Okay... I got my pizza. I am happy... for now.
On another note, to V-gurl: Okay. So it could probably use some further editing. -shrugs- I'm a bit more concerned with AEtT and ADL right now. As for the cast going to Earth... No, it's not on the itinerary. That said, the Tales of Symphonia crew will be making an appearance in the later arcs of AEtT/ATS. (Yeah, you read that right. ATS.) However, as Kairi figures out how to send the Symphonia crew plus Dante back to Aselia pretty quickly (once she actually starts trying), I imagine they wouldn't be on Earth for long. (Which is probably good, because I've got a mental image of Reighn panicking every time he sees a car and therefore sending Anise and Natalia into fits of panic while Dark just laughs his ass off at them.)
*I know Asch and Luke fell into a hole.* –Kairi
Chapter 13.5 – End Game
Part 115
Once we got Anise to calm down about our laughing—we sure as hell weren't going to tell her why we'd been laughing—the rest of the afternoon was spent discussing the first Transformers movie.
I went to bed with Bumblebee on my brain, and woke up wondering if Ratchet and Reighn would get along like icing and cupcakes or would try to kill each other.
That odd mental image firmly rooted in my mind, we continued on... only to run into a couple of girls I'd been hoping not to see.
"You again!"
Meryl looked upset to see me, and no wonder, given what she believed had happened with her sister. I sighed.
"Look, I really don't want to have to fight you two."
Mirage scowled. "Too bad. Zion's pissed at you..." She made a hand signal, and two full platoons of replica soldiers stepped out of hidden doors. I scowled. We would have to break into groups to deal with these guys...
I set down a telepathic field, and everyone latched on almost immediately. *I'd rather not deal with these two,* I admitted. *I call the army.*
*I'll fight Mirage and Meryl,* Natalia said.
*I'll help. These two are a force to be reckoned with even on their own,* Dark added. Selenia looked amused.
*How about me, Reighn, Seth, and Kairi deal with the replicated Oracle Knights?* she said. *We've got poisoned weapons, and Kairi's pretty good at clearing out crowds like this.*
*Don't remind me...*
The fight started after what, to an onlooker, would have seemed to be a few moments of utter silence. Of course, I kept the telepathic field down, even though I cut the connection with everyone off. If they needed my attention, they obviously knew how to get it.
I fought with Silver Clematis once again, and found that this was slightly easier now than it had been in Northern Chesedonia.
A Sandstorm erupted nearby, and I smirked, ran over, and used a Guardian's Pain to finish off the replicas around me. I then launched into the next group.
These replicas were a bit faster learners than the ones I'd faced in Northern Chesedonia, but that didn't save them from my dance of blood and death. I noticed that Selenia and Seth were sticking to the opposite side of the room. Reighn was sticking mostly to unleashing artes near us.
Selenia would step back once in a while and unleash an Angel Feathers or one of her other fonic artes, but for the most part, her arte usage was limited to Devastation, DelQues, and the FoF mutations of both.
Seth, likewise, was sticking to Demon Wing—an arte he'd learned off Reighn at some point—Wing Blade, which looked kinda like a windmill thing, and White Tempest, an arte he and Sync had both been given as a project from Flick.
My own battle was similar. Slash, stab, Guardian Field, Rising Wind—since I had Silver Clematis out, and it was fairly fluid with this pattern—slash, slash, thrust, Havoc Strike, DelQues, and back to general hack and slash. And, just like in Northern Chesedonia, I was covered in blood by the time I realized I'd have to run around the main battle with Mirage and Meryl to get at the remaining two dozen replica soldiers.
Rather than joining the battle with my own replica, who had successfully knocked out Luke and Sync, I ran around them to help Seth and Selenia. Seth backed off to cast artes, though I noted that they were aimed at Mirage for the most part.
By the time Selenia and I were finished, Jade, Tear, and Reighn had joined the list of unconscious people. Asch had paused long enough to drag people out of the way, so I released Silver Clematis and let my regular katana form in my hand while I ran at Mirage. I didn't dare use the poisoned katana in such close quarters with any of my friends.
Her claymore came up to block my attack, and I noted that she wasn't using the same fighting style as me at all anymore.
The two of us fought for a moment before her leg came up, catching me in the gut and sending me flying. I caught Dark's eye as I started to stand, and he latched onto the field.
*I want to use a Sacred Beacon on Meryl,* he said. I nodded, acknowledging it.
He ran in toward the 'sisters,' who were using the short reprieve they'd gotten to make use of what looked like a handy little health-restoring arte, and unleashed his over-limit. They went flying in rather different directions, and I moved to stand right behind him as the world faded out.
The familiar ball of light formed over Meryl's head, and she stared up at it looking rather lost. "O divine light of the heavens..."
The girl's expression changed, and she started to panic, seemingly just then realizing that this was not going to end well.
"Consecrate these rotted souls so they may ascend to your holy lands!" The beam of light formed and Meryl screamed. "Sacred Beacon!"
I took over as the light faded, and Meryl looked at me, terrified. "Judgment from heaven?"
The darkness gathered, forming into chains and I turned to walk away. "Ha! I'll see you in hell!" I took a few steps, paused, and then yanked on a chain. "Devil's Anguish!"
Meryl screamed again, though this time there was more pain than fear.
As the Extension ended and the world faded back in, it became rather obvious that the rest of the battle hadn't paused.
Guy had joined the list of unconscious allies, and Asch and Mirage were now locked in combat, and Mirage looked positively murderous.
The moment she saw me, she slipped away from Asch and made to attack me. Dark pulled out his chakrams to try to hold her off, but he didn't succeed very much, and I had to duck around my replica's attack before I could try to land a few of my own. A Guardian Field, Havoc Strike, and some running later, I acknowledged that my replica was definitely the stronger of the two of us...
Stronger physically, at least. If I could just...
I summoned Silver Clematis back to my hand as Asch retreated and ran in again, my regular katana vanishing. My weapon was smaller, lighter, and I had the greater speed and agility. Mirage's choice in sword meant she was slower.
I could win this, with a bit of luck and a lot of focus.
*Keep Meryl preoccupied!* I ordered Dark and Asch.
They relayed the orders to the others, while I rolled around another attack and used a DelQues to catch Mirage off guard—or try to, at least.
We kept fighting for a while before I realized that I would need healed soon, by someone...
"Meditation!"
"Thanks, Reighn!"
I guess we'd been fighting long enough that he had woken up on his own. I could see the others still laying where we'd left them... though...
"Damn it, we've got more Oracle Knight replicas coming in!" Asch announced. I huffed and let off another DelQues to display my frustration.
"Deal with Mirage and Meryl. I'll get the others," I said, already running off to start heading off the inevitable attacks from the horde of replicas.
Selenia ran out to join me when monsters got added to the mess.
Since the others were fighting in what was basically a corner, the two of us were mostly able to keep the rest of the replicas from getting in the way. Reighn went back and forth between healing those who were fighting Mirage and Meryl and letting off Sandstorms and Holy Lances for me and Selenia.
Mostly the Holy Lances, though, since we could both use those. Only I could use the Sandstorm FoFs for Guardian's Pain, and while that was rather devastating on its own, Silver Clematis and Gray Larkspur were doing a better job of decimating their numbers.
Especially once Selenia discovered that she could do a twirling attack and then follow it up with a stronger-than-usual Devastation. That, especially, was doing damage to the number of replicas we were facing.
It didn't take us as long to fight through the second wave of replicas, since there weren't as many of them, and then we turned and went back to the main battle between Mirage, Meryl, and the others. I immediately got caught up in a fight against Mirage again, and like before, everyone started avoiding us.
Then I heard Asch curse. This was followed up by a frustrated Destruction Field.
Meryl cried out again, and Mirage faltered.
I ducked in, avoiding her sword and slipping under her defense easily. My regular katana opened up a nice gash along her side, and she cursed at me before using the same strike arte Asch had just learned.
I cursed a bit as I got tossed away.
"Azure Edge!"
I then had to roll to avoid the arte Meryl sent my way.
Dark finally got in a hit with the White Lotus chakrams, and I bit my lip. One down... now to deal with the other one...
Asch helped me out by keeping Mirage distracted for the moment it took me to get my bearings again. I attacked my replica, and suddenly felt like it was the game all over again.
Asch vs. Luke, one on one, in the middle of a trap Van had rigged.
A terrible premonition of sorts hit me, even as my attacks were blocked.
Zion wanted me. Not Asch. Not Luke. Me.
The trap would be set for me, not the redheads.
I twirled, Rising Wind coming easily thanks to Silver Clematis.
Then Mirage's eyes widened, and she jumped back a few times before racing around me to where Meryl was now laying on the ground.
She glanced around at us, lifted her 'sister', and then took off running. I crossed my arms.
"This feels vaguely familiar," I muttered.
Jade sighed. "Great... And just like with Rhunön, that means we'll have to fight Mirage again later."
I nodded. "Yeah, but if Meryl's down, that's one less thing for us to worry about... Damn, this is leaving a bad taste in my mouth."
Dark scowled. "Glad to know I'm not the only one," he said. He crossed his arms, White Lotus chakrams having disappeared. Huh, had he gone and learned the trick Jade and I used? "Well, we should get going." I nodded in agreement.
Especially since I was now rather concerned about the trap we would eventually walk right into. Perhaps, under other circumstances, we wouldn't have run into it, but, well...
I'd seen the layout of Eldrant. I'd been the one to draw out the map we were now following, and I knew better than to hope that we could get out of this unscathed.
There was only one path from Outer Eldrant Citadel to Inner Eldrant Citadel. And if Zion had set up his trap along that route, we would have to walk into it to get to the infrastructure around replicated Hod.
I knew I needed to warn someone, but I didn't need the others freaking out on me... So who? Jade, who was leading us? Asch? Definitely not, since he would immediately start to panic and try to come up with another idea. Jade wouldn't want to keep going either, if he found out we were walking into a trap. But what about... Reighn?
Yes. Eternal pessimist that he was, he likely had already guessed there would be a trap somewhere. That it would be set for me likely wouldn't surprise him either.
So I reached out and gently prodded him. *Try not to make it too obvious we're having a conversation,* I said.
Aside from a glance in my direction when he first heard me, he didn't really react, just kept walking.
*What do you need?* he asked. I resisted the urge to look over at Asch.
*In the game, there's a trap set for Luke and Asch. Van set it up. He needed their hyperresonance to finish this... The problem is, with Van gone, I sorta brushed that aside."
Reighn was silent for a moment. *There's still a trap,* he said after a while. I didn't actually nod, but I sent back a general confirmation.
*Zion wants me. And he wants me alive.*
*Definitely a trap. Okay... how do we spring it without losing you?* he asked. I didn't reply out loud. My hesitation and concern must have tipped him off. *You don't have a clue.*
*I know Asch and Luke fell into a hole.*
It took a lot of his self control for Reighn not to start snickering at that. I couldn't help but be amused as well. *Yeah. Asch made a comment about House Fabre and stupid genes.* A pause. *Anyway, I don't think Zion would try that. He knows I've got good enough reflexes to avoid something like that, and, well... It's just not his style.*
*So what do we do?* Reighn asked. *And why am I the only one you're telling?*
I sighed mentally. *Asch would flip. Sync would flip. Dark might take it okay, but he's a bit busy being miffed about Meryl. Jade... Jade probably wouldn't take it all that well, either.*
Reighn sighed back, also mentally. *Good point. I guess I'm the only one that knows about this that you can talk to, since I can't imagine Luke not telling Asch.*
I snorted. *No kidding... those two tell each other everything. It's kind of annoying...* I looked around. No monsters... *So, any ideas? I don't exactly like the thought of running straight into a trap.*
Reighn was distinctly uncomfortable. *Well... Hey, what about your secondary Talent? Would that work?*
I frowned and thought about it. It was one of those things where, if I knew something was going to happen, my Talent helped me, but...
I was somewhat relieved when my Talent pinged back at me. *We've got time. I can't get a specific amount of time out of my Talent, which means it's too far out for it to register.*
*How far out can you sense?* he asked.
*Er... three minutes, give or take?* I paused as logic smacked me in the face. *Besides, it's going to take us a few hours, at least, to get to the most likely spot for a trap. Did you see the way OEC is set up?*
*OEC?*
*Outer Eldrant Citadel. Anyway, there's only one path into IEC. We have to go through there...*
*Which means that's where Zion will put the trap.*
*Exactly. Though since I have no sense of direction...*
*Yeah. Keep an eye on it,* Reighn agreed. *As for trying not to trigger it... It'll depend on the type of trap he's set up. Maybe if we could get the group to stop right before we reach it and I could go on ahead to scout it out while the others are sleeping...*
*I'll stay up on watch,* I offered. He sent back a bit of gratitude.
*Well... Here's hoping everything goes well.*
I agreed whole-heartedly.
Fun Fact: Due to Acidblitz dragging herself—and therefore the cast of her story—into my head, Reighn and Ratchet were actually introduced (there, where they couldn't wreck havoc on the two individual stories). The answer to Kairi's musings up top, by the way, is the former—those two get along quite well, to the point of Ratchet teaching Reighn how to throw a wrench just so he (Reighn) could get Asch to back off from Kairi. (Kairi, of course, then jumped in with her frying pan. Poor Asch.)