Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Fanfic Chapters 1-6 (get started... it's LONG, but interesting!^^)
Chapter1 ~ One Free Rheaird Trip to Derris-Kharlan

~5 days before meeting…~

Karrei ran through the corridors knocking down guards as she went, “Finally! A chance to find Derris-Kharlan!” She took out three more guards before reaching a door that said ‘Rheairds’. Another sign written in pen that was taped to it said ‘Special testing in progress. STAY OUT’. “So they sent me to the Renegade’s base, eh? That must mean Mr. Blue-haired-pony-tailed-pansy is around here somewhere. Better be careful of his ‘electric ball of doom’. Heh…” She began picking the lock on the door with the diamond wire she had “borrowed” from that last guard with the funky hairdo and the missing sleeve. Within minutes she had entered and boarded a Rheaird.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN A KID BEAT ALL OF THEM ALONE?!?!?!?!?!” Yelled a voice from behind a door.

“Looks like the idiot finally found out that I’m here…” Karrei chuckled, “Now let’s get this thing moving.” She muttered as she started it up and opened the launch gate. A ball of electricity shot past her as she began laughing. “Whoa!!” she said startlingly as she looked back, “Well if it isn’t ponytail man.”

“You again!........... AND STOP MAKING FUN OF MY HAIR!” yelled Yuan, obviously upset about the ‘Mr. Blue-haired-pony-tailed-pansy’ comment.

“Yeah, whatever.” Karrei said as she tossed a small bag of Gald at Yuan. “Go get a haircut.” She said and sped off as he looked down at what hit him in the face.

“Damn her... Botta, go after her.” grumbled Yuan as he walked back to his office, zapping all the guards who she had beaten with ease.

“Yes, sir.” He grumbled as he and two other Renegades boarded three other Rheiards and followed her trail.



~3 Days Later (2 Days before meeting)~


Botta is continuing to follow Karrei’s trail, which seems to have gone out into space towards the area where Derris-Kharlan drifted away.

“You’re sure of this, Botta?”

“Yes, sir. We believe that Karrei is heading towards Derris-Kharlan. The reason why is unknown, but perhaps she was working for Yggdrasill and went to collect the shards of the Cruxis Crystal.”

“Yes, but don’t forget that she IS the reason you’re still alive, had it not been for her plundering and if she had not broken into the Ranch, both you and the captives would have died. It would be best to find out her reasons before continuing. Once you catch up to her, keep a low profile until she reaches Derris-Kharlan.”

“Understood” Botta replied as he turned off the communicator and continued searching for Karrei, not knowing that she had already reached Derris-Kharlan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Karrei disembarked from the Rheaird, she noticed a man staring at her from afar. “Who goes?!” She called.

The man walked over and turned his attention to the Rheaird, “Never thought I’d say this line but, ‘Give me your name and I shall give you mine’.”

Karrei continued to stare at the man. He was dressed in purple and had red eyes and hair; no smile looked like it would appear on his serious face anytime soon. “Fine then. I am Karrei, and you are?”

He turned around and mumbled “…Kratos.”

“How did you end up here?”

“Aren’t we pushing for a conversation…”

“Obviously this guy’s in a bad mood.” she thought before answering to his comment. “Well, anyways, I shall be taking you back with me, seeing as there’s no way that you could survive on this planet. There isn’t a scrap of water or food left here as far as I can see… I simply came here to collect some of this planet’s mana and I’d be on my way…”

Botta finally arrived at Derris-Kharlan and immediately contacted Yuan. “Sir, it seems the girl has found Kratos.”

“WHAT?! HE’S STILL ALIVE?!” Yuan yelled, almost blowing Botta’s cover. “Well be sure to bring him back! I’ll shut Lloyd up and make everyone else happy… hopefully get me on Raine’s good side too…” Yuan added as he rubbed his head. Apparently, Yuan had set off one of Raine’s psycho ruin-modes by taking many of the magitechnology artifacts to study so that they could improve their Rheaird transportation data in a constant search for a more powerful source of energy that would replace Exspheres and also be save for everyone and everything, Lloyd’s request no doubt.

“Well Karrei seems to be taking him back anyways. Should I make it so that he HAS to go with her, like a fake Mana Bomb?”

“No… simply tell them about how the planet’s mana is becoming unstable from being separated from our world. Kratos doesn’t want to die without earning the right to as I saw the last time he fought Lloyd. Carry on, Botta.”

“Right sir.” Replied Botta as the communication ended.


~End of Chapter 1~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 2 ~ Homecoming with a Hit to the Head.

“No need Botta… I already heard him.” Karrei stated immediately after Botta ended the transmission. “I’m sure Kratos did, too. Loud and clear. I’m leaving and I suggest you do too. Oh, and tell the idiot that I’ll return the Rheaird. I already have one.” She signaled to Kratos to follow her. “Get on…”

“Not if my life depen--”

She cut him off by moving the Rheaird at him so that it knocked him into it. “Whatever… if you’re not going to get on willingly I’ll get you on myself.” Once he sat down she looked back to make sure he wouldn’t fall, not knowing that he had wings.

“Don’t worry about anything, Kratos. I’m sure you know someone in the world.”

“That’s exactly what I’m worried about.” Kratos muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing… it’s nothing…”

“Whatever.”

“…”

After a brief moment of silence Karrei turned her attention back to driving the Rheaird. “Let’s see… where did that idiot put the Auto-pilot button?”

“BEEP… TURBO ENGAGED.”

“Karrei, what did you do now?”

“Turbo…” she replied fastening her seatbelt.

“Great… just great.”

The speed that the Rheaird took off with was at least twice the normal. In just two days it propelled them from Derris-Kharlan all the way back to Symphonia. When the turbo finally shut it’s self down, they were just outside the gravity pull of the planet

~Day of meeting~

“Ugh… That was horrid. It was like the Roller Coaster at Altamira all over again.”

Kratos didn’t respond, though he had his head in his hand and his face had turned a slight bit white, “…”

“I’m guessing you felt like your head was going to explode from a headache too?”

“How’d you guess?” Grumbled Kratos as his face returned to its normal color slowly.

“Well let’s try to not crash th--”

“Karrei we’re drifting into the atmosphere. Pay attention when driving any type of transportation unit!”

“Well there’s nothing I can do now! We’re gonna crash and we’re gonna crash soon! You better know how to use Guardian on more than one person!”

“GUARDIAN!”

Thanks to Kratos’ Guardian spell, the Rheaird, as we as himself and Karrei, weren’t harmed… though the remainder of the Iselia Human Ranch, which they happened to land in the middle of, was eradicated.

“I never thought that I’d have to come to this wretched place again…” muttered Karrei.

“What do you mean?”

“I escaped from this Human Ranch once before they could put an Exsphere on me. I was the only escapee without an Exsphere.”

“An astounding accomplishment. You must have already had an Exsphere, correct?”

“No. I traveled the world searching for my brother, who was yet another victim of Cruxis Crystal experiments. They wanted to see if they could use me when they found out that he was my brother. That’s kinda the reason why Forcystus had the eye patch. When you get a giant shard of glass in the eye, you’re not going to be able to use that eye anymore. The Exsphere I use is a memento of my brother. I’d die before I gave it up.

“I see… I won’t ask you about it any longer. Let us try to find Dirk’s house, best be on you guard, as we cannot fly the Rheairds in this forest.

“Agreed.”

As they wandered through the forest, Karrei caught sight of a flash of red. “Stop there, Kratos.”

“If you are worried about the person following us, don’t. It’s only Lloyd.”

“Kratos!!” Yelled a girl’s voice with excitement. A young girl dressed in white and blue with blond hair and even brighter blue eyes ran towards Kratos, and seemed to veer off to the right a bit, which was where Karrei was standing…

Kratos sighed, “3…2…1…” The girl tripped, crashing right into Karrei.

“Whoops!”

“Oof!” Karrei was sent falling backwards and tumbled right into a tree, making a boy in red fall out on top of her.

“WAH!!!!”

“GAH! My side ….”

“…”

“Oh, I’m so sorry! Lloyd! Get off of her!” Apologized the girl as she pulled Lloyd off of Karrei.

“Colette, you really need to be more careful of things that could make you trip.” Lloyd said as he got up.

“I know! I’m sorry! Let’s go to Dirk’s house. Kratos are you coming, too?” She replied.

“Kratos?!”

~End of Chapter 2~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 3 ~ On the road to Triet!

“So that’s how you got back?” asked Lloyd.

“Indeed.”

“So are you goi-- Whoops!”

Karrei felt something knock her over and she tumbled off the cliff, blacking out before she hit the ground.

~2 hours later~

Karrei awoke with a start. Apparently, the fall had broken one of her ribs because there was a sharp pain in her side. Kratos was outside trying to get away from Lloyd, who was forcing him into a conversation.

“You’re okay!!!” cheered Colette, who had just come up with a handful of bandages.

“Huh? Oh, hi Colette! Owww….” Karrei put her hand on her side. She forgot that her rib was broken and it currently hurt to breathe. “So what happened?”

“We were going towards Dirks house and I um… kinda tripped again and kinda knocked you off of the cliff… I’m sorry for causing you trouble… Kratos made Lloyd carry you here and we’ve been waiting for you to wake up ever since”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve gotten in worse falls than that and bigger injures that had me in bandages for months. It’s nothing some Healing Arts couldn’t fix.”

“But no one here can use healing arts. Raine could so I guess we should try to find her and Genis. Raine will have your rib fixed in no time. I think that they are currently in the Triet Region trying to teach people that half-elves aren’t as mean and nasty as you think.”

“Well then let’s get going! This’ll give me the chance to return this Rheaird to Yuan. Goddess Martel knows what he’s up to right now…”

~Cut scene to Yuan at the Renegade base~

“Martel-forsaken, Eternally-damned, stubborn SOB of an elastic band….”

SNAP!

“AGH! DAMNIT TO HELL!!!!”

~ Ummmm…back to Dirk’s house ^^; ~

“So you’re up?” said Lloyd as he entered the room.

“Yes I’m up and in pain…”

“Here Karrei, I’ll put some bandages on it.” Said Colette, picking up one of the bandages.

“I’ll be fine. Owww…. I don’t need it. There are more important things to do than sit around and tend to small wounds like this.”

“You’re right… I need to get back on my journey to destroy all of the Exspheres.”

“But you won’t be getting your hands on mine Lloyd. It’s a memento of my brother, who died to save me. I don’t plan on destroying it any time soon… again I say that ‘I’d rather die that give up this Exsphere’.”

Kratos entered and crossed his arms. “So are we leaving or not.”

“We’re leaving.” Karrei said as she walked over to the stairs. “Grab what you want to bring and let’s go.” She managed to slide down the railing of the stairs, the less painful way of going down, and walked outside.

After a few minutes of randomly packing items they wanted to bring along, Lloyd and Colette heard something go “FUWMP!”

“AGH!! GET THIS THING OFF OF ME!!!”

They walked downstairs where Kratos was and rushed towards the door.

“What seems to be the matter now?”

“Didn’t you hear that person?”

“I think it was Karrei.”

“AHAHAHAHAHA! STOP THAT! THAT TICKLES!!”

“Yep. That’s Karrei. And if what I think happened is Noishe pounced on her and is licking her face.” Sighed Lloyd.

“Probably.” Agreed Colette.

“Well then, stop talking and go get Noishe off of ’er.” Yelled Dirk, who was currently working a job from another room.

Lloyd had already gone out the door, where low and behold, Noishe was licking Karrei’s face as she tried to get up. Lloyd stared at Karrei, “Did you ever know my dad?”

“Who?”

“Kratos…”

“Nope… I’m what people call an ‘animal magnet’… animals love me...”

“That explains enough. Okay Noishe, that’s enough. You’re going to have to carry her on your back all the way to Triet so quit goofing off.

“*Whine*” Noishe sighed as he got off of Karrei.

“Thanks Lloyd.”

Kratos and Colette walked outside. “Can we get going now?”

“Yeah, let’s go!”

Karrei jumped onto Noishe’s back and the group headed out to Triet to find Genis and Raine, hopefully there won’t be anymore interruptions.

~End of Chapter 3~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 4 ~ Healing Arts and Broken Hearts

As the group approached Triet, the heat rose steadily and with it, so did Lloyd’s boredom. “Man, I wish we had a few monsters to kill… it seems all too boring without them.” He sighed.

“I smell the fear of animals in the air… monsters just might still be lurking around.” Karrei commented.

“Impossible. Monsters were subdued when we defeated Mithos in his castle and shattered his Cruxis Crystal in Derris-Kharlan!” objected Colette.

“Th-that was a Cruxis Crystal?!” stammered Karrei.

“Yep. It was red and when it touched you it felt like it held an ocean of sorrow, loneliness, and pain.” described Lloyd as they entered Triet, “Why do you ask?

“The first time I went to Derris-Kharlan, I had stumbled into a strange portal. As I made my way through a large castle, I noticed in one section that there were shards of a pretty red gem scattered everywhere. So I gathered them all and put them into this. “Karrei explained as she took out a large medicine bottle with about fifty red shards inside of it. “I know that I found them all because they made a perfect sphere when I put them all together. The strange part is… I heard someone’s voice when I put them all together. Even when shattered the consciousness inside the Exsphere must still be trapped. Perhaps if the Exsphere is a Cruxis Crystal, then the consciousness inside stays trapped even when it’s shattered. The Exsphere mustn’t have had the consciousness extracted before it was shattered. So I just carry it around. It’s the least I can do for the poor person trapped inside of it.”

Lloyd’s face went white. He had never though about the person’s consciousness being shattered when the Cruxis Crystal was. Though when he put the shards of destroyed Exspheres together, they didn’t hear anyone talking. The Cruxis Crystal is more powerful than regular Exspheres and must have an extra ability to keep the consciousness alive even when shattered. He had shattered Alicia and Mithos’ Cruxis Crystals. He had shattered their consciousnesses. He felt absolutely horrible.

“Lloyd? Is something the matter?” asked a confused Karrei.
Lloyd opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a woman with blue-tinted silver hair dressed in orange that looked like she was going insane over something. “FASINATING!!!!”

Lloyd’s face went from white to red, “Oh Goddess Martel, no… its Raine. And to make matters worse, she’s in ruin-mode. Genis! How you holding up?”

“Hey, Lloyd… it’s been horrible. This is the tenth ruin-mode this week.” said a small boy in blue. He had the same eyes and hair as Raine which evidently meant they were siblings.

“So I take it that the woman in orange is Raine?” asked Karrei.

“Yep. She’s the one who can heal your broken rib!”

“So that’s why you’re here?” asked Raine.

“Yep… Colette broke my rib. Owwww…” Karrei clutched her side. “I need to stop talking now, thank you…”

“Here let me see. Oh, my! Have you been running around with a broken rib?! The entire area is swollen!!!”

The area glowed a soft green color before the swelling went down completely.

“There. That should do it….” Said Raine before she continued her Ruin-mode, “Now how did you learn about this information??? Please tell me!!! I must know!!!”

“She’s scary…” Karrei whispered to Genis. He simply gave her a look that said “You have no idea.”

“Ummm… let’s go into the inn first shall we? Any longer in this heat and I’m gonna get heatstroke.

“Of course! I’ll pay for the stay!” Raine said excitedly, most likely not even listening to what she was saying, “Come on Karrei!” and dragged Karrei into the inn.

“Ummm… help?”

“Heh Heh… I feel sorry for her. Once Raine finds out that you know something she doesn’t, she’ll be part of YOUR fan club until she finds out.” Chuckled Genis as the rest of them went inside.

After explaining the differences of Cruxis Crystals and Exspheres, going slow enough so that Raine could furiously scribble it down in her ineligible handwriting, Karrei exited Triet and headed towards the Renegade base. She saw a familiar blue haired half-elf pacing back and forth like a madman, obviously waiting for her to show up. “Thinking of a way to get back at the Gnomelettes for cutting your cape in half, Yuan?”

Yuan looked like his head was going to implode at that moment; he must have had it up to here with her getting the better of him. “JUST GIVE ME THE DAMN RHEAIRD AND LEAVE!!” He yelled.

“Thanks for letting me ‘borrow’ it, Yuan!” Karrei grinned as she took the Rheaird out of the Wing Pack and left it for Yuan to drag in.

“Thanks a lot…” Yuan mumbled as she left.

Karrei headed back to Triet and entered the inn. “Sorry about that, guys. So what are we going to do now?”

“We’ve decided that we’re going to help Lloyd and Colette gather all of the Exspheres. Raine wants to test out your theory on being able to extract the consciousness from a Cruxis Crystal and Kratos wants to see how well Lloyd has improved in his swordsmanship.” Genis explained. “What are you going to do Karrei?”

“I don’t know… maybe I’ll follow you guys for a while. I’ve got nothing better to do.” Karrei replied.

“Well then we’ll head out in the morning. Where to first Lloyd?” Raine asked.

“Meltokio.” He replied. “I’m going to get the King to let go of the Exspheres on the bridge if it’s the last thing I do! We can also stop by and say “Hi” to Zelos while we’re there.”

“Then stop you’re rambling and get on your Rheaird!” called Karrei, who had somehow managed to fish the Wing Pack with Lloyd’s Rheairds out of his pocket.

~End of Chapter 4~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 5 ~ Fair Skies with a Good Chance of Dragons!

Genis was on the verge of laughing his brains out. “Well we certainly know that corny speeches are a big time distraction for you, Lloyd!” snickered Genis.

“Sh-shut it, Genis!!” snapped an embarrassed Lloyd.

“Heh… by the way Lloyd.” called Karrei. “I bet you 10,000 Gald that we get attacked by monsters or something.”

Thinking there was no way that they could get attacked by a monster while flying the Rheairds, even at the slight chance of there still being monsters in the world, Lloyd accepted the bet. “You’re on, Karrei!”

“Why do I get the feeling that he’s going to regret that?” grumbled Kratos.

“Indeed” agreed Raine as she and Kratos mounted their Rheairds.

Meltokio was on the other side of the world and takes only 1 hour to fly there. The new world, Symphonia, took some getting used to. It was like the worlds were put together so that the Balcruf Mausoleum Region was next to the Meltokio Region, same with the Flanoir Region and the Iselia Region.

“KARREI!” Lloyd yelled, snapping her back into reality before she crashed into the Hima Mountains.

“Whoa! Thanks Lloyd!” She called back to him. “Kratos was right. I DO need to pay attention when operating a Rheaird!”

“Hey Lloyd, what’s that?” asked Colette as she pointed to what looked like three giant purple birds.

“It’s some of those dragons that Rodyle had!” cried Genis.

Raine immediately went into her bag and pulled out her Monster List. She flipped directly to the page where the information on “Baby Dragons” was found. She started reading the information off, “Baby Dragons are kin of the Winged Dragon, the largest, rarest, and most dangerous of all species of dragons. They are dangerous and will attack if told by masters or if hungry.”

“By the looks of it, I think “hungry” is the answer to that all important question!” Yelled Karrei as she descended to the ground and drew her double-edged blades. “We have to fight them so that they won’t attack any towns or villages, if not us!!”


The others descended as well and drew their weapons just in time as the dragons approached. “Be on your guard!” Warned Kratos.

The dragons swooped down and nearly knocked Lloyd over. Karrei’s blades were infused with magic, allowing her to cast spells like Lightning, making her their main take out target. She pulled a Sword Rain – Sword Rain: Alpha combo on the first dragon, dazing it momentarily. Karrei didn't even seem to notice that Lloyd, Kratos, and Colette had puled out their wings and were speeding around the battlefield hacking and slashing a huge combo on another one. She pulled a Rising Falcon twice then used Super Lightning Blade, finishing off the first one. Raine cast Revitalize twice and spent the rest of her time casting Photon to save Tech Points. Genis cast Meteor Storm and finished off another one of the dragons, which Karrei, Lloyd and Kratos has been hacking up a new combo record on, but ran out of TP and was forced to hit the last of the dragons occasionally to bring his TP back up. The last one was bigger than the other two and was harder to take down. Raine and Genis distracted it while Kratos and Colette cast Judgment at the same time and Karrei and Lloyd did a double Rising Falcon. Raine then started casting Holy Lance while Genis prepared a Meteor Storm and Colette chanted another Judgment. Kratos, Karrei and Lloyd slashed and hacked it to keep it from interrupting the spells and was finally defeated after Colette unleashed Judgment. By the time the battle was over, everyone was almost completely drained of their energy.

“*Huff* *huff* okay… *huff*… I take it back Karrei… *huff* *huff* maybe there still are monsters out there… *huff* *huff* you win…” Lloyd stated, throwing Karrei a Lemon Gel and the 10,000 Gald that they had won from the dragons.

“Thank you Lloyd,” Karrei said after she had caught her breath, “now shall we continue to Meltokio? I’d like to get out of this monster infested area now.” She added.

“Let’s have something to eat first, Karrei. You haven’t eaten anything since you came here with Kratos.”

“As long as it doesn’t have tomatoes in it, those things are nasty to no end.”

Kratos gave her a surprised look. She looked back at him. “You hate tomatoes too?” He nodded slightly. “Good to know I’m not the only one…” Kratos nodded again.

After a few minutes to rest and some Rice Balls that Karrei ended up making while Genis was arguing with Lloyd over whether or not they should put Black Satay in the would-have-been Fried Rice, the group once again boarded the Rheairds and took to the skies once more. As they neared Meltokio, Karrei turned to Colette and asked, “So… what’s Meltokio like?”

“It’s wonderful! There’s so many things to do that you could never do in Sylvarant! There’s even a coliseum! You should try fighting there sometime. You’d win for sure!” said Colette, smiling.

“Yeah, Meltokio would be perfect if Zelos thought everyday was opposite personality day!” added Lloyd, laughing. Genis and Colette burst into laughter while Raine chuckled a bit. Karrei and Kratos were the only ones not laughing.

“What’s so funny?” asked Karrei.

“You’ll get it once you meet Zelos…” replied Kratos. Karrei turned back to the direction Meltokio was. It had taken them only an hour and a half because of the dragon attacks. As they entered the town, Karrei got a strange feeling that they were being watched. Thinking it was just her imagination; Karrei decided just to ignore it and continued up to the main plaza of the city.

"I'm going to go to the coliseum. I've been itching to fight there ever since we came. Anyone want to come?"

"Yeah! I do! I want to see just how well you can fight!!" Lloyd excitedly yelled.

Karrei blinked. “Am I really that good of a fighter?”

“Of course you are! You took out one of those dragons single-handedly!” smiled Colette.

“Yeah! Can me and Colette come along as well?!” asked Genis.

“Sure! That’s alright with you and Kratos, right Professor?”

“Of course. Just keep an eye on them. Agreed Kratos?”

“Lloyd is old enough to take care of himself.” Lloyd’s eyes widened with surprise. “I think he can take care of those two. Karrei shouldn’t have to worry about these three while she is fighting. Just make sure you stay together."

"Thanks guys! We'll meet in about an hour or so. You can do what you want while we're gone. I'll be back with a bundle of Gald and I'll treat us all to some shiny new weapons and armor. If my feeling is correct like it was last time, we're in for even more of those attacks."

"Come on, Karrei!" Lloyd called.

"Well… see ya!" Karrei said as she ran off towards the others and ran up the stone stairs. When Karrei caught up the four of them ran at tremendous speeds almost knocking over someone as they went.

"Hey wait up you guys!" yelled Genis as he attempted to catch up. He only caught up when they had reached the front desk.

"Okay so you want three group seat tickets? But… there are four of you… why aren't you getting four?" The receptionist asked. "You plan on competing sir?"

"Nah, Karrei is joining today!" said Lloyd, who yanked Karrei up to the desk.

The receptionist looked like she was surprised to see Karrei wanting to fight alone. "Oookay… and what weapon is she using?"

"Two double-edged swords that have magical abilities" Karrei replied.

The receptionist seemed to change her view once Karrei told her that she used swords with magic infused in them. "'Kay! You're all set! I'll escort you're companions to their seats. You may enter the coliseum!" she said cheerfully.

"Thanks! Just make sure that my friends have a good view of the fight."

"Sure thing! You are competing against Meltokio's best fighter after all."

"Man, I can't wait to see Karrei kick the crap out of this poor sucker!" Lloyd grinned excitedly.

"Well I'll see ya there!" Karrei called back as she drew her swords and walked through the large door.

"Good luck Karrei!" They called back in unison.

~End of Chapter 5~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 6~ A Fight With a Flirt

Karrei entered the arena and took a look around before ambling towards the center of the arena. Waiting was a redhead in pink who had pale, light blue eyes… normal enough…

"Well hell-O my gorgeous hunny! I am the great Zelos Wilder, and you are?" he smiled.

Scratch that… it's another idiotic flirt. Jeez, there's an abundance of them these days… what a dumbass… "A woman with two swords that's about to kick your ass. Was that the answer you were looking for?"

"You know, I bet you fight as well as you look <3!"

"Flattery never got anyone anywhere with me. Just shut up and fight." Karrei scoffed as she darted at Zelos.

"As you wish, my gorgeous fighting hunny!" Zelos replied, smiling as he dashed forward as well. Karrei performed three Rising Falcons and a Rising Phoenix combo as soon as Zelos was in range "Prepare yourself!!"

"Oh, boy. GUARDIAN!" Zelos cast a protective barrier around himself before using Victory Light Spear and a six-hit combo.

Karrei launched a fifteen-combo and finished with another Rising Phoenix, knocking Zelos over.

~Cut scene to Lloyd's group~

Lloyd and the others were up in the stands watching Karrei's fight. Somehow, when Karrei told the receptionist that she wanted her friends to have a good view of the fight, she had taken it as "put my friends in front row seats".

"Hey, doesn't that look like Zelos?" noticed Colette.

"Hey, you're right! That IS Zelos! Aw man, this is awesome! Zelos is getting his ass kicked!" Laughed Lloyd.

"She is SO lucky." Chuckled Genis.

"Well I just hope Zelos doesn't get too hurt…"

~End Cut Scene~

Karrei surprisingly had the upper hand. Zelos hadn't expected her to be this strong or so good with a sword. It had caught him greatly off guard. The fight had been going on for about 15 minutes. She was at half of her HP while Zelos was down to about a fourth of his own. "Ready to give up?"

Zelos was out of TP, so he couldn't cast First Aid. Karrei had twice as much HP as him and he had a cramp in his side that felt like someone shoved a dagger there. Was he going to give up? Nope. Too stubborn. "This is the most fun I've had in months. I'll give up when I pass out. No biggy." He thought before replying. "Nah. I'm not going to give up. This is entertaining even tough it's painful." He smiled.

"Glad you're enjoying it. Let's continue then!" Smirked Karrei before she charged at Zelos again.

"Sure thing my gorgeous hunny!" Zelos said as he too charged forward.

"This guy's a buffoon…" Karrei thought as the fight continued, "I mean, he's so stubborn that he doesn't realize he's a couple of good special attack hits away from going down for the count. I'll give him a couple of combos so that he doesn't look like a smiling fool." "Gimme all ya got!" she taunted.

"Consider it given, my gorgeous hunny!" Zelos once again smiled. He unleashed a 20-hit combo and earned enough TP unleash a Light Spear + Victory Light Spear + Demon Spear Combo, taking out the HP difference between him and Karrei and sending her into the air.

"Hup…" Karrei flipped in the air and landed on her feet. "Pretty good… but it ends now. PREPARE YOURSELF!" she yelled as she delivered a 4 hit combo, a Twin Tiger Blade, and a finishing Omega Tempest that KOed Zelos. Karrei almost collapsed when she landed. The fight with Zelos had taken more out of her than she thought.

"And the winner, in one of the most extraordinary seen here in quite a while, Karrei, the Nimble Bladeswoman! Any comments on your victory over the Former Chosen, Zelos Wilder?"

"No. I was battling for fun and before you ask, I'm not going to go for the damn Mithos Cup. I'll be helping Zelos out of the ring now, thank you very much." Karrei turned around to Lloyd and the others. "Y' gonna just stand there or are you going to help me?" She turned back to Zelos and helped him out of the arena.

~Cut to Lloyd's Group~

"Wow! She's so nice! She's helping him get medical attention." awed Colette.

"She beat him without injuring him critically, even though you could tell by the looks on their faces that Zelos was hitting on her throughout the battle. It was more of a knock-out match than a blood-faint match." Genis gapped.

"She takes her swordsmanship very seriously. She even followed Dwarven Vow #2! Genis, you go find Raine and Kratos. We'll go to Karrei." Lloyd added before getting up out of the stands and running after Karrei with Colette.

~Entrance of Colliseum~

"Dammit, where the hell is-- there you are!" Yelled Karrei, waving her arm to get Lloyd's attention. "What took you so long?"

"Sorry Karrei, a bunch of people were trying to get us to tell them about you. You're a real hit with the people right now, Karrei. Everyone wants you to battle in the Mithos Cup." Lloyd explained. He then looked at Zelos. “Well he’s out like a light. He’d have the biggest grin on his face if he knew you were supporting him.” He chuckled, grinning.

“So you know this guy?”

“He’s Zelos Wilder. The former Chosen of Tethe’alla, like Colette was the Chosen of Sylvarant. They both have wings like Lloyd and Kratos because of their Cruxis Crystals.” Explained Genis as he dragged Raine along. "Raine for Martel's sake! Will you please just help Zelos and let us get on with our lives! That ancient book in the Royal Family Library can wait!"

"Fine. But you're going to get that book when we come back. I want to read it." Raine muttered as she started healing Zelos. While Raine tended to Zelos, Karrei got into a discussion with Lloyd and the others.

"So let me get this straight… Colette, this guy, Lloyd, AND Kratos ALL have wings?!"

"Yep…" Colette, Genis and Lloyd said in unison.

"And this is because of Cruxis Crystals?!"

"Yep…" they repeated, again in unison.

"…Great…" Karrei sighed as she slumped down against the coliseum wall. She stared at her Exsphere, rather her Cruxis Crystal, which was a golden yellow color. "Does this mean I have wings too?…" she thought, not noticing the fact that everyone had looked over with concern.

~End of Chapter 6~
((I'm guessing if you read it that you're either thinking "HOLY CRAP! THAT WAS LONG!" or "Never reading that again..." well just to let you know, THAT WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING! *evil laughter* *ahem* ^^ sorry))
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