Lloyd's eyes sprang open when he heard the door shut. It wasn't even loud—actually, he wasn't entirely sure he had heard it until he noticed Kratos was gone—so it shouldn't have woken him up, but here he was, awake… Crap.

And it was early too! He wagered he'd only gotten about four hours of sleep, judging by the small amount of light coming in through the single window. And they had to leave for the stupid ruins today, too. Lloyd rolled over; pulling the pillow over his head, even though he knew the effort was useless. Once he was woken up, he could never get back to sleep.

He stubbornly laid there for a few more minutes, desperately trying to force himself back into slumber. However, despite his tiredness, he couldn't force his eyes to stay closed. Groaning, he pushed himself up and off the bed, stripping off yesterday's clothes that he had slept in. As he re-dressed, a though hit him. What's Kratos doing up this early?

Hmm, seemed suspicious… Time to check it out.

Lloyd snuck out the door and down the stairs, seeing neither hide nor hair of the mercenary. Figuring he must be outside, Lloyd crept to the door, opening it just a crack to check if the coast was clear. He quietly slipped through.

Kratos was in front of the stable where Noishe was sleeping, arms crossed over his chest, talking, but to whom? …Oh, Yuan was standing in the shadows, leaned against one of the stable's posts. What were they both doing out here this early in the morning? Lloyd tiptoed closer to the pair, striving to hear a bit of their conversation…

"Well, Kratos, what are you going to do about it, then?"

"I can't do anything."

"But he's—"

"You don't think I know that?" Kratos sighed. "There's nothing to be done. I'm here to escort the Chosen, nothing more."

What were they talking about? Lloyd couldn't make much sense of the conversation. He was currently skulking just around the corner from them, pressing himself back against the wall. Yuan muttered something too soft for him to hear; Kratos answered in an equally low voice. Lloyd curiously inched closer; his interest rising, he stopped paying as much attention to being quiet…

He gasped, his eyes widening as he felt the steel pressed to his throat. "Whoa!"

The blade dropped as the auburn-haired mercenary took a step back. "Lloyd…" He sheathed his sword.

"Nice job, you almost skewered the kid," Yuan said sarcastically from behind Kratos.

"What are you doing, Lloyd?"

"Uh…" He felt his face flush; being caught eavesdropping was not good at all. He decided it was best to fight fire with fire. "I should ask you the same thing. It's freaking early. Besides, you woke me up when you left."

"I apologize." Kratos had already turned away, probably trying to figure out how much of his conversation Lloyd had heard.

Lloyd needed to relax the situation a bit. "So… since we're both up and all, maybe you could start training me, like you said before?" Lloyd had seen the man in action, and while slightly—okay, scratch that, majorly—resentful of the guy, he had skills. Lloyd was practically itching to get that good.

"If you really want to, I see no reason why not."

"Sweet." Lloyd was pumped, ready to show what he could do.

"Oh, this is gonna be good…" Yuan smirked. "I think I have to see this."

So it happened that a few minutes later, the two swordsmen faced each other across the sand, their blue-haired companion sprawled lazily on the ground.

Lloyd grinned as he sank into a fighting stance. "You ready?"

Kratos stood casually, sword drawn, but held loosely. The man nodded without shifting his stance, which ticked Lloyd off. Who did this guy think he was? Lloyd charged, blades poised to slash at the man—

Who was suddenly no longer there. Lloyd felt a tug on the back of his collar; he jerked backwards, choking, and was thrown to the ground. The mercenary had easily side-stepped his attack, stepping behind him as he ran past. Yuan chuckled from the sidelines.

"Hmph, just as I expected," Kratos said coolly, his auburn hair not hiding the disdain on his face. "Sloppy, unrefined. Vulnerable."

Lloyd growled as he picked himself up, launching himself immediately at the mercenary.

He was once again thrown backwards, but at least Kratos had used the sword that time…

"Did you honestly expect to get through this journey?" the man asked as Lloyd charged a third time, knocking the boy back with little effort.

"Sh-shut up!"

Kratos disarmed him quickly, shoving him forward into the sand. "At this rate, you'll only slow everyone down."

Forsaking his swords, Lloyd threw himself at his opponent, attempting—and failing—a tackle. Kratos tossed him aside, casually holding his sword towards his neck. "Lesson one: don't let your emotions control you." He stepped back. "When you get angry, you lose control of yourself. You leave openings."

Lloyd spit sand out of his mouth, panting. Damn… he was being humiliated! "What do you know, anyway," he muttered angrily.

"Lloyd, you need to eliminate your vulnerabilities if you want to survive this journey."

"Just because you're a little better than me, you have to talk like you know everything."

"Kid," Yuan smirked, "he's a hell of a lot better than you."

Infuriated, Lloyd snapped, "Who are you to talk? I haven't seen you do anything."

"That's because I have better things to do." He stood up, brushing himself off carelessly. "I'm headed back to the inn."

"Bastard…" Lloyd muttered under his breath as he retrieved his swords.

"Calm yourself, Lloyd."

"I'm out of here." He bent to retrieve his swords.

"Giving up already?" Kratos' voice was soft, his lip curled in disgust.

"I'm not giving up!" Lloyd flared. "But I'm not just going to sit here and take this while you humiliate me!"

Kratos sighed. "I'm not attempting to humiliate you, Lloyd. If you don't want to accept my advice, I can't force you. However, you'll never become stronger if you do not learn from your mistakes."

Lloyd was fuming, but a small part of him knew Kratos was right. Actually, that small part was angering him more than Kratos. "Fine," he snapped. "I'll stay."

"Lloyd…"

The teen took a deep breath. "Yeah, calm, I know." After a moment, he turned back to the mercenary, marginally more relaxed. "So, what's lesson number two?"

"Pay attention." With that, Kratos effortlessly disarmed him again; his swords landed a few feet away. "You need to focus on your opponent."

Lloyd all but growled at the man; he stared back dispassionately. "Retrieve your weapons." Lloyd grudgingly did as he was told.

…

After a few more hours and many more bruises, they returned to the inn to find everyone else already awake.

"Lloyd, where've you been?" Genis called from the table where he and Colette were eating breakfast.

"Training," Lloyd groaned as he collapsed in a chair, stealing a couple pancakes from his elven friend's plate and stuffing them into his mouth; he hadn't eaten before sneaking out this morning, and he was starved.

"Really, it looks more like you were rolling in the sand," Genis replied, scowling at his friend.

"Yeah, that about sums it up…" The signature red of his jacket was almost completely obscured by the thick coating it had acquired from all the times he was tossed to the ground. "Why did I agree to that again?"

"Because otherwise the Professor would have been worried." Colette smiled cheerily as the munched her syrup-drenched breakfast.

"Hurry up, Lloyd, we need to leave soon," the silver-haired teacher snapped.

"Seriously? I only just got back, I'm tired!"

"Then you shouldn't have been out so early."

Lloyd sighed; it wasn't like it was his fault, it was all Kratos.

"Cheer up, kid," Skah said as he playfully shoved the teen. "After all, we're heading to that Seal thing, right? That's gotta be pretty cool."

Lloyd grinned. Yeah, this sounded like it was going to be fun…

Lloyd was wrong. By the time they had reached the ruins, he was tired, thirsty, and drenched in sweat. "So… hot…" He collapsed against the broken wall of the structure. "I'm sick of this desert."

"Hey twerp, you owe me ten Gald, told you he wouldn't make it to the Seal before he got bored."

Genis dug in his pocket for the coins as Skah smirked triumphantly. Lloyd was about to protest to being the subject of their bets when Noishe whined.

"Oh crap, I think there are monsters—" he started to say, but stopped when he realized that the subject of his pet's fear seemed to be… the Professor.

"MARVELOUS!"

Her companions turned as one to stare at her; her hands were clenched into fists, arms held up against her chest, as she surveyed the ruins. "This is absolutely fantastic!"

"Uh… Genis, what's wrong with your sister?" Skah asked slowly as the woman sprinted forwards, up the stairs.

The boy's reply was drowned out by excited, high-pitched squeals from ahead of them.

"Look at this slab covering the entrance! It's clearly of a different composition than the surrounding stone!"

Yuan sighed. "We'd better go make sure she doesn't hurt herself or something…" Despite his words, he looked rather wary of approaching the Professor.

At the top of the stairs, she was currently practically sprawled on the ground, feeling the rock beneath her. "This is polycarbonate, developed during the Ancient War to defend against magic! Oh, feel the smooth surface! It's wondrous!"

Unaware of the frightened looks of her companions, she continued to gush over the ruins.

Skah's vermillion eyes were wide. "That is messed up."

"If I didn't know better," Yuan commented, "I'd say she's turned on."

Colette tilted her head to the side. "She's what?" No one bothered to answer her.

"…Is she always like this?" Kratos asked after a pause.

Genis' face was bright red; he wasn't meeting the inquiring gazes focused on him.

"Is she?" Lloyd repeated.

His friend sighed. "I've been trying so hard to hide it, too."

Raine bent to examine a pedestal in the center of the platform. "Hmm? This depression… It reads, 'oracle stone'." She straightened and turned to face them. "Colette, place your hand here. That should reveal the entrance."

The blonde did as instructed, and sure enough, the slab slid back, revealing a set of steep stairs descending underground.

"It opened! Wow! I guess I'm really the Chosen after all!"

"Uh, girl, I think we had already figured that one out," Skah muttered sarcastically.

Lloyd grinned. "Okay, now it's getting exciting! Let's hurry up and go inside!"

"NO!" The Professor's dark blue eyes were huge. "We are not going inside until I am finished studying these glorious ruins!"

There was a long silence in which everyone stared at her in shock; Lloyd, Skah, and Yuan took the opportunity to back up a few steps, eager to get away from her apparent mania.

"Ms. Sage, it would be best to get to the Seal as quickly as possible," Kratos stated.

"I am not going anywhere until I have finished my research!"

"Raine," Genis tried to persuade her, "There'll be more ruins on the inside; you can see those on the way…" His sister's glare was more than enough to silence him.

"Well then, I guess we stay put." Yuan slumped against one of the walls. "Who wants lunch?"

There was an immediate chorus of "me" from the younger half of the group. The blue-haired man pulled open one of the packs Noishe had been carrying, searching for food.

"What the hell is this?" He looked up from the bag in disgust. "There's nothing edible in here!"

Lloyd snatched the bag to take a look. "What are you talking about? We've got a ton of jerky here, that's good…"

"Maybe for you," he grumbled back, leaning against the wall again. "I, on the other hand, don't eat meat."

Lloyd's jaw dropped. "You… don't… what?" He had never heard of anything so crazy in his life.

"Yuan's a vegetarian," Kratos replied as he pulled a few rolls out of another pack and tossed them to the man in question.

"But… why?" Lloyd was still bewildered. How could you not eat meat? That was just… wrong, somehow.

"Excuse me if I don't want to consume the carcass of some slaughtered animal," Yuan huffed, turning his head away as if offended. His aqua-hued hair swished around his ears, which Lloyd realized, for the first time, were pointed.

Apparently he wasn't the only one. "What's with the pointy ears, Blue?" Skah asked suddenly.

"What about them?" he calmly replied.

Colette looked over in surprise; Genis looked almost worried.

"Well?" Skah said expectantly.

"What, do they bother you? Morally offensive? Those two have them too." The man nodded towards the Sage siblings.

"Oh, are you an elf like Genis and the Professor?" Colette inquired.

Yuan raised a thin eyebrow. "Half-elf, actually."

"Like those damn Desians, you mean," Skah muttered.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't compare me to them." Yuan's voice had turned to ice; his emerald eyes were piercing slits.

"Leave it alone, Skah," Lloyd said as the blond opened his mouth again. When the blood-red gaze turned to him, he repeated, "Just drop it."

Both Yuan and Kratos looked at the teen in surprise, but they kept silent. Lloyd still felt awkward with all the eyes on him. "So, are we gonna eat or not?" he asked, grabbing a handful of jerky. Luckily, his companions followed suit.

…

Two hours later, they had not moved. The Professor was still in the newly named "Ruin-Mode", and wasn't showing any signs of stopping.

"Hey Shorty," Skah muttered, "go shut your sister up."

"I tried already," Genis sighed. "I think we just have to let her finish."

"I think that's gonna take a while…" There was a collective sigh from the group in general as they watched the ecstatic elf flit around the area, examining bits of rock and taking notes.

Suddenly, Noishe stood up, fur on end, whining.

"Noishe, what's wrong?" Lloyd asked, but then his dog bolted, making him realize the problem.

Kratos came to the same conclusion. "Be on your guard," he stated softly as he looked around.

Lloyd pulled out his swords, spotting the approaching monsters. "Here we go," he muttered.

Genis immediately started casting; Lloyd ran brashly forward, focused on the fire elemental on the right; Kratos charged its twin on the left. Colette, staying slightly farther back, threw her a chakram at Lloyd's monster; the metal made a clean slice along its side, but did no serious damage.

Skah had by this point joined Lloyd in the fight, and between the three of them finished their opponent fairly quickly. Genis let off a water spell on the remaining elemental, Colette sliced at its back as the swordsmen hacked away. Well, in Lloyd's case at least; Kratos and Skah pulled off their attacks with more grace.

While the battle was over fairly quickly, without a healer backing them, the younger members of the group had taken a mild amount of damage. "This is going to be a nuisance," Kratos muttered to himself as he sheathed his sword.

"Talk about it," Yuan replied, still leaning against the wall.

Lloyd glared at him. "You shut up; I didn't see you helping at all!"

"I'll help when I'm actually needed, but until then…" Yuan shrugged nonchalantly. "It's more fun to watch you struggle."

"Oh, thanks a lot, Blue." Skah glared at the man.

Kratos pointedly ignored the both of them, turning to the others in the party. "It would be a good idea for you to learn techniques to protect yourselves."

Colette looked at him curiously. "Are you talking about self-defense training?"

"Something like that. Techniques to raise your defense during battle."

"Cool!" Lloyd exclaimed, eager to learn the new skills. He was unaware of Skah and Genis behind him as they quietly bet on how long his enthusiasm would last.

Once again, Skah won, having bet low. Within five minutes, Lloyd was groaning as he tried again—and failed—to create the bubble-like shield that Kratos had demonstrated.

The teen's shoulders slumped as he watched Genis, who was having no problems with the technique… Stupid magic user had it easy. Then again, Skah didn't use magic, and he had managed the skill on his first try. At least Colette was having the same troubles he was.

After another failed attempt, he was debating just giving up for now. "Damn… am I just not strong enough?" he muttered to himself.

"It has nothing to do with your strength, Lloyd," Kratos said quietly from behind him, making him jump.

Lloyd hung his head, his face flushed. "Then why can't I do it?" he asked as he watched Colette manage a mostly transparent force field. Sure, it wasn't actually good, it wouldn't hold up to an attack, but it was more than he had managed.

Yuan, from a short ways away, called, "Because you're an idiot."

Lloyd felt his face growing even hotter. "Ignore Yuan," Kratos said. "He's rather insensitiveabout these things."

"That coming from you?" Lloyd muttered. Kratos ignored it.

"Techniques such as these are easier for those who are accustomed to manipulating mana," he explained.

"Then how come Skah can do it?"

Kratos' eyes narrowed slightly as he watched the younger swordsman conjure a barrier the color of the setting sun. "He would be the exception, not the rule."

"I bet you got it right away…" Lloyd was ashamed of himself; he had already gotten his ass handed to him this morning, and now he couldn't even do this…

"Quite the opposite, actually," Kratos murmured. Lloyd looked at him in surprise. "I couldn't grasp the concept at all."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously." The man smiled slightly, which frankly gave Lloyd the creeps. "You'll figure it out soon. Try again."

"Okay…" Lloyd closed his eyes so he could concentrate better instead of watching his friends' attempts. He focused on the image of the barrier, the shell that no one would be able to crack. Suddenly, he felt something like a surge of power course through him. His eyes shot open, only to see the world around him tinted slightly red. However, as soon as he realized this, it vanished.

"I— Did I do it?"

Kratos nodded slightly. "Practice a little more and it will be perfect."

The brunette nodded eagerly, tensing his muscles and calling on the power he had felt before.

"This is awesome!" Lloyd shouted when he actually managed to create a solid guard around himself. Genis grinned widely and nodded, currently enveloped in his own force field.

"What are you all doing?"

The Professor had finally reappeared on the scene, notes safely tucked beneath her arm.

"So good of you to join us," Kratos said coldly.

"What is going on here?"

Kratos folded his arms. "While you were enjoyingyourself, Ms. Sage, we were attacked. It became apparent that your students," he practically spat the word, "did not have adequate knowledge of how to defend themselves. I merely remedied that."

Attempting to diffuse the tension, Lloyd added, "He showed us some really cool stuff, Professor! You should learn it too."

Her cerulean eyes narrowed as she looked at the man before her. "Well then, Mr. Aurion, please demonstrate."

Kratos eyed her for a moment before turning and heading for the entrance to the Seal. "Genis, if you would please show your sister what I taught you; I don't have the time to waste." Signaling for the rest of the group to follow, he led the way down the stairs and into the darkness.

Inside was little more than a hallway. Lloyd looked around, expecting to see monsters hiding in the shadows or more tunnels branching off the one they were in, but was disappointed. The single path only led farther on, with no end in sight. He ran to the front of the group, eager to see what was to come.

Eventually, they came to the end of their hallway. It split into two, circling a large central chamber. Seeing an archway directly ahead, Lloyd grinned. "C'mon," he shouted to his friends, running forward; he jerked back when Kratos grabbed hold of his collar, choking him. He coughed. "What was that for?"

"It would be dangerous to run ahead without any idea what you're doing," the older man stated calmly.

"But—" He stopped when he looked back and saw his teacher's face. "Oh shit, not again!" he moaned.

"This is fabulous!" She ran forward to examine the archway. "This is undeniable evidence that…" She went on and on, using words that made Lloyd's head hurt. Abruptly, she ran to the right, brushing off the soot-covered wall. "There are Angelic inscriptions here! Colette, come help me translate!" The blonde skipped over and happily assisted the Professor in reading what looked to Lloyd like a bunch of scribbles.

The Professor turned to face the rest of them, silver hair swishing with the sudden movement. "We must explore this area!"

Kratos sighed. "I suppose there's no stopping her…" he said under his breath. Then, louder, he complied. "It would be wise to know our surroundings."

So it happened that they found themselves walking round the circuitous corridors of the ruin, most of the party spacing while trying to stay as far from Raine as possible. As they wandered without anything happening, Lloyd felt his interest wane while the Professor droned on. Wasn't there supposed to be monsters or traps or something interesting in here? If only something would happen, he was so bored…

Suddenly, he grinned. "Hey Colette, Genis, you wanna play ping?"

His oldest friends' faces lit up. "Sure!" Genis exclaimed. "Who's starting? Colette, you want to do the honors?"

"Okay. Lava, wall, Lloyd."

"Good ping," Lloyd said happily, already enjoying his other companions' reactions to his game.

"Not this again," the Professor sighed, putting a hand to her head. "I can feel a headache coming on already…"

"What exactly are we doing?" Skah had raised an eyebrow, looking at Lloyd like something had just sprouted off his face.

"It's called ping."

"And what do we do?"

"You have to figure out the rules for yourself." Lloyd's grin spread even wider as he thought ahead to all the hours of fun this would provide, what with having four people along who didn't know the game… "Here, we'll give you examples. Floor, Kratos, Professor, bad ping, okay? Colette, lava, Sorcerer's Ring, good ping. Got it?"

"What's the difference between a good and bad ping?"

"They won't tell you," the Professor commented. "He wants you to guess the rules on your own."

"Only one rule, Raine," Genis sing-songed from in front of them.

"I've been hearing them play for three years now and I still don't understand…"

Colette piped up. "Okay, block, torch, fire, good ping. Skah, Lloyd, Mr. Yuan, bad ping."

"Is it whether you have people in the ping?"

"Nope!" the three children chimed at once.

"The number of letters?"

"Definitely not, do you think Lloyd can count all the letters in what he says? He can't even spell most of it," Genis laughed. Lloyd mock-punched him.

"We'll give you a few more. Okay, swords, kendama, Kratos, good ping," Lloyd said, looking for more items to list. "Lava, Skah, bird monster, bad ping."

He, Colette, Skah, and Genis all performed the world's biggest double-take as they noticed the phoenix-like creature swoop down from its hiding place in the vaulted ceiling of the structure. "Oh, shit!" Lloyd exclaimed as he drew his swords.

As it turned out, there was no need to; before he could do anything, Kratos had drawn his blade and cut the creature down. Yuan, from behind, cast a small lightning spell, finishing the bird off.

"You should pay more attention to your surroundings instead of becoming so absorbed in your asinine game," the mercenary commented dryly before moving on.

"Hey, it's because of me we noticed it!" Lloyd exclaimed, ignoring how he didn't know what asi-whatever meant. He got no reply as the mercenary moved forward.

After a minute or so of silence, Skah said slowly, "How about this… moody mercenary, idiot swords-boy, freaky blue-hair. Good ping?"

"Nope, bad ping." Lloyd winced. "And insulting ping."

"Will the lot of you just shut up already?" Yuan snarled, making Lloyd laugh. Honestly, they never played ping when it was only him, Colette, and Genis; the whole fun of the game was annoying the hell out of everyone around them.

"Okay, that was bad… what about psycho teacher, blond Chosen, teen swordsman-in-training?"

"I think that was a good ping!" Colette squealed.

Genis smirked. "Not great, but it worked. But would it kill you to use actual names?"

"What was good about it?" Skah asked while ignoring Genis; his "good ping" was obviously accidental.

"You have to figure it out," Lloyd replied, teasingly shoving the older man. "Okay, me, you, me, good ping, okay? Colette, lava, Colette, good ping. Lava, Genis, me, bad ping."

Crimson eyes widened under a few stray locks of white-blond hair. "I think I might have gotten this… Okay, me, Blue, shrimp. Good ping?"

"Yes!" Lloyd laughed loudly; Skah was the first person to ever figure out the rules since they had started playing three years ago. Lloyd had invented it, and he told Genis and Colette; they had remained the only people to understand the one rule. Now another had entered their midst.

"No," the Professor said, horrified. "You figured it out? I've been trying to understand this for years!"

"Haha, so you admit you docare, Raine!" Genis cried triumphantly, pointing at his sister.

She folded her arms and looked away, trying to look dignified, but after a few moments she looked back at Skah—ignoring her dislike of him—and softly asked, "Will you please tell me the point of this game?"

Skah smirked evilly. "Sorry, Professor, you have to figure it out on your own."

…

Well, they've officially made it inside, at least… *sigh* This is taking longer than I thought it would.

Anyway, next chapter expect puzzles, battles, and a few more surprises… Review please?