I finished Art class for the Spring Semester like…a month ago. Been spending too much time re-watching stuff. First Saiunkoku, then Hakushaku, followed by Clannad, Nurarihyon and Code Geass and Abyss. Funny how each of them (aside from Abyss, obviously) has a voice actor from the Tales series. Now that I think about it…one of them is actually reoccurring. I'll give you a hint: He voiced a popular character from Tales of Destiny. *coughLeoncough*

Now before all of you starting feeling sorry for Guy because of what's the title says; trust me, it's not that bad…I think. Rather I hope it isn't.

Disclaimer: Do not own. Period.

Chapter 16: Gynophobia

I dragged my feet across the floor as Luke took the lead, taking me to where everybody else was waiting. While walking, I wiped my eyes, mainly the tears that had fallen from hastily putting my contacts in as well as the sleep that still clung in the corners of my eye.

God, I wanted coffee. And I hated coffee because of their bitter taste but I sure as hell feel like having one now. Or tea. Tea would be a hell loads better than coffee, actually. It was much sweeter and contains more caffeine! Mmmm…Tea.

Pushing my thoughts aside, we made it to the door that was closed. By the time Luke grabbed the door knob, I had already straightened myself up and stifled an incoming yawn with my sleeve. The door opened and Luke happily waltz into the room.

"Master Van, I brought her here."

"Good work, Luke. Take a seat." The gruff voice complimented him kindly. Luke nodded and grabbed a seat as he was told. Van then turned to me and gave me a kind smile. "You as well, Anh."

"Morning, sleepyhead~" Anise's voice chirped happily when I stepped into the room.

"Why am I up so early again?" I asked tiredly as I took a seat in the only empty chair that was beside Jade. Everybody was already present in the room, so I was, obviously, the last person to arrive. Tear had kept her distance from Van; standing on the opposite end of the room and far away from her brother. Guy sat next to Luke who was in between his teacher and best bud. Anise took her rightful seat on Ion's right and my left and Ion left his staff resting near him at the end of the table. Mieu was also present in the room; sitting in front of Ion. His paws clung onto the Sorcerer's Ring as he examined the room with bright, cheerful eyes. Celena, who remained silent as ever, sat at Ion's left.

"Actually, it would be noon in a few minutes so it wouldn't be considered early at all," Jade remarked. "I might also add that sleeping in isn't very healthy."

"Now, now, Jade," Guy spoke up. "You shouldn't pull her leg. She just got up and most people are quite grouchy after they wake up. Given in the mood she's in, she could shoot you if you teased her any further."

"I am confident that she will miss if she does so."

"…Even at point-blank range?"

"Of course."

That was some confidence he had there. Guy gave Jade a worried smile but he didn't say anything further. At the same time, I chose to dismiss Jade's morning tease because I was far too lazy (and tired) to pull out my gun and shoot him. Also, there were more important matters at hand. It was something I should be paying more attention to than shooting the guy sitting next to me. Without wasting any more time, both parties began exchanging information about what happened in the past few days. Starting with us first, Ion took the liberty of explaining; stating with the casualty rates and such and ending it with the recent fire in which the culprit wasn't revealed. Ion included that the fire may have been an accident.

Now it was Van's turn.

"The two of us were right on Arietta's trail though she had made several turns on the way. En route to Choral Castle, we were ambushed by a good number of her monsters," Van said with a stone-like yet professional expression. "We managed to fend them off but Arietta was no longer in sight and we were unable to retrieve the engineer in the process. Knowing that she would remain at Choral Castle until her demands were met, we decided that it was best if we returned here and report to you."

"Thank you for your hard work, you two," Ion said, nodding his head in their direction. "I'm sure it was tough, even for the both of you."

"There's no need to thank us, Fon Master," Van lightly held up a hand at Ion. "For one thing, we returned empty-handed. That, itself, doesn't give you a reason to praise us."

Ion smiled, undaunted. "However, you both came back safely. That, on its own, deserves praise."

Van gave a long pause before inclining his head towards Ion. Celena had also followed suit as Van said, "You are too generous."

"So, why is Celena wearing that thingy around her arm?" Luke asked suddenly, gesturing to her. "Don't you know healing artes to heal something like that, Master Van?"

All eyes were directed to Celena who paid no mind to the stares. Now that Luke had mentioned it, she did have an arm sling.

"As you can see, Celena broke a bone during the fight," Van told Luke. "Healing artes do indeed heal but only externally. If someone were to be healed before the bone could mend itself; it could lead to a permanent disability. It's better to allow the body to heal on its natural course before applying such techniques."

That explained a lot of things. I tilted my head to the side thoughtfully.

"So, why did Tear heal Anh during that time when that Asch guy knocked her over?" Luke turned towards me, casting me a curious look.

This time, Anise was the one who spoke up. "Anh and I were already there at Kaitzur for quite a while, so she had a lot of time to rest. By the time Tear healed her, all Anh had was a swollen, and probably sore, leg." I made a face at Anise as she turned to Celena missing my expression all together. "But are you sure you're fine, Lieutenant? I mean, being mauled by one of Arietta's monsters must have snapped more than just the bone."

"It's nothing that couldn't be healed," Celena said simply.

"There must have been a lot of monsters under Arietta's control," Tear mused. "It is rather hard to see someone like the Lieutenant injured like the way she is."

"Really?" Luke sounded surprised. "Anh's a Lieutenant Colonel and she gets hurt far more times than Celena. It's not hard to see her getting injured."

"Thank you for bringing that small info up…" I muttered underneath my breath.

Tear shot him a glare. "The Lieutenant is only human. She isn't perfect. Likewise to Anh."

"Rank doesn't determine the strength of a person at all," Celena pointed out. "You may not notice it but there are people entering the military through financial influences."

Guy nodded casually. "But there are also people in the military with skill. Though, this has been bugging me for a while but why are you a Lieutenant and not a rank much higher than that. As the head of the Fon Master Guardians, it makes much more sense to be at least a major or a general."

I glanced up at Jade, who wasn't diverting the smallest bit of his attention to Celena but rather casting a thoughtful glance at Van and then to Ion. I lowered my gaze to the table; he looked like he had pieced together a section of a paper that had important information on them but refuse to say the details until someone figured it out later on. That was so like him.

Anise placed a finger underneath her jaw as her eyes flew up at the ceiling. "If I remember correctly, the Lieutenant was assigned as head only two years ago. Before she became head, she wasn't an active member of the Oracle Knights up until her promotion so..."

Luke huffed, crossing his arms. "It doesn't matter what rank she is, she's good if she's Master Van's right hand person."

"Left hand." Celena corrected and Luke casted her a confused look. "I'm Van's left hand man. Legretta's his right hand."

Luke wasn't the only person confused. I was, too. Luke shifted in his chair. "What's the difference?"

"Luke, you wield your weapon with your left hand," Van said. Luke nodded slowly, following along with Van. "Now try wielding your sword with your right hand; a hand you aren't used to."

Luke scratched his head in confusion when Van let him try to figure out the rest himself. "I still don't quite get it. Wielding my sword with my right hand just makes me uneasy; it doesn't feel comfortable. What does that have to do with what we're talking about?"

"That's exactly where Van's getting at, Luke," Guy folded his arms. "Most people tend to focus on wielding weapons with their dominant hand and ignore their less dominant hand. Being able to wield a weapon with both hands gives the user an advantage. In Celena's case, being the reserved hand, she tends not to act unless she has to."

When Luke leaned back, completely amazed or probably in awe or maybe still confused, Jade decided it was time to change the subject. He adjusted his glasses up. "Well now, now that we have all those questions out of the way, Van, about the ship. I'm assuming at this point, since you have returned, we are to take the training ship."

Van nodded. "Yes, we shall continue on as planned. Luke and Ion will board the training ship that should arrive soon."

"But what about the engineer that was captured?" Ion asked. Worry was written all over his face. "We couldn't leave him be. Besides, Arietta had demanded that both Luke and I need to come to Choral Castle in order for her to release the engineer. Otherwise he would be killed."

"As of right now, preventing war is far more important than heeding Arietta's demands," Van said. "That being said, we cannot leave the engineer's situation as it is. I'll go to Choral Castle to retrieve him alone. Celena will stay here and accompany you to Baticul should I not return in time."

Luke stood up from his seat. "But that means you'll confront Arietta by yourself, Master Van!"

"Luke, sit down," Van said as he gestured Luke to sit. "Even by myself, I am capable of handling Arietta. She is, after all, one of my God-Generals. This isn't the first time I had to go against my own subordinates." After that, he stood up. "With that, our discussion ends here. I'll leave for Choral Castle immediately. Luke," he gave a steady gaze towards the redhead, "take Fon Master Ion and return to the border."

Luke lowered his head in disappointment. "Y-yes, sir."

The meeting ended after Van had left the room. Everybody eventually dismissed themselves out of the room to start the day and I ended up being the last person leaving that room. I started things off by washing my face. Being tired and all, that would be the best course. I strolled down the hallway towards the washrooms; passing by the kitchen on the way. Something caught the corner of my eye when I passed the doorway.

I stopped. Then backtracked, looking back in the kitchen.

"Uh..." I started. Tear and Anise looked up from what they were doing to see me at the door.

Anise giggled. "You need something, Anh?"

For some reason, my mind was blank when I was asked that question. I scratched my head. "Uh, no. Never mind. It's nothing."

Tear frowned at me. "You're acting a bit odd, Anh."

"I blame the mornings." I said simply, flapping a hand in front of my face. I then noticed that Tear was cooking while Anise was doing the counting. I blinked twice. Normally that would be Anise and I doing the cooking and counting respectively. "Though…it looks like I'm not needed in here."

"Well, you weren't waking up today so I asked for Tear's help instead." She answered, turning a gaze towards the Gald on the table. "Tear wanted to cook so we switched duties."

"You have been cooking for days, Anise," Tear sighed, returning her attention to her cooking. She has seemed to ignore Anise's last comment. "I'm only giving you a break. Besides, my cooking skills would become rusty if you did all of the cooking."

"So…You're both fine without me, right?" I asked. "If you don't need me here, I'll go help Ion then."

"Yep!" Anise chirped. "You can go on ahead. We'll come as soon as we're done."

I scratched my head, completely unsure if I should leave Tear with Anise. But…they should be fine together, right? "If you say so, Anise."

I turned around and saw white before I bumped into something. It wasn't the wall otherwise I would have fallen on to the ground. What I ran into felt soft.

…And warm. Like a person warm.

"Oh, I beg your pardon," a gentle male voice spoke up. "I must not have seen you there. Are you okay?"

I took a couple steps back to see that a male around Guy's height stood at the doorway with two handfuls of bags filled with a variety of food that ranged from fruits to vegetables to flour to meat and poultry. My God, how did he manage to carry all of that…? The guy as he stepped to the side and towards the table. Anise walked over to him and helped him set the items down. I just shrugged, "Eh, I'm fine. It's not like-AH!"

My sudden shout surprised everyone in the room, but I was more surprised than all of them combined. Standing right in front of me was a familiar chef's clothing and face minus the hat. The only difference was the hair colour. This one was blue. I jabbed a finger in his direction. "You dyed your hair!"

The guy looked confused. Really confused. "I'm sorry, but this would be the first time we have met."

Anise placed both of her hands on her hips, her upper body slightly tilted at one angle. "Exactly what are you talking about, Anh?"

"It's him…!" I waved my finger up and down. "It's the Wonder Chef! He just dyed his hair blue and is hat-less!"

Anise's eyes widened as she stared at him then at me and back at him. She then burst out laughing, a hand clutching her stomach while the other waved madly up and down. "Yeah, right. The Wonder Chef is nothing more than a fairytale!"

"Honestly, Anh, how much times do we have to go through this…?" Tear sighed, pressing a hand on her forehead.

"But it is him this time!" I whined. Really, how many times did we have to go through that point? He existed. I saw him with my own eyes. Heck, I touched the guy!

Tear casted me an unamused look. "For the last time, Anh, the Wonder Chef-"

"He does exist." The person cut in. Tear and Anise turned to him with surprised looks. He didn't seem to mind their shocked expressions as he continued. "One would achieve the title of Wonder Chef when they have fully mastered everything. In addition to that, our family is said to descend from the Wonder Chef. To be the Wonder Chef, it is a goal that everyone in our family strives for."

I stared at him, completely shocked like Anise and Tear. If he was a descendent of the Wonder Chef then I see the similarities…in more ways than one.

Anise was the first one to sober up. "Wait…so you're saying that the Wonder Chef actually exists? As in, wandering around the world like the stories said he would?"

"Probably," he answered. He then came to a realization. "Oh, that's right, I forgot my manners. Thank you so much for watching over the meals for the soldiers. As per our agreement, I'll teach you the recipe you wanted to learn." He gave each of us a bow even though I was pretty sure that he only knew Anise.

Anise clasped her hands together excitedly. "No, thank you so much for teaching me the recipe."

I scooted myself closer to Tear. "Who's he?" I whispered to her when Anise and the Wonder Chef look-alike stood by a table with a paper and was giving her instructions to whatever recipe he was talking about. I did manage to catch a lot of seafood ingredients so…a seafood dish?

"From one of the conversations I had with one of the soldiers, I would assume he's the head chef to the Kaitzur Port kitchen." She answered, whispering back to me. "I believe his name is Don."

"And what's the recipe he's talking about?"

"Honestly, I don't know. Anise had never mentioned that he left to gather ingredients," Tear looked at Anise who was jotting everything he said down onto the paper. "For all we know, it's a secret between the two. She'll cook it eventually so we'll find out sooner or later."

I sighed. "That's true. She'll definitely do that. And it better be tasty."

Half of a smile crept slowly on Tear's face. "This is Anise we're talking about."

"It is," I agreed. I felt a yawn come up so I turned away from Tear just to cover my mouth. "I think I'll head off now. Don't want to distract you from your cooking or whatever else you guys were planning to do."

"Anh, try to wake up earlier," Tear said firmly. "You'll tend not to yawn as much."

I think it would have an opposite effect. Instead of saying that, I simply waved a hand at her. "Yes, ma."

I left the kitchen, stifling another yawn that was coming. My initial idea going to the washroom to give myself a wakeup call, but after that Don event, my interest to wash my face kinda died. I head outside to go to help Ion with the soldiers. Halfway through, I caught sight of Luke with Guy, both I was pretty sure was on break, having a cheerful, light conversation with one another. Not wanting to break whatever they were talking about, I only smiled in their direction and continued on my way.

And then…I saw three guys standing off to the side. Hey, one of them looked familiar.

I walked up to Ion (when I recognized him) with two males, one with blond hair and the other with dark hair, both wearing engineer uniforms and both on their knees in front of Ion. Their heads were lowered, begging for Ion to save their chief. Ion looked at the two of them, solemnly.

"Please, raise your heads," he said to them in a gentle tone. His hand was gesturing them to stand up. "Even if you didn't ask me, I was planning to go and save him. So rest assured I will carry out your wishes."

They raised their head excitedly and then lowered their heads once more to thank Ion. Once the two of them got up and left quickly by the time I approached him, I sighed watching them run off with high hopes. "You completely sure about this? I mean, Van's on his way as we speak."

Ion smiled in my direction, not shocked that I was there in the first place. "It was something I couldn't ignore. Even if Van did show up at Choral Castle, Arietta's demands wouldn't be met and she would kill the engineer without hesitation."

"The training ship's coming soon, you know."

"I'd rather regret doing something than regret not doing anything," Ion said firmly.

I couldn't help but smile at him. "Gotcha. Then we need the man power to get the guy. I'm sure Jade wouldn't mind coming along so I'll go to him first. After, I'll tell Anise and Tear. They would be more than willing to help. You can grab the other two; I saw them somewhere back there." I flicked a thumb over my shoulder when I spoke of Luke and Guy.

Ion beamed. "I'm sure they wouldn't mind."

Guy wouldn't but Luke does. Unlike the game, I highly doubt that Luke was going to be that readily to agree to do something like this. "Let's hope for that. Oh, and aren't you going to tell Celena? She's one of your bodyguards and all." Would she tag along with us or would she try to force Ion to stay? I wondered.

"I'll explain it to her myself," Ion told me. "As reluctant as she would be, I'm sure she will come to an understanding why I want to do this. In any case, we should get moving. Everyone should meet at the entrance of the port. I'll see you in a bit, Anh." Ion gave me a smile before walking past me to go talk to Guy and Luke.

I watched him go off before deciding who I should contact first. Tear and Anise were still in the kitchen so they shouldn't be wandering around.

So Jade first, I guess.

I glared angrily at the man that stood before me. He stood there, nonchalantly, with his hands in his pockets. The sun gleamed overhead, and his glasses gleamed evilly. I spent what felt like an hour or more looking for this bastard. Then I gave up halfway and decided I should get Anise and Tear ready before giving him another try; spending more time searching than talking.

I managed to find him; at the port itself.

"You…" I managed to say. Jade adjusted his glasses as I took a deep breath. "Do you have any idea how long it took me to find you…?"

"I figured that if anybody were to find me easily, it would be my lieutenant colonel," he answered.

"You were wandering around!" I accused him.

"No, I was probably in one spot as you spent the 'long time' searching for me." An evil smile across his face. "Didn't you know? The best place to hide is the most obvious one."

"Aha! You were hiding!"

"Now who said I was hiding," he shrugged casually. "I was merely stating that line since it applies to finding others as well."

"You were still implying that you were hiding from me!"

"Now, for what reason should I be doing that?"

…I thought about it. Reeeally hard. Then I gave him a deadpan stare. "To irritate me."

Amusement was written all over his face. Instead of making a comeback to what I said, Jade adjusted his glasses. "Joking aside, I assume we are to leave for Choral Castle?"

I sighed when he got to the point. "Yeah, we're planning to head there. Ion said to get ready and meet him at the entra-WHY DO YOU KNOW THIS?"

"I didn't." He answered. "The training ship hasn't arrived so my only guess would be the departure towards Choral Castle. To add more to this, it has to be this topic, otherwise you would have never confronted me. By your reaction, I was right." He lifted a finger in my direction. "Oh, and it is how do I know this and not why."

I stuck a tongue in his direction when he corrected my grammar. "Shut up, I'm bad at English."

"You would be better if you try harder." He smiled then tucked his hands into his pockets. "I would also advise you not to use those bullets you found in the Tartarus just yet."

Before I was able to question him about that, pink arms wrapped around my neck and, whoever it was behind me, pulled me backwards with their weight; choking me in the process. "Hargh!"

"Honestly, the both of you are holding everyone up!" said Anise, who, thankfully, released her arms around my neck. "While you both were chatting casually, Ion was waiting at the entrance with everybody else worried about you two."

"So sorry, Anise," Jade replied. He started making his way towards the exit with Anise and I right behind him. "I assume everything is ready by now?"

Anise skipped in the air with one hand up. "Of course! We're all waiting just for the two of you. Oh, and you don't have to worry about a thing, Anh. Tear and I got your stuff." She turned her attention to me and smiled.

"That's one thing I wouldn't have to worry about…" I mumbled and then sighed.

"Oh, cheer up, you!" She slapped her hand on my back. "Instead of staying here, cooped up doing the same duties over and over again, we're off doing a rescue mission! Isn't that exciting?"

"It's the exciting part I'm more worried about…"

Well…this was certainly exciting.

Just as we left Kaitzur port, Celena was right on our tail. Silently. Like a staking shadow. As in, none of us would have noticed if Jade wasn't casting the occasional hints over his shoulders. Ah, well. She didn't make a fuss about the trip to Choral Castle, she just…accepted it. And so we just went along with it, too.

Sort of.

"Why is she coming along?" Luke asked out loud. Celena only tilted her head back ever so slightly so that her silver hair covered her face before facing the front again.

"What about you?" she asked back. "Why are you here? Van told you to remain at the port until the training ship arrives. Why did you decide to come along, knowing it would be against Van's orders?"

Luke crossed his arms. "That's my line!"

"Now, now, you two," Ion spoke up. He was looking back and forth between the two. "Celena's only coming along because of me."

"And as a Fon Master Guardian, I also need to guarantee his safety." Celena added. "Van may be my superior but so is the Fon Master. When it comes down to importance, I take the Fon Master's orders above his." She turned her head so that their eyes could meet. "Does that satisfy your curiosity?"

The muscle that ticked on Luke's frown said everything. He huffed, "Whatever."

"In any case," Ion said, "we should arrive in Choral Castle in a week and a half if we hurry."

"Does that mean we'll run into Master Van at some point?" Luke asked excitedly.

"I'd rather not run into Van if you ask me." Jade sighed with a shrug. "After all, he did tell us to not go to Choral Castle, which is what we are doing now. Running into him means that rescuing the engineer would be the least of our concerns."

"True," Tear nodded. "Instead of aiding our search for the chief, he would try to secure Luke and Ion's safety back to Kaitzur port. It would be a waste of time on both of our sides. We should make avoiding my brother a top priority on our way to and while in Choral Castle."

Luke almost looked like he was going to pout. His hands lay at the back of his neck as he said, "That's boring."

Guy laughed lightly and patted Luke's back. "If you were trying to go fight alongside with Van, you're going to have to give up on that. There'll be other chances. If travelling with Van was your motive then you could have stayed back at Kaizur port-"

"But that would mean that I would be left behind by everybody!" Luke protested. He jerked away from Guy, completely upset.

Was that his real reason on coming with us…?

"Besides," he continued, "it's not the only reason why I wanted to go. I want to see if I remember anything at Choral Castle. Guy said that it was the place where I was found when I was kidnapped."

Ah.

"I did," Guy responded, "but that didn't mean you had to come with us." He then shrugged. "That's okay. It was your choice anyway. No one's forcing you to come."

It didn't seem like Luke was going to make a fuss out of it any further since he never said anything afterward. It wasn't until I focused on Guy that I noticed that Mieu was clinging onto his shoulder. The little cheagle was looking left and right excitedly as if looking over Guy's shoulder gave him a height advantage. Though it was quite normal for Mieu to jump from person to person but I was sure that no one told Guy about the cheagle's gender.

Then something came to mind.

I suppressed an incoming smirk and failed miserably when the idea crossed my mind. When I collected myself together, I tried to look as normal as I could. And failing horribly still. "Hey, Guy."

The blond turned his attention towards me, curious. He let himself fall back towards me but distanced himself. "Yeah?"

"You're afraid of women, right?"

Luke snorted. "As if that wasn't given."

A muscle ticked at the edge of Guy's mouth before he gave me a very nervous smile. "…Yeah. What about it?"

I waved a hand at Luke, dismissing his earlier comment. "Are you just afraid of the opposite sex or does it extend to female monsters as well?"

"Uh…"

Jade pushed his glasses up in interest. "An interesting point, Anh. What brings up the idea?"

"Mieu." I answered. The cheagle's ears flew up when I mentioned his name. "I'm sure no one mentioned about Mieu's gender and yet Guy seemed comfortable about that unknown fact. Also, I'm pretty sure gynophobia includes fear of females. That's why I wonder if his fear also includes monsters in that jumble."

Guy looked up, thoughtfully. A hand underneath his chin as he pondered about it. "I haven't thought about it, honestly."

I grinned. "So, can we try it if we have the chance?"

He laughed, then sobered. "I'd rather not."

"Why not, Guy?" Jade asked, amusement lacing his tone. "In battle, it is difficult to immediately determine the gender of the monster you are facing but I find it intriguing to see how you would or might react to one should you encounter one."

Guy grinned nervously. "Exactly whose side are you on?"

"Nobody's of course," he answered. "Knowing how far your fear extends gives us the advantage, does it not?"

"But we won't know how female monsters would affect him until we enter a battle," Tear spoke up, clearly stating that she, and probably everybody else, heard this conversation. Anise was obviously just as curious as I was but she hadn't said anything, Ion was occasionally glancing back at us and Celena paid no mind though it was evident that she was listening as well.

I grinned, now that everyone's in on this topic; time to move on to question number two! "Okay, then what about female looking guys?" Then I quickly added, "Like that time when you shook Ion's hand."

"Anh, everybody knows that Fon Master Ion is male." Guy pointed out. He didn't appear too fazed by that part.

"Tell that to the many guys out there that mistook him for a female." I frowned, crossing my arms. "So, I guess it's safe to say that if you knew they were male then you wouldn't mind them even if they look female. All right, what about cross-dressers or TVs?"

"Anh!" Tear scolded me the moment the last word slipped out of my mouth. "Be considerate about these kind topics in front of Fon Master Ion!"

"It's not a problem, Tear," Ion spoke up in my defence. Anise beside him giggled.

"Don't worry, Tear, it's not like no one here knows what they are."

"What's a TV?" Luke asked, confused.

Dead silence. Everyone turned to Luke with looks I wasn't able to name since I more focused giving him my pity look. Well, that shouldn't be surprising. I mean, if I used the actual word, would he still get what that meant? I wouldn't think so.

Luke glared at everyone in turn. "What? I know what a cross-dresser is! What's a TV then?"

Anise gaped in disbelief. "Are you serious, Master Luke? You honestly don't know?"

"Only someone like him can achieve this level of ignorance." Jade commented lightly. A smile spread across his face. Completely amused. About Luke's lack of knowledge or something else, I had no idea.

"Stop making fun of m-"

"Luke, a TV is-" Guy pulled Luke close to him so that he whispered the rest of it in his ear. A few seconds only passed and we all watched Luke's eyes slowly widened in horror before he jerked himself away from Guy.

"There are people like that out there?" he hissed.

"Of course there is," I said with a shrug. "It's not surprising that people find themselves disgusted so that they decided to-"

One hand covered Luke's ear while the other hand held up at me. "Stop! I don't want to know why they did it!"

I shrugged, turning my attention to what was ahead of me. "Suit yourself."

"How did they do it?" came his question.

I nearly tripped myself when he asked that. Heck, tripping was an understatement. I nearly fell. As innocent as that question was, he should have figured it out already…! I turned to him. "Seriously?"

Tear sighed. "You can figure it out yourself, Luke. It's the same method as cross dressers." Unlike me, she wanted to get straight to the point. Cutting out some minor details.

Luke's face twisted into something else. It was then his turn to say, "Seriously?"

I shrugged. "It's not like they were going to be extreme and use Fon Machines to alter themselves and whatnot."

Luke's face twisted into something worse than distraught. "People use Fon Machines to do that?" He turned to Guy as if he was looking for a confirmation from the Fon Tech mania.

Guy held up his hands in defeat. "Don't look at me for an answer to that."

I waved a hand at Guy, catching his attention. "Back to my initial topic. So? What happens in that kind of situation?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Guy responded. "I haven't encountered one even once in my life."

"Really?" I recoiled a bit. Surely someone would have pulled a prank at him at least once. "The TVs I would understand but not the cross-dressers? No guy randomly going up to you, dressed like a woman saying 'I'm a girl' in a failed high voice and all that?"

That earned me a laugh from Guy. "Unfortunately, no. No man has ever done that."

I frowned, my shoulders slumped. "Then how about now? How about dressing Jade up as a female and see your reaction?"

Jade pushed his glasses up so that the light shined off of them. "The idea on its own is absolutely revolting."

Guy just waved a hand at me to decline. "No comment, Anh."

I pouted. "Seriously? All we know about your gynophobia is that you're afraid of anything tha-" I cut myself short, casting a side glance to Ion. Maybe saying boobs and mentioning that was a bit overdoing it. "-that's of the opposite sex."

A hint of mischief lit in Celena's eyes. "How about an experiment, shall we?" She slowed herself down so that she was close to Guy, but not that close. Until she wrapped her free arm around him, eliminating any space between them. Guy tensed almost immediately and his mouth drew a thin line as if he was fighting something back. He tried to move away from her but her death-like vice grip stayed fast. "Say I was initially male and decided to change my identity for unknown reasons. Would you still stand near the current me?"

"I would decline politely!" Guy shouted, finding an opening in the grip and distanced himself greatly. From where he was now, he looked like his feet was glued to the ground, frozen on the spot while his body tried to stop trembling.

"Guy's fear is tremendous," Anise commented with a sigh.

"Celena," Ion said. His voice stern. "Teasing Guy won't help him at all."

"It was merely a test, Fon Master." Celena stated simply. "Words alone won't help him his condition. I hope you all know that."

"How about we rest for a bit?" Tear suggested, changing the topic at hand. "Guy looks like he needs to calm down and straighten himself. Is that all right, Fon Master?"

Ion nodded. "Certainly. A break sounds perfect."

"We'll leave Guy's gynophobia at that," Jade agreed. "We wouldn't want to handicap him any further now wouldn't we, Anh?"

"You should have stopped her earlier." Anise commented with an evil, low chuckle followed by a grin.

After our quick break and Guy's somewhat recovery, we all continued onwards towards Choral Castle. Not mentioning about Guy's phobia nor talking all together. Sunset eventually hit the horizon and we were forced to make camp. Luckily for us, a river was only a few steps away from us. Both Guy and Celena suggested that we stay far away from any bodies of water but hadn't given us a reason.

As of right now, Luke and Guy were off gathering water as well as creating wards against monsters using a Holy Bottle. Anise and I started with dinner. Ion eventually convinced us to help him but we gave him the small duties. He was happy to help out, nonetheless. Celena was off to the side receiving treatment from Tear. It seemed that it was okay to apply healing artes to her broken arm at this point. As for that last person…I had no idea where he was.

Heck, I highly doubt everybody knew of his current location. He just gets up and goes and then magically appears out of nowhere when we'd least expect it.

Not that anyone minds.

…Okay, so maybe I did mind. No Jade equals doomed Anh.

A pair of footsteps approached the campsite and Guy and Luke came into view. Guy waved a hand in our direction before saying, "Just as we suspected, the water level had risen. It's not too high but we should stay clear of the river area nonetheless."

"Why should we stay away from it?" Luke asked, his brows rose.

"Monsters from Fubras River tend to get carried off by the powerful current in river," Guy answered, waving the hand with a pail of water. "And since most river areas are connected to Fubras River, it's only a matter of time before we run into them."

Luke huffed, crossing his arms. "They aren't that strong. We can take them on easily."

Guy shook his head. "Not if they come in ridiculously large groups."

"Oh."

"By the way, where's Jade?" Guy asked, looking around and noticing that the Malkuth soldier was missing.

"I heard the Colonel went off to confirm something," Tear answered. "Anh, do you know what he's up to?"

"He tells me nothing so I'm in the dark just like you guys." I admitted.

"He'll be back before dinner. Hey, did anyone feel that?" Anise asked. Her head swung to the left and then to the right, on high alert. She wasn't the only one. One by one we prepared ourselves for battle the minute each individual felt for the small shaking. I backed backwards and towards my bag, reaching for my rifle. The rumbling got stronger and it felt like something was drawing close. Really, really close.

The minute my hand touched my rifle, the rumbling stopped. The earth stilled. Almost as if nothing had happened.

Anise sighed, wiping a brow across her forehead. "Oh, it was just a false alarm."

Celena looked up and then shouted, "Watch out!"

Something huge slammed itself in the middle of the camp the minute that last word left Celena's mouth. It doused the fire, a lot of dirt flew up in the air and we all were sent flying. I coughed madly, waving the flying dirt away from my face. A roar erupted from the middle of the camp followed by a variety of other sounds. I saw red eyes glowed from the falling dirt and a huge dino monster appeared. Black as the moonless sky, the only thing that made the thing noticeable in the dark was the bright orange strips running from the sides to the back. Grey horns grew from its head and rested at the sides of its mouth that was dripping with nasty green colored saliva.

"Jesus fucking Christ, it's huge!" I swore loudly, pushing myself back and away from the beast. It was like at least two times our tallest guy here!

"That's one of Arietta's monsters!" I heard someone shout.

"And it looks like more are joining the party." Someone else noted.

"What the hell?" Luke swore somewhere to my right. "I thought we were in the Holy Bottle's effect. Why are monsters attacking? Did we miss a spot?"

"Is everybody okay?" Guy shouted from above the cries and roars of monsters.

"I'm good!" Anise shouted in the mess. Light lit up from where she was shouting and a huge doll figure stood tall. "Ion's fine, too!"

"I'm with the Lieutenant," Tear's voice came up, oddly calm. "We're both unharmed. Is Luke still with you?"

"He's startled just like the rest of us," came Guy's reply.

I searched for my weapon but my hand came up empty. Shit! I swore I was holding my rifle before the impact. Did I lose it somewhere before I hit the ground? My eyes were still adjusting to the sudden lack of light so I wasn't able to see clearly. Something bright suddenly lit up, illuminating the area around it. I caught sight of my bag with my rifle sticking out of it. Without another thought, I dashed towards it.

Until I looked up.

The dino had a ball of fire in its mouth and it shot the ball in my direction. I could only gape at the flying ball of fire since fear paralyzed my entire body. The heat of the ball warmed up my front and I covered my eyes.

Something or someone tackled me to the ground after shouting something inaudible. I hit the ground pretty hard, rocks scratching my skin which stung in pain. Even without opening my eyes, I could tell I was temporary blinded from the light but it would be gone in a few seconds. Whoever it was that just saved me had their arm wrapped around me and their body was practically crushing me. A sense of déjà vu hit me as I came to a conclusion.

Jade saved me. Again.

"For the love of Yulia, why did that idiot assign someone far more idiotic than him to be his second-in-command?" the voice behind me, releasing their or rather her arm from around. It wasn't Jade that was for sure. He wouldn't be talking in third person let alone insult himself or talk in a feminine voice.

"Celena…?" I asked nervously.

"No, I'm Jade. Of course not! Who else would it be?" she snarled.

"But how? When did you-" The words couldn't form as I tried to piece together what had just happened.

"You didn't call out your status when that manservant shouted your name. I figured you were doing something stupid like always." My eyes adjusted so that I saw her very angry look. She smacked me in the forehead with her left hand. "Looks like I was right. Can you stand?"

"Yeah." I told her, rubbing my forehead. Something screeched from behind and I barely had the chance to react to the monster. A silver gleam swung past my head and dug itself into the poor thing. It cried out in pain when I followed the silver path to Celena. I quickly backed away from the two of them, letting Celena dealt with the monster by quickly twisting her wrist, effectively killing the monster before a second cry of pain escaped it. It dropped to the ground dead.

"Left-handed?" I asked, looking at the dagger in her left hand. The blade was thin but looked really sharp. It could cut into anybody or thing without giving them time to register that the blade was inserted into them.

"Ambidextrous."

"Cool." I whistled, clearly impressed. Oh wait, I shouldn't be. Being ambidextrous would explain why she had two weapons instead of just one.

Her gaze narrowed at me dangerously. "Your weapon."

"In the bag near that thing's feet." I pointed to the direction I had intended to head towards. The dino looked like it was busy trying to keep the pest off of it. And by pest I meant Guy. He moved swiftly around and up the monster's back, using the spikes as leverage and slashing at the skin while he was at it.

A tsk came from Celena and without further notice, she ran off towards the direction of my rifle. I didn't even need to ask her what she was doing, so I ran after her. One of the frog monsters from the Fubras River leapt at her only to fall prey to her weapon.

Huh, for a slightly handicapped person, she had proven that she was more useful than someone like me. That stung a bit. And it wasn't coming from my cheek.

Celena stood not too far away from my rifle as I ran past her and scooping the weapon and bag up. From above Guy caught sight of me and Celena and jumped off of the dino to join us. He landed lightly and grinned at me when he straightened himself.

"For a second there, I thought you were a goner," he said to me. I opened my mouth to say something but a bright light lit up from above and I snapped it shut. Guy's look changed to a nervous one. "Save the talk for later. Let's regroup before we're charcoal."

"No disagreement coming from me!" I squeaked and took off after Guy. The monster roared loudly ready to fire but something big and yellow flew at it followed by Anise's battle cry.

Tokunaga slammed itself into the dino knocking it over and it spat the ball of fire upwards where it wouldn't harm anything but probably flying birds. It slammed into the ground, growling in pain and Tokunaga landed with a thump. To me, that meant that the rest of the group weren't too far from where we were and I guessed right. Luke was panting heavily, his sword stuck in the ground giving him the support he needed to at the very least stand up.

Tear stood in front of Ion ready to cast whatever barrier she needed to protect Ion. Though it looked like it wasn't needed. Around them, bodies of dead monsters of different variety laid. Things like claws or talons lay a few feet away from where the main body was but it was dead nonetheless.

"Was that everything?" Guy asked as we ran up to them.

"Everything but that." Luke pointed to the huge dino in front of us. It was struggling to get up and sounded like it was in pain.

Guy walked up to him and patted his shoulders in a comforting gesture. "Sorry, Luke, for leaving you to take care of the minions."

Luke straightened himself up and looked away. "It's not like I can do what you just did. Jumping on the creature's back and all."

"Uh, I think it's a little too early to celebrate." Anise spoke up, frightened.

We all turned to see that even though the monster was in pain, it was ready to breathe yet another fire. This time it would be a guaranteed hit and we had no time to run. Tear ran in front of us, putting up a barrier as fast as she could but there wasn't enough time to cast. The monster opened its mouth, the ball of fire growing larger and-

Water flew from the right side and slammed into the mouth of the monster. Dousing the flames with it. Yet another second blast of water was fired at it and still aimed at the mouth. The monster choked as we all turned to see Jade calmly approaching us.

"My, that is quite disastrous," he commented. "Had I come a second late, you'd all be dinner."

"And yet your timing is impeccable." Guy noted with a wry smile. "Where were you?"

A wave of a hand came from Jade clearly avoiding the subject. "Oh, this and that. Before we talk, I suggest we deal with that monster first."

Soon after he finished the sentence, a roar erupted from the dino. We all turned over to it to see it standing up. Pissed. Very pissed. It stood up in full terror, red eyes blazing mad and I thought I saw steam or smoke coming out of its nostrils.

"Oh, my, it's angry."

I couldn't help but facepalm when Jade talked lightly of it.

"Yeah, we can see that." Luke commented blandly.

"Then let's cut to the chase, shall we?"

"But none of our attacks are good enough to hit it hard." Anise protested. "I just used my best arte and looked what it did to that thing. It just knocked it over."

"We'll just wear the creature down and escape." Tear suggested. "Aside from the Lieutenant who is currently injured, none of us are strong enough to take it down even combined."

Guy nodded quickly. "I like that idea. Anybody against it?" No one protested. Not even for a second. "Then it's settled."

"Well, at least it can't shoot fire at us." Luke smirked at the dino. He paled when the monster stood right in front of us, glowering at us, and then turned. Luke made a confused face which quickly went back to being pale once more when the tail suddenly went up and crashing down.

Everybody moved to the side as fast as we could, but we still got hit by the impact the slam had made. From the corner of my eye, Anise and Celena had already secured Ion's safety and was currently moving away from the battle scene. I guessed that Ion's safety was the first priority to them. Then again, this was a weaken-and-flee ordeal. Those guys being the first to run wasn't supposed to be a surprise.

Though I wished I was the one running at this moment, too.

I mean…that thing was intimidating. Then again, it might not be as smart as I assumed it to be. I'd rather not take any chances though.

I readied my rifle, somewhat ready for battle. Beside me, Jade looked as lax as he could be. The tail blocked my view of Luke, Tear and Guy but they were probably okay. After all, Tear was with them. A sudden roar of pain came from the dino lifting its tail up and then sending it crashing down once more. I happened to see Guy, clinging onto something (I assumed his sword), being lifted up by the tail and then jumping off of it with his weapon coated with a dripping red color.

Yep. He stabbed it all right.

"Aim for the feet!" I heard Jade commanded me.

I whipped around to him and asked, "Why the feet?"

"The feet are the most sensitive area on the body. Once we strike it, not only is it going to be in a lot of pain, but it immobilizes the creature long enough for us to flee." He casted a wind spell and a gust of wind flew at the dino. It knocked it over slightly, turning its attention to Jade and I. It was just about to strike us until it shot its head to the right where Luke and Guy were.

Well. Might as well do as he says.

I reached into my pocket grabbing the first bullet that I was able to get a hold of and insert it into my rifle. Looking through my scope, I tried to find the closest looking thing to a foot and found it. I pulled the trigger without any hesitation and the moment I fired it, the foot moved slightly so that the bullet harmlessly bounced off of it. Oddly enough, it didn't end there.

The bullet exploded.

Not just some small burst like Jade's Energy Blast but like…five times the size, damage and destruction.

I stared in awe at it as Luke and Guy ran over to us. The monster cried out in unimaginable pain, toppled over and stopped moving. Like it just passed out unconscious.

"Now is our chance!" Tear shouted, turning around and running in the direction where the other group had headed off earlier. We all followed her. Hopefully, Ion and the rest of them were in an area where it wasn't hard to track them down.

"Damn, what the hell was all that?" I heard Luke muttered to Guy.

Guy probably shrugged since he guessed, "Probably Jade's doing."

"And I told you not to use that particular bullet," Jade, who was running beside me, said with a sigh.

"You could have warned me first!" I snapped at him. The initial warning wasn't enough for me. He should have told me what it could do so that I would stash them in the Wing Pack and not at my side.

Warning now noted.

We found Ion, Anise and Celena near the edge of a forest. Two of the three had already started making sandwiches that was supposed to make up for the meal that the monster had destroyed. Celena was keeping an eye on the two of them. Anise was sighing every now and then, complaining what a waste the meal was before it was destroyed. She hadn't given us any information on what it was so I assumed it might have been the recipe she got from that chef back in Kaitzur port.

And so that meant it would remain a surprise.

After dinner, we got healed by Tear and Anise (major injuries like cuts was treated by Tear and the minor injuries like my cheek got treated by Anise) and had started on discussing on what to do from here afterward. A map lay between all of us that formed a circle around it. Guy pointed to one of the rivers on the map and drew an invisible line towards Choral Castle.

"This river here leads to our destination," he said, pulling back and crossing his arms. "I would suggest taking the river path since the monsters are pretty weak. By the time we make it to Choral Castle, we wouldn't be worn out, given that the next battles weren't going to be as difficult as the one we just faced today."

It was Celena's turn to tap the map. She pointed to a couple areas before saying, "Van and I were ambushed here and here. The first wave wasn't that difficult, it was the second one that caught us off guard. The normal land route is too dangerous. I am assuming that these monsters are placed there to kidnap the Fon Master and Luke in case they crossed these areas."

"Which means we have to take a much longer path in order to reach Choral Castle in one piece." Ion concluded thoughtfully. He looked up at Jade. "Any ideas, Jade?"

Fire flickered in his glasses. He said nothing until he pointed to the river. "As we feared, the area to Choral Castle are swarmed by monsters. Both Arietta's and wild ones. Guy's suggestion might work. The monsters in the wild are quite territorial, that means we could use that to our advantage."

"You said, 'as we feared,' Colonel," Tear pointed out. "So the reason why you weren't around earlier was because…"

"Yes, I was confirming about the amount of monsters in the area. Two of the Oracle Knights' best soldiers were bested by them. I figured either they were really strong or that they came in absurdly large numbers." He pushed his glasses up. "Also, I would suggest not using Holy Bottles from here."

"What why?" Luke asked, surprised. "Holy Bottles are what kept those things out."

"But they were the reason why we were found so easily," Guy and Tear both spoke.

Luke paled. "You're kidding."

"Unfortunately, no." Jade sighed. "The river path would be our best option."

"Let's double the security, as well," Celena suggested. "Without Holy Bottles, we would be in a fix with only one person doing the watch-out."

"All right, sounds like a plan." Guy nodded. "I'll take the first watch."

"I'll partner up with you," I volunteered myself, getting up.

Guy grinned, setting both of his hands on his hips. "Great. With that settled, everybody else decide on the next pairs and we'll switch duties in a few hours."

I sat near the fire, staring at it absentmindedly. Jade and Tear were next followed by Anise and Celena. All four of them were resting for a bit while Luke and Ion were sleeping comfortably. Luke would do his share of watching over the camp but not tonight. Which means everybody would get a chance to sleep early.

I yawned, covering my mouth. While fighting the sleep, I shifted my rifle to my other shoulder. It felt like hours had passed when it was only half an hour. Guy was checking the surroundings at this moment and he should return pretty soon.

A tall male figure came into view. Speak of the devil. I waved at the blond who was approaching the camp.

"All clear," Guy said, taking a seat not too far from me. The fire snapped and crackled as we both sat in silence. I yawned again. "Do you want to rest for a bit? I can take over the watch completely if you like."

"No, I got to do my fair share." I protested tiredly. We both end up staring back at the fire again.

"This trip is going to be long…" I mumbled.

"Yeah, it's going to be hard. Too bad we don't have something fun to do in the meantime."

Fun…fun. Fun. Hmm… Fun! My tired state was completely forgottened as a bunch of ideas flew into my mind.

"Hey, Guy."

"Yeah?"

I scooted myself closer to him and looked at him seriously. "What's a fun outdoor game to play while travelling?"

He leaned back, putting some distance between us. "You're not joking are you?" He scanned my face to see if I was and sighed. "You're dead-serious about this?"

I grinned. "Oh, yeah."

Okay, so there wasn't much of Guy jumping around in fear and stuff but I couldn't help but wonder about it. XD That why the title is Gynophobia and not 'Testing Guy's Fear' which was seriously a name I was considering but then scratched it.

Anyway, one more month and Xillia comes out. I'm trying to update as much as I could before I go nuts about the game and play it constantly before touching this again.

Next up!

"Hey, hey, Luke…The Game."

PS: I lost the game. ;P