5I smiled as I continued swinging. Even though I was already seventeen I didn't lose my love for swinging with my Ipod on. I sung the last verse for the song before getting off of the swing.
Smiling I walked up the deck stairs and went back inside. I looked at my little brother who was watching my older brother play something on the TV. I walked behind my brother and folded my arms on his head.
"Watcha playin'?" I asked. "None of your business," Mick replied. "Oh come on please?" I begged my older brother. "Ugh, fine. Tales of Symphonia," Mick grumbled. I smiled and looked at the screen. Mick was trying to beat Yggdrasill in the Tower of Salvation. He was kicking the creep's fem boy butt!
Ted watched intently as Mick beat the creepy Cruxis leader. I laughed and sneaked up on the oblivious boy. I quickly ruffled his hair as his hands flew up to swat mine away. "Hey," Ted said in a bit of a whiny tone. "Sorry buddy, your hair is just too ruffable," I told my younger brother.
He pouted as I laughed, grabbing the keys to my car. "I'm going to check out a garage sale for Grandma. Don't burn the house down while I'm gone!" I said as I went out the door into the garage. I heard a simultaneous "We won't!" before the door slammed close.
I drove towards the address that my Grandma-ma told me to go to. It was a simple one story with a lot of tables and a blonde man standing near the tables. I parked next to the house and got out. I walked up to the tables to see what they had.
There were knickknacks, old baby clothes, broken junk, and the usual types of thing you find at a garage sale. One thing caught my attention though. There was a table with weapons on them. I took a closer look at the weapons. There was a pair of twin swords, a kendama; some chakrams… cards… staffs… greaves… What the heck?
Why would there be Symphonian weapons on the table? Who in their right mind would own real weapons? Why are they being sold at a garagesale of all places? Those questions were quickly pushed aside when I saw a pair of Sai.
They seemed to gleam in the sunlight. I picked up the weapons and held them in my hands like I was going to fight. They felt… right. It was like they were meant to be in my hands. "So you seem to have some interest in weapons," I heard a voice behind me.
I turned around quickly to see the blonde haired man standing right behind me. He had long hair for a man. The man seemed eerily familiar. He sent chills down my spine. "Um… not really… tell me why do you have these weapons in the first place?" I asked the suspicious man.
"Well, I had a friend who was really interested in a certain video game. He wanted to collect the weapons from this game… what was it called again? Oh yeah! Tales of Symphonia! That was it! He gave them to me so I decided to sell them!" The man explained.
"Ok then…" I said as I held the sai. I saw a pair of black fingerless gloves that went up to about halfway up my upper arm and a black jewel the same size as the hole on the back of one of the gloves. "I'll take this pair of sai, those gloves and that jewel," I said as I picked up the gloves and gem.
"Ten dollars," The man said. "DEAL!" I yelled and slapped the money into his hand. The man looked at me weirdly as I put on the gloves and grabbed the jewel, and sai. I was off towards my house in my car.
When I got back to my house I rushed back inside and up into my room. I grabbed my knapsack and stuffed the sai in there. I grabbed my journal and a few other notebooks and pens and stuffed them in the knapsack too. After closing the bag I grabbed it and ran out of my room and through the door before my brothers could say anything.
I quickly jumped onto my bike and rode down to the water tower. After I got there I looked at the jewel in my hand. I moved it so that it was touching the back of my right hand. The jewel attached to the back of my hand and started turning a deep blue.
I quickly tried to get the gem off but it would not let go of my hand. Ok this isn't good... This is really not good. There was a bout of maniacal laughing before something shoved me up against the water tower.
I gasped as I felt the hand tighten on my neck. I gripped my bag tighter as I saw someone I thought I would never see in my life. Floating in front of me was the man who my older brother was beating in my living room. Yggdrasill laughed as I gasped in front of him.
"So it didn't reject you… interesting… I guess you are compatible with my new project… I knew you were the one as soon as I felt your mana," the blonde man said as he let go of me. "What… what do you mean?" I coughed out. The crazed half-elf laughed as he grabbed my chin and forced me up.
"You want me to tell you? Well, what would be the fun in that?" He said with an evil smile. I wanted to run, scream, do anything but the thing I did next. I spat in Mithos Yggdrasill's face. That of course ticked the angel off.
Ok why did I do that? This guy could kill me in a second. Yggdrasill looked at me with disgust. He wiped his face and gave me a glare that could kill. I stood up slowly and reached to get my sai. Why the heck was I doing that? I lost to him in my first fight against him in the game; there is NO way I can beat him as I am now! I must be mental.
"Let's see how you do in Symphonia," Mithos said as he started laughing maniacally. I felt myself falling into the ground. The feeling felt strange as I fell into darkness. Swirling and jerking I fell down. The only sound I heard was Yggdrasill's laughing.
Slowly I landed on my feet as the world around me seemed to suddenly brighten. I was in a huge forest that I couldn't recognize. I tried to push up my glasses when I realized they weren't there. I panicked a little until I realized I could see perfectly.
This of course confused me to no end. I mean, everything is supposed to be a fuzzy blur without my glasses, but here I was, seeing clearly without my glasses. I blinked a couple of times and then pinched myself to see if this was a dream or a creepy nightmare. The pinch hurt and my vision didn't falter.
I sighed as I looked over my outfit. I was still wearing my red tank top, brown cargo pants, and white tennis shoes. The only differences I noticed were I was more physically fit then I was before and my eyesight was a perfect 20/20.
Sighing I looked into my sack. My sai, notebooks, and pens were still inside. There were also some rolls of bread, jerky, and the like. I raised my eyebrow at the supplies in my bag. When did those get there? I also checked the secret inner pocket to find a small bag that was full of something metal.
I opened up the bag to find coins in there. Well this just keeps getting weirder and weirder. I closed the bag and swung it over my shoulder. Walking through the forest I tried to take in my surroundings. All I could see were trees, trees, and look, more trees.
After what felt like hours, which in reality was only a few minutes, I left the forest to find an open plain. Continuing my boring adventure I ventured into the plain. I saw something approaching me in the distance. I quickly got my sai out as the creepy zombie slowly came towards me.
I froze not knowing what to do. Suddenly a blade sliced the zombie's head off causing the monster to disintegrate. I saw another person I wouldn't expect to see in person in my life time. Lloyd put his swords away and smiled at me. "Are you alright?"
I nodded and smiled. "Thank you," I said. "Who are you?" Genis asked me. "My name's Kari, may I ask yours?" I smiled as I answered the trio of friends.
"Hi! My name is Colette!" Colette said as she smiled cheerfully at me. I smiled back and looked to Lloyd. "The name's Lloyd Irving, nice to meet you," Lloyd said with one of his smiles. "Nice to meet you too," I said.
"Genis Sage," Genis said as he held out his hand to shake mine. I shook his hand with my smile still on my face. Genis seemed to look confused about something as I let go. I tilted my head a little to the right and was about to ask him what was wrong when suddenly I saw a zombie limping toward us.
Acting on my instincts I quickly pulled out my sai and dashed around Genis. Lloyd and Colette followed me as more monsters appeared. I quickly slashed the monster's head off as Lloyd attacked another one. Colette sliced off the third zombie's arm off as Genis burned it to the ground with a fireball.
After we defeated the monsters I turned to the three Sylvaranti. "So… what are you guys doing out here?" I asked the three kids. "Well, Colette is the chosen so she has to go to the church to receive the oracle," Lloyd said.
Ok so I was in Symphonia, with Lloyd and friends, right at the beginning of the game. Ugh, I feel like I am in a bad self-insert fic. "Hey, do you think I could go with you?" I asked the trio. Might as well, since I have nothing else I can do. Plus this is how all the other people did it, and as they say when in doubt, copy others.
Lloyd and Genis looked at each other. Knowing Colette she would let me go with them whether I was an enemy or not. "Can you fight?" Lloyd asked me. "A little bit," I said. Lloyd nodded at that and Genis looked at me skeptically.
"Why do you want to come with us?" Genis asked me. Well… crap that's a problem. I can't tell them the truth. They wouldn't believe me. Time for some improvisation!
"Well, I've always wanted to help people. If I help the chosen on her journey, I'm technically helping all of Sylvarant, right?" I said. Well, it's not a lie. I do want to help people; I've always wanted to do something to help society.
Genis seemed to lose some of his skepticism at that statement. Colette smiled at me and said, "Sure. You can come!" I smiled back at the trio and nodded, "I won't let you down!" Thus we started walking towards the temple.
It was a pretty boring walk if you ask me. We walked in mostly silence, killed a few monsters here and there, and I got used to fighting with my sai. The weird thing is that my muscles seemed to know what they were doing. It was like I had been doing this my whole life.
Of course the thing is I only learned a few moves from internet videos and toy sai. I wasn't a professional. This is really starting to feel like either a really messed up dream, or a really crappily written self-insert fic.
Finally after killing our thirteenth monster (I kept count), we made it to the Church of Martel. The game did the building no justice. The old steps lead to a beautiful brown building. There was a beam of light entering the opening on the roof. Honestly, the game's design paled in comparison.
We all stared at the light coming from the top of the temple. "Whoa! It really is coming from the temple!" Lloyd exclaimed. Genis also put in, "Then an oracle is going to be conveyed. Colette's going to be the Chosen of Regeneration!"
"It's really, really bright!" I would expect no less of Colette. Genis, Lloyd and I sweat dropped at her statement. "Say, Colette… when the oracle is conveyed, you'll become the Chosen who will save the world right? You're going to be like the hero, Mithos!" Lloyd said.
Oh I beg to differ Lloyd. Mithos is a half-elf and Colette's a human, soon to become angel. Mithos went insane after his sister died. Colette is Colette. So she won't be like Mithos Yggdrasill.
"So maybe you should act a little more… you know… Chosen-like?" Lloyd finished off. Colette smiled in embarrassment, "Yeah! No problem. No problem." I chuckled a bit at the scene thus causing the three to look at me in confusion.
"Sorry. I just find it interesting how you three act. It's quite amusing actually," I said with a smile still on my face. Ok I'm talking so formally… what the crap is wrong with me?
Genis turned to face the actual temple. "Hey, there's a lot of commotion at the temple!" Genis stated. We all turned to look where Genis was looking. "You're right!" Lloyd exclaimed.
A figure started to limp downwards towards us. He was a priest from what I could see. He had cuts all over his face and body. There were a few burn spots on his arms and his clothes were singed.
"Chosen One!" The priest exclaimed. He continued to limp towards us as we got a better look at him. He had his hand over his heart and there was a trail of blood behind him. His beard was a reddish-pinkish color and glinted in the sunlight. He had blood on his beard.
He stepped down on the last step and fell face forward. Colette and I quickly ran up to the old man. "Pastor?" Colette asked. "Hey, are you all right?" Lloyd asked. Of course he's not all right! I quickly turned him onto his back as we all knelt next to him.
I gently moved his hands away from the wound. I could hear the others gasp as we looked at the man's wound. Right where the man's chest should be was a gaping, bloody whole. I could see the man's bones and muscles. Somehow I managed not to puke my guts out.
"The desians broke the non-aggression treaty and attacked the temple… Chosen One… Quickly… the Oracle…" The old man rasped out. "You shouldn't speak," I told the man quietly. "I know." Colette stated as tears formed in her eyes.
"Please… be careful…" The pastor said. I went to my knapsack and opened it to see if there was anything I could use to help the dying man. "I regret… that I will… not… be… able… to… pro… tect… the… Cho-sen…" The man rasped out as his eyes closed.
"Pastor, Hang on!" Colette almost yelled. "It's no use… He's dead…" Lloyd said. Colette had tears in her eyes as Genis yelled, "No!" We knelt there in silence before Lloyd and I grabbed the man and moved him into a hole that was conveniently there.
Genis was wiping his eyes when Colette said, "I'm going." Genis was the first to disagree with Colette's decision. "Colette! There are desians in there!" Colette still looked firm in her decision as she started up the steps.
Colette turned to us and said in a very chosen-like manner, "Yes… but I have to go. I'm the chosen. It's my job to receive the oracle on the Day of Prophecy. You guys wait here, okay?"
I walked up to Colette quickly catching up to her. "I might as well go along. You need all the help you can get in this journey," I said as Colette turned to me. Genis turned to Lloyd as he said, "Lloyd! Are you going to let Colette go by herself?"
We all turned to Lloyd as he turned to Genis. "I'm going too. I can't let you go by yourself!" I coughed a bit to get their attention. "Forgetting someone?" I asked as the boys looked at me sheepishly.
I turned and started walking up the steps. After I was up a few I noticed they weren't following. "Well come on. Are we going or not?" I asked the trio. They nodded as Colette thanked us as we climbed to beat the supposed 'desians.'
We got to the top to see an old woman with bright blonde hair being cornered by a burly man aka Botta. "Where is the chosen?" Botta asked Phaidra aka the old woman aka Colette's grandmother. This is going to get interesting.
"Run Colette!" Phaidra yelled to us. "Lord Botta! There she is!" Random Renegade number 1 yelled. "Chosen One! Your life is mine!" Botta stated. Lloyd and I got out our weapons when Botta said that.
"I'm not gonna let you desians get away with anything!" Lloyd yelled at the renegades. Random Renegade number 1 laughed at Lloyd's statement. Probably because he's not a desian. He's quite the opposite actually.
"What's so funny?" Genis asked. The renegades prepared to attack as Random Renegade numerous 2 said, "Well then, die at the hands of the desians you so hate. Get them!" Thus the four renegades ran towards us.
Lloyd took the leader as Colette faced the other two. I had the last one. He tried to stab me with his sword but I dodged. Ducking down I did a quick leg sweep and swept the man off of his feet. He landed on his back as I plunged one of my sai into his stomach.
He coughed up some blood as I pulled my sai out of his stomach. I moved on to help Colette with the next one. I felt strange as I fought… I wasn't killing the men. I don't kill, I'm not a murderer.
That's not the strange thing though. The strange thing was there was a voice in my head directing my moves. Left, up, down, stab left, slash right, dodge and go for the kill. Of course on that last command I didn't follow.
The three Renegades quickly ran off letting their 'secret weapon' take us. "Holy Crap!" I said as the man began swinging his ball-and-chain. He was a big brute who wore green instead of red like the others. He glared at us out of his weird helmet. I mean it had freakin' horns!
"Do not get in our way," the giant man with a hammer along with his ball-and-chain said as he approached. We dodged his first attack with the huge spiked ball. He caught Colette in the stomach with his hammer. I for some reason remembered magic lensing him in the game and it said he was Vidaar.
The next person he hit was Genis with his ball-and-chain. I looked back to see if they were alright. That was a big mistake; he hit me in the back with his hammer and knocked Lloyd away. Unlike the game we didn't even land a hit on him.
After using a few apple gels on our wounds we knelt in front of Vidaar the giant. "…This guy's strong!" Genis exclaimed. Lloyd put in, "Man, this guy is really tough!" "I doubt we can beat him as we are…" I panted out.
Vidaar swung his deadly spiked weapon at us. Lloyd flinched as we heard a clash of metal. There standing before us was-and still is-the most awesome, bad-ass character in the history of Tales of Symphonia.
"Who are you?" Lloyd asked the auburn haired man. Vidaar the Renegade stumbled and fell back before standing up again. "…Get out of the way," The man I don't want to name yet even though you all probably know who he is and are mad at me for not saying his name stated in an apathetic voice.
I stood up along with Lloyd. "We're fighting too!" I said as Vidaar the renegade charged at us. We ran and started to strike at him. Lloyd let out a few demon fangs as the man I can't name right now did a quick sonic thrust. I ducked under his ball-and-chain and quickly aimed a few stabs at him. He was down in a few minutes because of our teamwork.
Botta looked surprised at the arrival of awesome mc not yet named. "I never thought you'd show up. Damn… retreat for now!" Botta exclaimed as the renegades and he retreated.
Colette and Genis stared in awe at the auburn haired man in purple. "Amazing…!" Colette gasped in amazement. Genis jumped up as he exclaimed, "This guy's incredibly strong!" Lloyd just looked away in jealousy.
"Y-yeah… I-I suppose so…" Lloyd said. I smirked a little and said 'innocently', "What? Are you jealous, Lloyd?" Lloyd turned to me with a flustered look. "I-I am not! I just don't see why he's such a big deal…" Lloyd said quickly.
He-who-shall-not-be-named-quite-yet turned to us and asked, "… Is everyone alright? Hmm… No one seems hurt." Lloyd seemed to be staring at the man in purple's hand as he muttered something to himself.
Phaidra walked up to awesome in bodily form and said, "How can I ever thank you for saving the chosen?" The angelic mercenary turned to Colette and said, "I see… so this girl is the next Chosen."
Colette looked like she had a realization and said, "That's right! I have to go except the oracle! Grandmother, I'm going to undergo the trial now." Colette started walking towards the church. I grabbed her shoulder before she could get far.
"Oh no, you are not going in there alone. Most likely you'll encounter monsters, maybe more of those 'desians' and a bunch of other dangerous crap that the trial will throw at you to get you killed. I'll go with you," I told Colette.
"Wait, what trial?" Lloyd asked, confused. "The monsters I assume. There's an evil presence that radiates from inside the chapel." Phaidra looked sad and even older than she actually was.
"Yes, that is correct. The Chosen is to receive judgment from heaven. But the priests that were supposed accompany her fell at the hands of the Desians," Phaidra said. "That's why I'm going with Colette." I said as I stood next to Colette.
"I'll help protect Colette too," Lloyd said as he got a determined look in his eyes. "Lloyd? Are you sure you would be up to it?" Phaidra asked the brunette. The man who you are probably really mad at me for not naming but will be named soon seemed interested by the sound of Lloyds name.
"You're name is Lloyd?" The physical form of bad ass asked Lloyd. "Yeah. But who are you to ask for my name?" Lloyd asked. The auburn haired turned away and said (Finally), "… I am Kratos, a mercenary. As long as you can pay me, I'll except the job of guarding the chosen."
Phaidra sighed as she said, "…Under the circumstances I have little choice. Please be of service." Kratos said, "It's a deal then. The old woman then turned to me, "How about you then? Who are you?" I could tell she didn't trust me.
"I'm sorry, I didn't properly introduce myself. My name is Kari. I am a traveler. I came across the Chosen and her friends while I was heading to Iselia for supplies. I just want to help m'am," I told the old woman.
She seemed to be judging how trustworthy I was from what I said. Lloyd stepped up and said suddenly, "W-wait! I'm going too!" Kratos turned to Lloyd and gave him the look. "Lloyd, You'll only get in the way. Be a good boy and stay here. You should stay too, Kari," Kratos finished.
I smiled knowing that Lloyd was going to object. Lloyd smiled too and said, "…Gotcha. Then I'm going to follow you on my own." Kratos eyes showed just a little bit of surprise before resuming the normal stoic expression.
"You're a stubborn kid. Fine, do as you wish," Kratos said. "I'll do just that," Lloyd replied. "You don't mind me tagging along, do you?" I asked the twin swordsman. Lloyd turned to me and smiled, "I don't mind."
"Let's go, Genis!" Lloyd turned around and called to his best half-elven friend. Genis sweated a little bit before saying, "Lloyd, I figured you were going to say that." Lloyd turned to smile at the young half-elf, "Of course!"
Kratos turned to the church and said, "This isn't a field trip, you know." We walked into the chapel, temple, church; don't they all mean the same thing basically? Anyways so we walked in and Lloyd started to look at every inch of the place.
"So this is what the inside of the temple is like," Lloyd stated. Genis turned to the blonde haired chosen and said, "Colette you've been in here many times before, right?" Colette turned to her friend.
"Yeah, but it seems different than usual," Colette stated. Kratos put his hand to his sword, "I sense the presence of monsters. Don't let your guard down." Lloyd seemed a bit cocky as he replied, "We can handle a few measly monsters. Let's go."
"Wait Lloyd, Kari… are your fighting techniques self-taught?" Kratos asked Lloyd and me. Ok, I can understand him asking Lloyd that but why me? Seriously I'm not important so why me? Lloyd was the first of us to turn around and answer.
"Yeah that's right," Lloyd said. "Correct," I merely stated. I don't think a creepy, deep, male voice in my head counted as a teacher. Kratos seemed to think on our words for a minute before going up to us and handing each of us a training manual.
"What's this thing?" Lloyd asked. "If you are going to use the sword at least learn the basics. You want to protect the Chosen, don't you?" Kratos replied to Lloyd. I opened the manual Kratos gave to me. It explained how to hold sai and different positions and fighting styles I could use with my weapon.
I smiled with poorly hidden delight. "Thank you!" I told Kratos as I quickly shoved the book into my knapsack. Kratos simply nodded as he walked away. Lloyd looked peed off at Kratos's attitude.
"Hmph! You think you know so much," Lloyd said. "I sense some jealousy~" I teased Lloyd as he glared in Kratos's direction. He turned to me a bit flustered, "Sh-shut up!" And with that we were off.
Ok! I finally finished this and it is… 10:17 PM. Wow… Well anyways, this fanfic is inspired by Tofuu Logan's fanfic "Tales of the Bonds". He is actually doing a decent job with his story and not making it completely lame. So if Logan-sempai is reading this then I'd like to say thank you for inspiring me! So yep… I hope I did a good job. Also it's snowing outside… In November… Well that's expected when you live in the state of Minnesota. Wow I'm rambling, anyways! I'd like to say please review and tell me how I did!
Kari ;D