Lloyd: We have to apologize for the wait. Genis and I have both been caught up in doing things with the speech team, as well as catching up on homework after being sick from school for a week or more each. But we've finally gotten around to doing this chapter, so it's all good! And hopefully we can get the next one up a lot quicker. And again, thanks for beta-ing, Nightfoot!
Genis: ...I think Lloyd pretty much summed it up. Yeah, pretty much.
Chocolat was clearly pleased that her mom was perfectly fine, and ran over to her as soon as Caitlin spoke up, as if that was a cue to move. Cacao hugged her daughter and shushed her, assuring her that she was alright and everything would be fine. No one seemed to want to disturb their reunion and everyone hung back for now.
Genis had run past Caitlin and practically launched himself at his sister, a huge grin on his face as he was reunited with the group so soon. Raine laughed and returned the hug before they started talking. Lloyd ruffled his hair and Colette hugged him from behind. It was quite obvious that everyone had missed the little mage. Well, except Kratos, but he wouldn't care either way as long as the journey finally got completed.
Katherine had moved over to her friend, who'd sheathed her swords and was watching the two reunions with a smile, her arms crossed over her chest. "Well that went well," Caitlin said, looking over at the other girl. "Especially for our first actual fight."
The second girl chuckled, rolling her eyes. "At least you got the benefit of an actual weapon. With a sharp, pointy side." Glancing back over to the others, she smiled. "Looks like they're just happy to see each other. Time for us to storm the castle?"
"Having a sharp, pointy-sided thing did make a bit of a difference..." Caitlin said, nodding and fingering the hilts of her swords. "You need to carry yours, too, since you know that there's lots of fighting here." She paused for a minute, looking at the group, before saying, "I wonder if they'll even let us come with them..."
"Of course they will!" Katherine spared a glance at her friend, then quickly stared at the ground before answering her unspoken question. "I don't know why, they just will! Maybe if...uhh...look, I don't know, they just will! And sure, I'll start carrying my sword with me. It shouldn't be that weird, I mean, since we are in Symphonia..." Her train of though was interrupted when she saw white boots approaching the two girls.
"Hi! I just wanted to thank you for helping us. It was really nice of you!" The perky blond looked genuinely happy to talk to them, even if it meant moving away from her friends. Katherine asked why she wasn't over with her friends, talking to Genis. "Well, you looked a little lonely over here, so I thought I'd come and say hi, but I'm sorry if it's a problem!"
"Oh, no, it's not a problem," Caitlin answered quickly, grinning. She was glad that someone had come over to talk to them, honestly. It was getting a little awkward just standing back and watching the other two reunions. "And we couldn't just let you guys take him on yourselves. You're our friends. And he was a jerk."
Katherine nodded. "A total jerk. He may be important, but I really don't see why these guys are putting up with him if they have their own militia and everything. Why don't they just charge in and get rid of him?"
"Because they're scaredy-cats, that's why. I'd like to go in and get rid of him myself," Caitlin said, before catching Colette's worried look at the idea. "I won't, of course, but I'd like to. And it'd be kind of funny if the entire city militia did less than one fifteen-year-old." She grinned, amused by the thought which, if her and Katherine's plan of joining them worked, would happen to some extent.
Colette smiled and giggled a little. "I'm sure that won't have to happen. They'll go and make Magnius go away soon. That's what they're here for, right?" she said optimistically.
Katherine hated the idea of crushing Colette's hopes, but she had to. "That may be what they're here for, but that's certainly not what they're doing. Actually, I'm almost more surprised that Mr. Jerk is ... allowing the militia to stand. Think about it. Who does the militia endanger the most? Then why hasn't he crushed them yet? Obviously he'll go to extreme measures for less, so why not?"
Just then, Lloyd came over, gesturing behind him to the group, Chocolat, and Cacao who were starting to move away. "Come on, guys, Chocolat wanted to thank us for helping her where less people were around," he said, and the four teenagers hurried to catch up to the rest of the group. They entered Marble's shop, which the two Earth girls had become fairly well acquainted with since they'd arrived. Despite Katherine's reluctance to enter, they'd eventually agreed it was necessary for all of their supplies, namely the apple gels they needed so often due to training.
Chocolat stayed protectively by her mother, as if afraid that something else would happen to Cacao if she wasn't around to stop it. She seemed to be ignoring the fact that it was her fault that anything even happened in the first place. The older woman smiled at everyone and thanked them, and Chocolat jumped in with her own thanks.
"Thank you so much for saving my mom!" she said, a huge grin breaking out on her face. It looked a little out of place, since her eyes were red from crying just a few moments earlier. "I don't know what I would have done if they'd murdered my mom as well..." Her smile faded slightly and her tone of voice suggested that she wanted to leave the conversation there, at least when it came to the topic that she'd just brought up. However, Genis didn't seem to catch onto that fact.
"As well?..." he asked, a look of confusion, surprise, and concern crossing his face. Some of the other members of the Regeneration group also seemed a little curious and surprised by the small comment, except Kratos who just looked bored. It almost seemed like he wanted the conversation to hurry up so that he could get going.
Cacao looked a little gloomy when she answered, but obviously she was trying to not let that show too much. "My husband volunteered in Governor-General Dorr's army...and was killed in a battle against the Desians. And my mother...was taken to the ranch." Caitlin and Katherine shared a quick glance at the mention of Marble before paying attention again.
"It was Grandma that originally founded our shop," Chocolat pitched in, her grin having disappeared to a small, almost sad smile. Caitlin glanced over at Lloyd and Genis from the corner of her eye to see if they were connecting the dots, as Chocolat continued. "We have to protect it, not just for ourselves, but also for Grandma's sake, when she returns. I'm sorry, but I'd better get going soon. It's almost time for the next Asgard pilgrimage."
Katherine stared at Chocolat. "You're just going to go to work after this? Don't you think you should qualify for a day off after what happened?"
Chocolat was already shaking her head halfway through Katherine's second question. "No, I'm needed there. Besides, Mom is safe now thanks to you guys, and so I know it'll be alright to go to work," she said, her smile returning again.
"Are there really people who still want to go on a trip?" Lloyd and Caitlin asked with one or two varying words in their questions. Lloyd glanced over at her, surprised with the unison of their words, but Caitlin ignored it. She was used to things like that happening all the time.
"It's after events like these that people feel the need to go out on a journey in search of salvation," Kratos spoke up from near the door. Chocolat nodded in response.
"That pretty much sums it up," she said happily. "Well then, thank you all very much!" With that, Chocolat left the shop to head for work. The group followed her out after Cacao said one more thanks of her own and told the two Earthlings that she'd probably see them soon enough.
"So..." Katherine cracked her knuckles, one fist in the other hand. "When do we storm the castle?" Caitlin facepalmed at the stupidity of her friend's words.
Raine and Kratos stared at the girl incredulously while Lloyd, Colette and Genis tried not to laugh. Raine spoke first. "Excuse me?"
"I mean...uhh...we're going to go take Magnius down, right? You are the Chosen after all, isn't it your job to help people?" Katherine made a point to stare Colette down, dejectedly adding, "unless you've got other things to do..."
Kratos folded his arms and readied an Aurion Glare. "It is not the role of the Chosen to settle minor disputes. Hers is a time sensitive mission; if you would rather sacrifice the fate of the world for the downfall of one Grand Cardinal, then so be it."
Caitlin frowned at the mercenary's response and crossed her arms in return. "I have a funny feeling that the world actually isn't going anywhere, and while the situation is bad, it isn't as pressing a matter as you are trying to say. The world has lived this long without regeneration, it can last another couple of days while we help the people that are suffering around us," she said hotly, glaring back at Kratos. She had a feeling that he wouldn't like it, but he was a little irritating.
Raine interrupted Kratos' reply with a sharp glance at both the man and the girl. "Our next step on the journey is to find the Book of Regeneration, so whether or not we eliminate the Desians, our next destination is the House of Salvation. We can decide as we travel, but I suggest we get moving." The group hadn't moved far before Raine snapped around and pointed at Caitlin and Katherine. "And by 'we' I mean members of the Journey of Regeneration. While you may have aided us earlier, you lack the skill and training to travel with us."
Caitlin shrugged dismissively at the comment, and though she wanted to snap at Raine for calling them unskilled, she only said, "Fine. Then we'll meet you guys at the ranch whenever you come to the decision, okay? 'Cause we're gonna go help the people of Palmacosta before something like this happens again, with or without skill and training." With that, she turned away from the group, grabbing her friend by the sleeve to tug her back toward the inn, even if it wasn't quite necessary. If Katherine was annoyed with it, she'd apologize later, when she wasn't feeling ready to hit someone. "Come on, let's go, Katherine."
Katherine followed without resisting while floundering for words. "Abah..wha...uhh..." The group was heading directly out of town, probably because they hadn't actually gone to inn on this particular visit, so the girls completely split paths. Once back in their room, Katherine fell on her bed face first. "Lloyd, we're screwed," she muttered, only partway comprehensible because of the pillow covering her face.
For a minute, Caitlin didn't answer, just glared moodily at the wall above Katherine's bed. But eventually she said, "Why do you say that?" She didn't see anything wrong with things at the moment. Okay, it would have been helpful if Raine hadn't turned them down just because they were slightly less skilled than Lloyd and Genis... And they would probably have to meet up with the group outside of the ranch whenever they went to get Chocolat... But otherwise it didn't seem like they were screwed.
"Because Raine's right. I mean, even if we do wait at the ranch, like you so Lloyd-ish-ly suggested we do, there's no guarantee that nothing bad will happen to us. We don't even know where the ranch is! And we could be attacked by something really nasty on the way there, or get jumped by Desians once we get there, or..." Katherine continued, listing off every possible horrible ending to their woefully short lives. Once her crazy mind latched onto something, she would follow it through to the many, impossible endings. She was a true crack theory-ist, able to whip up an explanation for just about anything given pressure.
While her friend ranted, Caitlin watched, her mood changing from pissed to very amused with the ideas that Katherine was coming up with. Eventually she interrupted her when the theories started to get into the realm of the unbelievable as they tended to do. "Genis? I doubt anything majorly bad will happen. At the worst, we'll run into a couple of monsters and maybe a Desian if we're really unlucky. But if you're that worried then we can stay here and wait to see if the group comes to kill Kilia before going to the ranch. If not, we'll probably be left stranded and Exsphere-less. Waiting by the ranch is the best bet."
Katherine sighed. "I suppose you could be right. I guess that means we're leaving now, right?" She stood and grabbed her bag, hanging it on her shoulder before grabbing both her sword and her shield. "We wouldn't want to get there after they do, would we?"
Caitlin nodded in agreement and closed her bag up with slight difficulty, since everything was thrown in haphazardly. "It probably won't be that hard to get there before them. In the game they get to the House of Salvation before they have to turn around," she said. She headed out of their room and down to the lobby, her friend following.
Once they exited the inn, Caitlin paused and looked toward the square. "Hey, you should go to Marble's and make sure we have everything we're going to need. A few more apple gels are always worth it, since there are monsters. I'm gonna go tell Carl that we're going to be disappearing on him." Not waiting for her friend to answer, the younger girl ran off down the street, her cape flaring behind her as she went to tell Carl that he was going to lose his two workers and wish him luck.
"Gotcha!" Katherine ran off to the shop, grinning to Cacao before grabbing an armful of apple gels, adding an orange gel or two to the top. She faltered for a moment as she tried to get them all on the counter without dropping any, then as she pulled her makeshift wallet out of her bag. "So, it looks like we're leaving soon." She paid and stuffed her half of the gels in her bag before grabbing the rest of them to hand to Caitlin. "We'll totally see you later, okay?"
Cacao laughed. "Of course you will. Good luck with whatever you two are doing. Make sure you come back and tell me all about it!"
"We will!" Katherine smiled on her way out, but drooped sadly once she was outside. "We will."
It took a couple of minutes for Caitlin to meet her friend outside of Marble's. She was panting, obviously having run from the Academy to the shop in order to meet up with her friend in good time. "Holy crap, I had never before noticed how hard it is to get through that damn market," she said, shaking her head and getting her breath back at the same time. "But I told Carl. He wasn't too happy to be having his only two workers leaving on him, but he wishes us luck with whatever we're doing anyway. Said he'd try and manage without us." She grinned, taking the gels that Katherine held in her arms and reaching around to put them in her bag. It took a little bit of maneuvering but she got them in. "You ready to go off to the ranch?" she asked, tilting her head at Katherine questioningly.
"Of course I am. We've got gels and no other options. I'm only slightly less ready than you are." The friends left the city, and were once again greeted by the plains they had started on. As they were walking, Caitlin was thinking about what would (hopefully) happen when they reached the ranch. It shouldn't be too difficult to not be caught by Desians, since there was forest around the ranch - which, really, was a poor idea since that meant absolutely anyone could sneak up on the place if they'd wanted to - and the half-elves would make some noise if they got close to the girls. Monsters might be harder to avoid, but fighting them would help their chances of getting strong enough to go through an actual fight without utterly failing like in Palmacosta. And then they could storm the ranch with the group when they got there to save Chocolat. It wouldn't be all that bad, really, if things went as she hoped.
A bit of time passed where the two girls were silent, caught up in their own thoughts as they left Palmacosta behind. Both of them were a little jumpy, though, seeing as how where they were going wasn't the most inviting place in the world. However, they didn't really seem so attentive as to have much warning should a monster come up on them. Which was unfortunate, as after about half an hour in which Palmacosta had faded into the distance, one such monster came down to attack.
The only sound that alerted them to the monster's presence was a screech from above, at which both girls looked up quickly. Their eyes widened and they jumped back as a wyvern landed in between them, about where it would have hit one of them if they hadn't moved. Its wings folded up to its sides and it turned its head back and forth, hungry eyes taking in both girls. The slight pause in the dragon-like creature was long enough for them to get their weapons out in preparation for an attack, which was quick in coming.
Seeming to see the smaller girl as easier prey, the wyvern turned and snapped at Katherine, who quickly threw up her shield with a yelp. The wyvern's head hit against the metal, making a small clang as the tough scales hit the shield. The shield was dented inward slightly from the force, but otherwise was in good condition. At the same time that her friend had had to block the snapping teeth, Caitlin had had to jump out of the way of the swinging tail before she was nailed with it. It was a close call and she stared at the wyvern a moment where she was safe before taking a deep breath and lunging at the scaly back with her swords.
One of the swords just slid off of the scales, while the other hit the soft membrane of the wyvern's folded wings. The small dragon didn't seem too pleased with having something cold and sharp sunk into its wing and turned, making the hole turn into a tear as it turned, Caitlin's sword falling to her side. This only succeeded in making the wyvern angry and Caitlin only had enough chance to gulp, "Shit..." before it struck out at her. She dropped to the ground, feeling its head go right where she'd been a second ago. Having only swords was slightly problematic, since even the defensive 'X' couldn't do much to hold a pissed-off monster at bay.
Now Katherine took her chance to attack, hurriedly slashing at the wyvern's side while she had a chance. It made a shallow cut at the base of its back leg where the scales were thinner, but it didn't even seem to notice. Instead it simply spread its wings and rose into the air. The bleeding tear in its membrane didn't appear to do much to impair its flying, but it did seem to be slightly painful.
Caitlin looked up at the wyvern fearfully as her friend came to her side again quickly. Hoping that the monster would be kind enough to wait, Caitlin pushed herself up off the ground, but dived aside almost as soon as she rose. A fiery jet came from the wyvern's mouth, barely hitting the two girls. Caitlin's cape caught fire and she quickly put it out, a little disappointed that it had been burnt again, but also glad that it was the only damage done. Katherine's pant leg had a small flame building which was quickly put out as well.
"Genis... How the hell are we supposed to fight this damn thing?!" the younger girl shouted, scrambling up again and running back as the wyvern landed again. Her friend followed this time so that they wouldn't be separated by the winged serpent again. The wyvern touched down, its eyes narrowed in as much of a glare as any monster could give. It did not seem happy at all with the girls, and it was even more annoyed that its prospective dinner was refusing to simply sit there and be eaten.
"I have no idea," Katherine answered her friend, adjusting her shield slightly in preparation for another attack. This time the attack wasn't as quick as the wyvern looked between the two, still trying to figure out the easiest to nab. It considered Katherine before dismissing the thought - the round shiny thing on her arm had hurt quite a bit. So it moved back to Caitlin.
The younger of the two girls shouted as the wyvern came at her, holding her swords up. The defensive maneuver didn't do much more than hit the wyvern in the head with the crossed blades, but that at least stalled it for a second. Then she realized something they should have tried from the start - what about techs? None had been used so far!
Quickly, she tried to focus her mana as she put her sword up in front of her, deflecting one of the wyvern's huge teeth, but another scraped and cut her arm as its jaw moved down. She flinched, losing control over her mana slightly before trying again even harder. Once she was sure she had enough, she shouted the first thing that came to mind. "Tempest!" At that moment, she jumped up, tucking herself into a ball and spinning with the blades pointed out. They hit against the scales on the wyvern's head, one of them impaling the eye with an insane amount of luck and making the creature half-blind.
Caitlin wound up sprawled between the wyvern's wings, completely dizzy and also aching from her hard impact with the scales. That was not a tech that she was going to be using again anytime soon. It left her a little too exposed she realized as she got up, gripping one of the wyvern's wing joints to keep from falling off. The grip reminded her of her position and she made a small noise of fright as the wyvern looked around to stare at her.
The dragon-like creature's eyes were full of loathing and it beat its wings, hoping to dislodge her and also consequently rising into the air slightly. "Son of a... Genis!" Caitlin shouted, nearly losing her grip on one of her swords. One of the blades hit the wyvern's wing again and it roared, flapping its wing harder. The girl was thrown to the ground with the movement and she landed hard, wincing as she forced herself to her feet. She knew it was dangerous to stay down on the ground where she was vulnerable when there was a wyvern up above just waiting to kill her.
"I'm sorry, are you okay?" Katherine asked worriedly, and her friend just waved her off and rotated her shoulders - which was another painful movement - while waiting for the wyvern to touch back down. It opened its mouth, about to breathe fire, and Katherine grabbed her friend's arm and pulled her underneath the wyvern as soon as it let the breath out. Luckily it didn't seem to realize that if it simply landed that both girls would be crushed and kept to the air, looking around for its prey.
After the fire had disappeared completely, the girls hurried out from underneath the wyvern. It spotted them and swooped down to attack again. Katherine had decided to copy her friend's technique (minus winding up on the wyvern's back) and build up her mana for a tech. When it got close she released it, the words, "Sun Strike!" coming from her mouth at a shout. Her whole weight was put into her shield arm, and the metal was rammed full-force into the wyvern's face, stunning it effectively. It dropped to the ground, trying to shake its head clear of stars and blood, as both girls took advantage of its weakness to thrust their swords as hard as they could into its scaly chest.
The wyvern let out one last groan before falling still, letting the girls collapse to the ground. Caitlin gave a groan of her own, closing her eyes and letting her swords roll out of her hands. "That was hard," she moaned, turning her head to look at her friend to see Katherine's opinion on the fight.
Katherine nodded, leaning back. "My arm hurts..." she sighed. "But I guess you're not much better off, are you? Not bad for our first fight against a wyrven. I didn't even know those traveled so close to Palmacosta..." A stray thought made her giggle, the adrenaline messing with her head. "I guess that makes you Caitlin, Wyrven Slayer!" she added, putting as much dramatic flair in as she could.
Caitlin laughed at her friend's dramatic title and sat up, hoping that she wouldn't feel as sore much later since that would just suck. "'Cause I just rock like that," she agreed, nodding, before deciding to add, "And it's pronounced 'wyvern' by the way. You're mixing the letters up." She was a little particular about things like that, since she was very into mythical creatures. It was like how Katherine had tried to pronounce 'homunculus' as 'homuncluse'.
"Che. Whatever...we still rock." Katherine took a deep breath before standing up, tossing an apple gel from her bag to Caitlin before reaching over to grab her sword and shield. "Do you wanna loot the body for anything valuable looking? Or just leave it and get going?" Rubbing her arm, she added, "Because I am not touching that thing any more than I have too. Bleh."
When her friend tossed the apple gel, Caitlin fumbled to catch it for a minute as she sat up. She managed to keep a hold on it and swallowed it in a few gulps. It took effect fairly quickly, and her aches and the cut on her arm started to disappear as she stood up. For a minute she was silent after Katherine suggested looking to the wyvern for loot, looking from the dead creature to the shorter girl and back again. "Why would looting it get us anything?" she finally asked, fixing her attention on Katherine. "I kind of doubt that monsters actually carry Gald and gels and stuff with them. Or anything of value, really."
Katherine looked back at the wyvern. "...Oh. I actually hadn't really thought of that. I guess it wouldn't be carrying its treasure with it. But maybe it has Gald or gems stuck on it from its hoard, like in The Hobbit!" She examined it again. "Or not. Whatever. I guess we should get going then?"
Chuckling and rolling her eyes at her friend, Caitlin agreed, leading the way toward the general direction of the ranch again. At least they would know they'd be getting close when they reached a forested area. So there was some kind of landmark, as well as the vague directions they had from the game itself. "Keep an eye out for more fire-breathing monsters, 'kay?" she said, grinning back at Katherine, half joking and half serious. It would suck if they were jumped by another wyvern while heading to the ranch.