Lloyd: And we're back! I know it's been a bit delayed since our last update, but we have an excuse. We were out of the country for about a month between the two of us, which makes it very difficult to get this stuff up. And this chapter hasn't yet been beta'd - she hasn't answered us yet, and I'm wanting to update - so excuse any typos or just random lines that don't make sense. Even though I read over it a couple times just in case.
Genis: I was out of the the country for over a month, actually. XP Aaaaaand...this chapter gets the Genis seal of approval! Enjoy! ^.^
Lloyd: Since when do you have your own official seal of approval?
Genis: I never said that it was official...
The morning light shone brightly through the uncovered window into one of the rooms in the Palmacosta inn. Despite the brightness, Caitlin still slept on, dressed in shorts and a large shirt for sleeping. Her clothes, newly bought right after the two girls got paid, lay in a heap at the end of the bed. It was pretty much just a mound of red and black fabric. Large, obviously knee-high red boots had been tossed next to the bed, along with twin swords in their sheaths. She also had a bag that was half-open on the floor near her bed as well, which had bottles with gels and anything else that she had figured would be helpful. Though mostly gels and life bottles, seeing as how the two of them would be going on the Regeneration Journey when the Chosen's group came to town.
It had been just a little over a week since Caitlin and Katherine had found themselves in Tales of Symphonia. During that time, they had been continuing to work in the Palmacosta Academy as waitresses. It was at least giving them enough money that they bought weapons, clothes, other necessary supplies such as gels and food, and enough for a night at the inn. The inn had been their home for the past week for the most part.
When the pair got their weapons - Caitlin's twin blades and Katherine's sword and shield - they had started practicing. At first, the practices were mainly to get used to the weight of the weapons and the fact that they were holding actual swords. It honestly hadn't progressed really far, though they were getting more relaxed while using the weapons. Enough that they could hold their own against an angry little kid armed with a stick. Their sword skills were fairly feeble, honestly, despite the fact that they often had fake fights at home with toy lightsabers. But lightsabers were different than real blades by a long shot.
Katherine, on the other hand, was wide awake, already dressed in her new white and navy clothes, lacing up her navy boots on her feet. She knew that white clothes weren't practical on a danger-filled cross-country journey, but if Colette could pull it off, then so could Katherine. Unlike Caitlin's, Katherine's bag was neatly stored in the corner, filled with gels (mostly apple, but who knew when you needed an orange?) and a few life and panacea bottles. Katherine never found panacea bottles particularly useful, but there was no knowing if Raine would have 'Recover' or not, or even if it would work like it did in the game.
Thinking of which, Katherine desperately wished that she had access to any techs at all, sorely rubbing the bruise on her arm from their sword practice yesterday. So Caitlin had only hit her with the hilt, it still hurt! If she had 'First Aid,' then the bruise, along with many others the girls had accumulated, would be gone. Heck, even if she had 'Demon Fang,' she could keep Caitlin from advancing on her so quickly. That girl was definitely accustomed to the twin sword style, adding to her likeness to Lloyd. Glancing at the offender, Katherine realized that she needed to get Caitlin moving or they would get nowhere quickly. Remembering the fight Caitlin had put up, even in sleep, when Katherine tried to shake her awake, she used a different approach.
"Lloyd. Lloyd Irving, wake up!" Caitlin didn't seem to react, so Katherine raised her voice slightly each time, moving from a whisper to practically yelling at Caitlin.
When Katherine started almost-yelling at her, Caitlin woke up but didn't open her eyes. She just groaned loudly to signal that she was somewhat awake and not wanting to get up anytime soon as she turned away from Katherine. She was never a morning person, and now was no different. Anyway, she hadn't fallen asleep until really late, and wanted more sleep. "Le'me 'lone," Caitlin mumbled into her pillow.
"Good, you're awake. Get up or we'll be late. Seriously." Caitlin didn't look like she was getting up from Katherine's perspective, but she had a brother who was exactly like this sometimes. "I know you're awake. I'm already ready to go, so now I'm waiting for you. Up! Get up!" As much as she loved ranting to heavy sleepers, this wasn't very interesting. "Geez, I'll just sit in the corner. For the love of Martel, you sleep like...hell, I don't even know!"
"Don't care. Go 'way," Caitlin mumbled without moving. As mentioned before, she was not a morning person; she would rather sleep until noon instead of waking up early. And listening to Katherine ranting wasn't helping her; it just made her more reluctant to get up. "Too tired." Unfortunately, though, she was becoming more and more awake with each passing minute, and it was difficult to breath through a pillow. So after a moment she slowly sat up, still looking half asleep, her hair sticking up all over the place.
After a couple minutes, Caitlin was awake enough to move from where she was sitting and get dressed. Her clothes were much like Lloyd's were in the game, though slightly different. She had a red jacket, though a flame pattern went along her arms and over her shoulders in a darker red. Gloves, also dark red, came up to her elbows while her boots did go up to her knees. She had black pants, and also a black cape. It took a moment for her to manage to get her swords belted on correctly, though.
"Need food," she announced to her friend as soon as she had finished fastening on her two swords, going to the door and opening it. She didn't leave yet, though, one hand on the edge of the door as she looked over at Katherine. "Are you coming or are you just going to stand around while there's food downstairs?" she asked, pointing out the door to stress her point.
"I didn't notice I was hungry until you said that. I guess I just don't eat a lot in the morning." Katherine followed Caitlin, closing the door behind her. There was no lock, but the lovely town of Palmacosta probably had a whole bunch less crime than the hotels Katherine normally stayed at. Like the Academy, the Inn also got an upgrade now that it was...you know, real. Instead of just a few rooms and a lobby, the inn comprised of three floors. The top two floors had four or five rooms apiece, and the ground floor had two rooms for customers, the lobby, and a kitchen--which is where the girls were headed when they saw a group of four people in colorful clothing walking up to the desk.
"Hello, welcome to Skipper's Haven!" The young girl at the desk beamed at the group, her short hair bobbing around her face. She was obviously expecting a reply different from the one she received, a few grunts and a faint 'thank you' from one person, as her smile fell and her energy dissipated. "It's 200 Gald for a night. Would you like to stay the night?"
One young man stepped to the front and slammed his fist against the desk, startling the receptionist. "How dare you try to take money from the Chosen! She will bring you salvation, so you should be the one paying her!" he growled, leaning in closer to drive his point. Katherine and Caitlin stared in shock, only now noticing who these people were. There were two males and two females, the male at the desk obviously being the leader. He had spiky, dark auburn hair that practically stuck straight up. He wore patchy plate mail, clearly showing the bare skin underneath. How impractical. He had obviously never seen even five seconds of battle.
The other male, who glanced nervously at the first, really did look like a gorilla. He was heavier-set than the others, but stood slightly bent over like he felt inferior. He wore a large, dark green tank top with a wide, tan belt. His hair was shorter and more brown than the other male's.
One young woman, a mage by the looks of it, wore pale blue robes with a matching cape and carried a small wooden staff. Her blond hair peeked out from a large, sky blue witch's hat, and the look on her face was calculating as she glanced around the lobby. Katherine quickly moved her gaze to the other girl in order to avoid the mage's stare.
The last member of the 'Fake Chosen Group' was a small, demure girl in a long mustard dress. She had short, dark blue hair that perfectly framed her face. Placing her hand on the leader's shoulder, she spoke up. "The truth is, we're running a little low on Gald. Is it alright if we give you 100 Gald? We will remember the kindness of Palmacosta when the world is regenerated."
Caitlin kept glancing from one member of the group to another, her eyes wide as she realized something. "Genis," she mumbled, tugging on her friend's shirt sleeve to catch her attention. "Since they appeared now, won't the actual group be coming real soon?" She looked back over at the group of fakes, who seemed pleased that the poor girl at the counter had accepted their offer of 100 Gald. Her mind wandered to the possibility that they could stop this group from getting the book from Dorr, but that would probably mess stuff up badly.
Katherine stared at the group, moving from member to member periodically. "Yeah, they will. We need to make sure we're ready for that..." Her voice was quiet, a whisper almost, not because she was scared, but mostly because she didn't want to alert the fakes to her presence. Sort of a predator-prey instinctual thing.
"Haven't we been ready?" Caitlin asked, pointing upstairs to their room where their bags of supplies were. "That's kind of why we bought all that stuff. Well, except the apple gels of course. Those were mainly for our sparring." She grinned at her comment, before heading to the kitchen. "Come on, Genis, we were going to get food weren't we?" she said over her shoulder.
Laughing a little, Katherine followed her friend. "That's true. But I meant ready mentally, more than ready item-wise. Hmm, what should I eat today?" Katherine glanced between a muffin and scrambled eggs. "Muffins are yummy, but scrambled eggs are healthier..."
"Just take both," Caitlin suggested, rolling her eyes and taking both kinds of food for her own breakfast, plopping down in at the table in the kitchen and taking a big bite of her muffin. "Anyway, is there even a way anyone could be mentally prepared to meet up with them?" she added, once she was able to speak easily without food messing with her speech.
Katherine mumbled something incomprehensible, not bothering to finish devouring her muffin. Knowing that Caitlin didn't understand her, she swallowed and spoke again. "For the sheer weirdness factor? That's impossible. But for the not-spoiling-anything-even-though-it's-screaming-to-be-said factor, that'll take some preparation. That means we can't call Kratos 'Darth Kratosmort'." She sighed. "But it'll be so tempting..."
Caitlin snickered, her fork of eggs halfway to her mouth. "Why not? Krat-man wouldn't understand what it meant anyway. He might just get confused as to why we called him that," she pointed out, popping the eggs in her mouth afterward. She liked to be able to understand what the heck she was saying, unlike Katherine.
"Well, I guess so...just be careful with what you say. If I could do it for my brother, I can do it for them, right?" Katherine forked more eggs in her mouth, pondering how to get into the journey in the first place. Maybe...Hmm...What would work?
"Yes, but that's you. You slip-up easily when you're excited or something. Anyway, I bet'cha that I could just blow it off with some little lie as to why I said whatever it was, if it ever happens," Caitlin said, sounding sure of herself as she finished eating. "So...are you done yet? So we can leave the inn again?"
"Yeah, yeah. Let's get to work." The girls were, of course, still waitress-ing at the academy. You may have only gotten four or five hundred Gald in the game, but when you worked there for hours on end, day in and day out, you earned enough to live off of. Katherine was still mulling over how to join the group. Even if they convinced Lloyd or Colette, Genis had trust issues and Raine and Kratos would be difficult, if not impossible to convince. This was a conundrum Katherine had been avoiding the last few weeks. It was scary to think about what might happen if they didn't get to join. Palmacosta gets destroyed later on, and everyone there dies! What if they were still there?! Katherine shuddered a little, and turned her thoughts back to trying to join the journey.
Like her friend, Caitlin was also thinking about encountering the group, chewing on the inside of her cheek absent-mindedly. It wouldn't be as easy as going up and saying, "Hi, we'd like to join your party, thanks," and being accepted, like what happened on FanFiction all the time. No...it would be a lot harder. Now, maybe if the decision fell on the Chosen's shoulders again (as the decisions usually did), then they would be in the clear, even if they weren't accepted by everyone. "Maybe we can see them if they go to the academy, for Genis' test thing and for Colette to help with waitressing. We actually could use a little help," she said, practically thinking out loud. And help would be nice; she kept forgetting who ordered what and who sat where, even though she was doing ten times better than when they started.
Startled slightly, Katherine nodded. "Yeah, that's what I was hoping for. Colette helping would be awesome, and we'd have bonus Chosen points because we'll have talked to her and everything."
"Chosen points?" Caitlin said, raising an eyebrow at her friend as she swerved around a couple people who had stopped in their way to look at some object that someone was selling. "You mean there are points for knowing and befriending Colette?" She grinned back at Katherine before managing to make it through the crowd and to the Academy.
She led the way down to the cafeteria, which was fairly close to the door like in the game. It made it much easier to find and get to, and lessened the things that Caitlin's swords could hit. But it also helped for her to pick out the start of a faint, interesting conversation near the entrance before she opened up the cafeteria door.
"Weren't you supposed to come here, Genis?" she heard, and the voice made her freeze, looking at Katherine. She seemed shocked, since the voice was recognizable, and the fact that they said 'Genis' kind of clued her in. That's Lloyd! she thought, looking from her friend back toward the entrance and now not wanting to go through the door behind her.
Katherine returned Caitlin's shocked look and turned to the group at the entrance. Sure enough, it was Lloyd & Co. Lloyd and Genis were at the front of the group, well inside the front room, with Colette hovering happily over their shoulders. Raine and Kratos remained close to the door, like they were securing an escape route. Katherine looked closer, and she noticed that while the group was extremely similar to their game counter-parts, these people were just that more real.
Lloyd was definetly taller than Genis, the latter's hair having a silvery sheen while sticking all over the place. Like in the game, his hair seemed unnaturally long for a twelve-year-old boy. Of course, he was wearing his usual shorts and short-sleeved blue outfit that you saw all the time in the game, and he held his colorful kendama in one hand. Apparently he hadn't wanted to leave it behind at the inn, where Caitlin assumed all of their supplies were.
Lloyd himself looked a lot less childish than he did in the game. Then again, ToS could make anyone look childish, so that wasn't saying much. Except Kratos; Kratos could never look that way. But he was pretty tall - Caitlin guessed about an inch or two taller than herself, not counting his hair sticking straight up - and was of course wearing his usual suspenders, red jacket and gloves, black pants, and large boots with his swords belted to his hips.
Next, Caitlin looked over at the overly-cheerful Chosen. Her white outfit was a little stained (mostly by green from falling on the ground so many times, she assumed, though a few were by small amounts of blood that showed up really well against her outfit). Like in the game, she was smiling, as she did so often, looking like a perfect little angel. Which was kind of true... Her chakrams were in a little contraption on her back so she didn't have to carry them all the time.
It was kind of obvious that Raine enjoyed being in the Academy just because, well, it was an academy. She looked a little less stern than she usually did when out of Ruin Mode, and like the others in the group wore her customary clothing - the white shirt, black pants, really weird boots, and orange robes. Like always, her staff was present in her hand. Katherine cringed at the sight of the boots, those terrible, Martel-cursed things were real!
Compared to the others who were at least showing some emotion about being in the Academy, Kratos seemed particularly withdrawn. He was scowling - though that might have just been his usual expression - with his arms crossed over his chest as he watched the three younger members of the group. Caitlin thought that he looked a little intimidating, even though she wasn't next to him and he wore purple. Maybe it was the look, or the sword that he had that she knew he could wield with ease.
Genis shrugged in response to Lloyd's question. "Yeah. I got a recommendation to come here last year." That was the jerk's cue to tromp down the stairs.
"You? A child like yourself would never be accepted to this prestigious academy." That was obviously Mighty Washington, who looked a little more familiar than he should have. Katherine covered her mouth with her hand. This guy looked just like the vermin-girl! They must have been relatives or something, but little shocking.
Lloyd leaned slightly forward. "Oh yeah? Genis is really smart! He even knows his times tables!"
"That's only an achievement for you Lloyd." Genis sighed heavily.
Mighty laughed, "you know what they say. Birds of a feather flock together." His entourage snickered meanly. Caitlin frowned whenever Mighty started teasing Genis, and felt like jumping in, but she didn't know if that would do anything other than draw attention to her and Katherine. But after a second she decided to also come to Genis' aid.
"And you've just flocked to them, so what does that make you?" she said to Mighty, crossing her arms over her chest. Surprised, Lloyd looked over toward her and Katherine to see who was also sticking up for his best friend.
Mighty turned to Caitlin, disdain in his eyes. "And so did you, miss. If I'm not mistaken, you and your friend match the description of the waitresses who mistreated my dear sister."
"I was right!" Katherine pointed at Mighty. "Your whole family is full of jerks!"
Caitlin just stuck her tongue out at Mighty childishly at first before saying to Katherine, but loud enough for Mighty to hear, "And apparently full of idiots, if his sister didn't even know how to read one measely menu board." She noticed that Lloyd was trying to smother his snickers and Colette was giggling at the argument.
Genis started to snicker, but was promptly smacked by Raine. "You are all acting like children. If you cannot act more maturely, we should be going." Kratos nodded (while Caitlin muttered under her breath, "But we are children..."). "As the Chosen, you must focus on your journey."
Everyone who wasn't part of the group-- including Caitlin and Katherine for effect-- stared at Colette in shock. "The Ch-chosen! You're the Chosen!" Mighty sputtered and coughed.
Colette paled. "Well, yes...but, please, treat us normally."
Katherine tilted her head. "Wow. You sound a lot different from the other Chosen who came through here. They were kind of mean..."
Lloyd looked a little surprised when Katherine mentioned the other Chosens. "What? Another Chosen?" he asked, his tone as shocked as his expression.
Katherine shrugged nervously as the group's attention turned to her. "Yeah...But wouldn't one of you have to be fake? If I had to guess, I'd say the other group was fake, you seem more...genuine, you know what I mean?"
Caitlin facepalmed. There was no way to just say 'Yeah, you're the real Chosen and by the way, don't trust Mithos, it'll kill you' without the girls being brutally slaughtered by Kratos. Which would be bad.
Raine cast a scrutinizing look on the girls. "Really now? And what does this Chosen look like?"
Katherine turned to Caitlin. "You tell them, I don't want to be in the spotlight anymore."
Caitlin thought for a second before shrugging sheepishly. "...I forgot," she said, grinning at her friend. Lloyd snickered.
Katherine hung her head. "Seriously Caitlin, it wasn't even an hour ago. Anyways...there's a girl with blue hair, she's the 'Chosen', and then there's a mage, I think. And then there's these two guys. One has really spiky hair, like yours," she pointed to Lloyd, "and the other guy looks like a gorilla."
Genis laughed. "A gorilla? Seriously? That's great!" A moment later, he turned to Raine. "Sis! That sounds like the people who we ran into earlier!"
Raine nodded. "Yes, it certaintly does. Should we go back to confirm? I have a feeling they won't leave until we provide another Palma Potion."
Katherine brightened. "A Palma Potion? We can get you one of those! Here, come with us!" She grabbed Colette's hand and ran down the hall, leaving Caitlin, Lloyd, Genis, Raine, Kratos, Mighty, and entourage behind.
Caitlin stared after her friend, while Lloyd just looked stunned. "Better follow her then," she said to Colette's friends, running after Katherine herself and feeling very bewildered. Lloyd looked at Raine and Kratos for a moment before following after the two girls and his friend.