level one, the image of Kvar re-appeared. It was fuzzier than before, but it remained nonetheless.
"I see some of you survived." Kvar's image waved it off nonchalantly. "No matter. Now I must deal with the rest of your little band of miscreants." Kvar's image blinked out of existence. Raine was still standing, staring at the light fixture that had taken meaning from her. Colette, blood splattered on her face, stood up.
"Professor, we have to go!" Raine didn't move or respond. "Professor, if we don't hurry, Lloyd will die." Raine slowly turned her head and looked at Colette. Colette's face was dirty and wet from blood, both hers and others, and her hands were shaking, but Colette still had enough control to tug on her teacher's sleeves. "Please Professor, we must go!"
"I… I can't Colette. It isn't worth saving anymore. The world isn't worth…" Raine sobbed, tears finally leaving their marks on her cheeks. "How can I help save a world that doesn't have him in it…" Raine dropped to her knees and continued to stare at the pile of electronic equipment and rubble where Genis and Gaar had once been.
"No Professo-"
"Don't Call Me That!" Raine's outburst made Colette jump a few feet away from the distraught woman. Colette shivered at the loss in Raine's eyes. "I am not fit to be your teacher, Colette." Raine turned back to Genis' grave and mumbled, "I'm not capable of teaching anyone."
Colette clenched her fists and set her face. She walked up to Raine and slapped her as hard as she could. Raine looked up at Colette surprised as she flew through the air. A large red handprint formed on Raine's cheek as she skidded to a stop a few feet from where she had been. "Professor, snap out of it! Genis wouldn't have wanted you to be this way. Right now we have to save Lloyd and the others from the Desians. Don't forget that Lloyd trusted us to clear the way for him. We must carry on for Genis and Gaar too, just as we fight for those people who died for the Exspheres." Raine stared silently, tears of a torrentially ripped heart falling from her face.
Raine stood up and started walking, slowly at first, but then faster. "Colette," she stopped and turned to look at the girl. "Thank you." Colette nodded and the two ran to the other side of the room and into the left most hallway on the other side.
"What could be taking them so long?" Lloyd walked back and forth impatiently in front of the deactivated warp panel.
"You must learn to be more patient." Lloyd turned and Kratos snorted at the boy's outrage.
"Hey guys, I think I hear something." The entire room fell silent as Sheena leaned closer to the only door in the room. "Corrine!" A small explosion went off in front of Sheena and Corrine appeared from the smoke. "Corrine, go scout out the factory."
"I'm on it," he squeaked as he ran out the door.
"I hope nothing bad has happened to the others." Lloyd looked back at the warp pad. "It still isn't activated. Something must have happened. We have to go after them."
"Lloyd, stop!" Lloyd stopped half way across the small room and looked at Kratos. "They will do their jobs, we must do ours. I'm sure they are fine. Besides, there are four of them and only three of us. We'd be more likely to get into trouble than they would."
Lloyd sighed and slumped his shoulders. "Yeah, you're right. Man, all this waiting is getting annoying."
Corrine sped back into the room and skidded to a stop. "Sheena. The entire factory is on fire. It seemed like some sort of electrical surcharge caused the equipment to overload and explode. Also, there is a patrol coming this way. Be careful." Corrine slowly dematerialized.
"Thanks Corrine." Sheena turned to the two swordsmen. "Looks like company is on the way." She pulled her cards out and turned toward the doorway just in time to see two Whip Masters and a Spearman walk in. They weren't expecting company because they froze when they noticed the intruders.
"It's them," shouted the Spearman, "the intruders."
Lloyd leaped at the three Desians, engaging the closest Whip Master, Sheena went after the other Whip Master, and Kratos launched himself at the Spearman.
The Whip Master snapped his whip at Lloyd almost constantly, and like a block head, Lloyd took the hits. But the benefit was that it enabled Lloyd to get up real close to the Desian and start slashing him across the abdomen. After four swipes Lloyd shouted, "Demon Fang!" and sliced his sword directly in front of the Whip Master. But the wind force from the swing was tremendous enough to cause the same effect as an actual hit. Then Lloyd leaned down and stabbed the Whip Master with one sword and shouted, "Sonic Sword Rain!" He ended his stabbing with an almighty thrust that sent the Desian stumbling backwards before he fell to the ground with several gaping wounds with blood gushing out of them as well as many cuts.
"Super Sonic Thrust!" Lloyd looked over to see Kratos pulling his now red sword from the dead Spearman's chest. He wiped the blood off on the body before it fell to the floor. Walking over to stand in front of the warp pad, he stood with his arms crossed.
Sheena got done slapping on several cards onto the last Whip Master and landed in front of the Desian. Then she shouted, "Pyre Seal!" and all the cards exploded sending the Whip Master flying back into the wall. He slid to the floor unconscious, his nose bleeding.
Lloyd was rubbing his side tenderly. "I kinda feel sorry for that guy. I know he's a Desian and all, but that attack is painful."
"Heh." Sheena put away her cards and turned to Lloyd. "Better not get on my bad side then." Lloyd paled a little before he turned and started pacing again.
"Man, when will that warp activate. This is so boring!"
"Ahem!" Lloyd turned to Kratos who was standing in front of the warp pad, his arms crossed, and his right foot tapping impatiently. "If you are done complaining, I suggest we move on to Kvar's room." Behind Kratos, the circular warp pad was sparkling as the outside rings of the pad turned around in clock-like precision.
"Oh, heh heh, I guess we should get going them." Kratos stepped onto the pad and phased out of existence, followed closely by Sheena. Lloyd stopped before stepping onto the pad and took a deep breath. "Here we go." Lloyd stepped onto the pad and disappeared. He reappeared behind Kratos and Sheena inside of a large room filled to the brim with computers. There were millions of lines of information scrolling over every one of the screens. "Wow, the Professor would go nuts in here…"
"Lloyd, pay attention to the situation at hand." Kratos pointed across the room. "There is Kvar."
"Right, let's go!" Lloyd took off around the center console, which took up a good amount of space in the large room. Kratos and Sheena were right behind him. "I've found you Kvar!" Lloyd said as they came to a stop in front of the Grand Cardinal, who was facing and talking with an image of a woman. The woman and Kvar both turned and looked at the three intruders.
"So… This is Lloyd. I see, he does bear a resemblance." Lloyd looked quizzically at the image.
"So," Kvar hissed, "you've come." He turned back to the image and continued, "I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't change the subject Pronyma!" The image of Pronyma turned back to face Kvar, contempt clearly translated over the communication line. "It's clear you've been stealing research data from my Angelus Project."
Pronyma sighed. "I grow tired of your accusations, Kvar. As I have told you, I know nothing of it."
"Stubborn woman," Kvar grumbled. "I supposed I should expect no less from the one who usurped the leadership of the Five Grand Cardinals." Then Kvar's voice dropped conspiratorially. "Take heed, Pronyma. Once I retrieve the Exsphere from this inferior being, I will become the leader of the Five Grand Cardinals. When that happens, you'll be begging for my forgiveness."
Pronyma huffed and looked like she would pat Kvar on the head as one would a little boy with a large imagination. Instead, she said, "You speak nonsense, Kvar. I've also heard that Rodyle has talked you into joining him in one of his schemes."
The warp pad began to hum and then a sad Colette and a stony Raine appeared. Raine looked around the room and then let her gaze drift off into the distance. Colette looked around the room and, spotting Lloyd, grabbed Raine's hand. Colette dragged Raine behind her around the center console. She stopped though when she ran into something and fell down.
"Professor, what is this." Colette stood up and poked the invisible wall, it made ripples in its thin surface of rainbow energy.
Raine sighed. "I don't know Colette. It's probably a barrier to prevent Lloyd from escaping." Raine turned to the console to her right and tapped a few buttons, but nothing happened. "There isn't anything we can do but watch."
Colette gasped slightly and turned to Raine. "But that means Lloyd and the others can't escape." Raine crossed her arms and sighed again, but didn't answer her companion's musings.
Pronyma crossed her arms and contemptuously stared at Kvar. "But it would be best not to believe that you can deceive Lord Yggdrasill for long." The woman's image vanished, emphasizing the threat.
Kvar shrugged as he turned to Lloyd. "So the Mana Cannon is no longer a secret. Well, it doesn't matter." Kvar pulled out his staff, the bladed ring on top made sound pleasant to the ear when swung. "Once I succeed in retrieving that Exsphere, any suspicions I might have been under will be but a distant memory."
Kratos shifted his balance and drew his sword. "Get ready."
Lloyd tore his swords out, shouting at Kvar, "You're not gonna take this from me!"
Lloyd and Kratos ran up to Kvar and started slashing him. Sheena though had noticed the two Energy Stones that floated down from the ceiling and went after the one closest to the two swordsmen.
"Professor, you have to do something! We have to help them!" Raine looked down at the pleading blond and shook her head again. "Professor, please! Lloyd isn't just my friend, he was Genis' too. Lloyd is like a brother to both of us. Professor, please!"
Raine shook her head and watched the red clad boy shout "Demon Fang" and then jump back as Kvar shouted "Lightning Thrust", sending a lightning bolt screaming down where Lloyd had been. Kratos was now fighting off an Energy Stone while trying to get to Sheena. Sheena was still fighting the same Energy Stone, but was sporting some major cuts and bruises. Tears formed in the corners of Raine's eyes as she watched. Shaking her head briskly, she turned and quickly went to work at the computer console. "It… It's what Genis would've wanted." Colette smiled happily before she turned back to watch the battle once again.
Kratos had finally defeated the Energy Stone he was facing off against. After mumbling to himself and gathering a green Mana within himself, Kratos turned to Sheena and said, "Don't over do it." Then the green Mana flew from his body and slammed into Sheena as he shouted, "First Aid!"
Sheena, who looked on her last leg, nodded to Kratos and jumped back at the Energy Stone and slapped on cards faster than she could shout, "Power Seal! Life Seal! Pyre Seal!" When she was done slapping on the last of her cards she jumped back and watched the Energy Stone glow red and then explode. The explosion sent several pieces careening toward Colette. She jumped when they hit the barrier. Sheena sighed and ate an Apple Gel. A few of her juicier bruises disappeared and some cuts stopped bleeding.
"Professor, how much longer?" Colette anxiously writhed her hands together. She watched Lloyd and Kratos attempting to land a hit on the slick Grand Cardinal, with no luck.
"I'm working as fast as I can, but the controls on this side are locked." A drop of sweat rolled down the side of Raine's face. She grimaced when its salty essence pasted itself to the corner of her mouth.
"Please hurry Professor." Colette shook her clenched hands up and down. Raine shook her head and continued her mad typing.
"You will not survive this, pathetic boy!" Kvar jumped to the side Lloyd's swings, hopped over them, ducked under them. None of Lloyd's swings were hitting. "You are going to die, just like that pathetic piece of trash that brought you into this world."
Lloyd's eyes flashed as he clenched his teeth. "Ahhhh!" Lloyd's Exsphere flashed as he swung his sword faster and harder than before. Kvar was now being pushed back under an intense onslaught of steel. "Don't you EVER talk about my mom that way!" Lloyd was about to lunge, stabbing his sword into the Desian's chest, but Kratos grabbed Lloyd's white ribbons and yanked hard. Lloyd fell to the floor just as Kvar's bladed staff came down where his neck was going to be.
"Lloyd, don't let him get to you!" Kratos pushed past Lloyd. He swung his blade down on the staff and knocked it away.
Kvar laughed maliciously as he sidestepped almost all of Kratos' attacks. "Ha, you think you can hit me! You humans are- Ugh!" Small red puddles of blood appeared on the floor. The crimson liquid flowed freely from the large gash in Kvar's right arm. Kratos smirked and Kvar glared.
"Us humans," said Kratos, finishing Kvar's sentence, "are more than capable of defeating a vile, sniveling, snot-nosed abomination as evil as you." Kvar growled and lunged at Kratos. Kratos side stepped and parried, moving gracefully to and fro, dancing around Kvar like a calm breeze through the howling inside of a hellishly savage twister. His feet rolled back and forth, hopped, skipped, and spun. "One who has no respect for the sanctity of life does not deserve to experience that life." Kratos came out of a back flip and sprung forward and past Kvar, slashing him across the abdomen.
"Ugh!" Kvar backed away from Kratos. He stopped when he bumped into someone.
"This is for the people of Luin. Hah!" Sheena kicked as hard as she could. Kvar suddenly found it hard to breathe as he cradled not only his cut abdomen, but his now bashed in male parts as well. Sheena slapped cards onto Kvar's back and shouted, "Pyre Seal!" Kvar flew away from Sheena as her spell card exploded. He landed in a heap and skidded to a stop. He slowly stood up and glared as best he could through one eye back at the mercenary and ninja. Blood seeped from his swollen left eye and down across the hardened crust of black flesh.
"You think I will be defeated by such weak attacks?" Kvar laughed. "You humans really are pathetic!"
"Kvar!" Kvar's bloodied body stiffened. He slowly turned around until he was staring through his one good eye into the two good eyes of Lloyd. "You disgust me! Hah!" He slashed his sword across Kvar's chest once, cutting deep enough to split bones. "That was for all the people you've tortured and killed. Hah!" Lloyd cut horizontally again. The cut split more bone and spilt more blood. Kvar staggered backwards, but still stood. "That was for all the people you've turned into Exspheres. Hah!" Lloyd crossed his twin blades like a pair of scissors and then swung them outward. The X shaped slash created on Kvar's chest sliced through flesh and ripped through bones with a sickening crunch. Kvar fell backwards into a heap on the ground with a thud. His whole body shook wildly as a pool of blood spread out beneath him. His eyes twitched and darted back and forth, not focusing on one thing, but looking at every thing. "And that," Lloyd finished, "was for my mom. Goodbye Kvar."
Colette pounded on the invisible barrier. "Professor, they did it, they did it."
"Yes, I can see that Colette." Raine was still typing madly on the computer. "Watch out Colette."
"Huh?" Colette fell forward as the barrier disappeared. "Wah!" Colette quickly jumped up and said, "I'm ok!" She and Raine moved to stand near the three others.
"I did it." Lloyd was staring down at the jewel on his right hand. "Mom… You've been avenged!" Colette was about to hug Lloyd. Her smile was wide and genuinely affectionate.
"Lloyd, I'm so glad you're o-Lloyd! Look out!" Kratos whirled about, drawing his sword. Colette grabbed Lloyd's shoulders and spun around. The bladed ring on the end of the staff slammed into and cut through the thin material protecting Colette's shoulder. The blade sliced from her shoulder down and across her back. Colette slumped forward limply into Lloyd's arms.
"Colette!" Lloyd held onto Colette until she had slumped to the floor.
"Lloyd," she mumbled, "are… are you ok?"
"Yeah. But you're…" A single tear slid down Lloyd's cheek.
"I'm fine, really." Colette sat up, without help from Lloyd.
Lloyd spun around and faced Kvar. His eyes burned in rage. His chest heaved to a murderous tempo. His fingers turned white inside of his creaking strained leather gloves as he gripped his swords and pulled them from their sheathes with such ferocity that they flew from his waist. "You… You BASTARD!" If Lloyd's outrage could be compared to anything, it could only be compared to the calmness of a Category 5 Hurricane and the peacefulness of an earthquake with a measure of 10 on the Richter scale.
Kvar was limping away, but Sheena appeared in an explosion of smoke. She threw her hand and punched the Grand Cardinal in the face. He lurched backwards, but stayed upright. Kvar swung around and was immediately stabbed in the chest. The blade went straight through and out his back. Another blade joined the first as Kratos plunged his sword through the other side of Kvar's chest cavity. Red bubbled out around the blades as blood started to fill Kvar's lungs.
"Kratos…" Kvar rasped. Dark crimson sputtered from his shivering lips. Those lips twisted into a cruel grimace of disgust. "You… Pathetic… Inferior being!"
Kratos growled as he brutally wrenched his sword out of Kvar's chest. "Feel the pain…" Kratos' voice wavered as he slashed Kvar's chest. "…of those inferior beings, as you burn in hell!" Kvar received another brutal slash to the torso and then another. Kvar fell to the ground with a wet, squelchy splat, dead.
"Colette! That wound…" Raine quickly walked over and inspected the rather large gash that wasn't bleeding as much as it should have been. She bent down and held her staff over the wound. It began glowing green as Raine whispered, "I won't lose you too, got it." Colette nodded solemnly. She looked around but the other three of the group were standing around the dead Kvar. Colette sighed sadly.
Lloyd turned around and saw Raine healing Colette. "Colette! Your wound…"
The glow around Raine's staff dissipated and Colette stood up. "Thanks for worrying about me, but I'm really okay. For some reason, it didn't hurt. Hehe, strange, huh?"
Sheena shook her head. "You are certainly not okay! Raine, you can use healing arts, Right?"
"I've done my part." Raine walked over the computer station beside the image emitter that Pronyma was projected from earlier. She started typing away. Sheena balked at Raine.
Lloyd looked at Colette and said, "Colette. I can't keep it a secret any longer! Everyone, listen to what I have to say! Colette can no longer feel anything." He got strange stares from Sheena. "She is getting closer to becoming an angel. Now, she can't sleep or feel hot or cold or pain or anything. She can't even cry! Becoming an angel means losing her humanity!
Colette put a hand on Lloyd's shoulder. "Lloyd, it's okay. I'm okay, so… Right now, we need to do something about this ranch. Right, Lloyd?"
Lloyd nodded and turned to Raine, who was still typing away at the computer. "Professor, what do you think we shou-"
"I've already set the self destruct." Raine continued typing. "Before we came to this level, Colette and I set free the prisoners. I will attempt to activate the teleportation field and transport us to just outside of the ranch." Raine continued to type.
"That's kind of extreme… but I supposed it is the best idea." Sheena looked around the group. "Hey, where's Genis and Gaar?" Colette looked down at the ground. Raine continued to type and didn't answer.
"Professor, where is Ge-"
A loud siren went off and a mechanical, feminine voice started speaking from speakers embedded in the walls. "Warning! Ranch will self-destruct in five seconds."
Lloyd looked around quickly and then turned back to Raine. "Professor?"
"Teleportation field activated." Raine hit one more key on the keyboard and the five of them disappeared from the room.
A man appeared on the projector. He looked down at the mutilated corpse of Kvar and laughed. "Lord Kvar, thanks to you, the Mana Cannon will soon be-" And the ranch exploded.
Lloyd, Colette, Kratos, Sheena, and Raine rematerialized on the road that was between the destroyed Luin and the Ranch. Lloyd looked around, surprised.
"Wha…" Lloyd turned to Raine. "What about Genis and Gaar?" Lloyd waved his hands about angrily.
"They..." Lloyd turned to Colette as she quietly murmured, "didn't make it."
"BOOM!" Lloyd spun around to see the ranch go up in a giant fireball. The fire reached miles into the sky and the smoky cloud could be seen as far away as Izoold.
"No… Genis…" Lloyd fell limply to the ground, his face pale; no words came from the stunned boy for a long while, but then, finally, he shouted, "Geniiiiiis!". Raine stood as still as stone, her face was etched stone, but her eyes wavered and bitter tears of anguish rolled down her cheeks. Colette held onto Sheena, who was crying on her shoulder.
Kratos, the unmovable mercenary of stone, watched the fireworks, his eyes reflected the orange and whites of the explosions. A single tear suddenly slid down his face as he recited, "Though we part on divergent pathways, our hearts will remain together."
And so ends this chapter of Dark Tidings. Tell me, what do you readers think? I only get reviews from two people, and none of them even reviewed my last chapter. I feels sad now...
Pit: "I think you should be concentrating on finding the driver of that truck, my head feels like it was split in half."
Pit? Where did you come from, you've been missing for over a week. What happened to your war with Sierra?
Pit: "Inri beat me unconscious, violently, when I blew up the plot... Then she stuffed me in a bag and threw me and the bag into a closet. I'm hungry, can I eat this?" Holds up Apple.
Sure... Inri?
Inri: Innocently "Yes?"
We'll talk about this brother stuffed in closet thing later. Ok.
Inri: "I have no idea what you are talking about..."
I'm sure you don't. Anyway, here is a preview of the beginning of the next chapter.
!!!!!!!!!!PREVIEW!!!!!!!!!!
"Genis!" Genis mumbled. "Genis! Wake up!" Genis mumbled again, but groggily sat up.
"Gaar?" Genis looked around at his surrounding. "Where? …"
"I'm not sure, but look…" Gaar pointed at a large stone building in the distance. People were walking in and out of a large stone arch in the wall surrounding the building. "There's people over there, perhaps they can tell us."
Genis nodded and stood up. "Yeah, let's go!" The two took off, the human and the elf, toward the large stone structure.